The Order of Business is Nos. 1, 2 and 20, motion 25. No. 1, the University College Galway (Amendment) Bill 2005 — Order for Second Stage and Second Stage, to be taken on the conclusion of the Order of Business and to conclude not later than 1.30 p.m., with the contributions of spokespersons to last 12 minutes and the contributions of other Senators to last eight minutes, and with the Minister to be called on to reply no later than five minutes before the conclusion of Second Stage; No. 2, the Competition (Amendment) Bill 2005 — Committee and Remaining Stages, to be taken at 2 p.m. and to conclude not later than 5 p.m.; and No. 21, motion 24, to be taken between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. There will be a sos from 1.30 p.m. to 2 p.m.
Order of Business.
The Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General published a report yesterday on the great money pit that is and was the PPARS project in the Department of Health and Children. The immediate response of the Tánaiste to the report into this fiasco, which found that over €200 million was wasted on the system, which cost over 29 times the original estimate, was to state that lessons are to be learned from it. I wonder if the Leader of the House can ask the Tánaiste to come to the Seanad to explain exactly what she means by her comments. What lessons can be learned by a Government that has been in office for almost nine years, but is unable to manage a project of this nature?
There was no scrutiny of this runaway financial project. Consultants were paid expenses of more than €60 million over the past 18 months, as this train rolled along. The Tánaiste needs to come to the House to explain what she means by her statement that lessons have to be learned. I want to know exactly what lessons have been learned by the Government on foot of this latest financial fiasco.
As we enter the Christmas period, particular pressure is being placed on our emergency services. A report published yesterday indicated that untold pressure is being put on the accident and emergency departments of our acute hospitals. For example, staff who have to deal with people who are out of their minds with drink on a continuous basis are being hassled. I understand 30% of all injuries reported in accident and emergency departments are drink-related.
We must be much more pro-active in ensuring the safety of staff in accident and emergency departments. Charges should be imposed on those who are out of their minds from drink. As an initial phase wet rooms should be established. We should consider charging those people for the pressure they are putting on the health service. At this time of the year in particular, much more needs to be done to protect staff in those positions and to ensure the responsibility is meted out to people who inflict such financial loss on the health service.
I could not agree more with the final point made by Senator Brian Hayes which I have raised on a previous occasion. A penalty should be imposed on those who arrive in accident and emergency departments and who cause chaos. I agree they should be separated out into a wet room away from decent people who have to put up with the problems created by drunks coming in to accident and emergency departments at all hours of the day and night. All of this could be linked with the report published yesterday.
Also yesterday we received from Alcohol Action Ireland a communication on the importance of random breath testing and the impactthat has had in various European countries. We had a useful debate on alcohol abuse some months ago. I suggest we have a debate on the issue in the new year in view of the new information to hand, such as the recent report, the various pieces of information compiled by Alcohol Action Ireland and the appalling experiences of accident and emergency units throughout the country.
There is much support for the points raised in regard to accident and emergency units. Those who arrive in a drunken state, cause chaos and use up facilities should not be given the same treatment as everybody else. They need to understand there are people who get priority before them where that can be done, although such an approach can be difficult to implement.
I and my colleague, Senator Coghlan, recently raised the various problems arising from the Official Languages Act agus go háirithe "Dingle", "Daingean Uí Chúis", "An Daingean" agus na deacrachtaí a bhain leis sin. In the meantime places in Connemara and Donegal are expressing similar problems with the application of the Act. I ask whether we need to review the Act because in addition to the point raised by Senator Coghan and I, last week in the other House the Taoiseach raised the extraordinary costs and wastefulness of the production of certain end-of-year reports completely as an Ghaoluinn when there is no need for them. There is an in-between position which can be looked at.
The Houses of the Oireachtas Commission has also been dumped with another requirement of the Act to take on a huge additional burden of translation with no money being made available. Three issues arise. First, there is the question of placenames. Second, there are the annual reports that have to be produced as an Ghaoluinn, the translation of which can be done without publication. The only good aspect of the Act is that it has created translation jobs. My proposal is to retain these jobs by ensuring the documents are translated but it should not be necessary for all of them to be published in hard copy. Third, an additional burden of translation has been demanded by the Minister for which there is no financial support or resources.
