Committee on Public Petitions debate -
Thursday, 25 Nov 2021

Decisions on Petitions Received

Chairman

We have six public petitions for consideration today: 9/21, 23/21, 15/21, 26/21 and 35/21. Our first and second petitions are Nos. 9/21 and 23/21 and they will be taken together. This refers to unauthorised development on the River Shannon and it is in the names of Mr. Michael Barrett and Mr. Jamie Forde Kelly. The recommendation are as follows:

1. That correspondence from the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government be forwarded to the petitioners for information; 2. That correspondence from the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government be forwarded to Westmeath County Council; or , 3. That Mr. Barrett and Mr. Forde Kelly be invited to appear before the Joint Committee on Public Petitions at its meeting of 9 December 2021.

Do Members have any views on this matter?

Deputy Pat Buckley

We have spoken about this matter before. At the very start of this meeting we spoke about this committee being very strong and having the ability to punch about its weight, therefore I propose that we select the third recommendation. We should bring in these witnesses and hear what is really going on.

Chairman

I agree with the Deputy that we select the third recommendation and ask the two witnesses to come in. To the best of my knowledge, I believe that we received a letter and video from the Department, which tried to wash its hands of the whole issue. I think we need to chase up this matter and I personally think that the Department has a responsibility. Let us take things step by step and ask Mr. Barrett and Mr. Forde Kelly in to explain the situation. We must also keep after the Westmeath County Council, Waterways Ireland and the Department and see where that takes us. Does any other member wish to comment?

Senator Eugene Murphy

No, Chairman.

I agree with what the Chairman stated and with whoever else spoke. I was taking a telephone call. I believe that is the proper way to proceed. We probably need to find out more about this. I am happy to support what is being suggested.

Chairman

I thank Senator Murphy. Does anybody else wish to come in? No.

Our third petition is P000015/21, submitted by Mr. Des Lafferty, on respectful dialogue. The recommendations are that, first, the correspondence from the Department of Foreign Affairs be forwarded to Mr. Lafferty for comment and second, that the committee writes to Mr. Joe Hackett, Secretary General at the Department of Foreign Affairs, acknowledging the considerable amount of time and effort that is required to retrieve files that have been archived. Do members have any views?

Senator Eugene Murphy

I will go with what is suggested. I propose we go with that if it is acceptable to members.

Chairman

Okay, we will go with the recommendations.

Our fourth petition is P000026/21, submitted by Mr. Fakhri Selmi on urgently supporting Tunisia in the Covid-19 crisis. The recommendations are that, first, the correspondence from the Department of Health be forward to the Department of Foreign Affairs along with a letter from the Joint Committee on Public Petitions on behalf of Mr. Selmi and second, that a copy of the correspondence from the Department of Health be forwarded to Mr. Selmi for information. Do members have any views on this petition?

Deputy Pat Buckley

Either or possibly both of those recommendations are more appropriate to keep more people in the loop and also keep the Department alive.

Chairman

Is there anyone else? Is that agreed? Agreed.

Our fifth and final petition for today is P000035/21, submitted by Ms Apoorva Gopinath, on restarting the issuing of visit visas. The recommendations are that, first, the correspondence from the Department of Foreign Affairs be forwarded to Ms Gopinath and second, that this petition be closed because at present, all restrictions have been lifted. Do members have any views? Is that agreed. Agreed.

That concludes the consideration of public petitions this afternoon. I would like to invite members of the public to submit petitions via our online portal. A petition may be addressed to the Houses of the Oireachtas on a matter of general public concern or interest or on an issue of public policy.

Next on our agenda is any other business. Would members like to make any final comments?

Deputy Eugene Murphy

I will echo what the Chairman said in his last few remarks. Many more members of the public could be aware of this committee. With Covid-19, we cannot get out and get our message across but this is a good committee for people who have legitimate questions and concerns that may not have been answered. They will get a fair crack of the whip here. Again, I agree with what the Chairman said about asking people to submit their letter or queries or whatever. I would encourage the public to do that because there is quite a lot of benefit to be gathered from contacting this committee.

Chairman

I thank Senator Murphy. Do any other members wish to speak? No.

On my own behalf, we had a meeting of the Chairs yesterday evening and brought up the issue of extra sittings and the amount of work the secretariats do. We all appreciate the mountain of work they do. We share the secretariat with another committee and we have looked for another date. The agreement from yesterday evening was that it would be looked at after Christmas. It was suggested that there could be slots on a Monday and Friday for committees if people are interested or there was a slot on a Wednesday evening. It has been decided because of the pandemic and the situation in the Houses, however, that it will be looked at after Christmas. That is just to fill people in on what happened in that regard.

If there is no other business, this committee will adjourn until Wednesday, 8 December 2021 at 11.30 a.m. for a virtual private meeting to be followed by a public meeting at 1.30 p.m. on Thursday, 9 December. The committee is adjourned. I thank all members for attending and the secretariat for all the hard work it does in this process.

The joint committee adjourned at 3.15 p.m. until 1.30 p.m. on Thursday, 9 December 2021.