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Seanad Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 15 Apr 2014

Adjournment Matters

Crime Prevention

In the light of the proven effectiveness of crime prevention text alerts in both urban and rural trials, consideration should be given to a centralised grant fund to allow residents' associations and communities to begin their own crime prevention text alert trials. It has been stated that the Minister's Department does not directly fund such schemes, but that does not preclude the Minister from considering a centrally funded pilot scheme, given the success of individual trials to date in areas such as Beaumont and Santry. Trials of community text alerts in both urban and rural areas have been very successful. They are effective as a 21st-century equivalent of the Neighbourhood Watch scheme. If a burglar enters a house through an open window a text is sent to all residents in the vicinity to warn them of the burglary and advising them to check their windows. It is common sense, as burglaries often happen in clusters. These alerts work as a deterrent if signs are placed in windows, much like the Neighbourhood Watch signs in the past. I ask the Minister to consider issuing a one-off grant in order to aid either community groups or An Garda Síochána in setting up these services. The one-off cost would pay dividends for communities, towns and villages by preventing crime and encouraging people to be active, alert and vigilant with regard to their own areas.

I thank the Senator for raising this matter on the Adjournment. I am speaking on behalf of the Minister for Justice and Equality, who regrets that he is unable to be present due to other business.

An Garda Síochána has a strong tradition of working closely with local communities to enhance community safety through a wide range of policing measures and participation in programmes such as Community Alert and Neighbourhood Watch. This commitment was underlined in guidelines launched last year by the Garda Commissioner and the Minister, which provided advice on how to set up or revitalise community crime prevention schemes. The introduction of the Garda text alert scheme is a recent development building on this long-standing tradition. The background to the scheme is that it was developed as a pilot programme with the support of a number of community networks, including Community Alert, Neighbourhood Watch and the Irish Farmers Association. Based on the successful feedback from the pilot programme, the scheme was launched nationally by the Garda Commissioner in September 2013. The scheme provides a further mechanism by which An Garda Síochána can provide crime prevention information to community groups. Guidelines for establishing and operating community text alert schemes have been published and are available on the Garda website. Further information and advice on establishing such schemes is available from local community gardaí.

The Garda guidelines have been produced to assist local communities in establishing a standardised and efficient method of receiving communication by text message or e-mail from An Garda Síochána. In this context, the Minister considers it important to channel community crime prevention efforts and the dissemination of information about criminal incidents or threats within the framework of the Garda guidelines and with the benefit of Garda insight and verification.

In so far as the question of funding is concerned, the Department of Justice and Equality has for many years provided funding for the Community Alert programme operated by Muintir na Tíre. Funding totalling €152,000 was provided by the Department in 2013. This supports the employment and associated costs of the national co-ordinator and development officers for the programme, which in turn supports in the region of 1,300 groups nationally. The work of Community Alert is highly valued and it is intended to provide a similar level of funding in 2014. The available funding does not permit the provision of financial support for the setting up of text alert schemes. In practice, the costs arising for each scheme are usually comparatively modest and are typically covered through local sponsorship, collections and contributions, in common with many similar community-based endeavours around the country.

The Minister is of the view that the finite resources available to him are best employed in providing the essential central supports for the national co-ordinator and development officers who help to establish and support community crime prevention schemes. Putting in place a grant scheme to make individual payments to the potentially large number of such groups, together with the associated administration costs, would dilute those central resources and undermine the overall operation of the scheme.

On behalf of the Minister, I thank the Senator for raising this issue and for giving him an opportunity to voice his continued support for the work done by An Garda Síochána and communities in partnership to respond to crime. It also important to note that these community crime prevention measures complement and support an extremely robust operational response by An Garda Síochána to tackle burglary and property crime around the country. These measures, particularly Operation Fiacla, are targeted, intelligence-led operations focusing on the mobile gangs involved in burglary and preying on householders. The successful impact of these operations can be seen in thousands of arrests and prosecutions for burglary which have taken place and in the recorded crime figures showing that burglary has fallen since their introduction, decreasing by more than 7% last year. The Minister appreciates that these figures may be of little comfort to those who have recently undergone the traumatic experience of being burgled, but he felt it important to cite them in order to illustrate the success and determination of Garda efforts to reduce these crimes and to bring perpetrators to justice.

I thank the Minister of State. I am happy with the response. It is a comfort to know the Minister is so supportive of neighbourhood schemes such as this proposed scheme.

School Staffing

Cuirim fáilte arís roimh an Aire Stáit. I raise this matter on the Adjournment because of a situation in County Clare in Labasheeda national school. The Minister of State may or may not be familiar with the location, which is in west Clare.

