Green Failure Part II - Mental Health, Cork Airport and Shannon Airport
Once upon a time, the Green Party were against Thornton Hall - from their Mental Health Policy
….We regard this Government’s plans to re-locate the Central Mental Hospital to a site alongside the planned Thornton Prison as being totally unacceptable. Such a move will accentuate the stigma and isolation/social exclusion of the mentally ill.
The justice policy which I cannot find on the new Green Party website but which is still in the Google cache says
The Green Party will….abolish plans to relocate Mountjoy to Thornton Hall and instead review options to refurbish and extend the present buildings
Fine Gael’s Leo Varadkar calls on Green Party to explain their U-turn on Thornton Hall - the response being “the previous crowd did it”
Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Deputy Brian Lenihan):As the Deputy is aware, a decision to replace prison facilities at Mountjoy was taken by the previous Government in November 2004. Since then some €29.9 million has been spent in the context of procuring land at Thornton Hall in Co. Dublin. In April 2007, a preferred bidder for the work involved in realising this project was selected and negotiations between this party and officials of my Department are at an advanced stage.
There is an urgent need to replace the facilities at Mountjoy. Conditions there have been severely criticised by the Council of Europe’s European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and the Inspector of Prisons. Its facilities are out-dated and incapable of meeting the challenges of administering a modern, progressive and safe prison system. This is particularly so in the context of the Government’s stated aim to make prisons drug free environments. Redeveloping the existing 20 acre site at Mountjoy is not viable from an operational or developmental perspective. The construction of the new facility on a green field site will address the problems associated with the Mountjoy site and will, in addition, offer significant improvements in the areas of work training, education, and medical services as well as providing single cell accommodation with in-cell sanitation.
The Programme for Government provides for investment in rehabilitation services, the development of individualised programmes for prisoners based on risk assessment and rehabilitation needs and incentives for prisoners to participate in such programmes. Fundamental to the achievement of this objective is an ability to categorise prisoners effectively. Thornton will provide the necessary facilities to achieve this. In the circumstances I do not see any purpose in reviewing the Government’s decision at this time.
Our new TD, Kierans asks about Shannon Airport and funding for the mid-west:
21. Deputy Kieran O’Donnell asked the Minister for Transport and the Marine when the Government funding will be put in place for the urgent implementation of the €53 million mid-west tourism and economic development plan (details supplied).
The response could be summed up as - “the plan will be finished shortly and there is another plan coming”:
Minister for Transport and the Marine (Deputy Noel Dempsey): Earlier this year the EU and the US reached agreement on a multilateral air transport agreement ‘Open Skies’ which envisages more liberalised air service arrangements on the transatlantic market. The agreement on Open Skies follows several years of negotiations at EU US level and marks an historic step in advancing the development of international regulation of aviation and is expected to yield significant economic benefits on both sides of the Atlantic.
As part of the transitional arrangements relating to Ireland, the ‘Shannon Stop’ requirement is being phased out and will end in April 2008. In the meantime air carriers are required to serve Dublin and Shannon on a 3:1 basis over the period October 2006 to March 2008. At the same time the restriction on the number of US cities that can be served by Irish carriers have been lifted. As a result, Aer Lingus will commence three new services from Dublin to the US from Autumn 2007 to San Francisco, Orlando and Washington.
With a view to assisting Shannon airport, and the wider region, to adapt to the new regime, my Department has drawn up an Economic and Tourism Development Plan for Shannon. This follows a commitment given by my predecessor Minister Cullen, which is now reflected in the new Programme for Government. I expect to be in a position to bring the Economic and Tourism Plan for Shannon to finalisation shortly.
In preparing the Plan, my Department has consulted with the Department of Arts, Sports and Tourism, the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment, the Department of Communications & Natural Resources and the Department of Finance. A liaison group, established by the Mid West Regional Authority, has separately prepared a report on the future development of the Shannon region as an input to the Department’s Plan.
and one from Jimmy about the U-turn on landing Cork Airport with €100m of debt despite a commitment from Bertie Ahern
66. Deputy Jimmy Deenihan asked the Minister for Transport and Information Zoom the Marine the position in relation to the debt burden at Cork Airport; if he will personally intervene to resolve this issue. [18100/07]
The response - It won’t break them so they can feic off!
