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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 27 Apr 2010

Vol. 707 No. 3

Job Creation.

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for the opportunity to speak in this urgent debate on the jobs crisis on the northside of Dublin. I raise this issue on behalf of the people of Coolock, Edenmore, Whitehall, Marino, Fairview, Beaumont, Artane, Raheny, Killester and Clontarf.

There are now 400,000 people unemployed, thousands of whom live on the northside of Dublin. I stand up for them tonight to put their case to the Minister. In recent weeks, there have been great debates about banking and pensions. Tonight, I put the question: "Who is talking about the unemployed and those losing their jobs?" This is why we need a jobs strategy now. We also need new and radical ideas to develop that strategy. I accept that €30 million was made available in support of companies on the northside of Dublin, especially in my area of Dublin North-Central, and I was part of pushing that agenda. However, we must do a great deal more. We need new ideas and this is why I warmly welcome the www.thinkirish.ie campaign to create 20,000 new jobs. This campaign is excellent. It is a new consumer campaign and a crusade which is going from strength to strength. I call on everyone in the Oireachtas to lend their support to help make it stronger. The thinkirish.ie initiative is a not-for-profit, grassroots initiative that encourages Irish households to switch €20 of their weekly household spend to Irish-made goods and services in an effort to create 20,000 new jobs.

The organisation was not established by corporate Ireland or any industry or interest group, but by a group of concerned citizens who wish to see the economy back on track. It is an example of real people-power at work and it is beginning to gain traction with ordinary people the length and breadth of the country. Ultimately, we wish to see stronger indigenous industry generate more jobs and take people off the dole queues. Success in the domestic market is critical for all these companies if they are to expand and take on the risks associated with entering export markets. Their success is intrinsically linked to the support they receive from Irish consumers. This is why I wish to stimulate and prompt debate on the issue and tonight's debate is part of this process.

A key part of the campaign is the recent launch of Ireland's first and only comprehensive on-line directory of Irish-made and Irish-grown products. Consumers may access independent information on goods with a genuine Irish provenance. While recognising that official Government aid for the campaign may be difficult to reconcile with EU competition law, I believe we are uniquely placed to assist in generating additional momentum behind the campaign. I raise the issue because I believe it is very important that all Members get behind the campaign and I call on everyone to support those involved and to make people aware of it. Perhaps politicians could include details of the campaign in their local newsletter or e-mail details to constituents. We should also encourage local producers and manufacturers to list their businesses in the directory. Product listings are provided free of charge and offer a superb promotional opportunity for local businesses. I urge Members to champion the cause with people they believe may help with their campaign in whatever capacity is appropriate. This is a bootstrap initiative with a great need for additional resources. Everyone involved in the campaign would welcome assistance, especially by the Minister, in the campaign to create more jobs.

I urge the Minister to support sensible plans to create jobs on the northside of Dublin. I urge all politicians to stop bickering over small things and to focus on employment. If we wish to get out of this economic mess, we need jobs and investment to assist in dealing with the national debt. Management means doing things right. Leadership means doing the right things. I urge the Minister to act now on the jobs crisis on the northside of Dublin.

I am very pleased to reply to this debate because I understand the sincerity with which Deputy McGrath addresses this issue. I also know something of the crisis in this area because, as Deputy McGrath will recall, I took some personal criticism when I designated Ballymun as the place to receive 500 jobs from IKEA some years ago. As usual, the prophets of doom suggested the country would grind to a halt. However, local people are working there now. I commend Deputy McGrath for his personal contribution to that fight and to other fights on behalf of constituents.

The Deputy will be aware that the live register is not designed to measure unemployment. It includes part-time, seasonal and casual workers entitled to unemployment benefit. It collects data from a wide range of sources. In the past year the live register has increased by 18% in north Dublin, in line with the overall increase for County Dublin, which is quite shocking at 19%, a point seldom adverted to in debates. The highest annual increases in the local social welfare offices were recorded in the Navan Road, Finglas and Coolock offices, areas to which the Deputy referred.