It is time we had the Act reviewed and made more amenable to demands and needs and what is best for An Ghaoluinn. We can put money where it is badly needed in the Gaeltacht and with Gaeltacht people, not in half the nonsense the Minister is going on with.
Bheinn ar aon aigne le beagán dá bhfuil ráite ag an Seanadóir O'Toole ach amháin é seo. Ní dóigh liom gur féidir le pobal a rá go dteastaíonn uaidh bheith sa Ghaeltacht agus go mbeadh ainm oifigiúil an bhaile i mBéarla ag an am céanna.
Tabhair an rogha dó.
Má theastaíonn ó phobal an Ghaeltacht a fhágáil, tá an rogha agus an tsaoirse sin aige. Ba chóir dó an cinneadh a dhéanamh pé rud a theastaíonn uaidh.
Tabhair an seans dó. Níl sétugtha dó.
Tá a lán daoine sna fíor-Ghaeltachtaí a dteastódh uathu go dtabharfaí seans do dhaoine sna Galltachtaí an Ghaeltacht a fhágáil. D'oirfeadh sé don Ghalltacht agus don Ghaeltacht ar aon.
I do not want to rehearse matters I raised on the Order of Business yesterday but I ask the Leader to ascertain the answer to a question. It appears the Government believes, and I have no reason to doubt its view, that the Colombia three were in Colombia to raise what the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, described as tens of millions of dollars for nefarious activities. I am a member of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs, as is the Leader, and we were provided with a succession of confidential briefings in private about the enormous amount of work the Department of Foreign Affairs and its staff was putting in on behalf of three people who, we are now told, were involved in the most appalling nefarious activities.
And paid for by the State.
Did the Government know then what we are being told now about them? Did the officials who came in to speak to the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs know they were dealing with people of that ilk? We were presented with three innocent Irishmen stuck in a bad place. If three drug dealers from this city ended up in Colombia doing deals with FARC would the Department of Foreign Affairs have provided a level of service which it told us at that committee was way above what it normally provides for Irish citizens in trouble abroad?
There is a question here. Did the Government know then what it is telling us now it knows about the Colombia three and, if so, why did it not tell the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs? Why did the Government keep that secret and pretend this was a situation where three Irish people were at risk? Did the Government know when it was briefing us and, if so, why did it withhold that information from the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs when, at its request, we were meeting in private?
I agree with my colleagues that anybody who is certified by a medical practitioner as being present in an accident and emergency department because of self-induced alcohol abuse should pay the cost of the ambulance, security and so on. Nobody should be funded for alcohol abuse. We need to deal with this issue. Much of our alcohol abuse is related to the fact that people have money on a scale they did not have previously. If they have money on that scale they might as well use some of it to pay for the costs of what they are imposing on society.
Hear, hear.
Yesterday a truck driver was given a suspended sentence for an accident in which people were killed. Yesterday, too, a woman was killed tragically. I do not wish to make any judgments about guilt in respect of a truck driver. The NRA has shown that 90% of trucks, when surveyed, were in breach of the speed limits. I want somebody from the Government to outline what it is doing about ensuring that heavy goods vehicles travel at the legal speed limit which is a maximum anywhere of 50 mph. Heavy goods vehicles account for only 3% of registered vehicles yet they are involved in 10% of fatal accidents. It is a scandal of unmitigated proportions that we are allowing that level of institutionalised dangerous driving in the country. Before more people are killed by trucks I want an assurance that the law will be rigorously and vigorously enforced.
In recent weeks there has been a series of organised shootings linked directly or indirectly to the drugs trade and gangland activities, the latest being in my area of Cabra where a public house was peppered with bullets. Before an innocent bystander is seriously injured or killed in one of these incidents we should debate the issue of the gun culture that exists here. Will the Leader ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to come into the House and clarify what measures are being taken to address this issue before it is too late?
The Comptroller and Auditor General's report on PPARS is very interesting. It is remarkable that when the project commenced in 1998, the timeframe for completion was three years and the estimated cost was €9 million.
