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Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 22 Mar 2018

Vol. 966 No. 9

Topical Issue Debate

Schools Building Projects Status

I thank the Minister and the Ceann Comhairle's office for allowing me to raise the issue. I have raised it before as a Topical Issue matter and in a huge number of parliamentary questions over a long period.

The amalgamation of the schools in Kanturk is a long-running issue and has met huge obstacles and difficulties. It is an amalgamation of two fantastic schools - the boys' school and the girls' school in Kanturk. It was first mooted a long time ago when issues such as the procurement of the site, access to the site and planning permissions were considered. There have been many obstacles. I want an outline from the Minister and the Department of Education and Skills on the roadmap as we go forward for the jigsaw involving the local authority, land acquisition, trying to secure planning and the acquisition of the property. At one stage the Department appealed the decision. It was the first time an applicant appealed a decision to the board as a result of issues surrounding it. There is huge frustration with the project within the school community in Kanturk and the wider community there. Many people I meet have given up completely on expecting it to progress. While a flag has been raised that the new school has been sanctioned, the official sanction was given in 2010 or 2011 and it had been sanctioned even before that. It has gone through a very protracted process.

Will the Minister put the exact process before the Dáil? Where do we go from here? How far away are we from tender documents going out? How far away are we from actually making sure the project will start and go to construction? When does the Department envisage the school will be open for students? Many dates have been given over recent years, which is hugely frustrating for the boards of management and the communities involved. Of all the projects, there have been more representations made by me and other public representatives down through the years to try to get this up and running.

Now is the time. I understand the money was sanctioned a long time ago but where do we go from here? When do the Department and Minister believe the project will commence? There was no mention of it in any of the capital plan announcements. There is a bit of scepticism about how we go forward. What is the position? When will it go to tender? When do the Minister and his Department believe construction will start? When does the Minister believe the school will be completed for pupils, staff and the entire community of Kanturk to move into the long-awaited new school? We will start with those questions and I may have some supplementary questions for the Minister.

I thank Deputy Moynihan for raising the issue. It is an issue of considerable concern. I have spoken to the Deputy's constituency colleagues, including the Minister, Deputy Creed, and others, who share his frustration. I understand it. It has a very long history. The planning process started way back in 2012 at which point planning permission was refused by Cork County Council on the ground of access. It then came up with an alternative approach to access and alternative site access proposals. They were granted but subject to conditions that, as Deputy Moynihan has said, the Department felt could be leaving them exposed to building a school that would not have adequate access and could not open. Based on the conditions, the Department instructed the Office of Public Works, OPW, to appeal the conditions to An Bord Pleanála but they were upheld so the Department had to proceed. That has added complexity to the project.

I understand the project has been delayed in more recent times due to issues concerning clarification of the ownership of the lands adjacent to the site and on a number of sides, the passing of some of that land into county council ownership, and the acquisition of licences that are required to carry out the necessary enabling works for the project. I gather the issue was related to building an access road and footpath which were required due to the new condition.

I am pleased to note that the issue around the land passing into county council ownership has been resolved and a licence has been received from the county council to allow the necessary electrical cable enabling works on that land to proceed. This development permitted the OPW to agree a design with the ESB for the works and the OPW is now proceeding to tender for them. I gather that that element of the works could take up to nine months as it involves groundworks and overhead diversion works, all of which must be completed. A further licence from another landowner to allow foul sewer works during the building project has progressed and is now being finalised. That does not hold up the enabling works for the electrical works, which are now proceeding to tender.

With the progression of the enabling works my Department will be in a position to approve the pre-qualification of contractors for the project later this year and then to approve the project to proceed to tender and construction. While I fully understand the frustration the Deputy and the various stakeholders in St. Colman's boys' school and the Convent of Mercy girls' school in Kanturk have experienced, we are now in sight of getting all the issues resolved and will be in a position to move to the pre-qualification stage for contractors. I am encouraged by that and I assure the Deputy that my Department is determined to push this project on, given the difficult experience people have had.

The Minister mentioned a period of nine months for the enabling works. Will he clarify the position in that regard because we need certainty on the progress of the project? The Minister indicated in the second last paragraph of his reply that there has been progress in obtaining a further licence from another landowner to allow the foul sewer works during the building project. Has the licence been completely finalised or will there be a delay while we await its completion?

