Christmas Tree Lighting Schedule

IMPORTANT: Please note earlier start time to the Sandymount Ceremony.

Sandymount Green:                   Friday 9^th of December at 5.30 p.m.

Ranelagh Triangle:                     Thursday 1st of December at 4.00 p.m.

Donnybrook Village:                   Sunday 4th of December at 6.00 p.m. 

Rathmines Plaza:                         Tuesday 6^th of December at 3.30 p.m.

Rathgar, at Christchurch:          Friday 9^th of December at 7.00 p.m.

Terenure, village carpark:          Friday 2^nd of December at 5.00-6.00 p.m.

An Taoiseach’s speech to the Fine Gael Presidential Dinner at the Burlington Hotel on Saturday, 26th November 2011.

I am delighted to be here at the first Fine Gael Presidential Dinner since our great party was elected to Government. It is also the first since we became the largest Party in the State. Those historic achievements are a fitting reward for the many years of dedicated work of many people in this room and our thousands of loyal members throughout the country.

The strong mandate we have received from the Irish people is one that I and my colleagues in Government exercise with great seriousness. It’s a mandate to face up to and tackle the problems of the country – not to shy away from them.

While it is right that we acknowledge the progress we have made, we must also reflect on what has happened since our last Presidential Dinner, a little over a year ago. Then the country was rudderless and leaderless. As we now know, discussions had been going on for months on the terms of a bailout package for Ireland – despite the denials by the then Government.

The people had lost faith in the previous Government and were demanding change. A year ago, I promised you that Fine Gael had the team and the plan to get Ireland working again. When the election came in February, the Irish people decided to make us the largest Party in the Dáil.

The democratic vote of the people ensured the election of a strong and stable partnership between Fine Gael and the Labour Party – a new Government with the largest mandate in the history of the State.

Tonight I want to confirm publicly that this Government is working very well and very hard, with a shared determination to lead our country to recovery.

In the eight months since taking office, the Government has made a good start, but there is long way to go. Despite the huge constraints imposed by the EU/IMF programme, we have made some progress. We have worked hard to restore Ireland’s international reputation which was so tarnished by the previous Government.

Economic growth – although slow – has returned.  The banks have been restructured. We have established two pillar banks and imposed losses on junior bond holders. Despite the scepticism of our opponents, we have secured significant improvements in the terms of the EU/IMF programme, improvements that will yield savings to the taxpayer of over €10 billion.

As a first signal of the priority we attached to getting people back to work, we introduced a jobs initiative which has already had a positive impact on sectors like tourism. We have also started the process of radically reforming the political system and public sector so that people can see clearly that change starts at the top and at the centre.

We make these changes against the backdrop of continuing uncertainty about the direction of the European Union and the stability of the single currency.

It is essential that European leaders make and implement clear decisions quickly to prove our shared determination to protect our currency, to support Member States that are working towards economic recovery, and to introduce strong rules to ensure fiscal discipline.

Let me be clear – Ireland supports the creation of stronger economic governance throughout Europe, and particularly throughout the Eurozone.

The Irish people are paying the price now for the absence of such rules in the past. I am determined that we will never go back to the practices that drove our economy off a cliff – reckless spending, poor oversight of banks and over-reliance on property-related tax revenues.

I look forward to the proposals for stronger governance in the Eurozone to be presented by the President of the European Council next month which may include limited changes to the EU treaties. We will engage positively in the debate on these proposals.

However, to tackle the immediate crisis, the first priority must be to use the existing instruments and decisions to their full potential so that the markets can be convinced that European leaders are fully committed to defending and protecting their currency.

Irrespective of the search for a solution at European level, it is essential that we in Ireland continue to implement our plan to fix our budget deficit, while still investing in job creation.

Our guiding principles for this budget will be the creation of jobs, meeting our targets and protecting the most vulnerable. This budget will be tough on everyone. That’s why we started with the political system itself through cutting Ministerial pay and transport, and reducing the number of Oireachtas Committees.

Over recent weeks, we have published segments of the budget package. Our new €17 billion capital investment programme honestly sets out what projects the country can afford in current economic circumstances. It’s focused on jobs, education and health.