For the purpose of promoting investment and jobs in Dublin, the enterprise development agencies do not distinguish between individual postal districts. According to the latest figures available, there were 1,957 Enterprise Ireland-supported companies in Dublin city, employing 5,036 people. In 2009 and to date in 2010, almost €37 million has been paid out to Enterprise Ireland client companies in the Dublin city area.

In terms of foreign direct investment, Dublin has been something of a success story with a critical mass of population, a skills pool, educational infrastructure, international access connections, existing business activity across all sectors and extensive property solutions for future activity. The latest figures show that in 2009, some 482 IDA-supported companies employ 47,726 people. Deputy McGrath might make the point, and if he did I would probably agree with him, that one of the things he is talking about is people with lesser skills and the need to look after such people.

Traditionally, Dublin has been a centre for manufacturing industry for foreign direct investment but in recent years there has been a shift away from manufacturing, due to cost competitiveness, to more knowledge-based, value-added projects in fund management, e-commerce, software and so on. Recent job announcements in the north Dublin area include the establishment of IBM's first smarter cities technology centre, which is expected to create 200 new jobs and an announcement by eBay in March that it expects to create 150 new jobs at its European centre of excellence in Blanchardstown. Deputy McGrath laid a specific emphasis on the need to create a local focus, a point on which I agree.

The northside of Dublin is also served by the Dublin City Enterprise Board and the Fingal County Enterprise Board. As part of the 35 city enterprise board network, these boards have an excellent track record in tapping into local entrepreneurial potential. Increasingly, their focus has been on the development of sustainable growth-orientated local enterprise which can deliver high quality job creation without displacement or deadweight. The current parameters within which the enterprise boards operate enable them to deliver valuable assistance to business start-ups with good growth and employment potential. Through the provision of financial and non-financial support, the boards have assisted many micro-enterprises to develop their growth and export potential as well as bringing them to a stage at which they have sufficient mass to access the services of Enterprise Ireland. More than 30,726 jobs were created in community enterprise boards between 1993 to end 2009. Within these totals to date, Dublin City Enterprise Board and Fingal Enterprise Board have assisted the micro-enterprise sector with the creation of 2,923 jobs.

Through its network of training centres and its services to business unit, FÁS works closely with the enterprise boards. It is providing many support services in north Dublin. In particular, FÁS employment services, Dublin north, has responded to collective redundancies in many organisations, including SR Technics, Cadbury Ireland and IBM. In the case of SR Technics, FÁS employment services interviewed in excess of 800 staff on-site.

The Government submitted a provisional application to the European Commission in October 2009 for co-financing support from the European globalisation fund towards the cost of a personalised package of retraining, upskilling, entrepreneurial supports and educational opportunities for the workers made redundant from SR Technics. I assure the Deputy that the State agencies promote Dublin as an attractive location for employment and investment opportunities and continue to make their full range of employment, training and guidance services available. I will conclude by adding to a point that was well made by Deputy McGrath. If Deputies in the Dublin area, in particular, were to focus in their newsletters on initiatives like those he mentioned, nothing but good would come from it.

Irish Prison Service.

This debate has been prompted by the resignation of the Governor of the Dóchas Centre, Ms Kathleen McMahon, to whom I pay tribute. I commend her work during her time at the Dóchas Centre. The matter of the resignation should, at long last, cause the Government and the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, in particular, to come forward with a prison plan. The resignation of Governor McMahon is the latest in a long line of totally unacceptable occurrences in the prison system. Each year, we receive the reports of the Inspector of Prisons, the prison visiting committees around the country and the various prison chaplains. We also receive numerous other national and international reports from bodies like the Council of Europe and Amnesty International. Such reports consistently cite the serious problems that go to the root of our prison system.

If something good is to come from the resignation of Governor McMahon, I hope it is that the Government produces a plan. It does not have one at present. Problems like chronic overcrowding, drugs in prison and the revolving door system are discussed in this House on a regular basis. Last week, a man who was given a ten-month prison sentence in a court in Limerick served just two days in prison. We often hear that our prisons are dangerous, unsafe and characterised by the revolving door.

