Adjournment Debate

Community Employment Schemes

Deputy Joanna Tuffy

I wish to raise the perceived threat of cuts to community employment schemes and job initiative schemes in Clondalkin in the forthcoming budget. Along with other public representatives I recently attended a meeting in the Clondalkin Education & Employment Development Services, CEEDS, centre in north Clondalkin. It is based in Áras Rualach.

A number of people were present who were representing the various schemes. Community employment and job initiative workers informed me, local representatives and Oireachtas Members from the constituency about the good work they do. The centre itself is an example of the valuable work that is done. CEEDS runs the local training initiative in north Clondalkin. I am familiar with the centre for many years. It has come on in leaps and bounds in terms of improved delivery of courses. I brought some of the groups into the Oireachtas. It is heartening to see how the course participants develop. At a recent graduation class people were talking about going on to do nursing and join the Garda Reserve. Most of those people would have left school without any qualifications. CEEDS gives them the opportunity of getting the equivalent of the leaving certificate through FETAC qualifications. CEEDS employs community employment workers, many of whom were previous attendees of the local training initiative. Some course participants come from disadvantaged backgrounds. On some schemes, people might have formerly had problems with addiction and other issues. There is a view that community employment and job initiative schemes do not offer much to society but in Clondalkin they do good for the community and provide important services while offering employment opportunities to people who might not be able to re-enter the workplace otherwise.

When I visited in September, I was given some letters by people on the schemes. One person wrote that if her job initiative was cut, it would have a devastating effect on her, her family and her community. She has written, "The job initiative scheme has given me the strength and confidence to move on with my life and out into the community, where I am at my best working with young people and their parents, giving them confidence to achieve for the themselves the education that is their right". Another letter from one of the JI workers made the point that if these schemes were cut, the effects would be felt in Clondalkin because so many people there are on jobs initiative and community employment schemes in the area.

There are 50 job initiative employees working for many of the local community and voluntary organisations, helping them to provide a good service in Clondalkin. The Neilstown Parish Social Action Group employs workers under these schemes, providing support to local national schools, the St. Vincent de Paul charity shop and the Beacon of Light counselling service among others. Disadvantaged areas have come on in leaps and bounds in recent years and it would be terrible if the Government now made the mistake of cutting back on such schemes because it will have devastating effect on the local community and the people employed on them.

I worked on such a social employment scheme when I left college in the 1980s, the equivalent of a community employment scheme. It is better to be employed than not employed and although the salary may not be much more than what people would get on social welfare, people want to work for the community and enjoy it.

In recent years, the criteria for people who can work on such schemes have been narrowed and often it is those who come through the national rehabilitation service and those who have come through drug addiction support who need a place on such schemes. These schemes are worthwhile and with unemployment rising, we should increase them. I ask the Minister of State to maintain present numbers at the very least.

Minister of State at the Department of Social Protection (Deputy Áine Brady)

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter as it affords me the opportunity to outline to the House the position on community employment programmes and job initiatives programmes.

Community employment is an active labour market programme designed to provide eligible long-term unemployed people and other disadvantaged persons with an opportunity to engage in useful work within their communities on a fixed term basis. The purpose of CE is to help unemployed people to re-enter the open labour market by breaking their experience of unemployment through a return to a work routine and to assist them to enhance both their technical and personal skills. An important feature of CE programmes is the development opportunity they give to the individuals who participate on the programmes. Eligible projects are those which respond to an identified community need; provide development for participants in areas involving heritage, arts, culture, tourism, sport and the environment; have the agreement of relevant trade unions; do not displace or replace existing jobs; and offer valuable work experience for participants.

In April 2000 the former Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment introduced capped limits on the amount of time that a person could participate on a CE scheme. Such capping was introduced to facilitate the movement of participants through the programme, allowing new participants who would not otherwise have such an opportunity to avail of the programme. To cater for older workers in particular, in November 2004 the standard three year CE cap was revised to allow those of 55 years of age and over to avail of a six year period on a CE scheme, based on participation since 3 April 2000. Subsequently, in 2006 the participation limit for persons eligible for CE based on a social welfare disability linked payment, including those under 55, was increased by one year. These measures were introduced in recognition of the fact that older participants and participants with a disability may find it more difficult to progress into the open labour market.

