Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 1 Feb 2007

Vol. 630 No. 4

Adjournment Debate.

Stardust Disaster.

Mr. Broughan

It is disappointing but, unfortunately, not surprising that just a couple of days before the 26th anniversary of the horrific Stardust inferno I am raising the issue once again in this House. At this exact time last year, I expressed my hope that all the pious words we were hearing from the Government about commemorating the victims and survivors of this unprecedented disaster would be turned into concrete action to achieve justice and closure for relatives of the families of the 48 young people who tragically lost their lives in February 1981 and the people of Coolock, Raheny, Donaghmede and Artane in the Dublin North East constituency. Instead, however, the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste have engaged in a despicable game of stonewalling in their responses throughout the past year to the Stardust Relatives and Victims Committee. At the start of business this morning, I sought to adjourn the Dáil to urgently discuss the ongoing impasse between the Government and the Stardust committee but my request was ruled out of order.

Last November, a detailed memorandum was submitted to the Taoiseach and Tánaiste thoroughly outlining the reasons for the request by the Stardust committee for a new commission of inquiry into the fire disaster of St. Valentine's Day, 1981. On 14 December, I was told in the Dáil by the Tánaiste that a "response to the Stardust Relatives and Victims Committee is imminent". On the following day, the Stardust committee's solicitor, Mr. Greg O'Neill, was also informed that a response to the memorandum was about to be sent from the Taoiseach and Tánaiste. The Stardust committee and its legal representatives were informed about the moves to positively identify the five remaining unidentified victims of the Stardust tragedy, for which the committee and the families concerned are deeply grateful. However, on the core substantive issue of reopening the flawed conclusions of the Stardust tribunal report, there has been a disgraceful lack of progress.

The last written communication from the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform to Mr. O'Neill and the committee, on 15 December, referred to the need for further consultation and seemed to conclude that the new material submitted in the memorandum had not been persuasive enough to justify another inquiry. The Taoiseach and Tánaiste referred to the possibility of an external and independent examination of the memorandum and the case of the Stardust Victims and Relatives Committee by an eminent legal person. This occurred almost seven weeks ago and the 26th anniversary of the Stardust tragedy is now less than two weeks away.

I have been informed by the Stardust Victims Committee of its deep frustration at the continual prevarication by the Taoiseach and Tánaiste and of its intention to resume protests outside Government Buildings next Wednesday. It is appalling that a dedicated group of people who have suffered so much should be treated in this obstructive manner by the Taoiseach and Tánaiste. Why are they continuing to treat the Stardust families in this appallingly disrespectful manner? Why will they not carry through on their commitments? Why do they keep making and then breaking deadlines for decisions? The committee is rightly fearful that the Government is putting this issue off until after the general election and that if the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats coalition is returned to office, no more will be heard of justice for the Stardust committee and the people it represents.

I call for the immediate appointment of an eminent legal person acceptable to the Stardust committee to re-examine the memorandum and new evidence submitted. Such an investigation should take place over a strict timeframe comprising a limited number of weeks. A decision should be made to convene a new commission of inquiry that would reopen the unjust and unsafe conclusions of the original 1982 Stardust tribunal of inquiry. It is no wonder the Stardust committee recently indicated it is prepared to take its case to the European Court of Human Rights as it has become increasingly obvious that it will gain not a shred of justice in this jurisdiction even after nearly 26 years and with countrywide support for their case.

It is shocking and a strong indictment of the Taoiseach's lethargy on this issue that heroic women such as Ms Christine Keegan and her daughter Antoinette who lost so many members of their family because of this tragedy, with their colleagues, Ms Gertrude Barrett and others, still need to go out and protest in hail, rain and snow outside Government Buildings nearly 26 years later to try to ascertain the truth of what happened on 14 February 1981. As the Minister of State knows, there have been a series of reports about the issue in recent years starting with the famous book They Never Came Home: The Stardust Story by two young northside journalists, Neil Fetherstonhaugh and Tony McCullough. There was the famous “Prime Time Investigates” programme. Many representatives like me have received additional information and we feel that it is time this matter was brought to a just conclusion.

Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. Fahey)

At the outset, let me say there is no need for the relatives to go out and protest at this stage. As the Deputy is aware, considerable progress has been made on the matter. Both the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste are most anxious that the process be concluded as quickly as possible. Following the meetings held with representatives of the victims with the director of the forensic science laboratory, the committee indicated that it would follow up with some final observations, which could be added to the material already under examination.

The extent of the detail and the complexity of the issues, however, were such that the examination of the technical and legal questions arising required more time than was originally anticipated. This examination concluded in December and a considered written response to the memorandum issued to the committee's solicitor on 15 December. I do not need to go into the exact detail as the Deputy is aware of it. The committee's solicitor was also informed that the Taoiseach, having consulted with the Tánaiste, would be willing to arrange for an external and independent examination of the committee's submission by an eminent legal person. Such an examination would include a full opportunity for the victim's committee to present and explain the points raised in its submission. The findings of this consideration would then further inform the deliberations on this issue. The precise arrangements and mechanisms of this examination are the subject of discussions with the committee's solicitor and the Tánaiste expects that it should be possible to finalise these shortly. The committee will have a meaningful opportunity to present its case to the independent examiner and the details of this arrangement can of course be worked out in consultation with the committee.

The Deputy will also be aware that, at the same time, arrangements have been made to put in place a process intended to lead to the identification of the five unidentified victims. This process is well advanced and the families in question are being kept fully informed and provided with access to counselling services, according to their wishes. Preparatory works at St. Fintan's Cemetery are in hand and it is expected that the exhumations will take place next week. This exercise will be followed by DNA analysis which should produce results in approximately two months. There are no guarantees that a successful identification will be possible but I am sure everyone in this House will join with the Tánaiste and me in wishing the families well during this difficult time.

I am aware of the Deputy's keen interest in the matter and I appeal to him that it is not necessary for any further protest. The Tánaiste and the Taoiseach are particularly committed to seeing this process through and everything is being done to ensure it happens as quickly as possible.

Schools Building Projects.

Mr. Callanan

I thank the Minister of State for waiting here to hear us so late this evening. A public meeting was held in St. Catherine's school in Aughrim in my parish. There has been a campaign to get a new school in the area for some time. I support the parents and teachers in their campaign to get a new school. The old school is outdated owing to the increased numbers and the change to modern teaching. The number of pupils will increase from 70 to 130 next year. As the existing school was built in 1948 and cannot be extended further, a new school is needed.

The school was previously earmarked for demolition under the original plan for the N6. However, the route of the N6 was changed and the school's demolition was no longer included in the plans. The school was offered €300,000 in 2005 under the devolved scheme to build a further three rooms. Under examination with the parents and Department officials it was decided that this would not meet the forecasted needs and the plan was dropped. The school has five mainstream teachers, two resource teachers and a full-time support teacher. Some of these teachers are working out of a tiny cloakroom and a hallway, and the question of safety owing to overcrowding arises.

We received a letter from the Department stating that the school planning section had completed its reassessment of the application and considered that in the long term St. Catherine's national school would require a principal and eight mainstream class teachers and ancillary staff. The project is being progressed on this basis. However, we need the Minister to ensure that the technical team visit the school as quickly as possible to decide whether to build a new school or a huge extension. I believe a new school is the only way forward. However, it is the technical team that must make the decision. Aughrim is a developing area and the population will further increase.

Mr. Fahey

As the Deputy has said, under the permanent accommodation scheme 2005 the school authority was offered funding of €300,000. It was agreed that this would not proceed and the school would be delivered by the traditional method, in line with the project's priority band rating.

Officials in the Department of Education and Science have recently completed their reassessment of projected enrolments and have determined that the long-term projected staffing for St. Catherine's national school in Aughrim will be for a principal and eight mainstream teachers and this has been notified to the school authorities. The project will be progressed in the context of the school building and modernisation programme. I will inform the Minister for Education and Science of the views expressed by the Deputy about the very poor condition of the school. We will ask the Minister to try to have the project team visit the school as quickly as possible with a view to starting the architectural planning work.

Animal Welfare.

