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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 4 Feb 2015

Vol. 866 No. 2

Topical Issue Debate

Ferry Services

Today is a sad day for Dún Laoghaire. Stena Line announced that it will not be renewing its Dún Laoghaire Harbour ferry contract, which expires on 14 April next. This marks the end of over 20 years of Stena Line ferry sailings to Dún Laoghaire. It is truly the end of an era for Dún Laoghaire. Passenger sailings from the harbour span almost two centuries. Like thousands of others in this country, I have memories of aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters and neighbours emigrating to England and from there on to the US.

Up until recent days, the Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company and Stena Line had engaged in active discussions on the delivery of a seasonal service. This morning, Stena Line has advised that it is unable to secure a suitable smaller vessel and has now decided not to resume operations on this route. It will consolidate its business interests in Dublin Port. That is all very well for Dublin Port, but what about Dún Laoghaire? The harbour was designated for marine leisure tourism by the Government in March 2014 and yet has seen nothing happen. There is no definitive legislative framework underpinning the harbour being taken under the administrative remit of the local government. When is this going to happen? When will we see this Bill published? It is now imperative.

Dún Laoghaire Harbour has been left adrift today. Although it is one of the most beautiful harbours in Ireland, there are no plans for its future survival. There are jobs to be sustained, while a tourism and business industry has been left wanting. I recognise that in recent years there has been a declining demand for its ferry services, but we must work to ensure the continued success of the Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company. We need to find solutions and stop dithering. I urge the Minister to set up a task force immediately in response to today's announcement by Stena Line.

On the plus side, there are emerging commercial activities on the horizon such as the growing cruise ship business. Dún Laoghaire Harbour badly needs Government support. This year it will attract 100,000 cruise ship passengers and crew. The numbers have grown significantly since 2011 when there were no such passengers. In 2013 there were 19,951, while in 2015 we will have 100,000 registered passengers. This business has beendeveloped through collaboration and the downright hard work of the board of the harbour company, the Dún Laoghaire Business Improvement District and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, with little support from other Government agencies. A planning application for a new berth for the next generation of cruise ships has only recently been submitted to An Bord Pleanála and we await its decision. The growing cruise ship business will have significant economic spin-off value for Dún Laoghaire and Ireland. It will showcase the country to 100,000 tourists. Following the loss of Stena Line, it is crucial that the application for the new cruise ship berth be given strong consideration.

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter after Stena Line announced a consolidation of its services from Holyhead to Dublin Port. I am more than aware that the news will come as a major disappointment to everyone in Dún Laoghaire Harbour and the wider Dún Laoghaire community. I recognise the Deputy's comments and share her disappointment. I worked in Stena Line in Dún Laoghaire for two summers and have an understanding of how important the service is not only to Dún Laoghaire Harbour but also to the broader community, as the Deputy outlined.

Today the company stated it would be concentrating on expanding its existing ferry service at Dublin Port and confirmed that it was withdrawing its HSS Stena Explorer service from Dún Laoghaire Harbour. Stena Line has operated the HSS Stena Explorer to Dún Laoghaire since 1996 with a mix of passengers, car and coach traffic. The Dún Laoghaire service was successful for several years following its introduction and carried over 1.7 million passengers annually during its peak in 1998. However, post the withdrawal of duty free shopping, passenger and car volumes declined dramatically and by 2014 fewer than 150,000 ferry passengers travelled through Dún Laoghaire Harbour. This represents a decline of over 90% by volume and, combined with increasing fuel and operating costs, has made the route unsustainable. The company reduced the services of the HSS Stena Explorer from Dún Laoghaire on 13 September 2011, operating a seasonal-only service from Dún Laoghaire to Holyhead from April to September. The company has stated Ireland remains a strategically important region and that it has invested over £250 million in its Irish Sea business in the past five years. However, car and passenger volumes in Dublin Port overtook those in Dún Laoghaire as far back as 2008. Volumes through Dublin Port have since continued to grow, thus providing Stena Line with a stark choice in respect of its future route network in the region.

As a company set up under the Harbours Act 1996, Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company has a statutory mandate to take all proper measures for the management, control, operation and development of Dún Laoghaire Harbour and is required to conduct its business in a cost-effective and efficient manner. In recent years the company has been restructuring its business to keep it on a sustainable financial footing and enable the harbour to develop and operate on a commercial basis in the future.