I know where it is.

I did not doubt that he knew about it, considering his knowledge of County Clare. He will also know that Labasheeda is a good community. Unfortunately, due to a whole host of circumstances, the school finds itself temporarily in a situation in which its student number is under 20. As we know, 20 students seems to be the cut-off for retaining a second teacher. The school has appealed the decision not to facilitate a second teacher but the appeal was unsuccessful, even though the school clearly demonstrated in its appeal the reasons for the loss of pupils and the projection - in fact, the concrete fact - of an increase in student numbers in 2015 to 2016. The school will have more than 20 pupils next year.

I have always maintained that deciding a school's fate on a specific date without taking other mitigating circumstances into consideration is unfair. We need a multi-annual holistic approach to decision-making. Plus, 16 or 17 additional students next year will not benefit from the suite of opportunities that are currently available with two teachers. Areas such as arts and crafts, music, sport, drama and other extra-curricular activities could be facilitated by two teachers and are being facilitated by two teachers. With the best will in the world, one teacher would find it very difficult to accommodate all of the activities in spite of their best efforts. Therefore, it is better for a school to have two teachers.

I have looked at the appeal submitted by Labasheeda national school and have seen that its whole-school evaluations and records were extremely positive; therefore, I believe the decision is unfair. The Minister should intervene and reverse his decision. He should give some reassurance and clarity ahead of the Easter period and the summer holidays, for the sake of the teachers, parents, pupils and community of Labasheeda, that they will not lose a teacher for the 2014-2015 academic year. As I have said, it has been clearly documented in the appeal submitted to the Department that the school will have 20-plus students the following year. We need to be fair about the matter and adopt a holistic view.

The school has made a big contribution to the area over the years, and given the fact that there is a very good preschool associated with Labasheeda national school, the decision does not make sense. That is why I have taken the step of raising the matter on the Adjournment.

I am taking this Adjournment matter on behalf of my colleague, Deputy Ruairí Quinn, Minister for Education and Skills. I thank the Senator for giving me the opportunity to outline to the Seanad the position on staffing arrangements in primary schools.

The staffing schedule is the mechanism used for allocating mainstream teaching posts to all schools. It operates in a clear and transparent manner and treats all similar types of school equally, irrespective of location. It currently operates on the basis of a general average of one classroom teacher for every 28 pupils, with lower thresholds for DEIS band 1 schools.

As part of the budget 2012 decisions, there was a phased increase in the number of pupils required to gain and retain a classroom teaching post in small primary schools with four teachers or fewer. The first phase of the budget measure took effect from September 2012 and the final phase of the budget measure will take effect from September 2014. An appeals process is available to small schools that have had their staff numbers reduced as a result of the budget measure. A school with four classroom teachers or fewer which is losing a teacher or has failed to gain an additional teacher as a result of the budget 2012 measure can submit an appeal to the Primary Staffing Appeals Board. Details of the appeals process are published annually as part of the staffing arrangements for primary schools which are set out in Circular 7/2014 and available on the Department's website.

Labasheeda national school has two classroom teachers in the current school year based on an enrolment of 21 pupils at 30 September 2012. The enrolment at 30 September 2013 was 17 pupils, which entitled the school to one classroom teacher for the coming school year. The school is projecting an enrolment of 16 pupils for 30 September 2014. The school submitted an appeal to the February 2014 meeting of the Primary Staffing Appeals Board under the small school criterion. It sought the retention of its second classroom post for the 2014-2015 school year based on the projected enrolment of 16 pupils at 30 September 2014. A projected enrolment of at least 20 pupils at 30 September 2014 would be required for the school to remain as a two-teacher school. Given that it projected just 16 pupils, the appeal was deemed ineligible for consideration by the board on the basis that the grounds of the appeal did not meet with the appeal criteria. The board of management of the school has been notified of this decision. The appeals board operates independently of the Department and its decision is final. If other pupils decide to enrol in the school and its projected enrolment in September 2014 increases to the required 20 pupils, it can submit a new appeal to the appeals board.

The Government recognises that small schools are an important part of the social fabric of rural communities. They will continue to be a feature of the education landscape. In these extremely challenging times, all public servants are being asked to deliver public services on a reduced level of resources and teachers in small schools cannot be immune from this requirement.

How best to sustain provision for widely dispersed and small local communities does present as a particular challenge, especially in any locality where enrolment is declining to single figures. The Government is intent on fostering pluralism in school provision. Supporting small communities, including minorities, in maintaining their schools is part of that policy.