Mr. Gregory

In the first instance I am referring specifically to the Ward Union Hunt treatment of a deer at Kildalkey village school just over a week ago. In full view of a number of witnesses, including parents, children and local people, the stag was hunted into a school yard. A pack of savage hounds was set on the stag. The stag was clearly terrified and exhausted. It was then hunted out on to the public road and was finally pursued by men in a jeep until it collapsed. I pay tribute to RTE's "Liveline" show for drawing attention to the issue in great detail. The Minister and those responsible for issuing licences to the Ward Union Hunt would prefer if it got as little publicity as possible.

There is considerable significance in this incident. The reaction to Joe Duffy's radio show demonstrated that the majority of people were outraged, including those who saw the incident and those who heard direct local accounts of it. There were no agendas here — these were local people who simply saw what happened. People were outraged that this type of activity is licensed by a Minister and is regarded as acceptable law and practice. Anybody listening to the account of the treatment of the unfortunate deer knows it is not an acceptable practice and it is time it was brought to an end.

The event as it was described by those who saw it must be considered in context. The deer hunted by the Ward Union Hunt are well known to be tame domesticated animals. For that reason, departmental wildlife inspectors have sent memoranda to the Minister telling him that these deer should not be hunted and that licences should not be granted to anyone to hunt them.

The Protection of Animals Act 1911 expressly forbids terrorising or causing unnecessary suffering to any domesticated animal. That is the law. There are many witnesses available if the Minister wishes to have this matter properly investigated. The Ward Union Hunt is the only hunt, North or South, with a licence to supposedly hunt but, in fact, to terrorise domesticated animals. Hunting is outlawed in the North of our country. There is clear evidence that this causes unnecessary suffering to those animals. The Protection of Animals Act expressly forbids that to happen.

Some of us believe that this practice has not been outlawed in this part of Ireland despite being expressly forbidden in the 1911 Act because the Ward Union Hunt is controlled by some of the richest, most powerful and influential developers and business men in the country. Lest I be accused of not declaring it, I had better say that I have the honour to be the national vice president of the Irish Council against Blood Sports. With that organisation I have monitored the Ward Union Hunt and its activities. I have raised this issue several times in this House. I have seen at first hand that an unfortunate animal, a deer, raised on a farm, treated like any farm animal, is taken from that farm by people who claim to be some sort of huntsmen and set loose. A pack of hounds, people on horseback, others in jeeps and on quad bikes and so on then terrorise that animal by chasing it through barbed wire fences and ditches until it is covered in a lather of its own sweat and blood from cuts and scratches received from the barbed wire and fences, and is pursued to exhaustion. If that is not causing suffering to a domesticated animal I do not know what is.

I do not expect any sympathy for this issue from the Minister of State present in the House but I hope that the matter I have raised will be properly and thoroughly investigated and the licence withdrawn until that investigation is complete.

Mr. Fahey

I am taking this debate on behalf of my colleague the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Roche, and I thank the Deputy for raising this matter.

Section 26(1) of the Wildlife Act 1976 as amended——

Mr. Gregory

That caters for wild animals.

Mr. Fahey

——provides that the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government may grant to the master or other person in charge of a pack of stag hounds, a licence authorising the hunting of deer by that pack, during such period as specified in the licence. The current licence held by the Ward Union Hunt expires on 31 March 2007. This licence and all licences issued since 1999, incorporate, among other things, a requirement of compliance with the code of practice agreed in 1999 between the Ward Union Hunt Club, the then Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands and the Department of Agriculture and Food.

It is not open to the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to refuse a licence application for a hunt on grounds of principle. Through the wildlife Acts, the Oireachtas has determined that this activity is, in principle, licensable.

Given this legal position, the Department's proper focus in addressing licence applications is on the hunt's compliance with licence conditions during the term of the previous licence. Veterinary reports, prepared by the veterinary inspector engaged by the Department to inspect the hunt and its compliance with the conditions of the licence, are also taken into account, and as necessary, the Department meets representatives of the applicants to review these matters. The matters referred to by the Deputy, together with public safety concerns, will clearly require discussion with representatives of the hunt shortly.