The policy on Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company was published in the Government's national ports policy 2013. The position is that designated ports of regional significance, including Dún Laoghaire Harbour, will transfer to more appropriate local authority-led governance structures. In May 2014 the Government approved the general scheme of the harbours (amendment) Bill 2014. In October 2014 the Oireachtas joint committee published its consideration of the heads of the Bill which is with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel for legal drafting. I expect to seek Government approval for publication of the Bill within this quarter and to move it into the Oireachtas before the summer. The Bill will provide the necessary framework to allow for the transfer of control of Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company to local authority-led structures. The Deputy asked me a specific question about timing. I anticipate and intend to ensure the Bill will be in the Oireachtas before the summer and that I will have Government approval of its full drafting in the coming weeks. My Department has been involved in ongoing meetings with all relevant ports, local authorities and others stakeholders. I have received correspondence from Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company on the matter today. I acknowledge that the Deputy has contacted me separately about it. I intend to meet the board in the coming weeks to engage on the matters the Deputy has raised.

I am pleased to hear the Minister acknowledge that the company has restructured its business, cut its costs and is seeking alternative income streams. I have referred to cruise liners. We would like to receive support in Dún Laoghaire to work with the council, the business improvement district scheme and the harbour board. I have mentioned that the cruise liners are important, but also of importance are the detailed proposals submitted to the Government for an international diaspora centre. This world-class visitor attraction could be accommodated in the empty 80,000 sq. ft. ferry terminal building. Owing to the decision of Stena Line this morning, the building will be available immediately and the proposal makes commercial sense. I have heard other venues being proposed, but I call on the Minister to give serious consideration to the situation in Dún Laoghaire where in the past Irish people left in their droves to seek work on foreign shores. Let their sons, daughters, grandsons and granddaughters return to our shores and be given a céad míle fáilte in a world-class diaspora centre in Dún Laoghaire. These new ventures, the cruise liner business and the diaspora centre, coupled with the task force, would help in some way to mitigate the great disappointment felt in Dún Laoghaire today.

I recognise the changes Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company has made and acknowledge many of the difficulties the company has faced. It has not been easy work. The company has put considerable effort into dealing with its financial status. In view of this, while it was known that there was this possibility, for it to actually materialise is a great disappointment for everyone involved in the port and the wider community.

The Deputy asked how we could make progress to deal with the matter. I confirm that it is my intention to ensure the relevant legislation will be brought before the Oireachtas before the summer.

I will work with the Whip to get as much time as possible to engage with everybody here on it.

Regarding Deputy Mitchell O'Connor's proposals for a task force, I would like to meet with the board first and will keep everybody informed of when I will do that. It appears that the proposed framework for integrating the harbour company into the local authority has even more relevance and urgency because of what we are now dealing with. I have heard the Deputy speak on a number of occasions about the challenges Dún Laoghaire faces and how integral the port is. The best way to respond to this is by the firm integration of the port with the local authority and everybody working in unison to respond to this challenge.

I am aware of the progress Dún Laoghaire and Dún Laoghaire port company have made in respect of the cruise ship business. I have met them twice since coming into office and they have pointed to the rapid growth in this area, as Deputy Mitchell O'Connor has indicated and which I recognise, but also their plans for the future and the stability they already have in bookings for this year and beyond.

The matter of the diaspora centre has been raised with me by many colleagues. I am considering how to move this project forward because many different groups across the country believe it should be located in various places. I am weighing up how that can be responded to, but as the Deputy referenced earlier, a cornerstone of our response to what is happening to the port is supporting people in finding diverse and wide-ranging sources of income. That is why I will meet the board, we will have a discussion about what has happened and we will see if mutually agreeable next steps can be made to respond to the challenge the Deputy has outlined to the House.

Aviation Issues

I welcome the Minister. This is the first opportunity we have had to engage in dialogue on the floor of the House. I congratulate him on his appointment and have no doubt that he will continue to do a very good job.

There is some confusion over the negotiation of the IAG proposal to purchase Aer Lingus. Both the Minister and the Minister for Finance have stated that they are limited in what they can tell us in this House, that there are issues of confidentiality and so on. However, it appears that under the Irish takeover rules such requirements do not apply to shareholders and we are a shareholder. We in this House, as representatives of the people, seem to be entitled to know what is going on, the content of the offers that are made - we saw some extra commitments made the other day - and the state of play of the offers. For example, is it not appropriate that both the Committee of Public Accounts, which is the guardian of the public purse, and the committee that represents the Minister's own Department represent a considerable degree of the shareholders, as well as this House itself? Those advising the Government - Credit Suisse, a banking group, IBI Corporate Finance, another finance group, McCann FitzGerald, a body of solicitors - are all very fine corporate entities in their own right, but who is representing the shareholder and advising the Government? This House would and should be the appropriate body under the terms of the Irish takeover rules. There is nothing to prevent it.

