Adjournment Debate.

Ambulance Service.

Mr. Healy

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise the issue of the provision of an emergency ambulance service for the town of Carrick-on-Suir and surrounding areas. The current ambulance service, while excellent, is simply unable to meet the recognised response times to deal with cardiac arrests, heart attacks and road traffic accidents. I have raised this issue consistently and as recently as 14 April this year.

Carrick-on-Suir and its hinterland have a population of approximately 10,000. There are excellent health facilities in the town. The local hospital is St. Brigid's and the local health centre is located on its grounds. The town has the usual general practitioner service. I compliment the local voluntary organisations, particularly on their promotion of the concept of first responders and the use of defibrillators. The people of Carrick-on-Suir are now involved in this and they are to be congratulated on it. However, an emergency ambulance facility is still required for Carrick-on-Suir.

The lack of emergency ambulance cover based in the town puts lives at risk. At present, Carrick-on-Suir and its hinterland are covered by ambulance stations at Clonmel and Carrick-on-Suir but that is not good enough to provide the service required. Response times for cardiac arrest and road traffic accident patients are simply not good enough to give the people involved in such incidents a chance to survive. The response times are approximately 25 minutes.

Initial response times are approximately three minutes. There is a minute and a half for the response of the ambulance control staff in taking the emergency call, logging the details and calling the local ambulance to respond. The ambulance crew will respond within another minute and a half. Within three minutes, therefore, the ambulance crew is on its way to the incident. However, after that the response times are simply inadequate and leave much to be desired.

To give proper attention to cardiac arrest the latest response time is eight minutes. It is similar in the case of road traffic accidents. It is not possible to meet those response times in Carrick-on-Suir and its hinterland as it will take a minimum of 25 minutes for an ambulance to arrive from Clonmel or Waterford. That is not good enough. Ambulance staff are well trained. They are emergency medical technicians and have paramedic status. There is no point having ambulance staff trained to such an extent but unable to get to the scene of an accident or cardiac arrest in time.

I have raised this issue on a number of occasions and I will continue to raise it. I urge the Minister to respond positively. The ambulance staff and ambulances are available and the country is awash with money. There is enough money to locate an ambulance and ambulance staff in Carrick-on-Suir.

Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children (Mr. T. O’Malley)

I am responding on behalf of my colleague, the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney. I thank Deputy Healy for raising this matter.

Under the Health Act 2004, the Health Service Executive, HSE, has the responsibility to manage and deliver, or arrange to be delivered on its behalf, health and personal social services. This includes responsibility for the provision of ambulance services. As part of the reform of the health service, a national ambulance office, NAO, has recently been established under the auspices of the national hospitals office within the HSE. The office has responsibility for the provision of pre-hospital emergency care nationally and is working closely with the pre-hospital emergency care council, as the body responsible for the development of standards in pre-hospital emergency care.

The council is conducting a pilot spatial analysis study of emergency services demand and deployment options. The study is examining how pre-hospital services are delivered and highlighting possible gaps in the delivery of services. The information obtained from this analysis, which is being piloted initially in the HSE north-western area, will inform decisions on the future deployment of advanced paramedic services, standard EMT services and first responder schemes in other regions, including the HSE south-eastern area.

Ambulance services to persons resident in Carrick-on-Suir are provided from ambulance bases at Clonmel and Ardkeen. The HSE national ambulance office has advised that the information obtained from the spatial analysis study will assist in its review of how ambulance services are to be provided for the people of south Tipperary and Carrick-on-Suir. The HSE south-eastern area is also reviewing the implications for the ambulance services in the county arising from the planned amalgamation of South Tipperary General Hospital with Our Lady's Hospital, Cashel.

There have been a number of developments in the HSE south-eastern area ambulance service in recent years. Additional funding was provided to facilitate the continued phasing out of on-call in the region. The HSE south-eastern area has advised that the elimination of on-call has been completed in south Tipperary which will facilitate further improvement in response times. Additional minor capital funding was allocated to the HSE south-eastern region to assist it with its fleet and equipment replacement programme which are essential prerequisites for enhanced speedy and appropriate care.

