I wish to share my time with Deputy Deenihan.
Adjournment Debate.
Job Creation.
That is agreed.
I thank the Chair for allowing me to raise this most important of issues. I also thank the Minister of State, Deputy Calleary, for being here to deal with the issue.
A key factor is that the mid-west task force was established in February 2009 in the wake of the announcement by Dell that more than 2,000 people would lose their jobs as a result of the closing of its manufacturing facility in Limerick. I very much welcome the fact that Dell continues to provide more than 1,000 high-end jobs in Limerick and we hope that number will increase. This report emerged from the fact that a significant number of jobs were going to be lost in Limerick and the mid-west region. This task force was established nearly 11 months ago. Its report was completed and published within a short period by July 2009. Yet we find some seven months later that little if any of its recommendations have been implemented. That is not good enough.
A person of the eminence of Denis Brosnan took on the job of chairing this task force. It is extremely important that his recommendations and those of the other members of the task force are taken on board. I note with regret that the IDA did not partake in the work of the task force. The report's recommendations are varied and in its executive summary up to 20 issues are raised. I wish to deal with a number of specific recommendations that should have been implemented with immediate effect. The report states that Limerick and the mid-west region should be made a priority region for foreign direct investment. Yet we find that since the announcement by Dell, not a single IDA-backed job has been created in Limerick or in the neighbouring counties of Tipperary or Kerry. A total of 134 jobs were created in County Clare last February, around the time the task force was established. However, 2,500 new IDA-backed jobs went to Cork, Dublin, Kildare and Galway. The majority of the mid-west region did not get one.
The Deputy's three minutes are well up.
I am speaking for four minutes so I have another minute. I thank the Acting Chairman.
Another issue is that of promotion of the Limerick region. Of the €53 million tourism and economic development plan, only €6 million has been dedicated to this, in the form of funding for the Limerick-Shannon gateway. The report recommends that such funding should be provided and there should be a proper marketing strategy.
How will the European Globalisation Fund work in practice? This is a fund of €23 million, consisting of €8 million of taxpayers' money from the Irish Government and €15 million from the EU. When will it be fully up and running and how can it be accessed? This is a key issue for people who want to become entrepreneurs.
I want to hear good news from the Minister. What we want is action. The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment says she will not resource the implementation of the report's recommendations. That must change. The mid-west has become the forgotten region; this must no longer be the case. I want the Minister of State to tell the House that the recommendations of the report will be implemented, that Limerick and the mid-west will be the number one priority for foreign direct investment, that jobs will be created and that the globalisation fund will be accessible.
I thank Deputy O'Donnell for sharing time with me. The report of the mid-west task force has major implications not only for the immediate region, but also for north Kerry, which is quite close to Limerick city. Indeed, we look more towards Limerick city than to Cork city. It was unfortunate that the terms of reference of the report did not include north Kerry from Tralee northwards.
When the task force was established by the Minister, she assembled a high-powered group which was the envy of those in many other areas. Most of those people participated in the task force on the basis that action would be taken on their recommendations. They are busy people who do not waste their time. They received such a commitment at that time. Now, they are disappointed and disillusioned. Next Friday they will have a press conference for politicians. I will not pre-empt what they will say, but I suspect they will be critical of the Government. They put their time into producing this report and they now feel their time will have been wasted unless there is some effort to implement their recommendations.
The task force report contained a good proposal for a large cargo facility at Shannon Airport. My understanding is that the group approached the Government for support for this proposal, but to date it has received no response. I hope the Minister of State, Deputy Calleary, who is a pragmatist and in whom I have great confidence, will relay to the Minister how disillusioned these people are with the way in which she has responded to the recommendations of the task force despite her previous commitment.
I thank Deputies O'Donnell and Deenihan for raising this issue and acknowledge the regular contact we have received from Deputy O'Donnell on the issue of the globalisation fund over the past number of months.
