SEANAD NEWSLETTER
Welcome to the latest Newsletter from Senator Aideen Hayden.
Senator Aideen Hayden Kilfane, Upper Albert Road, Glenageary, Co. Dublin Tel: 01 618 3178 Mobile: 087 231 1921 Email: aideen.hayden@oir.ie Web: labour.ie/aideenhayden
Dear friend, Welcome to my latest Newsletter from the Seanad. Without doubt we will continue to face difficult challenges in the year ahead. However, I believe Labour is fulfilling its commitment to the people of Ireland to tackle our country’s finances, to end the rule of the troika and restore Ireland’s sovereignty. Budget 2013 was a difficult budget with hard choices that many of us sincerely wish we didn’t have to make. Budget 2013 was also a very progressive budget in a number of other respects with significant changes including increases in capital taxes which when we bring growth back into the economy will help fund services to those who need them and who have suffered most from the recession. Budget 2013 sees 85% fo the fiscal adjustments we need to make behind us, moreover there are early signs of recovery in the domestic and European markets which will lead to increase job creation and with our Presidency of the EU, we will I believe see a deal on our bank debt. 2013 will see Ireland and the Labour Party in a much better place but we need to remain strong and work as a team to meet the challenges we face. As Labour Seanad Spokesperson on Children and Youth Affairs, I was delighted to welcome the successful result of the Children Referendum. Here are some issues I raised during the Order of Business and at other stages since our return in September. I called on the Minister for Justice to instigate a full Judicial Investigation into St Patrick’s Institution. I believe it is not enough to investigate the actions of a certain, albeit minority of prison officers. We need a full judicial investigation into the failure of the Department of Justice officials to tackle this matter over a number of decades. I share Childrens Ombudsman Emily Logan’s concern that what happened in St Patrick’s Institution could become another Magdelaine Laundries unless the State faces up its responsibilities and ‘draws a line in the sand’The first report calling for the closure of St Patricks Institution dates back to 1985 and there have been numerous reports since then. This is not good enough. We need to act now Alcohol. In October I called for a limit on the number of retail outlets selling alcohol. Children growing up today have come to accept alcohol as a normal part of the shopping trolley along with milk, juice or water. Alcohol is sold side by side with a whole range of familiar products in supermarkets, petrol stations and newsagents creating the impression that it is no different to any other product or grocery. Children and young people are constantly absorbing information and are the primary users of new media such as online social networking and the wider internet. A recent study has indicated that among 16 to 21 yearolds, alcohol ads represented five out of their top ten favourite ads. While we are all keenly aware of the repeated scenes in our city streets and elsewhere of serious underage drinking and equally importantly, excessive drinking among our legally entitled but still young population, it is still very disturbing to hear that young people in Ireland have one of the highest levels of drunkenness in Europe. Junior Certificate Reform and the Literacy and Numeracy Strategy: Statements I believe that our education system at every level has suffered
Seanad Labour Spokesperson on Housing, Children and Youth Affairs Member of the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform significantly in the past 15-20 years. Our current approach to learning is inherently boring and repetitive. Children from deprived backgrounds in particular, have difficulty with the current education system? Not to put too fine a point on it, but a family where the parents have a high standard of education and recognise the long-term importance of education and are willing to inculcate in their children the stamina necessary to put themselves through the grind of learning benefit from the current system. The current Junior Cert and Leaving Cert systems do not bring out the best in our children, discriminates against children from poorer backgrounds and it is morally unjust. I congratulate Minister Ruairi Quinn for the proposed reforms to the Junior Certificate. However, if the Minister is successful in changing the junior certificate, either he or a successor will have no option but to deal with the Leaving certificate. Amending the Junior Certificate will leave us with the anomalous Leaving Certificate system. We must now move on to reforming the Leaving certificate as soon as possible. I support the call from the Free Legal Advice Centres, FLAC, for a rootand-branch review of the Department of Social Protection's appeals procedures. According to FLAC's survey, not only are there lengthy delays in appeals against decisions, but a perceived lack of independence. To be fair to the Department, there were 51,000 appeals last year, twice the 2007 figure. Clearly, the Department is dealing with more people than used to be the case and seems to be doing so at a greater speed, given the numbers. However, every Department must be open and transparent, particularly concerning a core issue like social protection payments. FLAC has called for the establishment of a statutorily independent appeals process. I believe we should give this request serious consideration. Budget 2013 will continue to dominate our agenda for some time and I am more than happy to expand and explain any aspects that you have concerns about. As always I continue to appreciate the feedback and contact I have had with many of you and your comments and perspective are truly important to me so please feel free to contact me at aideen.hayden@oir.ie.