Six years ago in 2012, when the project first went to planning permission after the OPW sourced the site, difficult issues arose in terms of site acquisition and dealing with the site. Will the Minister indicate how long the process will take in terms of the enabling works and the appointment of contractors? What is the Department's indicative timeframe? Will the Minister also indicate when the tender documents will be released? I am interested in learning about the genuine timeframe. We do not want to hear deadlines that cannot be met. We want the factual position on when the tender documents will be released in order that people can physically see the project is moving on. Does the Department have a timeframe for completion of the project provided everything goes according to plan?

Deputy Moynihan rightly indicated why the Department does not give firm timelines, because we do not know what might happen during a tender process that was not anticipated. I refer, for example, to issues arising with ground conditions that were not fully anticipated. The Department does not say a project will take a specific period because, as Deputy Moynihan rightly said, people would feel frustrated at the perceived setback. As I understand it, the issue relating to the land is being finalised. That is not to say that it is not impossible that something would go wrong but the Department is fairly confident that that element is agreed and that it will be able to proceed. The tenders are being issued in respect of the ESB works, and on the successful completion of those tenders, it is expected that the work would take six to nine months. Those elements are reasonably predictable, and to prevent a delay, it is our intention to pre-qualify contractors so that we are not holding up that stage with the various enabling works are being done. We are taking an approach that cuts out any unnecessary loops. I assure the Deputy that we will keep a close eye on this to make sure that the difficult experience does not continue to frustrate people, as I well understand has been the case.

I will return to the matter again at some future point.

Public Consultation Process

I welcome the opportunity to raise my proposal with the Minister. As we all know, public consultation is one of the most important activities both national and local government and State agencies can undertake. By consulting effectively with the citizen and stakeholders we improve on the making of policy and its implementation. It is essential that public consultation is done in a very accurate way as it is so important that we get it right. The consultation process increases transparency and improves engagement with the people. The information gleaned from public consultations means that policy is more informed and accurate and that, if changes are to be made, citizens are more aware of them.

In recent years, both locally and nationally, various types of public consultation have been carried out. For example, at local level, when local area plans are being carried out, a local authority must try to communicate with the local citizenry that it will happen and try to reach people in as many ways as possible. A similar process is undertaken for the county development plan.

Currently, the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection is doing a consultation on the disability allowance payment and other schemes in terms of whether they should be reconfigured and how. The question is who knows about that. A person might be unaware of the situation unless he or she is a member of an advocacy group. The consultation is taking place on the welfare.ie website and unless a person is affected directly, he or she might not know about it although what that person might have to say is valuable. To participate in a meaningful way, a person would have to make a submission him or herself or have someone do so on his or her behalf. However, the only way that person can make a submission is to know about it in the first place.

My proposal is that for the citizen to understand and access public consultation, we should have a single access portal on the Internet. Each county could have a separate access point showing both local and national consultations. For example, in my area, if I click on County Offaly, I could see what consultations are being carried out by the local authority but I could also see what the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection, the Arts Council or Fáilte Ireland are doing at a national level. Therefore, I could make a submission on a particular issue if I so wished. At the moment I believe reaching the citizen is very piecemeal. Given how technology is moving, it must be possible for us to have a single online portal for public consultation that would allow people to look at their local area, region or nationally and see what is relevant to them. Currently, I do not believe we are getting good quality, all-encompassing information. We must take a targeted approach.

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I agree entirely with her on many of the issues she has raised. Since my appointment to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, I have been working on this issue with my officials and the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer. It is the subject of a commitment given in the programme for Government adopted in May 2016. We have gone a good way down the road in the development of a single point entry portal between the unit in my Department, the open government unit and the Office of the Chief Information Officer.

I have a prepared answer, but the Deputy will be glad to know that much of the engagement she has suggested has been initiated. I have had engagement with the Acting Chairman and a number of other Deputies on other issues, but if it would be helpful, I would be delighted, if I can, to convene a meeting with the relevant officials and the Deputy at the earliest opportunity to bring her up to speed on the work we have done on the issue. With reference to much of what she referred to, we have gone a good way down the road in looking at it, particularly other models. One of the best examples available to Ireland for how the Government can best communicate with the citizenry through eGovernment, which forms another part of my responsibilities, is available in Estonia. While we are not suggesting we move entirely in that direction, it does give us food for thought.