(Interruptions).
Sorry, could Senator Jim Walsh repeat that?
No interruptions please.
I did not hear what the gentleman said. It seems as if the Muppet Show is up in the balcony, shouting down.
When PPARS began, the estimated cost was €9 million, now it is €200 million. Senator Jim Walsh can joke about it if he likes but it is a very serious matter. The point is that the problem was not picked up until seven years later, when the Health Service Executive said "Stop the lights" on discovery of the excessive cost. It is a shocking indictment of the Department and the Minister that this was not picked up long before now. The Tánaiste should come to this House to outline the lessons that have been learned because we all know there is an attitude within the public service regarding expenditure. Quite often spending drags on and on, even if a project is losing money or haemorrhaging resources. When private industry is losing money, it stops spending and heads roll. I am convinced that people in the public service involved in this project were promoted, despite the inefficiency over many years.
The inefficiencies were in Fine Gael's health boards.
I strongly support Senator Brian Hayes on the issue of the abuse of accident and emergency units in general hospitals, as well as in psychiatric hospitals. Senator Norris tabled a motion some time ago on inappropriate bed occupancy in the Eastern Health Board region and the problem has not gone away in the interim.
I also strongly support Senator Brady in his call for another debate on drugs. Young people going to discos or nightclubs can tell us who is supplying and dealing in drugs. The problem is that the information is not reaching the Garda and the people who are supplying the drugs are not where they should be, namely, in prison.
I ask the Leader again if we can continue to have a debate on Iraq. It is very important, even though sometimes we must feel like a Greek chorus, lamenting impotently the folly and blindness of leaders. There is something very tragic in seeing a great country like the United States miring itself in the filth of the war in Iraq. To illustrate how important it is that we continue to speak out on the issue, a report today indicates that there was yet another secret prison in Baghdad housing 625 people, so crowded together that they had to sleep on top of one another. Some prisoners had cigarette burns on their bodies, while others had broken limbs. It is an appalling situation.
We have seen the House of Commons report of the Foreign Affairs committee which states quite clearly that US personnel have been involved in grave human rights violations, as have UK personnel, and the Government in Britain is obfuscating. Our Government is obfuscating too, with regard to the flights at Shannon. We must bear in mind what Lord Carswell said about the use of information obtained through torture, namely that it would "...shock the conscience, abuse and degrade the proceedings and involve the state in moral defilement". We are involved in moral defilement.
We hope to have a debate and the Senator can raise those points then.
Thank you, a Chathaoirligh. I agree with much of what my distinguished colleague, Senator O'Toole, said on the subject of Irish. It was very refreshing to hear the ding dong, as Gaeilge, between Senators O'Toole and Ryan. It demonstrated that the language has not quite died.
Ding, dong, Dingle.
I am grateful to my colleagues for that and regret my own inadequacy in the language. However, I believe the argument about placenames shows an arrogant fanaticism that drives people away from Irish and it should be corrected. The translation of documents into Irish can help to revive the language, if jobs are created. Jobs are where the survival of the language rests. However, we must take a balanced view. Following the Order of Business today we will deal with the University College Galway (Amendment) Bill, part of the aim of which is to remove, as a requirement for professorial posts, the speaking of Irish. That silly requirement has caused the university to miss out on some very good appointments.
Maidir leis an Acht teanga, i ndáiríre níl an reachtaíocht sin ann ach le tamall an-ghearr ar fad, agus is reachtaíocht an-radacach agus an-bhunúsach í, a chruthaíonn go bhfuilimid i bhfabhar na Gaeilge agus dáiríre maidir le cur chun cinn na Gaeilge i saol an Stáit. Do thuigeamar i gcónaí go mbeadh dúshlán faoi leith ann chun an reachtaíocht sin a chur i bhfeidhm, ach ní bheadh sí ann murach an dea-thoil don Ghaeilge i measc an phobail. Nach raibh sé suimiúil gur éirigh linn stádas oifigiúil oibre a bhaint amach sa Chomhphobal Eorpach ag an am céanna?
