Water Services (Exempt Charges) Bill 2014: Second Stage (Resumed) [Private Members] (18 Sep 2014)
Water is a right and this water tax is an outrageous attack on families who will be unable to pay it.
The MABS report issued today states that families have a disposable income of €9 per week after bills are paid. Even at this late stage the Government should reverse this charge which will be opposed tooth and nail right across the country. I support the Bill and it is outrageous that the exemption for boil-water notices has come at this late stage.
Contaminated water is being supplied to households and the exemption should apply from day one and not after a period of time of three or six months. Houses in the Burncourt and Skeheenarinky area of south Tipperary, like 20,000 or 30,000 houses all over the country, must be exempt from day one.
Families who are supplied with hard water are being forced to pay over the odds to replace clapped out electric kettles and washing machines and dryers. They have been forced to buy machines to reduce the hardness of the water, costing anything up to €1,000 to install and with ongoing maintenance costs. These machines must be flushed out on a weekly basis which adds to the costs.
There are thousands of such families across the northern area of Clonmel and throughout south Tipperary who should also be exempt from this water charge.
Seamus Healy TD
0872802199
I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this debate, and I compliment Deputy Pringle, who tabled the motion. He has been interested in this issue for many a long year and he is supportive of a change in the direct provision system. That view is becoming more widely accepted.
The system is detrimental to families and individuals and, in particular, children. I am particularly disappointed that the Government has tabled an amendment. It is unnecessary, because the House should not be divided on this issue. There is significant cross-party support for a change to the system and, even at this late stage, I call on the Minister of State to withdraw the amendment and allow the motion to be passed unanimously by the House and implemented in the near future.
I deal with asylum seekers on a regular basis. There is a direct provision facility, Bridgewater House, in Carrick-on-Suir in my constituency. It has been in operation for some time. There are excellent relations and good interactions between the asylum seekers and the local community and there is excellent support from the community for the residents and their children.
The children attend local schools and are involved in many local organisations, including the GAA, while also participating in many traditional cultural events. Many of the adults are engaged in education and training and they are supported through the Nano Nagle centre in Carrick-on-Suir. Everybody in the town should be complimented on the good interaction and support provided for the residents of Bridgewater House.
As Deputy Pringle said, this is the 14th year of direct provision. Approximately 4,300 asylum seekers are currently resident in 34 centres in the State, many of whom have been in the centres for up to ten years, while a few have been there even longer. More than 1,600 of them are young people under the age of 18, and there is no doubt the system is having a negative effect on them, in particular, and on families.
There is widespread support for the view that this system needs to be changed, although that view was held in some parts of society from the beginning.
A retired Supreme Court judge, the former Ombudsman, Ms Emily O’Reilly, the Special Rapporteur for Children, many civil society organisations, the United Nations Human Rights Committee and numerous politicians have come to share this view. I hope the Minister of State will withdraw the amendment and agree to the passage of the motion unanimously.
A total of 4,360 persons are in direct provision, of whom 2,800 live in 851 family units. Some 1,666 residents are aged under 18, while another 451 are aged between 18 and 25. Although the numbers in the system have decreased over the past number of years, the length of stay in the centres has increased significantly and there is no doubt that now is the time to change the system.
The 34 centres are located in 18 counties but only three were purpose-built for accommodation. The remainder are former hotels, hostels or guest houses, convents, nursing homes and so on, which were never intended for long-term residents. This is not good for individual residents and it is particularly negative for children.
Since the introduction of the system in 2000, the weekly personal allowance has not changed. It remains €19.10 per week for an adult and €9.60 for each child. There are serious concerns about the effect the system is having on children.
Mr. Geoffrey Shannon, the Special Rapporteur for Children, has mentioned this in his reports. For instance, he stated:
The particular needs of children in the Direct Provision system should be examined with a view to establishing whether the system itself is detrimental to their welfare and development and, if appropriate, an alternative form of support and accommodation adopted which is more suitable for families and particularly children. In the interim, the state should implement without delay an independent complaints mechanism and independent inspections of Direct Provision centres and give consideration to these being undertaken through either HIQA (inspections) or the Ombudsman for Children (complaints)…
Research is needed on the specific vulnerability of children accommodated in the system of Direct Provision and the potential or actual harm which is being created by particular circumstances of their residence, including the inability of parents to properly care for and protect their children and the damage that may be done by living for a lengthy period of time in an institutionalised setting which was not designed for long-term residents.
This is a particularly damning view. The system is detrimental to children and needs to be changed urgently.
The UN Human Rights Committee has also addressed the issue in a report, stating: “The Committee is concerned at the lack of a single application procedure for consideration of all grounds for international protection.”
According to the report, the system must be completely changed.
I again ask the Minister of State not to introduce the amendment because Deputies agree more than they disagree on this issue. Rather than divide on the motion, the House should pass it unanimously.
Seamus Healy TD
0872802199
Direct Provision for Asylum Seekers: Motion [Private Members] (30 Sep 2014)
link to debate
The public sector embargo on recruitment and promotion has had a huge impact on the ability of Teagasc to deliver education and advisory services at a time when demand is growing on a daily basis.
The number of people enrolling at agricultural colleges has rocketed and the need for innovation in the agri-sector is growing rapidly.
Teagasc has taken a huge hit on staffing and the overall number has fallen from 1,600 in 2009 to 1,000 this year. This huge cut in staff has impacted on Teagasc’s main areas of activity: education, advice and research. Regarding education, the number of college students enrolling in these courses has soared by 144% – it reached 1,500 this year and that is three times the figure of a few years ago. However, staffing levels have not kept pace and there is a shortage of teachers.
