Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 19 Dec 2007

Vol. 644 No. 4

Adjournment Debate.

Vaccination Programme.

Deputy Chris Andrews

I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak on this issue, which affects parents, grandparents and anybody connected with children. Everybody is concerned about the eradication of the invasive pneumococcal disease, a life threatening disease that can cause pneumonia, septicemia and pneumococcal meningitis. A significant number of countries throughout the world, including the United States and the United Kingdom, already include this vaccine in their vaccination programmes. Northern Ireland has made the vaccine available for some time, so it would be sensible to introduce the vaccine on an all-Ireland basis. Canada, Mexico, Australia and Costa Rica as well as 11 other European countries routinely vaccinate children against this nasty and terrible disease.

Pneumococcal meningitis is the second most common type of meningitis in Ireland. It is the only preventable form of the disease that we do not routinely vaccinate against. Infants from birth to 24 months, children with weakened immune systems and children who attend day care are especially at risk of developing invasive pneumococcal disease. In April, the Minister for Health and Children, speaking at a health conference, announced that the national immunisation schedule was to be expanded to include routine immunisation of children against this disease and hepatitis B. It was due to be in place by last September but that has not happened. When will it be introduced and what Minister of State will be responsible for rolling it out?

At the same conference, Dr. Kevin Connolly, a member of the national immunisation advisory committee, NIAC, which recommended the addition of the pneumococcal and hepatitis B vaccine to the Government, said he expected the new vaccines to be introduced last September. This was welcomed by the people who had campaigned for the introduction of the vaccine. However, it has not happened. The Health Service Executive has been directed by the Department of Health and Children to introduce the vaccines next year and in the budget a sum of €18 million was set aside for it. However, there is no date for its introduction and nobody has been given responsibility for it. If somebody has been given that responsibility, we have not been informed who it is.

The evidence available on the benefits of universal pneumococcal vaccination to population health and to the health services is overwhelming. The latest research published in The Lancet in April 2007 showed that in the United States hospital admission rates for children under the age of two fell by 39%. Will the Minister announce the date when routine immunisation against invasive pneumococcal disease will commence? Who will be responsible for its introduction? It is important for parents such as Karen Jordan and Angela Bligh, whose lives have been considerably worsened as a result of this meningitis, that the HSE prioritises the introduction of the pneumococcal vaccination as a matter of urgency.

Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children (Deputy Máire Hoctor)

I am responding on behalf of my colleague, Deputy Mary Harney, Minister for Health and Children. I thank the Deputy for raising this matter as it provides me with an opportunity to outline to the House the importance attached by the Department of Health and Children and the Health Service Executive to the issue raised.

The Minister for Health and Children has been informed by the Health Service Executive that this vaccine will be introduced into the immunisation programme in September 2008. Ireland's recommended immunisation programme is based on the guidelines of the National Immunisation Advisory Committee of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland. The guidelines are prepared with the assistance of an active committee from associated disciplines in paediatrics, infectious diseases, general practice and public health. The current schedule contains immunisations against the following ten infectious diseases: tuberculosis, diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio, haemophilus influenzae B, Hib, disease, meningococcal C disease, measles, mumps and rubella.

The NIAC has completed a review of our immunisation schedule and the Department has received the updated guidelines. These new guidelines include a number of changes, including the addition of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, PCV, to the schedule. PCV provides a high level of protection to young children against pneumococcal infections. I thank the NIAC for the time and effort that went into its deliberations on this important piece of public health work.

Immunisation is a simple, safe and effective way to protect children against certain diseases. Immunisation against infectious disease has saved more lives than any other public health intervention apart from providing clean water. In order to eliminate these infectious diseases entirely, uptake of immunisations of 95% or greater is required. When immunisation uptake rates are below 95%, outbreaks of infectious disease will continue to occur and some children will suffer complications or die as a result. Although immunisation uptake rates in this country have not yet reached the target of 95%, they continue to improve. The national uptake rate for children aged 24 months now stands at more than 90% for most vaccinations and the Department will continue to work with the HSE to achieve a 95% uptake rate.

