Category Archives: Active Citizenship

Senator Daly: Today’s spring statement is definitely politically strong but economically weak. As we saw in the last budget, which was much trumpeted by the other side of the House, what we see is a continuation of the Government’s policy whereby those on €70,000 were four times better off as a result of the last budget than those on the minimum wage. Is this what we can be promised in the next budget? It will be touted that it is an improvement for some but it will not be an improvement for all. The ESRI, which is the Government’s own body, has said that it is not an improvement for those on the minimum wage.

I think have found the pen used by Deputy Ruairí Quinn to sign the pledge that he would not increase the registration fees. I do not know what happened to the prescription charge but I do not see that in the spring statement. I do not see any promise to pay back the €2.2 billion robbed from private pensions. Perhaps there might be something about that in the autumn statement but there is certainly nothing about it in the spring statement. What we must be clear about is that this Government is borrowing money to buy votes. It is as simple as that. We still have interest payments of €7 billion per year and the money is being borrowed. That is about the size of it. Will the Leader organise a debate on this?

The Government talks about more teachers. Last autumn, when the Government spoke in the budget about 1,700 extra teachers, it failed to mention that this was just to keep in line with growing pupil-teacher ratios. That is what it was about.

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Senator Daly: Could the Leader arrange a debate on that?

I second the amendment to the Order of Business relating to the Moore Street Area Renewal and Development Bill 2015, which is a very good one produced by Fianna Fáil councillors in Dublin City Council in conjunction with Senator Darragh O’Brien, who has led the charge on this issue. I know the Senator’s relatives were involved in the 1916 Rising. It is very important that Moore Street and that entire historical quarter is revived, revamped and revitalised in the same way Temple Bar was.Senator Darragh O’Brien’s proposal will do it, and I hope the Leader will accept the amendment.

Senator Daly: I compliment my colleague, Deputy Darragh O’Brien, on introducing this important Bill. Departments frequently tell us that a tender was awarded for value for money reasons. Value for money is not the only issue at stake in the awarding of public contracts. As previous speakers noted, we often find that contracts for simple items are awarded to foreign companies. It beggars belief that the leaving and junior certificate papers are printed elsewhere.

Other countries have introduced a social impact clause, which is provided for under European Union rules. Ireland, however, is not using the full powers available to ensure the highest benefit for the country from public contracts, including in the area of job retention. In one astonishing case in County Kerry, tenders for the RIBs used by the Coast Guard service were drawn up in such a manner and with such specifications that the contract could only be awarded to a company that was not based in Ireland. Irish companies were precluded from tendering for the contract.

In addition to more transparency, we also need a level playing pitch, as Senator O’Brien noted. We must ensure the lowest price is not the only issue considered when assessing tenders because it does not necessarily deliver the best return to the State or the best value for money to citizens for the tax revenue that is being used for tenders and contracts.

Small and medium-sized enterprises wish to compete fairly but are being frozen out of contracts in other jurisdictions by social clauses which are not used for similar contracts in this country. Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Austria all use social clauses to great effect and keep money in their economies. Unfortunately, Ireland is not availing of European legislation which would allow us to act in a similar fashion.

I welcome the Minister of State’s positive response to the Bill and look forward to its enactment before he becomes a senior Minister.

Chairman Breen: Senator Daly has submitted a second motion that relates to the suffering and loss of the Armenian people on the centenary of the Armenian genocide. The motion reads as follows: “That the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade recognise the suffering and loss of the Armenian people on this the year of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide.”

Senator Daly: This is very relevant in light of the fact that it is the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide. A range of countries have acknowledged it as genocide. They include Canada, which did so in 1996; Vatican City and Italy, which did so in 2000; and Switzerland, Argentina, the Netherlands, Chile and Germany. The European Parliament passed a non-binding motion on the issue. I realise it is a sensitive issue for the people of Turkey but we must remember that one of the first people to acknowledge it as genocide was Turkey’s great leader, Kemal Ataturk, who acknowledged in the 1920s that what happened was not just a tragedy, as has been said by others, but genocide. As the Pope said, it was the first genocide of the 20th century. Unfortunately, it was the not last.