Minister for Transport and the Marine (Deputy Noel Dempsey): I understand that the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) has been advised by consultants on an appropriate financing proposal that would facilitate the statutory objective of the separation of Cork Airport from the DAA in a timely manner, consistent with the requirements of the State Airports Act 2004 and the Companies Acts. I am aware that the outcome of this analysis was that Cork Airport could sustain a certain level of debt while remaining a very viable enterprise. I understand that the board of the Cork Airport Authority also engaged consultants to examine further the issue of the Cork debt.
Clearly, the debt issue is crucial to the business planning process which will have to be addressed by the Cork airport board and the DAA, in the first instance, before any business plan is submitted to me and the Minister for Finance for our approval under the State Airports Act 2004. The Government position is that the funding of the new terminal and other works at Cork Airport will have to take account, not only of what is commercially and financially feasible for Cork Airport, but also what is commercially and financially feasible for Dublin Airport.
If the Cork Airport Authority is to achieve autonomy in the foreseeable future, it will have to accept responsibility for a reasonable portion of the outstanding debt, in return for the substantial assets to be transferred to it on separation. In deciding what level of debt is to be borne by Cork, it will have to be manifest to all concerned that it is a manageable debt burden that would not put at risk the airport’s commercial future. Responsibility for the production of the business plans rests with the authorities. My function, under the Act, is to consider the plans, in conjunction with the Minister for Finance, once they have been submitted.
July 4th, 2007 at 12:33 am
Sorry Joe, I can’t see how this negative politiking will win FG or Lab many votes, well not from me anyway or some of the people I know. I really think that attacking the Greens to discredit them or to hope that they crumble is pretty lame politics, it seems to show the lack of vision of Fine Gael.
Which reminds me, I was so saddened to see the bitterness emanating from Enda Kenny on the first day of the new dail, it was a stark contrast from his swaggering around the country a few weeks previously claiming arrogantly that he would be the next Taoiseach. Actually, considering that he didn’t become the next Taoiseach, should he have not resigned after what he said?
July 4th, 2007 at 9:27 am
What’s negative about demanding action, action that is promised in plans (Shannon) and manifestos (Greens & Thornton) and commitments (Cork Airport)
Bitterness? More like glee to have 20 new TDs at his back but disappointment and disbelief at the Greens.
And with those 20 new TDs, Fine Gael will be stronger than ever in the Dail demanding answers, raising important issues and holding FF/Greens/PDs/Inds to account
July 5th, 2007 at 7:55 pm
It is negative because you are not demanding action you are demanding excuses from the Greens. You are not asking for the Thornton plan to be stopped you are looking for a reason for why the Greens compromised with their previous belief. It is negative because you are associating the act of compromising with the act of failing.
Sadly, I didn’t see any of that glee when Enda was talking on the first day of this Dail, all I saw was bitterness at not being in power. Why were ye disappointed with the Greens?
July 5th, 2007 at 8:10 pm
Oh we are demanding action - the decision must be reversed!
Dan Neville:
I call on the Government and the Minister for Health and Children to reverse the decision to move the Central Mental Hospital to a site adjacent to the new prison at Thornton Hall in north Dublin. The Government must respect the human rights of people with mental illness. To locate a therapeutic facility for people with mental illness, many of whom have not committed a crime, beside a prison is stigmatising and discriminatory.
In his letter to the Taoiseach, the clinical director at the hospital stated, “the proposal is about as bad an idea as it is possible to imagineâ€. The director, Dr. Kennedy, is strongly critical of the fact that he was not included in plans to move the Central Mental Hospital and that he only learned of the developments through the media. There is an urgent need for a new hospital to replace the Central Mental Hospital. This has been recognised for a number of years and should have been acted upon at a much earlier stage.
Dr. Kennedy is insistent that the new hospital should be located beside a general hospital. He stated 200 secure psychiatric beds are needed to end the situation in which prisons are used as psychiatric waiting rooms and are equivalent to accident and emergency department trolleys. The case for revisiting this decision made by the previous Government is compelling and I call on the Minister for Health and Children to do so immediately.
May 28th, 2008 at 12:04 am
[...] I hope they raise it at Cabinet at the very least, more here. [...]