The social benefits for the community in general of achieving an uptake level of 95%, thereby providing population immunity, cannot be emphasised enough. We owe it to the more vulnerable members of our community to protect them as best we can and we must encourage parents to immunise their children. I urge all parents to have their children immunised against the diseases covered by the childhood immunisation programme to ensure that both their children and the population generally have maximum protection against the diseases concerned.

Job Creation.

Deputy Kieran O’Donnell

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise this matter again. Regrettably, the response I received on the last occasion I raised it was grossly inadequate and I hope the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Kelleher, will see fit to providing a proper response today.

The mid-west is being bypassed. The previous response I received from the Minister of State referred to the national spatial strategy for the region and a commitment to balanced regional development but this is not evident on the ground. The Shannon-Heathrow slot is about to be removed and, while we welcome CityJet's plan to provide services to Charles de Gaulle Airport, nothing could be further from the truth than the Government spin that it represents a better solution than Heathrow. We are losing 40 cities worldwide with the discontinuation of the Heathrow service, so it is no substitute. In terms of the national spatial strategy, Limerick, Shannon and Ennis have been designated a gateway hub, yet there is no rail link between Limerick and Shannon.

IDA Ireland reports indicate that between 2002 and 2006, jobs in Limerick increased by only 139, whereas IDA Ireland jobs increased in Dublin by more than 3,000, in Cork by 1,800 and in Galway by more than 1,500. These figures speak for themselves. Other counties with smaller populations than Limerick's also experienced increases. Kildare received an additional 742 IDA Ireland jobs, Waterford received 529 and Leitrim received 407. I am not begrudging these areas their jobs but Limerick and the mid-west have been let behind. In the past several months, we have lost 100 jobs in Full Flex and more in Atlas Aluminium. We have had no major IDA Ireland job announcements for the past five years.

The Minister of State's response made no reference to the future. He massaged figures in respect of the years up to 2006 without mentioning 2007 and beyond. He cited figures in respect of 2004 onwards but there was nothing in the mid-west between 2002 and 2004. One company came to the region in each of the years 2005 and 2006. The indications are that some companies will come in 2007. Every company is welcome but the region does not have large-scale employers or IDA Ireland backed jobs.

I look forward to the Minister of State's response, which I hope will bring good news for the mid-west. All we have heard for the past several months has been bad news. The Government does not fully understand the consequences of the loss of the Heathrow route for the region in terms of connectivity and employment. More than 400 people are employed by Aer Lingus in Shannon, many of whom live in my constituency of Limerick East. The multinational companies brought IDA Ireland backed jobs to the region because they were promised the connectivity now being lost. I hope the Minister of State will indicate that IDA Ireland will bring jobs to the mid-west as a priority, that the region will experience balanced development and that the national spatial strategy will manifest itself in investment in the region rather than rhetoric.

Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Deputy Billy Kelleher)

I do not intend to engage in rhetoric but will outline the issues involved. I thank Deputy O'Donnell for raising this matter on the Adjournment. I have already clarified the issues which he raised last week.

A central goal for this Government is the achievement of balanced regional development. The attractiveness of Limerick for inward investment lies in its position as a regional gateway with the critical mass and infrastructure necessary to attract mobile investment to the region. The national spatial strategy provides a framework for the development of the Limerick-Shannon gateway. IDA Ireland's regional plans reflect the strategy with an emphasis on the gateway and hub locations. IDA Ireland is the national agency responsible for attracting foreign direct investment to the country. The IDA Ireland mid-west region, which consists of counties Clare, Limerick and North Tipperary, has a total population of 361,028 people. Limerick and Shannon have been designated as the gateway for the region under the national spatial strategy. IDA Ireland is responsible for building the FDI base in the region with the exception of the Shannon free zone which is the responsibility of Shannon Development.