The Deputy is absolutely right. It is the advocacy groups and those who claim to be representative of civil society that engage, but the vast majority, including the middle of the road person who gets up in the morning and sends his or her children to school or looks after somebody at home, do not have that level of engagement, unless they are involved in one of the organisations mentioned. It behoves the Government to try to use every mechanism available to us at national and local level to provide the citizenry with an opportunity to hear about what the Government is doing. That is the concept behind having a single entry point portal and making communications for the Government much more streamlined. That is part of the remit I have been given.

The public consultation portal is being developed by the open government unit in conjunction with the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer. There was to be a launch of the portal shortly, but I have requested that prior to the launch it be further developed to allow users to receive email notifications and share consultations on social media. I have asked the senior officials to meet to discuss that issue, but I have also asked them to examine an aspect about which I have a concern - the ad hoc nature of the carrying out of public consultation. Week in, week out there are very large advertisements - sometimes smaller ones - in national and provincial newspapers about statutory requirements placed by every Department, local authority and so on on public consultation processes that have to be initiated. We could do it much more simply and cost effectively by virtue of State agencies, Departments and other entities being able to log on and make people aware of them. There is, however, the added difficulty of reaching people who do not have access to ICT services. Therefore, there will be a requirement to continue along the traditional route for certain elements.

My reply has been circulated and I can go through it later, but the Deputy raised specific issues and I wanted to assure her that we had taken them into consideration. To respond to the points she raised, I would be delighted to facilitate an opportunity for her to sit down with me and my officials to hear about what we have done so far and share her ideas in order that we can move forward in a manner that is in keeping with best practice.

I cannot tell the Minister of State how happy his answer has made me because I raised this issue in the previous Dáil with the then Minister, Deputy Brendan Howlin, who undertook to investigate my idea, but between one thing and another, I did not get back to him to find out what was happening. I would like to think I might have had some input into the proposal coming to fruition. I am delighted about that.

I am reassured by what the Minister of State said about not everybody having access to technology, yet it is a wonderful way for us to connect with people. Having consultations accessible on online platforms and linked with the single entry point portal will be very helpful. As a public representative, I like to think I am well informed on different things that are happening, but, as the Minister of State also said, perhaps the only time I realise there is a public consultation process is when I open a newspaper at the weekend.

I am delighted with the news and will be very happy to take up the Minister of State's offer to avail of an opportunity to make a further input at some point with him and the officials in the Department because this will be a very significant development to enable citizens to have their say, be heard and, importantly, aware when a public consultation process is taking place and we want to hear what they have to say. Policy and cultural changes are sometimes very difficult and it helps to consult citizens along the way to hear what they have to say, perhaps even before the commencement of a public consultation process. It is crucial that we get the process right because we can see the mistakes that were made in the past when the people were not consulted or given adequate information, for which we all paid the price. I sincerely believe this is a marvellous move for democracy.

My role is one the Taoiseach has defined as Minister of State with responsibility for open government and eGovernment. They are not two different coins but very much the same entity. As I have often relayed to other Members of the House and my officials, we cannot have one without the other. While until now I have been preoccupied in the drafting and completion of legislation on other issues, legislation which is almost ready to be brought before the House, this is an issue about which I feel strongly because consultation is not something that should just be initiated by the Government. It should also be about finding out from citizens their concerns that may not necessarily be on the radar of Members. With the greatest of respect to us, we are all very busy and whether we want to admit it, in some areas we are the captive of the bubble mentality. Every Member is very busy. As a result, our agendas are often driven by those who have access to information, including advocacy and civil society groups. However, they do not include over 90% of the people who are not actively involved in any group and who may not want to attend a constituency clinic or get involved in a political party but who still wants to engage with the Government. The quickest and most effective way to do this is through an online or electronic communications system. There is a difficulty in that regard and the infrastructure to be used in creating it will not be put in place overnight. It comes at a cost which has to be borne by the people. It would be much easier if we had a magic wand in deciding whether I should bring forward a proposal in the House through the Department that would involve a lot of capital investment and that would meet with the support of Members. I am not naive enough to believe that would happen because I know that some people would say it was an awful waste of money on a vanity project to engage in consultation with the people, but this is about investing long term in our democracy when the Government and politicians would be kept way more informed of the views of the people, as opposed to what we are being told by the Fifth Estate.

