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Seanad Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 16 Jun 2011

Vol. 208 No. 9

Adjournment Matters

Local Authority Charges

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Perry, to the House.

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Perry, to the House. While my motion requires a response from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, in a sense it is appropriate that the Minister of State is present because he has responsibility for small business and my motion is directed at giving some degree of flexibility to local authorities and their officials to ease the financial plight of small businesses.

Cork County Council has approved a motion and has been in contact with the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government proposing that changes be made to the Valuation Acts to allow a degree of flexibility in the levying of rates. I am advised that under the current Valuation Acts once the valuation level is set, the rate in the pound, as it was called in former days, must be applied on a uniform basis to every commercially rateable property in a particular local authority area. The members of Cork County Council are unanimous in requesting of the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government that an appropriate amendment be made to the Valuation Acts giving the manager and the councillors discretion to reduce the rates being charged on certain small businesses under certain circumstances.

Members of Cork County Council, with local authority members throughout the country, are very much aware that small businesses are under very severe financial pressure and even a small reduction in the rates being charged would be of great benefit to small hotels and shops, and other small businesses. Apparently the present regulations do not allow for any flexibility. The request addressed by Cork County Council to the Department made it clear that if through a change in the Valuation Acts the councillors were allowed this degree of discretion it would ensure it would be enacted on a cost-neutral basis. There is an acceptance by the councillors that the present rateable valuation system and the rates being levied provide a huge degree of funding for the county. Unfortunately as we are not yet in a position to provide alternative funding, a deduction in rates for certain businesses and the savings for those businesses must be compensated for in other ways, and this is accepted. This is why Cork County Council requests that the Valuation Acts be changed in circumstances where the reduction in rates would be on a cost-neutral basis.

I believe the request has been made in writing and is being examined by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. As the Minister of State is present wearing his Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation hat and has responsibility for small businesses, I ask him to take a keen interest in this idea from Cork County Council and to liaise with the Minister, Deputy Hogan, to examine whether a degree of assistance and financial relief can be brought to the small business sector which is such a huge employer and is so important to the economic fabric of every community throughout the country.

I thank the Senator for raising this very important issue which does have an impact on small companies. I apologise on behalf of the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Hogan, who cannot be present.

Commercial rates income is a very important contribution to the cost of local services provided by local authorities such as roads, public lighting, development control, parks and open spaces. All commercial rates collected in a local authority area are spent exclusively on providing services in that area. The Valuation Act 2001, which sets out the categories of properties that are rateable and not rateable, comes under the remit of my colleague, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan.

Local authorities are under a statutory obligation to levy rates on any property used for commercial purposes in accordance with the details entered in the valuation lists prepared by the independent Commissioner of Valuation under the Valuation Act 2001. The levying and collection of rates are matters for each individual local authority and the setting of the annual rate on valuation, ARV, is a decision taken locally by elected members. Rating law provides for the making of a single ARV and there is no provision for a different ARV to be applied to different premises.

It should be borne in mind that while varying the ARV for certain businesses might be a boost for those businesses, it is likely to have a negative impact on other ratepayers who would be faced with higher rates bills to make up the shortfall in the local authority's rates income. This would be an unfair approach at a time when many businesses are faced with challenging circumstances. Local authority financing from all sources, including rates, motor tax income, Exchequer funding and local charges, is under pressure at present and it is highly unlikely that a local authority would be able to absorb any shortfall in rates income arising from the introduction of such a proposal. It is also the case that it could be problematic on a general level and could have implications for both state aid and EU competition rules.

The Government is focused on reducing the costs of doing business to support competitiveness and employment in the economy and to protect the interests of communities. This year and in recent years, the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government has requested local authorities to exercise restraint in setting commercial rates to support competitiveness in the economy and to protect the interests of communities. Local authorities have responded positively to these requests. Across the 88 local authorities, annual rates on valuation declined by an average of 0.64% from 2010 to 2011.

