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(Speaker Continuing)
[Deputy Eamon Ryan:   ] I will suggest one other area which is missing from the document. The definition of risk, timescales and so on is dependent on the timeframe one is considering. However, it seems to me that we are facing an increasing risk in Ireland and across the world from the reduction of biodiversity that is occurring. It is a different risk and it may not be immediate but it is fundamental. We are seeing it in the loss of species in the seas, in the lost fertility of our soils and in the halving of the volumes of insect life in our country over the past 30 or 40 years. People might say that we can manage each on its own and that it is not a huge risk to the country but combined, when we continue to degrade our environment and allow it to get to a stage where it will not be able to recover, I argue it is the most fundamental risk. The climate issue is related because restoring wildlife will help us to manage climate in a variety of ways. Why is it that we do not include that sort of biological risk of the destruction of our environment, which is happening, included within the risks?
Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett: I want to talk about the risk of fire. After the Grenfell Tower fire, much concern was expressed about the housing stock in this country. Kevin Hollingsworth, a chartered surveyor, stated that up to 40% of the housing stock built during the Celtic Tiger period was non-compliant with fire safety standards and compartmentation requirements to stop the spread of fire and there were promises of reviews of multi-storey buildings. I would like to know what became of all of that concern and when we will hear about these risks. I have pressed this issue on a number of occasions and I am getting slightly frustrated now. I have engaged with the Minister of State, Deputy Doyle, on issues to do with the technical guidance documents dealing with fire safety and possible problems with them, and I think he is acting in good faith. However, we have been trying to get a meeting with officials at the Department responsible for the environment to discuss these issues and serious allegations about the defective nature of the fire safety regulations and compliance with fire safety. People's lives are seriously at risk. I have seen estates in Dublin which fire consultants tell me are an immediate and imminent fire hazard and where we could have repeats of the Grenfell Tower fire. I want that meeting with officials of the Department of the Taoiseach and the relevant Minister, be it Deputy English or whoever, to happen. We have been messed around for weeks. It is a serious, urgent and life-threatening risk if the scale of breaches of fire safety in residential buildings in this country are anything like what Kevin Hollingsworth says they are.
The Taoiseach: On Storm Ophelia, I am advised this morning by ESB Networks that all homes and businesses have now been reconnected to the electricity network. I join with others in acknowledging the phenomenal work of the staff of ESB Networks, the assistance we received ScottishPower and others in Britain and from Électricité de France, EDF, and Réseau de Transport d'Électricité, RTE, in France, which also came to help.
I have no difficulty in acknowledging the role of the former Minister for Defence, Deputy Willie O'Dea, in establishing the Office of Emergency Planning, which showed its worth last week. I do not propose to change the approach fundamentally but we should always look at what was done well and what could have been done better after any major national crisis or serious event and make changes on foot of that review. Cabinet committee F, which is similar to the COBRA committee in the UK but not the same, is not designed to replace the Office of Emergency Planning but is something separate. It is an opportunity for Ministers, in the form of a Cabinet sub-committee, to get together with the Garda Commissioner, the Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces and others to understand better threats such as terrorism or cyberattacks and consider what we can do to prevent those or prepare to manage them should they occur. We have only had one meeting so far and another one is scheduled to be held in the next few weeks. We have not considered the risk of outside bodies or entities trying to interfere in our elections and perhaps we should give that consideration given that it is a real problem and is happening all over the world now. I understand that it may even have happened in Catalonia recently, with external actors spreading fake news and things such as that. It should be a matter of concern for all of us.
I am aware of the court challenge to the national adaptation plan and the Government will respond to that challenge. I would welcome a debate in this House on climate change, the national planning framework and the capital plan. However, scheduling such matters is a matter for the Business Committee, of which I am not a member.
I have seen the latest reports on Brexit and how it may impact our economy. I am not sure we need another report to tell us that a hard Brexit would damage our economy. I think we all know that. The work that I am doing is trying to prevent it. We are doing everything that we can to prevent that outcome.
I welcome Prime Minister's May's strengthening of her language in recent weeks ruling out any physical infrastructure on the Border between Ireland and Northern Ireland. That is very welcome. I said it at the dinner in Brussels and unequivocally restated it in the House of Commons. As is often the case with the statements from the UK Government, while the words are welcome and we agree with the sentiments, we need to see them backed up with the detail on how they can be written into international agreements and law, which is what is required. We do not quite have that yet, which is one of the reasons sufficient progress has not been made.
The Good Friday Agreement is always raised in meetings to do with Brexit. It was raised in my meeting with President Macron yesterday and it was raised at the European Council meeting last week. Whether it is necessary to include it as an annexe to the UK exit treaty is a different matter. It is already a recognised international agreement. I simply do not know at this stage if it would be beneficial to add it as an annexe to that treaty but I will give it further thought.
The risk to biodiversity can be considered for the 2018 national risk assessment. If Deputy Eamon Ryan would like to make a proposal or submission on it, I will make sure that the people in my Department who co-ordinate this will take a look at it.
Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett: To hell with fire safety, it would appear. I asked about fire safety.
The Taoiseach: I am out of time.
An Ceann Comhairle: If the Taoiseach wants to-----
The Taoiseach: I think there was a request for a meeting.
Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett: I have been asking for two weeks.
The Taoiseach: I suggest that the relevant people's offices speak to each other and try to organise it.
Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett: We have been trying that.
Cabinet Committee Meetings
3. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Taoiseach when Cabinet committee D (infrastructure) will meet next. [42739/17]
4. Deputy Brendan Howlin asked the Taoiseach when Cabinet committee D (infrastructure) will next meet. [44892/17]
5. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach when Cabinet committee D (infrastructure) will next meet. [44702/17]
6. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Taoiseach when Cabinet committee D (infrastructure) last met and when it is scheduled to meet again. [44614/17]
The Taoiseach: I propose to take Questions Nos. 3 to 6, inclusive, together.
Cabinet committee D met on 15 September 2017 and the next meeting of the committee is scheduled for 23 November 2017.
The committee’s terms of reference relate to infrastructure and its main focus at present is on housing and the forthcoming ten-year capital plan.
Since the meeting on 15 September, the Government has announced a number of additional measures following the review of Rebuilding Ireland. These include a range of actions in budget 2018, involving increased expenditure allocations, taxation changes and the establishment of Home Building Finance Ireland to provide additional finance to developers.
The Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government has also announced further actions in respect of the rental market and the planning system.
The draft national planning framework - Ireland 2040 - was also published for consultation in September and the final version will be published in December, alongside the new ten-year capital plan.
This approach will provide clarity, coherence and certainty in respect of planning and capital expenditure, while facilitating a sustainable approach to meeting Ireland's future investment needs.
Deputy Mick Barry: I understand that Cabinet committee D covers Irish Rail. Some people might be surprised that the next meeting of the committee is scheduled for 23 November given that there will be a national rail strike next Wednesday. It will be the first of five. The strike is being staged by a group of workers whose pay has effectively been frozen for ten years and who do a very good job. |
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