As the House is aware, the mid-west task force completed an interim report which was presented to the Minister by the chairman, Mr. Denis Brosnan, last July. A number of national and local issues were dealt with in the report. All measures taken by the Government to address the downturn in the economy have benefited regions including the mid-west region. The measures taken by the Government were outlined fully in an initial response by the Minister to the recommendations of the task force in late September of last year. Given the wide range of recommendations in the report, the Minister also brought the report to the attention of the Cabinet, and it is currently being further considered in a number of Departments, as well as my own, following the recent budget.
The Minister and I are very grateful for the work undertaken by Mr. Brosnan and the other members of the task force, and I will continue to keep the task force informed of the Government's work on matters covered in the interim recommendations. The task force identified a number of issues for further study in its final report, which we look forward to receiving. Over the coming weeks I intend to visit Limerick and I have no difficulty in meeting members of the task force to discuss their specific concerns about its implementation.
As the Deputies will be aware, the European Globalisation Fund, EGF, was approved by EU budgetary authorities in late December 2009 and we anticipate the transfer of EU funds later this month. Provision has also been made under my Department's Vote, as Deputy O'Donnell recognised, for the national financing element. The timeframe permitted for eligible expenditure under the fund is September 2011. We are continuing with the implementation of the suite of EGF-funded measures. For example, FÁS has already provided guidance services and training courses to over 1,500 workers affected by the closure of the Dell plant in County Limerick.
My Department will be the managing authority for EGF funding in the State, while the Department of Education and Science, FÁS and Enterprise Ireland will be designated intermediate bodies for funds transfer, reporting and monitoring purposes. Approved funding will be made available to public beneficiaries delivering services on the ground to eligible redundant workers. All intermediate bodies must certify expenditure in their areas of responsibility and report to my Department, and all expenditure must adhere to relevant EU and national accounting and auditing procedures.
It is imperative that the wide suite of EGF-assisted measures being provided to eligible redundant workers is co-ordinated in the most effective and efficient manner locally and regionally. To that end, the Minister and I have charged FÁS with establishing a dedicated EGF co-ordination unit in Limerick to ensure that all relevant supports are co-ordinated on the ground in a timely, effective and efficient manner. The unit will act as the primary co-ordination agency for the Department in the implementation of the EGF programme for Dell worker supports. A manager of that unit will be appointed in the next week to act as a contact person for any queries.
This week, FÁS is contacting all relevant redundant workers to inform them of the supports being offered with EGF assistance in the areas of training, skills, entrepreneurial supports — which were mentioned by Deputy O'Donnell and which I agree should be a particular focus of the fund — and further and higher education. It is also inviting workers to a two-day information fair in early February at which all service providers will be in attendance to detail their programmes and supports, to answer queries and to provide for course registrations. A steering group will be established to include worker representative bodies in order to ensure that the views of the redundant workers and other key stakeholders are made known and fed into the implementation process.
In the first week of February I will be going to Limerick to meet representatives of the redundant workers and hear their views at first hand. I will also seek to meet the Oireachtas Members from the mid-west. A review of the operation of the EGF will be undertaken by the Department in June of this year to ensure that all measures are being taken in a timely fashion and that all expenditure is reached within the designated period.
Substance Abuse.
I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise this important issue which is of particular concern. I am alarmed at reports in the media in recent weeks about head shops, although such shops and the products they sell have existed for quite some time. Throughout the country there has been an alarming increase in the number of outlets offering products which, while not illegal, are highly dangerous, according to certain reports, and should not be freely available without any form of control or regulation. They have been described as "legal highs" and "party drugs".
I am particularly concerned about reports from health care workers in the past number of weeks, particularly media interviews with Dr. Chris Luke, a consultant in emergency medicine in Cork, who stated that in one weekend the accident and emergency department of Mercy University Hospital, Cork, had dealt with five cases associated with the use of such products. Four of the patients had to be brought to the hospital by ambulance. Dr. Luke described the reaction as being extraordinarily severe and a number of weeks ago, one girl took three days to stop tripping in the emergency department from the effects of such products. The symptoms have been described as being the classic symptoms of those who use illegal drugs, with reports of psychotic episodes, disorientation and hallucinations.
