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Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 8 Feb 2006

Vol. 614 No. 2

Leaders’ Questions.

Today's report from the National Roads Authority makes shocking reading. According to this survey, the level of speeding has increased by 800%. Every single-decker bus and almost every articulated truck is speeding on our motorways. Just over half of secondary school pupils wear seat belts while travelling in the back of cars.

There is an obvious link between the slaughter on the roads and the findings in this report. Deaths on our roads have risen substantially over the past few years. There were 335 such deaths in 2003, 374 in 2004 and 399 in 2005. Already this year, 50 people have lost their lives on Irish roads. In one 24-hour period, eight people died. This is an indication of a national emergency. Had these people lost their lives in a terrorist attack, or whatever, the nation would be in mourning, but as the Irish Independent says today, as it stands, those deaths will inevitably fade from the front pages.

It should be borne in mind that every death on a road is not just another statistic of shame but an unfilled place at a breakfast table or in college, or the absence of a parent to bring a child to school. The Government set out a list of promises nine years ago and it is about time it took serious action to deal with these unwanted and tragic deaths. Responsibility for the roll-out of speed cameras falls between a number of Ministers and Ministries. No-one carries the can or takes responsibility and no-one is seen to be in charge.

The Taoiseach is not responsible for road deaths, nor could he be. It is a matter of driver consideration. However, the Taoiseach and the Government stand indicted, and guilty of the charge of allowing an atmosphere and an environment permeate driving in this country whereby people assume they can get away with driving under the influence of drink or of substance abuse, or with excessive speed. It is about time the Taoiseach took personal charge of this national scandal and litany of shame. I ask him to do so now because one after another, his Ministers have failed miserably in their duty to create that sense of awareness and consideration both for self and for others.

As I said in reply to Deputy Kenny previously, no one can be happy when anyone is killed on our roads. I agree that every road tragedy is a huge loss to a family, a community and a neighbourhood. The rise in road deaths figures over the recent period is a cause of huge regret.

A range of measures is under way. I have been involved in a series of relevant meetings recently, and over the years. Over the past decade we have seen an increase of almost 70% in the number of licensed vehicles using our roads and tragically, from a 40-year low of 335 people killed on the roads in 2003, which I consider 335 deaths too many, road deaths have increased in the past two years, with 374 people killed in 2004 and 399 killed last year. The opening weeks of this year have seen a further high level of road mortality, with 50 deaths though we are only in the first week of February.

Clearly we need to push home the message that 86% of deaths on the roads are caused by driver error. Speeding is the main killer. People must share responsibility and slow down. They must stop drinking and driving. In order to reinforce that message and force a dramatic improvement in driver behaviour we are currently introducing a co-ordinated series of measures in addition to those we have already introduced. We are the first Government to have a dedicated road safety strategy. We have introduced penalty points for speeding and for offences with regard to seat belts, insurance and careless driving. We have established a dedicated Garda traffic corps headed by an assistant commissioner. The number of gardaí assigned to the traffic corps reached 570 at the end of last year, will increase to 805 this year and to its maximum, 1,200, in 2008. We have invested in new, improved, safer roads, at enormous expense, with €1.5 billion being spent annually.

We are also seeing the results of improved enforcement. Though last year was a bad one for road deaths, nearly 300,000 drivers received penalty points, an increase of more than 100,000 on the previous year's figure of 189,000. We are introducing a series of other measures. The legal issues of speed cameras and random sampling have been resolved. As I explained last week, tricky legal issues were involved, but I co-ordinated a meeting which dealt with them. That legislation has been given urgent priority. It will help the Attorney General and the parliamentary draftsman. Hopefully, it will be in the House in this session, which is what I intend.

It gives me no satisfaction. People sometimes argue about the list of the new offences, asking if these penalty points are any use and will they solve the problem. Unfortunately, we are forced into taking these measures. Almost 600 people were dying on our roads 30 years ago when we had half the number of cars. This does not give any satisfaction. The reality is that people are not driving safely, they are taking too many risks and pushing the speed limits. Even though the roads are incrementally better than they were then, we are seeing too many tragedies. The only way we can respond is for gardaí to take measures that will inconvenience people.