We are acutely awareof the pressures on small and medium-sized businesses and the challenging economic environment in which many business owners are operating. While the Minister has no immediate plans to conduct a review of the rating system generally, he is determined that every avenue will be pursued to optimise efficiency and certain costs in the local government sector. He is also considering proposals in the area of local government rates, charges and supports to enterprise generally to assist small and medium-sized enterprises.

I thank the Senator for raising this very important matter. It is the issue of local charges that impact on the viability of small companies and the Minister is very conscious of this. This will be a huge consideration in the review of the efficiencies of local government.

International Agreements

The Aarhus Convention was signed by Ministers of European countries on 25 June 1998 and came into force in October 2001. It stands on the three pillars of access to information, public participation and access to justice, which are provided for under Articles 4 to 9, inclusive. The convention aims to strengthen the role of members of the public and environmental organisations through giving them the right to obtain information on the environment, the right to justice in environmental matters and the right to participate in decisions that affect the environment.

There is a growing recognition of the benefits of transparency of decision-making processes and openness of administration to public participation not only in concrete decisions to authorise certain facilities or operations but also in developing draft laws, rules and regulations. Allowing members of the public greater access to environmental information is also considered the best guarantee of the accuracy of data supplied by companies as well as contributing to effective monitoring and compliance enforcement.

The need for legislative and institutional change to fully implement the Aarhus Convention becomes clear when one considers the issues relating to EirGrid, the North-South interconnector and local anti-pylon groups in Cavan, Monaghan and Meath. Access to justice is being blocked to communities across these counties by barriers with regard to cost and standing. Principal 10 of the Rio Declaration, which was signed by Ireland in 1992, states that environmental issues are best handled with the participation of all concerned citizens at the relevant level. It also states that effective access to judicial and administrative proceedings, including redress and remedies, shall be provided. However, this is being blatantly and totally disregarded.

The issue of costs with regard to administrative reviews has been and will continue to be a substantial barrier when participants try to present their case on an equal footing with those who have deep pockets. In the absence of the ratification of the Aarhus Convention a serious inequality of arms is evident. The community groups opposed to placing the cables of the North-South interconnector overground had to fundraise extensively to be able to take on EirGrid. Another consultation is pending and these groups, in the absence of a refund of costs, may not be able to challenge EirGrid in it.

The people of the north east raised significant funds to examine acceptable alternatives, particularly putting the cables underground. They never resorted to any activities other than those of dialogue and persuasion based on well researched evidence. They participated fully with the oral hearing process and at all times behaved in a respectable and professional manner. The blunder by EirGrid on the height of the electricity pylons which forced the firm to sensationally withdraw its planning application for the North-South interconnector this time last year has left local communities with a huge legal bill. It is unacceptable that EirGrid, which through the taxpayers had access to unlimited resources and consulting expertise, could be allowed to submit such a shoddy application then withdraw it and then walk away with no apparent accountability or penalties. This is an injustice.

With EirGrid's non-statutory public consultation process closing tomorrow, this issue is critical. The groups campaigning against the pylons have been left with the legal costs of a botched oral hearing and at a financial disadvantage in the face of another oral hearing. Unless the Aarhus Convention is ratified and the legitimate costs of groups such as the County Monaghan Anti-Pylon Group and North East Pylon Pressure are reimbursed the people of the State will be denied the opportunity to meaningfully participate in oral hearings on environmental matters of deep concern. I urge the Minister to ratify the convention as a matter of priority.

I thank the Senator for raising this very important issue. The Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters was adopted on 25 June 1998. It seeks to ensure that members of the public and their representative organisations can play a full and active role in maintaining and enhancing our environment.

The convention lays down a set of basic rules to promote citizens' involvement in environmental matters and improve enforcement of environmental law. It has three main pillars: access to environmental information, which includes information on the state of the environment, policies and measures taken, or on the state of human health and safety where this can be affected by the state of the environment; public participation in environmental decision-making, whereby arrangements are to be made by public authorities at national or local level to enable the public affected and environmental non-governmental organisations, NGOs, to comment on, for example, proposals for projects affecting the environment, or plans and programmes relating to the environment; and access to justice, which includes the right to access review procedures to challenge the legality of decisions that have been made which may impact on the environment.