Funding for CE in 2010 has been provided with a view to maintaining overall numbers on FÁS schemes. At present there are almost 23,000 people participating on CE schemes nationally. In the budget, provision was made for an increase of 500 CE places, bringing the total number of places available to 23,300 during 2010. FÁS is currently considering the feasibility of setting up a number of additional schemes, as well as expanding existing schemes to absorb the 500 places.

A wide range of client groups are given access to the opportunity CE provides, including lone parents, persons with disabilities, stabilised substance abusers and unemployed persons aged under 55. Currently there are 4,914 lone parents and 5,355 people with disabilities participating on CE, while 1,000 places are ring fenced for the CE drugs task force. The number of places on the drugs task force is kept under constant review. In delivering these places, FÁS operates flexibly in the management of this allocation to maximise progression to the labour market, while at the same time facilitating the support of community services.

FÁS continues to welcome proposals from local sponsors to carry out projects, and all proposals are considered within allocated budgets and participant numbers. The provision of places is managed through a standardised application process between regional FÁS offices and local sponsor and community organisations, and any issues regarding the allocation of places are dealt with in this context. However, it should be remembered that while participants remain on CE, they are precluding someone else from benefiting from the programme. FÁS makes every effort to ensure that differing levels of demand between neighbouring schemes are equalised.

FÁS will continue to operate the programme flexibly as far as possible to ensure the continuation of community projects. Persons who are considered job-ready are progressed through FÁS employment services onto other options, thus freeing up CE places for others in greater need.

The job initiative programme was launched in July 1996 and continues to provide full-time employment for people who are 35 years of age or over who were unemployed for five years or more and in receipt of social welfare payments over that qualifying period before entering the programme. The main purpose of JI is to assist long-term unemployed people to prepare for work opportunities by providing participants with work experience, training and development opportunities. FÁS operates the programme with a dedicated budget of €34.5 million for 2010. There are currently 1,329 participants, with this number decreasing annually due to retirement and for other reasons.

Following changes introduced in 2004 by the then Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, contracts for existing JI participants are renewed, allowing them the option to continue until they are 65 years of age. There is no recruitment to the programme due to this change.

JI participants are involved in a wide range of useful community services, including after-school care, breakfast clubs, homework clubs, gardening and security services. In addition, JI projects provide jobs in the social economy in administration and maintenance. The areas supported by these workers include community centres, creches, enterprise centres and parish properties. Currently, there are 15 schemes on the CE programme in the Clondalkin area, comprising 16 supervisors, eight assistant supervisors and 309 participants, while on the JI programme there is one scheme and 46 participants. FÁS has confirmed that there are currently no plans to reduce the numbers on either programme.

This Government will continue to support into the future the positive role of FÁS employment schemes in meeting the needs of long-term unemployed persons, while at the same time providing essential services to communities. In this regard, the operation of the schemes will be kept under constant review in the context of the current difficult fiscal and unemployment situation.

Higher Education Centres

Deputy Frank Feighan

Recently, I was invited to launch a programme in co-operation with the Carrick-on-Shannon Education Centre and St. Angela's college and it struck me how suitable a location Carrick-on-Shannon would be for a third level centre. It would need the Government's support. The Department of Education and Skills will publish the higher education strategy shortly. The collaboration between institutes of technology, universities and higher education centres seems to be at the strategy's heart. Does the Minister of State foresee existing educational facilities in smaller towns like Carrick-on-Shannon and rural towns having a role in developing these links?

Many years ago, there were many small towns in the area, but Carrick-on-Shannon has moved from being a county town to a regional town. It is the regional centre for Boyle, Ballinamore, Drumshanbo, Mohill, Elphin and Strokestown. It has grown significantly in the past ten years due to the upper Shannon renewal scheme. The town contains many houses and apartments of quite good build, but there is also a great deal of office space that could be rented or bought cheaply, for want of a better word. The Bank of America, in the form of its subsidiary, MBNA, is in the area and there is a great deal of employment. The River Shannon is a significant tourist attraction and many people are driving across the island of Ireland to avail of the hospitality in Carrick-on-Shannon.

