Dominic Hannigan's blog

I've Moved Blogs!

2010-10-17T11:43:00.002+01:00

I've moved my blog to incorporate it into my website. You can see it at :

www.dominichannigan.com

Anglo gets another €2bn

2010-06-07T11:25:00.001+01:00

Despite the fact that this week the government gave another €2,000,000,000 to Anglo Irish bank (that’s €500 from every man, woman and child in the country) there has been little debate on the subject. It’s almost taken as a given now that every few weeks or so we have to find another lump of money to put into the bank. You have to wonder is this just more good money going after bad. If this was any other business in the private sector it would have been let go to the wall long ago.

Instead of discussing Anglo, the airways have been consumed with the Gazan flotilla and with Ivor Callery’s driving expenses, leaving little room for anything else.

On Wednesday Donie Cassidy arranged for a debate on the subject of Gaza in the Seanad. The Minister of Foreign Affairs was present, as were about 6 or 7 Senators from the different parties. I thought that we had a good debate on the issues, which included discussion about the Goldstone report, Israel’s invitation into the OECD, Operation Cast Lead (from Christmas last year) and of course the attack on the flotilla. Minister Martin was on top of his brief, and I think it was a very useful exploration of the whole issue.

On Thursday we were meant to have the Israeli ambassador come in to our Foreign Affairs Committee. He pulled out at the last minute so instead we had Shane Dillon, one of the travellers from the flotilla, come in to recount his experience. The place was packed with TDs, Senators, journalists and members of the public. It’s not often we get such an attendance at our committee!

On a blog posting a few weeks back I mentioned that I was looking for help over the summer months. There are a few projects I want to get done and we don’t have the capacity in the office to carry them out ourselves. Well, a large number of people applied for the position, I’m glad to say. The calibre of the applicants was excellent and it was difficult to reduce the total number of applicants down to a select set for interview. We held the interviews on Thursday last and we are now making some tough decisions about who to offer the positions to. The reality is that all of the interviewees were very suitable, but the problem is that we haven’t room for everyone!

Many thanks to Cathy in HQ for helping with the arrangements on this.

Canvassing in East Meath

2010-05-23T13:04:00.001+01:00

I’ve commented before on the impact that the new Garda communications system TETRA is having on the reception of some people’s TVs in the north east. The problem arises because the TETRA signal interferes with the signals for the BBC, UTV and Channel 4 coming in from Northern Ireland.

We discussed the matter in the Seanad a few weeks back. At the time Minister Conor Lenihan agreed to arrange a meeting with TETRA to see what could be done. We held that meeting on Thursday last in Leinster House.

After our pre-meeting in the Minister’s office we went across to meet TETRA. On the way we managed to get stuck in a lift, and if it wasn’t for the Irish Army we’d probably still be there! I tweeted about it and the matter was subsequently reported in Miriam Lord’s article in Saturday’s Irish Times.

The meeting went well, but the key point for TETRA is that their systems are working as planned, and hence they are not accepting any responsibility for the issue. Us public representatives are most concerned about those people who cannot afford the fix (there’s one available at a cost, including installation, of between €50 and €400, depending on your TV equipment). We’d like to see something done for them.

What was interesting to note however was that the issue of not receiving the BBC and ITV is going to get even more widespread in a couple of years time, when the signal switches from analogue to digital. At that stage every home will need to buy a decoder box if they want to continue getting Northern Ireland programs.

On Friday evening I went along to The Rose Ball in Dublin. It also doubled as Eamon Gimore’s 21st year as a public representative. There was a big crowd there, and it was good to see so many familiar faces. It felt like our annual conference all over again. I was on the water because I had an early start the next morning. I stayed until just after twelve and then drove home.

