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Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 6 Oct 2009

Vol. 690 No. 3

Adjournment Debate.

Job Losses.

On Wednesday, 9 September, the vice president of Irish Flavours and Fragrances came to Drogheda to announce the proposed closure of the plant, with the possible loss of up to 95 jobs, effective from 30 September 2010. This was a serious blow to the workforce and the town. We have lost over 2,000 jobs in manufacturing industries in County Louth in recent years. In Drogheda the famous Coca Cola factory closed, something we thought would be in place forever. There is a really serious problem in the town. The unemployment figure in the county stands at 16,562, and over 8,000 in Drogheda. There are about 6,000 unemployed in Dundalk and about 2,300 in Ardee.

Irish Cement announced this week that it is to cease production for a significant period to allow the economy to recover. This will have a serious effect on those who work in that industry. Workers are getting together in IFF. They are fighting this by meeting the company and IDA Ireland. I acknowledge the help the IDA has provided for both the workers and the company. The workers have put together a document encompassing a significant offer to cut their wages and benefits which would deliver savings in excess of €5 million in the next three years. Cost cutting measures already implemented this year will deliver a further €2 million in savings in the next three years. Substantive but less readily identifiable changes to work practices are also being examined. These will yield significant reductions in the cost of running the Drogheda operation in the coming years. The company is due to respond to this document on Monday, 12 October, but time is running out.

There are 95 people employed at the company in Drogheda, many of whom are in their early to mid-50s and too young to retire but too old to secure new jobs. More worrying is the number of young people in the short service range who may find it difficult to find alternative employment for a significant period. In the absence of any indication from the company that their jobs were in danger, many took on considerable financial burdens such as mortgages and so on in the past few years. They are now very worried about their ability to service these commitments.

Salaries and wages come to about €5.8 million annually, while locally sourced services and supplies bring €4.7 million into the local economy. Therefore, this industry accounts for a figure of €10.5 million locally; therefore, it is very important. On the cost to the State, the estimated cost to the redundancy fund is €1.1 million, the estimated social welfare costs in the first year are €1.85 million, while the total loss to the Exchequer in PAYE and PRSI contributions will be €5.2 million. If the factory closes, the actual cost to the taxpayer will be €8.2 million, something nobody in IFF or Drogheda can accept.

We want constructive dialogue with the Minister and IDA Ireland. We welcome the support the IDA is giving to the workers and the fact that the county manager, the mayor and local community are coming together. There is still time to save the company. It is not closing tomorrow, as the deadline is September 2010. We await the Minister's reply with concern.

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter on the Adjournment. The Tánaiste sends her apologies. I am sure the Deputy is aware of the circumstances.

I am acutely aware of the consequences of the proposal to close the Irish Flavours and Fragrances facility in Drogheda, County Louth. If implemented, the proposal would result in 103 job losses. IDA Ireland is directly engaged with IFF on the matter and has put a proposal to the company which it hopes it will consider. FÁS has also been in contact with IFF to offer assistance. The aim of both agencies is to explore options with IFF which would avoid or alleviate the threatened redundancies. I have asked the IDA to bring local concerns and the concerns of local representatives to the attention of IFF Corporate and use its best endeavours to minimise the impact of a final decision. The IDA believes the Drogheda plant was highly regarded within the overall group. The proposal to close the plant is based on a corporate desire to centralise all manufacturing of fine fragrance products — the segment in which Drogheda is involved — in one location in Europe.

Aside from the IFF situation, IDA Ireland is actively marketing County Louth as a location for industrial development. This year there was a robust programme of site visits to assess the county for investment, from which it is hoped some significant wins will result. The IDA has two very significant site portfolios in County Louth, with business parks in Dundalk and Drogheda. It has secured planning permission for two biopharma facilities in the Dundalk science and technology park. These will be used to aggressively market the county in what is now one of the most significant sectors globally.

On a broader policy level, the Government has been responding to the economic downturn and taken numerous initiatives which will benefit regions affected by or threatened with job losses. In particular, the Tánaiste and her Ministers of State have been closely involved in promoting measures to improve competitiveness, stabilise industrial employment and output, and strengthen labour market activation policies. Cost competitiveness is a key factor in determining a location for business. It is important, therefore, that we achieve greater cost competitiveness in Ireland. For most exporting firms, labour costs account for more than half their input costs. We have recently seen a 7% competitiveness gain in unit labour costs. Although it is a painful adjustment, a reduction in unit labour costs, delivered through pay reform, will strengthen our longer term competitiveness. The European Union estimates that Irish unit labour costs will fall by 4% this year, compared with a 3% increase in the Union on average, translating into a significant improvement in competitiveness.