However, the town's hotels need an economy of scale. The town needs an educational facility to copperfasten its tourism industry. If we got hundreds of students to live in the town, it would help the region. The town and its environs boast the Landmark Hotel, the Bush Hotel, many guest houses, Kilronan Castle, Lough Rynn and Lough Key Forest Park, which is a significant centre of tourist activity. I was involved in securing up to €10 million for the park, which has gone from strength to strength and is attracting more than 160,000 visitors per year.

Carrick-on-Shannon and its surrounds have become a new regional area. A Government could endorse this move with the addition of a third level facility. What is the Minister of State's opinion in this regard?

Deputy Áine Brady

I am taking this Adjournment matter on behalf of my colleague, the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Coughlan. I thank Deputy Feighan for raising this matter on the Adjournment.

There are more than 20 publicly funded higher education institutions, seven of which are universities and 14 of which are institutes of technology. Ireland is a relatively small country and, in view of the current level of third level provision nationally, there are no plans to develop new third level institutions at this time. It should be noted that the information that is available on admission rates to higher education by county shows that County Leitrim has a relatively high rate. A national survey of new entrants to higher education carried out in 2004 and published in 2006 shows that Leitrim had an admission rate of 64.2% compared to a national rate of 55%.

As the Deputy stated, a new national strategy for higher education has been under development by a high level group under the chairmanship of Dr. Colin Hunt and comprising national and international expertise. The question of how Ireland's higher education system should be configured to best meet the challenges of the next two decades has been under consideration as part of this work. The group has completed its work and the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills will consult with colleagues on its findings in the coming weeks.

Development of a new national strategy for higher education affords a timely opportunity to review the environment for higher education and the challenges and changes impacting on the sector. The strategy will provide a vision and related set of national policy objectives for higher education over the coming 20 years and identify the operational framework for the higher education system, which will enable it to deliver these objectives.

In developing its report, the strategy group engaged in extensive consultations with stakeholders and wider national interests. A first round of consultation was completed in the summer of 2009 under which an open call for written submissions elicited a significant and valuable response. More than 100 submissions were received from institutions, educational bodies and representatives of the enterprise community as well as a number of individual personal submissions. These submissions provided valuable input on a wide range of issues and are available on the HEA website, www.hea.ie.

In addition to this first round of consultation, a series of independently facilitated discussion forums were held with members of the academic community, third and fourth level students, enterprise and business leaders, second level policy makers and teachers. Bilateral meetings with other stakeholders, including the higher education institutions, were also held.

The higher education sector has a key contribution to make to the future growth of the economy and the well-being of society. Through the development of the strategy, the Government wants to build on the many strengths of the sector in order to provide an environment where it can develop in a way that best serves the country as a whole.

I would also like to take this opportunity to point to the range of further education provision available in County Leitrim. Further education provision is designed to meet the needs of young early school leavers, provide second chance education for those who have not completed upper second level education and provide vocational education and training for labour market entrants and re-entrants. The main providers of further education programmes are the vocational education committees, VECs.

In County Leitrim in 2009, there were more than 150 participants on full-time and more than 1,250 participants on part-time further education programmes funded by the Department of Education and Skills through the VEC sector. The full-time participants included 92 post-leaving certificate, PLC, participants in the VEC. An additional 16 PLC places were allocated to Carrick-on-Shannon community school. In 2010, a funding provision of €2 million has been provided for further education programmes in County Leitrim. I thank the Deputy for affording me the opportunity to respond to the House on this matter.

Hospital Services

Deputy James Reilly

I recently asked to raise the issue of cutbacks at Cavan hospital because they caused patients serious distress and discommoded many of them. I understand that Deputy Crawford and Senator O'Reilly have received many representations from people trying to get their appointments rearranged. I am not surprised this has happened, since we warned about the inadvisability of cutbacks at Navan hospital.

