Adjournment Debate.

Flood Relief.

Deputy Michael Ring

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this matter for debate on the Adjournment. The Minister will recall that in 2006 and 2007 there was very serious flooding in south Mayo. A number of houses were flooded, as was shown on RTE at the time. It was a terrible flood, particularly in the Roundfort-Hollymount area.

Funding was provided last year but there was a major dispute about a report from the Office of Public Works, OPW, for the national parks and wildlife service. This has been going on for 12 months. Yesterday, I received a reply to a parliamentary question stating that the OPW report has been completed and has gone to the national parks and wildlife service. I will not go over the top, but the family in question contacted me this week because it had to be evacuated from its home again three years on. Once was enough. Funding is in place but, because of disputes between two State agencies, the family's house has been destroyed again. The Minister of State might not be able to confirm something for me now, but I hope he will over the next number of days, namely, whether the OPW will start the work early in the new year. I tabled a question to the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government regarding the NPWS to determine whether the latter is satisfied.

Mayo County Council, the OPW and the NPWS are responsible for the home's flooding. I met the NPWS in July and I asked it and the OPW, no matter the problems, to sit down and try to get the report done and the money spent before the winter season. We waited and waited and I tabled question after question. Lo and behold, nothing could be done until the house was flooded a second time. Only then could everyone get together and get the report done. I hold both agencies responsible for flooding the home. If they had done what they were supposed to do, we would not have had this problem.

Mayo County Council, the OPW and the NPWS told us for 15 years that the problem in Kilmaine could not be resolved. Locals told them how to resolve it and a small amount of money got the job done. This week, I was told by telephone that, despite all of the rain and flooding, not a bit of water had entered those people's lands or homes.

The €200,000 was allocated by the Minister of State's Department. I want it spent and the families protected. If the money had been spent and they got flooded again, at least the Minister of State, his Department and the council would have tried. The money was available, but two agencies instead fought over snipes and birds and showed no interest in families' homes. I want the problem to be resolved. I want the Minister of State to confirm in the House that he will take on this case personally, check it out and tell me that the work will start in the new year. The NPWS will be happy with the Department's report.

Minister of State at the Department of Finance (Deputy Martin Mansergh)

Locations in a number of counties have been affected by serious flooding in recent weeks due to unprecedented rainfall. The impact on communities has been severe. Areas of south County Mayo, including Roundfort-Hollymount, also suffered badly from flooding in 2006. I thank the Deputy for giving me an opportunity to discuss in the House the serious flooding in the Roundfort-Hollymount area in the past week.

The flooding, which has affected a house, agricultural land and the Hollymount-Tuam road, is a complex issue to deal with due to the nature of the terrain in the area. A substantial part of the affected lands contains a number of interlinked turloughs. These features are protected under the provisions of the EU habitats directive. Any proposals for flood mitigation works or any works that would impact on the turloughs must have the consent of the NPWS of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government.

Following the flooding in late 2006, the OPW drew up proposals to address the problem in Roundfort-Hollymount. These involved extending the OPW's dredging operations into a channel in the area. Although being a continuation of a channel forming part of the Corrib-Mask-Robe arterial drainage scheme, which is maintained by the OPW, it was not part of that scheme. The work would be carried out under the provisions of the Arterial Drainage Act 1945.

These proposals were distributed to landowners in the area at a meeting arranged by the Irish Farmers Association, IFA, in February 2008. Mayo County Council was also consulted. The complexity of the problem was recognised, including the view at the time of the need to balance mitigation measures with environmental constraints regarding water levels in the turloughs that would limit the extent of protection from flooding that could be provided.

As is required, the OPW commissioned an ecological study regarding the environmental impacts of the proposals in March 2008. The report of the outcome of this study was submitted to the NPWS in April 2008 for consent to proceed with the works. The NPWS raised a number of issues and requirements. It wanted a more detailed cost benefit analysis of the properties affected, an assessment of the impact on turloughs in the area using specified EU methodologies, a comprehensive examination of alternative solutions to addressing the problem, consultations with experts in turlough systems and an analysis of the frequency of the flooding.