De réir mar a thuigim, tá an tAire, an Teachta Ó Cuív, ag bualadh le dreamanna chun cúrsaí faoi leith a phlé leo. Tá sé beagáinín luath a bheith ag caint ar athbhreithniú a dhéanamh ar an reachtaíocht, ach bheinn i bhfabhar an ruda a dúirt an Seanadóir O'Toole, is é sin, cuireadh a thabhairt don Aire teacht isteach le míniú dúinn cad tá tar éis teacht amach as na comhchainteanna a bhí aige leis na heagrais agus dreamanna eile go dtí seo.
On many occasions we have heard the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government indicate that he will take on illegal dumping and he needs the help and co-operation of the local authorities to do so. However, east Galway has again become the dumping ground for waste from outside local authorities. Sludge from sewage plants in Mayo, Offaly and north Tipperary is being dumped in Eyrecourt, in east Galway. The contractors who are supposedly licensed to dispose of the waste are not being monitored by the local authorities with regard to the final destination of that waste. It should have been dumped in Kilkenny, I believe, but was dumped en route, in Eyrecourt.
I ask the Leader to bring this to the notice of the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, especially as most local authorities in the country are currently updating their waste management and regional management plans. This total disregard for public and animal health, as well as the environment, is taking place under the noses of those on local authorities. Meanwhile, the farming community is being badgered by inspections by the Departments of Agriculture and Food and the Environment, Heritage and Local Government at local level to ensure the proper disposal of on-farm waste. No group is more conscious of the environment than farmers because they have traditionally maintained a healthy environment. Now the local authorities are contracting waste disposal operators who dump sludge, willy-nilly, anywhere they can. Again, I ask the Leader to ask the Minister to take immediate action and to put all local authorities on notice that this practice cannot continue.
I agree with many of the comments regarding the abuse of accident and emergency units by people because access to the units is relatively easy. I also agree with Senator Ryan that we should penalise such people in some way and make them realise that they must be responsible for their behaviour at this time of the year. It is important that such comments be recorded in Seanad Éireann today.
I am concerned about heavy goods vehicles and the way they are driven on our roads. We have all had experiences of being frightened out of our lives by such vehicles. More legislation must be introduced to govern large trucks and the behaviour of their drivers, particularly given that most road accidents involve a heavy goods vehicle and a car, often between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. We must rigorously apply legislation to truck drivers and the manner in which they drive.
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Peter Hain, has made a significant announcement of funding to build a motorway to Derry city, bypassing Dungiven.
It is an ambitious plan and is to be welcomed from a northern and north-western perspective. He stepped outside the box and acknowledged there needs to be a transport link from Derry to Letterkenny, bringing more advanced communication and greater co-operation from the Administration in this State.
The Government must now meet with the Northern Administration on a significant scale because a dual carriageway from Letterkenny to Derry will mean a journey of one hour from Letterkenny to Belfast and will result in economic, social and tourism development, which are key to the prospects of the north west. I know I sound parochial. Senator Norris reproached himself for talking about Iraq all the time and I know I talk about the north west all the time but I see potential and opportunity, as has the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
The Senator certainly sees an opportunity.
We have one of the highest rates of births with neural tube defects in the world. Approximately 100 children are born with the defect every year, from which they either die shortly after birth or are left with spina bifida. This incidence would be greatly lowered if women took folic acid when pregnant.
The House might ask why I do not raise this issue as an Adjournment matter but I did so in 1997 and in January 2000. Since then hundreds of children have been born with the problem. A commission recommended that flour be fortified as it has been for decades in the USA. Folic acid also prevents heart disease and bowel cancer but even though the commission has reported and made its recommendation, the decision has been postponed for another six months. Is there any hope of asking the Minister to come here to explain why this important issue is repeatedly deferred? Terrible damage is being done to Irish children while we delay in making this an important health promotion issue.
The Leader will be aware of difficulties relatives have in getting accommodation for elderly people suffering from Alzheimer's disease. It has reached crisis point and is not an issue of money but of being able to find suitable accommodation. Can the Leader ascertain from the Minister for Health and Children how the Department proposes to deal with the issue, which is a problem in every area? Perhaps the Minister of State might come to the House to give us an indication.
