I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, to the House.
Adjournment Matters
Garda Stations Refurbishment
I thank the Minister of State for making time available. Since she is from my constituency, she will be aware of the issues I am raising relating to Blarney Garda station and the station in Glanmire. My understanding is that tenders were invited and have been received for Blarney Garda station. Given that there are some changes in the way we are organising the deployment of gardaí throughout the city and county, the refurbishment of the station is an important issue for Blarney. The station was damaged and my understanding is that tenders were submitted. I am interested in the timescale in respect of the signing of the contracts, the time period it is likely to take to carry out the work and when we can expect to have gardaí back in the station.
The second issue relates to Glanmire where, as I understand it, there is a proposal for a totally new station. My understanding is there has been some delay in the process. It might be helpful if there was clarification, especially for the local community. This area has grown a good deal in the past 15 or 20 years. There is a large number of houses there now but there is also a large young population. There is a need to have some certainty with regard to what is proposed for the Glanmire area.
I thank the Senator for tabling this issue which is of unique interest to both of us because we come from the same constituency. I beg the indulgence of Members because there is a Topical Issue in the Dáil which I must deal with. It is fourth on the list and they have already started the debate. I am desperately hoping to get there for it, but obviously I will stay while I can.
The Minister has asked me to thank Senators for raising these matters. The programme of refurbishment and replacement of Garda accommodation throughout the country is determined on the basis of accommodation priorities established by An Garda Síochána.
The provision of Garda accommodation, including refurbishment works, site purchases, the provision of new buildings and the examination of potential sites for the location of Garda stations, comes under the remit of the Office of Public Works, which has responsibility for capital expenditure on Garda accommodation. Accordingly, Garda accommodation projects are progressed in the context of the availability of funding within the OPW Vote and in the light of the priority attached to each project by the Garda authorities. In that context, the Minister has been advised by the Garda authorities that significant progress has been made in resolving the accommodation issue at Blarney Garda station. The Minister has also been informed that the tender process for the redevelopment of the station has been completed and that, subject to all necessary legal requirements being completed, refurbishment work is expected to begin in the coming weeks. The proposed refurbishment works include the complete renovation of the existing building and the provision of additional accommodation through the construction of a new three storey extension. The progress that has been made in respect of the Blarney station is significant and the Minister looks forward to the completion of the relevant works as quickly as possible.
With regard to Glanmire Garda station, the Minister has been informed by the Garda authorities that, following advertisements placed by the Office of Public Works, a suitable premises for a new Garda station for Glanmire has been identified. The Minister has also been informed that issues concerning the purchase of this site are the subject of ongoing legal correspondence. Accordingly, he is not in a position to offer any further comment on the matter. The Senator will appreciate that the provision of a new Garda station for Glanmire is a project to which both the Garda authorities and the Office of Public Works attach a high priority. The Minister has asked me to confirm this is also his view. That is good news for both areas.
I do not want to go into the issue with regard to the station at Glanmire, but I received a memorandum expressing concerns about the delays in dealing with the legal issues. I will convey that memorandum to the Minister. This matter has dragged on a bit and should be resolved and brought to a conclusion in order that we may get on with the job of getting the station built.
I will make further inquiries as to how the difficulties can best be resolved.
I appreciate that and thank the Minister of State for setting time aside for this debate.
Visa Applications
I am glad to have the opportunity to raise the issue of visas for Chinese visitors to this country, whether for business or tourism. This issue was raised at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade last week when the CEO of Asia Matters made a presentation to the committee on the potential for tourism and trade in Asia, and China in particular, in areas such as financial legal services, innovative technologies and food and drink technology. We were made aware of this last year when we had a visit from the new Premier of China to this country last year. There are also opportunities and huge potential in the areas of education, tourism and culture.
China is the fastest growing economy in the world and will soon become the world's largest economy. It is home to an estimated 535,000 high net worth individuals who will travel. The United Nations world tourism organisation has said that travel expenditure by Chinese people last year was €58 billion, making it a very important market for us. I acknowledge the fact that last year the Taoiseach extended the visa waiver scheme for Chinese tourists visiting Ireland until October 2016. This scheme allows Chinese visitors staying in the United Kingdom to come to Ireland without the stress of having to apply for an additional visa. However, the UK system is cumbersome. It involves a nine page form being filled out, a visit to an immigration office in China - these offices are not widely available - the taking of fingerprints and eye scans. The system is quite cumbersome and the visa costs £80, 50% higher than for the Schengen countries.