The last major initiative we had on prisons was as far back as 1985, when the then Taoiseach, Dr. Garret FitzGerald, instructed Mr. T. K. Whitaker to engage in a comprehensive process that ultimately resulted in the production of the Whitaker report. Many years on, it is sad that many of the recommendations in the report have yet to be implemented. In a document written more than 20 years after the publication of the report, the chairman of the committee reflected on the prison system then and now:

The Committee saw in imprisonment little beyond temporary — and very expensive — protection of the public, with virtually no rehabilitative or educational value. Far too many people were — and still are — imprisoned for short periods of time for minor offences not involving violence, such as debt, resulting in overcrowding and unwarranted expense. For such crimes, we recommended other penalties.

Those who reflected on 1985 indicated that very little had changed and nothing had improved.

As Governor McMahon made clear, we have an intolerable situation in our prisons. There are reports of bullying and harassment of staff. Prisoners and staff members are endangered. This situation must change. I ask the Minister to implement a programme of real reform in our prison system. He should commit himself and his colleagues to implementing the recommendations made in reports on prison inspections within a specific timeframe. Full body scanners should be introduced to screen visitors and prevent mobile phones and other contraband, including drugs, from being smuggled in. Attachment of earnings orders, which were proposed in this House by Fine Gael some years ago, should be introduced. Community service should be used as a sanction for minor offences. The Thornton Hall project, which is suffering from inaction on the part of the Minister, should be reviewed. We have spent over €40 million on the project, but not one brick or block has been laid on the north Dublin site to date.

Another false promise.

We need to tackle the drug problem in our prisons head on, for example by introducing incentives such as remission and reward for participation in various education, rehabilitation and training programmes. We should ensure that the probation services are properly co-ordinated so they can engage in post-prison monitoring. The integrated sentence management system should be introduced in every prison. I hope the resignation of Ms McMahon will spur the Minister into some form of action. If he cannot keep our prisons safe, how can he be expected to keep our streets safe?

Where is the zero tolerance now?

I wish to begin with the facts. The Governor of the Dóchas Centre, Kathleen McMahon, notified the director general of the Prison Service on 31 March last of her intention to retire from the Irish Prison Service on 21 May next. Having served over 30 years in the Prison Service, she is entitled to retire on full pension. Ms McMahon has rightly been given credit for the enormous contribution she made to the development of the Dóchas Centre since it opened in 1999. While it is true that Governor McMahon raised a number of issues with the director general in the context of her retirement, he has expressed his disappointment that she did not discuss such matters with him before she notified him of her intention to retire.

As I have informed the Deputy and the House on numerous occasions, there has been a consistent increase in the total prisoner population over recent years. This is due primarily to the additional resources provided by the Government to the Garda Síochána, which has resulted in increased numbers of successful prosecutions. In addition, extra court sittings have led to more committals. I can put the increased Garda and court activity in context by mentioning that there are 1,000 more criminals in our prisons than there were in 2006.

There is no easy or quick answer to the issue of overcrowding in the prison system. The Prison Service must accept all committals made by the courts. It cannot opt out. The problem of overcrowding is not unique to this country — it is an international one.

Like the banks and the economy.

I have examined prisoner numbers over recent times. It may benefit the Deputy and the House if I give some sample figures. On 6 February 1997, when Deputy Flanagan's party was in Government and the prisons were starved of resources because not one prison cell was being built, there were 2,334 people in custody.

That will not wash any more.

If we move forward a decade to 6 February 2007, we find that there were 3,262 people in custody. Yesterday, there were 4,197 people in custody. It behoves all of us in this House to speak on the basis of an understanding of the pressure on the Prison Service to deal with this increase in numbers.

That pressure is coming from the Minister.