IDA Ireland has focused on working continuously with the existing client base to deepen the global strategic importance of existing Irish operations within the parent corporations and attracting high quality new names to the region. IDA Ireland's mid-west team has been developing relationships with all the relevant stakeholders in the region to use its influence to improve the overall environment for economic development. The mid-west has a strong base of overseas companies which are mainly located in Raheen and the National Technology Park in Limerick and in the Shannon free zone. There are 49 IDA Ireland client companies in the region employing almost 11,000 people and employment has remained steady over the past three years. Agency supported employment accounts for 17.3% of total employment in the region as compared to 14.8% nationally.

The IDA Ireland strategy for the mid-west region is to grow a knowledge economy by winning new FDI in innovation driven, high value and high skills sectors; to work with our existing FDI company base to expand their presence in the region by increasing both the number and the scale of functions being carried out and by adding further strategic functions; to provide modern property solutions with supporting infrastructure; and to work with local authorities and other partners to influence the creation of the right infrastructural environment to help win new FDI throughout the region.

In line with Government policy, the IDA is committed to the development of Limerick and the mid-west and works in co-operation with Shannon Development to that end.

The position in Limerick is that the city and county have a strong base of foreign direct investment jobs. According to the 2006 Forfás survey, agency-supported foreign direct investment, FDI, employment in Limerick consists of 35 companies employing 9,139 people in permanent jobs and a further 1,689 in temporary and contract employment. Employment in agency-supported FDI companies represents approximately 11% of the labour force in the county and compares favourably with the national average of approximately 8%. Limerick's FDI employment base is dominated by the information, communications and technology, ICT, sector, with companies such as Dell, Analog Devices and Banta representing approximately 50% of FDI employment in the county. The life sciences sector makes up approximately 26 % of FDI employment, followed by globally traded business, which accounts for 16%.

The existing base of companies is performing well and has evolved to meet the challenges of globalisation and Ireland's transition from a low cost location. This transition has seen a number of companies transferring lower value activities to eastern Europe and Asia. More importantly however, it has resulted in companies expanding their remit to include higher value activities. Examples of such investment include Dell's enterprise command centre, Cook's European customer and financial centre, Analog Devices's move to 8" wafer fabrication and Vistakon's €100 million expansion.

The investment projects that the IDA seeks to attract to Limerick are very different to those of the past. Today, it relies on the skills of the people of Limerick and on a strong business and educational and research infrastructure to pull investment into the county. The IDA's strategy is to reposition the county as a hot-spot for knowledge-based industry. As an example of the success of this approach, Northern Trust's decision to locate its second Irish fund administration centre in Limerick has considerably increased the profile of the mid-west region as a location for financial services activities.

IDA Ireland works closely with educational institutions to develop the skill sets necessary to attract high value-added employment. The agency also works closely with the existing base of employers to encourage additional investment, particularly in activities such as research and development, customer support and back-office functions.

Shannon Development's role complements that of IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland by providing bespoke property solutions for FDI and indigenous clients in the region. Responsibility for the attraction of FDI and indigenous industry to the Shannon free zone lies exclusively with Shannon Development. The free zone is one of Ireland's most competitive business locations, with 7,188 people working in more than 100 companies as of December 2006. The zone continues to perform well against a very difficult global business background and a healthy pipeline of investment augurs well for the future.

Shannon Development is at an advanced stage in overseeing a comprehensive master plan to regenerate the Shannon free zone and adjoining areas. The master plan is being prepared by external consultants in close co-operation with all key stakeholders, including IDA Ireland and Shannon Airport, and will serve as the basis for regeneration and development of the zone in the coming years.

While employment in IDA-supported companies fell in the early years of the decade, it has recovered significantly in recent years with a total increase of nearly 9% between 2004 and 2006. In the period 2004 to 2006, eight investment proposals with the potential to create more than 500 new jobs were approved. During this period there were 15 new research and development investment proposals from existing IDA client companies, which were committed to a combined investment of approximately €12 million.