The Aarhus Convention goes to the heart of the relationship between people and governments and is about accountability, transparency and responsiveness. Progress towards ratification of the convention is closely aligned with work at EU level and, in that context, the EU has adopted two directives of relevance. These deal with public access to environmental information — Directive 2003/4/EC — and public participation in certain environmental decision-making procedures — Directive 2003/35/EC. Both directives have been fully transposed in Ireland.

The programme for Government commits to completing ratification of the convention. Much of the work required has been completed but there are a number of remaining matters to be addressed before ratification can proceed. My colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Phil Hogan, who extends his apologies for being unable to attend, has indicated that the further legislative amendments required will be introduced through the Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2011, currently awaiting Committee Stage in the Dáil. The Senator will be pleased to hear that the amendments concerned were considered by Government earlier this week and, subject to their finalisation by the Office of the Attorney General and their approval by the Dáil, they should be reflected in the Bill when it comes before this House for debate.

The amendments are focused on the need to enhance procedures to ensure members of the public have access to review procedures to challenge breaches of environmental law, and these procedures must be timely, equitable and not prohibitively expensive. This requirement must be balanced with the need to ensure maximum efficiency and value for money in terms of the review mechanisms so as not to place an onerous burden on public funds. The Bill will therefore introduce measures to limit the costs of environmental actions in the courts. It will also change the threshold for seeking leave for judicial review proceedings in certain planning matters, lowering it from the current requirement to have a substantial interest in the matter at hand to a sufficient interest,consistent with the general rules governing judicial review in other areas.

The Department is working closely with the Office of the Attorney General to finalise the legal text of the amendments. When the Bill is enacted, and it is hoped that its passage through the Oireachtas can be completed before the summer recess, the Minister will move as quickly as possible to complete the formal arrangements for the ratification of the convention by the State.

I congratulate the Senator on her election to the House.

Human Rights Issues

I wish to raise the issue of the trials of medical personnel in Bahrain which started last Monday. The Minister of State will be aware that in recent months there has been particularly harsh and violent repression by the Government of Bahrain of the fundamental freedoms of association, expression, religion and speech of its citizens. In March, a large protest took place which was violently crushed. There are pictures on the Internet and gruesome accounts of unarmed protesters among the large crowds being shot in the back of the head in the middle of Manama.

The doctors were detained after the protests simply because they treated injured protesters. The Government claimed that they were seeking to overthrow the authorities but all they were trying to do was their job, as any medical practitioner would do, which is to help anyone who has serious physical injuries. Many human rights groups have stated that the real crime of the doctors was that they were in the hospitals and could bear witness to the brutality that had been unleashed on the protesters. The Government was worried about the fact that they were able to get photographs out from the hospitals showing the condition people were in and bodies in an incredible state lying on the floor.

The trials of 34 doctors and nurses began last Monday. They had been kept in captivity for weeks and were not given access to their lawyers or their families. They told the court that they had been tortured to make confessions. Bravely, these men and women walked out before the court and said that, despite what had been done to them, they would still plead not guilty. Some of the doctors concerned trained in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Dr. Ali-Alekri, for example, has an Irish-born child who holds an Irish passport from the time he trained here and worked in Temple Street Children's University Hospital. If found guilty, he faces execution in Bahrain simply for doing his job.

The Minister of State will be aware that a motion tabled in the Seanad last week by Senator John Crown, which was agreed by all sides of the House, called for action on this matter. What is the Government doing to raise this issue at EU level? I am aware that conclusions were adopted by the April meeting of the Foreign Affairs Ministers and that the EU raised the issue with the Government of Bahrain in May. Another Council meeting is due to take place next Monday and I am anxious that the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade raises it again at that meeting.