Once again many thanks and best wishes.
I am delighted to invite constituents to contact me or to join me in Seanad Eireann, for a visit or tour of Leinster House. For updates and links to my speeches please check out my Seanad facebook page. You can contact me at labour.ie/aideenhayden facebook.com/SenatorAideenHayden
EXTRACTS FROM CONTRIBUTIONS TO SEANAD HOMOPHOBIC BULLYING: STATEMENTS NATIONAL VETTING BUREAU (CHILDREN AND VULNERABLE I recognise the good work of BeLongTo,GLEN and the Union of Students in Ireland, which has a robust LGBT campaign but we must bear in mind PERSONS) BILL 2012: SECOND that bullying is only part of the treatment faced by LGBT people. The Minister of State mentioned that we have put in place certain STAGE protocols to combat bullying and that we have introduced equality legislation, but the reality of the matter is that research has shown young LGBT people experience marginalisation and present with a higher incidence of drug and alcohol abuse. In particular, they experience geographical isolation, and they also experience rejection among parents and family. They live with secrecy and are more likely to become homeless, and they are more likely to remain homeless when they have experienced homelessness. One of the most pressing issues is that LGBT people believe they have a lack of role models, although there has been an improvement in this regard. We need to tackle the fact that LGBT people suffer from a feeling of invisibility in society. We can talk about all the measures we have put in place to tackle homophobic bullying in schools but the reality is that if we do not deal with the kinds of societal norms we present to young people, we will never end prejudice If we do not regard the relationships between LGBT people as really equal in society – I am not a great believer in the equal-but-different attitude to legislation – the problem will continue to obtain. We must tackle marriage equality, for example. If we do not do so, there is very little point in saying all are equal and that we believe certain attitudes are reprehensible; if one believes in what one is saying, one should act upon it. One should be judged on one's words and on what one is prepared to do.
“One of the recommendations of the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality related to the idea of an individual vetting certificate that could be transferred from one employment to another. That was an excellent suggestion. My experience of working in the voluntary sector is that people move within the sector from one employment to another and tend to remain within the same sector. The idea of a single certificate makes sense. In dealing with the thorny issue of private child care which is not covered by the legislation, the idea of an individual being able to apply for an individual and personal vetting certificate would be a way to progress this debate. The Bill only allows for an approved organisation to make an application for a vetting disclosure. Anyone working individually in a child care scenario or with children in any capacity, including, for example, the giving of grinds, cannot make a personal application for a vetting certificate. Enabling an individual to make an application would be an interim step along the way, where those persons who are engaged in child care could make an individual application for a vetting certificate. An estimated 28,000 child minders are operating within the Irish child care system. The Bill will carry a two-tier child care system down the track. On the one hand, we have a regulated child care system where a parent has the security of knowing that everyone in that system has been vetted. On the other hand, there is the black economy where many children, it must be acknowledged are being appropriately cared for but which is unregulated. Ministers have expressed the view that it would be an extreme step to require vetting of all child care professionals, given the extent of Private child care within the Irish child care system which is, effectively, in the black economy.
Aideen speaking in the Seanad
I ask the Minister of State to consider changing the legislation to enable an individual to make an application for a vetting certificate. In that way we could move in a stepped manner towards a system where, when a parent interviews someone for a child care position they can, at least, make a choice between someone who has been vetted and someone who has not. I put this forward as a way of dealing with the situation as it stands. I accept that we cannot just move child care out of the black economy in one fell swoop.
NATIONAL CHILDRENS HOSPITAL STATEMENTS The national children's hospital was a key Labour commitment in the general election and in the programme for Government. Funding for the project has been ring-fenced by the Government and it will represent the single biggest piece of infrastructure to be given the green light in the lifetime of the Government.
I am concerned about what will happen in the meantime to the existing children's hospitals, namely, Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin, Temple Street hospital and Tallaght hospital. It is critical the services in these hospitals are maintained in the interim. There is always a temptation, even if it is unintentional, to downgrade services when it is known that a service will be moved to another site. In fact, I think a certain amount of downgrading has gone on over the past number of years in anticipation of the building of a national children's hospital.
In terms of the design of the new national children's hospital, I would like the Minister to take two specific things into account. There should be adequate accommodation for parents of children who require hospitalisation. Children do better when their parents are around and it is important to remember that it is often assumed in the medical services that family will be there to take over part of the practical care of their children. The second point I would like to make is that there must be adequate parking. The parking charges in some of our hospitals are a disgrace and many parents and others are paying exorbitant amounts of money in parking fees which they cannot afford.