There has also been downward movement in energy prices. In May this year there was an average 10% drop in electricity prices for residents and small and medium enterprises, while gas prices were reduced by an average of 12%. The CER recently announced that it would hold down prices for large energy users. In early September it announced a 0.4% decrease for small businesses and a more significant 5.5% decrease for medium-sized enterprises from October.

Both the NCB manufacturing and services purchasing managers' indices are showing a sustained period of decline in input costs for businesses in Ireland. The decline in Irish inflation reached -5.9% in the year to July, the sharpest fall since the early 1930s. Property and land prices are also falling, which is an advantage in terms of lower rents or property costs in the attraction of new FDI projects and also for indigenous businesses seeking to set up or expand. The OECD has predicted mild deflation in Ireland for the next two years. This will maintain the current downward pressure on wages and prices.

The National Competitiveness Council published its annual competitiveness report in August. The report states we retain a wide range of competitive strengths. These include a young and well educated workforce, growing levels of research and development activity, a modern internationally trading enterprise base and a long track record as a successful location for overseas investors. However, we must redouble our efforts to ensure the economy becomes more competitive in order that Ireland will be in a position to benefit from a global recovery when it emerges. In fact, there are some indications that the global downturn has reversed. The price of oil has gone up in the past few days and there is now an acknowledgment that the world may have come out of the current downward spiral, particularly those nations in the G20. For example, Australia raised its interest rates today, which is an indication that some economies are reaching a plateau and coming out of the recession. As an open trading economy we are vulnerable to downward trends, but equally there are opportunities in upward trends. Hopefully, we will see these opportunities over the next period. This hope is being lived up to in the increase in exports. I understand the concerns the Deputy raised in the context of the IFF workers. We will urge the IDA to engage with the company to address the issues and see what supports can be brought forward to address the concerns of the Deputy and the workers.

Health Services.

I wish to share my time with Deputy Dan Neville.

I take this opportunity to raise an important matter for my constituency, namely, the absence of the required medical cover in the rehabilitation unit of St. Ita's community hospital, Newcastle West. This is a fine community hospital that has served the people of west Limerick over many years. St. Ita's covers west Limerick and St. Camillus's covers east Limerick. St. Ita's is a little remote from the main centre of medical attention, Limerick Regional Hospital, and has experienced difficulty with regard to cover over the past number of months. This puts the consultant geriatrician in a very difficult position, because he must now decide what category of patient to place in the fine rehabilitation unit in Newcastle West. He must be extremely careful because of the risk involved. I understand the families of the patients going there now have to sign a disclaimer. It is not right that this should happen because we lack medical cover and have no extra facility.

The situation is that people are transferred to St. Ita's having been acutely ill in Limerick Regional Hospital. Approximately 350 patients per year are transferred to the acute rehabilitation unit in the Newcastle West hospital and as a result no bed is being blocked in the Limerick Regional Hospital. What reward do we get from the HSE for this? We get no reward or credit but only suffer a lack in medical cover. As a result, the risk is increasing all the time. I appeal to the HSE to try to ensure when allocating resources that we save this unit.

I do not want to use threatening language or frighten people about the future of the unit, but we must stand up and demand the necessary, additional medical resources required. We must stand up and fight for the provision of a basic extra facility, rather than wrap elderly patients in a blanket in the middle of the night, throw them into an ambulance and transfer them 25 miles to Limerick Regional Hospital. That should not happen. Just a small amount of resources would go a long way towards ensuring we can maintain this fantastic service for the elderly people of west Limerick. I appeal to the Minister to intervene with the HSE to try to ensure we arrive at a solution.

We are doing all the right things. I sat on the health board with the Acting Chairman for many years, where we raised the case because we felt we were coming from a low base. We did not have the required level of consultants or staff in our hospital, but we always did the right thing and brought our budget in on time. But for the good graces of the people involved in St. Ita's hospital, the geriatrician David Clynch, the matron, Eileen O'Connor, Sr. Eileen Crowley who heads the rehabilitative unit and all the nursing staff and others there, the unit would not be operating now. Their efforts should be acknowledged and the necessary supports put in place.

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate. I fully agree that an excellent service is provided by the acute rehabilitation unit in St. Ita's hospital. This service induces efficiency in the mid-west regional hospital by ensuring the level of beds available for the elderly in that hospital is accommodated by the service from the acute rehabilitation unit of St. Ita's in Newcastle West. This is now under threat. A reduction in the number of senior house officers means a lack of medical facilities which creates a difficulty for the service and for Dr. David Clynch and his support team and for transferring patients to the acute rehabilitation unit.