Our radical reform of the public sector will tackle waste and duplication and sees the merger or abolition of at least 48 quangos, and a definite end to the ill-judged decentralization programme.

We have also introduced pay ceilings and retirement arrangements for senior public servants and semi-State executives. I am very disappointed that Coillte has yet to accede to the Government’s request for a voluntary cut of 15% in the salary of its chief executive.

Earlier this week, Minister Richard Bruton published details of the first elements of a major government focus on jobs –a new partial loan guarantee scheme and a micro finance scheme for small start-up enterprises. These and other plans to be announced in January are aimed at creating 100,000 new jobs for our people.

While the remaining elements of the budget will entail very difficult spending cuts and revenue raising measures, we are determined to achieve the very large budgetary correction in a way that best protects jobs and the most vulnerable in our society.  That’s why Minister Michael Noonan has already made it clear that he intends to raise the necessary additional tax revenue in the budget through indirect taxes, rather than by increases on taxes on work. We believe that increases in income taxes would be damaging to jobs and this view is supported by international experts, including the OECD.

In conclusion, I want to assure you that, no matter how difficult the challenges, Fine Gael in government will keep our promise to the Irish people to tackle the country’s problems head-on. That’s why we are in politics – to serve the Irish people.

The current economic challenge presents us with a great opportunity to change things in this country for the better. To make the reforms this country needs to achieve economic recovery and, most of all, to make Ireland the best small country in the world in which to do business.

In doing so, we can deliver on our top priority in government– the creation of jobs for our people.

Ireland, we need to talk about Europe

If we figure out where we want to go politically with Europe, the options open to us in sorting out the immediate Eurozone crisis should come quickly in to focus.

Under the bailout agreement the government’s freedom to decide public taxation and spending has been curtailed because of the oversight arrangement introduced with the arrival of the troika. Strict parameters have been set within which we must make decisions and govern. Still the mandate from the people and the duty to the state remain.

Our politicians decided that this arrangement had to be made in order to keep the show on the road and that we would receive outside assistance until such time as we could manage our own affairs once again. It was a temporary decision though and designed in such a way that it would not be permanently binding on either party to it.

Things are changing quickly though and the once temporary may yet become permanent for some.

There is much talk of treaty changes to stabilise the monetary union longer term and to do this by introducing greater fiscal union. The most subtle of changes being contemplated involves a formalization of the terms of the Growth and Stability Pact: making the 3% debt to GDP target binding on all members and introducing the possibility of penalties if these strict targets are not met. Bolder measures build from here.

At this most basic level though proposals would involve scrutiny of budgets by foreign parliaments, with the power to dictate changes, and the option to penalise rule breakers if deemed necessary. For the bailout countries it would in reality mean little change from what is currently the status quo.

‘What are we willing to give to save the euro?’

What we are experiencing is an economic crisis of such severity that it has brought us rapidly to a significant political question at home and in Europe. This moment has been hiding in the background since Maastricht. It’s important to understand that the likely long-term solution for the euro problem will mean a further loss of sovereign power. What are we willing to give to save the euro? What do we want from the European project?

The temptation will be to answer these questions on economic terms – how much we stand to lose financially under the various scenarios. These factors are important and will inform the position we take. But they must not define it.

We must not cling to the euro simply because we’re concerned about maintaining foreign direct investment levels, important as they are to our economy. Nor should we do so because we are worried about household debt levels and what would happen in a post-euro scenario (and I don’t make this point lightly). But we cannot go for greater fiscal union because of an intellectually lazy assumption that Europe simply has to go that way.

People will argue that we have no choice and that the euro must be saved no matter what. If this is the case then we have lost our independence already.

I’m a European. And I’m a democrat. And, as there are different ways of organising a democracy, so there are different ways of structuring European cooperation. We already have a structure that for the moment has proved successful in maintaining peace on the continent while also respecting each nation’s sovereignty.

Greater fiscal cooperation could possibly undermine a core principle established in Europe – equality amongst sovereigns.

Recent political events in Italy and Greece challenge basic democratic and sovereign principles. Fiscal union in Europe wouldn’t look very different. The practice of European committees made up of state leaders (including our own) and institutional representatives dictating other members’ domestic affairs would be normalised. What voice then have the people in such an arrangement? Why hold elections at all?

