Deputies Pat Breen and Timmy Dooley have a total of five minutes in which to make their case.
Health Services.
Will the Chair allow a little more time because of the major mix-up last Thursday when I was supposed to have five minutes and the Minister came in with the wrong reply? That is the reason I am here again this evening.
I assume we are starting from scratch.
I raised this issue on Thursday last on the Adjournment and I am pleased the matter is recorded in the Official Report.
Will the Deputy please stop for a minute? Is the Minister of State, Deputy Haughey, responding?
Yes.
The Deputy may proceed.
I raised this matter last Thursday and it is recorded in the Official Report. I see my colleague, Deputy Dooley, is here to support me. I am delighted the Deputy has seen the light in regard to what is happening in the health services in Clare and is here to assist me. I hope he will not act the Opposition politician but will take political responsibility for this very important issue.
Health issues have been dominating the political agenda for the past few months throughout the county. There is a huge crisis out there. There is a crisis especially in our constituency of Clare. For years, the future of Ennis General Hospital has been called into question. I raised the issue on Thursday last, and particularly the concerns as to whether the €39 million redevelopment would go ahead. The crisis continues this week.
We already know that ambulance crews have been instructed to bypass the hospital for major trauma cases from 1 April. The elderly care unit at Ennis General Hospital has been closed on various occasions in recent weeks. There is a possibility that the unit will close again in the very near future because of cuts by the Health Service Executive. I have also heard that the hours for accident and emergency services are to be curtailed at the hospital. The situation is getting very serious for the people of Clare.
While 27 nurse vacancies have been advertised at Ennis General Hospital, unfortunately, approval has been granted only for six positions. As a result, I understand rosters will have to be changed to address this shortfall, which will affect the accident and emergency services. A CAT scanner, an outdated model, which has been promised for the hospital has not materialised. Ministers, the Taoiseach, our Oireachtas Members in Clare, including Deputy Dooley, are masters at turning up at photo shoots and sod-turning ceremonies. We had the former Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Martin, the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance, Deputy Cowen, the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney, and the Taoiseach in Clare before the election telling us the €39 million extension was going ahead. Only last week, the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Deputy Máire Hoctor, visited the constituency. Prior to the election, former Ministers of State at the Department, Senator Ivor Callely and Deputy Seán Power visited to announce the dementia unit. This is what is happening. We have plenty of photo opportunities and sod-turning ceremonies but nothing is happening in regard to the health services in Clare.
At the opening of the Cahercalla extension last week, the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Killeen, said there would be good news for the health services in Clare. I am sick and tired of Hanly reports and Teamwork reports. It is time for the Government to come clean on this issue and tell the people of Clare that the €39 million extension, redevelopment plan for the hospital is going ahead. That is the reason I am delighted Deputy Dooley is present to assist me in this matter.
I welcome the opportunity to participate in this important debate. Towards the end of last week I was approached by a friend who works within the health sector who advised me that the HSE has or is about to remove the planned upgrade at the Mid West Regional Hospital at Ennis from the national development plan of the HSE's capital works programme for 2007-11. I wish to establish if this information is accurate. Who is responsible for this decision? Why has some official within the HSE taken it upon himself or herself to attempt to overrule the commitments of the Taoiseach and the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney, regarding the inclusion of phase 1A of the upgrade project at Ennis hospital for completion under the 2007-11 plan?
As politicians for County Clare we fought hard and were given commitments on the inclusion of this project in the capital development plan. How can these be discarded by what I regard as faceless bureaucrats? I have believed for some time that there has been a force within the HSE, and also within the old health board, that has tried to scupper this project.
