I had the privilege of serving for a period as Minister for Tourism and Trade. I recognise the value for this country of Ministers travelling abroad where focused visits are based on investment and tourism for the country.
Leaders’ Questions.
Ask Deputy O'Dowd.
A Deputy
Why not ask Fergus's brother?
I am concerned, however, at the scale of what is beginning to happen. Today, there are 19——
Do us a favour.
The Deputy should practice what he preaches.
The Deputies can laugh if they want.
Deputy Kenny, without interruption.
There are 19 Ministers and Ministers of State absent today and 26 will be absent tomorrow. When I look at the calendar, 17 March is St. Patrick's Day — it has never changed. From that point of view, it seems that, to some extent, these visits have gone beyond a direct focus on contacts for Ireland or interest in investment, tourism and developing our links with our diaspora and other countries.
The House is not sitting next week. I understood this was to facilitate Ministers who would be abroad doing their duty for Ireland. I heard some of the comments this morning with regard to costs associated with ministerial visits last year. I suppose some of those are questionable, particularly those regarding accommodation and limousine costs. I understood the Department of the Taoiseach co-ordinates these visits. Did the Taoiseach sit down with his officials and plan these visits abroad by 26 Ministers and Ministers of State? Given the scale of visits both before and after St. Patrick's Day, was an analysis carried out of the value of what Ireland and its people are actually getting from the plethora of journeys abroad?
As has been the case for a long time, St. Patrick's Day and the period around it will involve a large number of events and functions, with many taking place in the period from Friday to Tuesday in different parts of the world. As well as being our national day, it provides a framework to showcase modern Ireland all over the world. Successive Governments have done this successfully for many years and it is used unashamedly by us as a marketing opportunity.
St. Patrick's Day offers an excellent opportunity to highlight to a global audience, in a way that cannot happen at any other time of the year, the advantages of doing business in this country and also to promote the country as a world class tourist destination, which helps us to attract inward investment. There are also the historical developments in recent years in the peace process and on other issues. While these issues move on, it has given us a chance to change how the country is perceived. It was seen as a country that was always in the news because of trouble and violence — the last atrocity or the next fear — but that has moved on. The message of hope, partnership, prosperity and confidence from a rising generation has changed that and we can now show that we have a stable environment. In recent years the economic horizons have expanded, which has allowed us to look at things in a different way.
Deputy Kenny's question was a fair one. In deciding ministerial travel commitments, it is not my Department which co-ordinates but the Department of Foreign Affairs — it has been the same system for decades. The opportunities are considered and Enterprise Ireland is involved from the perspective of tourism, the promotion of trade and finding where the opportunities lie for business in key economic markets, as well as raising awareness of the potential of growth in our economic relations with emerging markets. Trade between Ireland and the countries which Government representatives will visit this St. Patrick's day is valued at in excess of €165 billion at 2006 rates — I do not have the figures for 2007.
The St. Patrick's Day brand unquestionably provides us with a unique global market opportunity which is the envy of many countries. Deputy Kenny and all in the House know that many other countries look to the access we get——
Deputies
Hear, hear.
——not just myself but all the Ministers, Ministers of State and others who travel over the St. Patrick's Day period. It gives us a focus in capitals and destination all over the world and gives us access around St. Patrick's Day to meet multinationals and tourism operators. We get a huge audience worldwide for this.
I understand that people would raise the issue of costs as costs are of course involved, but this must be seen in terms of what it would cost to run a marketing campaign. There is a marketing budget this year of €37 million, which is going towards the tourism campaign. However, if one considers what we will get in terms of television, radio and media exposure, as well as exposure to politicians and trade fairs and everything around that, it does the country an awful lot of good.
I agree there are few countries that have a day of their own. From that perspective it is always valuable to showcase our own country.