Telecommunications Services.

Cecilia Keaveney

I raise this matter to find out what information technology supports have been or are intended to be given to a company in my constituency, Forward Emphasis Limited. I am glad the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is present. He is aware of the serious decline north-east Donegal, especially Inishowen, has suffered with the decline of the textile industry. The Minister has been active in trying to find solutions to this problem.

I was attending the British-Irish Interparliamentary Body when I received an e-mail about this matter. The body was discussing developing jobs and infrastructural links between Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland, with particular emphasis on my constituency. The e-mail notified me that my constituency was possibly going to lose another company. Immediately I asked to raise the matter in the House and I thank the Ceann Comhairle for permitting me to do so.

In north Inishowen a company operating as a call centre and occupying a former Fruit of the Loom factory is in urgent need of fixed line broadband technology, such as ADSL, to satisfy its clients' expectations and requirements. Private telecommunications operators are able to satisfy the needs of companies in Inishowen by providing sophisticated services. I was therefore surprised to learn that Forward Emphasis, a company that has given indications of doing well financially in its venture with a substantial turnover, has this week publicly stated that it has not been able to secure the appropriate technology it requires to operate effectively. The company has not been given support by local government and employment bodies in order to do so. This leaves a question mark over its ability to continue in Malin Head.

It is my understanding that Eircom, which formerly held a monopoly on technology such as ADSL, were some months back in a position to satisfy the company's needs. There would clearly be a cost for such sophisticated technology, which I believe was in the region of €60,000 or €70,000, although I am open to correction. The lead-in time was approximately two months. I am aware from my time on Donegal County Council and since that the council has given significant support to Forward Emphasis, not only in selling them premises at a keen rate, which the council purchased following the closure of Fruit of the Loom, but in offering grant assistance for a three-month period to assist the broadband proposal.

Other providers are entering the market and delivering fixed line broadband services into centres with minimum requirements regarding population density. However, this is taking some time, particularly in rural areas. Not everybody in towns with the population requirement can be connected. To be connected, a customer must be located within 3 km as the cable runs from the enabled telephone exchange. Often people situated immediately beside the exchange cannot avail of the technology because of the way the cable was initially laid in the ground by Eircom.

The Inish Times, a company which is growing rapidly in Buncrana and has a circulation of between 5,000 and 6,000 copies, is highly dependent on technology. It had to install wireless broadband as it is currently connected to the old exchange, and fixed line broadband is connected to the new exchange. It has missed out despite the fixed line running approximately 500 yds from its building.

There is considerable cost in installing the equipment to a telephone exchange in order to enable ADSL. A fundamental question arises of whether we want rural employment. Information technology is meant to be the way forward for rural areas. This is what was argued after the demise of the textile industry, and it was argued that location did not matter if a business had the requisite IT infrastructure.

With specific regard to Forward Emphasis, I have worked on behalf of the company for many years on several issues. I have lobbied the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Deputy Noel Dempsey, on the company's need for fixed-line broadband. In the interim, the broadband provider involved in the roll-out of the community broadband initiative e-Hotspot has offered to facilitate Forward Emphasis by offering the company a free three month trial of a satellite system. This has come about through the local IRDL Leader company and the consultant it appointed to deliver the community broadband initiative. There have been some delays in getting this operational because of the company's wish to upgrade the size the dish involved. It is already in the process of being enabled. I hope this will provide an interim solution to the company's requirements.

Is it possible for fixed broadband to be installed in Malin Head to assist this company, or for the company to be connected to the metropolitan area network planned for Carndonagh? The Malin Head coast guard and the meteorological stations located there may benefit from this type of technology. I ask for State agencies to mentor this and other companies in the area, if this is not already happening, to ensure that needs are met, including broadband requirements. I request that issues raised be taken on board by the interdepartmental group with regard to what I hope will be a successful venture for Donegal, and particularly my area.

These outstanding issues must be embraced in any plan formulated from the working group. We must be told what the issues are and have solutions. I do not wish to read of more job losses in my area. If supports can be provided, or if supports have been given that could remedy this issue, I would appreciate the Minister's assistance.

Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Mr. Killeen)

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter and acknowledge her tireless efforts and representations on behalf of workers threatened by redundancy from Fruit of the Loom and other companies.

Forward Emphasis is an outsourced direct marketing services company for financial, government, charity and not-for-profit sectors in the UK. The company is located in Malin, County Donegal, and employs approximately 40 people full time and 60 people part time. In December 1999, Enterprise Ireland approved support for the set up of the company and to date has paid a total of €272,994 in supports. The company commenced operation in late 2000. I understand the promoters established a sister company, Forward Emphasis Limited, in Belfast which provides similar services.

I assure the Deputy that the full range of Enterprise Ireland's supports are available to Forward Emphasis. These supports include strategy development, production and operations, marketing, human resources development, finance and research and development. In addition, a wide range of support and knowledge is provided by specialists in Enterprise Ireland offices in Ireland and through its 33 offices worldwide. This independent support involves a range of services including identifying new opportunities, providing technical knowledge and expertise, providing market and technical information and promoting to clients both in Ireland and overseas.

As regards the issue of broadband, I understand from my colleague the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Deputy Noel Dempsey, that the provision of telecommunications services, including broadband, is a matter in the first instance for the private sector companies operating in a fully liberalised market, regulated by the independent Commission for Communications Regulation, ComReg. Market forces and the availability of suitable infrastructure and backhaul will determine whether a company offers broadband in any area. A principal reason for the slow roll-out of broadband services generally has been the lack of investment by the private sector in the necessary infrastructure to deliver broadband to all areas.

I am advised that the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources is addressing the infrastructure deficit by building metropolitan area networks, MANs, in 120 towns and cities nationwide, in association with the local authorities, using Government and European regional development funding under the National Development Plan 2000-2006. MANs have already been completed in Gaoth Dobhair and Letterkenny, and MANs for Buncrana and Carndonagh are at the planning stage. I understand, however, that officials from the relevant Department have recently met with representatives from Donegal County Council as well as local interest groups and are currently examining a number of further options.

More generally, the Deputy will be aware that there have been significant job announcements in Donegal recently, with over 210 new jobs announced recently by Zeus Industrial Products, Letterkenny, and PowerBoard, Burnfoot. These projects are being supported by the Industrial Development Agency and Enterprise Ireland, respectively. This was in addition to 423 jobs announced earlier this year by the Minister, Deputy Martin, for the north-west region. I assure the Deputy that the State development agencies, IDA, El, FÁS and Donegal County Enterprise Board, are fully committed to supporting and promoting job creation and job retention in Donegal. In addition to recent job announcements, this commitment is also evidenced by ongoing development and support by the agencies for a number of business parks and enterprise centres in Donegal. These include the completion of the IDA Letterkenny business park, the provision of a 25,000 square ft. advance office building at Windyhall, the completion of site development work at Ballyshannon for a new facility and also a development at Buncrana, where the IDA is working with a local developer to provide new manufacturing and office buildings.

In addition to providing support for nine community enterprise centres in Donegal, Enterprise Ireland has also provided substantial support for the expansion of the Letterkenny Institute of Technology business development centre and the development of a marine biotechnology centre. However, it is also recognised that there have been significant job losses in Donegal in recent years, which is why the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Martin, has visited Donegal twice since becoming Minister. He has met, in conjunction with the Deputy, many groups and companies on these visits to discuss both the county's difficulties and positive developments. The Deputy will be aware that the Government also recognizes the particular difficulties in Donegal and will be working together to assist in improving the overall environment to increase the attractiveness of Donegal as a location for enterprises. In that context, the recently established interdepartmental group on Donegal, chaired by the Secretary General of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, has been asked to report back to my colleague, Deputy Martin, as a matter of urgency.

I assure the Deputy that tackling the difficulties in Donegal is a priority for the Government and my colleague, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Martin.

Child Care Services.

Mr. Connolly

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the equal opportunities child care programme delivered in the Cootehill community resource centre, located in the Drumnaveil estate. The resource centre was established in 1999 by a voluntary committee and was initially a five-year programme. Grant aid of £50,000 was provided per annum.

