Ceann Comhairle refuses Mick Barry, AAA/PBP, respond to Government handpicking chair of water committee

A row broke out in the Dáil today during a debate on the 'Establishment of a Committee on the Future Funding of Domestic Water Services'.   Ceann Comhairle Sean O Fearghail suspended the session for five minutes after refusing AAA/PBP Mick Barry finish a point of order.  The full debate can be read here,  however,  to get a full picture it is best toread the previous item 'Order of Business',  bottom page 20 for further controversy.

Mr Barry accused the Government of 'pulling a really sly one on the water charges committee'.  He said that the Government with support of Fianna Fáil chose Pádraig Ó Céidigh to be chairman of the proposed committee.  Mr Barry said: “Let’s be clear on what’s going on here. This is an attempt on the part of the government with support on the Fianna Fáil benches to pull a sly one on the issues of the water charges committee.”

He said that in a previous committee on housing, the chairperson was not appointed by the Government after some “backroom conversations” with Fianna Fáil but was elected.  What is being proposed here is the Government will pick the chairman of the committee."

That was as far as Mr Barry got.  The Ceann Comhairle interrupted him andeventually suspending the session.

The objections, however, were not only about the Government handpicking Pádraig Ó Céidigh for the position as chair.  It also involved the way it handled the 'Order of Bussiness'  which the Government changed to allow the motion on the water committee to be brought forward.  

A Sinn Féin motion to allow the special Oireachtas Water Charges Committee pick its own chairperson was defeated by the Government with the support of Fianna Fáil.

The Dáil voted to establish the special Oireachtas committee 93 to 38.  This committee made up of 16 TD and 4 senators will discuss a report, due out next week, from a Domestic Water Commission which the Government had already set up.  Incidentally this was another controversial issue in the long sage of Water Charges.  Many in the Anti Water Charges movement believe that the outcome from the so called 'independent' commission is a foregone conclusion.

Minister Coveney hopes that the Oireachtas Select Committee will deliver it's recommendations sometime around end of March 2017 after which there will be a Dáil vote.

Untreated sewage dumped into waterways at 43 locations

 

The Environmental Protection Agency has called for a substantial and sustained increase in investment in public waste water treatment infrastructure to protect public health and the environment on foot of substantial discharges of raw sewage last year.

The EPA's 2015 Urban Waste Water Treatment Report details a litany of failures and problems with sewage treatment all over the country.

Twenty-nine large towns and cities including Ringsend, Cork city, Cobh, Youghal, Enniscorthy, Arklow, Lahinch, Ennistymon, Clifden and many more failed to meet mandatory EU sewage standards, the deadline for which was ten years ago.

Untreated sewage is being dumped into the sea and rivers in 43 places, including Rush and Howth in Dublin, An Spideál and An Cheathrú Rua in Galway, Kilmore Quay in Wexford, ten locations in Cork, and 11 in Donegal.

The EPA says it is unacceptable that the timetable tackling the discharges from 20 of these areas has already slipped by almost two years. 

The agency says the current level of capital investment is simply not enough to tackle the infrastructural deficiencies and investment running €100m per year below the average spent between 2000 and 2011.

The report found that waste water from 45 areas was linked to river pollution and that sewage discharges contributed to poor quality bathing water at six popular beaches including Merrion Strand, Youghal Front Strand and Duncannon.

It also found that 16 waste water schemes require improvements to protect the critically endangered freshwater pearl mussel.

 

EPA programme manager David Flynn said an additional €100 million a year needs to be invested in waste water infrastructure.

He said there has been a legacy of "decades of under investment in the system".

Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr Flynn said that at least €280m to €300m a year, for the next five to seven years, needs to be invested.

He said that while enormous progress has been made since 2000, in comparison to the rest of Europe, Ireland is lagging behind.

Source: RTE News, Nov 24, 2016

The Globalization of War- James Corbett interviews author Michel Chossudovsky

“The Globalization of War is undoubtedly one of the most important books on the contemporary global situation produced in recent years.

In his latest masterpiece, Professor Michel Chossudovsky shows how the various conflicts we are witnessing today in Ukraine, Syria, Iraq and Palestine are in fact inter-linked and inter-locked through a single-minded agenda in pursuit of global hegemony helmed by the United States and buttressed by its allies in the West and in other regions of the world.“

Dr Chandra Muzaffar, President of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST)