Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 13 Mar 2012

Vol. 759 No. 1

Topical Issue Debate

Special Educational Needs

Deputy Michael McGrath

I thank the Office of the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this important issue for debate. I am please the Minister will attend.

Sonas special junior primary school in Carrigaline, County Cork, caters for autistic children between three and six years of age. Late last week, the teachers, parents and everyone associated with the school were devastated when they received the news that the school was going to lose four SNA posts from the beginning of the next school year in September 2012. The school currently has 16 SNA posts and, therefore, the proposal is that it will lose one quarter of its SNA allocation in one fell swoop.

It is important to put on record that this school carries out tremendous work dealing with children who have the most need, including children on the ASD spectrum. Yesterday I met the mother of a five-year old girl attending the school who is non-verbal and not toilet trained. However, along with the 23 other pupils attending the Sonas school, she is now at risk of losing her special needs assistant. The National Council for Special Education, NCSE, conducted the review of the special needs assistant, SNA, provision at Sonas and concluded that the school could do with four fewer SNA posts than the current number. This is an outrageous decision. It is an all-out attack on the most vulnerable children in our society. Of the 24 pupils in the school at present, some 14 will leave shortly. Some will progress to mainstream schools and others to special classes in autumn this year. A further 14 children will take their place in Sonas. For children with autism the transition in moving to a new school or starting in a school such as Sonas poses considerable challenges. It is a difficult transition.

The high turnover of pupils in any given year poses huge challenges for the staff who carry out such excellent work in the school. They have made the point to me passionately, as have the parents, that they need the supports and the SNA posts currently allocated. I would have thought that children with the needs those attending Sonas have would all have SNA posts but this is not the position. Typically, the classes comprise six pupils with four SNAs and one teacher. It is proposed that four of the 16 SNA posts will be lost. I understand the financial situation and the situation regarding capping. However, these children have the greatest need and I do not understand how with the stroke of a pen it can be decided that the school can get by with a reduction of one quarter of the SNA support posts currently in place.

Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills (Deputy Sean Sherlock)

I thank Deputy Michael McGrath for raising this issue. As the Deputy is aware 10,575 special needs assistant posts are available for allocation to schools for the 2012-13 school year. This is the same number of posts available for allocation in the current school year. Therefore, there has been no reduction in the overall number of SNA posts available for allocation in the coming school year. The Government has maintained funding for special education and for SNA support at a time when there has been a requirement to make expenditure savings in range of areas. With equitable and careful management and distribution of these resources it is considered that there will be sufficient posts to provide access to SNA support for all children who require such care and support to attend school in accordance with departmental criteria.

Through its network of local special educational needs organisers, SENOs, the National Council for Special Education is responsible for allocating special needs assistants to schools to support children with special educational needs. The NCSE operates within my Department's criteria in allocating such support and this includes a requirement for it to have regard to the overall cap on numbers. In the context of the overall limit on the number of SNA posts available, it is necessary for the NCSE to prioritise applications and to distribute SNA resources equitably and efficiently throughout all schools. One of the priority criteria applied in the allocation of SNA posts is to ensure that the minimum SNA to special class ratio is maintained in special schools and special classes.

In the case of the school referred to by the Deputy, a special school for children with autism, I understand it has an enrolment of 24 pupils at present with staffing of one principal and five mainstream class teachers as well as 16 SNAs. This is a total of 22 staff catering for the needs of 24 pupils and equates to an SNA to pupil ratio of 1:1.5 and an overall adult to pupil ratio of 1:1.1. This is an exceptionally high level of support and is considerably in excess of the current recommended SNA ratio for special class groups, including children with autism spectrum disorder, as outlined in the Department of Education and Skills circular 0038/10, that is to say, a ratio of two SNAs per special class group of six children.

The NCSE has advised all schools, including the school referred to by the Deputy, of their SNA allocation for the current school year, taking into account the care needs of qualifying pupils attending each school. Schools have been advised to make applications to the NCSE for SNA support for the 2012-13 school year by 16 March 2012. They will be advised of their allocation for the 2012-13 school year by late May or early June 2012 based on the number of valid applications received by 16 March. Therefore, no final SNA allocation for 2012-13 has been made for this school yet. Whereas the NCSE has indicated to the school that based on its current pupil numbers it has four surplus SNA posts, until any applications for potential new entrants for the 2012-13 school year are considered no final determination will be made. I understand the NCSE is due to meet representatives of the school shortly to discuss staffing requirements for the coming school year. The NCSE will advise the school by late May or early June of its SNA allocation for the 2012-13 school year.