I visited a head shop today in Dublin and bought the product I have to hand. It cost €30 for five capsules and on the front of the package is written "Blow, intense euphoria, 18 year olds plus". I will leave it with the Minister of State who should pass it over to the relevant Minister. On the back of the package, the product is described as a plant food that is not suitable for human consumption. What kind of legal loophole or regulation is this packaging trying to get around? On the one hand, it promises intense euphoria for 18 year olds only, but on the other, it claims to be only suitable for plants.
It must be for dogs.
God help the poor plants as the ingredients are described as being ketones mix, herbal extracts and glucose. This is alarming and is highly dangerous. A selection of products was freely available in the shop without regulation. Moreover, no one asked me what I intended to do with the pills or how I intended to take them. There is a complete free-for-all in respect of the sale of such products in the shops. Serious concern exists among parents, health professionals and young people. The problem is that such products are not regulated and are legal. They are being sold as legal highs and people are buying them who would not use illegal drugs at all but who find themselves in a sorry and sad state. Someone will end up in a highly serious condition unless something is done to regulate such products and to ensure that their sale is controlled.
The Minister of State should outline exactly what the Government proposes to do regarding this issue about which demonstrations are taking place. There was a demonstration today about the situation in County Roscommon and public meetings are being held nationwide. Parents want to see action in this regard as the present position is not good enough. While the Minister of State probably thinks it is amusing that I was able to buy this product so freely, it is frightening to enter such an establishment and see the number of products that are for sale on an uncontrolled basis. It is simply a case of handing over the €30 in cash. This is a serious situation as 100 such shops exist nationally. While there has been much media coverage on this issue, the most important consideration for me is the concern expressed by medical professionals about the complete lack of control over such products.
I am taking this Adjournment matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney, and I welcome the opportunity provided by Deputy Clune to make a statement to the House on the issue of head shops.
The Misuse of Drugs Act 1977 and regulations made thereunder regulate and control the import, export, production, supply and possession of a range of named narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances listed in the Schedules to the Act. Substances are scheduled under the Act in accordance with Ireland's obligations under international conventions or where there is evidence that the substances are causing significant harm to public health in Ireland.
Items for sale in the so-called head shops, such as those referred to by Deputy Clune, and which often are referred to as legal highs, are substances which are not controlled at present under the misuse of drugs legislation. The list of scheduled substances is kept under ongoing review and in particular any evidence that substances are being abused and are causing significant harm to public health is reviewed. For example, in 2006, psychotropic or magic mushrooms, which were on sale in such outlets, were banned and their possession and sale now is illegal. On 31 March 2009, BZP was similarly subjected to legislative control measures and criminal sanctions.
The Government has concerns about the growth in the number of head shops, their activities and the health risks associated with some of the products sold. The issue of head shops also is of concern throughout the European Union and all member states are considering how to address the issue. However, no EU member state has come up with a comprehensive response thus far. Under the national drugs strategy, which was published by the Minister of State, Deputy Curran, on 10 September 2009, it is intended to monitor the activities of head shops and all businesses involved in the sale of psychoactive substances with the objective of ensuring that no illegal activity is undertaken. It also proposes that steps be taken to reform legislation in this respect where it is deemed to be appropriate. To this end and under the aegis of the national advisory committee on drugs, a research advisory group has been established to identify possible options for the regulation of head shops. The Departments of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Health and Children, Revenue's Customs Service and other relevant statutory agencies are actively participating in this process.
Legislation was introduced in the United Kingdom immediately before Christmas to control a number of substances and groups of substances that have been on sale in head shops. The Department of Health and Children, which has statutory responsibility for the drafting of misuse of drugs legislation, is currently reviewing that legislation to ascertain how similar controls could be introduced in Ireland. I also will bring the Deputy's specific experience today to the attention of the relevant Minister.