To address these concerns, the OPW extended the scope of the initial ecological study in May 2008. The OPW also commissioned Dr. Roger Goodwillie, who is recognised as one of the foremost experts in the area of turloughs in Ireland, to examine the proposals. Due to the complexity of the problem, the completion and synthesis of these studies took somewhat longer than anticipated. As a result of the additional ecological studies, the OPW modified the original proposals for the works. The modified proposals were submitted to the NPWS on 3 November 2009. If the proposals meet with its approval, it would be the intention of the OPW to undertake the work as part of its 2010 works programme.

As in the case of many of the OPW's proposals to carry out works, unexpected issues arise that are outside the direct control of the office. Some of these issues relate to sensitive matters of an environmental or archaeological nature that must, under EU directives, be assessed by the appropriate authorities before works can proceed. In the Roundfort-Hollymount situation, the OPW had no alternative but to refer the issues that arose to the NPWS.

I assure the Deputy that the OPW will move ahead as quickly as possible with the works when they have been approved by that body. Progress in this regard would be dependent on water levels in the river and environmental windows available for such works, which would have a significant impact on when the works could commence. In the circumstances, it is unlikely that any substantive work will be done before next spring.

In light of recent severe flooding over large parts of the country, a fundamental reappraisal needs to be undertaken of the appropriate balance between protecting people, homes and livelihoods and other important environmental considerations relating to habitats, wild life, rare plants, turloughs and other natural features. While I am sure the different interests and priorities can be reconciled, I am firmly of the opinion that proper weight must be given to flood protection where people are concerned.

Deputy Michael Ring

I thank the Minister of State. I will contact the Minister sitting beside him, Deputy Gormley, in the next few weeks. The matter has gone to his Department and I want it to deal with the issue.

Deputy Tom Hayes

I thank the Ceann Comhairle's office for selecting this important item on the Adjournment. In recent weeks, much media attention and Government time was taken up by the difficult situations that the latter needed to deal with in the major crisis areas of Galway, Clare, Limerick, the west and even parts of my constituency. Lost in all of this were the many small projects with which local councils had difficulties, namely, flooding on small country roads. I am referring to a small amount of attention in terms of laying a pipe, dredging or patching. The Minister of State well knows what I have in mind. At places like Lagganstown, Golden, Knockavilla, Dualla and Ardfinnan in the Care rural area, the Clonmel rural area, Fethard, Carrick-on-Suir and west Tipperary, several roads were blocked by ponds. Cars found the going difficult because of the resting water. Urgent action is required. I visited the sites with council engineers. I have been in contact with other engineers. The answer I get each time from members and staff of South Tipperary County Council is that the job needs to be done.

I ask the Minister of State and his Government colleagues, including the Minister for Transport, to make funding available for such schemes. I suggest that a block grant of some description could be provided. I am sure money can be found in some Department to help these people. As it is early December, we have a long winter ahead of us. Local authorities have the manpower to do these small jobs but they have no money. I ask the Government to make an allocation to every local authority in the country. There is a list in every local authority. I wish to be helpful by saying that the full co-operation of Members is not in doubt. The Minister of State, Deputy Mansergh, has the ear of the Minister, Deputy Gormley. He has seen at first hand the problems I have mentioned which need to be dealt with. I respectfully ask the Minister of State to ensure funding is made available to the local authorities in question. He might not be able to respond to that request tonight but he can do so in the weeks ahead.

Deputy Martin Mansergh

I thank Deputy Tom Hayes for raising this matter, which relates to the constituency we share. I visited Lagganstown, which was mentioned by the Deputy, last Saturday. I express my sympathy to those who have been affected by the recent flooding in many parts of the country, including County Tipperary.