Bord na Móna

I am a bog woman and very proud of it. I come from the heart of the Bog of Allen.

That makes two of us.

I was about to say the Minister was also very proud of his roots. There are plenty of bogs in County Roscommon.

I cannot overstate the importance of Bord na Móna to County Kildare on many levels. They include the heritage and ecological system of the bog, horticulture and the employment the company has provided in the past eight years. Only last week, at a meeting of Rathangan Tidy Towns committee, we discussed celebrating the heritage and employment benefits delivered by Bord na Móna. People moved from other parts of Ireland to work for the company and settled in places such as Timahoe, Kilberry, Coill Dubh and Allenwood in County Kildare. Their families have become part of the area.

The Rathangan poet William A. Byrne has written many poems about the bog, including the following four lines:

I was the broom and crooked heather,

I was the moss that grew,

But time has moulded us together,

Beneath the years of dew.

While I accept that Bord na Móna is operating in a challenging environment, we must also ensure the company's long-term viability. Not only is it facing a challenging business environment, it is also in transition. It currently supplies peat to the three power stations in the midlands. I understand the plant in Edenderry has reduced its use of peat by 40% under a carbon neutral initiative while maintaining the same number of jobs, which is crucial.

Does the Minister support the concept of co-fuelling, an approach that certainly appears to make sense? Does he continue to support a managed transition from peat to other fuels in the period to 2030? Such a transition period will be important because it will give Bord na Móna an opportunity to enter new areas of business.

Yesterday evening and this morning we received word that there were to be job losses at Bord na Móna. I understand 45 jobs will be lost in ten locations, including seven in Newbridge and four in Lullymore, both of which are in County Kildare. I invite the Minister to visit the Lullymore Heritage Centre close to the Bord na Móna operation in the area to show him what a wonderful job people in the area have done to celebrate the importance of the bog.

To address the more important matter of job losses, it is fine if it suits people to take a redundancy package or leave the company. However, there are many Bord na Móna employees who are not in a position to do so. I call for consultation on the job losses and a commitment to be given to sustain the company's other jobs in County Kildare.

My colleague, Deputy Barry Cowen, and I have been calling for funding raised by the carbon tax to be ring-fenced and reinvested in renewable energy technology. This would give Bord na Móna a future and ensure continued sustainable employment in County Kildare and the midlands generally.

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I will not recite poetry, although I will declare an interest to the extent that I have been eaten out of the bog by midges on many occasions. The village in which I was born is surrounded by bog. Incidentally, I hated every day I spent on the bog.

Bord na Móna employs approximately 450 people in County Kildare. The company has a long association with the county, which historically centred on peat harvesting operations across bogs in the north and west of the county. Bord na Móna's 450 County Kildare based employees are located at a number of centres, including the company's head office which has been located in Newbridge since 1994. The head office provides the location for most of the group's central support services. It also houses many of its business unit headquarters, including those for the fuels, horticulture and resource recovery businesses. The resource recovery business headquarters also incorporates the call centre for the AES waste collection business. Other significant Bord na Móna centres across the county include the horticulture facility in Kilberry, the resource recovery facility in Drehid and peat harvesting operations across a number of bogs.

With the exception of the fuels business, none of these areas is affected by yesterday's decision. It should be noted that the decision does not affect the approximately 120 people who are involved in the manufacture of the company's peat briquettes at Derrinlough, County Offaly. Yesterday's decision by the company to cease operations in its coal business will affect 11 of the 450 employees in County Kildare, of whom seven are located in Newbridge and four at a convenience fuels facility in Lullymore. The company is engaging with the affected employees and will consult them on possible outcomes, including redeployment.

Bord na Móna informed employees yesterday of the decision to exit the coal business for a number of commercial and regulatory reasons. As the Deputy will be aware, Bord na Móna is a commercial semi-State company and while operational matters are the responsibility of the board and management team and do not come directly within my area of responsibility or functions, I am nonetheless acutely conscious of the impact of the recent decision on employees of the company. The underlying reasons for the move away from coal form part of the company's transition from its traditional business activities towards a business model that is sustainable in the long term. This includes the coal-firing of the peat-fired power stations in Edenderry, Lanesboro and Shannonbridge.