We must examine what occurred in the case of Navan hospital. For several weeks, a lead clinician was rolled out to state it was an issue of patient safety. When I stood across the floor from the Minister for Health and Children two weeks ago, however, she admitted to Deputy English and me that it was a budgetary issue. Alongside Deputy McEntee, I have attended meetings in the area and it was clear that the hospital provides an excellent service, with 1,800 surgical cases treated per annum in an elective fashion. There is nowhere for these people to go. As such, their conditions will deteriorate, they will become emergencies and they will end up at the accident and emergency unit of Cavan hospital, Beaumont Hospital, the Mater, Blanchardstown hospital or Drogheda hospital. It is clear that none of those hospitals has the capacity to deal with the additional workload.

We have had nothing but cutbacks under the Government. Bed numbers have been reduced and no additional beds have been provided under co-location. Consequently, we find ourselves in this mess. No attempt has been made to reform the health service, cut backroom staff numbers or change gross inefficiencies. When I spoke with Deputy Crawford today, he told me he received representations from a lady who had been waiting three weeks for an appointment to have confirmed breast cancer removed. She has been referred from Cavan to the centre in Dublin. This is not acceptable. The other issue one must ask about is the great number of closures that took place because of an increase in referrals to the emergency department and medical assessment unit. Are we now given to believe this has all been resolved, that a week later these services are able to resume because the surge has disappeared and is unlikely to come again as we enter the winter months? That is not credible and in her answer the Minister of State must address how the sudden increase in activity occurred, what her view is vis-à-vis its recurrence and the chances thereof. That chance is very high. Ambulances will be directed to other hospitals where possible; endoscopy tests have been cancelled. Endoscopy will pick up internal illnesses of the gastrointestinal tract, the gullet and the bowel long before they are symptomatic. These can be very serious conditions such as cancer, ulcerative colitis and many other diseases such as Crohn’s, which, if left untreated, can cause serious long-term illness and, in the case of cancer, catastrophic consequences, as happened to the late and very brave Suzy Long.

There is no way Beaumont Hospital can cope. People are not only waiting on trolleys, but are waiting on chairs for days on end. I heard that directly from a doctor at the hospital. We are now told there will be further cutbacks of €1 billion or, at least €600 million. How are we going to cope in the coming winter? In spite of all this, Navan hospital remains closed, elective surgery remains cancelled and 28 further beds have been closed of which 15 are medical and 13 surgical. This will be a winter of serious discontent for the people of County Meath. I fail to understand why the Government continues to cut front line services instead of addressing the waste in the HSE — the €1 billion spent on overtime last year, the €120 million on taxis and the €60 million on medico-legal payouts, of which €20 million goes straight to lawyers. There was the €92 million spent on agency staff who, people will report, are at least 36% more expensive than recruited permanent staff. The consequence is that people who could have been employed full-time are only employed part-time.

I hope the Minister of State will address these issues in her response and we do not receive a pre-written departmental missive that will be meaningless.

Deputy Áine Brady

I am replying to this Adjournment matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney.

In recent weeks, Cavan General Hospital experienced an unprecedented 40% increase in referrals to its emergency department and medical assessment unit. In addition, there was a very significant rise in medical referrals and medical admissions to the hospital from September. In order to ensure patient safety, the HSE introduced temporary curtailments, which were confined to medical outpatient services and day services. This response was solely due to the increase in activity and not due to any planned budgetary reduction. It is important to emphasise that all emergency services, oncology services, antenatal clinics and phlebotomy services were not affected and continued as normal throughout the curtailment period. A significant number of clinical procedures including endoscopy and surgical procedures also continued, based on the clinical presentation of the patients. These interventions were managed on a day-to-day basis by the clinicians involved.

Hospital management and clinicians are actively working to ensure that patients who had their appointments deferred this week will now be rescheduled and prioritised for appointment and-or procedures as quickly as possible. It is also important to note that the Cavan-Monaghan hospital group has one of the shortest waiting lists for endoscopy and surgical procedures in the country. All services resumed as normal at Cavan on Monday, 18 October. Emergency activity within the hospital has decreased significantly. At 2 p.m. yesterday there was only one person waiting on a chair or trolley in Cavan emergency department compared to 11 people two weeks previously.

The Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland provided the HSE with advice regarding safety issues in relation to surgery at Navan hospital. Acting on this advice, the HSE decided to cease all emergency surgery at the hospital immediately, with effect from 1 September 2010. As the Deputy will appreciate, patient safety has to be the overriding principle in our health system. The transfer of acute and emergency surgery from Our Lady's Hospital, Navan, was always a long-term objective of the north-east transformation plan. The plan is designed to build a health system that is in line with the model of care emerging internationally.

Following on from the transfer of acute and emergency surgery, there is a decreased need for surgical and medical beds in Navan. As a result, a medical ward, which opened in Navan for three months only to support the reconfiguration of medical services in Louth County Hospital, is due to close on a phased basis. The HSE is closing a number of surgical beds in Navan Hospital due to the transfer of services. The closure of these beds is managed through a combination of patient discharges, the cessation of admissions to wards and the phased relocation of patients within the hospital. The process is reviewed on a daily basis by senior hospital management team.

The hospital remains the regional centre for elective orthopaedic surgery and it expects that all of its complex joint replacement surgery procedures planned for 2010 will be completed by mid-November. From then the unit will become a five-day unit and will concentrate on completing this year's planned, less complex, minor surgery cases. An orthopaedic outpatient department initiative will also be undertaken in November and December in Navan to address the outpatient orthopaedic waiting lists in the north-east region, namely, individuals who are awaiting an assessment.

I wish again to emphasise that patient safety is central to the delivery of health services. People must have confidence in the care they receive and have the best possible outcomes. All decisions regarding the operation of health services will be taken with patient safety as the priority.

Deputy James Reilly

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House.

Acting Chairman (Deputy Charlie O’Connor)

I thank the Deputy and hope he has a pleasant weekend.

Illegal Occupation

Deputy Thomas P. Broughan

In recent weeks, householders in two areas of the Dublin city north fringe have become deeply upset by a series of illegal occupations of development lands and new roads in this major new urban district. On a three hectare site owned by Dublin City Council and a smaller area owned by BP Excavations at Newtown, Dublin 17, an illegal occupation began about three weeks ago and formerly empty fields are now occupied by mobile homes and other vehicles. The road through these lands is the entry and exit for Newtown Court, a very successful National Association of Building Co-operatives, NABCO, voluntary housing development of over 200 rental and mortgage-paying householders. The area is also immediately adjacent to the 200-plus households of the Snowdrop estate of Darndale-Belcamp parish. Householders have grave concerns on environmental, health and planning grounds at the failure of the authorities to immediately secure the vacant lands at Newtown and their earlier failure to prepare and implement an area action plan as repeatedly requested by me for this land.

Discussions have taken place between Dublin City Council area management, the Garda Síochána, local residents and representatives of the illegal occupiers in recent weeks. I am informed that Dublin City Council is preparing to take a legal injunction to request the ending of the illegal occupation. I am also informed that most of the illegal occupiers formerly lived in Dublin City Council tenancies and that repeated offers of council housing were made when this group allegedly illegally occupied the St. Laurence development lands at Santry, Dublin 9. Dublin City Council's legal costs in earlier lengthy actions at Santry exceeded €90,000 and a further €80,000 was spent on preparing and restoring homes for the illegal occupiers in an agreed location at the N32. Legal action to end the Santry illegal occupation was drawn out for over two years because of infirmities in existing law.

In late September a second illegal occupation took place on the Northern Parkway, a key new arterial road of the major north fringe development at Clongriffin, Dublin 13. From discussions with DCC area management and the Garda Síochána, I understand that the vehicles which illegally occupied the Northern Parkway re-located from Newry, County Down. In the past five years local residents in Marrsfield, Clongriffin and Belmayne have worked hard with local representatives, Dublin City Council, Fingal County Council, the Garda Síochána, developers, health and education authorities and other stakeholders to try to provide all the necessary, new services and complete this vast new urban district. Many residents, often with large mortgages and in negative equity, are now desperately worried that the masterplan for the region is falling apart and that the derelict and vacant lands in the area will fall into dereliction or this type of illegal occupation. That is why I have repeatedly asked for SDZ status for the north fringe. I am informed that Mr. Gerry Gannon, the lead local developer, is now also seeking a legal injunction on this matter.