In September 2004, the Government confirmed that the Office of Public Works is the State's lead agency in dealing with flooding. It is tasked with delivering an integrated and multifaceted programme that is aimed at mitigating future flood risk and impact. The repair and improvement of regional and local roads following flooding is a matter for the relevant local authority, to be funded from its own resources supplemented by State road grants paid by the Department of Transport. The initial selection of works to be funded from such grants is also a matter for each local authority. The funding of national roads is a matter for the National Roads Authority. When grants for regional and local roads are allocated at the beginning of each year. The Department of Transport does not hold back a reserve allocation at central level to deal with weather contingencies as such an arrangement would involve a reduction in the allocations that are made. Instead, the allocation made to local authorities is inclusive of the weather risk factor and local authorities are expressly advised to set aside contingency sums from their overall regional and local roads resources to finance necessary weather related works. This stipulation is clearly set out in the circular letter that is sent with the yearly road grant allocations.

Grants totalling €447.477 million were allocated to local authorities for works on regional and local roads in 2009. This allocation included a discretionary maintenance grant of €29.56 million and a discretionary improvement grant of €12.5 million. These moneys are available at the discretion of county councils to fund contingency works arising from weather conditions. The Department of Transport is prepared to consider sympathetically any request from local authorities to adjust their multi-annual restoration programmes or revise their specific grant applications to prioritise work necessitated by severe weather conditions. Local authorities have been allocated a total of €144.951 million in restoration improvement grants and €85 million in restoration maintenance grants in 2009. Local authorities are continuing to assess the extent of flood damage in their regions. It will be some time before they can quantify the damage sustained to regional and local road networks. More time will pass before repair works can be costed.

Deputy Tom Hayes will appreciate that neither I nor the Minister for Transport can indicate at this time what funding might be needed or available to address damage caused to the regional and local road network. Officials in the Department of Transport are maintaining contact with local authorities affected by flooding. The current difficulties faced by those authorities are being monitored and will be taken into account in the 2010 regional and local road grant allocations to the extent that resources will allow. As a Deputy who shares the Tipperary South constituency with Deputy Hayes, I am glad that many road maintenance improvements that have been undertaken by South Tipperary County Council in 2009, many of them on roads between his house and mine. I am certain the council will give priority, within the funds available, to the repair of road structures that were damaged by recent heavy rains and flooding in certain parts of the county.

Hunting Licences.

Deputy Shane McEntee

I am delighted to get a chance to speak on this subject, which I honestly did not think would arise again. The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gormley, and I had some heated debates about stag hunting two or three years ago. The Minister insisted that certain regulations be put into place. For example, it is now necessary for three officials from the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to monitor stag hunting. The Minister is aware that this system has worked well. Has he received any complaints about anything going wrong in this regard? While I accept that every party has its own programme for Government, I do not understand why the hunt is being targeted. Attempts are being made to ban a sporting activity that has contributed a great deal to this country.

The Ward Union Hunt has been in existence for 155 years, which makes it 30 years older than the GAA. People like Paul Carberry, Philip Carberry, Nina Carberry, Peter John Carberry, Ross Geraghty, Barry Geraghty, Robbie Power, Adrian Maguire and Norman Williamson, who are household names in this country, are among the progeny of the Ward Union Hunt. New names like Andrew Duff, Charles Greene, Keith Donohue, Megan Carberry and Donie Fahy are also among the progeny of the hunt, as are horse trainers like Noel Meade, Tommy Carberry, John Carr, Gordon Elliott, Tony Martin, Pat Rooney, Kieran Cromwell, James Halpin and Ronan O'Dwyer.

The Ward Union Hunt is the last stag hunt in the world. It is an iconic representation of rural life in Ireland. It has in excess of 200 members, more than 170 of whom ride out. Its premises, including its kennels, are regularly inspected by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, which ensures the health of the pack and the deer is maintained. An official report has confirmed that hunting does not affect the short-term or long-term health of mature male deer. The hunt provides an essential knackery service, including a collection facility for fallen stock, to local farmers. The knackery is licensed by the Department, which visits it every day. The Ward Union Hunt raises between €50,000 and €100,000 for charity every year, even in bad times. The hunt maintains a carefully monitored breeding programme to protect and preserve the Irish red deer. It has been suggested that the hunt should be allocated funding to preserve and guarantee this aspect of Ireland's heritage. It is estimated that the hunt contributes up to €1.6 million to the Exchequer every year. It costs the hunt approximately €6,700 per annum to keep a horse. That money is spent in the local area, benefitting vets, farriers, feed merchants and saddlers, etc. The hunt directly employs four full-time staff.