‘Imagine seeing a future Taoiseach marching against proposed cutbacks from Europe’

This might sound a bit dramatic but giving up fiscal control undoes a fundamental principle of our democracy and the European Union. We must tread cautiously. Once that principle is undone we put ourselves determinedly on the road to federalization and true political union.

There are those who want this, who want Europe to take the stage as a proper singular power and it is an entirely legitimate ambition. True a simple treaty change won’t bring this about overnight. But the type of treaty changed envisaged would establish once and for all the collective will and direction of the European project, something that has been debated and contested since the first days but never properly challenged until now.

This isn’t about some false sense of patriotism or hyper-nationality. It’s about democracy, and about how democratic principles are best served – what arrangement of institutions is best to determine and implement the will of the people.

Democracy in this country is too far removed from the people as it is, with basically no responsibility or authority at the local level. Meaning that localism plays out in the national arena, the little picture trumping the big. We know this; it’s why we are where we are today.

The risk as I see it is that we could make this democratic deficit greater. We recently saw a cabinet Minister marching against his own government’s proposed cutbacks. Imagine seeing a future Taoiseach marching against proposed cutbacks from Europe.

The Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said he doesn’t see Treaty change as the solution. Even if it was, I don’t think the citizens of Europe would support it for the reasons above. This means that the current infrastructure must be used and used quickly to address the immediate crisis. Germany needs to understand this now as talk of treaty change is wasting valuable time.

New Fund invests 2 million euro in five high-growth Irish companies to create 92 jobs – Bruton

Minister announces first investments under AIB Start-Up Accelerator Fund

The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD, today (Monday 21^st November) announced the first five investments by the AIB Start-Up Accelerator Fund, managed by ACT Venture Capital and established early in the term of this Government as part of the banking recapitalisation mandate. 92 jobs will be created in the coming 12 months in five high-growth Irish companies in key sectors as part of the investment. The companies in which the Fund has made investments of €2million include:

• Storyful.com, the online media company established by RTE journalist Mark Little
• Online gaming software development company Swerve,
• Award-winning financial services software company Barracuda FX
• UCD-based medical diagnostics company Biosensia

The Fund contains a total of €22million, of which €20million was contributed by AIB in the context of the bank recapitalisation mandate, and €2million was contributed by Enterprise Ireland. It is one of four specialist Seed Capital Funds, totalling €124million, formed as part of the bank mandate. Investment is by way of an equity stake in the company by the Fund.

The investments made by the new Fund will focus on developing high-growth, export-oriented companies in emerging sectors such as Digital Media, Internet, Software, CleanTech and Medical Devices. The €2million invested by the Fund as part of today’s announcement comes as part of total fundraising of €5million by the five companies.

Making the announcement today, Minister Bruton said:

“If we are to turn this country around and create a new economy which can support the levels of employment we need, central to that will be dynamic Irish companies. That is why a key part of the Government’s jobs plan is to target policies at sectors where Irish companies have the capacity to break into export markets and grow quickly to create jobs. ICT, financial services and life sciences are sectors where Ireland has a long record of success in attracting multinational companies, but the challenge now is to convert that into success also for Irish companies.

“Today’s announcement is evidence that this plan is starting to succeed. This Fund is one of a series of measures the Government is putting in place to ensure that these companies have access to credit at all stages of their development. My aim is that, with the right policies in place, companies like these can succeed, grow, and create the large numbers of jobs we so badly need”.

John Flynn, Managing Director of ACT Venture Capital, said the Fund had experienced a very high level of activity in its first six months of operation and that he expects the current investment pace to continue. ‘This helps to position Ireland as one of Europe’s most active locations for seed funding and will create a strong pipeline of expansion companies and funding opportunities over the coming years’, said Mr Flynn who added that ‘ACT is particularly keen to partner with entrepreneurs where we can exploit our international network to help them expand’.

Brendan O’Connor, Head Of Commercial Banking, AIB Bank said:
“The Fund is an important element of AIB’s seed capital capability and the Bank now has facilitated the creation of €75m in funding making it the largest seed capital provider in the country. With today’s announcement, it means AIB is facilitating, on average, one new investment per month in equity capital for fast growth and high potential Irish owned businesses, supporting the creation of new jobs across the country’.