In that context, will the Minister consider making available all the information that has been made available to him to date to one or other of the committees to which I have referred and to regard them as advisors to him in terms of the shareholding the citizens of this country hold in Aer Lingus? Many issues need to be addressed here in terms of the protection of the public purse, the issue of jobs, connectivity, and so on. If there is no activity of this kind it would be difficult for us to deny we are buying a pig in a poke if there is a recommendation from the Aer Lingus board to accept the IAG offer. It is would be seen by the people that there had not been adequate advice from the source that we all represent, namely the shareholders who own 25.1% of Aer Lingus.

I thank the Acting Chairman for the opportunity to raise this important Topical Issue matter on Aer Lingus and the future of the company. We all have a high regard for Aer Lingus because it is steeped both in Irish economic history and the psyche of every Irish citizen, nationally and internationally. It is an important part of our life and we should not make any apologies for making informed decisions on it. I would like to see a fair, balanced and informed decision on this issue.

I immediately thought of the sugar company we let go, which produced excellent sugar in this country. We also grew beet for the farmers around the country, servicing sugar factories in Tuam, Carlow and Thurles. Now we are discovering, having let them go, that there is a European market for these products.

On Aer Lingus itself it must be asked if the offers is a good or bad one. The company has a fleet of approximately 50 aircraft. On the basis of last year's prices, these would cost in the region of €4.7 billion. If one assumes a 50% write-down, that would still value them at €2.35 billion. There is the significant costs of training pilots and cabin crew while the value of the Heathrow slots, which some people are dismissing in recent days, has been set at approximately €400 million. The company has cash reserves amounting to approximately €400 million. There are also the companies and employees dependent on Aer Lingus as a major economic transport carrier. Moving on from these broader, national issues the issue of the regions must be considered. Many are concerned that they will be devastated if there is a negative impact on Aer Lingus.

Given all these factors, it may be said that the real IAG offer would be in the region of €940 million, not the €1.34 billion that is being touted recently in public. We need an informed, balanced decision. I know where I stand on Aer Lingus - I support the staff and the company - but we must also ensure we have strong economic arguments to back up our case.

I thank my constituency colleague, Deputy Costello, and Deputy McGrath for raising this important matter. I have responded to many questions on this, here on the floor of the Dáil, in the Seanad and in the transport committee, and I look forward to continuing to do so while this matter is under consideration. I will first respond to the core question Deputy Costello put to me regarding the commentary that has appeared today on my status and the constraints upon me and my colleagues in regard to Aer Lingus throughout this bid period. While I will respond now to the points the Deputies have made, a text has also been circulated to them with other material.

The position as it stands, which I have checked very recently, is that I have received the clearest legal advice on the need for my comments and the comments of Ministers and our representatives to be cognisant of the fact that we are in a takeover period. The legal advice has been very strong on this aspect. It has been very clear to me that the Irish takeover rules impose a specific set of obligations on Ministers and our representatives, as substantial shareholders in Aer Lingus. This includes obligations on me of confidentiality and to ensure that statements made in connection with the possible offer are accurate and not in any way misleading.

This issue is particularly acute given the State's role in any proposed takeover bid for Aer Lingus. I confirm that the legal advice available to me makes clear that I am constrained in what I can say on the proposed offer because the Irish Takeover Panel has deemed that we are in an offer period.

On the role of the Oireachtas and its committees in respect of the proposed offer, I emphasise that the House has a role in any potential disposal by the Government of the Aer Lingus stake. The Aer Lingus Act 2004 requires that the principles of any disposal be laid before Dáil Éireann and approved before any sale of the Government's 25.1% shareholding may proceed. The legislation is clear that any sale requires Dáil approval. I have been transparent on this point throughout.

Deputy Finian McGrath spoke of the need to carry out a fair and balanced assessment of the offer. He stated that in his view, having considered the relevant issues, the sale of the State's stake in Aer Lingus should not proceed. He is entitled to that view. I have repeatedly emphasised that there is much more at stake than the price of a share. As important as the price is - none of us should dismiss the possibility of money being made available to taxpayers - many other factors must also be considered. I have emphasised, for example, the role of access, competition on routes and the impact of any disposal on general economic development. If an offer is made, I will evaluate all relevant information and make a recommendation to Cabinet. Any decision on the sale of State's shareholding would have to come before the Dáil.

