Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 15 Dec 2015

Vol. 901 No. 1

Order of Business

The Taoiseach

It is proposed to take No. a15, International Protection Bill 2015 - Financial Resolution; No.39, Garda (Policing Authority and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2015 [Seanad] - Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. It is proposed, notwithstanding anything in Standing Orders, that: the Dáil shall sit later than 9 p.m. and shall adjourn on the adjournment of Private Members’ business; No. a15, International Protection Bill 2015 - Financial Resolution, shall be decided without debate; No. 39, Garda (Policing Authority and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2015 [Seanad] - Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage, shall be taken today and the proceedings thereon shall, if not previously concluded, be brought to a conclusion at 8.30 p.m. by one question which shall be put from the Chair and which shall, in relation to amendments, include only those set down or accepted by the Minister for Justice and Equality.

Private Members' business shall be No. 74, 1916 Quarter Development Bill 2015 - Second Stage, to be taken at the conclusion of No. 39 or at 7.30 p.m., whichever is the later, to be adjourned after 90 minutes and which shall, if not previously concluded, be brought to a conclusion after 90 minutes tomorrow night.

Tomorrow's business after oral questions shall be No. 40, International Protection Bill 2015 [Seanad] - Committee and Remaining Stages; and No. 41, Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2015 [Seanad] - Committee and Remaining Stages.

An Ceann Comhairle

There are four proposals to be put to the House. Is the proposal for dealing with the late sitting agreed? Agreed. Is the proposal for dealing with No. a15, International Protection Bill 2015 [Seanad] - Financial Resolution, without debate agreed? Agreed. Is the proposal for dealing with No. 39, Garda Síochána (Policing Authority and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2015 [Seanad] - Report and Final Stages, agreed?

Deputy Gerry Adams

It is not agreed. It a hugely important Bill to establish the Policing Authority. I have read in the newspapers that the Cabinet was to consider dispensing with the five-day cooling off period to facilitate its speedy signature by the President. All of this, including the use of the guillotine tonight, is about getting the Bill through before the Dáil rises and Sinn Féin is opposed to it.

The Taoiseach

If one works backwards from 1 January 2016 when the Bill is to take effect, it is important that the issues be dealt with as outlined by the Minister for Justice and Equality. Today the Cabinet approved all of these stages which allow for a further two and a half hours of discussion of the matter this evening. This is a very important development. The personnel, including the chairperson, the chief executive, the governance officer and the members to be appointed, are all ready to go. There is a process in train and it is for that reason we are anxious to finish it this evening. I ask Deputy Gerry Adams to go along with this.

Question, "That the proposal for dealing with No. 39, Garda Síochána (Policing Authority and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2015 [Seanad] - Report and Final Stages, be agreed to," put and declared carried.

An Ceann Comhairle

Is the proposal for dealing with Private Members' business agreed? Agreed.

Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl

I wish to raise two items, although at this point one wonders about the value of raising questions on promised legislation. Given the consistent and horrendous flooding families have been experiencing in recent times, will the Taoiseach confirm that the Government is investigating the implementation of a Bill similar to the UK Water Act 2014? This matter was raised in the House last week by my party leader, Deputy Micheál Martin. As the Taoiseach knows, such legislation would allow home owners and businesses in areas prone to flooding to obtain insurance cover at a reasonable price. It would also require the State to be directly involved in a joint approach. Will the Taoiseach confirm that something is happening in that regard? We heard some positive soundings on the matter from the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Simon Coveney. Will the Taoiseach also confirm the type of insurance model that will be introduced for persons who have been adversely affected by the floods?

As regards the Constitutional Convention's outstanding reports, the Government has accepted recommendations on the holding of referenda on blasphemy, reducing the voting age and the setting up of an electoral commission. For several months many Members have been raising these issues and we were given firm assurances that we would have an opportunity to debate the three outstanding reports before Christmas. However, that has not come to pass. Is there some prospect that these matters will be prioritised if we return in January? All of us but particularly the citizen members were enormously proud to be given an opportunity to participate in the convention. It is a considerable disappointment, therefore, that the House has not adhered to the timelines the Taoiseach himself set for us to consider all of these reports.

The Taoiseach

To respond to the Deputy's first question, I have already said a memorandum of understanding has been signed for quite some time between the Office of Public Works and the insurance companies. The purpose is to share information on flood risk and how it might be factored into the commercial assessments made by insurance companies. The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government has referred to the necessity to put in place a much more sophisticated weather forecasting and flood warning system which would be of benefit to everybody, including business premises, private dwellings and the agri-sector. I have given a commitment that the issue will be looked at, but what was introduced in Britain would not be suitable here because houses completed since 2009 were left out, as were small businesses. In Bandon, Athlone, Crossmolina and elsewhere most of those affected are small shopkeepers and other retailers. One cannot have a situation where they would be left out. There is no intention to set out on a course to introduce further insurance levies.

Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl

Not too many of them were built after 2009.

The Taoiseach

I have given a commitment that we will look at what might be done, working between the Office of Public Works and the insurance companies.

On the Constitutional Convention, as I have said on a number of occasions, I accept responsibility for the fact that we have not had a discussion here. I am now giving the Deputy an undertaking that the issues will be discussed when the Dáil resumes on 13 January 2016.

Deputy Gerry Adams

Tá cúpla ceist agam faoi the health information and patient safety Bill, the public sector standards Bill and the planning Bill. I understand the public sector standards Bill and the planning Bill were brought before the Cabinet today. The public sector standards Bill deals with the replacement of the Standards in Public Office Commission. The objective of the planning Bill is to establish a so-called independent regulator, but, in this case, the regulator is to be answerable to the Minister. An Teachta Brian Stanley has published a planning and development (amendment) Bill today to provide for genuinely independent planning regulation. While I do not have any expectation that the Government will support the Bill, nonetheless, it highlights the serious flaws in the Government's Bill. Were the public sector standards Bill and the planning Bill considered this morning and, if so, when will they be published?

Last week I raised with the Taoiseach the Government's failure to publish a report on breaches of planning rules in six councils, a report which has been sitting on the desk of the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government since July. The review was set up almost three years ago after the former Minister, Mr. Phil Hogan, had scrapped planned inquiries into planning irregularities. When will the report be published? If it is published before the Christmas recess which seems unlikely, may we have a debate on it, if not before Christmas then at the first available opportunity after the Dáil resumes in January?

The purpose of the health information and patient safety Bill is to legislate for better governance in respect of health information and patient safety. I recently met the mothers of a number of young women who had received the cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil. I understand that last night TV3 broadcast a distressing documentary on the health consequences for almost 140 young women who had received the vaccine. The mothers I met had had great difficulty in obtaining information, which is why I am raising the issue. The health information and patient safety Bill will make it easier for citizens to obtain all the knowledge they deserve to have. I understand the European Medical Agency has cleared the vaccine for use, but it is equally clear that a substantial number of young women and their parents attribute their illness to it.

When will the Bill be published? Allowing for the Ceann Comhairle's latitude, will the Taoiseach consider meeting the organisation, REGRET, which represents the young women concerned and their parents?

The Taoiseach

The heads of the health information and standards Bill were cleared last November. The Bill is being drafted and will be published in the new year.

The planning Bill mentioned by the Deputy was approved by the Cabinet this morning, with the appointment of a regulator and the publication of the six reports commissioned a few years ago. It was also noted that the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government could proceed to implement the recommendations made in so far as it was concerned and that other measures that would require Government approval would be brought back by the Minister in due course.

The final Bill mentioned by the Deputy was the public sector standards Bill 2015. This morning the Government approved the text of the Bill which is to be presented to the Dáil or the Seanad and circulated to Deputies and Senators. It also approved the explanatory memorandum. As the Deputy knows, the Bill has been designed to simplify, modernise and streamline the current legislative ethics framework which is in urgent need of reform. It seeks to respond to the extensive and detailed recommendations made by the Mahon tribunal and to meet the commitment made in the statement for Government to publish legislation to consolidate local and national ethics requirements and give effect to the recommendations made by tribunals. The Government cleared the Bill this morning for publication and the public sector standard will replace the SIPO. It will obviously be able to have many more authoritative opportunities to deal with ethics and matters surrounding them in the time ahead. The Deputy will be getting a copy of the Bill.

Deputy Gerry Adams

When will the report on breaches of planning rules that was approved this morning be published?

The Taoiseach

It is to be released immediately. There was no restriction on when it might be published. We gave approval for it to be published.

Deputy Gerry Adams

Is it a coincidence that it is only being published now after three years because of the RTE programme on the behaviour of some councillors?

The Taoiseach

It is being published today or it was authorised to be published today. We are also providing for a planner to be put in place to oversee all local government programmes and all rezonings. A planning regulator with appropriate authority will be put in place. That measure was also cleared this morning.

Deputy Frank Feighan

There is a need for a mandatory system of licensing of public and private health care facilities. When will the patient safety licensing Bill be brought before the House?

The Taoiseach

I cannot say when, but it will be next year.

Deputy Bernard J. Durkan

The new children's hospital establishment Bill has been promised. To what extent has it been progressed and when is it likely to be brought before the House?

On the bail Bill and the various bail provisions, to what extent can we expect them to be concluded before the end of this session?

The health and wellbeing (calorie posting and workplace wellbeing) Bill has been promised. Given the emphasis on health and diet control, when is the Bill likely to be brought before the House? In view of its importance, would it be possible to bring it before the House ahead of schedule?

