We have two petitions for consideration today. Petition 7/22 "Condemn Cuba for Human Rights Issues", is from Mr. Kevin Carter. The recommendation from the private session was that the correspondence from the Department of Foreign Affairs be forwarded to the petitioner for comment. Do the members have views on that or is that agreed?
Decisions on Public Petitions Received
Agreed.
Petition 8/22 "Ban herbicides in public areas", is from Mr. James Walsh. The recommendation from the private session was that the correspondence from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine be forwarded to the petitioner for comment. Do the members have any views on this?
I agree with the recommendation. In fairness, it is an extremely substantial reply.
Yes, it is.
Unfortunately, I have had difficulties with the technology. I was not able to get the meeting up on the screen. Many people could not get into the meeting. It was not only an issue with this committee but it also happened on the committee for social protection this week. I do not know what is wrong. I would like to have been involved in the discussions on the pensions, but that was the fault of the technology and not of anybody here.
I did not hear correctly. Is this petition on the banning of herbicides in public places?
Yes.
Everybody is striving to use less herbicides. Although, we have to be careful in this context because local authorities now have a problems in many counties with plants such as Japanese knotweed. Action has to be taken to get rid of that. I am happy with the response and with what has been proposed in response to the suggestion from that gentleman.
There is a substantial reply going to the petitioner and we will see what his views are of it. We will no doubt come back to it again. That is agreed.
That concludes our consideration of public petitions. I 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 an issue of public policy. Is there any other business that the members would like to make final comment on?
May I make a brief comment?
Yes, go on.
We might include it for discussion in the next meeting. I could not get into the meeting earlier and I do not want to hold up the meeting now, but I am very anxious that we follow up on a procedure that we said we would move along, that is, trying to hold some meetings in different parts of the country. I know Covid has been an issue in that regard, and it is still a bit of an issue, but I do not think we should take that off the agenda because there is a message still to be sold to the public about our Committee on Public Petitions. Many people are not aware of it despite our meetings being on Oireachtas TV and all local authorities knowing about the committee. I find that many members of the public do not know of our existence. It is crucial, whenever we get the opportunity, to have three or four meetings outside Dublin. They could take place in each province, perhaps two meetings per province. The local media could be informed that we would be holding meetings. We need to sell ourselves to the public. It is a comment in passing that I wanted to make.
I agree with the Senator, but with the rising number of Covid cases and in the context of the correspondence we got from the Ceann Comhairle last week about wearing face masks and all that, I do not think we will be allowed to move out to the districts for a while. As I said, I have no problem with this and would agree with the Senator that as soon as restrictions start to be lifted, we should look at doing such meetings and getting the Committee on Public Petitions a higher platform. It should have a higher standing in the provinces. As the Senator said, we could have two meetings in each province.
Thank you, Chair.
On my behalf, and we spoke about this yesterday, this is our last meeting with Mr. Leo Bollins as the clerk to the committee. We would all agree that he has been a massive addition to the secretariat, including Ms Susan Moran and Ms Margaret O'Donnell, since the committee was formed. We wish Leo the best. As I said yesterday, our loss is someone else's gain. Ms Maggie Semple will come on board and we wish her all the best. She will see that everybody works together on this committee.
As Deputy Buckley said yesterday, politics is left outside the door. We are here for the good of the public, and to move it on. We welcome Ms Semple on board and wish Mr. Bollins all the best in his new role. Do any members wish to make their feelings known in public?
It has been an absolute pleasure and a great experience working with Mr. Bollins in the last petitions committee as well. It is sad to see him go. One person’s loss is another’s gain is right. It has been an absolute pleasure and an honour to work with such amazing staff within this committee. Whatever changes there are, we have to accept. We also welcome in the new staff. It is a very different but a very progressive committee and I am proud to be part of it. I am proud to share it with new members while sad to see old members go.
I wish to pay tribute to Mr. Bollins who is an extraordinary official and a most helpful individual. We all accept that and wish him well. To the new staff, we work together as a committee. Much good work goes on but what I find is that the officials are so into what we are trying to do. It is just so refreshing for us, thanks to them. I look forward to working with the new staff.
I agree with Senator Murphy. What people see here in the public meetings is only a small fraction of the amount of work that Mr. Bollins and his staff put in to get petitions to this stage, and the correspondence over and back between petitions. There is a massive amount of work and the public does not realise it. I wish Mr. Bollins all the best and welcome Ms Maggie Semple.
The joint committee adjourned at 2.52 p.m. until 1.30 p.m. on Thursday, 28 April 2022.