On the issue of connectivity, the connection to Charles de Gaulle Airport is a very welcome development because it has significant connections worldwide and I know Deputy O'Donnell will welcome this proposal. I am confident that the strategies and policies being pursued by IDA Ireland in the region, together with the ongoing commitment to regional development and the roll-out of the national development plan, will continue to bear fruit in terms of overseas investment and jobs in the mid-west region.

Deputy Kieran O’Donnell

I wish the Acting Chairman and the Minister of State a happy Christmas. While I take the Minister of State's point, I do not agree fully with him in respect of Charles de Gaulle Airport.

Schools Building Projects.

Deputy Seán Sherlock

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for affording me this opportunity to raise this matter. I wish to speak about the urgent need for the Minister for Education and Science to address the serious delay in granting permission to St. Mary's community school, Buttevant, County Cork, to build a new school to provide for an increase in the student population.

This issue has been ongoing for more than ten years. It was last raised by my predecessor and late father in April 2007. As yet, no progress has been made in this regard. The staff and pupils, as well as the people of Buttevant, have been waiting for ten years for this project to be expedited and I now call on the Minister to tell the people of Buttevant when she intends to notify County Cork Vocational Education Committee of her approval of the new school.

When I was a member of Cork County Council, it took a proactive decision to rezone lands for the purpose of designating an educational site to provide for this school. At present, the school principal and those who are involved in the school only seek the appointment of a design team to enable them at least to move to a stage from which progress can be made on this issue.

The school itself is characterised by buildings which in some instances date back to pre-Famine times. As the enrolment has increased from 182 last year to 194 this year, is set to rise by at least a further ten next year and is increasing on a yearly basis, the people of Buttevant and the school authorities wonder when the Department will expedite this matter.

The layouts of the buildings are of a very poor standard and design because the building is not a purpose-built school. The staffroom is very cramped and there are no sporting facilities. The school is obliged to use the local GAA facilities for physical education and other sporting uses. As the site has been purchased on foot of the rezoning, that step of the process has been undertaken. I call for some progress on this matter and for the Minister for Education and Science at least to deliver on a promise and commitment to the people of Buttevant because the population of Buttevant and the school's catchment area is increasing yearly. It is anticipated that Buttevant's location on a main national primary route will make it a far more attractive place to live in future and the needs of the local secondary school on a new greenfield site must be met in that context.

This issue has been ongoing for more than ten years and the people of Buttevant and of north Cork wish to see some progress in this regard. I ask the Minister to take this on board and expedite the matter and bring it to design stage in 2008. I will conclude by wishing the Acting Chairman, the staff and Members all the best for the season and for 2008.

Deputy Billy Kelleher

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. As he stated, it was raised previously by his late father and I understand the Deputy's interest in this school. This affords me the opportunity to outline to the House the Government's strategy for capital investment in education projects and to outline the position regarding the proposed new post-primary school in Buttevant.

Modernising facilities in our 3,200 primary and 750 post-primary schools is not an easy task given the legacy of decades of under-investment in this area, as well as the need to respond to emerging needs in areas of rapid population growth. Nonetheless, since taking office, the Government has shown a focused determination to improve the condition of our school buildings and to ensure that the appropriate facilities are in place to enable the implementation of a broad and balanced curriculum.

As evidence of this commitment, more than €540 million will be spent on school building and modernisation projects in the current year on primary and post-primary schools. Since 1997, a total of €3 billion has been invested in school buildings and this has delivered more than 7,800 school building projects. The further investment of more than €540 million is building on these achievements and will focus in particular on the provision of school accommodation in areas where the population is growing at a rapid rate. As further evidence of our commitment, national development plan funding of approximately €4.5 billion will be invested in schools over the coming years. I am sure the Deputy will agree that this record level of investment is a positive testament to the high priority the Government attaches to ensuring school accommodation is of the highest standard possible.