We should consider the number of Chinese people visiting Europe each year. Some 600,000 visit France, 400,000 visit Germany and 200,000 visit the United Kingdom. Those who visit France and Germany are in the Schengen area and can travel freely within that area. A campaign taking place in Britain currently highlights the fact its visa system for Chinese visitors is cumbersome. It does not serve us well. We need to stand on our own in this regard. It was recommended at the committee last week that Ireland should be the first country to introduce a 90 day visa for all Chinese visitors. The days of believing all these people want to do is come here and stay forever and dodge the system are gone. We should recognise that people genuinely want to come here to do business and they are very important for us.
The Minister will be aware that Professor Fan Hong, the director of the school of Asian studies in UCC, has strong views on the issue of visas and of how difficult and cumbersome obtaining a visa can be for visitors. This is an issue we have the potential to resolve. We should be putting something in place that benefits us directly.
I thank the Senator for the opportunity to outline, on behalf of the Minister for Justice and Equality, the numerous positive developments that have taken place with regard to the Irish visa regime since the Government came into power, in particular the developments relating to China.
The available evidence indicates that visitor numbers to here from China grew by 26% last year. Such a significant rise in business would not suggest there is a major problem with the manner in which the necessary paperwork is processed. The Minister is advised that the checking procedures and processes in place are at least on a par with the United Kingdom, with whom we share a common immigration area, and less onerous than those in place for many other EU member states. Clearly no system is perfect, particularly a system which relies to a large extent on the supporting information supplied in order to risk assess applications. If the Senator has a particular case in mind or has suggestions which would further improve the situation, while at the same time maintain sensible immigration checks, the Minister would be glad to receive them from her.
The commitment of the Government to the facilitation and growth of visits to Ireland from China is shown by the fact that the Irish naturalisation and immigration service of the Department maintains a dedicated visa office in Beijing. This office processed approximately 6,000 visa applications in 2012, with an approval rate of 94% which compares very favourably internationally. Application guidelines for all visa categories are published on the Irish Embassy website in English and Chinese. Chinese nationals who wish to travel to Ireland as tourists have a number of options available when seeking to apply for a visa to Ireland. They can apply as part of an approved destination scheme, ADS, group tour, for an individual tourist visa or for a visit visa, which is normally used for visiting family members. Several measures have been introduced in the past number of years to encourage this type of tourism to Ireland, resulting in an ADS visa being now one of the most straightforward and quickest Irish visas to obtain, with processing times of less than three working days normally.
In recognition of the growing numbers of affluent and independent tourists from China, a scheme to enable independent Chinese travellers to come to Ireland was introduced in November 2011. The category was formally launched by the Taoiseach during the course of his official visit to China in April 2012. The visa application requirements for independent tourists are minimal and I am informed that Tourism Ireland has welcomed this initiative. This category of visa application is processed within ten working days.
As a further demonstration of our commitment to the Chinese market, the Government launched, with effect from 1 July 2011, the first ever Irish short-stay visa waiver programme. The programme was designed to boost tourism and business, especially from emerging markets, and it applies to holders of UK short-stay visas from 17 selected countries, including China. It also allows tourists in possession of a UK visa to travel on to Ireland without the need to apply for a separate Irish visa. The Government decided in March 2012 to extend the programme until the end of October 2016. This programme has led to a significant growth in the number of visits to Ireland from China. According to Central Statistics Office figures, in the 12 months following its introduction, the number of trips from China increased by over 26%, from 12,314 to 15,572, an extra 3,258 visits.
This demonstrates the positive impact of the Government’s initiative. In addition, with effect from 1 August 2012, a more liberal multi-entry visa regime for Chinese business travellers and regular family visitors was implemented. This regime compares favourably with the approach taken by our nearest competitors. For example, it allows qualifying businessmen to get a three-year multi-entry visa for €100, which compares with the $180 charge imposed by the USA for the same duration. All of these initiatives demonstrate that the Government is pursuing an ongoing and creative approach to the development of a visa system that facilitates tourists who wish to come from China to Ireland, rather than putting obstacles in their way. I agree with the Senator that we must insist on getting our share of the huge market emerging in China. We must not put obstacles in the way of Chinese people who wish to visit this country.
I repeat that it is not as easy to get a visa to enter the United Kingdom, with which we have certain ties, as it is to get a visa to enter other European countries. As I said, that can be a hindrance for us.
Water and Sewerage Schemes Provision
I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Fergus O'Dowd.
I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House to take this matter.