We have responded to the increase in the prisoner population by providing for a significant increase in prison places. I have given the figures to the Deputy on numerous occasions in the past. It bears repeating that over 1,720 new prison spaces have been provided since 1997. A further 200 spaces are being provided in the short term through a current project — a new block that is ready to open in Wheatfield Prison. Work is expected to start in the latter half of this year on a new 300-space block in the Midlands Prison complex in Portlaoise. In the longer term, a new purpose-built prison campus at Thornton Hall will provide approximately 1,400 cells on a 130-acre site. This will allow us to replace the antiquated Mountjoy Prison campus with modern, purpose-built and regime-focused accommodation. The new facility will have the operational flexibility to accommodate up to 2,200 prisoners in a range of security settings.

The Thornton Hall project is progressing on a phased basis with the full support of my Government colleagues. One aspect of the project involves the replacement of the Dóchas Centre with a new women's prison, with accommodation for 170 women. This will bring the best elements of the experience of the Dóchas regime to the new facility. Similarly, women prisoners will be catered for at the new Munster prison, which is planned for Kilworth, with facilities that best meet the particular needs of female offenders.

It is sometimes suggested that we are sending people to prison who should not be there. I do not hold that view. The Judiciary, which is independent in its functions, decides on the most appropriate punishment to fit the crime. It and it alone holds this function. The prisons, as I have said already, must accept all committals.

Deputies on all sides of the House recognise and will accept that we have some very serious criminals in our prison system serving longer sentences for very serious and heinous crimes. In fact, over 80% of convicted prisoners in custody at any one time are in prison for relatively serious offences and are serving sentences of more than 12 months.

Turning more specifically to women prisoners in custody, it may interest the Deputy to know that, of the 117 women in custody yesterday serving sentences, 25% of that cohort of female sentenced prisoners were serving a sentence for murder, manslaughter or conspiracy to murder. A further 21% were serving sentences for possession of drugs for the purpose of sale or supply. Some 28% were serving sentences for offences such as robbery, theft and criminal damage, and of this 28% only four prisoners were serving sentences of less than 12 months. Those figures speak very loudly.

Side by side with enhancing our prison system by the provision of appropriate accommodation and educational and other opportunities we must, of course, also examine how other non-custodial options might be used. I hope the Fines Bill will have a positive effect. Likewise, the expansion of community service orders will, over time, it is hoped, make a difference. I am open to considering new ways of dealing with offending behaviours mindful of the overwhelming need to do so in the context of public protection and community safety. As Minister I am committed to supporting the Irish Prison Service in its daily work to manage the prisoner population in the knowledge that increasing numbers do place pressures on the system and day-to-day operational decisions must be taken as to how best to manage the prisoner population by the director general and his senior management team.

European Union Work Plan.

I thank the Minister for addressing this Adjournment matter. We are at something of a crossroads at the current time regarding the work plan for the European Union over the next ten years. We have had the Lisbon strategy from 2000 to 2010 and we are about to embark on the 2020 strategy from 2010 to 2020. It is in that context that I make my request here tonight that the Irish Government take the initiative and support the proposal by the European Commission for the setting of a European Union target of a reduction of 25% in poverty in the European Union at the next meeting of the European Council. This is a most appropriate year in which to set that target because it is the European year of combatting poverty and social exclusion and it is the beginning of a new decade of planning for the future in the European Union.

The strategy is currently being finalised by the European Commission and it is likely that the votes will be taken in June by the European Council on behalf of the member states on whether it will accept a target regarding poverty. As the Minister knows, many of the non-governmental organisations are supporting the European Commission on this matter. It seems to me that there is not much sense in having a general wish that poverty be reduced unless one actually establishes a target and seeks to reach it.

A target of 25% over ten years is not unattainable, rather, it is realistic. It is a reduction of only 2.5% per annum in poverty in the European Union. When one examines the figures and finds that 79 to 80 million people in the European Union are living in poverty or are at risk of poverty and 90 million children are also affected, it gives a fairly stark picture of the situation within the European Union. There are 300,000 people in Ireland in consistent poverty and 18% of our child population is at risk of poverty. We have every reason to have a strong, targeted policy in the European Union on the reduction of poverty and the promotion of social inclusion.