I thank the Minister for his response in which he indicated that any offer would have to come before the Dáil for its approval. This means the Dáil will not have any say in the negotiations leading up to a decision, which places a significant limitation on the role the House would play in such a decision. I ask the Minister to consider bringing the matter to the attention of the Committee of Public Accounts in order that it can examine the issue in its role as guardian of the public purse and the need to obtain value for money. The Joint Committee on Transport and Communications could act as the adviser to the shareholder. The Minister is entitled to appoint advisers and the rules do not stipulate that shareholders could not be advised in such a capacity.

Does a serious issue of insider trading not arise in respect of the chief executive officer of IAG, Mr. Willie Walsh, given that he was in charge of Aer Lingus until recently and currently chairs the National Treasury Management Agency which has responsibility for NewERA, the holding company for State assets? Do Mr. Walsh's various roles not give rise to a serious conflict of interest? Should he not be told he cannot have a role in both areas? This is a serious issue which must be addressed.

In my view, IAG is seeking to secure Aer Lingus's brand, pre-clearance facility and Healthrow slots. The best way to protect the slots is to increase the State's shareholding from 25.1% to 30%. Will the Minister consider purchasing the additional 5% required to guarantee the slots in future? We should also bear in mind the bumper returns from Aer Lingus in January.

I thank the Minister for his response. I am glad Dáil approval is required for any sale under the legislation as Deputies need to have a say on the issue.

I ask the Minister to be cautious in respect of those who are advising him. He indicated he will make a decision and bring a recommendation to Cabinet. A previous Government appointed advisers from the financial services sector to provide advice on the banking crisis. We have all seen the cock-up they made. I am sounding a note of caution on this issue. Given the rapid change under way in the aviation industry, the Minister will need to be on top of his brief when making a recommendation to the Cabinet and Dáil.

On our choice of adviser, we are being advised on this issue by private sector companies, the names of which are on the public record. The interdepartmental group includes representatives of the various Departments affected by this issue, including the Departments of Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and is chaired by an official from my Department. I am confident that we have achieved the right mix of private and public sector representation on the group. The entities we have appointed in an advisory role are genuinely independent and able to offer expertise in this area. I have seen evidence of this in my personal engagement with the group.

Deputy Costello proposed that committees take a role in this matter. The Joint Committee on Transport and Communications has concluded several days of hearings on the proposed sale of Aer Lingus. I have been made aware of the points made by the various groups which appeared before the committee.

I am a former member of the Committee of Public Accounts, of which Deputy Costello is a current member. The role the committee plays in respect of any matter is very much a decision for its members based on the structure of their work plan. I recall, however, that the work of the Committee of Public Accounts must be related to the work of the Comptroller and Auditor General. This is the stricture within which the committee operates, as Deputy Costello will be aware. The Joint Committee on Transport and Communications is playing an active role in this matter.

As to the Deputy's suggestion that an Oireachtas committee act as an adviser to me on this issue, I am receiving extensive advice on this matter from many corners. Given the nature of aviation, professional advice and expertise is required in a number of areas. We have procured such advice.

On the role of Mr. Willie Walsh, the legislation on the National Treasury Management Agency is clear on the separation that must apply in respect of the work of any individual who chairs the body and other interests he or she may have. I am fully confident that NewERA, which is part of the advisory group being chaired by my Department, is performing its work in an impartial and professional manner that would meet any standards sought by the Deputy or anybody else.

Defence Forces Fatalities

I thank the Office of the Ceann Comhairle for affording me an opportunity to raise this important issue. On 18 April 1980, Privates Thomas Barrett and Derek Smallhorne were killed while on peacekeeping duties with the Irish Army as part of a UNIFIL mission in south Lebanon. They were murdered near the village of At-Tiri and their colleague, Private John O'Mahony, was seriously injured.

I raise this matter today lest we forget, and in so doing, I acknowledge this is a matter that has been raised previously by many colleagues across the various political parties in this House. Perhaps more important, I raise it because I believe we are now moving significantly towards an endgame in respect of the quest for justice for Privates Thomas Barrett and Derek Smallhorne.

The chief suspect in this double murder is a Mr. Mahmoud Bazzi, who fled south Lebanon in 1994 and lived illegally in the United States up to relatively recent days, when he was deported from the United States and detained in Beirut on his return to Lebanon. In raising this, I appreciate that Lebanon is a separate jurisdiction with its own rule of law and its own judicial system. However, I think it absolutely imperative at this juncture that the State does not relent in the campaign that successive Governments have waged in an effort to deliver justice for Privates Thomas Barrett and Derek Smallhorne.