The people of Bandon are devastated that SIAC has walked away from the main drainage and sewerage scheme in the town. Even though there was major disruption in the town during these works, very little of the contract was executed. I wonder when a new contractor will come to take SIAC's place. When the consultants who had been appointed decided to pull out of Ireland, a short time after the appointment of SIAC, it meant that SIAC had to deal directly with Cork County Council. It appears that severe difficulties came to the surface within weeks of this development. The main drainage and sewerage scheme is under the auspices of the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government. The imparting of funds to Cork County Council means it is now in charge of the project. Consequently, I ask the Minister to take charge of the contract and this operation.
Since 2009, the people of Bandon had been lobbying strongly for interim gravel removal to take place during the summer months outside the fisheries embargo, that is, from 1 May to 30 September each year. The businesses and residents of Bandon are convinced that this approach has been of assistance during times of heavy rainfall. There have been seven serious incidents in recent years, in addition to the major flooding that occurred on 19 November 2009, when over 250 commercial premises and private houses were flooded. In some instances, the water level rose to between 2 m and 2.5 m.
The main overall factor is that Bandon has been shamefully neglected for over 30 years. This applies to previous Governments also. The town allocates plenty of money to Cork County Council in rates, but it has very little to show for it. Some important questions need to be posed. Why did Cork County Council award a €7.5 million project to a €2.5 million bidder? It sounds ludicrous and ridiculous. We understand it was subcontracted again. Why was that done? It might have been the lowest tender, but the Minister of State knows that alarm bells would ring straight away if a project in his territory which had been costed at €8 million was put out to tender at €3 million. That is what happened in this case.
Cork County Council was dealing with the contractors after they had moved in. When they realised within a few weeks that they could not make a go of it, they pulled out. The scheme has been knocked back for several months as a result. It is possible that the delay will extend to well over one year. How is it possible for the collapse of a scheme that was being publicly funded and is of such importance for the town - local people have been waiting for it since 1992 - to be a matter of such secrecy? Nobody has answers. The local town council is doing its best. Officials at managerial and senior engineering levels in Cork County Council have gone silent when questions have been raised about what has gone wrong. A public inquiry of some sort within Cork County Council is almost warranted to see what has gone wrong.
Obviously, it did not help matters when a huge amount of interference, in the form of major stoppages and delays, was caused by the archaeological department. At one stage, this separate department advocated putting a kink in a pipe to place it under the Bandon wall, rather than through the wall, as other service providers have done. I refer to an area under the road near Allen Square. We all appreciate the significance and importance of the past and the heritage of Bandon town, but it seems to have been forgotten that Bandon is fighting for its very survival. Some businesses are barely hanging on by the skin of their teeth.
When I visited the town in recent weeks, I met some members of the flood committee, all of whom are volunteers. The people in question cross all political divides. My colleagues in other parties are fighting hard for this project also. The flood committee has been on high alert, sometimes until 3 a.m. or 4 a.m., as its members have waited to see whether the water level on the River Bandon will subside. It sometimes reaches the level of the footpath. In one case, all of the items in a shop have to be shifted from 1.5 m down in case the premises floods and items are lost again.
The other big factor is that most of these properties will not get insurance. I know the Minister of State is here to deal with the sewerage scheme. The flood relief programme should be allied to this scheme. I often wonder why there is no joined-up thinking. I met the Minister of State with responsibility for the OPW, Deputy Brian Hayes, when he visited the area in connection with another project a few months ago. They are being undertaken in tandem, but there is no joined-up thinking. They should work together. Overall, it will probably take three or four years before this job is completed. It is absolutely ridiculous. Somebody should put the squeeze on Cork County Council - I know the Minister of State will probably not do so - to find out what went wrong.
Why was the contract awarded in this manner? Why is there such a big delay? It is not fair that the people of Bandon should have to suffer and worry this year and probably next year also. We have very high flood levels and an increasing amount of water is falling. There is deep concern and worry. I met someone about two weeks ago who told me that many people could not sleep when there was a flood alert. They stay awake all night until they know the flood waters have subsided. It is an ongoing worry. The problem was probably not as acute 20 years ago. These schemes have become more important as rainfall levels have increased.
I hope the Minister of State will have some positive news for me and I am not in any way trying to throw nasty aspersions at him. I am just saying something went radically wrong in this case. The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Phil Hogan, or somebody else should get a handle on it. I think the Minister is in charge of Cork County Council and answers should be given to the people in Bandon who are not getting the answers they require. They are being left in the dark. They are being drip-fed information on a need-to-know basis, which is not good enough. There should be an overall plan. The people of Bandon deserve more than they have been getting for the past few years.
I thank the Senator for bringing this matter to the attention of the Department. I am responding to the debate on behalf of the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Phil Hogan.