Os rud é go bhfuil muid i lár Seachtain na Gaeilge, déarfaidh mé seo as Gaeilge. Tá a fhios ag an Taoiseach go dtaispeánann an eachtra seo an easaontas atá ann idir an Rialtas agus na daoine ar an taobh seo. Tuige an bhfuil sé riachtanach go mbeadh comhairleoirí speisialta ag taisteal leis na hAirí, os rud é go bhfuil ambasáid againn sna tíortha seo thar lear? Why is it that a doctor puts up €36,000 of his own money today to hire a nurse for a hospital? Nach bhfuil sé fíor go bhfuil easpa €300 mhilliún i mbliana ag an HSE agus go bhfuil deacrachtaí ag baint le cúrsaí leighis i beagnach chuile ospidéal thar fud na tíre? Cosúil leis na ardaithe liúntais a fuair na hAirí féin, agus na costais a bhaineann leis na hAirí ag taisteal chuig na tíortha seo ar fad, taispeánann seo go bhfuil easaontas agus difríocht idir meon an Rialtais agus meon na ndaoine i dtaobh céard atá ag tarlú ar an talamh anseo.
Ní thaispeánann.
Tuigeann an Aire Oideachais agus Eolaíochta céard atá á rá agam.
Agus tuigeann a lán daoine eile.
Ní bhfuair mé freagra ón Aire Oideachais agus Eolaíochta le coicís anuas i leith na scoile i Castleknock, agus í ina Aire. Níl sí in ann freagra simplí a thabhairt ar cheist shimplí. Deir an Taoiseach go bhfuil an airgead ar fáil i dtreo agus go mbeidh an Aire in ann na múinteoirí a chur ag obair.
Tá airgead agam le haghaidh na múinteoirí.
I conclude that in the assessment of the range of visits it is time to cut back on some of these, given that some of them appear to last for a week or ten days. St. Patrick's Day is always on 17 March. Surely it should be possible to have a closer examination of the value of what we have done here, not to mention the absent Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gormley, and his carbon footprints from New Zealand to San Francisco. Perhaps the Taoiseach might re-examine the value for the country of the visits both before and after St. Patrick's Day.
I do not want to send every Minister away with his or her own sandwich pack in a bag. In terms of what is happening on the streets and the disconnect between Government and the people re pay increases, salary increases, and requirements to cut back, there is a need to cut back but there is no evidence of any cutback here, rather it is the contrary. The Taoiseach should reflect on that as a balance against what we want to achieve for our country and at the same time to demonstrate effective leadership.
We spend over €50 billion a year in this country on a range of services and there is always some service somewhere in need even though there have been historic increases in current and capital expenditure in every area in the past decade, and far more and far higher than the average rate. I am often criticised in the House about our rate of current expenditure year-on-year which is higher than practically any other country in the European Union. Our capital expenditure is higher than any other country because of the historical deficits and because of what we have to deal with in terms of a rise in population and a strong economy. There will always be deficiencies, gaps and areas of need. That happens even in Norway which probably has the highest rate of public expenditure.
What we do in this regard is the same as with Oireachtas groups that travel to examine issues during the year. There is thought put into what takes place. We look at the markets. We look at where there is an added value to promote and to showcase the country in a modern way. That is why even in a more difficult year we get still a good and fair share of foreign direct investment. It is why for a country of our size we get between 8 million and 9 million tourists. We get recognition across the world in so many ways from our business people to our arts and culture. We can continue that.
I could go through the individual locations. A total of 45 locations has been highlighted this year for the Ministers to cover. Some of those visits link in to trade missions. It is not the case that Ministers are just going abroad again but they wish to extend the St. Patrick's Day period and to follow a programme. Each Minister takes part in this and each Minister takes on the agenda of another Minister. They are all given extensive briefs to deal with this.