Tourism Promotion.
I am glad to raise one of the real good news stories in respect of sport and economics to have taken place in the past 12 months and which I believe has not received sufficient recognition of its success. Many people perceive sailing to be a minority sport that may be exclusive to those who are lucky enough to be able to afford to buy a boat. The Volvo Ocean Race stopover or visit to Galway, which took place last summer over a two-week period from the end of May to the beginning of June, blew that entire concept out of the water. There was a net benefit to the economy of Galway and the western region in general of just under €60 million over those two weeks. A total of 600,000 visits were made to the race camp in Galway and to Salthill. Almost 90,000 people came from outside Galway and from abroad to visit the city of Galway and Galway Bay as a venue for sailing and for recreation. Moreover, we were blessed with fantastic weather at the time, as well as a large group of both volunteers and professionals, who made it all work well. The experiences during those two weeks of everyone to whom I have spoken have been highly positive.
We struck gold with the Galway stopover for the Volvo Ocean Race. This race has cumulative television and radio audiences of 1.3 billion and approximately 235 million, respectively, and has been recognised by Bord Fáilte and other bodies as the biggest sporting tourism event since the Ryder Cup in 2006. If one considers the recognition afforded to the success of the Ryder Cup in Ireland, one begins to realise the potential of such an event, which no one outside sporting or sailing circles had expected. Although 90% of those who visited during this period knew nothing whatsoever about sailing, this constitutes a great example of how a relatively small Government sponsorship of €8 million could produce a return of approximately €60 million, as well as being a huge promotional event for Galway and the west of Ireland.
The race starts again in 2011 and we must ensure that Galway as a destination again is factored into the organisers' thinking for the next race. As the decision will be made by mid-March this year, the Government must campaign actively to ensure this happens because there is a lot of competition for Galway this time around. However, Galway was recognised by the organisers as being the most successful stopover of the last race and we must ensure this happens again the next time around.
I thank my colleague, Deputy Coveney, Fine Gael spokesperson on the marine, for his support for the Volvo Ocean Race stopover in Galway. The Galway committee, headed by John Killeen, already has lodged its bid and its submissions to the Volvo Ocean Race organisers to have Galway selected as a stopover venue for the 2012 ocean race. The committee has received notice that it has a deadline of 29 January to have in place a pledge from the Government to the effect that the necessary grant of approximately €6 million would be forthcoming for 2011 or 2012 and such a pledge is necessary to have the committee's bid even considered. However, were such a pledge or letter of comfort to be supplied by the Minister, Galway, which is on a short list of three sites, would have a great chance of being selected as a stopover stage for the 2012 race.
This pledge of financial support from the Government would be repaid to the Exchequer one hundred fold if Galway and Ireland again secured the stopover. Nationally and internationally it is recognised that Galway was one of the outstanding stopovers and was a huge success last year both from the point of view of the Volvo Ocean Race and the benefit to Galway and surrounding areas, which is estimated to have generated up to 200,000 bed nights in May and June last year. Fáilte Ireland is strongly supporting the Galway bid and an independent report by Ernst & Young established that last year's event generated €60 million in expenditure by people outside a 40 km radius of Galway. The investment, if forthcoming from the Government, would be a gilt edge investment. Last year, the Galway committee headed by John Killeen, John Concannon, Fáilte Ireland and Enda O'Coineen had the vision, courage and tenacity to pursue this dream which culminated in the outstanding success of the Galway stopover and which surpassed the wildest dreams and expectations of everyone. I acknowledge the support of the Galway Harbour Board, Galway City Council, Galway County Council and the hundreds of volunteers who worked on this.
I appeal to the Minister and the Government for the necessary financial commitment which will enable Galway and Ireland to again secure a stopover for the race in 2012. The benefits to Ireland of the international publicity that this would attract is immeasurable.