On the specific issue of the proposed new post-primary school in Buttevant, the existing school is the only post-primary school in the town and is a co-educational provider with a current enrolment of more than 180 mainstream pupils. County Cork Vocational Education Committee applied to the school planning section of the Department for funding towards the provision of a new post-primary school building on a greenfield site. The proposed new school building was to cater for a long-term projected enrolment of 325 pupils and the proposed project reached an early stage of architectural planning in 2001.

In light of declining enrolments at the school, the school planning section carried out a review of second level education provision in the area in consultation with the school authority. This took into account factors such as enrolment trends at the school, the impact of projected housing developments and existing school provision in the general area.

A schedule of overall accommodation has been agreed with County Cork VEC to cater for a long-term enrolment of 325 pupils. The building project required to deliver the new accommodation is being considered in the context of the schools building and modernisation programme.

I thank the Deputy for raising the matter and allowing me to outline the progress being made under the schools building and modernisation programme and the position on the proposed new post-primary school in Buttevant. I wish him, all the staff and everybody else a happy Christmas.

Deputy Seán Sherlock

That is a virtual cut and paste of the answer given to my predecessor in April 2007.

Deputy Billy Kelleher

It is consistent.

Construction Industry.

Deputy Thomas P. Broughan

I am grateful for the opportunity to raise again this critical issue for my constituency. Ongoing complaints are still being made to my office about the pyrite infill disaster affecting new housing in the north fringe in Baldoyle and Clongriffin in Dublin North-East. Since mid-summer, residents in these and other north side and west side estates have been devastated to learn from Menolly Homes about the problem mineral pyrite which has been used in excessively high concentrations in the floors and foundations of vast new estates. Pyrite was formerly known as fool's gold and is an iron sulphide that expands if exposed to air or water and reacts with oxygen and water to form sulphuric acid. This causes much cracking of walls and ceilings and results in moving doors.

Residents in Drynam Hall estate in Kinsealy, Beauparc in Clongriffin and at the Coast, Baldoyle, are enduring long months of testing and dislocation in which ground floors of affected homes are being excavated and removed down to a depth of 3 m. The defective infill was sourced by Menolly Homes and other builders from a quarry located near Ballycoolin in Dublin 15 which is owned by the Irish Asphalt division of the Lagan Group.

In my view and that of my constituents, the response of the Dublin City Council manager, the Fingal County Council manager and the Ministers for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and Communications, Energy and Natural Resources to this crisis in the construction industry has been feeble and totally inadequate. The only response from the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government has been to remind the local authorities of existing and completely inadequate building regulations.

At a recent meeting with the Dublin City Council and Fingal County Council managers, I was again disappointed that they have not ordered an immediate and full traceability audit of all building sites supplied by this quarry. Even more astonishingly, they have not contacted the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources and the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to request the immediate closure of this quarry which, incredibly, remains open. This is a grave dereliction of duty by the two Ministers and the two local authority managers concerned.

There were earlier allegations that this pyrite contaminated infill was also used in major infrastructural projects and the owners of the quarry concerned were partners on the construction of the Dublin Port tunnel.

The Dublin City Council and Fingal County Council managers argued that the key problem in this matter is the self-regulation of the building industry. Resources have not been provided by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to permit these two and the other 34 major local authorities to police building standards covering the housing delivered to often vulnerable young householders with huge mortgages to repay. Legislation to empower and resource local authorities fully to invigilate house building quality standards was clearly urgent five to seven years ago but now, with more than 500,000 new homes built without effective quality standards, the horse has clearly bolted and young mortgage payers are left with often disastrous results.

The two Ministers, Deputies Gormley and Ryan, have conveniently forgotten many of the strongly asserted beliefs they espoused in Opposition. They formerly supported the Labour Party Bill introduced by the former Deputy, Seán Ryan, to forbid the granting of new planning permissions for newly built estates before existing estates were fully finished to an adequate standard. Likewise, there seems to be no sympathy from the Green Party Ministers or their colleagues for householders with rapidly cracking walls. The construction company concerned, Killoe Developments, refuses to discuss the matter or acknowledge any liability based on defective and self-enforced building regulations. The Minister, Deputy Gormley, simply refuses to answer questions on this company's behaviour.