The Minister, Deputy Gormley, has made it a personal mission to target the Ward Union Hunt. In all his years in government, however, he has never taken the time to sit down with representatives of the hunt. Why is this the case? It is certainly not for the want of opportunity. Every rural Deputy in this House understands the importance of hunting and rural sports for local communities. Hunting is worth €111 million to the Exchequer every year. If it is not the case that the Minister is trying to rush an amendment through the House, why have the members of the Ward Union Hunt received a letter requesting a regulatory impact analysis? I suggest that has been done in advance of the introduction of legislation banning stag hunting. Why would the Minister ask for the opinion of the only remaining stag hunt in the world, when he has already guaranteed his party that a ban will happen? He has added insult to injury. The Minister's letter of last week asked for a reply by Friday, 13 December 2009, but there is no such date. Perhaps someone will rectify that.

The Minister seems to be obsessed with the plight of the red deer in Leinster, but why is the same courtesy not being afforded to the red deer in Connacht? Can the Minister confirm that a number of complaints have been received by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, to the effect that authorised officers from the Department are involved in the commercial exploitation of wildlife in the west? I have it on very good authority that red deer in Connacht are being hunted and shot for up to €5,000 per head. This is well known to the Minister and the proof of it is in his Department.

Why has a commencement date not been set for section 36 of the Wildlife Act during the past nine years? Such a commencement date would preclude any citizen from engaging in the commercial exploitation of wildlife without a licence, but a date has never been set. This means that anybody can host hunting parties for profit in Ireland.

With things the way they are, I do not know why the Minister is doing this. What he did two years ago has worked very well and he knows that, although I did not like it at the time. The Ward Union Hunt was the first to admit the new regulations put in place by the Minister and the people he appointed have worked very well.

As a Deputy, I will oppose this. It took the Labour Party in England 600 hours in the Houses of Parliament to get its anti-hunting ban through. It took it ten hours to get approval for the invasion of Afghanistan. If it takes 600 hours in this House, I will do everything to protect rural life in Ireland.

Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government (Deputy John Gormley)

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. The renewed programme for Government includes a commitment to ban the practice of stag hunting. I should explain that under existing wildlife legislation I can, as Minister, issue a licence for the hunting of deer by a pack of hounds. As the Deputy is no doubt aware, there is now only one hunt club in the State which continues to hunt deer using a pack of hounds and horses. I have issued a licence to this hunt club to hunt deer with a pack of hounds for the 2009-2010 season which ends on 31 March 2010.

However, I continue to believe that this particular hunting practice should cease for animal welfare and public safety reasons. I believe a large proportion of the public consider such activity is no longer acceptable. The Deputy may recall an incident a few years ago when a deer pursued by a pack of hounds entered a school yard during the school day. I find an incident like this totally intolerable. Since then, there have been other public safety incidents involving deer in flight leaping through hedges onto public roads. Therefore, I recently obtained Government approval to the drafting of legislation to prohibit the hunting of deer by a pack of stag hounds. This legislation will not have any implications for other activities such as fox-hunting, hare coursing or the shooting of deer. This new legislation will also allow for regulations to control recreational activities, to address invasive species and to increase the penalties under the Wildlife Acts.

There is a need to regulate certain recreational activities in ecologically sensitive areas. This is in response to a judgment of the European Court of Justice which found that Ireland had failed to transpose adequately Article 6(2) of the habitats directive in the field of recreational activities. Certain, currently unregulated activities, such as the use of quad-bikes, scramblers or jet-skis in inappropriate locations, have resulted in serious ecological damage, including degradation and erosion of upland habitats and the destruction of the breeding sites of protected water birds. This problem must be urgently addressed if Ireland hopes to avoid further litigation at the European Court of Justice and the imposition of heavy fines.