I thank the Deputies for raising the issue. As both of them stated, the matter of applying to the organisers of the Volvo Ocean Race to host a stopover of the event is primarily the responsibility of the host port, which is comparable, for example, to the manner in which a golf venue bids with the PGA European Tour to host the Irish Open. The promoters who initiated the process that led to the Volvo Ocean Race stopover in Galway during 2009 are again seeking Government support to bring the race back to Galway in 2012.
The 2009 stopover was strongly supported by the Government, with funding being provided through the international sports tourism initiative operated by Fáilte Ireland. A sum of €5 million was provided in 2008 and a further €3 million in 2009 as part of a special and dedicated Government funding commitment to secure the Irish stopover. The total funding of €8 million provided by Ireland comprised a port rights fee of €5 million, seed funding to activate the Irish team and secure branding on the boat of €2 million and €1 million towards the building of a number of infrastructure items such as pontoons, which have remained in place as a legacy of the event.
As both Deputies said, the 2009 stopover was generally considered to be a success. An economic impact study of the race stopover in Galway, carried out by Deloitte, found significant favourable impact to the State and to the west, in particular. The study found the overall impact of the race on Ireland was almost €56 million — almost double the expected impact. The higher than forecasted economic impact was due mainly to a greater number of overseas visitors than was originally foreseen. Within the overall expenditure, more than €24 million was earned in "invisible exports", that is, through spending by international visitors and participants. More than 200,000 accommodation bed nights were associated with the event, which attracted 40,500 overseas visitors to Galway.
In late 2009, Let's Do It Global, the Irish corporate promoters of the event, approached the Government seeking financial support for a bid for Galway to host a stopover of the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-2012. Since then the proposal has been considered by the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism and representatives of other relevant Departments and State agencies. Despite general support across Departments and agencies for the proposal, funding of the magnitude required from outside the existing budget lines is not available for the project in current financial circumstances. Should specific funding become available, the Department and Fáilte Ireland have indicated that they are broadly sympathetic to Ireland hosting the event again and they acknowledge the possibility of again leveraging significant economic and promotional benefits across different sectors and interests.
The deadline will have passed and the route will have been chosen by then.
The deadline is 29 January.
The current overall Exchequer position is not favourable towards the provision of funding for such large-scale sports tourism events. There are pressures on the tourism services budget of the Department and that position is unlikely to change in the next few years. The current commercial funding environment is difficult and I fully understand why the Irish promoters wish to first secure a commitment to public funds to provide a more attractive and persuasive proposition to potential commercial sponsors.
That is the whole point.
The confirmation of one or several private sector sponsors at this stage would be essential to strengthen the promoters' case for State support. However, the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism and his Department have continued to engage with the promoters with a view to considering and assessing the case for support and will revert to them in due course. I will bring the Deputies' concerns about the impending deadline to his attention tomorrow.
If they have not made a submission before 29 January, their case will not be heard.
School Libraries.
I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise the issue of the school library service, SLS, which is available in every county. There are structures in place to provide school books to every national school in a county on a rotating basis. For example, the books purchased by the service in Galway are made available to all schools in the city and county. Every school is visited twice a year. They return books that have been read and they are provided with a new and different selection for the upcoming term. A number of reading projects run by the SLS have been of great benefit to schools, including the class novel scheme under which any school that wishes to read a class novel during a term can borrow up to 15 copies. The novels are written by well known authors and some are chosen to reflect aspects of the curriculum such as Irish history. Other projects included the Interschool Book Club, which forges links between schools, the Big Books project for infants and parents and the Reading Tree project.