Contracts for a wastewater treatment plant and a network upgrade for phase 2 of the Bandon sewerage scheme were included in the 2010-13 water services investment programme of the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government as being among the contracts to start during the life of the programme, at a current estimated cost of €13 million. The network upgrade element of the scheme comprises the provision of storm and foul sewerage works in Bandon town and its environs. The new sewerage infrastructure will lead to the separation of storm and foul flows in the existing combined sewerage system and provide for increased foul wastewater collection facilities. It will also provide storm sewerage infrastructure for low-lying areas of the town. As the Senator said, such areas experience flooding from the River Bandon during times of high flow. The Bandon Estuary downstream of Innishannon is a designated sensitive area under the urban wastewater treatment directive. The proposed scheme will ensure foul wastewater is collected to the best practical level and transferred for treatment to the existing wastewater plant.
On 8 June 2011 Cork County Council submitted revised contract documents for the network element of the scheme to the Department. These contract documents were approved by the Minister on 29 August 2011. Following the tender process, Cork County Council submitted a funding proposal of €3.9 million to enable it to award the contract to the most economically advantageous tenderer.
The Minister approved funding for the contract on 22 February 2012, Cork County Council awarded the contract in March 2012 and the contractor commenced preliminary work in March 2012.
The Department was notified of contractual issues in August 2012. Subsequently, the matter was referred to conciliation and a conciliator was appointed. Conciliation meetings took place between the parties in September and October 2012 on the principle of four of the disputed issues. The contractor and the council agreed to the termination of the contract by mutual consent and a commercial settlement was agreed between the parties. The Department raised no objection in principle to the settlement but requested clarification on a number of issues. These clarifications were submitted to the Department on 10 December 2012.
A new consulting engineer has been appointed as consultant to complete the project and is preparing contract documents for the scheme to complete all outstanding works. It is anticipated that the contract will be tendered in the first quarter of 2013 and the work will recommence in the third quarter of 2013.
I thank the Minister of State for his response. He has been very careful not to put too much of a thumb of blame, so to speak, on Cork County Council, to specify the reason the contractor pulled out or to say why the contract was awarded. As I said, the contract was valued at a sum in excess of €7 million. As a previous member of Cork County Council, I am deeply concerned that despite the council having failed to deliver this project in the past 12 to 18 months, a similar situation could recur.
The cheapest is not always the best. I am very concerned that we will have further problems. The most important point is that the ratepayers and ordinary people of Bandon, whose homes are being flooded, are not being informed in an open and transparent manner, as they are entitled to be. The fear, the worry and the misinformation that has sometimes been put abroad must be brought out. There is a commitment that the contract to complete the works will commence in the third quarter of this year. I hope it does because, if it does not, outright war will break out in Bandon, people will not pay their rates and they will start marching. The people of Bandon town and its environs are a very patient bunch. To be honest, they deserve a lot more than they have been getting.
I put a lot of the blame on Cork County Council. While the Minister, Deputy Hogan, is the overseer, it was ludicrous for the council to award a contract, when anyone with a small bit of common sense would have known the contractor could not fulfil the contract for the price given, which was about a third of the overall cost. It does not add up.
I will bring the views expressed by the Senator to the attention of the Minister. I want to say clearly that all county councils have procedures for asking questions and the interrogation of officials in regard to any issue. What I would do, if it was in my county, is contact the county manager, get a meeting with the officials and get the facts on the table. If as the Senator alleges, Cork County Council is not being transparent or accountable, he should kick up a stink over that with Cork County Council. There is also the issue in regard to costs. If the council does not provide the Senator with the documents he seeks, it should do so because, under the Freedom of Information Act, it is obliged by statute to provide him with whatever it believes it can provide. The history of this matter is obviously of deep concern to the Senator and his constituents. He is entitled to get that information in whatever way he can, using the democratic mechanisms that are in place, including his position as a Senator, through his councillors and so on.
The ultimate question is what is happening now. A consultant has been appointed and it is anticipated that work will commence in the third quarter of this year, which will I hope help to alleviate the problem in regard to the high winter floods that may occur later in the year.
Coillte Teoranta Harvesting Rights Sale
The matter relates to the proposed sale of the harvesting rights of Coillte. This arises under the EU-IMF programme which asked the Government to consider selling some State assets to realise a profit for the State. However, Mr. Peter Bacon's report in this regard is now complete and available to the Minister and, in my view, shows it does not make any sense to sell a perfectly profitable State asset that employs close to 12,000 people and controls some 450 hectares of forest.