The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Martin, is in Milan today participating in an Enterprise Ireland launch for 60 business clients and contacts. On Thursday he will be involved in tourism-related events. These are all pre-St. Patrick's Day events. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy Brian Lenihan's programme in Boston is in collaboration with Enterprise Ireland and will include events focused on medical devices and biotechnology. The Tánaiste will be involved in events in Malaysia to promote Irish financial services and telecoms companies. He will open the new Kuala Lumpur offices of the Royal College of Surgeons. Ministers are not just involved in their own area of responsibility, they have a full range of responsibilities.
It has been noted in this House that our neighbours and colleagues across the water have decided this week to do what we have done for years, which is to have a new national holiday to promote their identity and to bring a sense of Britishness to their people. It is interesting that they chose to do it this week because recently they attend St. Patrick's Day events all over America, which we are always very pleased to see. I am glad to see they also have a great respect for St. Patrick. Thankfully we have that. We have had that for generations. We have had St. Patrick for a few thousand years and we have built around that.
The Ministers have it for two weeks.
What about the €1,600 a night? They must have golden prayer mats.
I am glad to see in 2008 that Gordon Brown has decided that what we have for generations seems to be his best political idea. That is a tribute to what we do so well.
I was about to say to the Taoiseach that we are well over time and I meant no disrespect to St. Patrick.
If the Taoiseach kept going we would be told that St. Patrick was a founder member of Fianna Fáil.
That is St. Jude.
He would have been a member if he had been around.
He would have been.
He would have banished the snakes.
The Minister for Education and Science should not raise the subjects of snakes this morning.
Deputy Gilmore should be allowed to speak without interruption.
He did not banish them all anyway.
Over the weekend two more young men were shot dead, one in Ronanstown and one in Newcastle. That brings to 150 the number of gun murders which have occurred in the State since the Taoiseach took office in 1997. The Garda is expressing concern that the gun murders over the weekend could lead to a further spate of killings. We have had 150 gun murders so far since the Taoiseach took office.
Before he took office in 1997 the Taoiseach said at the Fianna Fáil Ard-Fheis in April 1997: "I will make the fight against crime my first priority in a new Fianna Fáil Government. He went on to say he had a message for the drug barons and the criminal gangs. He said: "Our plan is to arrest you, prosecute you and put you in jail". Of the 150 gun murders that have occurred in the State since the Taoiseach came to office, how many convictions have been secured?
Recently we saw a number of very successful operations carried out by the Garda to deal with gangland crime. I acknowledge the considerable efforts of the Garda in this regard and I commend it on its successes which clearly prevented further murders and serious crimes.
We have had two murders in recent days and we had a number of murders last year also but there was a significant decrease on the previous year. It is the type of activity that the Garda is involved in that is preventing more murders, under Operation Anvil in particular, which deals with these gangs. We deplore the killings of the two men on Thursday and Saturday. Every time there is a murder of any kind we deplore it, such as the murders in Drimnagh of the two Polish citizens the previous week.
Recent CSO figures indicate there were 84 homicides, 78 murders and six manslaughters here last year. While that was an increase of 25% in total numbers over 2006 the gang-related killings do not account for that. Killings under that heading are completely unacceptable but the murder rate is something the Garda has to keep on tackling. According to Garda records, most of the murders last year were of a domestic nature and related to different events with drugs and alcohol being the key components. Prosecutions for these crimes is almost 100%. In gangland crime it is not good.
How bad is it?
What is the figure?
I do not have the overall figure, but witness protection is an extremely difficult issue, as the Deputy knows, because he has raised it here. I have raised it again with the commissioner. Although he is not convinced, he has enhanced the system. The difficulty is that, even when badly injured, criminals will not participate in normal surveillance and intelligence gathering. This is the case even when the individuals are known to the Garda. As we have seen recently, even seriously injured individuals who know who tried to kill them will not co-operate. That is a serious issue for the Garda which has informed me and the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy Brian Lenihan, that it has the legal powers but cannot force people to do so, that it can only continue its legal surveillance intelligence activity and question people to try to get this information. This is a serious problem for gardaí; they know the gangs, on which they have good intelligence, but where there are crimes between gangs, their modus operandi is not to speak. Gardaí freely tell us that is a difficulty for them. In other areas they do not have that problem. They also say this problem of not co-operating is bigger in Dublin than elsewhere. In other parts of the country they can break down these issues but in the greater Dublin area it is a difficulty, even with the intelligence gathered under Operation Anvil. Providing the number of gardaí and detectives from the specialised unit involved in sitting in the middle and trying to stop some of the gangs from engaging in criminal acts against each other is very costly.