To answer the Deputy's question, I support the company's transition and attended the public consultation days in the parochial hall in Shannonbridge and St. Mary's Hall in Lanesboro, at which we engaged with members of the community and explained what we were planning to do to transition from peat to biomass in the next decade or thereabouts. My priority is to ensure biomass is generated and grown as close as possible to the three peat-fired power stations. The intention is to maintain and, I hope, enhance current employment levels in Bord na Móna. I am acutely conscious of the importance of the employment provided by the company across the midland counties, extending from east County Galway to counties Roscommon, Laois, Offaly, Westmeath and Kildare. I am determined to put in place a sustainable transition and maintain the maximum possible number of employees in the areas in which the company currently operates. The same types of equipment and skill sets will be used to bring biomass into the peat-fired power stations.

I am reassured by the Minister's commitment to sustain employment in Bord na Móna. As I noted and he acknowledged, many towns and villages in County Kildare and the midlands owe their development to the company. Many families depend on the continued viability of Bord na Móna. When we consider that the company provides 450 jobs in County Kildare, its contribution to employment in the county is substantial. I know that the Minister shares my concerns in that regard.

This is not the first time the Minister and I have discussed Bord na Móna in the Chamber. Last year I raised with him problems being experienced in Kilberry. At the time he kindly agreed to arrange a meeting with the then chief executive of the company, Mr. Mike Quinn. While a meeting took place, unfortunately, Mr. Quinn did not attend. I understand a new chief executive officer, Mr. Tom Donnellan, will start work on 18 April. I ask the Minister to use his good offices to ensure a meeting will take place between Mr. Donnellan and Deputies and Senators from the counties impacted on by Bord na Móna. It would be good to have a meeting with Mr. Donnellan early in his tenure to assure him of our support and raise our concerns about individuals in our counties.

Will the Minister give a commitment to ring-fence revenues from the carbon tax for investment in renewable energy resources? I thank him for his time and positive response.

The new chief executive officer, CEO, must come into place and I will have the same conversation with the new CEO that I had with his predecessors. For me it is a priority to maintain job numbers right across the midlands. I have made that crystal clear. As we transition away from fossil fuels into sustainable forms of fuel, it will remain a priority. That is why I was determined as Minister to establish Bord na Móna BioEnergy, which will probably be the biggest employer of staff across the midland counties in the years to come. I am determined to support the management team in developing that sector of the business. I am sure the CEO will not have a difficulty in meeting Oireachtas Members from right across the region.

The ring-fencing of carbon tax will have to be dealt with by the Minister for Finance and I am sure it is a matter that can be discussed at the finance committee. The company is focused on progressing its plan to develop a sustainable business model that will maximise the number of people it employs not just in County Kildare but right across the midlands and right into County Roscommon and County Galway. Many of my neighbours are seasonal employees with Bord na Móna and I am very conscious of the impacts in this regard. I believe today is the last day of operation of the briquette plant at Littleton in County Tipperary. I want to see the site being explored for new business opportunities. We must keep that in mind when looking at Bord na Móna and the likes of Moneypoint as they transition from traditional fossil fuels. We should be able to put a clear channel in place to bring about a more sustainable future, with sustainable long-term jobs in the vicinity of those plants. I am determined to try to develop this as long as I am a Minister.

Fire Safety

I congratulate the Dublin Fire Brigade on its bravery, dedication and professionalism in dealing with the major fire at the Metro Hotel at Ballymun last night. It involved 11 units of the Dublin Fire Brigade and 60 firefighters. I also thank the Garda, Dublin City Council and the other first responders on the scene for the work they did. What lessons can be learned from this fire? In particular, what has happened since the horrific Grenfell Tower fire in west London? What area risk assessments have been carried out on high-rise buildings in Dublin and throughout the country since that fire?

It is my understanding that many high-rise buildings, including this hotel which is 15 storeys high, apartment blocks and nursing homes etc., have not yet been given an area risk assessment. This is very serious matter. Cladding was an issue with the Grenfell Tower tragedy but we do not yet know what the position is here yet because assessments have not been carried out in many cases. Buildings may not be conforming to regulations and units in buildings may not be self-contained. If that is the case, the advice given to residents to remain in place in buildings is completely wrong, and they should be evacuated from the building.