Teagasc has indicated it may have to cap the number of students in such courses. It is difficult to increase class sizes in such circumstances and it might even be dangerous to do so because of health and safety issues relating to machinery and animals. The colleges in Clonakilty and Pallaskenry have been particularly badly hit.
The advisory service has been seriously affected and the number of staff there has fallen from 400 to 250 in the past four years. It is simply not possible to give the type of service necessary.
Research has also been hit and six senior researcher posts have not been filled. It is a hugely important area and the Minister should lift the embargo immediately.
Seamus Healy TD
0872802199
Agriculture Industry: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (8 Oct 2014): link to debate
Statement by Seamus Healy TD 087-2802199
Minister should Provide New Houses Not Spin
Minister Alan Kelly has now admitted that only 475 new social housing units will be built in the entire state this year. This government has now been in power for over 3 years.
Tipperary Co Council’s Director of Housing Services Claire Curley told a recent meeting that 750 people presented as homeless in Co Tipperary since January 2013 including 244 so far this year.
There are 2,500 families on the local authority housing list in Co Tipperary at the moment and 90,000 nationally.
In answer to a priority question from me(Question No. 5 of 17 September 2014, Minister Kelly had said: “Overall, I expect some 6,000 social housing units to be delivered across the range of programmes in the calendar year 2014.”(Dáil Report).
But when I asked Minister Kelly for a breakdown in a supplementary written question, it turned out that 2,500 of “the social housing units to be delivered” were in fact the payment of rent allowance to those in private rental accommodation and only 450 were newly built social housing? This spin is totally unacceptable when over half of applicants are on the waiting list for over 4 years and 750 people have presented as homeless in Co Tipperary alone over the last 18 months. Only 750 additional social housing units were provided nationally in 2013
President Higgins has recently criticised the lack of provision of newly built social housing and insisted that the fundamental human right to housing should not be left to the market. I call on the Minister to insist that new and much increased capital funding be made available to social housing bodies and to Tipperary Co Council to tackle this deep human crisis.
Seamus Healy TD
087-2802199
I am backing @IrishCancerSoc #BreastCheck campaign. I raised this issue earlier this year and will continue to fully support the campaign.
Today the Irish Cancer Society were at Leinster House calling on the Government to extend BreastCheck to women aged 65-69.
In 2011 the government promised to extend BreastCheck, this has not happened.
The extension will mean an additional 87 women’s lives a year will be saved through screening.
For WRITTEN answer on Tuesday, 1st July, 2014.
* 590. To ask the Minister for Health the position regarding the extension of BreastCheck to the 65-69 age group; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
– Seamus Healy T.D.
For WRITTEN answer on Tuesday, 1st July, 2014.
REPLY.
The BreastCheck Programme provides free mammograms to all women aged 50-64. A priority of the BreastCheck Programme at present is to maximise national uptake in the 50-64 year age cohort.
It is my intention to extend the upper age range to include the 65-69 age cohort as soon as possible in line with available resources.
This government has reduced government funding to Tipperary Local authorities by over €20 million or 48% since it came to power in 2011.
The government and Minister Alan Kelly say we will get the same funding as last year, but this includes the proceeds of the property tax which the people of this county have paid themselves.
This means that the actual government contribution to this council will be even less than the very low level provided for this year.
As usual the local election promise of a 15% reduction in home tax was just pulling the wool over people’s eyes.
The extraction by the government of over €20 million per year out of the economy of county Tipperary is a huge factor in depressing the local economy. North and South Tipperary are in the highest regions of unemployment in Ireland according to official figures.
Now from 01 October, every time we fill the kettle we will be charged for water!
This will extract even more money from the local economy causing further depression and crucifying already hard pressed people. According to the Neven Economic Research Institute, the poorest 10% are paying a higher proportion of income in tax than the top 10%.
This is just double taxation.
We are already paying for water and other local services, through general taxation, direct and indirect. Now we are being forced to pay again through these charges for services which have been reduced by government cuts.
This money is being diverted to pay part of the €8 billion per year interest which recent governments have incurred through bailing out billionaire investors in bust banks.
Local property tax and water charges are devices to make the ordinary person pay for bailing out banks.
The top 10,000 income earners in this country have €595,000 per year each.
The government should take the money from these top earners and use it to abolish home and water taxes and stop attacking already hard pressed families.
The government is continually hitting lower and middle income families.
It was for all these reasons I supported the proposed 15% reduction in property tax along with Councillors Séamie Morris (SF), David Dunne (SF), David Doran (SF), Martin Browne (SF), Catherine Carey (SF), Jim Ryan (IND), Michael O’Meara (IND), Willie Kennedy (IND) and Micheal Lowry (IND)
The following Councillors blocked a reduction in the property tax Siobhan Ambrose ( FF ), Andy Moloney (IND), Fiona Bonfield (LAB), Jackie Cahill (FF), Joe Bourke (FG), Joe Hannigan (IND), Kieran Bourke (IND), Martin Lonergan (IND), Roger Kennedy (FF), Marie Murphy (FG), Micheal Anglim (FF), Louise McLoughlin (FG), Tom Wood (IND), Michael Murphy(FG), Richie Molloy (IND), Eddie O Meara (IND), Imelda Goldsboro (FF), Ger Darcy (FG), Hughie McGrath (IND), Phyll Bugler (FG), John Carroll (FF), Mattie Ryan (FF), John Hogan (FF), Michael Smith (FF), Seamus Hanifin(FF), Denis Leahy (IND), John Crosse (FG), Mary Hanna Hourigan (FG) , Michael Fitzgerald (FG).