Deputy Michael McGrath

I thank the Minister of State for setting out the Department's position on this issue. This was a callous decision and one which should be revisited. I welcome the confirmation from the Minister of State that the final allocation for 2012-13 has not been made yet. However, parents are frightened that their children will lose the SNA support currently in place. The Minister of State referred to an exceptionally high level of support in the school. This is true but these are exceptional children and their needs are extraordinary. I know the school and I have visited it on several occasions. I know of the challenges faced by the SNAs and the mainstream teachers working there. Like any parent, these parents simply want the best for their children. The research clearly proves that the outcomes will be affected if the supports are not put in place early.

I realise the Minister is working within an overall cap in the number of posts. However, I cannot understand how a school such as Sonas, which has extraordinary requirements, will lose one quarter of its SNA allocation under the arrangements put in place by the NCSE given that the overall numbers will not change. I plead with the Minister of State and his colleagues to revisit this decision and to avail of the opportunity to take a second look at this issue, to allow the children attending Sonas to be given the same opportunity that every other child has and to allow the school to retain the current SNA provision.

Deputy Sean Sherlock

I thoroughly respect the fact that the Deputy must advocate for the school in his constituency and I do not doubt the veracity of the case made by him in respect of the school and the good work it carries out. However, the Deputy has admitted an overall cap is in place. A process is under way in respect of SNA allocation and we should have regard to this fact. The Deputy's claim that this a callous decision must be tackled in the sense that the overall budget within the Department of Education and Skills has been reduced and we must ask ourselves why we have come to this stage. I take the point made by the Deputy but given that it is a special junior primary school I am hopeful that the National Council for Special Education will have regard to this fact and a process is under way.

The allocation of SNAs to schools changes over time and we should acknowledge this. Children may have diminishing care needs over time. Some children leave school at the end of each school year and the pupil population of a school may change over time. It is important to note that the SNA allocation process for the 2012-13 school year is still under way. Schools have been advised to make applications by 16 March and they will be advised of their SNA allocation by late May. The case is well made by the Deputy and I hope the NCSE will have regard to this during its deliberations.

Industrial Disputes

Deputy Robert Dowds

I raise this issue about the dispute at Eddie Stobart Limited because of two major concerns. First, the conditions under which the truck drivers work and, second, the safety of the drivers and the general public.

With regard to conditions, I am seriously concerned that work practices for Stobart Ireland drivers are making such high demands on them that their driving could become unsafe. It must be remembered that much of the work they do is done at night time. For example, a night driver with Monday and Tuesday as his rostered days off might finish on Monday morning at approximately 10 a.m. or 11 a.m. He then goes home to bed, having been driving all night. This is his first rest day. He gets up on Tuesday and must ring the company by 12 noon to find out his next start time. The company position is that it can start him at any time after midnight. Therefore, if he is required to work at midnight, he needs to get some more sleep as he will be driving all night. He will have no further time off until the following Monday morning when the cycle commences again.

Another important issue is that rest time is interrupted by having to phone in for start times and the driver may need to make several calls during the day. In the case of long-haul truck drivers, this should be a matter of concern, as their safety on the road is endangered if they do not get enough rest. The practice at Stobart Ireland is that start times are continually changed with the result that drivers develop no sleeping pattern. Start times can be 1 a.m., 5 a.m., 10 a.m. or 6 p.m. There is no manageable routine for drivers so that fatigue and the risk of falling asleep are serious issues. Procedures at Stobart Ireland include a non-rolling roster, which is highly unusual in the industry. This means that those who are rostered off on Tuesdays and Wednesdays will never be off any weekend or any other time.