I refer to what are termed "invasive alien species". These are plants and animals which, if released to the wild either by accident or on purpose, have the potential to cause substantial economic damage as well as damage the natural biodiversity of the country. Examples we all know include the grey squirrel, muntjac deer, zebra mussel and the African pondweed, which is choking Lough Corrib. Increased powers are required to enable us to take the necessary steps to regulate the import, sale and dispersal of these undesirable animal and plant invasive species and to take appropriate steps, if possible, to eradicate them or minimise the threat that they pose.

The legislation will increase the maximum fines that could be imposed on a person following a conviction for an offence under the Wildlife Act. The penalties were last increased in 2000. For example, the current maximum fine of £500 will be increased to €1,000 while the £50,000 will increase to €100,000. It is my intention to publish the legislation as soon as possible.

Waste Disposal.

Deputy Lucinda Creighton

I thank the Acting Chairman for the opportunity to raise this matter which is of great importance in my constituency. It is also significant for the people of Dublin and nationally. It relates to the implications of the decision by Dublin City Council, through public private partnership, to commence the construction of an incinerator in the Poolbeg area on 14 December.

I am more than disappointed with the Minister, Deputy John Gormley's behaviour concerning this proposed incinerator in the past two years since he entered the Department of the Environment. When he took up office, I had high hopes and expectations. The high standards he set for his predecessor in Government in our mutual constituency, the then Minister, Michael McDowell, made it very clear that the Minister, Deputy Gormley, expected nothing less from Mr. McDowell, as a member of Cabinet, than to put a stop to the proposed incinerator. In March 2005, the Minister, Deputy Gormley, said the time had come for the Minister to stop bleating and deliver to his constituents as promised.

It is clear to me there is more than one sheep in Dublin South-East because there has been plenty of bleating from this Minister over the course of the past two years and many years prior to that when he was a very vocal and outspoken Opposition Deputy who was clearly opposed to this incinerator. It is a pity that the high standards the Minister set for the former Minister when he was in office appear not to apply to him in his high office now.

He has had two opportunities. The first was in the original programme for Government which was negotiated in 2007. I put it on the record then and I called on the Minister to seek agreement from his colleagues in Cabinet to commit to stopping the incinerator at Poolbeg. He failed to do so, but he had a second opportunity some months ago. Again, I hoped and expected that something would be achieved on that occasion, but, yet again, no agreement was secured at Cabinet level. On two occasions the Minister has failed the people of Dublin South-East and has failed me as his colleague because I held him in very high regard.

On 26 November, the company which was contracted to build the incinerator, Covanta Europe, lodged a notice with Dublin City Council to begin construction. The plan is to start on 14 December. I would like to know what the Minister plans to do about this. There were plenty of reports in the media in recent weeks stating that Dublin City Council has threatened legal action against the Government if it acts to interfere with the process as set out by the council. Has the Minister given any consideration to whether there is an opportunity for the Government to initiate legal proceedings, for example, with an injunction to prevent this preposterous monstrous incinerator from going ahead? Has he consulted the Attorney General?

I reiterate my point. The approval to build this incinerator will create a monster. The Minister, Deputy Gormley, was very vocal on this issue until 2007 when he became a member of the Cabinet. It is intended that the incinerator will have the capacity to burn 600,000 tonnes of waste on an annual basis. That is far too much. The report carried out by An Bord Pleanála inspector recommended to the board that the capacity of this incinerator should be reduced and, at very minimum, that it should not go ahead as a 600,000 tonne-eating furnace in its proposed format. That was ignored by the board of An Bord Pleanála.

If we are to take the Minister seriously in his role, both as a constituency Deputy for Dublin South-East and as Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, surely the blatant and flagrant ignoring of the recommendations of the internal inspector's report to An Bord Pleanála merited investigation by him. The Minister had the power and authority to do this but failed to act. I am very disappointed by that. The Minister is in the process of appointing somebody to initiate a review under the powers afforded to him by section 224 of the Local Government Act. Clearly, however, this is an investigation that will be carried out after the horse has bolted. According to a response the Minister gave less than two weeks ago to a parliamentary question I tabled, he had not appointed anybody to carry out the review at that point. I am not aware that he has appointed anybody since then. He may enlighten the House now. Does the Minister propose to appoint somebody after the trucks have trundled down to Poolbeg to begin construction? Will it be in January after the foundations have been laid?