I ask colleagues to support this motion. I note that other countries have not had the courage of their convictions, have been lobbied and have said that it is sensitive. It is 100 years later. A wrong was done. Women and children were massacred in a crime against humanity that was by any definition genocide. Ireland, which knows a lot about suffering, should acknowledge the suffering of others. We are not alone if we support this motion. Many countries have supported the motion and I ask colleagues to support it.

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Senator Daly: Sorry, Chairman, I have to press the motion because it is important. This is the 100th anniversary. Next week is not the 100th anniversary. Of course it is a sensitive issue. It will remain a sensitive issue whether it is this week or next week.

I had the pleasure and honour of serving on the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs with our President. I am sure he has an opinion. I would not dare to venture what that would be, but I think many of us could guess what it would be. The facts are there. We know how the system works in this House. I am asking my colleagues to abstain if they cannot support the motion so that it can be passed. The reply from the officials is not going to change. If the Minister, who signed off on that reply, believed it deserved attention, he would have given a different reply. The reply is not going to change.

There is nothing offensive about it. What we are acknowledging is the suffering and loss of the Armenian people in a genocide that has been acknowledged by the European Union and others throughout the world as a genocide. Others, for political reasons, have chosen not to acknowledge it. The statistics say 1.5 million people but the fact is it was a genocide. Therefore, I will press the motion.

Senator Daly: The root cause of this problem and tragedy dates from 31 October 2014 when the EU withdrew funding for Operation Mare Nostrum. In November 2014, I attended the Inter-Parliamentary Conference for the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the Common Security and Defence Policy in Rome. At this meeting, I pointed out to the EU High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, that what she was doing was an abdication of a duty of care. Operation Mare Nostrum had five ships, helicopters, five aircraft, two submarines and 900 staff covering an area of 27,000 sq. km. All of this assistance was withdrawn while the area covered was reduced to 30 km off the coast with one third of its original budget, one large ship and three small patrol boats. The EU High Representative is now crying crocodile tears. At that meeting in Rome, I also pointed out this move was willingly and knowingly condemning these people who were going to be put into these boats to die. One foreign office decided the rescue missions had an unintended pull factor and did not act as a deterrent. The idea was to get rid of the rescue missions and maybe people would stop trying to get across the Mediterranean.

Suddenly, now the EU High Representative, Federica Mogherini, has a ten-point plan, one which as Deputy Crowe rightly said is not near good enough. She has much to answer for. She should actually resign because she oversaw all of this and knew it was going to happen. There was an obvious outcome. She will not fix the problem and she needs to be got rid of. We need a new EU High Representative who will solve this problem. The current rescue mission is only a Band-Aid. The cause of this is climate change, the war in Syria, Libya and elsewhere in North Africa. Former colonies have been abandoned by their previous masters and are now suffering the consequences, as Deputy Neville pointed out, of a post-colonial situation of which they are not equipped to take charge.

Senator Daly: I welcome the Minister of State and his appointment as the first Minister of State with responsibility for the diaspora. We in Fianna Fáil are delighted to be the first party to publish a policy paper on the diaspora and to call for such an appointment. I am delighted to see that it is the Minister of State, Deputy Deenihan.

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We take some credit, but the Taoiseach might have had slightly more to do with it. We published our paper in July 2013. When asked in October 2013 whether there should be a Minister of State for the diaspora, the then Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade stated that there should be. In 2014, Sinn Féin came out with its policy. Lo and behold, everyone agreed and the Minister of State was appointed. That was consensus politics working at its best.

The Minister of State has done a great job in the role. It is a large one and I would like it to have more resourcing and staffing. As the Minister of State has seen from this meeting, there is much that could be done in terms of collecting up and connecting with county associations as well as the various religious organisations that have major connections in traditionally non-Irish areas.

