WHO IS GOING TO MIND THE RANCH?
On St. Patrick’s Day 17 Ministers & the Taoiseach Enda Kenny are abroad
Twelve ministers and five ministers of State will attend St Patrick’s Day events overseas later this month, the Government has announced.
Announcing the Government’s programme of travel for St Patrick’s Day festivities, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said that now was the time to invest in Ireland’s recovery.
“The Government will use the unique global opportunity of St Patrick’s Day to bring that message to all our key global markets and to Ireland’s many friends around the world,” he said.
Mr Kenny is travelling to Chicago, South Bend in Indiana and New York, in addition to the traditional St Patrick’s Day celebrations in Washington DC as a guest of President Barack Obama in the White House.
Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore travels to Canada to attend a number of trade, cultural and community events. Other ministers are flying to 15 of Ireland’s trading partners as well as seven locations in the United States.
Among those ministers travelling to the United States are Joan Burton (New York), Richard Bruton (West coast), Jimmy Deenihan (Atlanta) and Frances Fitzgerald (Boston).
Leo Varadkar, accompanied by Minister of State Michael Ring, will visit London and Birmingham, while Minister of State Dinny McGinley travels to Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Ministers flying off to European destinations include Michael Noonan (France), Pat Rabbitte (Italy), Simon Coveney (Benelux), while Minister of State Paul Kehoe goes to Germany with Minister of State John Perry destined for Finland and Sweden.
Arguably the plum trips go to Minister of State Ciarán Cannon, who is travelling to China for the national holiday; Brendan Howlin, who undertakes the lengthy trip to Singapore; and Alan Shatter who journeys to Australia and New Zealand.
The Taoiseach’s engagements include the Speaker’s Lunch on Capitol Hill, hosted by the Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner, as well as meetings with vice-president Joe Biden and other US leaders.
He leaves on March 16th for Chicago, where he will meet mayor Rahm Emmanuel, participate in the local parade and address the Irish Fellowship Club of Chicago St Patrick’s Day Dinner.
Later on St Patrick’s Day, he flies to South Bend, home of the University of Notre Dame, whose American football team, known as “The Fighting Irish” is taking part in a game against Navy in Dublin next September.
After a private day in New York, Mr Kenny will visit the New York Stock Exchange on Monday, March 19th, and will attend the American Ireland Fund Gala Dinner later that day.
Children’s hospital expert group to focus on cost and the construction time frame
Health Minister James Reilly and HSE chairman Frank Dolphin
The Government’s expert group on the national children’s hospital will have to take account of the cost and timescale for developing the facility on the various proposed sites.
The terms of reference of the group, approved by the Cabinet yesterday, say it should consider the different options that exist for progressing the €650 million project following the decision by An Bord Pleanála to refuse planning permission at the Mater site.
The terms state the group should inform itself about the planning considerations and processes affecting the project. However, it says in considering the options it should have regard to Government policy on delivery of health services, including accessibility, paediatric services and best clinical practice. It should also bear in mind cost and value for money, as well as likely timelines and risks.
The group has been asked to report to Minister for Health James Reilly within 56 days. Its full membership will be announced next week.
Dr Reilly said yesterday “everything was on the table” as part of the expert group’s deliberations. He said it could look at alternatives to the Mater location, including greenfield sites. He said there were advantages and disadvantages to each of the proposed sites and the expert group should take a hard look at these.
Dr Reilly maintained that co-locating the hospital with an adult hospital was important, as was further “tri-location” with a maternity hospital. He said the research and development elements of the children’s hospital were also important.
“Others may have a different view but my view is very simple. The best experts in the world have nailed their colours to the mast on this in relation to it being co-located and that being an important feature of it.”
The Minister suggested that co-location with an adult hospital would provide sufficient patients to justify the appointment of highly specialised consultants.
A Government spokesman last night said a “considered approach” would be taken and promised there would be no “knee-jerk reaction” to the refusal of planning permission. Later in the Dáil, Dr Reilly made no reference to completing the project within the Government’s lifetime.
Government announces new compensation measures to defuse the row over turf-cutting ban on Irish bogs
The Government has doubled the compensation payable to bog-owners in the first year after they agree to stop cutting turf in environmentally sensitive areas.
The Cabinet yesterday increased the compensation on offer from €1,000 a year to €1,500, and to include a once-off payment of €500 to landowners who participate in the deal.
The concession, worth €23,000 in total to affected landowners, is the latest attempt by the Government to defuse the row over the turf-cutting ban, which is strongly opposed by many rural groups.
Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Jimmy Deenihan yesterday published a 166-page report by High Court judge Mr Justice John Quirke, who was appointed by Taoiseach Enda Kenny to chair a forum at which turf-cutters and environmental groups made their case earlier this month.
Speaking in the Dáil last night, Mr Deenihan said it was clear that communication between the State and affected turf-cutters has not been what it might have been over the past 20 years and trust needed to be re-established.
“I hope we are now moving to put in place the conditions for the State and turf-cutters to turn over a new page and work together to address this difficult issue.”
Turf-cutting is banned on 53 raised bogs under EU conservation regulations announced in May 2010. Under threat of financial penalties by the European Commission, the Government has told bog-owners they have to take a compensation package on offer for the next 15 years or relocate to another bog.
Mr Justice Quirke, in his report, calls on the Government to invoke social and economic factors in its response to the controversy. His report suggests the preparation of a national plan for raised bogs which could provide some flexibility for cutting and still be in compliance with EU regulations.
Speaking on a Private Members’ motion, the Minister said the bar was set very high in seeking flexibility. Any case made would have to stand up in terms of being for imperative reasons of overriding public interest, with no alternatives possible. He appealed to turf-cutters to refrain from cutting on affected bogs until the plan was drawn up.
Friends of the Irish Environment said that social and economic reasons cannot be invoked in the case of a priority habitat.
A spokesman for the European Commission, which recently met with Irish turf-cutters, said it was monitoring developments closely.
Independent TD Luke “Ming” Flanagan, a spokesman for the Turfcutters and Contractors’ Association, told the Dáil that, in the 1980s and 1990s, people living by designated bogs were excluded from decision-making, consultation and compensation and were subjected to “a State-backed campaign of intimidation”.
Ballinrobe Traveller family apologises for brawl at St Mary’s Church in the town over last weekend’s Confirmation
A Traveller family (not above photo) from Ballinrobe Co Galway has apologised through Fr Conal Eustace of St Mary’s for its part in a brawl which broke out at the end of a Confirmation service in the south Mayo town last week.
Ballinrobe parish priest Fr Conal Eustace read out an apology on behalf of the family from Bog Road, Ballinrobe, at Masses in St Mary’s Church in the town over the weekend.
In the statement, the family apologised for the brawl which broke out during the Confirmation service for 97 local children on February 28th. However, local Fine Gael councillor Michael Burke, a former cathaoirleach of Mayo County Council, said that local reaction to the apology was somewhat mixed
“The community is very upset about what happened,” Mr Burke said. “To bring this into a church shows the type of behaviour that these people are capable of.”
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