EXTRACTS FROM CONTRIBUTIONS TO SEANAD LIFE-LIMITING HEALTH CONDITIONS IN CHILDREN: MOTION I thank the Jack and Jill Foundation and the Irish Hospice Foundation, which have played a major role in highlighting the needs of children with lifelimiting conditions, particularly children who are approaching the end of life. We are being asked today, however, to decide if what we do is good enough for children who face the end of life. This is not about the Jack and Jill Foundation or the Irish Hospice Foundation, but about what our national health system is doing to support parents and children with life-limiting conditions. One of the difficulties I have is with the NGO model is knowing where the charitable model ends and State responsibility begins. I note in the background documentation I obtained for this debate that families supported by the Jack and Jill Foundation were worried about what would happen to their support structure once their children reached four years of age and beyond. Children with life-threatening illnesses do not cease to have those needs when they go beyond four, seven, eight or even 17.
Canvassing with Emer Costelloe for Children Referendum
In reality what has happened is that the NGO sector has stepped into the breach and done what the health system should have been doing, with little State support when overall costs are taken into account. The Jack and Jill Foundation raised €35 million in charitable donations as against €4.5 million it received from the HSE since 1997. It is clear that while official documents talk about a spirit of partnership, public generosity allows the state to abdicate its responsibilities. One may argue about the methodologies but the reality is clear. It is far better for a child to be cared for in his or her own home for as long as possible in most circumstances. The evidence is clear also that keeping a child in the family home is not just better for the child but cheaper for the public purse For example, a report published in 2010, ‘There is No Place Like Home – A Cost and Outcomes Analysis of Alternative Models of Care for Young Children with Severe Disabilities in Ireland’, estimates there is a saving to the public purse of approximately €120,000 if a child is cared for at home. Obviously, there is some disagreement with this figure and the HSE estimates that a service similar to that provided by the Jack and Jill foundation would cost €23 per hour if delivered through the executive. What really is important is what is in the best interests of the child, his or her immediate family and, in particular, a group that is often forgotten, namely,siblings. Many NGOs save the State money, unfortunately, that is the nature of the job. What is also unfortunate is that where an NGO has demonstrated the need for a service, the State does not always act to mainstream that service, being content instead to let the voluntary effort lead the way. The Irish Hospice Foundation and the Jack and Jill foundation have done this but as a society, we must go further, the charitable model is not enough. Children deserve to live and die with their families around them and this service should be fully funded through public taxation and, while I mean no disrespect by this comment, not by recycling mobile telephones or by drinking coffee. I support the Government amendment because I believe a properly-funded public health system is what is needed, not a piecemeal system that addresses particular needs at particular times. The bottom line is that services to children, vulnerable young people and all of society should be properly funded by public taxes and any support to the charitable model should be for extras, rather than for fundamentals within the system.
Speaking at a UCD Labour event on Homelessness with Minister of State Jan O'Sullivan.
PERSONAL INSOLVENCY, NOVEMBER 2012 I believe that the Personal Insolvency Bill 2012 is the nuclear option. It is important to remind ourselves of that fact. It is also important to remind ourselves that large tracts of Irish society will not be able to avail of the legislation. I am thinking, in particular, of public and civil servants. We should not treat this matter glibly. There has been unbearably slow progress in the banking sector towards the implementation of Mortgage Arrears Resolution Strategies,( MARS). Some covered institutions have treated not only their customers but the Oireachtas with disdain. They demonstrated this when they appeared before the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform. It has come to my attention that one institution, the EBS, is offering split mortgages and is allowing the parking of a portion of the mortgage without charging interest on it. The EBS is distinguishing itself in this. Other institutions are not offering customers that option. Senators who have been members of local authorities will know that local authorities offer loans as agents of the Housing Finance Agency to people on low incomes who have been turned down by two commercial institutions. These loans have, of their very nature, been given to people on the margins of home ownership. One third of these mortgages provided by Dublin City Council are in distress. Local authorities are not in a position to offer MARS style solutions to borrowers, we must change this.
Launch of the Threshold Annual Report.
I ask the Leader to bring this to the attention of the Minister for Finance before the budget. A local authority cannot offer a split mortgage or extend the term of a mortgage. These borrowers are the responsibility of us as legislators because local authorities act on behalf of the Government and these options should be available to them.
