Dear Editor,

The Houses of the Oireachtas are rising for one week’s break. The next column will be sent to you on Friday, November10.

Regards

Tim Ryan

Connacht Tribune

Tim Ryan, Oireachtas Correspondent

Rabbitte introduces new Bill to fast-track IT projects

New legislation to enable Irish communities to take advantage of the economic opportunities associated with large scale IT infrastructural projects was introduced in the Dáil by Fianna Fáil Deputy . The Bill seeks to change the strategic planning process to allow data centres and other large-scale IT infrastructure projects to access a fast-tracked planning process.

Introducing the Bill, Deputy Rabbitte said the people of East feel they should learn lessons from what has happened over the past three years.

“We live in an increasingly competitive global environment,” she said. “Ireland is one of many nations competing to secure high quality job investment by major international companies. The reason I am introducing the Bill is because where I live in East Galway, Athenry, and Apple has been associated in the media for a long number of months with an ongoing planning and judicial inquiry. It has been going on for nearly 18 months, during which time we have a company saying it has investments of up to €850 million and a population and community saying ‘Please bring us the business’.”

“We have people who object,” she continued. “While we do not disagree with objecting, it is the length of time it has taken the objections to take place that is the issue. The Bill looks to include strategic infrastructure in the fast-track system.”

The Bill was not opposed by the Government and it will be taken Private Members’ Time.

National agencies overly concentrated on the east coast

The impression in rural Ireland is that many national agencies are overly concentrated on Dublin-centric issues, Galway West Fine Gel Deputy told the Dáil.

Speaking during a debate on the National Planning Framework, she said Galway has a particular problem where some 7,000 workers experience near-constant gridlock in Parkmore Business Park. “Our national agencies must become more involved in resolving difficulties outside of Dublin,” she said. “A number of specific projects are contained in the draft, including the proposed development of a new science and innovation park in Cork. Will they be replicated in Galway to service the west of Ireland?” Deputy Naughton asked Minister Eoghan Murphy if he would confirm that services required to support the increased population in Galway and the West will be appropriately budgeted for. “Given that the current ageing facilities at University Hospital Galway, UHG, are not fit for purpose and do not provide an appropriate environment to safely manage the current and future care needs of the population of the West and North-West, can the Minister confirm that an appropriate budget will be allocated for a new acute hospital to service Galway and the region?”

UHG is designated as a centre of excellence for the West and North-West, from Donegal down to Clare and as far east as Athlone, covering a population of more than 800,000, she said. Some 196 senior clinicians working in UHG have told the Minister for Health it is completely unsuitable and a new acute hospital is required urgently. “We can talk about science parks and roads from here to Timbuctoo but the health infrastructure in the West is crumbling and we should reorder our priorities to ensure the more than 800,000 people in the West and North-West get the best care in the best facilities possible.”

According to projections by the Economic and Social Research Institute, she said Ireland’s population is on course to increase by almost a quarter by 2030, which, combined with a projected increase of up to 94% in people aged 80 or over, will have significant implications for the health service. “This will have considerable consequences in the West and North-West where our hospital infrastructure is already not fit for purpose.”

Urgent need to complete review of Caranua

An update on the review of Caranua, the body set up to support victims of institutional abuse, was sought in the Dáil by Independent Deputy Catherine Connolly.

Deputy Connolly said her office is in constant receipt of urgent representation from applicants, as she was sure other Deputies' offices are.

“One applicant rang my office to confirm that he is on hunger strike along with a number of other people, such is their dissatisfaction with the service,” she said. “The reason I used my time on this matter was to indicate to the Dáil the level of dissatisfaction with it, the lack of monitoring by the Department of Education and Skills over it, a list of contracts that had never been sanctioned - it looked like they were sanctioned retrospectively - and many other issues that we raised in the Dáil. We appealed to the Minister to carry out a full review. Not alone did he not do that, but the limited review he is carrying out still has not been completed. May I have a date? When will it be published, and when can we discuss it?”

In reply, the Minister for Education & Skills, , said the review under way is confined to the issue of eligibility to apply to the organisation for support.

“The terms of reference of the review of eligibility, a draft of which was published on my Department's website earlier this year, provided for an initial phase involving a review of Caranua's expenditure to date and an estimation of the projected expenditure, taking into account applications on hand and anticipated further applications together with an estimation of any possible underspend of the available funding,” he said. “This initial phase of the review is now at an advanced stage and I hope to receive a report on it shortly.”

If the findings of this initial phase indicate that an underspend of the €110 million in funding available to Caranua is likely, he said a consultation process will then be initiated with stakeholders about an expansion of the eligibility criteria, including identification of the groups that could be considered for inclusion in any expansion.

“It is worth noting that to date Caranua has received 6,000 applications and expended some €66 million in support of over 4,000 applicants,” he added. “These are people who have suffered hugely at the hands of institutions and the State and we must deal with them very fairly. At the same time, I also realise the constraints on a board such as Caranua's, which must comply with what has been decided by the Legislature and the framework within which it must administer its decisions.”

Clarity sought on sale of Galway docks

Galway Senator Padraig Ó Ceidigh asked the Leader of the Seanad, Jerry Buttimer to invite the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport to the Seanad to make a statement on the possible impending sale of parts of Galway and Foynes docks to private foreign investors.

“Who are the investors in question?” he asked. “What are their plans and objectives? How much are they paying for these assets? Who are their advisers in supporting this potential sale? Who else would benefit from it? How can the Minister ensure the public good is protected and maintained in the context of this impending sale?”