The Minister of State touched on the matter of votes for the Irish overseas and those who were born in Ireland and hold Irish passports. There are many such people. The county that the Minister of State and I are from had an equally famous politician, Daniel O’Connell, who fought for Catholic emancipation and the right to vote. In 1918, the centenary of which we will celebrate shortly, women got the right to vote. In the 1960s in Derry, people marched for the right to vote. In a modern democracy, though, we are denying many of our citizens the right to vote, even in presidential elections. Some 120 countries manage to give their citizens overseas a right to vote. Of the 33 countries in the Council of Europe, only four do not give citizens outside the state a right to vote, those being, Greece, Malta, Cyprus and Ireland. The Minister of State mentioned that there were technical and logistical issues. That is undoubted, but any country that can bring the top pharmaceutical and Internet companies to its shores can surely give the most basic right to its citizens, that being, the right to vote. I attended the Constitutional Convention when extending the right to vote in presidential elections was supported, but the Minister of State should bear something in mind. Extending the vote to Irish citizens in presidential elections is the least expression of their democratic rights as citizens that we could give them. Only nine countries extend the right to vote in presidential elections to their citizens overseas, but all nine have executive presidents similar to President Obama. We are discussing doing this just for presidential elections.

The Minister of State has mentioned Seanad elections. I agree that citizens overseas should have votes in the Seanad and that the Seanad should be expanded and reformed, but we are a long way off that. The Minister of State is supportive of the process and the concept, but we need to accelerate it. As my colleague pointed out, what better way would there be to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 1916 Rising than to extend the right to vote to people who reside in countries that contributed so much to the rebellion?

The Minister of State has been working with our consuls and ambassadors, but Fianna Fáil’s policy document referred to honorary consuls. It is unfair to expect our ambassadors and consuls in the US, Australia and Canada to cover such vast territories. We should replicate what other countries have done. For example, Mexico has a consul or honorary consul in each of the 50 states of the US. We should consider doing the same there as well as in Australia and the provinces of Canada. As the Minister of State knows, there is a large Irish-American community in Montana, yet that area is covered by the consulate in San Francisco, which has just two staff from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and some local staff. They are asked to cover an area that is nearly the size of western Europe. We are not deploying enough resources to tap into the goodwill or to have people serve as go-to people on the ground. I am sure that the Minister of State has met the honorary consul in St. Louis. He has done an extraordinary job for 40 years. If any Member of our Parliament visits St. Louis, he is the guy on the ground, the connected man and someone we can plug into, as it were. Perhaps the Minister of State should consider this suggestion.

I welcome the global civic forum. It is a great idea. Perhaps the Minister of State might invite members of this committee to attend. He is also working on the birthright proposal. It borrows what has worked in other countries, for example, Israel. The concept would be well received. I met Mr. Gidi Mark, head of Taglit-Birthright Israel. It formulated its programme as a business plan rather than a concept. It brought business leaders together and asked how it could be made to work and have a significant benefit to the Israeli community without being a large burden on the state. The concept arose approximately three decades ago and has been successful ever since.

The Minister of State is working on an interparliamentary gathering, but we need to be more formal. He is taking a great first step and the proposal is in the works, but I understand from my colleagues in other parliaments around the world that, as soon as they get elected, they are invited to countries like Israel and India. Such countries understand the importance of having good relationships with England, America and Canada. Taxpayers in Ireland might not believe it to be the greatest idea in the world. Congressman Paul Ryan, who was in Leinster House yesterday, is probably the most powerful politician in America, as he is in charge of the appropriations committee.

The Minister of State has mentioned the complex issue of the undocumented Irish, but he might also touch on the visa waiver issue that has arisen in recent weeks and the possibility of an Irish E-3. No comprehensive reform will happen in America for the next couple of years. People are holding out hope that, after the presidential election, something might happen. We should bear in mind that the Republicans control both Houses of Congress, so it does not matter who is President of the United States.

What matters is what can be done in Congress at this moment because that is not going to change a lot over the next few years.

On the 2016 commemorations and the idea of launching and engaging with the Irish overseas on that and the global programme, there is a concept that Congressman Brendan Boyle is taking up of having gardens of remembrance dedicated in 2016. That might be something the Minister of State might look at in terms of getting it out to the diaspora through our consulates.

We will discuss later the case of Ibrahim Halawa, an Irish citizen overseas. Does the Minister of State have any update on that for the committee?