I urge the Minister to look at the Organisation of Working Time Act, in particular section 17, with regard to this issue. This section provides for 24-hour notice for start times in circumstances such as this. I call on Stobart Ireland to sit down and address the issues with the drivers. Otherwise, the fatigue issue may lead to accidents. This is a nightmare waiting to happen. Not alone are drivers' lives at risk, but if such huge trucks go out of control, other car drivers, pedestrians and cyclists face significant danger. Stobart Ireland trucks carry a great deal of Tesco foodstuffs around the country and given those close links, I would urge Tesco to use its influence to try to sort out this issue. It would be greatly appreciated if it applied that kind of pressure on Stobart Ireland.

This issue ought to be of huge public interest and I appeal to the media to cover the issue more thoroughly than it has done so far. A light needs to be shone on the issue in order to ensure both the safety of drivers and of the public.

Deputy Sean Sherlock

I thank Deputy Dowds for raising this matter and for the opportunity to respond.

Stobart Ireland is part of the Stobart Group which, I understand, operates from over 40 sites across the UK and Europe. Stobart Ireland began operating in 2008 winning the transport services contract with Tesco in 2010 to distribute all of the products it keeps at depots at Ballymun and Donabate in Dublin. On 15 February last, SIPTU announced that following a ballot of its members, Stobart drivers had voted to strike over concerns about their working conditions and served notice of industrial action. Stobart Ireland drivers subsequently carried out a 36-hour work stoppage on Thursday and Friday, 23 and 24 February. I understand that a picket by drivers was held at the company's main Irish depot in Ballymun, Dublin on Thursday from 6.00 p.m. until 11.30 p.m.

Rest time, rosters and general working conditions have been identified by SIPTU as the factors that led to the decision to strike. SIPTU maintains that these grievances had been put before the company for some time but the company failed to address the issues. It appears that Stobart Ireland responded to the threat of industrial action by taking the unusual step of initiating its own ballot of drivers. The company claimed that its ballot showed that only a minority backed industrial action. It claimed that the outcome demonstrated a lack of support for the planned strike and called on the union to cease its industrial action. SIPTU described the company ballot as a coercive tactic and denied that the outcome of the company ballot could be deemed to articulate the clear voice of the majority of workers in the driver category.

I understand that Stobart Ireland had initially welcomed the suggestion to attend the Labour Relations Commission on the eve of the industrial action. The company requested that the threat of strike action be lifted as a condition of its willingness to engage with the industrial relations dispute services. However, as the industrial action proceeded as planned, the company declined to engage in conciliation talks. According to reports, the company had flown in 40 agency drivers from the UK to replace the striking workers. SIPTU has claimed that the drivers flown in were not informed of the background to the dispute in Dublin before they arrived. It appears that the company did not proceed, however, to deploy the replacement drivers.

I understand that the Labour Relations Commission is maintaining contact with both parties to the dispute and will continue to remain available to assist in trying to resolve the issues in dispute. I would urge the parties to agree to avail of the services of the State's industrial relations machinery and to engage fully in the process. I urge them to put their difficulties and differences behind them and approach the process in good faith and with a view to accepting the outcome of the process.

Ireland's system of industrial relations is essentially voluntary in nature and responsibility for the resolution of industrial disputes between employers and workers, whether in redundancy or other collective disputes, rests with the employer, the workers and their representatives. The State provides the industrial relations dispute settlement machinery to support parties in their efforts to resolve their differences. The Labour Relations Commission has extensive experience in assisting parties to resolve issues of rest time, rosters and other general working conditions and in achieving a high rate of mutually acceptable settlements on such issues. Even what often appears to be the most intractable of disputes is capable of resolution where both sides engage constructively and in good faith in this voluntary process. I would urge the parties involved in this dispute to work together to break the current impasse by utilising the established machinery for dispute resolution, who are available to assist at short notice.

Stobart Ireland is an extremely big company with a large footprint across Ireland. I am aware of it from personal experience on the roads between Cork and Dublin where I have noticed an exceptionally high presence of Stobart trucks. I contend that we have a highly evolved labour relations infrastructure in this country and we would ask companies to engage in corporate social responsibility and come a bit of the road towards meeting needs that will ensure drivers can operate safely. We would urge all companies that win contracts in Ireland to engage constructively with the State machinery set up for dispute resolution. If we can achieve that, I am hopeful some compromise can be hammered out through the labour relations machinery that exists in this country.