I do not understand the Minister's motive or purpose, which appears to be futile. If something is not done before 14 December, we can hang up our boots and regard the development as going ahead. That the Minister has failed to address this is a shocking indictment of him, bearing in mind that he has been in one of the highest offices in the land for more than two years.

The Irish Waste Management Association agrees with my point on this matter. Any objective observer will see quite clearly that, by having an incinerator of this magnitude, we are disincentivising recycling and waste reduction and negating all the values the Minister's party and he, as its leader, have espoused for many years. That is very disappointing.

Deputy John Gormley

I was on a television programme some nights ago being harangued by members of Fine Gael who were telling me I should do more about floods. In the audience was a Fine Gael councillor who had rezoned land in a flood plain. I now feel like I did on that night because, as Deputy Creighton will know, it was her party that introduced the legislation to provide for incineration and her party, along with other Opposition parties, that voted for this proposal in 1998. Those are the facts and the difficulties with which I must deal.

As the Deputy is aware, waste management infrastructure projects are advanced by private sector service providers or by local authorities. It is a matter for the promoters of such projects to seek and obtain the necessary regulatory approvals, i.e. planning permission and a waste licence. In carrying out their functions, planning authorities, including An Bord Pleanála, and the EPA in regard to waste licensing, act independently of the Minister. Similarly, the commencement notice is a matter for the local authority concerned and its private partner.

Since taking office, I have continually stressed my twin environmental priorities of dealing with climate change issues and ensuring that we make the necessary quantum leap in how we manage our waste. We must explore the full range of technical solutions in addition to modifying our behaviour in support of sustainable waste management. Undue emphasis on incineration as the cornerstone of waste management policy is detrimental to the development of alternative solutions and the transition to sustainable management of waste and resources. In particular, I am concerned that the provision of excess incinerator capacity can create an economic incentive to send waste to incineration which could effectively have been dealt with by reuse or recycling.

As a first step in my approach to modernising and reorienting the waste management sector, I arranged for an international consortium of consultants to undertake a comprehensive study on the waste sector, to cover a wide range of issues which will help identify how best to proceed with further efforts to reduce waste levels, improve recycling rates and deliver equitable and cost-effective waste management solutions. On 19 November, I published the consultants' report. This will be the launching pad for the policies we now need to mark a new departure in our approach to waste management.

I am discussing with my colleagues in Government proposals to give effect to recommendations of the waste management policy review which will, inter alia, ensure the proper ordering of the waste collection and wider waste management market. I want to provide certainty for those in the waste management sector and a framework within which the necessary legislative changes can be brought forward.

The quantities of residual waste currently being collected by the Dublin local authorities would not be sufficient to meet the put-or-pay requirement in the incinerator contract into which Dublin City Council has entered. We have recently seen further increases in recycling rates in Dublin with a corresponding drop in residual waste volumes. Importantly, the recommendations of the report published on 19 November, which I intend to implement, will have the effect of further reducing the volumes of residual waste generated and driving more waste towards recycling.

I am, therefore, concerned that the proposed incinerator will prove to be seriously oversized and that a liability for the ratepayer and taxpayer may ultimately arise. Dublin City Council is in a 25-year contract in regard to the incinerator and any liability is, therefore, potentially very substantial. In these circumstances, I have decided that the most appropriate course of action is to appoint an authorised person under section 224 of the Local Government Acts to conduct a full review of the financial implications of the project for the State in the event that the incinerator is oversized vis-à-vis the quantities of residual waste available in the Dublin area and the quantities controlled by Dublin City Council.

The Dáil adjourned at 10.35 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Thursday, 3 December 2009.

Dáil Éireann díospóireacht - Wednesday, 2 Dec 2009