The Taoiseach

I cannot give the Deputy a date for publication of the new children's hospital establishment Bill, but it is proceeding very strongly. I hope the planning process will flow smoothly. It will be the largest infrastructural development in the country for many years and I can confirm that the board is working exceptionally well. Obviously, it needs to make preparations for the integration of the other hospitals when it becomes an entity. I will come back to the Deputy on it.

The calories Bill is still below the radar and was commented on. I will come back to the Deputy on it.

Did the Deputy ask about a third Bill?

Deputy Bernard J. Durkan

The health and wellbeing (calorie posting and workplace wellbeing) Bill.

The Taoiseach

The calories have not showed up yet. It is still cooking.

An Ceann Comhairle

We have to hold on to a few for 14 January.

Deputy Bernard J. Durkan

I am not thinking of myself alone. My colleagues have no need to worry about it.

Deputy Denis Naughten

Following any 999 or 112 ambulance call a patient must be transferred to the nearest emergency department. Twelve months ago HIQA recommended that patients be transferred to minor injury units, where appropriate, rather than bringing them to emergency departments. No. 98 on the list of promised legislation is the health reform Bill. Can we have this issue looked at under that Bill? The policy is forcing older people to lie on trolleys in emergency departments for hours when they could be treated at their local hospital.

I know that the Taoiseach tasked Deputy Martin Heydon to produce a report on flooding on the River Shannon. Can that report be placed in the Oireachtas Library?

The Taoiseach

It was a good report, on which Deputy Martin Heydon did quite a deal of work. I have the report which he gave me some time ago. I do not have a problem in having it placed in the Oireachtas Library and I am quite sure the Deputy would not either.

On the ambulance service, this has been an issue from a union point of view for quite a long time. It is a problem in that a patient from Shrule in need of an ambulance will be brought to Galway. Obviously, the ambulance will have to wait. If the patient was to go in the other direction to Mayo General Hospital, he or she might be admitted and attended to in a greatly reduced time. The regulation or practice is that they be taken to the nearest hospital. Obviously, it might not be the most appropriate, as the Deputy has pointed out. It is an issue of reform that will be looked at. It is a work practice.

Deputy Peter Mathews

The date for the court hearing in Egypt involving Ibrahim Halawa is today, 15 December.

An Ceann Comhairle

We dealt with that matter at Question Time.

Deputy Peter Mathews

This is the Order of Business.

An Ceann Comhairle

Yes, but it is not a matter for the Order of Business. It is not related to promised legislation.

Deputy Peter Mathews

Ibrahim Halawa is the same age-----

An Ceann Comhairle

I know all about it. We had it at Question Time.

Deputy Peter Mathews

-----as the Taoiseach's son.

An Ceann Comhairle

Will the Deputy resume his seat? Once again, he is out of order.

Deputy Peter Mathews

As I said, Ibrahim Halawa is the same age as the Taoiseach's son. He spent three years and his 20th birthday on Sunday in jail.

An Ceann Comhairle

Would the Deputy mind sitting down, please? He is out of order. He cannot raise these issues on the Order of Business.

Deputy Peter Mathews

Is the safety of an Irish citizen not something worthy of the Taoiseach's attention?

An Ceann Comhairle

If the Deputy was here at Question Time, he would know that the matter was raised then. I call Deputy Peter Fitzpatrick.

Deputy Peter Fitzpatrick

Thank you, a Cheann Comhairle.

Deputy Peter Mathews

Do you know what, a Cheann Comhairle? I find this utterly unacceptable.

An Ceann Comhairle

The Deputy cannot find it as frustrating as I do.

Deputy Peter Mathews

You have chosen to ignore me when I bring up valid-----

An Ceann Comhairle

I am not ignoring the Deputy. I am just asking him to stick to matters appropriate to the Order of Business.

Deputy Peter Fitzpatrick

One of the key priorities set out in the public service plan is to reduce-----

Deputy Peter Mathews

This is actually abuse of Parliament.

Deputy Peter Fitzpatrick

Excuse me, Deputy, I am trying to speak. Will the Deputy sit down, please?

Deputy Mary Mitchell O'Connor

Fair play.

An Ceann Comhairle

Will Deputy Peter Mathews resume his seat, please?

Deputy Peter Mathews

I would like to speak too. Did Deputy Peter Fitzpatrick not notice that?

An Ceann Comhairle

Would the Deputy mind resuming his seat-----

Deputy Peter Fitzpatrick

I am sorry I did not manage to ask-----

An Ceann Comhairle

-----or he will be taking a hike before his early break on Thursday. Will he now sit down or else he will be going out?

Deputy Peter Mathews

You have chosen to ignore me.