Deputy Robert Dowds

I agree with the comments in the Minister of State's detailed statement. Like him, I would urge Stobart Ireland to engage properly with the drivers to achieve a proper resolution of the issues. I do not know to what extent the Minister of State is free to write to such companies to urge them to become actively involved. It would be useful if he could do this. Furthermore, it would be useful if he could urge Tesco to put pressure on Stobart Ireland to deal with the issues. This is a serious concern and if a fatal accident occurred, we would wonder why it happened and why nothing was done about the situation. It is not that Stobart does not have experience of running lorries. Long before Stobart Ireland was established, I saw Stobart trucks on the motorways of Britain and I understand the workers there have better terms than workers here. It is in everybody's interest for this issue to be sorted out. If the Minister of State can make a direct approach to Stobart Ireland, I would appreciate that. I take the Deputy's point. To be fair, however, if we can engage both sides through the industrial relations machinery, that would be the first and best course of action. As Deputy Dowds said, the Stobart group are the high kings of the transport and haulage business in the United Kingdom and now have a significant footprint in Ireland.

We want to ensure that all operators across the island are operating with a degree of corporate social responsibility and, where disputes arise, that we can work towards solutions, always using the machinery. I do not negate the right of a company to take its own ballot privately within its own structures.

Deputy Robert Dowds

It was largely boycotted by the workers.

Deputy Sean Sherlock

I take the Deputy's point. In response, I contend that the legitimacy of the Labour Relations Commission, which has opened its doors to facilitate a process, is one the State, Irish workers and most employers buy into. That is the right way to proceed on this issue. I hope the Stobart organisation will have due regard to that process.

Deputy Robert Dowds

If it does not, what happens?

Deputy Sean Sherlock

Deputy Dowds is more schooled on that. There is legislation to protect every worker's rights and in respect of dispute resolution. It is voluntary by nature, but we must be fair and balanced in how we approach the issue and I would hope any reasonable company, or any entity, would use the voluntary mechanism that is available. That is the way to proceed. If that fails, we will cross that bridge when we come to it.

Social Welfare Payments

Deputy Derek Keating

Is the Minister for Social Protection not available?

Acting Chairman (Deputy Olivia Mitchell)

The matter is being taken by the Minister of State, Deputy Perry.

Deputy Derek Keating

I draw the attention of the Minister and the House to a growing and serious problem in the payment and collection of social welfare payments, for example, in my own community in Lucan village.

The number of people collecting welfare payments in Lucan village amounts to approximately 1,200 every week. The current arrangement is that payments are collected by this large number of people on a couple of days every week. Lucan post office, which is well run and efficient with friendly staff who conduct their business in a well run way, is ideally located to suit the needs of local residents and businesses in the heart of Lucan village. Its business includes the services of collecting pensions, allowances and social welfare payments. The nearest social welfare office, commonly known as the employment exchange, is in Clondalkin which is 6 km away and there is not a good bus service between the two communities.

A number of issues have arisen in both communities in recent times. At times, the queue of people collecting payments stretches out onto the street and around the corner in Lucan village in all sorts of weather. I am sure the Minister of State appreciates the fact that in these times when an increasing number of people are dependent on social welfare payments, this is a far from ideal way to protect people's dignity and avoid embarrassment, particularly if the weather is inclement.

I ask the Minister to give consideration to the following suggestion that payments be spread over a number of days. This would help the service to be run in a more efficient way and would not require embarrassment or loss of dignity on the part of people. There have even been occasions when the support of gardaí was needed to manage the queues.

The current situation is having a depressing effect on people who are already personally challenged by having to sign on to receive social welfare payments. Having to spend up to an hour queueing, often out in the street in inclement weather, could be avoided with careful management and due consideration. I understand there is a similar problem in the post office in the Mill Centre in Clondalkin, where people often have to queue on the street.

This is a problem in my constituency. I ask the Minister to take account of the remedy I am suggesting and which I believe will help to deal with the problem. I have discussed the situation with some business proprietors, informally with the gardaí and with local residents who are discommoded by the problem. I also ask the Minister to consider establishing a permanent, or even a temporary, social welfare office in the greater Lucan area. I am sure the Minister of State is aware, given the economic circumstances affecting the retail industry, that many outlets are available and could be used, even in the short term, to help prevent this great imposition on people.