The Taoiseach's time has concluded.

We have heard all of this from the Taoiseach before. The late Professor John Kelly used to say in this House that, if one allowed people to drive a tonne of metal down the road regardless of speed limits, there would be serious tragedies. At this point in the year, 50 deaths — eight in 24 hours — is a scandal of national proportions.

The Taoiseach has not implemented what he has talked about. He now tells us the issue of random breath testing is resolved. He gave the most complicated response to a question in this House last week, which has caused complete confusion between lawyers, the public, gardaí and members of the Government. The random breath testing issue is not resolved. There is no reform of driver education and no national programme for young drivers and non-nationals driving in this country, where they must drive on the left-hand side of the road rather than the right-hand side. Why have we got 425,000 people on provisional driving licences? Why is there a waiting list of over 53 weeks in many centres? Surely this is evidence of complete incompetence by whoever is in charge.

On the roll out of penalty points, referred to by the Taoiseach and promised by the Government, four offences covered eight years. There is complete inconsistency in the whole business of speed limits, from 60 km/h to 100 km/h. For example, the limit is 100 km/h outside some schools. Every piece of roadway where major contractors contracted with the NRA or local authorities are nothing short of obstacle courses.

The Deputy's time has concluded.

What about the number of deaths in cases where people have crashed into roadworks, where there is confusion due to lack of consistency?

It is about time the Taoiseach takes personal charge of seeing that this is done. It is a matter that the Government can do and achieve. A sense of awareness can be given to people. Anybody taking a motorcycle, car, lorry, articulated truck, bus, other vehicle or using the public roadways should understand that they have personal responsibility and rights to show due consideration for others and the law of the land. The Taoiseach should, for once, take charge of the half dozen Ministries that have failed utterly to create an environment and atmosphere of respect for others and understanding for the law. In that sense, it is time for action, leadership and enforcement. Lives depend on it.

Deputies

Hear, hear.

We are the first Government to have a national safety strategy and most of the issues mentioned by Deputy Kenny in regard to training, young people receiving reports and gardaí visiting them all happen.

I will go back over what is taking place because the Government is not sitting back. We are introducing measures to reduce driver test waiting times and we have made a critical contribution to road safety and improved driving behaviour. Ministers have announced those schemes already. We are rolling out more penalty point offences from 1 April.

The Government will not.

The Minister for Transport has announced a further 31 penalty point offences, which will bring the total number to 35. We are establishing a road safety authority and bringing forward a Bill to provide private speed cameras. Cameras must be properly located at accident black spots. A new system must be designed to save lives, not raise revenues. A point was made in this House in recent weeks about that matter. Camera suppliers must be answerable to the Garda.

We are introducing legislation to provide for the establishment of random breath testing, to which drivers will be required to submit. What we said last week and what has been given to the Garda has not created any confusion other than people wanting to raise a point about it. The only argument is people trying to say the Garda cannot have random check points. The Garda can have random check points. It is a different issue to random breath testing and we are making the legal provision so they can have random breath testing. The Attorney General has given his views to the Garda. The Commissioner has been before a committee of the Houses and said the Garda is satisfied with the position. We must now bring it forward in legislation.

We have established a high level road safety group to co-ordinate the Ministers for Transport, Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Finance, Health and Children and Education and Science. I have already convened that meeting. We must also appeal to the public to take account of these issues as I can see what will happen very quickly. We are putting a large number of gardaí on the roads who will set up check points. It will be very difficult for ordinary law abiding people on the roads, who will see a far greater number of gardaí. Unfortunately, if we have the number of road deaths that we do, we must impose this measure without fear or favour.

The Government will not.

It will create problems and Members of this House will hear people giving out about it, as they already do about some of the new provisions. We will deal with that matter.

What about the real problem?

We have told the Garda to enforce in numbers and enforce the law. It will create its own difficulties but I agree we cannot allow a situation where 50 people have died in the first five or so weeks of this year.

It has happened.

Even as we speak.

Less talk, more action.

The Taoiseach's time has concluded.