Debt discrepency in the National Accounts – Public Accounts Committee, Thursday 3rd November 2011.

When the Public Accounts Committee convened on Thursday 3^rd November to discuss the debt discrepancy in the national accounts, I was struck by how many simple questions remained to be answered and directed the following to the Secretary General of the Department of Finance:

• How the problem was communicated upwards when it was first discovered?
• Reason for the delay in information reaching the Minister after its discovery?
• The particular points in the system where mistakes were made.

Please see an excerpt of my questions here.

The full transcript of the Public Accounts Committee meeting of Thursday 3^rd November can be found here.

NAMA – Public Accounts Committee, Wednesday 26th October 2011.

On Wednesday 26^th October, the Chairman and the CEO of NAMA came before the Public Accounts Committee.  A link to the full transcripts is included at the bottom of this post but some the issues I addressed can be found through the following links:

Extract 1

Extract 2

Extract 3 

The topics discussed included:

• The recent Geoghegan Review and implications for NAMA, its operations and the membership of the board.
• Conflicting reports that have emerged regarding NAMA’s intention to pursue €74 billion of debt or merely the €31.billion the Agency paid for it.
• Plans for debt reduction targets over NAMA’s lifetime.
• Offloading of overseas asset.
• Lloyds Bank and RBS’ activities in the market.
• Transparency issues.
• The Google Building.
• Consultancy fees and new tendering process.
• Auctioning of art collections, the tendering process and outside advice.
• Risk management.
• Upward only rent reviews – the proposed legislation and its effect on NAMA’s property portfolio.
• Proposed new bankruptcy legislation – reducing the term to 5 years and the possible effect on debtors’ cooperation with NAMA as a result.

The full transcript of the Public Accounts Committee meeting of Thursday 3^rd November can be found here.

Medical card question November 2011

QUESTION NO:  242

DÁIL QUESTION addressed to the Minister of State at the Department of Health (Ms. Shortall)
by Deputy Eoghan Murphy

for WRITTEN ANSWER on 16/11/2011

*  To ask the Minister for Health if he will consider the following case regarding a person’s (details supplied) in Dublin 6 difficulty in receiving a medical card.

REPLY.

As this is a service matter it has been referred to the Health Service Executive for direct reply to the Deputy.

Is the Euro really essential to our economy?

The rapid pace at which events are unfolding in the eurozone makes it difficult to focus on much else. Last week we saw a change of leadership in two member countries, Greece and Italy, the UK confirmed that it is drawing up contingency plans for a break-up of the euro, and the likelihood of further structural changes to properly manage the zone were brought centre stage. In a matter of months we’ve moved faster than we have for decades.

Describing this as a crisis point for the eurozone doesn’t quite get at it – this is its defining moment in time: that point where it dies a painful death, or stands up stronger, bolder and better than before. Much commentary has focussed on the chaos that would most certainly follow the former, and the perhaps impossible leaps required to get us to the latter.

We may still muddle on for a bit, as we have since the crisis first erupted early last year. But we’re only delaying the inevitable. The eurozone question must be answered, by each of us.

In order for us here in Ireland to better understand the options facing us, and so be better prepared, we have to ask ourselves two questions. The first being: is the euro essential to our economy? And the second: is the euro essential to the future of European political and economic cooperation?

Is the euro essential to our economy?

There was an economy in Ireland before the euro and there will still be one if we leave the euro or if the currency itself disintegrates. The euro is the currency denomination in which we trade with others. We could, as we hav But we’re only delaying the inevitable. The eurozone question must be answered, by each of us.

In order for us here in Ireland to better understand the options facing us, and so be better prepared, we have to ask ourselves two questions. The first being: is the euro essential to our economy? And the second: is the euro essential to the future of European political and economic cooperation?

Is the euro essential to our economy?

There was an economy in Ireland before the euro and there will still be one if we leave the euro or if the currency itself disintegrates. The euro is the currency denomination in which we trade with others. We could, as we have in the past, trade with another denomination if needs be. What is essential to our economy, what our economy is based upon, is what we produce and how our resources are organised to produce it (also known as the factors of production).