The thrust of my representation is to ask the Minister to give serious consideration to finding a remedy whereby social welfare payments to the 1,200 hundred people in Lucan village can be spread over five days, with an overflow on Saturday morning, rather than being confined to two days.

Minister of State at the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (Deputy John Perry)

I am happy to take this important matter on behalf of the Minister for Social Protection and I thank Deputy Keating for raising it.

The quality of customer service that people receive at post offices is important to the Department and to An Post, which has responsibility for that service. The Deputy referred to the high numbers of customers collecting welfare payments at Lucan post office on Thursdays and Fridays. The Department is aware that there are instances of queuing at Lucan post office on Fridays, but An Post has advised that there is no abnormal or extensive queuing on Thursdays.

An Post and the Department have taken a number of measures to address the problems evident on Fridays. Lucan post office now opens at 8 am on Fridays. The Department is also examining the scope for moving some payments to alternative collection days in an effort to alleviate the situation. Some 240 customers who normally receive payments at Lucan post office on a Friday payday have been moved to a Tuesday payday. The process of changing payment days is complex and must be managed closely to ensure customer service is not interrupted. On foot of work over the past number of weeks, this change took effect today. The impact of this change will be monitored by the Department in consultation with An Post. The Department will continue to liaise with An Post to monitor the effectiveness of these remedies and what further scope for improvement is available.

We have been advised by An Post that there have been no queuing incidents whereby a Garda presence was requested or required at Lucan post office. The Department was made aware of delays at the post office on Friday, 23 December when longer queues developed at Lucan post office. The Deputy will appreciate that this is one of the busiest days of the year for all businesses and commercial bodies, including An Post. Given that all banking and financial institutions were closing for the Christmas period of up to five days, the queues experienced at post offices and throughout other financial institutions were exceptional.

While An Post has advised the Department of Social Protection that on Friday, 23 December no Garda presence was requested or required to manage queues, we understand gardaí were in the vicinity as part of their own operational deployment that day. The gardaí advised people waiting for service in the post office that pickpockets were active in the locality and of the need to be vigilant. An Post has advised that they do not consider there were any health and safety implications on the day.

With regard to the availability of funds at the post office, An Post has confirmed that the post office in Lucan did not run out of money on 23 December 2011. However, the Department has been advised by An Post that, due to an unusually heavy volume of business and demand for cheque encashment, Lucan post office experienced a greater than expected demand for cash late on Friday evening, 2 September. As a consequence, the postmaster was concerned that he might not be able to deal with all customers, including welfare customers, pending a further cash delivery from An Post. He, therefore, asked a small number of customers, believed to be in the order of ten or 12 social welfare customers, if they would agree to delaying the collection of their entitlements. It should be noted that the payment to customers was not refused. Additional cash was made available by An Post to Lucan post office on Saturday, 3 September and again on Monday, 5 September to deal with the higher number of transactions. An Post has advised that the ten or 12 social welfare customers who were not dealt with on the Friday or Saturday had their payments effected by the following Monday.

As the Deputy will appreciate, it is important for security reasons to ensure that excess cash is not unnecessarily held in its offices. It is also important that An Post offices have at all times adequate cash to meet the needs of its customers. This involves ongoing active management of cash at its offices. The Department of Social Protection has engaged with An Post to ensure that all its customers will be paid on their due date. An Post has given assurances that measures have been put in place to ensure that this will not happen again.

I would like to assure the Deputy that the Department will continue to work closely with An Post to ensure that together, we provide a high quality service to our customers.

Acting Chairman (Deputy Olivia Mitchell)

That is some good news for Deputy Keating.

Deputy Derek Keating

I thank the Minister of State for his comprehensive reply to a number of issues I have raised. I take some comfort from the fact that An Post has give assurances that measures have been put in place to ensure that certain events will not happen again. However, this will need to be monitored. The Minister of State referred to the Garda Síochána warning customers to be vigilant to the presence of pickpockets. I had also included this in my report. If the activity taking place is leading to potential pickpocketing then this is further recognition of the problem.