This plan was first mooted 20 years ago. It took until 1997 to get a capital plan under way and the control plan that followed. Since then, it has been a constant struggle to get to where it is today. There have been endless meetings with Ministers, taoisigh and HSE personnel. The HSE has tried to block this many times. It has put forward the notion of value-for-money audits, cost-benefit analyses etc. and has tried at every opportunity to block the project. We have planning permission. We await the Teamwork report which, we are informed, we need to go to tender. It is my view that we should be going to tender rather than discussing the delays. What I want is a commitment that this project will go to tender this year. It is not acceptable to take money that is planned for the mid-west to use it to solve problems in Dublin. Of course, there are issues in Dublin but there are also issues in the mid-west and in County Clare. The lives of the people of County Clare and the mid-west are as important as the lives of people in the capital city. This project was planned for completion between 2007 and 2011. Nothing will be acceptable, other than the completion of that project on time.
Deputy Dooley is in Government.
I will not accept the HSE coming forward and responding to pleas on live radio in respect of particular issues in this city. As far as I am concerned, it is this House that makes decisions.
And the Government of which the Deputy is a member.
It is the decisions that are taken here that are important. That is what I expect the HSE to respond to, not to what happens on live radio. As an elected politician, I believe the HSE has a responsibility to take on board the views expressed in this House and the commitments given in this House.
The Government does not give us any chance; it makes its announcements outside the House.
I am taking these Adjournment matters on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney.
The provision of services at the Mid Western Regional Hospital, Ennis, and across the mid-west region in general is the responsibility of the Health Service Executive. Significant developments to enhance the services at the Mid Western Regional Hospital, Ennis, have taken place over the past few years.
The HSE advises that the staffing and budget of Ennis has increased significantly. The revenue for the hospital has increased from a budget of €14.2 million in 2001 to €23 million in 2007. Staffing at the hospital has risen from 250 in 2001 to 289 in 2007.
The additional staffing includes a consultant surgeon, consultant anaesthetists and an accident and emergency consultant with four sessions per week at the hospital. In addition, four emergency care physicians have been employed on a seven-day a week basis to provide medical cover to the accident and emergency department.
Additional nursing, non-nursing, and paramedical staff, have also been appointed. These include extra infection control nurses, a heart failure nurse, as well as general nursing staff, medical scientists, radiographers and physiotherapists. A cardiac rehabilitation department has also been set up. A co-ordinator, cardiac nurse, senior cardiac technician and basic cardiac technician have been employed to provide this service.
The Health Service Executive has indicated that further developments at Ennis include a major upgrading of electrical capacity and the radiology department which is currently under way at a cost of €750,000; the opening of a new admissions lounge following the relocation of the physiotherapy department at a cost of €200,000——
Where is phase 1 that was promised?
——and the development of outreach physiotherapy, warfarin and surgical outpatient clinics have been developed for the west and east Clare areas. The Health Service Executive has advised that Horwath Consulting Ireland in association with Teamwork Management Services are undertaking, on behalf of the executive, a strategic review of acute hospital services in the mid-west.
Future priorities, including the development of services at Ennis, will be guided by this review. The executive advises that the review will be completed shortly.
On the issue of the Health Service Executive capital plan, I should add that in drawing up its capital plan, the executive is required to prioritise the projects to be progressed within its overall capital funding allocation. The executive has been finalising its capital plan over recent weeks on this basis. A revised draft of the plan has now been completed and has just been made available to the Department of Health and Children, for consideration and approval in the normal way. The draft capital plan reflects the executive's commitments and priorities. The executive is currently reviewing a number of options to enable it to progress further capital projects over the coming years and proposals in this regard are awaited by the Department of Health and Children. The capital plan will be published as a whole upon approval. It is not productive to release information about the status of individual projects in advance.
They published it last year. There was no problem then telling us what was included in Phase 1.
Deputy Breen——
That is the most disgraceful answer I have ever received from a Minister of State in my whole life——
I call Deputy Deirdre Clune.
——in respect of the future of services at Ennis General Hospital. It is quite obvious that the project is dead.
The Deputy can raise the matter another way. I call Deputy Deirdre Clune. I was extremely generous with the Deputy in respect of time.
It is a total disgrace. If it was in the constituency of the Acting Chairman, it would be similar.