An Ceann Comhairle

I am not ignoring the Deputy.

Deputy Peter Mathews

Yes, you have.

An Ceann Comhairle

I am telling the Deputy he can only raise certain matters on the Order of Business.

Deputy Peter Mathews

Last week you ignored me on a matter on the Order of Business. I have never ignored you. I have always carried out your wishes.

(Interruptions).

A Deputy

Do not go there.

An Ceann Comhairle

The Deputy is on his last warning.

Deputy Peter Mathews

When you asked me to leave, I left.

An Ceann Comhairle

I do not want to throw out the Deputy again.

Deputy Peter Mathews

A Cheann Comhairle-----

An Ceann Comhairle

Will the Deputy please resume his seat?

Deputy Peter Mathews

You did not throw me out. You asked me to leave and I left.

An Ceann Comhairle

Will the Deputy please resume his seat?

Deputy Mary Mitchell O'Connor

He is wasting time for Deputy Peter Fitzpatrick.

Deputy Peter Mathews

This is disgraceful for a citizen of the country and a constituent of mine.

An Ceann Comhairle

I ask Deputy Peter Fitzpatrick to proceed and just ignore Deputy Peter Mathews.

The Taoiseach

Out good and loud.

Deputy Peter Mathews

The Taoiseach should lift the telephone.

Deputy Peter Fitzpatrick

One of the key priorities set out in the public service plan is to reduce costs and achieve better value for money through a reformed public procurement office. We are to provide for the establishment of a Civil Service office to be known as the Office of Government Procurement. When can we expect publication of the Office of Government Procurement Bill?

The Taoiseach

The Bill is due for publication early next year.

Deputy Michael McNamara

The Christmas and new year season is almost upon us. People make new year's resolutions and try to move on. I have asked several times about the Spent Convictions Bill which would allow people to leave some convictions behind them and move on with a clean slate. The Taoiseach has given me various replies in the past four years. Are we likely to see the Bill at any point before the end of this Dáil?

The Taoiseach

The Bill was on Report Stage in this House for some time. I will inquire as to the reason for the delay. It has progressed through all Stages to Report Stage.

Deputy Mary Mitchell O'Connor

The reformed and consolidated domestic violence Bill is due to be published in 2016. Could the Bill please be introduced early in January because Women's Aid is receiving 13,000 telephone calls from women in particular for help? I chaired a meeting recently on migrant women and domestic violence. I call on the Bill to be introduced as quickly as possible to assist all persons suffering from domestic violence.

The Taoiseach

The heads of the Bill were cleared in July. I will come back to Deputy Mitchell O'Connor to advise her on the state of preparedness of the Bill.

Deputy Martin Heydon

In light of the work to expand the apprenticeship system beyond the construction sector to newer areas due to deficiencies in the haulage sector and in some white collar areas as well, what is the progress in respect of the apprenticeship Bill, which will provide protections and responsibilities for employers and apprentices and provide for new governance arrangements for the apprenticeship system?

The Taoiseach

The Apprenticeship Council has already taken a number of new apprenticeships into account. If Deputy Heydon has any proposals in that regard I am sure the council is flexible in terms of trying to provide for a changing environment. If he has a particular interest in non-traditional skills or trades that are required I am sure the Minister of State, Deputy Damien English, would be very happy to engage with him and bring the issue to the attention of the Apprenticeship Council.

Deputy Pearse Doherty

The Taoiseach might be aware that on 6 May a motion was discussed in the Seanad on the regulation of receivers. At that point the Minister stated on behalf of the Minister for Justice and Equality that in such circumstances the Minister believes it would be reasonable to put in place some rules and regulations governing their actions. Is legislation forthcoming in light of that commitment in the Seanad on 6 May this year, and in particular in light of the ruling that was made by the President of the High Court last week? He stated very clearly in his ruling that he has some sympathy for the view that the unaccountable receivership is a licence for theft. He said the law cannot avert its gaze. He went on to say that justice demands-----

An Ceann Comhairle

The Deputy has made his point.

Deputy Pearse Doherty

-----the regulation of receivers in the now familiar model of regulation by a statutory agency. In his ruling he likened what was happening to the Maple Ten case with which we are all familiar. Will regulation be forthcoming in this Dáil on the regulation of receivers because we are seeing many borrowers being short changed as a result of their actions, as they are working hand in glove with the banks?

The Taoiseach

It has not come before the Government yet. I will advise the Deputy on the preparation or work that has been done since 6 May.

Deputy Tom Barry

I wish to inquire about the stage of development of the human tissue Bill. We have an excellent anatomy teaching profession in this country and we have always been grateful for the donation of organs. We have a culture of generosity in that regard.

The Taoiseach

I can inform Deputy Barry that the Bill is due in the House next year.