The Minister is mindful of the concerns of smaller schools and rural schools. The overall primary school enrolment has grown rapidly in recent years and this is set to continue. In managing the resource consequences of this situation, it is important that decisions on school provision and organisation are based on a rigorous evaluation of requirements and needs not just at a local level but also at regional and national levels.

The current configuration of small primary schools has been examined by the Department in a value for money review. The review took account of the ethos of schools and the locations of small schools relative to other schools of a similar type. The Minister is considering the report of the value for money review of small primary schools. He is doing so in consultation with his Government colleagues. His intention is to publish the report on completion of this consideration process. I am not in a position to give a precise publication date at this time.

I thank the Minister of State for his candid and frank reply on behalf of the Minister for Education and Skills. I appreciate that the Minister of State is only delivering the bad news on behalf of somebody else.

We need to become mature when we look at these types of scenario, because every scenario is unique and different. It is most regrettable that the school became ineligible, even for the appeal, given that it clearly demonstrated that its numbers would increase to more than 20 pupils beyond next year. It is extremely difficult for one teacher, with the best will in the world, to provide a suite of educational services to classes that span baby infants to sixth class, a matter which should have been taken cognisance of. However, it is not too late. I appeal to the Minister of State to convey to the Minister the concerns that I have expressed here today and ask him to identify a mechanism to resolve this impasse.

I again thank the Senator. I come from a similar type of rural background to that of the Senator and represent the rural constituency of Donegal south west, in which there are many small schools. I also taught in a relatively small school that comprised 250 pupils and four or five teachers when I left, but things have changed a lot since. I certainly will convey the Senator's sentiments and views to the Minister on his return.

Hospital Accommodation Provision

Táim an-bhuíoch don Chathaoirleach as an deis luath seo a thabhairt dom an t-ábhar tábhachtach seo a phlé sa Seanad anocht. Táim ag caint anocht maidir le hospidéal réigiúnach d'oirthuaisceart na tíre. I wish to raise the issue of the proposed regional hospital for the north east. This was promised by Fine Gael in the run-up to the last general election and I have since been trying to hold the Government to its promise in the Seanad. My colleagues at a local level, particularly those in Meath County Council, and my colleagues in the Navan area, Councillor Shane Cassells, Councillor Tommy Reilly, Councillor Padraig Fitzsimons and Councillor Jenny McHugh, have been raising the issue with Government Deputies locally. What we are being told locally, and also by the Government party councillors, particularly Fine Gael councillors, is that private negotiations are taking place in respect of the provision of a new regional hospital for the north east and that the Government has discussed this with investors who are prepared to build the hospital. What I am seeking is clarity on the position of the Department in respect of these alleged negotiations. Is the Department aware of the negotiations and has it met any of the alleged investors? Is anything happening with regard to the provision of a regional hospital for the north east? I sincerely hope something is happening, but at the meeting yesterday in Meath County Council with Government colleagues I expressed deep scepticism. Perhaps the Minister of State would outline the Department's position on the issue.

I thank the Senator for giving me the opportunity to address the issue of acute services in Navan. I am deputising for the Minister for Health who is unable to be present.

Following Government approval, on 14 May 2013 the Minister for Health published two key reports: The Establishment of Hospital Groups as a transition to Independent Hospital Trusts, and Securing the Future of Smaller Hospitals: A Framework for Development. The Government's decision to reorganise acute hospitals into new hospital groups was informed by these reports. This establishment of hospital groups - where small and larger hospitals work together as teams - is a key component in the health reform programme. It also lays the key foundation stone for the eventual abolition of the HSE and the introduction of universal health insurance.

Securing the Future of Smaller Hospitals: A Framework for Development defines the role of smaller hospitals. It focuses in particular on the future role of nine smaller hospitals, including Our Lady's Hospital, Navan. It outlines the need for these smaller hospitals and larger hospitals to operate together with appropriate roles within the hospital group. The framework also outlines in detail the wide range of services that can be provided within smaller hospitals such as that in Navan and commits to the expansion of services delivered in these hospitals, especially in areas such as day surgery, ambulatory care, medical services and diagnostics. Smaller hospitals such as Our Lady's Hospital, Navan, will provide more services, not fewer, with more flexibility, in order that the patient is the ultimate beneficiary of this reform.

Our Lady's Hospital, Navan, is part of the new Dublin east hospital group. While the hospital is currently managed as part of the Louth-Meath hospital group, which includes Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, and Louth County Hospital, there will be a structured integration of Navan hospital into the Dublin east hospital group. Within one year of the formation of hospital groups, each group will be required to submit a strategic plan to the Department of Health outlining its plans for future services for each hospital within the group. The provision of services at Navan and all other hospitals will be examined in the context of strategic plans to be developed by each hospital group.