If Deputy Breen was sitting here, he would do as I do.
I am angry and sad.
I thank the Acting Chairman, who has an interest in this area. I am sorry the Minister for Health and Children is not in the Chamber to respond to this matter, namely, adults with special needs who require dental treatment. This may be as simple as fillings or cleaning, which many of us regard as possible within a general practitioner's practice or at a dental clinic without any trouble. For children and adults with special needs such a situation can be traumatic and lead to much anxiety. As the function can be difficult to perform, in many cases the dentist will recommend doing the work under general anaesthetic.
There is no service for adults at present at Cork University Dental School. By adults I mean those over 16 years of age. Services are available for children but none for adults. The lack of services has been highlighted on a number of occasions. Recently, a mother contacted the media about her 25 year old son who needs three fillings and a cleaning. She was told in January 2008 by a clinical dental surgeon that the son needed a general anaesthetic to provide necessary dental treatment. There is much correspondence on this issue and another letter states that as Cork University Dental School does not provide a service for special needs adults to have restorative treatment under general anaesthesia, the HSE is unable to offer an alternative.
When I asked a question of the Minister for Health and Children, I was told the dental school continues to provide a service to adults with special needs and will be completing the waiting list it holds. These are two completely different responses within the past two months, one on headed HSE notepaper, the other an e-mailed response to my parliamentary question. It is scandalous that we are receiving misinformation and conflicting information.
I want the Minister of State to tell me if there is a service. According to the information I have, there is not. There is not even a waiting list on which patients such as this can be accepted. If there is no service, when will it be established? It is urgent and necessary for the hundreds of people with special needs awaiting this service. It is unfair that we treat vulnerable members of our community in such a fashion. It is cruel and not in keeping with the kind of service we would wish to see. That we can tell them and their parents that there is nothing we can do and leave adults, who need something minor such as a filling or cleaning but which can lead to complications, without being treated is unacceptable today. I hope the Minister of State will not tell me that a service exists and that the waiting list is being worked through. I can tell him there is none.
I am taking the Adjournment matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney. I am happy to have the opportunity to address the issue raised by Deputy Clune. As the House will be aware, the Health Service Executive has the responsibility to manage and deliver, or arrange to be delivered on its behalf, health and personal social services. This includes the delivery of dental and oral health services. The services in question in the Cork University Dental School were provided under an arrangement with the HSE.
At the outset, I would like to explain the current position. In January 2007 a decision was taken by Cork University Dental School not to accept any further referrals to its existing waiting list for adult special needs patients who required treatment under general anaesthetic. This decision was taken after considering a number of factors, including the length of time for patients on the current waiting list and the capacity of the current services at Cork University Dental School.
In addition to these factors, there were also concerns regarding the appropriateness of the facilities in regard to the treatment of both adult and child patients in a shared treatment environment and the lack of a consultant specialist for adults within the dental school. After considering all of these factors, a decision was taken to cease services and no new referrals were added to the list from January 2007. I would like to point out that patients who were already on the waiting list continue to be treated and will receive all of the dental treatment involving general anaesthetic that has been prescribed for them. Also, this decision by the Cork University Dental School does not affect patients requiring emergency treatment.
The HSE is committed to ensuring there will be a minimal break in service to these patients and accordingly they are actively seeking theatre capacity in Cork University Hospital where they can continue to provide this service. Patients who have been unable to access services at the Cork University Dental School will be contacted by the HSE in due course regarding treatment when the new arrangements are in place.
I would like to inform the House of the recent policy developments in this area. Last October, the Minister for Health and Children announced her plans to develop a new national oral health policy. This new oral health policy, the first in 13 years, will be undertaken by the Department of Health and Children in conjunction with the HSE. The development of this new national policy will allow a critical examination of the many challenges and issues currently facing the dental sector in Ireland. Among the issues which will be examined will be service delivery issues such as the availability of dental and oral health care services for people with disabilities.