Part of the conditions of the grant was that the group should have a strong focus on the disadvantaged, targeting those most in need. It is acknowledged that the programme is meeting these objectives, which is laudable. The centre is a shining example of what can be achieved by local voluntary committees with some grant aid. We should help these types of committees help themselves and their communities.

It provides an excellent range of services for upwards of 320 people per month, a great number of people. The services range from a crèche, dealing with two year olds to three year olds; to preschool, which deals with three year olds to five year olds; and homework support clubs which deal with four year olds to five year olds. The centre also provides after school activity dealing with children ranging from six to 12 years old. In addition a summer camp is run, which was attended by 80 people this year from locations as far away as Dublin, Belfast and Leitrim. It hopes to increase numbers to 100 people next year.

The centre provides a range of courses, such as personal development courses in an anti-bullying strategy. This is useful for young people. It also offers relationships and personal development courses targeted at children up to the age of 18, which is the age group that should be targeted in small towns to encourage them to undertake worthwhile programmes. It also deals with statutory bodies. Situations arise where the Health Service Executive refers people to the centre and the VEC makes use of the centre to run a range of night courses. In all, the centre is a wonderful asset for the town of Cootehill.

However, a problem arises. In 1999, when the course was established for a five-year period, the centre was given grant-aid of £50,000 per year, which would now equate to €63,500. The centre received good news in a letter dated 27 September last, which stated that the course would run for an extra two years and four months and that the centre would be given €124,000 to pay for this extension. However, when the figures were totted up, it became apparent that instead of the 15% increase indicated in the letter, a decrease would apply. There is not enough funding to run the service. If the service were to run at the required level for the period of two years and four months, it would cost €170,000, but that funding has not been provided.

Given the reduction in funding, the centre must consider other reductions. Three full-time and three part-time staff work at the centre. The options being considered at present are to reduce the number of staff at the centre, to reduce the number of hours they work or, worse, to reduce the number of weeks on which the service is provided to as few as 40 weeks per annum.

We should not be considering such options. Instead, we should be considering the benefits that this community resource centre is providing to the people of Cootehill. We must also remember that it is targeted at the most disadvantaged and those most in need. We are talking about reducing a service that is led by a voluntary committee. We should seek to increase the level of grant-aid and encourage the centre to provide a greater level of services.

The population and demand for services in Cootehill are increasing on an ongoing basis. The centre is well-run and a shining example to the rest of the country. It would hope to be in a position to establish a purpose-built unit on the site, although that is further down the road. We should send a positive signal to those operating the centre that we intend to increase its funding rather than decrease it. The letter to which I referred stated that a 15% increase would apply with effect from 1 September 2005, yet there is a decrease of 20%. The Minister must consider the excellent value the equal opportunities child care programme offers to the people of Cootehill. Adequate funding should be provided to this voluntary committee to help it run this very effective service.

Mr. Killeen

I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, has responsibility for this area of Government policy but his ministerial duties demand his presence elsewhere this evening. Deputy Connolly has referred to a particular facility in Cootehill, County Cavan. To respond to the Deputy it is necessary first to give a brief explanation of the equal opportunities childcare programme, EOCP, for which the Minister, Deputy McDowell, has responsibility.

The programme for Government and the progress of the equal opportunities child care programme 2000-06 are confirmation of the Government's commitment to developing services to support the child care needs of the parents of Ireland with a particular emphasis on those who may be in employment, or in education or training to prepare for employment. The EOCP has both an equal opportunities and a social inclusion perspective and aims to increase the supply of centre-based child care places by 55%, or 31,300 additional places, by the end of the programme. Current forecasts of impact suggest that it will ultimately create at least 39,300 places, including over 26,000 which have already been achieved.

The first meeting of the expert working group on child care established under Partnership 2000 was held within a month of the Government changeover in 1997 and all the evidence shows that child care has been high on our agenda since that time. The Government has consistently moved promptly, purposefully and proactively to facilitate the development of a top quality child care service throughout the country to support parents, the economy and social inclusion through labour market participation. Since the Government was re-elected in 2002, it has further increased the funding provision for the development of child care by over €60 million. This includes part of the additional capital provision of €90 million made available by the Minister for Finance in budget 2005 over the period 2005-09 to develop child care infrastructure, and brings the allocation for the present programme to almost €500 million.