What action is the Irish Government taking to raise the matter in the United Nations? These people face execution and the world must act now. It will be too late if the Government of Bahrain carries out its plans to put people to death simply for doing their job as medical practitioners. Has the Irish Government raised this issue directly with the authorities in Bahrain? Perhaps the Irish Government could ask the Irish ambassador to witness the trial or at least facilitate an independent medical delegation doing so. I hope, please God, that the people facing trial will be released. In that case we should consider providing them and their families with asylum in this State.

A number of Irish medical personnel have done an incredible job in the face of a great deal of silence in general among the medical community. Those who are publicly on record on this issue include Professor Damian McCormack, Dr. Ruairi Hanley, who wrote an excellent piece in the Irish Medical Times, and Senator John Crown. However, the silence of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, RCSI, has been deeply distressing. The college has huge commercial interests in Bahrain worth €70 million, but it has a moral responsibility to act in defence of one of the basic tenets of medicine, that one treats any patient without discrimination. That is what the doctors were doing in this case. It is a shame on the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland that it trained people in this country to act by those principles, but when those basic principles of medical practice are challenged in such a violent way in Bahrain, it has been silent. In fact, when the trials started, the RCSI held a conferring ceremony among members of the Bahraini authorities and celebrated its ongoing role in that country. The RCSI has the moral authority to act.

I hope the Government will do everything it can to help the people concerned. We have a general responsibility towards everyone concerned but especially in respect of people who were trained in this country before they returned to Bahrain.

I thank the Senator for raising this important matter and wish her well in her political career. I am pleased to have the opportunity to address the House on the Government's position on the important issue of the detention, torture, intimidation and trials of medical professionals in Bahrain.

The Government has taken a number of urgent steps in response to this worrying situation. First, we have repeatedly and robustly condemned all repressive actions by the Bahraini authorities during and after the recent protests, including those taken against medical staff following their professional obligations. The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Eamon Gilmore, made the Government's position clear in his reply to questions in the Dáil on 2 June when he also expressed serious concerns about the broader human rights situation in Bahrain, particularly the death penalty sentences recently handed down to four protestors. The Government has expressed its grave concern about the quasi-military nature of this trial of civilians, as well as reports that detainees in Bahrain had very limited visits or contact with their families or lawyers since detention; that there have been serious physical and sexual assaults in custody; and that the detainees have been forced to sign confessions and make statements confessing their involvement in crimes. The Bahraini authorities should respect detainees' fundamental rights, including their right to receive visits and have unimpeded access to their lawyers, in line with the country's own constitutional and international obligations.

The Government is taking steps though our ambassador in Riyadh who, by a recent Government decision, is to be accredited also to Bahrain to make our grave concerns known to the Bahraini authorities. We also strongly support action taken by the European Union in this matter. The human rights situation in Bahrain, including the repressive actions taken against medical staff there, was formally raised with the Bahraini authorities in Manama on 15 May. The EU Foreign Affairs Council adopted strong conclusions on 23 May, which I fully support, calling for fair and transparent administration of justice in Bahrain. A further discussion may take place at next Monday's Council in Luxembourg, which we would obviously welcome. Further urgent representations are also likely to be made locally by the European Union in the coming days to express our deep concern about the ongoing trials and to press for international and domestic observers to be allowed to follow the legal proceedings.

The Government has been active in raising this issue at the United Nations, including at the Human Rights Council last week in a national statement. The European Union has also made clear its grave concerns about the situation in Bahrain in the statements it has delivered at the current Human Rights Council session in Geneva. Such statements send a powerful signal of the international community's abhorrence at the repressive actions taken in Bahrain. It is a welcome and positive development that the United States has also joined the European Union and others in expressing deep concerns, about the situation in Bahrain and the case of the detained medics, at the Human Rights Council yesterday.