Let me state very clearly that Coolock and Dublin north east generally is the home of several hundred settled Traveller families and the whole community is very proud of the integration and solidarity between all our communities over the past 30 years. In their inputs into area development plans local community leaders have agreed to the planning and construction of secure, modern homes for Traveller families. Ironically, a number of Traveller homes were planned for an overall masterplan for the Newtown area which, regrettably, Dublin City Council never prepared. However, all our communities have no time for illegal occupations which are harmful to the sustainable planning of these north fringe areas and to our very good community relations.

I ask three things of the Minister. First, he should empower Dublin City Council to end quickly the illegal occupations concerned, given that several offers of housing were already made to families with local connections. Will he now take whatever emergency legislative steps are necessary to empower local authorities such as Dublin City Council and Fingal to protect development lands which have been left unused by the property bubble and banking disaster? Clearly, local authorities like Dublin City Council and Fingal, and new national authorities such as NAMA and the HSC, must have the power to end immediately any illegal use of public lands, whether under a reformed section 24 of the Housing Act, under the planning Acts or any new legislation. Long drawn out court proceedings must be avoided.

Second, once again I appeal to him and the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to put the north fringe forum on a statutory basis to empower stakeholders, including NAMA, the HSC and surviving developers, to lay out a clear programme to repair fully and complete the north fringe urban district. This might include, for example, using some of these lands as sports fields and community facilities until major development resumes.

Third, will the Minister co-ordinate Dublin City Council, the NRA and other agencies to enable the Newtown Court estate to have an entry-exit onto the N32 at Newtown-Clare Hall as well as the current access onto Belcamp Lane?

Deputy Áine Brady

I am replying to this Adjournment matter on behalf of the Minister for Justice and Law Reform, Deputy Dermot Ahern, who welcomes the opportunity to outline the law on illegal occupation.

The current law is, in the Minister's view, very comprehensive and he has not been made aware of any shortcoming requiring attention. Part IIA of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994 was inserted by section 24 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2002. The provisions of section 19C(1) of Part 2A prohibit any person, without the consent of the owner of the land, from entering or occupying the land or bringing any object onto such land where it is likely to damage the land substantially or prejudicially affect any amenity to do with the land; to prevent anyone entitled to use the land or any amenity associated with it from making reasonable use of the land or the amenity; to otherwise render the land or the lawful use of the land or amenity unsanitary or unsafe; or to substantially interfere with the land or amenity or the lawful use of the land or amenity.

A garda may arrest, without warrant, a person committing an offence under 19C(1). The law also provides for a member of the Garda Síochána, who has reason to believe that a person is committing an offence under this section, to demand of the person his or her name and address and to direct that person to leave the land and to remove any object from the land which is owned or under the control of that person. It is an offence for a person to fail to co-operate with the Garda.

A person who is found guilty of illegal occupation or any other offence under Part IIA of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994 shall be liable, on summary conviction, to a maximum fine of €4,000 or a sentence of up to one month in prison or both. The Garda may also remove any objects from the land where the owner has refused a Garda direction to do so. Such objects may be returned to the owner following a written declaration by the owner. The Garda Commissioner has discretion to require the owner to pay for any costs reasonably incurred on removing and storing the object. The Commissioner will be entitled to sell or dispose of such objects if not claimed and removed. The net proceeds of the sale, less the cost of removal, storage and sale, may be returned to the owner.

The implementation and enforcement of Part 2A of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994 is a matter for the Garda and the courts. Matters relating to local authority housing and the offering of accommodation are the specific remit of the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government.

On the specific issue of development lands, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government has stated that it is primarily the responsibility of developers and the owners of unfinished developments to ensure that their sites are completed satisfactorily and that unfinished and unoccupied parts of the developments are adequately secured from unauthorised access. Construction sites are hazardous locations that, if left unprotected without proper security and perimeter fencing arrangements, can pose hazards to the public.

The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government will shortly publish a consultation draft of best practice guidance on managing unfinished housing development sites. This will clearly set out the roles and responsibilities of developers and local authorities in this regard.

The Dáil adjourned at 5.30 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 27 October 2010.

Dáil Éireann debate - Thursday, 21 Oct 2010