The thrust of my representations on this issue is to have the payments for those 1,200 spread over five days rather than two. The Minister of State in his reply states that some 240 customers who normally receive payments at Lucan post office on Fridays, have now been moved to Tuesday pay day. I am not sure this will remedy the problem because notwithstanding some of the issues I have raised which have been contested in the report, anybody can go to Lucan post office any Thursday and Friday and see the queues out the door. This situation will not change with 240 customers being moved to a Tuesday pay day. The situation requires a more comprehensive adjustment and I ask why this cannot be made. I am willing to wait to see the impact of the 240 customers moving to a Tuesday pay day beginning this week but I ask the Minister of State to keep this under review and I would be happy to discuss it with him or the Minister.

Deputy John Perry

An Post currently has a network of 1,153 post offices and a further 173 postal agencies through which 50% of the Department's customer payments are issued. The Department of Social Protection accounts for a large volume of retail customers in individual post offices, the post offices provide agency services for a number of other entities, including a front line banking service, payment of utility bills, etc. An Post has assured the Department that it makes all reasonable efforts to minimise queueing for our customers and for its other customers during pressure periods. An Post has assured the Department of its capability to deliver social welfare payments to our customers and it constantly reviews its service throughout the network to ensure delivery. If An Post considers further post offices are warranted or sustainable in any area, plans will be put in place to advertise a contract for the provision of those services.

Deputy Derek Keating

If I may make a final point in conclusion. I appreciate the final comments of the Minister of State regarding An Post's willingness to consider additional post offices where necessary as well as to considering the adjustments to which I referred. This is a critical factor, particularly in the age in which we live with the growing dependency on social welfare payments. I know it is this Government's priority to reverse this dependency within the lifetime of the Government.

Human Rights Issues

Deputy Jonathan O’Brien

I am glad to hear Deputy Keating's concluding remarks to the previous matter because I thought job creation is the best way of moving people off those queues.

I thank the Minister of State for dealing with the Topical Issue Matters. It looks like he is a one-man Cabinet today dealing with topics such as small business, social protection, justice, defence, equality. I presume this is because of the week it is, when people are away for St. Patrick's day.

I welcome Ireland's participation in the UN universal periodic review process which is an important process in which to be involved. This gives UN member states the opportunity to voice their opinions and make recommendations on this State's obligation to human rights and whether it is to accept, partially accept or reject them.

The response to the latest report was made public last Friday and I wish to comment briefly on some of the aspects of that response. One of the responses to the optional protocol and the rights of persons with disability is that Ireland is committed to ratifying that UN convention. The legislative and administrative procedures must be put in place to enable the State to ratify the convention but I have not noticed any haste to do so. This Government has made some progress as regards the legislation on mental capacity the heads of that Bill being currently before the justice committee. There is a concern that what is being proposed in that legislation will not satisfy the criteria for meeting the ratification of the UN convention. It is very important that this legislation meets the requirements for ratification of that convention. I ask for some form of commitment from the Government that this will be the case and that any legislation introduced in this area will meet those commitments.

I do not wish to use the word, "laughable", but I refer to the State's response contained in 107.49 regarding the issue of our obligations on human rights. The Government has claimed that the human rights of all residents are already comprehensively protected by the Constitution of Ireland which, in effect, constitutes a bill of rights for this State. I regard this type of statement to be warped. The Constitution states that a woman's role is in the home; that children have no rights outside of the family unit; and it defines the legal family unit as being based on marriage. It refers to the right to own property but it does not refer to the right to a home, to a roof over one's head, the right to a job, nor does it refer to the right of access to medical care. These are all rights which, in my opinion, -----

Acting Chairman (Deputy Olivia Mitchell)

Deputy, the four minutes speaking time is concluded.

Deputy Jonathan O’Brien

-----should form part of any bill of rights. I find that statement to be offensive and the Government needs to address it.

Deputy John Perry

I thank Deputy O'Brien for raising this important matter. The universal periodic review

UPR, process was initiated in 2008 by the UN Human Rights Council, HRC, and is a process whereby the domestic human rights records of all 192 UN member states are reviewed every four years. The process is important in raising awareness of standards with regard to human rights on a global level. This is Ireland's first review under the UPR mechanism and it has been a very useful and constructive exercise which provided the opportunity to examine the overall situation of human rights in Ireland. Early in 2011, we sought submissions from civil society and members of the public and in May and June, we held a series of public consultation meetings around the country to give individuals and groups the opportunity to raise human rights issues of concern to them. The issues highlighted informed the drafting of Ireland's first national report which was prepared with the assistance of an interdepartmental committee, on which all relevant Departments were consulted, and which was submitted to the UN Human Rights Council on 4 July 2011.