Saturday was the hottest day of the year. We had canvassing arranged for East Meath so despite the day being more suited to lying on the beach, we carted ourselves from estate to estate. There were lots of people at home, with frequent smells of BBQs from back gardens. Without exception people were in good form, enjoying the balmy weather. Let’s hope it lasts until September. I think we could all do with a respite from the miserable climate we’ve had for the last year. Also, it might have a positive effect on the home tourism market, which we’re all concerned about due to the ash cloud.

Looking for an Intern....

2010-05-16T12:50:00.002+01:00

I was fortunate to attend an opening this week – the new Le Ceile school on the Mill Road in Mornington had its official opening on Friday and I was asked along.

The school has been in the planning stages for many years, so it was great to see the efforts of the parents and teachers finally come to fruition. Over the years I’ve been at meetings, fundraisers and also spoken about the need for the school in the Seanad, so it was great to see the building in place.

The pupils and teachers put on a show for the assembled guests, which was very enjoyable. Around the room I recognised parents from across East Meath – the catchment area for the school would stretch from Drogheda to Bettystown, including areas such as Grange Rath. It’s places like these that have seen significant population growth over the last decade; these permanent school buildings are needed to cater for this growth.

The next campaign in the area will be for a secondary school. I attended a meeting a few weeks back with parents who would like to see an Irish speaking secondary school in the area. Currently there is none in the region. It’s something that needs to be looked at, because we have new Gaelscoileanna starting up in many of our villages and towns in the area and yet once the students are finished primary school they have no options to continue learning through Irish.

During the week I also posted an application looking for someone to come in and work with me for the summer months. They would be working at least 3 days a week throughout July and August. The intern position would suit someone in full-time education who would like to get some research and marketing experience on their cv. The key requirements are for them to be enthusiastic, a team player with a grasp of EXCEL, WORD and the internet. If you know anyone interested that might be suitable then perhaps you could ask them to drop me an email.

Packed out at The Snailbox

2010-05-09T12:31:00.000+01:00

On Wednesday I attended a public meeting in The Snailbox Pub at Kilmoon Cross to discuss the Dog Breeding Establishment Bill and the forthcoming Wildlife Bill. The evening was arranged by RISE (Rural Ireland Says Enough) and a crowd of about 350 were present.

Apart from myself and the other local Oireachtas members there were several Councillors present. We listened to the views of speakers from the Ward Union Hunt, a vet, a representative from fishermen and a representative from a Gun Club, amongst others.

The key issue coming out of the meeting was the worry of many that these two pieces of legislation were just the thin edge of the wedge, and that further legislation would come in later, to ban things such as shooting, fishing and even sports such as horse-racing.

I spoke in relation to this. I explained that there is no appetite amongst any politician on our side of the house to ban fishing, or ban shooting. I also updated the audience on the position in relation to the Dog Breeders Bill, including the Labour Party’s tabling of amendments on the inspection regime and on trying to get rid of the dog microchipping proposal. In relation to the Wildlife Bill, the Party has yet to conclude our discussions on the matter and on how we will deal with the government’s proposals.

Despite the strongly-held views of the crowd, it was a pleasant, well-arranged and well-managed meeting. Everyone was very civil to each other, and the evening flew by. I left at about 11:20pm. Rather than eating dinner I went straight to bed, since I had a 6am start on Thursday.

I was already quite beat by the time I got home on Thursday evening, just in time to tune in to the exit polls from the UK. Straight away they were predicting a hung parliament. The Lib Dems spokespeople were all dissing the polls, trotting out the situation of 1992, where the exit polls were way out. I didn’t buy it. Polling has come on considerably since then. A sample of 18,000 people across the country was going to give a fairly accurate prediction of the result, and did, as we subsequently saw.

I was disappointed but not surprised by the result. It was a pity to see Dawn Butler lose her seat. I was glad to see John McDonnell get back in (I did a bit of work on his campaign) and also to see Stephen Twigg get elected after a five year absence. I was particularly pleased to see Yasmin Qureshi become one of the first two Muslim women in the parliament. I worked on Yasmin’s campaign in 2005 when she was narrowly defeated by the Lib Dems. In the north it was great to see Margaret Richie elected in South Down. She had taken time out of her campaign to come to our Galway conference. I was glad to see her absence didn’t impact on her chances.