It would be great if by 2020 we could say that the target of taking 20 million European citizens out of poverty had been achieved. Unless we establish the target there is no way it will be achieved. It must be a set target. Set strategies must be put in place to deal with it. We in Ireland established the Combat Poverty Agency, even though the Government abolished it last year. It was established by Frank Cluskey of the Labour Party in 1975. It was transported to Europe and has been part and parcel of the European approach to dealing with poverty ever since. Frank Cluskey stated that inequality and poverty are linked, and that inequality leads to poverty.

We have a good track record in dealing with poverty in this country. Believe it or not, there was a substantial reduction in poverty during the Celtic tiger years. We made achievements, which we recognise, but one cannot achieve anything without setting targets. This is something which we can do and on which we can take the lead, but we must make a decision almost immediately because if we do not make a decision, make sure it is on the table and get the other members to agree to it by the time of the European Council meeting in June, it is likely it will not be done at all.

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. We had an opportunity to discuss it very briefly during the meeting last week of the Joint Committee on European Affairs. I agree with the Deputy that targets are important but they have to be precise and not waffle; they have to be very specific.

The spring European Council reached agreement on the main elements of the new European strategy for jobs and growth, known as Europe 2020, which includes key targets which will guide its implementation and arrangements for its improved monitoring. The European Council also agreed that the new strategy will have a sharp focus on the key areas where action is required, namely, knowledge and innovation, a more sustainable economy, high employment and social inclusion. These areas are very much in line with our own national strategies , building Ireland’s smart economy and the national action plan for social inclusion.

The Council further agreed on the five headline targets which are to be covered. They are employment; research and development, including innovation; climate change and energy; education; and social inclusion, in particular poverty. These targets cover the main areas where efforts are rapidly needed and they are interrelated and mutually reinforcing. It is intended that the targets will help in measuring progress achieved in implementing the new strategy. An overall governance structure and monitoring mechanisms were also agreed by last month's European Council. These will place the European Council at the centre of the monitoring progress towards the successful implementation of the strategy over the coming decade. The Deputy will agree with me that there is no better equipped body to do that than that which comprises heads of state and Governments.

In the case of the education and social inclusion targets, further work needs to be done to reach numerical rates and appropriate indicators. These are important targets and it is essential that we get the rates and indicators right, in order that they are relevant and appropriate right across the entire Union. The European Council will return to elaborate upon these targets at its June meeting, which has already been agreed. The inclusion by the European Council of the headline targets on education and social inclusion, in particular poverty, is a reflection of the extreme seriousness and centrality of these issues to this new strategy. It is only because the European Council recognises that these are areas where efforts are rapidly needed that they have been included in this very select group of just five European Union level targets.

I referred to this during the course of the meeting of the Joint Committee on European Affairs last week. The previous programme had become like a Christmas tree, with everybody adding his or her favourite bauble. The reality is that if one does not have precision and focus one does not get results, which is why the European Council is correct to pick five key targets. Deputy Costello suggested targets are important but they must, as I said at the outset, be precise.

Let me emphasise that it is not a question of Ireland, or any other country, wishing to exclude a focus on the poverty issue.

It is explicitly included but deliberations are needed among the 27 member states and with the Commission on the necessary methods to be employed.

In common with many other EU partners, we had certain concerns about the initial Commission proposal for the sole use of an "at risk of poverty" target when measuring social cohesion. Nationally, we use a composite measure of consistent poverty, which includes the "at risk of poverty" measure, as well as a measure of basic deprivation. The consistent poverty measure provides a more comprehensive picture of the true levels of poverty. We will work intensively over the period ahead with EU partners and the Commission to arrive at a broadly agreeable indicator in this area. We have every expectation that this will be achievable before the European Council will return to elaborate upon these targets at its June meeting.