What is the Government's attitude to the proposed sale of the Great Southern Hotels? What is Government policy on the matter? The Taoiseach is very familiar with the contribution made down the years by the Great Southern Hotels and is aware of the very high quality service provided there. He appreciates that they have been a key piece of the tourism infrastructure of the country for very many years and will agree with me that they have tended to be passed from Billy to Jack in recent years. For example, the contribution the hotels made to the training of high skilled staff was, at one stage, more than the contribution made by the rest of the entire hotel sector.

I was contacted this morning by people in Killarney, not all of whom were of my particular persuasion, as they put it to me, to remind me of the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism's pledge before the election that the hotels would not be sold. I was horrified to hear that, on local radio this morning, he seemed to resile from that position.

He now seems to be saying the hotels are loss makers and, therefore, it is a decision for the Minister for Transport, Deputy Cullen.

The Lord save us.

We know what will happen there. We will be very lucky if he does not erect tolls at the entrances to all the Great Southern Hotels.

I will take up the two points advanced for this decision. One relates to — shock, horror — approximately €6 million in accumulated losses. In yesterday's debate I pointed out to the Taoiseach that the previous day's report stated that €125 million was foregone in tax to new hotels.

The Deputy's time has concluded.

The accumulated losses in this case are €6 million. Let it be remembered that, contrary to the impression being put about, these hotels never got State subvention except at one stage in the 1980s when the State debt needed to be cleared, largely taxes due to the State at the time. That is the full extent —€6 million in accumulated losses compared to our willingness to give €125 million for the construction of new hotels. That is the financial record. Dublin Airport Authority has never made any secret of the fact that it did not want these hotels. It never permitted reinvestment to the extent needed as this would take up its borrowing capacity. They always made plain that they did not want it. The same situation obtained in CERT, where there was never a clear commitment to develop and invest in these hotels and establish necessary international linkages.

I appreciate Deputy Rabbitte's acknowledgement of my support for and knowledge of this group. Debts were cleared in the 1980s and the group was given a clean bill of health.

It was starved of investment.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s it was given the go ahead to redevelop a number of their hotels. Subsequently it set up new hotels, including the Great Southern Hotel at the airport, which is now the flagship hotel. They were given permission to invest in the Derry and Cork hotels and to refurbish the Corrib, Eyre Square, Parknasilla and Killarney hotels. Despite these efforts the group has continued to have trading difficulties. Accumulated debt is €40 million and rising. The Corrib, Galway and Rosslare hotels represent a serious strain on the group and only the airport hotel is operating with reasonable success. Even in this hotel wage costs are uncompetitive and the classic hotels of Parknasilla, Killarney and Eyre Square need major capital investment and retrenchment. A number of difficulties have continued for several years and I have continued to speak with staff, management and unions over the past few years.

The board of the Great Southern Hotel Group has decided to sell the hotels as a going concern. The Dublin Airport Authority fully endorses the decision and the Government as shareholder has been kept fully informed of these issues. I have made the point to the chairman of the Dublin Airport Authority and to the Minister that it is important to engage with staff and staff interests to deal with these as a going concern and keep them as hotels in so far as is possible, keeping as many staff employed as possible, if not extending employment.

The reality is that the hotels are not going where they need to go. The Government assessment is that the orderly disposal of the hotels as a going concern offers the best opportunity for them to reach full potential in a niche market to which they are best suited. This will enable hotels to contribute to tourism in the community. The Great Southern Hotel Group has engaged advisers to assist in the orderly disposal. The Minister will meet staff interests in the next few days to discuss how we can assist in this process.

Shame on the Taoiseach.

I am not sure how the Taoiseach can reconcile his opening remarks supporting the contribution of 800 staff in the Great Southern Hotel Group with his conclusion that he purports to sell the hotels in the manner described, keeping them as far as possible as hotels. That clearly means the inevitable will happen and some will be developed for property speculation, for which they are ideal sites, as opposed to being an element of the tourism infrastructure that disperses tourism around the country to areas that would otherwise suffer.