My colleague, the Minister, Deputy Shatter, represented Ireland at the interactive UPR dialogue in Geneva on 6 October 2011, at which delegations from 49 UN member states made comments. Of the 127 recommendations made to Ireland by other member states, we accepted 62 and rejected 15 at the formal adoption of Ireland's national report on Monday, 10 October. Ireland undertook to give careful consideration to a further 50 recommendations and provide a response by 29 February 2012.

The final stage in this round of the UPR process for Ireland is the adoption by the Human Rights Council of a report on the review of Ireland during the October session. This report is prepared by a working group of the Human Rights Council. In addition to the responses by Ireland to those recommendations which were addressed in October, the report will contain as an addendum Ireland's response to the remaining 50 recommendations mentioned earlier. This final report will then be adopted at the 19th session of the HRC in Geneva on Thursday, 15 March 2012.

I am pleased to inform the Deputy that of the 50 outstanding recommendations, Ireland fully accepts 29, partially accepts a further 17 and is unable to support only four. The format of the addendum allows us to include a concise explanation as to our response to each individual recommendation. Anybody who wishes to view the recommendations and Ireland's responses can access the addendum in the reports section of our UPR website, www.upr.ie. The adoption of the report on Ireland will be webcast live from Geneva on Thursday from 10.30 a.m. and will be available on the UN’s website at www.unmultimedia.org.

Deputy Jonathan O’Brien

I thank the Minister of State for his response. There is a difference between accepting the recommendations and putting in place the procedures to allow us to move forward. The issue of human rights cannot be held back by resources or finance. It is very important this Government is focused on human rights and on its obligations.

In some of the responses, it is a case of wait and see whether we are actually committed. One of the recommendations put to us was to strengthen the legal framework for the protection of the rights of children and other vulnerable groups, such as women, the elderly, people with disabilities and the Traveller community. In our response, we said we were strengthening the framework we had in place by amalgamating the Equality Authority and the Human Rights Commission. To say that is very premature because we have not seen the Bill on the amalgamation of both of those organisations. We do not know what is contained in it, so we cannot say for certain whether we will strengthen the framework or weaken it. That is important.

There is a wait and see approach in regard to some of them but I commend the Government on the issues which it has accepted. We must place a greater focus on and do a lot more work on this. I do not believe anyone in this House would oppose putting in the proper resources to enable us to meet our obligations.

Deputy John Perry

I thank the Deputy for raising this very important issue. Those recommendations we were unable to accept, either at the original session in October or in terms of the addendum to the report which will be discussed on 15 March, raise serious issues where different rights and different issues of public policy need to be balanced. Ireland is committed to meeting the highest standards of human rights but, as the Deputy will appreciate, it takes time to deal with difficult issues, in particular those with resource implications. Where there are competing rights, there may be no simple answer and, on this side of the House, our responsibility is to solve problems in a sustainable way and at time to balance competing rights and interests in a way that is fair to all and complies with our constitutional obligations.

We are very grateful to everybody whose participation helped to make the process so meaningful and constructive. Civil society and NGOs engaged thoroughly with us to raise awareness of the UPR mechanism in general and we are keen to maintain the excellent working relationship established during this first UPR cycle - the Deputy's points have been taken on board by the Minister, Deputy Shatter - which will be a most positive and constructive element as we all work towards our common goal of striving to improve human rights in Ireland.

The most important phase of this entire process is the implementation of the commitments we have made. That is the most important thing.

Deputy Jonathan O’Brien

Resources cannot be an excuse for not-----

Deputy John Perry

That is the balance. The Minister is very determined.

We consider some recommendations to have already been implemented while other areas of implementation are underway, as indicated by the Minister, Deputy Shatter, at our review in October. As we are all aware, the protection and promotion of human rights require continuous review and updating. As society evolves, so must our response to the challenges and dangers to fundamental rights and freedoms. It is particularly important to us that in the years leading up to our next review, the momentum which we and all stakeholders set in train for the first UPR cycle is not lost and we will continue to work on making Ireland a fairer place in which to live.