It is wrong that somebody should have to sign a disclaimer in order to receive this excellent service in Newcastle West. It is also unacceptable that people in the hinterland of Newcastle West, which includes most of my constituency, will now not have the services of the rehabilitation unit available locally. I have personal experience of a member of my family being in that unit and of the excellent service it provided in allowing people return to their communities as a result of rehabilitation without which they would have had to go into long-term care.

The absence of the required medical cover will create a situation in the medium term where this facility will probably be discontinued. This is not acceptable to us. Not providing the cover is false accounting because closing the unit will cost the HSE more in resources than keeping it open. Patient treatment in the mid-west will also cost more. Some 350 patients are transferred to the unit each year. We want to retain this excellent service and call on the Minister and HSE to ensure we do.

I apologise on behalf of the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney, who is unable to attend. I am taking the debate in her place. I thank Deputies Cregan and Neville for raising this issue. It provides me with an opportunity to update the House on this matter and to outline the background to the current situation and the action taken by the Health Service Executive.

As Deputies are aware, Government policy is to support older people to live in dignity and independence in their own homes and communities for as long as possible. Where this is not feasible, the health service supports access to quality long-term residential care, where this is appropriate. The Health Service Executive has operational responsibility for the delivery of health and social services, including facilities such as the rehabilitation unit at St. Ita's community hospital.

St. Ita's hospital was built in 1841 and certain developments have taken place there over the years, including the provision of the rehabilitation unit which opened in 1992. This was as an eight-bed inpatient unit which also provided day hospital services three days a week. The medical needs of the rehabilitation unit were provided for under the leadership of a consultant geriatrician. In 2001, in response to increasing needs, the service was expanded to include 14 acute rehabilitation beds. The outpatient services are provided through a day hospital, the medical clinic and therapy services.

Early in 2008, a number of perceived risks at St. Ita's hospital were raised with the Department, including the question of 24-hour medical cover. On foot of this approach, the Department requested a report from the Health Service Executive on the services provided at St. Ita's. Consequently, an assessment of risks in St. Ita's has been completed and a risk register is being prepared which will incorporate an implementation plan.

The Health Service Executive's national service developments for older people, 2008, identified the need for four consultant-led community geriatrician teams, one team per HSE administrative area. The team for the HSE west is based in Limerick and will incorporate two medical posts, one consultant and one specialist registrar. The medical posts will allow for some additional medical cover to be provided to St. Ita's hospital by the full medical team in the Mid-Western Regional Hospital. The Health Service Executive has advised that interviews for the community consultant geriatrician recently took place. Appointments will take place on a "joint appointment" basis to both the acute and primary, community and continuing care, PCCC, service. It is envisaged that strong clinical links between the hospital and community will continue to be developed and this will enable care to be streamlined to best meet the needs of the individual.

In addition, I understand that detailed discussions have taken place between relevant staff of the Health Service Executive and the hospital with regard to addressing the particular issue of service provision. The capacity of the executive to provide approved levels of services continues to be reviewed in the context of overall resources available. It is incumbent on each local health manager to ensure that services, including rehabilitation services such as at St. Ita's, are delivered within allocated budgets. This includes any decision on prioritising and providing additional rehabilitation cover at this particular location. This requires a stringent ongoing review of the application of the resources.

The Government is committed to the development of comprehensive rehabilitation services across the country. As I have outlined to the House, the Department of Health and Children will continue to work with the Health Service Executive to advance this objective. This includes any decision on prioritising and providing additional rehabilitation cover at this location. It requires a stringent ongoing review of the application of the resources.

The Government is clearly committed to the development of comprehensive rehabilitation services across the country and I have outlined to the House that the Department of Health and Children will continue to work with the HSE to advance this objective.

Hospital Staff.

There are glaring deficiencies in the provision of dermatology services in the south east. The appalling situation at present is that one consultant dermatologist is single-handedly providing a service for a population 460,000 people. Comhairle na nOspidéal having consulted the literature relating to dermatology service provision in the UK, North America and Australia published a report in November 2003 recommending that there should be one dermatologist per 100,000 population. The greater Dublin area has the lion's share of consultant dermatologists. The south east which has the largest population outside Dublin remains the only region with only one consultant dermatologist.

Clinics are provided in Waterford Regional Hospital, Wexford General Hospital, South Tipperary General Hospital and St. Luke's Hospital Kilkenny. There are more than 3,500 patients waiting two to three years for a routine hospital appointment in the south east. While it is likely that this list will be somewhat reduced if validated, there are long lists for routine problems and patients are suffering. There is a weekly paediatric dermatology clinic with a current waiting list of six months.