I am amazed the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism can facilitate this and that the Fianna Fáil Party can be dictated to by the Progressive Democrats. An obscure, unelected Senator ranted and raved this morning on the merits of selling the hotels. The Taoiseach referred to losses of €6 million in a hotel chain that has been starved of the capacity to make the necessary investment. The second element seems to be the high proportion of staff costs as compared to turnover. The staff are the leading, most professional, highest skilled staff in the tourism sector. That is a fact and if the argument is that they should be replaced by cheaper staff and the hotels sold for property speculation, it is a disgrace.

That is what will happen at a time when we need, more than ever, to disperse the tourism figures across the west of Ireland. Some major facilities that have played a major role in the past are to be sold for property development. Eyre Square sits on the edge of a 13 acre site, while the Killarney Great Southern Hotel and others are ideal for property speculation. I am amazed at the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, who made a pledge to the people of Killarney and staff a few years ago. The Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Ó Cuív, Tadhg an dá thaobh, has been running around speaking from both sides of his mouth about the two hotels in Galway.

This is a bad day for tourism and a bad day for Fianna Fáil when it is being dictated to by the Progressive Democrats' wish to put everything in the State sector under the hammer rather than creating a stand alone vehicle for these hotels where investment can be made, linked to an international brand to bring tourism to Ireland, using marketing skills to disperse tourism from the east coast and Dublin to the west of Ireland.

The Great Southern Hotels Group has had every opportunity over the past 20 years and support from various Governments to assist it. At a time when we have the highest number of tourists in the country, 6.5 million last year, the hotel group unfortunately lost between €7 million and €8 million. Accumulated losses amount to €40 million. The hotel at Dublin airport, which is coming under increasing opposition because of three new hotels that have opened in the area, needs capital to expand and develop. If we have a genuine interest, as I, Deputy Rabbitte and other Members of the House have, in trying to protect jobs in this group, it is by making——

The Labour Party will realise that at the peak of tourism business, when there are more tourists than ever in the country, and a business is losing €8 million per year, with accumulated debts of €40 million, it cannot go on.

There have been roadworks outside one of the hotels for two years.

The decision was taken by the board of the Great Southern Hotel Group.

Fianna Fáil hacks appointed by the Taoiseach.

The Dublin Airport Authority, which is doing a very good job, believes this is the correct decision.

Speculators will buy it.

I hope most of these hotels will continue to be hotels as I have always thought they have much potential.

Will tax breaks be provided for them?

Hopefully they will generate the same interest as the huge number of hotels we have seen built in Killarney, Dublin, Cork and Wexford, so they will be able to continue.

One of €25 million——

They are being built with taxpayers' money.

In the meantime, the Government will work with the trade union interests and the workers to try to make the best decisions for their interests and protection in the future.

The Taoiseach is aware, as is every member of the Dáil and the Seanad and as are people throughout the country, that a woman has been protesting outside this institution day and night for several months, making what I and many see as a courageous stand for justice. She is undoubtedly an exceptional woman. If anyone took the time to stop and talk with her, that would be confirmed.

Marie Therese O'Loughlin confirms that she was a victim of neglect and serious injury in what has become known as the Morning Star hostel in Dublin. She alleges she was disgracefully ill-treated as a child in that institution. However, she has been denied access to the redress process because the Government deemed that the so-called Morning Star hostel does not fall within the remit of the residential institutions redress board.

Last evening I received a letter from the Taoiseach, comprising a cover note with an accompanying letter from the Department of Health and Children, having raised the matter of Marie Therese O'Loughlin's case with him. The letter from the Department of Health and Children states clearly that the Regina Coeli hostel, which is the same institution as that referred to popularly as the Morning Star, was subject to inspection and regulation by the Department of Health and Children. It states that a search of files related to the Regina Coeli hostel revealed that there was evidence of an inspection or regulatory function by the Department in regard to the hostel.

This information was previously rejected here. In this correspondence, the Department of Health and Children has confirmed that as far back as April 2005 it advised the Department of Education and Science that there was an inspection responsibility and it was carried out. The letter also states that as far back as April 2005, the Department of Health and Children asked the Department of Education and Science to consider including this institution under the Residential Institutions Redress Act, a step that would allow Marie Therese the opportunity of stating her case before the board, seeking redress and to at last be heard.