Prior to the meeting considerable work must be undertaken on various aspects of the strategy, including work related to the EU headline targets on education and social inclusion, in particular, poverty; the development of national targets by each member state in dialogue with the Commission; the identification of bottlenecks constraining growth at national and EU level; the development by the Commission of its proposals for action at EU level, notably through the flagship initiatives; and the development of more focused integrated guidelines, including the broad economic policy guidelines and employment guidelines, which it is envisaged will provide the framework for the strategy at member state level. Proposals for these guidelines were adopted by the Commission in Brussels earlier.

Our national process of follow-up to the conclusions of the spring European Council on this new strategy is under way through a process of interdepartmental consultation. An initial meeting with the European Commission and Spanish Presidency has been scheduled for 29 April. The purpose of this initial meeting will be to begin the process of dialogue with the Commission concerning Ireland's national targets, as envisaged under the new strategy. This will need to happen quite quickly, given the relatively tight timelines agreed and set out by the spring European Council for this work.

In advance of the June Council meeting, when it is intended the strategy, including its five headline targets, will be formally adopted, a wide range of actions will take place both at national and EU levels, ranging from various meetings of EU expert groups and working groups to a series of meetings of the Council in its various formations, including inter alia the General Affairs and Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs, EPSCO, Councils meetings. Ireland will continue to be actively engaged with the elaboration of this new EU strategy for jobs and growth in all these fora. It can provide a useful impulse at EU level to the efforts of member states, including Ireland, to secure a recovery based on inclusive growth.

I assured the Deputy last week that there is no wish whatsoever to water down this process in any member state but given that we have isolated five areas, there is a wish that the targets be precise and not simply waffle because that is the way we will make the progress we all want.

Coastal Protection.

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise the important issue of a restriction on the amount of sea lettuce that can be removed from the beaches at Inchydoney and Courtmacsherry and the coastline of Clonakilty Bay and Courtmacsherry Bay in south west Cork, which have been blighted by huge swathes of rotting and noxious smelling green tide with its foul odour being detectable up to 4 km inland. There is a proposal by a commercial operator to use the dried ulva as an ingredient for animal and fish feed by operating a €1.5 million drying and processing facility in south west Cork, which would create local employment and remove this dangerous scourge from the beaches and coves of these two bays.

I understand that a progress report has been completed by the local task force and this has been submitted to the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources for consideration. I have been invited to a briefing on the report on Friday week by Cork County Council. I have raised this issue because that it has been reported that a limit of 50 tonnes has been proposed in this report on the amount that can be removed by commercial operations for use, while it has been scientifically calculated that up to 200,000 tonnes is washed ashore annually in south west Cork.

Sea lettuce has been an ongoing problem since first recorded in 1995. One reporter described it as follows:

The other morning the vast lawns of sea lettuces looked beautiful in the sunlight, like dark green golf courses or the Serengeti after the first annual rain. However, when it dries over the cord grass it appears like stretched grey skin with ribs protruding from beneath. The Serengeti suddenly seems to be ringed with corpses of dead elephants.

Last August, unprecedented amounts of this algae sea lettuce washed up on the beaches of Brittany, France, causing a major public health scare as it decomposed. The rotting leaves produced large quantities of hydrogen sulphide, a toxic gas. In one incident a horse rider lost consciousness and his horse died after breathing the seaweed fumes. In another incident, a lorry driver passed out, crashed and died, with toxic fumes claimed to be the cause.

Sea lettuce is not only an environmental nuisance, but is potentially lethal. I do not want reports going right around the world of tourists deaths in my constituency, Cork South West, because a bureaucratic committee decided to pussy foot around the issue. The cause of this problem has been identified in a report commissioned by the EPA and sitting gathering dust in its offices since March 2007 as nutrient enrichment provided by sewage and animal waste. The operator behind the proposed industrial development is considering an alternative site in Brittany, France, to base his operations if he is not allowed to commence operations here as he needs the go ahead soon to commence operations for this year. We cannot afford to lose these jobs, which are badly needed in this area. The operator and his company would do us a favour by removing the sea lettuce before it stinks to the high heavens. By removing the sea lettuce they will save Cork County Council hundreds of thousands of euro in clean-up operations.