There are many grey areas that really need investigation. I understand there was a problem with the lift in the hotel last night, which should also be examined. We need a full investigation into the fire and a full report on the progress of risk assessments of high-rise buildings in Dublin and throughout the country. Dublin Fire Brigade is not getting the resources it needs to do its job effectively and a direct funding mechanism should be put in place for the Dublin Fire Brigade. The Dublin Fire Brigade must be allowed to continue to provide an ambulance service as well, although that matter is separate and I will come back to it.

Like others I pay tribute in particular to Dublin Fire Brigade and all the other emergency services, including the Garda and Dublin City Council workers. As a result of their efforts, I am thankful that last night's disastrous fire brought no fatalities and, as far as we know so far, no casualties. I find it ironic that as Dublin Fire Brigade is rightly being showered with congratulations about this, it has had a running battle with the city manager for 15 years that has the aim of basically bringing down the standard of employment of firemen, who are experts in the safety of the people of Dublin and other citizens. It also concerns the proposed disbandment of the ambulance service.

Many trendy commentators constantly tell us that Dublin must go up and become high-rise and compact. At the same time we know what happened year after year, particularly during the Celtic tiger. There is the saying that doctors bury their mistakes but developers and contractors could also bury their mistakes in not meeting required fire standards. It is the reality. Everybody knows in this city that where people live in high-rises - I am referring to buildings with four to six storeys, never mind what the trendy people in government want for Dublin, which is 12 to 20 storeys - we are not getting full information about levels of fire safety and conditions and risks in building. There is a separate problem that the Minister will have to address. Last year in my constituency there was a disastrous fire in a block on a Saturday afternoon. I am thankful nobody was injured but the residents will now have to pay to bring the rebuilt buildings up to safety standards.

Last night I witnessed first-hand the devastating effects of a fire in a high-rise building in Ballymun. I also witnessed the courage of the emergency services, the Dublin Fire Brigade, gardaí and Dublin City Council in responding to the fire. We owe them our deepest gratitude for the courage and fortitude they demonstrated last night. The staff in the building should be thanked for the role they played in helping evacuate the almost 200 people in that building. However, we now need answers to a number of important questions.

How could a fire spread so quickly from floor to floor and apartment to apartment? How did the fire spread not just to apartments above the source of the fire but also to apartments below the source? Why did the fireproofing methods employed in the building not contain the fire to a better extent? What triggered the fire and how was the alarm raised? Were alarms and smoke detectors working on every floor and was every apartment checked? Is it the case that the fire brigade ladder could not reach the higher floors, as seemed to be evident if one was there? There is a serious question about getting proper ladders to reach higher floors. It must be addressed.

People will say it is too early for answers and the Minister will probably say the same thing. These questions must be answered, especially when we consider there are even higher skyscrapers around the city, with more being built. We cannot have a fire service that is under-resourced. There are serious problems with recruitment in the fire service and the equipment being used. This has been raised a number of times. Attempts to remove the ambulance service from the fire brigade have been ongoing for a number of years and it is totally unacceptable. Everybody knows that the first people responding are the ambulance service personnel in the fire brigade. They are always on hand.

I thank Deputies for raising this very important matter. A fire broke out in an apartment on the 13th floor of the Metro Hotel and apartment building in Ballymun at approximately 8 p.m. last night, Wednesday, 21 March 2018. The fire extensively damaged the 13th and 10th floors of the building. The building was evacuated successfully and there are no reports of missing persons or injuries at this point. Eleven units of Dublin Fire Brigade, comprising eight fire engines, two aerial appliances and the incident command unit, involving approximately 60 firefighters under the command of the chief fire officer, responded and assisted with evacuation, as well as fighting the fire.

The fire has now been extinguished but the fire brigade remains in attendance. An Garda Síochána was at the scene overnight and managed traffic in the area to facilitate firefighting. It is understood the Garda will investigate the cause of the fire. The Dublin Fire Brigade will also carry out an initial review of the scene and its response in the days ahead. At this point, I am sure Deputies on all sides will join with me in expressing appreciation to the emergency services and all others involved in responding to the incident last night. I was kept informed as events unfolded through liaison between the fire brigade and officials in my Department. None of us is on the front line when it comes to these types of emergencies but it seems very tense from our point of view. We can only imagine what the firefighters felt. They are incredibly brave in the work they do.