The Department of Education and Science continues to refuse what the Department of Health and Children as far back as April 2005 commended to that Department. There is a scandal here where justice is being denied to an unfortunate woman. Will the Taoiseach intervene directly in this matter? Will he ensure through his good offices that the Department of Education and Science takes the appropriate steps in order that this poor woman's case can be properly heard and that her health and well-being continuing at risk outside the gates of this House are recognised, addressed and served by an immediate answer?

I answered this question and I have sent correspondence to Deputies on this case. Marie Therese O'Loughlin is a fine person. Most Members of the House at one stage or another have spoken to her. Many officials have also spoken to her and to me regarding this case over many months. I answered questions on the detail of the case.

There is no point in going over old ground to confuse the issue of what was the basis of inspections. She was in the Regina Coeli hostel. Hostels are specifically excluded in the legislation passed by this House. That is the point and all the other points are irrelevant. As I stated previously, it is not good enough that one was in an institution under the Act, one must have been abused in an institution. That is the kernel of the cases. Marie Therese O'Loughlin was in another institution that is listed.

The Taoiseach's response in repeating the mantra that he employed here before does not answer the questions put to him or the immediacy and importance of meeting Marie Therese O'Loughlin's case. This was not an overnight hostel as his choice of language would imply. Marie Therese O'Loughlin spent four and a half years of her young life in that institution. It can be described as nothing else. She was there for four and a half years because she was too young to be placed in any other institution at that time.

The reality is that if the Taoiseach is going to stick to his interpretation of the Act and its application and employed by the Minister for Education and Science, there is a bounden responsibility on him to amend the legislation to allow this institution to be included and Marie Therese's case, and the case of any other legitimately presenting, to be heard before the redress board. There is no other answer the Taoiseach can give.

When a Department, one strangely enough under the control of the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children, commends to the Taoiseach's party colleague, the Minister for Education and Science, to take this course of action more than nine months ago, it is not satisfactory that the Taoiseach gets up in this House this morning and continues to kick to touch. It is not acceptable and on behalf of all who seek justice in Marie Therese's case, and all others who deserve to be heard, I ask the Taoiseach once again will he directly intervene? Will he take the appropriate steps to have this case properly met and this poor woman's case heard within the redress process?

I have every sympathy for Marie Therese McLoughlin——

Her name is O'Loughlin.

Marie Therese O'Loughlin. I am duty bound to comply with the procedures. I cannot make up laws or switch laws on my feet to suit cases. I made this point several times to several Deputies and Senators to convey the message. The position is that the two Departments have extensively examined all of their records, files and archives to see whether inspections were carried out at the Regina Coeli hostel, the section of it that was a mother and baby home. There were not.

That is not true.

Deputy Ó Caoláin must resume his seat.

In the letter the Taoiseach sent me yesterday——

The Deputy had his opportunity. The Taoiseach has been called.

The Taoiseach cannot turn the truth on its head.

I ask the Deputy to resume his seat.

I ask the Taoiseach to withdraw that statement.

The Deputy should listen to the answer.

I ask Deputy Ó Caoláin to allow the Taoiseach to answer.

On a point of order, the Taoiseach is misleading the House.

If the Deputy listens to what I was about to state——

I heard exactly what the Taoiseach stated.

The Deputy did not listen. He heard the first word.

I heard every word the Taoiseach stated.

Allow the Taoiseach to speak without interruption.

I said there were no inspections in the home that was part of the hostel, and there were not. The records were extensively checked through an enormous amount of effort by officials in both Departments to see whether inspections were carried out in the mother and baby home that was part of the hostel. Approximately 30 Deputies have asked me questions on this matter and I asked the Departments to investigate it. There were no inspections and no amount of emotion or shouting will change that position.

It was an integral part——

I am giving the Deputy the position. Apart from that, hostels are specifically excluded from the legislation passed by this House. It is unfair and unreasonable for Deputies to go out to Marie Therese and suggest something can happen when it cannot. The point I have made, and of which I think the Deputies are aware, is that I cannot say what applications have been made or mention other institutions. Marie Therese was in another institution which is listed.

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