PUBLIC EXPENDITURE AND REFORM: STATEMENT TO MINISTER HOWLIN “There is a tendency among all Departments, whether it is intentional or not, to centralise power unto themselves. It is a bit like sucking everything back into the mothership. When it comes to matters of culture, in particular, and matters in which independence of mind and creativity are involved, we need to be careful about removing independence from cultural institutions. I think it is important to acknowledge that the Minister has a difficult portfolio. Like my colleagues, I thought his speech, which set out the achievements his Department has had since it was set up, was very good. I went through the programme for Government before I came here this evening and it was quite impressive to be able to tick so many of the boxes. A number of points are worth bearing in mind. Any government will be judged on the reform in which it engages - more, perhaps, than on any other single item. This is despite the fact that the media seems to be more concerned about the Croke Park agreement. I did a media search on this and was surprised by the amount of material that splurged forth on the Croke Park agreement, in comparison with the amount of material that came out on the reform agenda. I found the level of what is nothing short of vilification of some of our public servants in the media - although not by all of the media, I hasten to add - quite worrying. There is a certain attitude among some parts of the media that the public servants of this country are fair game. It is an issue about which I have significant concern. That attitude is reflected in the morale of some of our public servants. People forget that in spite of all the difficulties this country is facing, we do not face the difficulties of Greece or some of our other European partners. We are not facing into the winter worrying about whether we will have power shortages and so on. It is easy to forget that a period of industrial unrest could overturn an awful lot of the good work that has been done in this country. Some of the commentators on the Croke Park agreement and on the public servants of this country should pause before they conduct some of the conversations they tend to have about our public servants. One concern I have relates to the changes in allowances for entrants to certain professions - although I can understand the reason for them compared to the allowances and pay scales granted to those already in the profession. For example, in the teaching profession there are significant differences between the salaries earned by new entrants and those earned by those who are already within the profession. I know the reasons behind that, but I am concerned that we may create a two-tier public service - a pre-recession and a post-recession public service. I am conscious of some studies done prior to the current recession that showed we do not have an excessive number of public servants and that the cost of our public service when compared to those of other OECD countries was, surprisingly, not excessive. We as a Government have significant cuts to make, but it is important not to undervalue the contribution of our public servants and to be careful as we move forward that we do not create a two-tier public service.
Much has been made in the media of allowances for public servants. I am reminded of perhaps a rather unpopular debate that took place in the British media around the expenses of politicians. The entire debate centred on such and such a politician building a moat around his castle in the middle of nowhere, and someone else who was supporting three luxury apartments in a prestigious development in London. What did not come across is that the reason all the abuse was happening was that there was not an adequate system of allowances within the UK political system. The allowance system we have today was put in place because previous Governments – we all know who they are – were unwilling to face the issue of lower pay among certain grades of public servant. It was easier to give an outdoor allowance, uniform allowance or one for walking around in the playground than to evaluate the real difficulty of low-paid public workers. The Department is dealing with the issue. I accept it will be a difficult obstacle to overcome. A certain amount has been said about the significant successes of the Croke Park agreement. From my experience of being involved with the public service, some of the difficulties that have been overcome have been around the changes in work practices rather than savings in the number of public servants who are no longer within the system. It is very easy to gloss over the kind of work practice changes the Minister outlined on rostering and holidays. However, there are wider issues to consider in the public service, such as shared services. Ten years ago the idea that a Department or other public service body would share a service was completely anathema. Each individual body was a separate fiefdom or kingdom. We have had a significant change of attitude within the public service and that cannot be underestimated. Another issue I wish to bring to the Minister’s attention in the remaining time relates to tendering for public contracts. It has come to my attention that a lot of middle range companies have been pushed out of tendering processes for State contracts because they do not carry sufficient amounts of professional indemnity insurance, for example, or other types of insurance. It is a matter of concern to me and to a number of other people to whom I have spoken that we have what are, in effect, restrictive practices which ensure that only the top and largest companies are able to tender for public contracts. I urge the Minister to examine the matter. The second issue on which I would like an update relates to the accountability of public servants. Under the programme for Government we committed to improve the accountability of public servants, in particular to changing the recruitment practices for public servants to ensure that the best and brightest from outside the public service are brought within it. If the Minister has time I would like him to deal with the issue.”
Contact Senator Aideen Hayden Kilfane, Upper Albert Road, Glenageary, Co. Dublin Tel: 01 618 3178 Mobile: 087 231 1921 Email: aideen.hayden@oir.ie Web: labour.ie/aideenhayden
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Aideen with Cllr. Lettie McCarthy and Staff of RPS Engineers at the DL Chamber Envirocom Awards 2012