I know that as recently as June last, when the Taoiseach was in south Lebanon, he raised this issue with the Lebanese authorities. Our diplomatic service in the United States was very active with the US authorities in bringing to their attention to this issue and in successfully concluding the deportation of Mr. Bazzi on the basis that he was illegally resident in the US. What is crucially important is that we do not relent in any way in terms of the effort we put into this. I would specifically urge the Minister of State, Deputy Paul Kehoe, and the Department of Defence to take a cross-departmental approach to this. I initially tabled this as an issue for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade but I accept there is a dual jurisdiction here, and it is an issue of national importance. All diplomatic channels must be used in a co-ordinated fashion. In particular, we need to be in contact with the Lebanese ambassador in London, HE Inaam Osseiran, to ensure we do not let up in any way in the quest for justice for these two Irish soldiers who were murdered.

That is the primary reason I raise the matter. Lest we be in any doubt that this is still a volatile region, only two weeks ago a private in the Spanish army, who was serving on a UNIFIL peacekeeping mission in south Lebanon, was murdered. I am concerned that there is a crossover between the rule of law and politics in these regions. I see some speculation in newspaper coverage of this issue in recent days, given the deportation of Mr. Mahmoud Bazzi, that covert deals may be being done because of Israeli support for the South Lebanese Army militia, which attacked the Irish peacekeeping force nearly 35 years ago, when Privates Thomas Barrett and Derek Smallhorne were murdered. It is imperative that we keep up the pressure. As we enter the endgame on this issue, I ask that the Department of Defence, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and every instrument of Government available through the diplomatic service in particular and our contacts at all political levels are used to ensure that these two families at last get justice for their loved ones.

On behalf of the Minister for Defence, Deputy Simon Coveney, I thank Deputy Creed for raising the matter of measures being taken by the Government to secure justice for the families of the late Privates Thomas Barrett and Derek Smallhorne. The Minister has asked me to pass on his apologies that he is not here in person to respond to this very important Topical Issue. Unfortunately, he is committed to chairing the beef forum this afternoon.

As the House will be aware and as Deputy Creed has outlined, on 18 of April 1980, Privates Thomas Barrett and Derek Smallhorne were murdered, and one soldier, Private John O'Mahony, was seriously injured in an incident in Lebanon. The personnel, who were serving their country as peacekeepers with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, were providing a security detail to two officers serving with Observer Group Lebanon, OGL, on the day in question.

During the course of the mission, they entered the de facto forces enclave in accordance with arrangements made through the normal channels with the de facto forces in southern Lebanon. At the village of At Tiri, the convoy was stopped and all the personnel were taken prisoner by the de facto forces. The Defence Forces personnel were disarmed and separated from the rest of the group. Private O'Mahony was shot and seriously injured while Privates Barrett and Smallhorne were taken away and later murdered. The OGL personnel were subsequently released.

In an RTE "Prime Time" programme on 16 May 2000, it was reported that the alleged perpetrator of the crime, Mr. Mahmoud Bazzi, was residing in the US. While the country with primary jurisdiction in this case is Lebanon, the Department of Defence and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade engaged with the US authorities, as appropriate. Mr. Bazzi had claimed in a televised interview in Lebanon subsequent to the murders that he had killed the Irish peacekeepers in revenge for the killing of his brother in a previous violent incident. He has since stated that he was forced to make this admission. However, he has been positively identified as the perpetrator by the now retired Private John O'Mahony.

Successive Ministers, Department of Defence officials, military authorities and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade have followed through on this issue for almost 35 years, investigating all measures open to the Irish authorities to bring the alleged perpetrator of this crime to justice. In regard to a potential prosecution by Ireland, the Department of Defence, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Attorney General's office and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions have all collaborated on this case. The process was detailed and complex and included a review of international legal provisions, including the potential application of the provisions of the Geneva Convention. Unfortunately, there are no provisions in Irish law which provide a basis for Ireland to pursue a prosecution against the alleged perpetrator. As Privates Smallhorne and Barrett were killed in the line of duty with UNIFIL, Lebanon is the country with primary jurisdiction in this case.

During a visit by the Taoiseach and me to Lebanon on 16 June 2014, the Taoiseach raised the murders of Privates Barrett and Smallhorne with the Lebanese authorities and UNIFIL personnel. The Taoiseach stated there was a clear need for closure and for the alleged perpetrator to be brought to justice, and he sought the support of the Lebanese authorities in this regard.