In this regard, officials in the Department of Health and Children have met with a number of groups who work in the area of special needs dentistry to ascertain their views on recommendations for improving oral health services to people with disabilities. These groups include the Irish Society for Disability and Oral Health and a group of principal dental surgeons in the HSE with responsibility for special needs dentistry.
In addition to meeting these groups, the Department of Health and Children has sought the views of various organisations who work with people with disabilities in the context of their recent consultation on the national oral health policy. These organisations include the National Disability Authority, which is the lead State agency on disability issues. In addition, views were also sought from People with Disabilities in Ireland, the Disability Federation of Ireland and the Carers Association. As a result of these meetings and consultations, the Department of Health and Children intends to bring forward a series of recommendations to improve the position of dental and oral health services to people with disabilities in its forthcoming national oral health policy report. This report will be available later this year.
Schools Building Projects.
I propose to share time with Deputy Rabbitte. I am disappointed that the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Hanafin, who was in the House earlier, is not present to respond to this important matter. It is clear that the Minister of State, Deputy Haughey, has been given the graveyard shift, answering on everyone's behalf. It is a disappointment that this is a serious matter that is not being addressed by his senior colleague.
Holy Rosary National School, Tallaght, was established in 1985. At that stage it was established on a temporary basis and the buildings are still described as semi-permanent. For the past 23 years, it has had a reputation for educational excellence and providing to children of all faiths and none a warm and encouraging education environment.
Given the growth of the Ballycullen and Old Court areas in Dublin 24, the school is bursting at the seams, teachers must work in corridors and the normal facilities one would expect in a school are not provided. The school applied for a new permanent school on its substantial existing site more than eight years ago, but the board of management, parents and teachers are frustrated at the complete failure on the part of the Department to deliver a new school to the community. In that period, more than 3,000 new housing units have been built within less than a half mile radius of the school. Many other schools have seen progress in their applications for total refurbishments or new schools in the past eight years, but this is not the case with Holy Rosary national school. Currently, 480 children attend the school and it has 20 classes, 13 of which are in prefabs. The school has no library facility, physical education hall or medical room. Its staffroom is asked to accommodate 45 professionals in a space where barely 15 could sit. Neither has the school a resource room.
The question is why the Department sat on the application for the past eight years and has shown no intention of moving it to the planning and construction stage. Officials from the Department visited the school four years ago and, with less than 12 hours notice in October of last year, the Department summoned the board of management to meet the former's building unit in Tullamore. The school was led to believe that a decision on the next stage of the building project was imminent. Rightly, the school asked how the project could be regarded as open and transparent on the part of the Department when the application has not been given political priority by the Government. I ask the Minister of State to respond to this urgent matter.
I thank Deputy Brian Hayes for sharing his time with me and support his case in respect of this particular school. In terms of the required refurbishment and additional facilities, Holy Rosary national school is the forgotten school in so far as the Department of Education and Science is concerned. It is the only school of which I know that has more classes held in prefabricated buildings than in the school building itself. This is a great pity because, as the Deputy mentioned, there has been a housing explosion in the immediate environs. A considerable population of non-national children attends the school and, while it may be the forgotten school, it is also the happiest of which I know. It is brilliantly led by the principal and receives tremendous commitment from the teachers, but it has awaited a decision for more than 20 years.
What is the impediment and why is the school being jumped in the queue by other schools? What does the Minister for Education and Science, who is regrettably not present — I mean the Minister of State, Deputy Haughey, no disrespect — have against the Ballycragh national school? This is the question parents are beginning to ask. One cannot continue to have a situation in which more children are taught in prefabricated classrooms than in the school proper.