I turn now to the fire safety task force. I established it in response to the Grenfell Tower tragedy of 14 June 2017 in recognition of fears expressed for fire safety in Ireland. On 27 June 2017, I tasked my Department's National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management with convening and co-ordinating a high level task force to lead Ireland's reappraisal of fire safety.

The task force held its tenth and most recent meeting on 22 February 2018. It discussed the most up to date draft of its report. In the intervening time, the national directorate had to deal with the significant snow event associated with Storm Emma and has not had an opportunity to consider the task force members' feedback on this latest draft. Notwithstanding this, I expect to receive the full report of the task force before the end of April.

In addition to establishing the task force, local authorities were requested to undertake a number of initial actions and the task force was requested to oversee and report on a review of fire safety in both social housing and fire safety in medium to high rise buildings. As part of these initial actions, local authorities, in June of last year, were asked to assess multistorey social housing buildings' fire detection and alarm systems, emergency lighting systems and common escape routes, including corridors, stairways and emergency exits, and to ensure that such systems are in place and fully functional.

The local authorities responded fully to my request and carried out the inspections and works arising within the required timeframes. To give an indication of the extent of this exercise, 1,230 multi-storey social housing buildings in Ireland were reported back to my Department. They contain 16,780 flats. The four Dublin local authority areas had 64% of the buildings and 77% of the flats, the two Cork local authority areas had 7% of the buildings and 5% of the flats and the Limerick local authority area had 4% of the buildings and 4% of the flats. Overall, the review was a comprehensive exercise. It highlighted that local authorities are fully engaged in their fire safety responsibilities to those who rely on social housing.

This initial work in respect of the appraisal of fire safety in medium to high rise buildings was carried out and all local authorities have reported back to my Department as requested. The work undertaken has identified 842 buildings within the medium and high rise category. A total of 291 of these were identified as having certain categories of external cladding. After preliminary consideration, local authorities, using their powers under section 18(6) of the Fire Services Act, have requested the persons having control of 237 of these buildings to have detailed fire safety assessments carried out. The work by persons having control of these buildings, and their professional advisers, to carry out and report the fire safety assessments is ongoing. As of the end of January, 99 fire safety assessments had been received by fire authorities, and further action is proposed or under consideration in eight cases - six residential and two non-residential.

A guidance note - fire safety guidance note 01 of 2017 - Assessing existing cladding systems in buildings of more than six storeys, or more than 18 m in height - was developed by a task force subgroup and has been circulated to fire authorities and placed on my Department's website as a support for those undertaking assessments of cladding in medium to high rise building. The task force subgroup will maintain oversight of the review of these assessments in the months ahead, dealing with any emergent issues and providing an oversight report at the end of the process. It is understood the building in Ballymun which went on fire last night was identified in the survey of medium to high-rise buildings undertaken as part of the work of the fire safety task force in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire. Initial indications are that cladding was not a contributory factor in this fire.

As indicated earlier, the fire will now be the subject to a full Garda investigation. The outcome will, of course, be carefully considered.

I hoped I might have additional time because the Deputies had additional time.

I will be flexible given the issue.

I appreciate that very much.

The fleet of fire engines available to fire services requires ongoing investment to ensure that reliable and appropriate fire engines are available to respond to emergencies. In order to ensure that fleet age profile is maintained, a further investment of €9.2 million, under the 2017 fire appliance procurement programme, was announced last year. It will see the construction and delivery of 23 new appliances between 2018 and 2020, with an expected contribution of €400,000 per unit from my Department's capital programme. Some fire authorities may choose to select aerial appliances - turntable ladders or hydraulic platforms - in lieu of allocated class B standard fire engines.

I look forward to receiving the overview of fire safety in Ireland which the task force is preparing. I expect it will propose a programme of fire safety initiatives to address what the task force identifies as the priority areas of concern with regard to life safety. The evacuation process worked successfully to ensure public safety in last night's incident. However, in conjunction with Dublin City Council and Dublin Fire Brigade, I will consider if there are specific issues arising from this incident which require follow up action. I again express our deep appreciation to all our emergency services personnel and everyone else involved in ensuring a timely and effective response to last night's incident. They do this work on a daily basis on behalf of all of us but sometimes it takes a serious and alarming incident, such as occurred last night, for us to realise the importance of the work they do and the bravery they have in doing that work.