On 15 July 2014, special agents with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency arrested the alleged perpetrator, Mr. Mahmoud Bazzi, at his residence in Dearborn, Michigan, for administrative immigration violations. During a subsequent court hearing on 11 August 2014, Mr. Bazzi admitted in immigration court that he entered the US without proper documentation and thereafter lied to obtain lawful immigration status in the US. This paved the way for his removal from the US. On learning of Mr. Bazzi's impending deportation from the US, the Irish Government requested the support of the Lebanese Government in seeking justice for the murdered Irish UNIFIL peacekeepers, should such action be feasible. The Minister for Defence, during a visit to the Lebanon last December, met with the Lebanese authorities at the most senior levels of Government and highlighted the Irish Government's continued commitment and interest in progressing this case.

Mr. Bazzi was deported from the United States to his native Lebanon on 30 January 2015. On arrival in Beirut, Mr. Bazzi was arrested and detained by the Lebanese authorities, and he remains in custody. It is now a matter for the Lebanese authorities to investigate the case. The Irish ambassador in the region is continuing to monitor developments in the case.

This is a significant step in the pursuit of justice for Privates Thomas Barrett and Derek Smallhorne, who lost their lives while on United Nations peacekeeping duty in Lebanon almost 35 years ago. The arrest of the alleged perpetrator was an important day for the families and their continued commitment to securing justice for their loved ones is to be commended.

In conclusion, the Irish Government is aware that the Lebanese authorities have primary jurisdiction in terms of pursuing a prosecution against the alleged perpetrator. We stand ready to provide whatever assistance possible to the Lebanese authorities in progressing this issue. However, it is a matter for the Lebanese authorities to investigate the case and to determine any future action.

I thank the Minister of State for his comprehensive statement and outline of the history of this issue. As I said in my opening remarks, we are entering the end game in respect of the quest for justice. Thirty-five years is a lifetime for the families involved to await justice. Therefore, it is imperative that we reassure those families and those campaigning for justice on their behalf that every measure is being taken towards justice and that the Irish authorities remain vigilant to all of the possible developments in respect of a successful prosecution and conviction in this case.

In that regard, I have a specific request. Will the Department of Defence or the Department of Foreign Affairs appoint a specific person to liaise with the individual families and the committee seeking justice? In light of the significant developments in recent days and weeks, it is important those families are brought up to speed in respect of all of the issues, some of which may not be in the public domain, so they are as informed as possible.

The Minister of State referred to the fact there is an Irish ambassador in the region. Lebanon has an embassy in London and Ireland is covered by that ambassador. I do not wish to be prescriptive in terms of what should happen at diplomatic level, but perhaps it would be appropriate that the Irish Embassy in London would make contact with the Lebanese ambassador to London, whose brief covers Ireland, HE Inaam Osseiran, to convey the continuing conviction of our Government that this matter must be brought to a successful conclusion.

Will the Minister of State ensure the families are briefed, whether by somebody from his Department or the Department of Foreign Affairs, and that we remain vigilant in regard to the crossover between law and politics in this volatile region of the Middle East? We must ensure nothing untoward happens between the detention of Mr. Mahmoud Bazzi and a prosecution being brought. As mentioned earlier, there has been speculation in some quarters that it may be difficult to get a successful prosecution.

I thank the Minister of State for all that he, his colleagues and previous Administrations have done. This search for justice has been a long journey - 35 years - but I hope we are now facing the end game.

I agree with the Deputy that we are approaching the end game on this. I also agree the wait has been a lifetime for both of the families involved. I assure the Deputy that there is ongoing contact with the families and the Minister, Deputy Coveney, spoke with them just last weekend. Officials from both the Department of Defence and Department of Foreign Affairs are keeping a close eye on the issue and keeping in contact with our ambassador in the region so as to keep up to date on the issue. We want closure and want justice for those involved, in particular the families. These people have been dealing with this issue for the past 35 years.

Whenever I have been in Lebanon - I have been there on numerous occasions over the past four years - I have raised this issue whenever I got the opportunity. I assure Deputy Creed it is a matter of priority for the Government, the Department of Defence and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to ensure justice is obtained for the people involved. It is sad they have not got it to date. We are all aware of the commitment of the Irish Defence Forces and of the great work they do in Lebanon. They take their life in their hands when they go abroad on peacekeeping duties and I acknowledge that commitment here. We are doing what we can on this side and our officials are doing the same on the Lebanese side.