Some general practitioners on the periphery of the region refer their patients to Cork Limerick and Dublin. These centres increasingly refuse to accept referrals from outside their regions which adds to the pressure on the inadequate provision in the south east region. Ever increasing incidents of all forms of skin cancer take up a considerable amount of time at the department. The dermatology department in Waterford is small and inadequate, with one consultant dermatologist, one specialist trainee registrar, a specialist nurse and two nurses, who job share. The department removes approximately 700 cancers annually. The department runs a pigmented liaison mole clinic for the early detection of melanoma and provides a mole mapping service.

There is also a multi-disciplinary head and neck skin cancer clinic run in conjunction with the local ophthalmic plastic surgeon and an eye and ear surgeon, all of which generate surgical activity. Waterford is one of the few centres in the 26 counties which provides photodynamic therapy, a non-invasive treatment of superficial skin cancers.

This all amounts to a work load that is way too much for one consultant dermatologist. Added to this is the fact that no suitable locum dermatologist has been available in recent years to provide cover for the annual and study leave of the consultant dermatologist in Waterford.

Skin disease impacts on quality of life, interpersonal relationships and even job prospects. For the past 12 years this situation in Waterford and the south east has been ignored. This appalling situation cannot be allowed to continue and requires immediate and decisive corrective action. I call on the Minister for Health and Children to take urgent action to ensure that there are additional dermatologists and back-up teams appointed forthwith to the south east region within the HSE south, with the appropriate required accommodation.

I am again taking this item on the Adjournment Debate on behalf of the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney.

The Government is committed to ensuring quality health services, delivered efficiently and effectively. Ensuring patient safety is paramount, so that people can have confidence in the services and that the best possible patient outcomes are achieved.

Dermatology is the medical specialty caring for illness predominately relating to the skin, hair and nails. It is mainly an out-patient/day care activity with a small in-patient requirement. The HSE recognises that dermatology services in the HSE south east region require further development. The proposed development of services is in line with the main principles and key recommendations as identified by the Comhairle na nOspidéal report of the committee on dermatology services published in November 2003.

Among the main principles of the Comhairle approach are an equitable and patient centred service regional self-sufficiency and collaboration between primary and secondary care. At present there is one consultant dermatologist working in the south east region. The dermatology service includes in-patient care where required; day cases and out-patient consultations. Outreach clinics are provided in Wexford, Kilkenny and Clonmel. In Waterford Regional Hospital, the dermatology services include a range facilities including out-patient clinics, cryotherapy, minor surgery and nurse-led phototherapy services.

The HSE has identified the provision of a second consultant dermatology post among its priorities for development. This year the Minister allocated funding to the HSE for demographic service pressures, and the Executive decided to prioritise posts in vascular surgery and orthopaedics in the south east. These posts were approved and are now being progressed.

The HSE is faced with difficult choices in delivering its services within the resources available. It will continue to keep the scope for further developments in dermatology services under consideration bearing in mind the funds it has available. In line with the national service plan 2009 and its transformation programme, the HSE will review the current configuration of acute hospital services in the south east. A steering group is developing a plan for hospital reconfiguration.

This plan will seek to deliver optimal and cost effective services that are easily and readily accessible and that are delivered through centres of excellence. All hospitals in the south eastern hospital group are included in the plan for the revised model. The review, which includes a broad-based consultation within the services, is likely to be completed in 2010. Decisions on the services of any individual hospital will be taken following its completion.

It is within the context of this review that any expansion of the dermatology services in the south east will be considered.

Telecommunications Services.

Will the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy John Gormley say how such blatant inconsistencies can exist in An Bord Pleanála's decision making when it comes to Tetra mast applications on Eircom sites?

An Bord Pleanála is appointed by the Minister, yet is not accountable to anybody. I cannot understand for the life of me why. If it is appointed by a Minister one would expect that it should be accountable to somebody, especially the particular Minister. For example, eight out of eight planning applications that were refused by Kerry County Council were upheld by An Bord Pleanála because, in Kerry a "1 km rule" was introduced, during my time in local government, to the effect that telecommunications masts could not be located within 1 km of a residential area or a hospital or school. Some seven out of eight planning applications that were refused by Cork County Council were overturned by An Bord Pleanála, so there are stark inconsistencies there. How can these statistics be acceptable or justified and why is it that County Cork's amenities and citizens appear to be more worthy of protection than County Kerry's? That is not acceptable.