The next few days and weeks promise to be interesting. For us in Ireland, the key issue is how the new UK government will deal with the economy there – the UK is hugely important to our own economy so we need to watch developments closely.

Access for Pedestrians on M3 Bridges

2010-05-02T12:53:00.002+01:00

There was a lot of coverage during the week on the issue of pedestrian links across the new M3 in Dunshaughlin. Basically, there are six new roundabouts linking in to bridges crossing the M3 in the vicinity of Dunshaughlin. It turns out that the designers of the road have two different standards for roundabout design in Ireland depending on whether they are in an urban area or a rural area.

Urban roundabout designs allow for local pedestrians to cross the road. However, rural roundabout assume that there are no pedestrians crossing in the area. On the basis of this assumption roundabouts in rural areas do not come with pedestrian access, such as footpaths and pedestrian crossings.

The problem is of course that in Ireland many people live outside urban areas – In County Meath for instance the urban rural split is probably around 50% / 50%. So, although the M3 is outside the Dunshaughlin urban area, there are still lots of people living alongside it and lots of people who need to get from one side of the M3 to the other.

These people have now formed an action group to protest for footpaths to be added in advance of the M3 opening – scheduled for about 3 months time. On Monday night myself, Cllr Niamh McGowan and others attended a meeting in Dunshaughlin Community Centre organised by the action group.

The group showed a video of how parents and children have to battle their way around the roundabouts – this is before the M3 opens and before traffic levels increase significantly. They also distributed proposals for how the situation could be resolved – putting in new footpaths around the roundabouts.

I spoke from the floor to the meeting, as did others, paying tribute to the work the group has done to date and offering support to get the situation resolved. They are impressive as a lobbying force. Later that week they got the front page of the Daily Mail and the Pat Kenny Show also covered it. We’re all hopeful that a sensible and safe resolution can be achieved in the near future.

At the weekend I attended the Ashbourne Fare Day on Killegland Street. It was organised by the Chamber of Commerce and the intention was to attract as many people into the street as possible. Most of the businesses in the area put up stalls on the closed-off street.

Dominic, Aine Lee of the Chamber and Cllr Niamh McGowan with Catherine and Charlie

It was great to see so many residents out on the streets. The weather wasn’t great – a lot of rain early on. But it did brighten up in the afternoon and I think everyone had some fun.

Councillors Conference in Sligo – Who pays for work in Unfinished Estates?

2010-04-11T18:02:00.000+01:00

Senators are elected by local county and city councillors. The “trades association” of these councillors is known as LAMA (the Local Authorities Members Association). It’s a very important body for Senators, since they have the clout and influence to determine many elections to the Seanad.

LAMA holds conferences for its members every six months or so. I was invited to attend and speak at this Saturday’s one in Sligo by a member of the LAMA executive, Labour Councillor Pat Hayes from Waterford. Pat gave me a free rein to talk about whatever subject I thought would be of interest to the Councillors.

I know from my emails and telephone calls that currently one of the biggest issues in relation to councillors is the proposed new Planning & Development Bill, and how that impacts on local councils, councillors and their constituents. So, I decided to focus my contribution on this Bill.

I got on the road at twenty past seven and motored along serene and empty roads all the up through up the M1 from Drogheda, through Monaghan and across via Eniskillen to Sligo. I arrived in time to hear local Senator Mark McSharry finish his contribution and then listened to the comments of Kerry-based Senator Paul Coughlan. Both of these also addressed issues in relation to the Planning & Development Bill.

Whilst most people welcome the new bill in principle, there are some issues that are of concern. I focused on some in particular, including the need to carry out a comprehensive assessment of the costs of completing unfinished estates.