Private Rented Accommodation Costs

Every weekend I meet families whose deadlines for eviction are in a few weeks or few months time. For some it was the end of January, now it is the end of February or the end of March, April, May and so on. Many of these families facing eviction have children some of whom are up to the late teens. Some mothers and fathers bring these children with them to my information clinics. It is sad and appalling to see the distress in the faces of these children as the family faces eviction, homelessness and grave uncertainty. Even simple tasks such as storing food or getting to school or work become a nightmare when a family is in accommodation for the homeless. In many of the cases I represent, landlords give the usual excuses of requiring a house or apartment back for a relative or for themselves. However, after the eviction, the properties are often immediately let out again for from €1,300 to €1,500 or €1,600 a month, way above Dublin City Council and Fingal County Council rent supplement rates. Increasingly, landlords simply say they want to maximise rents and that rent supplement rates are far too low.

The Minister of State is eight months in office and this is all still happening. The social housing strategy 2020 is still just aspirational talk, task forces and meetings. Rent supplement accommodation has long dried up, with rents in Dublin Bay North and other urban constituencies now soaring 30% above 2012 levels and almost back close to Celtic tiger levels. For example, for quarter three of 2014, daft.ie put rent for a three bedroom house in Dublin 3 at €1,655 a month, in Dublin 5 at €1,418 a month, in Dublin 13 at €1,352 a month and in Dublin 17 at €1,275 a month. On the Minister of State's watch, we still have 20,000 families and citizens seeking accommodation in this city and some 89,000 seeking accommodation nationally. We have 359 homeless families and 780 children in hostel, guest house or hotel accommodation in Dublin on this day. The Minister and Minister of State are personally responsible for the suffering of these people.

It was always grossly unfair of the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Burton, to use rent supplement limits as a crude and useless form of rent regulation. In response to parliamentary questions I put today regarding rent regulation, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Kelly, said he is monitoring the rental market very closely. He also referred to the Private Rental Tenancies Board's "Do You Know" campaign through which tenants who are anxious that rent increases in excess of market rents are being charged should contact the PRTB. What will they gain by that? This is a feeble and useless response on the part of the Ministers.

Last week, Senator Aideen Hayden held a very informative briefing on what she called the "third generation" model of rent regulation and on how rent regulation works in Europe. There, rent regulation offers security of tenure to tenant and landlord and increases, or decreases, are fair and usually linked to the consumer price index. I learned from that briefing that the report of the Constitution review group of 1996, the report of the commission on the private rented residential sector of 2000, the All-Party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution ninth report of 2004 and the DKM Economic Consultants report, Rent Stability in the Private Rented Sector 2014, which the Minister of State has on his desk, all agree that the form of rent control sanctioned by the Rent Restrictions Acts 1946-1967 was unconstitutional but that fair and proportionate rent control is not unconstitutional. I understand the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 is to be amended and I believe we clearly need some form of rent regulation included in that Act. I have no problem in regard to amending the Constitution so that the rights of property are amended to ensure the kind of savage rents being imposed on vulnerable families in Dublin and other cities are unacceptable and not allowed to happen.

In countries such as Germany, France, Belgium, Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark - most of our EU partners - rents are linked to the cost of living and all these countries have reasonably healthy rental markets. It is clear that the greedy madness which enveloped Dublin rental markets in the mid-noughties, which is again threatening our society, would not be tolerated by any of our EU partners. I urge the Minister of State and the Minister to sit down together and to bring forward serious proposals in regard to the regulation of rent in this country.

The main cause of rising rents is a lack of supply in the market. The Deputy mentioned the social housing strategy 2020, which was published last November. This is not just a strategy.

It sets out clear, measurable actions and targets to increase the supply of social housing, reform delivery arrangements and meet the housing needs of all households on the housing list. In addition, the implementation of the range of actions under the Government's Construction 2020 Strategy will support increased supply in the wider housing market. We will be expecting local authorities throughout the country to come forward with proposals in the coming weeks to seriously ramp up the provision of social housing.

The private rented sector is an important element of the housing market, with the proportion of households in the sector almost doubling in the period from 2006 to 2011. I am very conscious of the difficulties caused by rising rents. In the third quarter of 2014, rents were 5.6% higher nationally than in the same quarter of 2013, according to the most recent rent index from the Private Residential Tenancies Board. Rents for houses were 4.3% higher while apartment rents were 7.3% higher than in the same quarter of 2013. In Dublin, which is seeing the highest rates of increase nationally, overall rents were higher by 9.5% although the rate of annual increase was down slightly.