I have been generous in my flexibility in allowing the comprehensive response to be read to the Deputies. They have a minute each to come back with a supplementary question. I call Deputy Haughey.

I note what the Minister has to say in respect of the fire safety task force and the inspections being carried out by the local authorities. It is important that any remedial works identified would be carried out as soon as possible. There is urgency in respect of this situation. I have been informed by personnel from the Dublin Fire Brigade that many buildings have still not been examined. That includes nursing homes and high rise buildings in the Clongriffin estate in my constituency. We need clarity about that. There seems to be misinformation coming from some source. However, it is important that these remedial works are carried out.

Other speakers have mentioned the funding of the fire brigade. That is extremely important. It is believed that a direct funding mechanism is needed. The HSE is proposing the removal of the ambulance service from the Dublin Fire Brigade. This would be a retrograde step. The Dublin Fire Brigade must continue to provide a fire-based emergency medical service. That is international best practice. If it is not broken, do not fix it. The Minister should consult with the Minister for Health to ensure that is the case.

Will the Minister give a commitment to publish all these fire reports? People are worried about their safety in the event of a fire. I raised this with the Minister about a year ago when a four storey block of apartments in my constituency burnt down on a sunny Saturday afternoon. There were no injuries thankfully. However, because of the upgrade of those apartment blocks that must be done following that disastrous fire, the residents may now be charged significant amounts of money. The Minister cannot say to people who are struggling with mortgages that they have to find thousands of extra euro or get out an additional mortgage or loan to fund fire safety. I refer to the fact that they got a certificate stressing fire safety was adequate when they bought their apartment or acquired their mortgage. That has to be addressed.

We also have to look at the proposal of the Minister and his party to have high rise as the new norm in Dublin without having adequate fire safety. He must publish the fire reports from the task force he referenced. It is wrong that they are not being published. They should be available on the wall of every apartment block.

The Minister mentioned the task force and its tenth meeting. I refer to not having anything back by April. There is an urgency because he said many buildings were identified where work needed to be done and much of that has not been done. That needs to be addressed and they need to be forced to deal with this. People have lost their homes. How will the Minister help with this? There are also 100 staff out of work. Will the Minister get welfare officers to contact people who need help? Is there compensation available? Are there counselling services for people who went through trauma?

Many items have been lost. Will the welfare officers be instructed to help these people in respect of what has been lost? It is very important. The Metro Hotel was built in the regeneration of Ballymun. It was one of the landmarks. It is important that we get to the bottom of this and that this hotel is operational again.

The Minister has two minutes, and two minutes only.

I appreciate the additional time the Acting Chairman gave me earlier so I will try to keep it even shorter than two minutes. Work has been ongoing in the medium and high rise category. That was the second phase of the task force group's work and 842 buildings were identified in that category. Further detailed assessments of fire and life safety measures were deemed to be needed for 237 buildings. As of the end of January this year, 99 of those assessments had taken place. Only eight cases from those 99 required further actions. Of those, six were residential buildings and two were non-residential.

A significant amount of work is being done by the task force. Coming back to Deputy Ellis's point, the task force has had ten meetings. Since I set it up, it is preparing a report based on the actual work it is doing in the interim period. It is doing the actual work and then preparing a report on that work, which will inform us what we need to do in the future.

That work has been interrupted by Storm Ophelia and Storm Emma because it is the same group of people doing the work. Any new learning that will come from this latest incident will be considered when we have that work done by both the Garda and the fire services. When we have the report from the task force, including the extensive work done in all local authority owned multi-storey complexes, this will be published. What happened last night in Ballymun was a serious and dangerous event. Our emergency firefighters and those who helped people evacuate the hotel acquitted themselves admirably, as well as showing bravery and courage. What happened last night will not undermine our ambition for more high-rise buildings in Dublin. It is a key feature of what we need to do to deliver for the housing needs of our people. We can do it with safe buildings and have the fire services in place to ensure public safety and the safety of those who live in these buildings.

For those who suffered in this event, there are all sorts of supports available to them, in particular, the emergency needs payment. People can contact their social welfare offices to see what supports are available. If the Deputies are aware of anybody having difficulties in this regard, they can bring them to my attention.

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