I will accommodate Senators I have already agreed may speak but I cannot allow any others.
I have tried to contact officials in various Departments and semi-State bodies looking for information but some are impossible to reach. I have been given a number and called that number but no-one picks up the telephone. This is a serious problem encountered not only by politicians but by business people and has become more of a problem in Departments in the past 12 months.
There is much evidence that bureaucrats now rule this country. People are frustrated at what is happening. We need a free access to information Bill and the Minister for Finance should come to the House to discuss it. We have the diluted Freedom of Information Act 1997, which requires people to pay enormous sums to access information which is outdated when it arrives because it takes officials three to six months to provide it. This matter needs to be addressed with urgency.
The people of the midlands are frustrated, sick and annoyed with the wastage on PPARS.
It is the Senator's own health board.
The wastage of €200 million would have adequately fitted out Longford-Westmeath General Hospital which has lain idle for the past 11 years. I bring to the attention of the House the disgust of the people of the midlands with the Government's neglect of them.
Will the last person to leaveLongford please turn the lights out?
(Interruptions).
I agree with previous speakers on the issue of accident and emergency services. It is shocking that men who present at accident and emergency departments have consumed an average of 15 drinks and women 11 drinks. The statistics are worse for younger ages. It is unacceptable for people to spend over €100 consuming vast quantities of alcohol and expect the health services to bail them out afterwards. We need extra security at accident and emergency departments and I do not envy the task of staff as they try to deal with the pressure of serious medical injuries and drunken patients.
I ask for a debate on the media. Last Monday my town, Carlow, won the Tidy Towns competition but all the coverage was given to towns which lost. Carlow barely got a mention but Ennis received great coverage because it did so badly. I do not refer to just one part of the media because "Five Seven Live", Sky News and RTE 1 were all guilty. To promote tidiness in towns we should highlight the ones that do well and set an example to others. When we listen to the sports results on a Saturday evening we do not hear about the teams that score no goals.
This House has no influence over the media.
I am amazed at the double standards of the Department of Foreign Affairs. It provided resources to support three people in difficulties abroad but did not provide one cent for an operation for a young man from my constituency who was involved in a serious accident six months ago in Thailand. Only for local contributions that young man would not now be recovering back in Ireland. I am now fighting with the health authorities for a contribution toward a fund for him because double standards are being applied.
I agree with Senator Brady that we have faced many security threats to the State and drugs are a serious such threat. We were fortunate with the last security threat but we cannot pat ourselves on the back. If we do not put resources in now that security threat will grow and we will all have to pay.
I fully support Senator O'Toole on the question of "Dingle", "An Daingean" and "Daingean Uí Chúis". While the Official Languages Act 2003 does not involve waste on the scale of PPARS, the matter needs to be addressed.
Yesterday afternoon Senator Feighan raised the issue of high air fares for returning emigrants at Christmas, which is a valid question. I am more concerned about those who cannot return, namely, the undocumented Irish in the USA. We have had a number of useful debates and have passed a motion requesting the Government to support certain measures currently being consideration by the US Congress.
Last week a new group was established in the United States along the lines of the Irish Immigration Reform Movement of the 1980s and 1990s. It is a support group that seeks immigration reform on behalf of the Irish community in the US. In the 1980s and early 1990s, the IIRM was a linchpin that played a crucial role in delivering results on the visa issue. On this occasion, it is imperative that the Government, through the Department of Foreign Affairs, gives every support and assistance to this new Irish immigration reform group. It will be a key player in building political alliances for the Irish in the United States. The Minister and his officials should make early contact with that group and give it the support it requires.
I support Senator Ulick Burke's concerns about the dumping of sludge in Eyrecourt in east Galway. A private dump commissioned by Greenstar will open in east Galway on 1 January while two miles down the road Galway County Council has proposed another landfill. It is very unfair that two landfills would operate within two miles of each other. The local authority has direct involvement in the public dump. We should debate the waste management issue as it applies to the Connacht waste management plan in this House. Mayo has no landfill for the north of Connacht but two landfills are proposed for east Galway.