Bahrain, like other countries in the Middle East and north Africa, is experiencing problems arising from the clear demand of people throughout the region for greater freedom and a greater say in how they are governed. In this regard, it is important that the case of those on trial should not be seen in isolation; rather, it is integrally linked with the wider choices Bahrain faces at this juncture in its history. Genuine dialogue, tolerance and reform are crucial if it is to emerge from its current difficulties. We strongly support those within the Bahraini system who are trying to move towards dialogue and reform rather than repression and injustice. In this context, we welcome King Hamad's announcement that a national dialogue without preconditions will commence on 1 July. We hope this call will be fully supported and acted upon by all in Bahrain. We also welcome King Hamad's ending of the state of emergency on 1 June.

The Government urges the Bahraini authorities to choose the path of justice and reconciliation rather than violence and division in the case of the detained medics and also in Bahrain as a whole. Releasing the medical staff who simply tried to help the wounded, as their profession insists they do and which they did in an entirely peaceful manner, would be an important step in that direction. This is an important matter which I hope will be resolved.

Road Network

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit, gabhaim comhghairdeas leis as a cheapachán agus go n-éirí an t-ádh leis ina phost nua. Táim ag ardú ceiste a bhaineann le mótarbhealaí agus na dolaí atá á íoc orthu. Deir ráitis a tháinig amach seachtain nó dhó ó shin ón AA nach bhfuil daoine ag úsáid na mótarbhealaí mar gheall ar na dolaí atá ann. Táthar anois ag caint ar dhá dola a chur ar an mbóthar idir Gort Inse Guaire agus Tuaim. An ndéanann sé aon chiall sa lá atá inniu ann go bhfuilimid ag íoc €500,000 in aghaidh na míosa i dtáillí leis na comhlachtaí dola toisc nach bhfuil dóthain tráchta ag dul tríd na dola-dhroichid?

I refer to the logic of charging a toll to use the Gort to Tuam motorway. We heard from the AA during the week that motorists were not using motorways because of the cost involved and that the toll income the State was generating was not enough to pay the companies which had built the motorways. We must pay €500,000 a month in penalties to these companies because the tolls are not generating enough income. It is clear to Sinn Féin that the policy of tolling roads is not working and that the PPP model on which it is built does not work.

Some €500,000 a month is being paid to the private operators of the M3 motorway and the N18 Limerick tunnel. The National Roads Authority, NRA, has confirmed that traffic volumes have fallen short of the guarantees given by the State. The payments amount to an annualised figure of €5.9 million which will be paid because traffic volumes on the two routes have fallen below agreed thresholds. At €5.9 million, this is more than four times the authorities' revenue share from all of its other PPP toll motorways. According to the NRA, traffic volumes have failed to trigger a profit for the State on the toll motorways between Dublin and the cities of Waterford, Cork and Limerick and in the case of one of the two tolls charged on the Dublin to Galway route. Two such toll motorways constructed in the past decade, at a cost of €8 billion, are returning a payment to the State, namely, the M1 and the M4. However, in this case, the combined revenue was €1.47 million in 2010, the latest year for which figures are available.

Commenting on these figures at the weekend, the NRA stated the payments to the operators of the Limerick tunnel and the M3 toll motorway were in line with budget expectations. This shows the utterly flawed nature of PPPs and highlights the folly of Government policy on roads and road tolling. The Government is following the policy of the previous Government which put this arrangement in place. We ask it to revise and rethink this arrangement. The NRA has offered the excuse that most of the losses are borne by the PPP companies, but that misses the point that major amounts of money are being lost to the State because of the Government's road tolling policy.

We regularly hear excuses about the limited financial resources available which we understand and appreciate. Accordingly, the Minister of State will understand our frustration and that of the people when we see such waste. Some €500,000 is being paid to private operators at a time when schools in my constituency are unable to acquire windows and doors to keep out the cold. Some €500,000 is being paid to private operators at a time when the HSE states there will be a shortage of junior doctors and there is not enough money available to pay an operating grant to Galway Airport which forms an essential part of regional infrastructure. This is proof that there is both waste and profligacy. This is the waste we need to eliminate. We do not need to cut essential services and the pay of the least well-off.