Exit from the euro in whatever form – moving us to a different, less valued currency denomination – would be incredibly chaotic and would damage parts of our economy certainly. It would also strengthen others. Life would get a lot tougher, very quickly. But it wouldn’t be the end. Some would argue that it would in fact be the beginning of our economic recovery proper because it would dramatically reduce production costs and increase competitiveness, make exports even stronger and make imports more expensive, helping a seriously sluggish domestic economy to get moving.

But perhaps the only certainty across these two positions is that a lot of people will lose a lot of money.

Is the euro essential to the future of European political and economic cooperation?

We are mistaken if we believe that the euro is the natural progression from the European Coal and Steel Community set up in the 1950s, or some essential step in the European project. This betrays both an improper understanding of history and a poor grasp of what Europe is. The ECSC was designed to centralise control of the European market for two key raw materials in the industrial war machine, coal and steel, in the understanding that shared control of such vital materials would keep those in the market from raising armies against each other. It did this. And in doing this, leaders realised that there was room for greater cooperation, on a range of fronts. And the project continued. Independent nations working together.

My point here is that the EU can continue without the euro and it is scaremongering to suggest otherwise. A simple fact is that the EU already exists for 10 members without it. So it may just be that a common currency is one aspect of cooperation that is just too far for some, if not all of us. But if the euro fails or if its membership changes it does not by necessity mean the EU itself is over. All that was built before the euro, all the good aspects of our cooperation, from preventing war to making life better for a lot of people, does not have to come tumbling down. (Whether it would or not would depend on how a possible currency break-up and the resulting sovereign defaults were handled.)

Why do I make these points? Not because I want us to leave the euro or because I want it to break up – I don’t; the government is doing an excellent job putting the country’s finances back on a secure footing and in building a path to future prosperity and financial and economic independence. Disruption of the euro will yield massive disruption here at home, an economic hurricane perhaps not witnessed since political independence. But we must have no jingoistic affection for the currency – it is a financial tool.

I make these points because I believe we could be faced with a choice in the near future in relation to our participation in the eurozone, a should I stay or should I go moment.

Now going would be trouble. But staying could mean the end of the state’s fiscal autonomy.

Much commentary would suggest that for the euro to survive and thrive more than a strengthening of the Growth and Stability pact or giving greater powers to the ECB is required. This belief is premised upon a position that currency union requires greater fiscal union – giving up national control of what we tax and spend and how much we tax and spend. And Angela Merkel shares this belief.

Control divested to leaders of other countries, who would control all our financial affairs and could penalise us if we step out of line. No equal sovereigns at one table, no veto. The Taoiseach and Minister for Finance would report to a committee of other world leaders and be directed by them.

We’re actually kind of in that situation now because we’ve suspended financial control in return for financial assistance. But that’s only meant to be a temporary arrangement. Our ambition remains to return to the markets and the international system as an independent sovereign state with full control over our domestic fiscal affairs.

Staying in the euro, if it required a loss of fiscal controls, would mean giving up that part of our political independence for good. Choosing to have no more choice in what is a pretty fundamental (perhaps the fundamental) aspect of the governance of the state. As it stands, governments stand or fall by their ability to pass money bills. But what if they’re no longer really responsible for them – who stands or falls then? Who takes responsibility?

If someone tells you how to spend your money, is it really your money? If someone tells you what to choose to spend it on, is it really a choice? The answer is no. Under this vision of where the euro must go from here, how much we tax and how much we spend would no longer be in our control. We need to understand this, now.

It would be the biggest decision ever taken by this State and it is not one to be marshalled in to blindly or hastily. The government’s position is that there should be no more treaty changes and I support that. The euro should be made to work within its existing powers.

And if it can’t then it can’t. The question then though will be a lot more fundamental than what currency we choose to trade in. It will be one that will challenge our future existence as an independent and sovereign nat

RIVER DODDER WORKS

A report to reduce flood risk on the Lower Dodder from both tidal and fluvial events was completed in January 2007 by Dublin City Council with funding from the Office of Public Works (OPW). Following discussions with the Council, OPW agreed to undertake the works directly and these works commenced in September 2007 at Ringsend Bridge and moving upstream to Newbridge. The works have been undertaken on a phased basis with approximately €8.5M expended so far. Works are currently ongoing between New Bridge and Lansdowne Railway Bridge.