Is that zero tolerance?
We have allocated €20 million to that activity this year. While it will not solve past murder cases, it will prevent others. A number of such operations take place in the greater Dublin area, not just today but some for the last two or three years.
With respect, the Taoiseach went way over time in avoiding answering the question. He says he does not have the figure for the number of convictions, which I find amazing given that he has a figure for every possible question that might be asked during Leaders' Questions. My question was: of the 150 gun murders committed in the State since the Taoiseach took office, how many convictions have been made? To help the Taoiseach, I have done a tot and come to a figure of 24 out of 150, approximately one in six. Is that correct? Is it true? Can he admit to the people that of the 150 savage gun murders that have occurred since he took office, only one in six perpetrators has been caught and put away?
I accept there are difficulties, some of which the Taoiseach alluded to, of people not talking and being afraid to give evidence. This is why the Labour Party proposed two legislative measures that we have been asking the Government to implement since the Dáil resumed last September, namely, the witness protection legislation and the Garda surveillance Bill. These would give the Garda the additional powers of surveillance it needs to put the criminal gangs away and provide protection for those who give evidence against them.
Will the Taoiseach, at least, do the House and the country a service by admitting that the figure is only one in six convictions, 24 out of 150, and take on board the measures the Labour Party proposed to deal with this problem? We cannot continue with the situation where murders take place week in week out. There is barely a weekend when one of these gangland, gun-related, drug-related killings does not takes place and it cannot continue. There is a need to deal with it and I ask the Taoiseach to do so by taking on board the Labour Party's proposals. I also ask him, as a man who has a figure for every question, to acknowledge that the number of convictions is only 24 out of 150.
I have no problem giving the figure for a ten-year period.
Good.
I am told that in respect of gangland crime, organised criminal gangs mainly involved in drug trafficking, the number of convictions is very low.
The figure is 24 out of 150.
I do not deny that figure and the legislation is not the reason. Gardaí say they have strong legislation, dedicated detective units, high levels of resources and considerable overtime and manpower reserves. They have the special protection programmes. While Deputy Gilmore has an issue on the legislation, the commissioner does not believe they require anything more than they have. The problem is that even when the lives of individuals are under threat, individuals have been injured and there is intelligence that they are open to being attacked by hitmen, they will not co-operate with the Garda. It is not a lack of legislative power, a witness protection programme or resources. In these instances the Garda is obliged, as it is at several locations, to have 24/7 by 365 security to stop some of the groups engaging in violence against each other and, by extension, engaging in criminal activities in the community. That is why it costs so much of taxpayers' money. It is a very costly activity for the Garda, but it significantly decreased the number of gangland deaths in 2007. When talking about deaths, I am never happy to say the number has decreased because it is not good to have any.
The Garda Commissioner's latest statement is that he will continue the assessments under Operation Anvil of the groups involved in gangland crimes. The Criminal Assets Bureau is involved in dealing with the proceeds of such crimes, including through liaison between it and the various Garda divisions which takes place every other day. In many such cases court proceedings do not work because nobody will give evidence. That, not the intelligence, is the reason for the lack of convictions. I have been at security briefings where gardaí have outlined whom they believe is responsible, but unless we have very draconian laws, which none of us wants to have, we cannot stop it. That is the reality. The Garda must continue its efforts. It has had some good successes in breaking gangs recently and we must continue to support its efforts to break more.
That is an awful admission of defeat.