I call on the Minister to publish the EPA report immediately in order that the remedies can be tackled, including the installation of sewage treatment facilities. I doubt he will have the resources during the rest of his term of office of two years and one week from today, provided the Government goes the full term, and, therefore, I ask him not to put a limit on the amount of sea lettuce that can be removed for commercial purposes rather than sitting on his hands and letting this problem rot for another 15 years. I want to go home to my people in west Cork at the end of this week and say the Minister has taken a small step in the right direction. His remaining time in office is short and, therefore, the time for action is now. He should publish the EPA report, licence the removal of the sea lettuce and pursue the commissioning of sewage treatment plants in this area.

That was a spirited performance as ever from the Deputy. The Leas-Cheann Comhairle and I were raised within sight, sound and smell of the Safe in Wexford. We are fully familiar with the problem of sea lettuce. The Deputy waxed eloquently about how it looks when the tide is coming in in the early morning but anybody who has been in the vicinity of a large amount of sea lettuce when the tide is out will recognise the Deputy's description of its noxious nature.

Accumulations of sea lettuce have become an increasing nuisance and this is recognised by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. Sea lettuce is a naturally occurring seaweed that can multiply and reach very high volumes where conditions are favourable. Large deposits on beaches are unsightly and where allowed to decay can present a potential health hazard. Fishing interests too have reported their equipment becoming fouled by the seaweed while it is still waterborne. In recent years, Cork County Council has removed sea lettuce from the affected beaches but the problem in 2009 grew to such an extent that a more sustainable approach was required. Some 10,000 tonnes of sea lettuce was washed up on the beaches in the vicinity of Clonakilty Bay.

My colleague, the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, who up to January of this year had responsibility for all foreshore matters, recognised the impact that this phenomenon was having on locals and tourists in west Cork and established a task force to examine this problem in October 2009. The taskforce was asked to advise on the scientific, engineering, public safety and policy aspects relevant to the management and control of the sea lettuce problem.

As the Deputy indicated, the taskforce was made up of representatives from the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, the EPA, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Cork County Council and the Health Service Executive, under the chairmanship of Dr. Terry McMahon of the Marine Institute. I understand that the taskforce has now completed its work and the Minister, Deputy Gormley, expects to receive its report shortly.

The Deputy has raised the question of whether a limit has been placed on the amount of sea lettuce that can be removed from the beaches for the purposes of processing into fish feed. I can advise him that no such limit has been imposed — by either the Department or the local authority. I also understand that the taskforce report will not make any recommendations relating to limiting the removal of sea lettuce. Deputy Sheehan can go home happy this week. A person who swims every day knows the problem of sea lettuce.

I hope the Minister of State will not let the report gather dust in his office.

It is not in my office. However, I accept the undertaking is important to Deputy Sheehan and his constituents. It is important to remember that the priority must be the safeguarding of the beaches and those who use them in the summer. These beaches, including Inchydoney blue flag beach, are key to west Cork tourism and must be protected. I understand that water conditions may soon again be favourable for growth of the lettuce and the removal of the material from the beaches must be undertaken promptly. While the Minister, Deputy Gormley, is concerned that any possible solutions to the disposal of the material will fully exploit the potential for reuse or recycling of the sea lettuce, I am sure the Deputy will agree that the early removal of the material is of prime importance.

As regards the plan to tackle the problem this summer, I am advised that Cork County Council intends to be in full readiness for the clean-up and disposal operation when it is required. The council has already sought expressions of interest from commercial interests on the most efficient means of disposal of the sea lettuce. As Deputy Sheehan heads back down to that beautiful part of this country the news is probably more positive than it was when he started speaking tonight.

Actions speak louder than words.

The Dáil adjourned at 9.15 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 28 April 2010.
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