The following Programme, compiled by Dublin City Council, sets out the timeframe of the current works and the likely timeframe for future works.

PROGRAMME FOR DODDER WORKS

Marian College & Lansdowne Road

Construction works are currently being carried out by OPW  from Newbridge to Lansdowne Rail Bridge.

The key elements of these works are:

• Construction of a reinforced concrete flood defence wall
• Masonry claddinig to reinforced concrete wall
• Installation of flood gates
• Installation of railings to match previous phases of the Dodder Flood Defence Scheme

The works on the opposite bank on Lansdowne Road are currently at detailed design stage and will be constructed in 2012.

Emergency Works

Dublin City Council has identified the following key elements as emergency works arising from the recent flooding. Further discussion will be required between DCC and OPW in relation to the programming of the following list of works and possible inclusion under Minor Works Programme.

• Raising Licensed Vintners embankment
• Raising concrete wall upstream of Licensed Vintners
• Raising wall at Beatty’s cottages and
• Repairing river wall beside entrance to RDS at Anglesea Road
• Further emergency works may be identified when an assessment of the recent flood event            has been completed

Londonbridge / Newbridge

These works consist of raising the existing parapet walls to the design flood levels.

Further Phases

The Dodder Catchment-based Flood Risk Assessment Management (CFRAM) Study, currently being undertaken, has identified a number of flood defence measures required between the Lansdowne railway bridge and Donnybrook. These outline proposals contained in the CFRAMS require detailed design and further environmental assessment.

Dublin City Council will appoint consultancy services for these Phases in the near future to carry out all site investigation, environmental requirements, and draft planning permissions by September 2012, at which point the Dodder CFRAMS can be adopted by the three relevant councils.

The Environmental Impact Statement for these phases of flood defence works is programmed to be completed by Q.1 of 2013 and submitted to An Bord Pleanala, if the Council decide to progress them through their normal planning process.

Government announces fund to assist flooding victims

The Minister for Social Protection, Joan Burton T.D, and the Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan TD today (8th November 2011) announced that the Government has agreed to set up a Humanitarian Assistance Scheme with an allocation of up to €10 million to provide means-tested financial support to people who have suffered damage to their homes as a result of the recent flooding.

The Government has also established a cross-Departmental/Agency Working Group, chaired by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, to oversee the State’s collective response to those affected by the flooding.

The working Group* will identify any gaps that may exist within existing services to address the consequences of the flooding for individuals, families and communities.  If additional services are required, including humanitarian assistance, the Group will report to Government with proposals to address these issues.

Minister Burton said: “I have been to visit many of the families who have suffered from the flooding and I have seen first hand the damage to some people’s homes.’’

Minister Hogan said: “I welcome the establishment of this Group which will work in a speedy and focused way to ensure that those who require the assistance of the State following the severe flooding of 24 October get it.  It will build on the enormous work already done on the ground by Community Welfare Officers, the Irish Red Cross, Local Authorities and others.’’

Minister Burton said:  “The Government recognises the devastation suffered by many families arising from these floods.  Staff from the Department of Social Protection (former Community Welfare Officers) have already made house to house calls to individuals they have identified as being vulnerable at this difficult time. In addition, emergency clinics have been established in the worst affected areas to offer help to households. Payments are currently being made to families who need urgent financial assistance with basics such as food, clothing and bedding. This funding will continue to be disbursed to individuals and families as required.

The main details of the Humanitarian Assistance Fund are as follows:

• It will be administered on the ground by staff from the Department of Social Protection (former Community Welfare Officers),
• It will provide hardship alleviation assistance, as opposed to full compensation, to householders affected by the flooding.
• Damage to a person’s home and its basic contents, such as carpets, flooring, furniture, household appliances and bedding, will be the main criteria. Structural damage may also be considered.
• Eligibility will be subject to a means test.
• Assistance will not be given for losses which are covered by insurance.
• Commercial and business losses will not qualify for humanitarian assistance.
• Applications will be prioritised so that the most urgent ones can be dealt with very quickly.

“I am conscious that for some families it could be weeks if not months before the damage to their homes is fully apparent. I would like to reassure families that this humanitarian assistance scheme will be there for them in the months ahead,’’ Minister Burton concluded.