The Bill has new powers in relation to finishing estates and allowing local residents to push for them to be taken in charge. The question arises though, if a developer cannot finish the works in an estate (say they go bust, an increasingly frequent phenomenon) then how are the completion works paid for?

This eventuality was meant to be covered by forcing developers to put a bond in place with a bank. Some councils are cagey as to what exactly this entails, but from what I can ascertain often this meant the developer purchased some sort of insurance for X euros from the bank, which guaranteed to pay out 100x euros or 500x euros if the bond was ever called in. It did NOT mean that the developer lodged a cash sum equal to the bond required into the bank.

Roll on a few years, to 2010. The recession is biting and many developers are going to the wall. Picture an unfinished estates first occupied in the middle of the decade in 2005. Residents are sitting in their reasonably new homes, built five years ago, now in negative equity, and they want their estate finished off. They petition the local authority to finish the estate.

In Meath alone there are probably a hundred estates waiting to be taken in charge. If say a third of them require further works then that could amount to 30 estates in Meath alone. Gross that up nationally and we could be talking about 500 estates requiring completion works. If each taking in charge costs say €200,000 then this would be a requirement of possibly €100 million. The bank bonds are meant to cover these costs.

This is not a huge amount of money, but if no allowance has been made within the coffers of the banks then it makes it less likely for these completion works to be carried out.

So, I’m going to table a question to Minister Lenihan, asking him can he give information on the amount of completion bonds still outstanding which are held by the main Irish Banks. I don’t expect to get too far with the question, but at least it might concentrate a few minds on this issue.

Littering Problem gets worse

2010-03-29T12:02:00.000+01:00

The instance of illegal dumping seems if anything to have got worse over the last number of months. Apart from being disgusting, littering also brings more rodents into an area. Close to where I live in East Meath there is a small laneway know locally as “Graves Lane” or as “Blackberry lane or as “Bryanstown Lane.” The laneway has suffered illegal dumping problems for many years, but right now it is worse than at any time I can remember. Here are some pictures to illustrate the impact.

Household rubbish at the side of the road

Tyres discarded at a gateway

Often these litterers will sit down at home before hand and remove any identifiable markings from the litter, so that it can’t be traced back to them. They will then load up the car, drive to their selected spot, and discard their rubbish at the side of the road. Their defence is along the lines that they can’t afford to pay the bin charges because of their own economic situation. However, the law is the law and this is no excuse.

And while there are calculated litterers such as those above, there are other grades of litterer too. For instance, why do many smokers still think it’s ok to dump cigarette butts and packets on the street? Why do some drivers just throw their empty tumbler out the window? Such littering has been happening regardless of the economic situation.

From what I can see if a laneway is out of the way and not many people use it then it is more prone to littering. That’s certainly the case with the particular location illustrated above. Also, the laneway is full of potholes. The fact that the council has left the lane surface disintegrate has added to the general air of neglect about it.

Over time, areas such as the one above get a reputation for littering. If an area is particularly bad then at some stage the council will come and clear it up. That often can provide a “justification” in the mind of the litterer, in that they know that the litter will eventually be taken away. They see it like a bring-bank for rubbish.

Up to know the Council has been quite good about keeping the situation under control. However, Council staff are suffering from an increase in workload and a cutback in funding. So, there are limited cleaning resources to go around. The lack of council action is often made up for by the generosity of our fellow citizens. I’ve met many local residents who take it upon themselves to pick up litter from roads and pathways that are often quite some distance from their houses. These civic-minded people are often all that is stopping an area deteriorating into a littering eyesore.

But these people are also fighting a losing battle. Without action the littering problem is likely to get worse here and elsewhere. This will continue to go on until there is a real fear of getting caught. Many litterers think that the council will never prosecute. That’s where they are wrong. They do prosecute, and they have now instigated a policy of “Name and Shame” on their website – see here

But a question that needs to be asked whether sufficient prosecutions are being made. A problem is that quite often it’s difficult to get sufficient evidence to make a successful prosecution. If you see someone dumping then your word alone is not enough. You need a corroborating witness. Alternatively, you need some photographic evidence.