While nobody denies the needs for such a service as Tetra's, it is the irresponsibility in choosing locations for the masts that I find unacceptable. In the Cork areas An Bord Pleanála cited "proximity to residential buildings, proximity to protected structures, proximity to schools and community properties" as reasons to refuse planning for these masts. This does not seem to be a problem for An Bord Pleanála in some of the Kerry cases, however, particularly as regards the Annascaul mast site which is merely 30 metres from the nearest permanently occupied residence. The nearest occupied building, which houses a small business, is only 26 metres from the site. There are approximately ten occupied residences, and a protected structure within 50 metres of the site. There is another protected structure within 90 m and a further two within 420 m of the site, as well as a school within 570 m. The whole nucleus of the village is based within 800 m of the site, which is in the centre of the village.

The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government's guidelines on telecommunications masts and support structures of 1996 state that only as a last resort, and if all the alternatives are unavailable or unsuitable, should freestanding masts be located in a residential area or beside schools. In the Annascaul case, An Bord Pleanála's senior inspector strongly recommended against granting planning permission on the grounds that all other alternative sites had not been fully investigated. It is clear they have not been fully investigated because the people of the community were contacted recently by Tetra Ireland in order for the people themselves to come up with a more suitable site. That is not their job.

The siting of the mast in Annascaul would be seriously damaging to the surrounding amenities and properties yet the board itself overruled the inspector's findings. 3 Ireland, which is the company contracted by Tetra Ireland to acquire the site, has stated that as a priority it targets the Eircom exchanges first when choosing a site. This in itself proves that these sites are not being chosen as a last resort, as stated in and required by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government's 1996 guidelines. These decisions by An Bord Pleanála appear to flout the guidelines set down by the Department and have left small communities like Annascaul to fend for themselves against big businesses like Eircom and Tetra.

The Annascaul community has now entered its first week of a 24-hour protest outside the site and they will not give it up. I suggest that the Minister would get involved and intervene in this case. These people are not going to lie down because, as I have said, Kerry people will not lie down. I call on the Minister to personally intervene in this case before it goes too far.

As the Deputy is from Kerry and I am a Cork Deputy, I am well aware of the fact Kerry people do not lie down. I wish they would lie down more often in Croke Park, but that does not happen. However, not to trivialise the issue, I understand the Deputy's point and thank him for raising the matter. I apologise on behalf of the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government for being unable to take this debate, which he has asked me to take on his behalf.

Under planning legislation, the decision to grant a planning application, with or without conditions, is a matter for the relevant planning authority in the first instance or An Bord Pleanála on appeal. In making decisions on planning applications, planning authorities and the board must consider the proper planning and sustainable development of the area, having regard to the provisions of the development plan, any submissions or observations received, and relevant ministerial or Government policies, including any guidelines issued by the Department. The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government's 1996 guidelines on telecommunications antennae and support structures set out a locational hierarchy in regard to the siting of radio masts and advise that free-standing masts should only be located within or in the immediate surrounds of smaller towns or villages as a last resort.

That is correct.

However, the guidelines also note that the Government's telecommunications policy aims to place Ireland in the top quartile of OECD economies as regards availability, price and quality of telecommunications services. They also state that planning authority development plans should include a policy statement in regard to telecommunications which accepts the importance of a high quality telecommunications service.

I understand that the proposed development in this case consists of the construction of a 15 m support pole to carry three radio aerials for use by the emergency services, namely, Garda, ambulance and fire brigade, together with associated equipment for a new national digital radio service, at Eircom Exchange, Ardrinnane, Annascaul, County Kerry. The Minister has been informed that Kerry County Council refused permission in accordance with section 12.16.11 of the county development plan, which states that telecommunication masts should not be located within 1 km of residential properties, schools, hospitals or any structures where there is human occupancy for residential or daily work purposes. However, he understands that in granting permission on appeal, An Bord Pleanála considered, having regard to the location of the proposed development within the village, its height and the surrounding pattern of development, that the proposed development would not seriously injure the amenities of the area, or of property in the vicinity; would not be prejudicial to public health and would, therefore, be in accordance with the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.

The board also attached a condition to the permission that after ten years telecommunications structure and related ancillary structures would be removed unless, prior to the end of the period, planning permission should have been granted for their retention for a further period.

The purpose of this condition was to enable the impact of the development to be re-assessed, having regard to changes in technology and design and to circumstances prevailing in the future.

The Deputy will appreciate that as the Minister has no role in the taking of decisions on planning applications and is statutorily precluded under section 30 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 from exercising any power or control in such cases, it would not be appropriate for him to comment on the decision of An Bord Pleanála, which is the independent statutory planning appeals board.

The people of Annascaul will not take this lying down.

The Dáil adjourned at 9.10 p.m until 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 7 October 2009.
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