The project has been outstanding for so long that it is the local expectation that it will be included in the tranche to be announced by the Minister at an early date. I hope the Minister of State will be able to confirm this for Deputy Brian Hayes and myself because all parties are united on the necessity of the refurbishment. For some reason, however, the Government has decided to put the project on the long finger for the past almost dozen years. I plead with the Minister of State to respond to the case set out by Deputy Brian Hayes, who has given the facts in terms of the non-existent facilities, twice as many teachers being squeezed into a staffroom as it was designed to accommodate and the needs of the area's children. As the Deputy stated, the area has more than 3,000 new houses and more are in prospect. I plead with the Minister of State to give the House positive news in the interest of the area's children.
I thank the Deputies for raising this matter, as it provides me with the opportunity to outline to the House the Department of Education and Science's capital programme of works for 2008 and the current position regarding the building project for the Holy Rosary national school, Old Court Avenue, Tallaght, Dublin 24.
School building projects are selected for inclusion in the school building and modernisation programme on the basis of the priority of need presenting. This is reflected in the band rating assigned to individual projects under the published prioritisation criteria for large-scale building projects drawn up following consultation with the education partners. A band rating is assigned to a project when it is being assessed by the modernisation and policy unit of the Department. Progress on individual projects is consistent with that band rating. There are four band ratings in all, with band one being the highest and band four the lowest.
As the Deputies will probably be aware, almost €600 million in public funding is being provided for school buildings this year. This will enable the completion of work on 67 large-scale primary schools projects that will deliver 7,000 additional permanent school places in new schools and 2,300 additional permanent school places in existing schools.
Will they be fairly selected?
All will be revealed throughout the course of the year.
At the teachers' conference.
Construction work on 150 devolved projects under the permanent accommodation scheme will provide 8,000 additional places in existing primary schools. In the post-primary sector, construction work will be completed on 19 large-scale projects, which will provide 2,400 permanent school places in four new schools, and additional accommodation and refurbishment works in 15 schools that will benefit more than 7,000 pupil attendees. The funding will also enable the purchase of sites to facilitate the smooth delivery of the school building programme, particularly in rapidly developing areas, and the progression of new projects through architectural planning and design stages.
On 1 February, the Minister for Education and Science announced the first tranche of projects that will be proceeding to construction this year. Further announcements will be made during the course of the year. Construction is also due to start in 2008 on the first bundle of public private partnership schools, while further PPPs will be offered to the market next year with a view to building work commencing in later years. This is an enormous programme of work by any standard and, while there will continue to be a focus during the year on providing extra places in developing areas, the Department will also be delivering improvements in the quality of existing primary and post-primary school accommodation throughout the country. The emphasis, however, will be on new schools and extensions to provide additionality in rapidly developing areas.
Turning to the project of particular concern to the Deputies, it will consist of the construction of a new 24-classroom school of approximately 3,562 sq. m. with three new ball courts and two junior play areas. This project is currently at stage three of architectural planning. Following on from a review of a revised stage three submission, additional mechanical and electrical information was requested from the school's design team. When a response to this has been received, officials in the Department will evaluate the documentation.
The project attracts a band two rating and, as with all large-scale building projects, progression through to the construction phase will be considered on an ongoing basis in the context of the band rating assigned to the project and in the context of the Department's multiannual school building and modernisation programme.
I thank the Deputies for raising this matter. During the lifetime of the national development plan, the Government is providing funding of €4.5 billion for school buildings. This will be the largest investment programme in schools in the history of the State and will enable the Department to ensure that school places are available where necessary.
This investment will allow the Department to continue the school building programme that commenced during the lifetime of the last national development plan, when considerably more than €2.6 billion was invested in school development, which delivered more than 7,800 projects.
Asylum Applications.
I thank the Cathaoirleach for permitting me to raise this important matter. I am surprised the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy Brian Lenihan, has not acted on the scandalous allegations that have come into the public domain concerning the manner of discharge of its functions by the Refugee Appeals Tribunal. It has emerged that three eminent members of the tribunal have caused serious questions to be raised about the manner in which its chairman, John Ryan, BL, conducts its business and in particular how he allocates files for adjudication. At a minimum, one would have expected the Minister to have informed this House of his assessment of the affair and whether action on his part is warranted.