I’d like to see the following four ideas implemented, which I believe would help tackle the problem:

• More CCTV cameras at key locations to enable more prosecutions to take place
• A bin charge waiver system introduced for those who genuinely cannot afford to pay
• More regulations limiting the amount of packaging that manufacturers can use in their products
• Better education in schools and on the airwaves about the impact of littering on our environment.

IT needs to be put at the heart of the Health Sector

2010-03-21T21:46:00.002Z

My article below appeared in today's Sunday Times

The recent disclosure that GP referral letters are often left unopened in hospitals is inexcusable in the 21st Century. It raises the question of why we still organise our referral system in this out-of-date manner.

A review carried out in Tallaght discovered that a typical GP referral goes through 20 stages before it results in a consultation for the patient. The patient is seen by the GP, who decides that an appointment with a consultant is necessary. The GP informs the practice secretary, who writes a letter to the consultant. Once received by the consultant, the letter is (normally) opened and a date found in the consultant’s diary. An appointment letter is then sent out, suggesting a date and time for the patient’s consultation. Of course, if the suggested date does not suit the patient then they must ring up the consultant and seek a different date, adding more steps to the process.

Under this current process it can take weeks before a consultation date is agreed on. Meanwhile, the patient gets more concerned about their condition, or worse, they get sicker. The system needs to be redesigned, availing of modern technology when doing so. I can check myself on to a flight from Miami to Lima from the comfort of my office in Meath. Why can’t I book an appointment with my hospital consultant online?

That’s what the UK’s National Health Service did with their GP referral system, as part of their Better Care, Without Delay initiative. I worked as a management consultant within the health care system during its introduction in 2002. I saw at first-hand how the system was changed from focusing on the health care professional to focusing on the patient.

The initiative has completely changed the referral process. A patient still goes to their GP, but now if it’s felt that a consultation is needed, the GP enters this on the computer, which then prints out a password on a sheet of paper. The GP passes this to the patient. When the patient gets home they log on to the NHS website, enter the password and are directed to the consultant’s online diary, where they select a time and date that is convenient to them. So, within 12 hours of seeing their GP they have a confirmed appointment with a consultant. No more weeks of waiting in worry. For those who don’t have a PC there is a helpline appointment system.

Other countries have also embraced IT systems in their health service. For a decade now the Danes have stored their health care records electronically. Studies show that their system is the most efficient in the world, saving GPs an average of 50 minutes a day and saving the system €100million a year. They have even brought innovation into the home of the patient. By providing patients with their own electronic pulse readers, software and some training, patients can take their own weekly readings at home and send these via the internet directly into their online patient record. Frail patients, or those with limited mobility, can complete their regular check-ups without having to leave their own home.

I’m glad to see that some Dublin hospitals are starting to pilot similar home testing systems here. It’s easy to do, quick to implement and simple to understand. Patients can be seen sooner and their condition treated sooner.

But it’s not just in the health service where IT needs to be put to more use. In a report published in February, Kathleen O’Toole, Chief Inspector of the Garda Inspectorate, called for more investment to plug serious gaps in Garda technology. Computer aided dispatch systems and resource information systems have been used by most police agencies in Europe and North America for decades – yet we still don’t have them here.

There are other areas, too where technology should be considered. Next year’s census will require thousands of surveyors to call to homes across the country. Often several visits are needed to a house, because the owners are away. Why not look at the potential for people to return their census information online? That would cut out the need for someone to call and cut out the need for subsequent data coding.

We do have some positive examples of how the internet is being put to good use. Engineers Ireland is using the internet to broadcast online maths tuition on Saturday mornings to leaving cert students. They say that by webcasting these grinds they can help maths students in a time-efficient manner.