The SLS has been in place in County Galway for 40 years. It has survived some lean and tough years and it would be a shame if all the hard work that was put into building up this service should be wasted if provision is not made in the Estimates. The school book grant provided by the Department of Education and Science amounts to €2.1 million for the entire State. It is a small sum in the context of the €8 billion budget of the Department. This resulted in an allocation of €117,000 for County Galway or €4.50 per child in 2008, which is a small percentage of the Department's budget. The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and local authorities more than match the grant of the Department of Education and Science, as they cover the salaries of professional librarians and the cost of library vans and book materials.
The grant was not available in 2009 and I would like it to be reintroduced in 2010. I hope the library service can be part of the smart school programme, under which €150 million will be provided for laptops and whiteboards. The restoration of the book grant for the SLS requires only €2 million. There is a danger with all the focus on the technology that we will forget about reading. Reading should be encouraged from a young age and reading for pleasure should not become a thing of the past. It is important that this facility be provided and, as a former teacher, it is important that we encourage both reading and writing. I used to welcome the library van to the school in which I taught and I hope that service will continue.
I had the privilege of serving as a Minister of State in the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and I had responsibility for libraries. I pushed hard for library development and I would be disappointed if, while this Department was promoting library services, the Department of Education and Science did not restore the book grant. I appeal to the Minister to restore the grant, to encourage both the reading of books from an early age and the rotation and exchange of books and to show that recreational reading is something we treasure in this country, particularly in our primary schools.
I thank Deputy Kitt for raising this issue and I acknowledge the work he did as a Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. I will reply to him on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, and the Minister of State, Deputy Haughey.
The Deputy is aware that a number of difficult decisions have had to be taken with regard to the management of the public finances. In this regard, education, while a priority for the Government, could not be completely spared. These decisions included the decision to discontinue the funding the Department made available to local authorities to support school library services. The priority of budgets since October 2008 has been to provide as much as possible of available resources directly to schools. Unfortunately, it was not possible in this context to continue to provide funding, which in 2008 amounted to just over €2 million, to local authorities to support school library services.
The Minister strongly believes in the importance of encouraging reading. Literacy is an essential life skill through which children access all areas of the curriculum. Educational policy places a central emphasis on ensuring that the needs of children with literacy difficulties are identified and addressed early. Standardised testing in English reading and mathematics has been introduced for all children at two stages of the primary cycle, and a range of intervention measures are provided in the form of professional development of teachers, provision of learning support, and additional supports for children with learning disabilities.
Under the DEIS strategy additional teaching and non-pay funds are provided to schools designated as disadvantaged and there are three specific projects. The reading recovery programme is a school-based early intervention programme designed to reduce literacy problems in schools. It provides intensive individual help for children who have not responded to the standard instructional programme in reading and writing after one year in school. A total of 228 DEIS schools are now included in the reading recovery programme, with 54 of these included in 2009-10 school year. An additional 2,017 children are being taught throughout Ireland in 2009-10, bringing the total to 6,908 to date since the programme was introduced in 2001. It is expected that 550 teachers in total will have been trained in this programme by June 2010.
The first steps initiative is a research-based literacy resource including professional development courses and support materials for primary teachers. The overarching aim of first steps is to support schools as they help all children make measurable and observable progress in language and literacy development. Teacher-training in first steps will continue. There are a number of strands to the first steps programme; the three being introduced to urban DEIS schools are first steps writing, first steps reading and first steps speaking and listening. A total of 332 DEIS schools are now included in the first steps programme. This roll-out will continue in 2010.
The junior certificate school programme, JCSP, literacy strategy promotes a whole-school approach to literacy development at junior cycle. The JCSP literacy strategy encourages schools to involve all subject teachers in adopting specific techniques in teaching the literacy demands of their subject areas. A between the lines literacy handbook and training video were produced and distributed to schools in 2002 and they form the basis of the teacher training. The JCSP demonstration library project began in 2001 and school libraries were established initially in ten schools. The libraries are staffed by full-time qualified librarians. A total of 25 DEIS schools are included in the demonstration library project. I again thank Deputy Kitt for raising this matter.
The Dáil adjourned at 9.45 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Thursday, 21 January 2010.