A wide range of services is provided at Navan Hospital, including general medicine and surgery, elective orthopaedic surgery, cardiology, rheumatology and elective gynaecology surgery. Navan hospital, like all hospitals, will play a significant role in its group in providing sustainable, safe and effective care at the appropriate level of complexity. In this regard, a phase 2 build at Our Lady's Hospital Navan will provide enhanced capacity, including a clinical decision unit, rapid assessment triage, and a larger minor injuries unit. This phase 2 build will also incorporate three floors of 22 single en-suite rooms and a new theatre suite. It is anticipated that this additional capacity will be available in 2016.

I am confident that the formation of Irish acute hospitals into a small number of groups will provide an optimum configuration for hospital services, including services at Navan, to deliver high quality, safe patient care in a cost-effective manner. These significant reforms will take time, but the establishment of hospital groups is a key milestone in achieving the vision for our health system as set out in the Future Health document.

I do not expect the Minister of State, Deputy McGinley, to reply to this because he is not the Minister of State at the Department of Health. The Minister of State has been given a response dealing with Our Lady's Hospital, Navan. The question related to the regional hospital that is proposed for Navan, but there was nothing in the reply about that. One can conclude there are no plans at Government level for a new regional hospital. I will seek a debate on the issue during the next sitting after Easter because it is a very important issue. The reply was about Our Lady's Hospital, Navan, but I raised a separate issue. It may well be that there was a mistake or it may be that it was deliberate because there are no plans for a regional hospital, as many of us unfortunately suspect. I am not putting any of the blame on the Minister of State as it has nothing whatever to do with him. I thank him for coming, but the Department of Health has given a completely irrelevant response on the issue I have raised.

Foreign Conflicts

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Dinny McGinley. I appreciate it is a long way from Gweedore to Ukraine but I know he has a broad-spectrum interest-----

I assure the Senator I have been further.

-----not just in history and geography but also in politics, and I am sure he is keenly concerned at the ongoing developments in that now dangerous part of the world. The Minister of State also has an interest in our national poet, W. B. Yeats, who, in the poem September 1913, referred to those who "fumble in a greasy till/And add the halfpence to the pence". The context of that phrase is amusing in the sense that this is what is happening in respect of the response, or lack of response, by the European Union and the United States to Mr. Putin. We are allowing commerce to win over principle and decency. I ask the Minister of State and his Government colleagues - and, in particular, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Eamon Gilmore - to ensure Europe, in these dangerous days, take a serious, significant and proactive approach to the Russian invasion of part of Ukraine, rather than the tiptoe type of politics we have seen in recent months.

I have raised the situation in Ukraine in the House on a number of occasions in recent months because of my deep concern not only about what is happening but about what could happen. None of us was around when the Second World War started, but in the run-up to it all the experts said it could not happen. The world had seen the horrors of the First World War. The League of Nations assured everybody that there would be no repeat. As there was international diplomacy and international appeasement of Hitler and Stalin, the bully boys were facilitated. On this occasion we are witnessing a repeat. We are allowing Mr. Putin to do what he wishes. There has been a pathetic response from the West. There have been some limited sanctions providing for the disallowance of certain travel rights and certain manoeuvrings by a tiny number of Russian officials, but is this causing any scare, concern or second thoughts to Mr. Putin and his allies? Absolutely not.

They have trampled over the Crimea region and now, as we speak, the agents of Putin and his allies in Russia are hell-bent on causing mayhem, chaos and societal breakdown in another significant part of Ukraine.

We have to reflect on the question of who Mr. Putin is. He is certainly no Mikhail Gorbachev. He is a former KGB operative. Accordingly, he would not have obtained such a position without holding certain views - namely, that what an army wants, it gets. He is the person who proclaimed some years ago that the fall of the Soviet Union was one of the biggest geopolitical disasters of all time. This is his philosophical background. Politically, he is the person who has, shall we kindly say, rearranged democratic politics in Russia so he can hold the levers of power not just for one or two terms but for many. He is a strong leader who wishes to impose his will on the people of Ukraine.

The response from the European Union, the United States and the West has simply been insignificant. Has it caused Mr. Putin to pause, reflect or become concerned? Absolutely not. There are billions of euro worth of Russian assets in the West which should be seized as part of the sanctions, or at least frozen, until Russian forces disengage from Ukraine. A strong signal from the West must be given that it will not allow these bully-boy tactics to prevail. Will the Minister of State convey to the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the need for a significant step-up in our, the European Union’s and the general western response to Mr. Putin and his allies? If one were a citizen of Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania or Poland, one would be deeply concerned by these developments in Ukraine. One would see the dark visions from 1930s Europe. This is not a skirmish but a serious international situation which must be responded to by the West in a serious and tough fashion.