Technology is all around us. Where possible we need to use it to reduce our costs and free up staff to carry out other tasks. Other countries have embraced IT across a range of public services, so we don’t even have to invent; we can just copy.

Innovation Taskforce suggests the way forward

2010-03-14T12:29:00.001Z

The launch of the Taskforce on Innovation report this week provided a roadmap for how Ireland needs to refocus in certain areas if we are to create jobs for the future. The taskforce recommends faster broadband speeds, which we all agree with, but it also suggested other measures which may not be universally supported.

For instance, the report is absolute in its belief that Irish students must be better trained in Maths. It calls for extra points for Maths students at leaving cert level.

This concurs with a recent report by Engineers Ireland on the need to improve the quality of teaching of Maths in Schools and the need to increase the number of students taking maths. I had a meeting a week ago with Engineers Ireland to discuss this issue. I was a bit surprised to learn that there are as many students taking geography to higher level as there are Maths, Applied Maths and science combined. Now of course we need geographers – we have significant mining interests, planning issues and climate change worries to concern ourselves with, but in relation to innovation, creation of new jobs etc, we need to make sure that we have a sufficient number of maths and science graduates as well.

The report lists 18 proposals for how we can improve the quality and quantity of Maths graduate. I mentioned one in the Seanad this week – banning calculators at junior cert level. The purpose of this would be to try to increase the ability of students in the area of mental arithmetic. There are other ideas worth supporting as well. Fighting our way out of this recession and creating new jobs will be easier if we have a higher number of well-qualified maths and science graduates on our team.

Locally, I attended new branch meetings in the Slane electoral area and in the Navan electoral area. It’s part of our work to expand the party within Meath and to deepen the links between the party and local residents.

The Bru na Boinne branch will be covering that part of the Slane electoral area which remains in Meath East. Up to now this area was covered by the Jimmy Tully branch. This branch will continue to represent members in the East Meath areas of Laytown, Bettystown, Mornington and Julianstown.

Our new Bru na Boinne branch will be open to members from Stamullen, Duleek, Donore, Bellewstown, Slane and the townlands around these places. Our first meeting was in Dalys, in Donore, and it was attended by members from across the area. One of our first actions was to elect a chair – this position went to local resident James Bell. The main focus of the branch in the short term will be to get new members into the branch, thus providing input into the party from the ground up.

Later on in the week I attended the inaugural meeting of another branch. This time the meeting was in O’Connell’s pub on Skryne Hill. It is not for nothing that this pub was named one of the six best Irish pubs in the Sunday Times a couple of years ago. It’s very atmospheric and set in beautiful surrounds. The branch (which has the working title of “The Tara Valley branch” will cover the areas of Kentstown, Rathfeigh, Skryne, Cushenstown, Wilkinstown and Kilberry – all of those parts of the Navan electoral area that are in the Meath East constituency.

Both branches and indeed all other branches are looking for new members on a continual basis and if anyone would like some information then give me a ring at the office.

Starting Our Report on Overseas Aid

2010-03-07T13:00:00.005Z

I launched our online survey into Overseas Aid at the beginning of the week. The survey is part of a study my office is undertaking this year into the Irish Overseas Aid programme.

The study will be looking at the Irish Aid program and the work will involve desk-research, consultation with relevant bodies, case studies and gathering of opinion and views about the aid programme itself.

The research for the report is now underway, and I am being assisted in the work by my intern, Sam. During the course of the study we will be carrying out reviews of what other countries are doing. We will be speaking to people within the industry (including non-governmental organisations such as Trocaire, Bothar, Concern etc.). We will also be talking to representatives of groups and countries that have received aid, including ambassadors and representatives of local groups. The analysis will focus on our nine priority countries, although we will also include some other case studies, including one from Bolivia and one from Niger.