The Deputy may be aware that €190,461 in staffing grant assistance under the EOCP was approved for Cootehill Community Resource House in July 2001. Further staffing grant assistance of €124,500 has been approved to cover the period to the end of 2007. The funding approved to the end of 2007 was considered appropriate for the level of service being provided by the group.

I understand that the group has recently contacted the child care directorate of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform to appeal the level of funding approved. This appeal has been forwarded to Pobal, formally known as Area Development Management Limited, which is engaged by the Department to carry out detailed assessments of all EOCP grant applications. The appeal will undergo a thorough assessment by Pobal prior to its recommendation being forwarded to the programme appraisal committee and a decision being made by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. Pending the outcome of this process, it would be premature of me to comment further on the group's appeal.

Many child care services throughout County Cavan have benefited from grant assistance under the EOCP. To date, the Minister has announced funding of over €8.3 million for child care in County Cavan, which is supporting the creation of 677 new child care places and 783 existing places throughout the county. The Deputy will be aware of the role of the Minister of State, Deputy Brendan Smith, in ensuring that Cavan gets every opportunity to benefit fully from the scheme.

Since budget 2005 was announced in December 2004, the Minister, Deputy McDowell, has announced a record allocation of some €150 million in capital funding for community-based, not-for-profit groups. The availability of the additional capital funding enables the Minister to make further capital grant assistance available to groups which address significant child care service gaps and where the project proposal represents good value for money. It is only fair to emphasise that the equal opportunities child care programme has been central to the recent development of child care in Ireland, which will continue to flourish under the careful stewardship of the Government.

Sexual Offenders.

Mr. Costello

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. This matter concerns the need for the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to clarify his policy on convicted paedophiles while serving prison sentences and after release in the community. It is a serious matter which has been brought to my attention by a number of people and which I want addressed. I am not satisfied the necessary structures are in place to deal with the problem that exists, particularly in light of the Ferns Report.

Approximately 10% of the prison population at any given time are sex offenders. However, the Government has taken no action to ensure that these offenders have access to treatment and counselling when convicted and serving a custodial sentence in prison. As a result, they leave prison in exactly the same condition that they entered it. This situation is serious, particularly in the case of paedophiles, as they return to the community with the same predatory instincts and intentions as when they entered prison.

The annual report of the prison chaplains last week demonstrated the stark reality of the lack of counselling for sex offenders in our prisons. The Government response when sex offenders are released from prison is equally irresponsible. Sex offenders are obliged to register with the Garda Síochána and are put on a register of offenders, but that is the end of the matter. The register is a confidential document and only the most senior members in a Garda station are aware of the identity of a paedophile in a Garda district.

The abused family or families are not necessarily informed that the offender has returned to the local community. In effect, nothing has changed and the sexual predator is free to move in the same circles, with the same opportunities to abuse. When the abused person and his or her family become aware of the situation, they are immediately plunged into a state of fear and frustration. Other children who may have been abused by the same paedophile but who may not have come forward to give evidence at a court case also live in fear, while their parents may be totally unaware of the situation affecting their children. Other children might be exposed to abuse for the first time.

Released paedophiles who are loose in the community are walking bombshells and will re-offend, as the Ferns Report showed, because they do not see their behaviour as wrong. It is essential for convicted paedophiles to attend comprehensive programmes of treatment and counselling while in prison.

Equally, it is essential that the register of sex offenders should mean something. There must be provision for supervision of all paedophiles after release and their attendance at treatment and counselling programmes and support groups; for the vulnerable victims and targets of previous abuse and for their parents to be informed of the paedophiles release and whereabouts; and lines of communication must be open at all times between the relevant members of the Garda Síochána and the victims and their parents.

The findings of the Ferns Inquiry highlighted the need for the State to introduce urgent measures to protect vulnerable children from clerical sexual abuse. It is high time urgent measures were introduced to protect vulnerable children from all forms of sexual abuse.