The question of any further licence for the Ward Union Hunt will be considered in the light of these various factors and of the veterinary inspector's report. Issues relating to animal welfare are the statutory responsibility of the Minister for Agriculture and Food under section 2 of the Protection of Animals (Amendment) Act 1965 and section 1 of the Protection of Animals kept for Farming Purposes Act 1984. In light of what the Deputy has said I will bring his comments to the attention of the Minister for Agriculture and Food and the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government.

School Accommodation.

Mr. Deenihan

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for allowing me raise this matter on the Adjournment. A report issued by the Department of Education and Science in 2002 called for better all round school accommodation for the children of Lixnaw, County Kerry. It stated that the children need better facilities and opportunities to develop. Since 2002 the population of Lixnaw has increased by 39%. Parish records show that baptisms increased from 30 in 2002 to 49 and 51 in 2005 and 2006 respectively. Lixnaw is a dormitory village for Listowel and Tralee. Over the past four years 220 houses have been built in the village, 180 of which are occupied.

The Kerry county development plan shows that Firies and Lixnaw are the two fastest growing rural centres in Kerry. In May 2005 Lixnaw boys' and girls' schools agreed to amalgamate. Their patron, Bishop Murphy, approved the amalgamation. He also said that if the Department pursued a greenfield site, the parish would provide the site, next to the community centre. The location is ideal. This information was communicated to the Department of Education and Science's school planning department on 25 June 2005. Since then, however, nothing has happened.

The Commission on School Accommodation for Kerry North published its report on Friday, 19 January 2007. It concludes that the amalgamation of Lixnaw national schools should be progressed as quickly as possible and that a technical inspection should be arranged by the Department as quickly as possible to further the project. The boys in Lixnaw primary school must learn in unacceptable conditions. The school was built 40 years ago. It has single glazed windows, is impossible to heat in winter and very hot in the summer. There is no canteen and no staff room because that room is used by the learning support teacher. The staff must eat in the sixth class room. Part of the third and fourth class room is used as an office. The main entrance serves several purposes, being used as a cloakroom and by the resource teacher. The play area in the grounds is skimpy and games can be played only on a staggered basis. The hard surface area is very small as a result of which the kids cannot play during the winter months. Two of the present Kerry team came out of this school. The kids are entitled to better facilities because they are very enthusiastic about football and hurling.

A report was published in The Kerryman this week by a local reporter, Donal Nolan, in which he stated that pupils in Lixnaw are being taught in Third World conditions with the resource teacher being forced to teach in the school corridor because of the lack of classroom space. The boys’ national school has been waiting close to two years for a site inspection to be carried out and during this time it has received 11 responses from the Department of Education and Science stating that the Department will be in contact when a date has been set for the inspection. However, nothing has been done yet.

I call on the Minister of State to try to encourage the primary schools section to send an inspector to examine both existing buildings to see if it would be possible to extend them to accommodate the schools in question on either site. Alternatively, he or she could view the third site to which I referred. This would help progress the amalgamation which, I understand, has been given high priority in the context of providing funding for schools. I hope the Minister of State has some good news for the people of Lixnaw.

Mr. Fahey

As regards the proposed amalgamation of the existing boys' and girls' national schools in the Lixnaw area of County Kerry, the schools indicated to the Department of Education and Science that they propose to amalgamate to provide for a single co-education national school to serve the area. Before progressing the project further and to ensure that any capital funding allocated to assist in the amalgamation being provided represents optimal use of resources and is appropriate to meet the schools' long-term accommodation needs, it will be necessary to consider the possibility of using any of the existing buildings before pursuing a greenfield site for a new build project.

The Department, upon request, recently received further technical documentation in respect of the school buildings from the schools. The next step is to carry out a technical investigation of the existing buildings to determine their suitability. When this inspection has been completed, the project will be progressed in the context of the school building and modernisation programme.

Did Deputy Deenihan state that the boys' school was built 30 years ago?

Mr. Deenihan

It was built 40 years ago.

Mr. Fahey

I will bring to the attention of the Minister the points he has made. I do not believe it is a question of an inspector visiting the schools. I am assured by the Minister, however, that a technical examination will be carried out to determine the suitability of both schools before a final decision is made.

The Dáil adjourned at 5.15 p.m. until 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday, 6 February 2007.