Part of the study will also examine Irish attitudes to aid. The survey asks a range of questions to members of the public on their perceptions of the Irish aid programme.
The survey is quite short and takes only two or three minutes to complete. It can be found here.

To avoid any bias of self-selection we will also be carrying out face-to-face interviews on the street as well as telephone calls to random people. The idea in any of these surveys to get as wide s a cross-section of opinions as possible. That way the results are reflective of society as a whole, and not of any one particular group within society.

Also, we will be carrying out a separate survey of politicians. A survey form will be send to all County and City councillors in the country seeking their views on the aid programme.

There’s quite a lot of work involved in a study such as this and we reckon it will be another six months or so before we complete the survey. Our aim is to get the report finished and released before the end of this year.

On Tuesday I attended a Careers Advice night in Greenhills School in Drogheda. The event was arranged for all schools across the Drogheda area, so it catered not just for Louth students, but Meath students also. I was talking from some students from Mornington and also from just outside Slane.

The event was well attended and I managed to have a chat not just with the students, but with a few of the teachers as well. My former Physics teacher, Joe Sweeney, was there and I had a quick word with him. He looks like he hasn’t aged a day in the last 25 years!

The students were very interested in how one becomes a Senator. The most common question was “What qualification do you need”. Of course, when they heard the answer (“None”) their eyes lit up and they got very interested. I explained to them the process of having to get elected, and that if you don’t do your job well then you lose it. I also advised them to get some qualifications first, so they would have something to fall back on if politics didn’t work out.

Cllr Sirena Campbell was also in attendance. I hadn’t seen her since the election count last June. It was nice to catch up with her. She seems to be settling in at this stage.

The latest Oireachtas video was launched this week, featuring yours truly. You can see it here.

Smartasses can stand down – I’ve already heard the jibes – YES, that is me running, it’s not a double, and NO, I am not being pursued by some out-of-shot disaffected branch member.

The Coursing of Gormley in the Seanad

2010-02-28T11:53:00.002Z

The Dog Breeding Establishments Bill continues to work its way through the Seanad. It’s now at committee stage and on Wednesday we held the second committee stage session. The Minister representing the government on Session One was Minister Finneran. This time we had his boss, Minister Gormley in the house.

In principle, we are in favour of the legislation, in that it regulates the operation of Puppy Farms – Ireland is seen as the puppy farm of Europe. But it appears that Minister Gormley is using the opportunity of the new legislation to include regulation of hunting dogs and greyhounds within the remit of the act. This has made the legislation contentious, with organisations such as RISE, the Greyhound Board, the Dog Breeders Association and others contacting politicians to discuss the issue.

A number of amendments have been tabled to try and improve the legislation. One of them would give breeding establishments 12 months to register, as opposed to the 3 months specified in the Bill. We all think that 3 months is too short, in that establishments may have to seek planning permission for improvements, or might have to get finance from the banks to upgrade their premises. In the current climate this takes time. However, the Minister seems unlikely to accept the amendment. The most he would do is agree to go away and think about it again, and tell us what he intends to do at the next (Report) stage of the Bill.

His main point in response was that the legislation has been in gestation for the last 5 years, so establishments have had lots of time to get their houses in order.

Later on we had a discussion about greyhounds, and whether this new bill would supersede previous legislation (the 1958 Bill) or would the new legislation be in addition to the regulations already in existence. Greyhound owners already are subject to inspections on their properties – would this new legislation mean additional inspections? I put that to Gormley and for some reason he refused to give a straight answer. On the one hand he tells us that owners had 5 years to prepare for the legislation and on the other he can’t answer a simple question about whether the number of inspections is going to be doubled!

The Minister was like a chased hare at a coursing event. He was getting attacked and questioned from all sides on this. This session of committee stage had to finish by 1:30pm and I reckon it couldn’t come soon enough for the Minister. He was taken away by his minders and we all went back to our kennels. He returns to the house next Wednesday for the third session and I’m hoping that he will have had time to gather his thoughts in the meantime.