Senator Brian Hayes raised the issue of PPARS and asked for an explanation of the Tánaiste's statement that lessons must be learned from this debacle. She means that it must not happen again, it is a straightforward remark.
The Senator raised another valid point, supported by many other Senators, on the misuse of accident and emergency departments by people who are very inebriated. Why should they get the same treatment as those who have come in with a medical problem? This issue was raised before but the idea of separating the two groups was not feasible. Everyone should be helped but a common sense approach might involve their paying a hefty sum for treatment or their having to wait their turn because their injuries are self-inflicted.
Senator O'Toole said such people should be put in a wet room. He also mentioned random breath testing but there are constitutional difficulties in that regard.
The Senator asked about placenames and the costs of translating documents that must be published under the Official Languages Act. There was an interesting argument between Senator O'Toole and Senator Ryan, who said we must pay the cost if we are going to pretend to have an affection for and interest in the language.
Senator O'Toole also asked if the Government knew when it was helping the Colombia three what it knows now. I believe it did not. The Department of Foreign Affairs will always try to help those in difficulty abroad, that is its remit. I will inquire, however, because great efforts were made by the Department. The Senator also mentioned trucks. We have all been passed by trucks on the road so they are breaking the speed limits.
Senator Brady mentioned the peppering of local pubs with bullets and the fact that before long there will be a death as a result. I will ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to come into the House to debate this after the recess.
Senator Finucane asked about PPARS, saying that if it happened in the private sector, heads would roll. Senator Glynn raised the issue of accident and emergency departments and the misuse of psychiatric units. He also mentioned the Garda, which has done well with recent drug seizures but it needs more intelligence.
Senator Norris mentioned Iraq and the American aeroplanes passing through Shannon Airport. I am meeting the Minister for Foreign Affairs at 5.15 p.m. so I suggest we meet in the ante room at 5.45 p.m.
Senator Ó Murchú pointed out that the Official Languages Act had only been in place for a short time and that Irish will soon have official status in the European Union. We should invite the Minister into the House to discuss how far he has come with the Act and how it is being implemented.
Senator Ulick Burke raised illegal dumping in east Galway, particularly Eyrecourt. He said that the Kilkenny site should have been used but people are now dumping in Eyrecourt, affecting public and animal health. Senator Kitt also raised the dumping of sludge in east Galway
Senator Ormonde agreed with the comments about the misuse of accident and emergency departments by people who have brought their afflictions upon themselves and commented on the issue of heavy trucks.
Senator McHugh is perfectly entitled to raise issues of concern in Donegal. We all have interests we like to flaunt from time to time. Mr. Peter Hain, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, unveiled an ambitious road plan and the Senator would like to see the Government meet that plan.
Senator Henry spoke about spina bifida, calling for a review of the report on the issue and Senator Daly called for a debate on Alzheimer's disease. There will be an opportunity to discuss it this evening and I hope he will be able to take part in it.
Senator Bannon spoke about bureaucrats ruling the land and the application of the Freedom of Information Act to land deals. There was a hue and cry in this House last night because Senator Bannon did not turn up for his Adjournment debate.
I was here.
The person who had to initiate the hue and cry was Senator Moylan.
I will be here tonight if the Leader wants to come in and join me.
It is unfair of Senators to submit matters for discussion on the Adjournment and then fail to turn up.
The Cathaoirleach is right, the Minister takes the trouble to come to the House.
Senator Browne wondered why Carlow, one of Ireland's tidy towns, does not get the same publicity as Ennis. Three months ago Ennis was a tidy town but three months later it is the most untidy town. It is very strange, it must have gone to their heads.
Senator Feighan said that the Department of Foreign Affairs operates double standards. I disagree, the Department tries hard to help people but I do not know if that help equates to giving people money for an operation.
Senator Coghlan also raised the Official Languages Act and the debate over Dingle and An Daingean. It is all over the country now.
Senator Bradford called for the Department of Foreign Affairs to link in with the new Irish immigration review group in the United States, which is doing very good work.
Order of Business agreed to.