I have read some, though not all, of the Bacon report. Mr. Bacon was employed on behalf of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. It is clear from his findings that this does not make sense. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine is on record in the Dáil as stating in November last that the potential sale of the harvesting rights of Coillte over an 80 year period would potentially raise €400 million to €500 million, although this has not been fully costed. I am not sure if that is dealt with in the Minister of State's response today, but the Minister is on record as saying it. However, the Bacon report clearly shows that in order for the sale of the harvesting rights to make any financial sense, it would have to raise at least €1.3 billion; therefore, there is obviously a major difference, although it is open to the market to decide what the cost will be.
By selling the harvesting rights of Coillte, they are effectively being transferred into private hands. Coillte is a very profitable semi-State organisation that made profits of between €15 million and €20 million last year and a similar amount the year before. We should not go down the road of selling this profitable asset which we should keep in State ownership. The Bacon report would clearly seem to rubber-stamp that position. In the light of the Bacon report, is the Government reconsidering its position or has the report been fully assessed yet?
It is clear from reading the report that Mr. Bacon is suggesting the sale of the harvesting rights would have a number of major impacts, for which the costs can be estimated, and he has estimated those costs at approximately €1.3 billion. If we were not to realise that amount in the sale, not only is the Government relinquishing a major State asset, but it is also jeopardising 12,000 jobs within Coillte. It would also have a major effect in my own county of Donegal, where Coillte plans to sell a large area of forestry outside Ballybofey, a plan that is meeting huge local discontent.
I call on the Minister and the Government to cease any sale of any Coillte resources in the light of the Bacon report, which is very clear. I have written to the Chairman of the Oireachtas agriculture committee, Deputy Andrew Doyle, suggesting the committee carry out a full and comprehensive analysis and meet all of the stakeholders before any decision is taken. The Minister of State may have some news in this regard.
Gabhaim buíochas leis an Seanadóir as ucht an ábhar seo a ardú inniu. I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Simon Coveney.
Coillte was established as a private commercial company under the Forestry Act 1988, with the two shareholders being the Minister for Public Enterprise and the Minister for Agriculture. As the Senator is aware, the Government decided in the context of the State asset disposal programme that a concession for the harvesting rights to Coillte's forests be put forward for sale. This is but one element of the State asset disposal programme as decisions were taken in regard to other commercial state bodies. My colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, made a comprehensive statement to the Dáil in October 2011 about the sale of State assets, which gives the overall background. As responsibility for Coillte falls within the Minister, Deputy Simon Coveney's remit, I will update the House on his behalf as to Coillte's element of the programme.
Further to the Government decision that a concession for the harvesting rights to Coillte's forests be put forward for sale, the NTMA, via its NewERA unit, has been actively engaged with Coillte, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to examine the financial and other implications of a potential transaction.
Substantial work has been undertaken to date on the identification of the forestry assets involved, the determination of their value and the consideration of a number of issues associated with the proposed sale of the harvesting rights. Some of the issues identified so far include public access to recreational land, the possible impact on the timber industry, environmental and social impacts and consequential implications for the company and levels of employment. I assure the House that a comprehensive analysis has been carried out of all relevant issues.
Consultation has also formed part of the consideration. NewERA, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and my Department have met interested stakeholders, including, on 25 January, the Coillte group of unions, to discuss their position on the sale of the harvesting rights. NewERA also met representatives of the Irish Timber Council last July to discuss the implications of any sale of Coillte felling rights for the sawmill sector. In addition, environmental and sports bodies have also given their views to the Minister and the Department of the proposed sale. At the meeting with the Coillte unions on 25 January a copy of the report, Assessment of the Consequences of the Proposed Sale of Coillte’s Timber Harvesting Rights, which was commissioned by IMPACT, compiled by Peter Bacon and Associates and published on 10 January was received. It is being analysed and a further meeting with the unions is to be held in due course.
NewERA is providing financial advice for the Government on this process on the basis of a comprehensive and detailed analysis. As the Senator will appreciate, the issues involved are commercially sensitive and NewERA is not in a position to comment publicly on them. All transactions managed by it, at the request of the Government, as part of the State asset disposal programme, including any sale of Coillte harvesting rights, will be conducted in a transparent manner in line with EU and-or national regulatory and legal guidelines for sales of assets.
The Government is very much aware of the economic and social benefits of forestry. This is evident from both the maintenance in 2013 of funding for the forestry programme and the important contribution Coillte makes to the supply of timber to the sawmills, in the provision of forest recreational activities and valuable tourism attractions and in the maintenance of the State's forest estate. The outcome of the overall analysis will be considered by the Government on its conclusion. This entire process is very complex and it is not possible at this stage to pre-empt the outcome of the analysis and its possible consequences for the future of Coillte. I reiterate that the Government will proceed with caution in this matter and that, as yet, no final decision has been taken.
The Seanad adjourned at 5.55 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 6 February 2013.