Detailed figures reveal that between September and December 2010, the most recent figures available, the subvention paid to the operators of the Limerick tunnel was €1.24 million. The subvention paid in respect of the M3 motorway between October and December of the same year amounted to €547,000. Utilising the revenue raised on the M1 and M4 motorways for the entire year still left a shortfall of €317,000.

Even more worrying are the statements from Plan Better which consist of four groups — An Taisce, Friends of the Earth, Friends of the Irish Environment and FEASTA . The cost of subsidising private operators could rise to €100 million if traffic levels remain static or continue to fall in the coming years. Figures compiled by the group show that traffic on the M3 which runs from Clonee to north of Kells, County Meath, was almost 5,000 vehicles per day below the level at which subsidies must be paid to the Eurolink consortium which built it. Táim ag ardú na ceiste, An ndéanann sé ciall leanacht leis an bpolasaí seo ó thaobh na PPPs de agus a bheith ag cur dolaí ar mhuintir na Gaillimhe de €22 milliún in aghaidh na bliana nuair is léir nach bhfuil an polasaí seo ag oibriu?

I thank the Senator for raising this very important issue and congratulate him on his election to the Seanad. I offer apologies from my colleague, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, for his inability to make this Adjournment debate. He is currently travelling between Luxembourg where he was attending a meeting of the European Union Transport Ministers and Frankfurt where is due to attend a number of Tourism Ireland promotional events.

In the first instance, I would like to clarify that the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport has responsibility for overall policy and funding in regard to the national roads programme. The statutory power to levy tolls on national roads, to make toll by-laws and to enter into toll agreements with private investors in respect of national roads, is vested in the NRA under Part V of the Roads Act 1993, as amended by the Planning and Development Act 2000 and the Roads Act 2007.

To date, the main emphasis of tolling policy has been on toll-based public private partnerships, PPPs, for national roads, with tolls being used as part remuneration for private investment. In addition, public tolls are levied on the M50 and Dublin Port tunnel with all revenues being reinvested in the national road network.

There are ten toll schemes in operation on national roads in Ireland. The contracts for the privately-operated toll schemes are commercial agreements between the NRA and the PPP concessionaires concerned. Under the terms of the PPP contracts, a revenue sharing arrangement with the NRA becomes applicable in circumstances where pre-defined traffic thresholds are exceeded. Two PPP contracts, the M3 Clonee-Kells PPP and Limerick tunnel PPP incorporate a traffic guarantee mechanism, the purpose of which within the overall financial package for the project was to enhance the fundability of these projects and obtain competitive funding terms to the benefit of the taxpayer. These contracts were signed in 2007 and 2006, respectively.

In regard to future tolling plans, the national roads traffic management study published recently together with other work being undertaken by the NRA will help inform consideration of future tolling options. However, to date no decisions have been made in relation to future tolling strategy. Nevertheless, given Ireland's overall financial situation and the restrictions on funding in the years ahead, the introduction of further tolls as a means of generating revenue for road investment needs into the future cannot be ruled out and warrants further serious and detailed consideration. Any future tolling policy is likely to be based on public tolls directly raising revenue rather than on private toll-based investment.

The Senator may wish to note that a number of further PPP roads are at tender stage. However, none of these new PPP schemes will be subject to tolling. Rather these are being implemented as unitary payment PPPs, that is by way of annual payments by the NRA for the duration of the contract.

Again, I thank the Senator for raising this important matter. It is an area of consideration for the Government.

I welcome the fact about future roads not having a toll. Will the Minister of State convey our concerns to the Minister? The AA statement basically states that tolls are driving people back onto old roads. That is clogging up towns. People are not using the motorways, which is a serious concern. We need to get people back onto motorways. The best way to do that is to release the tolls.

I will raise the Senator's concerns about this important issue with the Minister. They will be taken into consideration in the future plans for infrastructural development in Ireland.

The Seanad adjourned at 6.25 p.m. until 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday, 21 June 2011.
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