This appalling development in the north side and west side estates and elsewhere in Leinster has been regrettably very poorly reported in the media, with the notable exception of the Evening Herald, owing to the major newspapers’ total dependence on commercial and residential development advertising in addition to auctioneers’ advertising. The Irish Times on Thursday is often dwarfed by the supplement advertising commercial property and residential housing. Several national newspapers seem just as compromised in this matter as past politicians who depended on developers for financial support.

Self-regulation in the building industry must be brought to an immediate end. A dedicated task force led by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and the managers of Fingal County Council and Dublin City Council must investigate immediately the closure of the affected quarry, conduct a full traceability audit of its products, immediately implement SR21 of the guidance document of the National Standards Authority of Ireland and establish a new national standard on pyrite and other problem minerals present in infill, especially for housing construction.

Given the numbers of citizens affected by the present awful circumstances, the Minister should establish a national pyrite investigation and monitoring agency based on the initiatives taken by the authorities in Ontario and Quebec. Failure by the Minister or local authorities to act will result almost certainly in a considerable charge on the two local authorities, the Department and taxpayers in future. This matter should be addressed urgently and taken very seriously.

Deputy Billy Kelleher

I am responding on behalf of the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gormley, who sends his apologies.I acknowledge fully the genuine difficulties experienced by homeowners whose homes have been affected by the use of pyrite in certain developments in and around County Dublin. The purchase of a home by any of us is a major investment, financially and emotionally, and I am keenly aware of the hopes and expectations that accompany the transaction. This issue has already been addressed in a number of parliamentary questions to date and I can report some progress regarding the quality standards of new homes as they pertain to pyrite.

The certification of products is the responsibility of the National Standards Authority of Ireland, NSAI. When the issue of pyrite arose some months ago and following an intervention from my Department, the NSAI moved quickly to reconvene its aggregates panel to give urgent consideration to the matter. The Department is represented on this panel, together with representatives of the construction industry. Following a public consultation process, the NSAI has now published a new standard recommendation, which is a definitive amendment to existing standard recommendation 21 on the use of aggregates as infill for civil engineering and road construction work. The new standard recommendation came into effect on 7 December 2007 and the intention is that it will address the quality standards of new homes in so far as problems relating to pyrite are concerned. It is now intended to adopt this NSAI standard recommendation in the relevant technical guidance document associated with the building regulations.

It would be helpful for me to set out the overarching legal framework for the construction of new houses. The national building regulations set out the legal requirements for the construction of new buildings, including houses, and extensions to and material alterations of existing buildings. The related technical guidance documents provide technical guidance on how to comply with building regulations.

Under the provisions of the Building Control Act 1990, responsibility for compliance with the building regulations rests with the builder and the owner of a building. Enforcement of the regulations is a matter for the 37 local building control authorities which are empowered to carry out inspections and initiate enforcement proceedings when considered necessary. The House has been advised in this regard that Fingal County Council has been in direct contact with the developers and the quarry concerned regarding problems encountered following the use of pyrite as an under-floor infill material in certain developments.

Having consulted the statutory Building Regulations Advisory Body, the Department issued a circular letter, BC 6/2007, to each county manager and local building control authority on 16 August 2007 to bring the issue to their notice and to request their co-operation in the enforcement of the relevant requirements set out therein. The circular also brought to their attention a notice issued by Fingal County Council on 26 July 2007 on this matter.

The resolution of any problems arising between homeowners and their builders is ultimately a matter for the parties concerned, namely, the homeowner, the relevant developer and the builder's insurer. Where the construction of a house is the subject of a contract between the client and the builder, enforcement of this contract is a civil matter. The measures I have outlined represent the appropriate response to the issues raised by the Deputy.

Acting Chairman

I wish the Minister of State, Deputy Broughan and the staff a very happy and peaceful Christmas.

The Dáil adjourned at 5.50 p.m. until 2.30 p.m. on Wednesday, 30 January 2008.