Mr. Killeen

I thank Deputy Costello for raising this matter and acknowledge his commitment to reform in the prison sector. I am deputising this evening for the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell.

The management of sex offenders, both while they are in prison and in the community, is a matter which the Minister of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, his Department and associated agencies continually consider. Before moving to the substance of this debate, I wish to clarify that my remarks refer to all sex offenders, not just the particular subset who can be classified as paedophiles, although that group raises particular concerns.

While in prison, every effort is made to assist any offender willing to participate at any level in their personal rehabilitation and relapse prevention. There are three forms of direct therapeutic intervention for sex offenders operating within the prison system, namely, individual counselling from the Prison Service's psychology service and from the probation and welfare service; the sex offender programme, in operation since 1994; and one-to-one interventions by visiting psychiatrists who provide support for prisoners.

The second intervention, which receives most media coverage, is the intensive offence-focused group programme. The programme is managed and delivered by members of the probation and welfare service and the Irish Prison Service's psychology service. In keeping with international best practice in this area, the programme is a structured, offence-focused programme, employing a cognitive behavioural approach with a relapse prevention component. A total of 114 sex offenders have completed the sex offender programme to date. A further eight men are undertaking the programme in Arbour Hill Prison.

The number of suitably motivated offenders applying for participation on the sex offenders programme has declined in recent years and this is a matter of concern. The Prison Service is examining this situation to determine what measures may be taken to increase the number of offenders participating on the programme. Several additional psychologists have recently been appointed to the Prison Service. These new psychologists will play an important role in working with offenders to address their offending behaviour, including work with sex offenders aimed at enhancing their preparedness for possible participation on the sex offender programme.

The successful completion of any therapeutic intervention of this nature depends on the full and willing participation of self-motivated individuals. Continual consideration is given to encouraging prisoners to undertake interventions addressing their sexual offending. The Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, the Prison Service and the probation and welfare service are collectively examining all the issues involved in increasing the number of sex offenders attending programmes, both in prison and in the community. As well as looking at how to get prisoners into the current programme——

Mr. Costello

Open up the Curragh Prison.

Mr. Killeen

——they are examining how the services can improve the range of interventions available to offenders, and thereby increase the number of offenders addressing their offending. Their core concern is that any approach proposed should contribute to enhancing societal and community protection.

Another development in this regard is the Minister's recently announced proposal for new statutory sentencing powers by way of amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill 2004. The purpose of these new statutory sentencing powers is to provide a real and practical incentive to offenders to deal with issues giving rise to the offending and to stay away from crime.

These new provisions will, among other things, give a court a statutory power to suspend or partially suspend sentences, other than mandatory sentences, subject to certain conditions. The conditions include a standard condition that the person keeps the peace and is of good behaviour during the period of imprisonment and the period of suspension.

However, the court may also make its order subject to other conditions. For example, an order may include a condition that the person should undergo drug or other substance abuse treatment or a rehabilitation course for sex offenders, or that the person should agree to be subject to the supervision of the probation and welfare service. Breach of the conditions will result in the imposition of the suspended sentence and the sentence for any offence committed while the first sentence was suspended shall be consecutive on the first sentence.

The Sex Offenders Act 2001 provides inter alia for notification requirements in relation to convicted sex offenders. Under that Act, the court has a duty to consider imposition of a sentence involving post-release supervision. This allows for the possibility that during a specified period — the supervision period — which commences on the date of the offender’s release from prison the offender is under the supervision of a probation and welfare officer and is required to comply with such conditions as are specified in the sentence for securing that supervision.

Conditions may include the requirement that the offender receive psychological counselling or other appropriate treatment provided by the probation and welfare service or any other body which it appears to the court, having regard to any submissions made to it on behalf of the probation and welfare service, is an appropriate body to provide such counselling or treatment.

The Minister and his Department keep the provisions of the Sex Offenders Act 2001 under regular review with a view to ensuring they operate in a satisfactory manner.

The Dáil adjourned at 9.05 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 30 November 2005.

Dáil Éireann díospóireacht - Tuesday, 29 Nov 2005