The Government is monitoring the rental market closely and is considering all options in order to achieve greater rent certainty, which is in the interests of tenants. The options put forward in the report, Rent Stability in the Private Rented Sector, commissioned by the PRTB and published in autumn 2014, form part of these considerations. My overriding objective is to achieve stability and sustainability in the rental market for the benefit of tenants, landlords and society as a whole. In this regard, we need to be cognisant of the possible negative impacts of rent regulation, including the impact on supply and the potential for black market transactions.

The Residential Tenancies Act 2004 regulates the landlord-tenant relationship in the private rented sector and sets out the rights and obligations of landlords and tenants relating to security of tenure, termination of tenancies, rent and rent reviews. The ongoing development of a stable, well-regulated rented sector is a key goal for the Government. The legal framework set out in the 2004 Act represented the most significant legislative reform in the private rented sector in over a century. Prior to this there was little or no security of tenure for tenants and in most tenancies the landlord had a virtually absolute right to raise the rent at any time. That is not the case at present.

The 2004 Act clearly provides that rents may not be greater than the open-market rate and may only be reviewed upwards or downwards once a year, unless there has been a substantial change in the nature of the accommodation that warrants a review. The Act also provides that a tenant must be given 28 days' notice of new rent. These provisions have effect notwithstanding any provision to the contrary in a lease or tenancy agreement.

People under threat of eviction have rights under law with regard to their tenancies. The PRTB is undertaking a national campaign to ensure that tenants are aware of their rights and do not leave a house prematurely or at the whim of a landlord. We take this issue very seriously and I thank the Deputy for raising it in the Dáil today.

Clearly the lack of housing supply is the key problem and the total output for 2014, which included the first six months of the Minister of State's tenure, was 11,000 units. There is talk of about 15,000 units for 2015 which is not even half good enough. The Minister of State has now at his disposal €300 million from the EIB and the Government, and he has established a working group with the nine major voluntary housing agencies and the local authorities.

However, we want no more talk. Let us have some action because nothing is happening. There have been endless meetings. In my area, Dublin Bay North, which represents about a quarter of Dublin city, we have seen nothing. There has been nothing so far in the north fringe. There may be ten or 20 houses and 40 apartments coming forward in an area which has 5,000 families on the housing list. That is the nub of the problem.

Last week the Governor of the Central Bank, Professor Honohan, published the new mortgage rules. Did the Minister of State or his Department have any input into those rules because many observers feel that one of the net effects will be to price many young families out of buying their own homes in urban areas and thereby further increase the demand for rental property? Up to 40% of homes in the Dublin area are now rented.

On 25 January, the Dublin Region Homeless Executive stated that 359 families with a total of 780 dependent children were in emergency accommodation. The Minister, Deputy Kelly, always seems to be very interested in his legacy. His legacy at the moment is that during his period of Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government one family in this city became homeless every day.

It seems clear from the constitutional advice - the advice of lawyers at the well-attended briefing organised by Senator Hayden - that there is no constitutional impediment to us introducing serious real rent regulation, as opposed to the timid efforts of Fianna Fáil in 2004, to give us a modern rented sector as exists in Germany and many of other European states. We want action now - no more talk.

With due respect, this is the first social housing strategy in a generation. I commend the Government and in particular the Minister, Deputy Kelly, on the work they have done in ring-fencing significant funds. This is a significant commitment by Government to address the social housing deficit. The Deputy should at least make some acknowledgement of those efforts. To say on the floor of the House that nothing is being done is far from the truth; quite an amount is being done.

The Minister of State should come out to my constituency.

The strategy has been put in place. The funding has been provided.

There are queues of homeless people.

The Government has reiterated its commitment.

We will visit the homeless families in the hotels and guesthouses.

We are now engaged with local authorities, approved housing bodies and every other stakeholder that can contribute to offering solutions to the huge social housing deficit. We will deliver on that because the next phase of that implementation is about to be rolled out in coming weeks. The Deputy will see in his constituency as in other constituencies, the start of that delivery.

This year alone, the social housing strategy will provide more than 7,000 social housing units and a further 8,500 units will be secured under the HAP scheme. The total housing provision will result in an investment of almost €800 million across a range of housing programmes. So the Deputy should acknowledge that there is a lot of action.

As I mentioned earlier, a recent PRTB poll found that only 64% of tenants are aware of their rights under the Residential Tenancies Act 2004. Having regard to these findings the PRTB is developing a national communications strategy to ensure that tenants are aware of their rights and are not being removed from their homes, as the Deputy says, at the whim of a landlord. We will monitor the rental situation closely and will take action where we feel it appropriate.

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