I welcome this opportunity to speak about Ukraine.

Events in eastern Ukraine in recent days are a matter of grave concern. The actions of armed individuals in several cities there clearly represent a highly organised and co-ordinated attempt to destabilise the country and undermine the government in Kiev. The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade issued a statement yesterday in which he condemned these developments and called on the Russian Federation to publicly repudiate this illegal armed activity in Ukraine.

The concerns of the Government about the situation in Ukraine have been widely reflected among the public at large over recent months. Throughout every phase in this, we have worked closely with our partners in the European Union. I do not accept that Ireland or the European Union has been weak in its response to the crisis in Ukraine. Our messages throughout this crisis have been strong, just as they have been consistent and clear. All member states have been, and are, united in their views that what has happened in Ukraine is completely unacceptable and that it will have consequences for our relations with Russia.

From the beginning, the European Union has played an active role in trying to facilitate a resolution to the crisis in Ukraine. In addition to its scheduled meetings, the EU Foreign Affairs Council has met twice in extraordinary session to discuss the situation in Ukraine, and the EU Heads of State and Government also have discussed Ukraine in extraordinary session as well as during the regular meetings of the European Council. On 6 March, the Heads of State and Government set out a three-phase roadmap for targeted measures against the Russian Federation in the absence of steps to de-escalate the situation. They also endorsed the decision of foreign Ministers to suspend talks with Russia on visa matters and on a new agreement, both stated priorities of the Russian Government.

Following the holding of the referendum in Crimea, the Foreign Affairs Council implemented the second phase of measures involving the imposition of travel restrictions and an asset freeze against 21 Russian and Ukrainian officials involved in undermining Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade yesterday participated in the Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg, where there was a detailed discussion of the crisis in Ukraine. Ministers decided to expand the list of those to whom visa bans and asset freezes will apply. Preparatory work continues on so-called phase three measures in order that further steps can be taken should they be required. Ministers also agreed to send an expert mission to Ukraine to prepare for possible EU assistance in support of the police and the rule of law. Yesterday's Foreign Affairs Council also adopted a decision on macro-financial assistance for Ukraine, which brings the total amount of funding being made available by the European Union to €1.6 billion. The support is part of a broader package of international support put together by the IMF, which is conditional on Ukraine's implementation of wide-ranging reforms.

The European Union has consistently stressed the importance of maintaining open channels of communication with the Russian Federation. We welcome, therefore, the quartet talks involving Russia, the United States, Ukraine and the European Union which are to take place in Geneva this week. The European Union will continue its engagement in international facilitation initiatives involving the United Nations, the OSCE and others. Ireland is participating fully in these efforts. We sent an officer to the initial interim OSCE mission, we will be sending an officer to join the Polish-led second interim OSCE mission, and Irish personnel will take part in the main OSCE mission that has been agreed upon and is being put in place. Ireland has made it consistently clear that external pressure on Ukraine is unacceptable. In March, the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade personally expressed Ireland's condemnation of Russia's actions in Crimea to the Russian ambassador to Ireland and requested him to convey Ireland's deep concern to his government. Earlier this month, the Minister of State, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, moved a cross-party Dáil motion condemning the annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol to the Russian Federation and pledging solidarity with and support for Ukraine. Last week, in a meeting with a Russian Deputy Minister, the Minister of State, Deputy Joe Costello, reiterated in the clearest terms our position on Crimea and expressed concern for the Tatar and Ukrainian-speaking populations there, as well as other minority communities in Ukraine.

The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade yesterday condemned the most recent provocations in eastern Ukraine which have led to loss of life. Also, the Foreign Affairs Council yesterday expressed strong support for the holding of free and fair presidential elections on 25 May. Ireland is sending a team of observers to Ukraine to help achieve that objective, one which will allow the Ukrainian people to determine their own future and help build trust across the country. It is in the interest of the entire region that a sovereign, prosperous, stable, democratic and inclusive Ukraine emerges from the current crisis.

The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade does not accept that Ireland or the European Union has been weak in its response to this crisis. I simply submit that the further activity and behaviour of the Russian authorities indicates that the Irish, European Union and western response has been totally inadequate. I will pose a question to which I do not, respectfully, expect a reply. If Ronald Reagan were President of the United States or Margaret Thatcher were Prime Minister of Britain now, would this be happening? I do not think so.

The Seanad adjourned at 6 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 16 April 2014.
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