The facts appear straightforward. In a judicial review application in March 2006, seven solicitors practising in the area of refugee law made sworn affidavits that a particular tribunal member, Mr. Nicholson, had never been known to decide a case in favour of an asylum seeker. The tribunal itself conceded in the High and Supreme Courts that Mr. Nicholson had not allowed a single appeal from an asylum seeker during the period from 1 January 2002 to 30 June 2004. Apparently, he was the tribunal's highest earner during the same period.
In the case known as the Nyembo case heard before the Supreme Court, the tribunal chairman had asserted that "the record of [Mr. Nicholson] is not at variance with other members of [the Tribunal]". When Mrs. Justice Denham remarked there was no evidence to vindicate this assertion, three senior members of the tribunal claimed that the record of Mr. Nicholson was "markedly at variance" with the record of other members. However, before the High Court could adjudicate in the matter, the tribunal settled the case, thus preventing the facts emerging. It appears the dissenting members specifically alleged that files were allocated by the chairman on the basis of members' record of rejecting appeals. There could scarcely be a more serious allegation to make against the chairman of a body charged under statute to act independently in the discharge of his functions.
It is also claimed that the chairman, John Ryan, managed the tribunal's defence of these court proceedings in collaboration with James Nicholson alone and refused to convene a meeting of the full membership to enable them to consider the case and instruct their legal representatives. It is now claimed that the refugee legal service is reviewing the decisions of another member of the tribunal who happens to be the second highest earner at the tribunal.
The Minister's response to these extraordinary claims is to keep his head down and, amazingly, to provide expressly for the continuation in office of Mr. Ryan in the recently published Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill 2008. The reason the Minister should feel it necessary to stitch into law the reappointment of Mr. Ryan as distinct from exercising his right in the normal way to appoint a chairman betrays a mind-set that is deeply troubling and that indicates he has become the captive of his Department. Are the Minister and his Department so enamoured of Mr. Ryan's modus operandi that they hope to enshrine his appointment in law?
The Nyembo case speaks for itself. A man, who has since quietly resigned, heard almost 1,000 cases in the relevant period and rejected virtually all of them. Three members, more senior than the chairman, have made serious assertions about the functioning of the tribunal and, most seriously, allege that assignment of cases is based on the individual history of adjudication of the tribunal member.
Thus far, the Minister has ignored the serious issues to which the Nyembo case gives rise. I am delighted the Minister is present to respond to these cases in person, rather than sending the routine script that is churned out by Departments for this event in the House these days. I am concerned that our public service, when defending its record before the courts, should be exposed in this manner. The Minister ought to be concerned about the signal this sends out.
Has the stage been reached in which one cannot rely on the integrity of the public service to tell the truth before the courts? How are the public to have confidence in the integrity of our system of administrative tribunals? I thank the Cathaoirleach for permitting me to raise this issue and am glad the Minister is present in person to make a pertinent reply because there is widespread concern among members of his own profession, among solicitors and among organisations working with asylum-seekers, concerning what has entered the public domain in recent weeks with regard to the independent discharge of functions by the Refugee Appeals Tribunal.
I thank Deputy Rabbitte for giving me the opportunity to respond in the House this evening to a matter which has generated some media comment in recent days. The House is the appropriate venue in which to discuss this matter.
The Refugee Appeals Tribunal was established in November 2000 and Mr. John Ryan was appointed its second chairman in an interim capacity on 3 December 2003. Following an open, publicly advertised national competition, Mr. Ryan was selected as full-time chairman by the Public Appointments Service with effect from 13 September 2005.
The tribunal hears appeals on negative recommendations of the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner in respect of applications for refugee status in the State. Since its establishment, the tribunal and its members have carried out a substantial job of work for the State based on their statutory remit. The tribunal is a statutory independent body established under the Refugee Act 1996. Its members are independent in the performance of their functions and in the decisions that they make.
The role of the chairperson of the tribunal, as provided for in the 1996 Act is, among other things, to allocate the work of the tribunal and to ensure its business is managed efficiently and disposed of as expeditiously as may be in a manner consistent with natural justice. His or her role also is to avoid undue divergences in the application of the law in cases by members, as provided for in the 1996 Act. Ensuring consistency in the application of the law in the refugee area is a critical aspect of the chairman's role. The chairman has no role in determining the final decisions of members.
The allocation of tribunal business is conducted by the chairperson in accordance with the law. In allocating cases, the chairperson has regard to a variety of matters such as the availability of members, the speed or slowness of members in delivering the decisions, whether members have specialised training in dealing with minors or have experience in dealing with other vulnerable applicants or applicants of particular nationalities. The chairperson has assured me that the allocation of cases is not influenced by the affirmation rates of particular members.
It has been asserted — but not by Deputy Rabbitte this evening — that an average of 25% of cases in 2005 were decided in favour of asylum seekers. This is not correct as the figure was 12.8%. In 2007, this figure fell to 10.2%, with the overall figure in respect of the period 2001 to 2007 coming in at 16.2%. In other words, the affirmation rate for the entire period was 83.8%. Last year saw the highest affirmation rate in the period, with 89.8% of decisions of the commissioner affirmed.
The House should be aware of some of the realities we are dealing with in the asylum area. Last year, only 8.4% of all applications received at the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner came through legitimate points of entry to the State. A further 5.6% of all applications in 2007 were made at prisons. The balance, in the main, simply turn up in the commissioner's office, having avoided the official entry points. It is also interesting to note that in 2007, a total of 2,500 of the 3,985 asylum applicants claimed to have arrived in Ireland with no travel documents, with approximately 1,000 of them claiming to have arrived by air.
The reality is that more than 90% of applicants do not show up at official entry points and 90% of all applications turn out to be unfounded. It should be of little surprise, therefore, that a significant number of members of the tribunal have high affirmation rates. The high affirmation rates of members are also a reflection of the robust and high quality investigations conducted at first instance by the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner.
Deputy Rabbitte referred to recent legal action alleging bias by Mr. James Nicholson, a former member of the tribunal. I do not intend to comment in detail on the legal issues involved in this Supreme Court case as it would be inappropriate to do so. However, I can point out that the chairman of the tribunal totally rejects all the allegations made. I am advised that the chairman did not mislead the courts in documentation filed by him, as is alleged. A report in yesterday's The Irish Times stated that the Legal Aid Board had written to the Refugee Appeals Tribunal asking it to review all the cases decided by its former member, James Nicholson. This report is misleading in a number of respects. The signatory to the letter is in fact an official of the Legal Aid Board reporting to the chief executive and not the chairman of the board, as was reported. I am also told that a number of the policy issues referred to in the letter as reported in The Irish Times have yet to be discussed at board level. This was confirmed to my Department by the chief executive of the Legal Aid Board this afternoon.
The UNHCR is heavily involved in training within the asylum process, including the Refugee Appeals Tribunal. Deputy Rabbitte might recall the comments made by a former UNHCR representative to Ireland who was quoted as saying that Ireland is now a model for the new member states of the European Union and that we have a system which in many respects is one of the best in Europe.
The Refugee Appeals Tribunal is to be replaced under the Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill 2008 by the protection review tribunal. There has been some criticism about how that is to be done but I will deal with those criticisms and all the other points raised this evening during Committee Stage debate on the Bill, which will take place early in the next session. That, to my mind, is the proper place to deal with this matter and a full discussion can take place at that time.
It is regrettable that Deputy Rabbitte has sought to politicise the work of a public servant who is doing his statutory duty. It is in nobody's interests, least of all those who come to this country seeking the sanctuary of the State, that the work of this important and independent body should be so traduced. I do, however, share the concerns expressed by Deputy Rabbitte about a divergence of opinions among the members of the tribunal.
The Dáil adjourned at 9.15 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 12 March 2008.