That evening I attended the re-opening of the Conradh na Gaeilge premises on Wednesday evening at Harcourt Street. I got a tour of the building and got to meet many of the staff. They seem all geared up to Irish fortnight, which starts next week.

It was a good opportunity to practice my Irish. Also, as it turns out there will be an attempt in the next few weeks to set up an Irish circle in Leinster House. I’m intending to join it and will attend as often as possible.

On Friday morning myself, Joanna Tuffy and Bronwen Maher hosted an event on Sustainable Planning in The Mansion House. We invited Non-Government Organisations from the Environmental sector to come along and discuss issues in relation to sustainable planning. I spoke about the issues facing development in the commuter belt, along the way describing the lack of school places, the lack of playgrounds, Garda stations. I also suggested some changes that could help to improve the live of people in the commuter belt.

We sat through presentations from organisations like FEASTA, Just Forests, An Taisce and others, all talking about key issues in relation to their organisations. I think it was a worthwhile event and in my view we should continue with events such as these to deepen our mutual understanding of how best to move ahead on these issues.

I had some good news during the week, in that my blog has been nominated for an award at the forthcoming Irish Blogs Awards. I had a nomination a few years back but didn't win then. That was when the field of blogging politicians was quite small. There are a lot more on the nominations list now, some of them big hitters, so I don't fancy my chances. However, it's really nice to get considered :)

Coughlan - time to move on?

2010-02-21T15:52:00.000Z

I’m already bored of the O’Dea resignation. Enough of that. What is still simmering at the surface though is the clear need for change at the top. I’d love a complete change of government, but it’s unlikely that we’re going to see that too soon. In the meantime, Cowen simply has to replace some of his senior ministers.

The most obvious of the lot is the Tainiste, who appears to be totally out of her depth. She just doesn’t seem to get it at all. Take the case of SR Technics. Others have talked about the Hanger 6 issue, but one other matter that she may think is too small for her, but yet affects scores of people, is access to the EU Globalisation Fund. This is a pot of money which goes towards paying for back to education courses to retrain people who have lost their jobs to places outside of the EU. Recently the former DELL workers in Limerick were able to access this fund; we’re all hopeful that this will also be the case with the former SR Technics workers.

Over 60 former workers had signed up to do a degree in Engineering Maintenance at DIT. The college was all set to start this new course, tailored to the past experience, skills and needs of the former workers – all that was needed was the EU Globalisation Fund. But because of delays in the application (where the blame rest on this we don’t know, but it appears that the government is at least slightly to blame) the fund has not yet been approved. In the meantime the DIT asked for some sort of guarantee to be put in place until the money comes through. This is where Mary Coughlan could have helped. Surely, everyone thought, she could work out some sort of guarantee deal?

But out of Coughlan’s office came nothing. Silence. I wrote to her during the week to explain the urgency of the task. No response yet. Meanwhile, the college can’t wait any more and has had to cancel the course. That’s dashed the hopes of the 63 former SRT workers who had hoped to do the course. No doubt many of them will go on to find other suitable courses, and the best of luck to them. But for me the worrying thing is her seeming inability to want to involve herself or her office in an attempt either here or elsewhere to stem job losses or improve retraining opportunities.

Water Works Day in Ashbourne

2010-02-14T12:17:00.002Z

The resignation of Deirdre de Burca came as a bit of a surprise on Friday. Up until recently she had been an active member of the Seanad. Sure, in the run up to the European elections (when she was a candidate in Dublin) she was not around all of the time, but apart from then, NAMA week (when if memory serves me correctly she was absent for all 18 NAMA related votes – she was ill I believe) and the last week or so, she was a regular contributor.

On a personal level I also found her very pleasant, and I wish her well in her future role. Now that she is gone it makes the numbers a bit tighter for the government in the Seanad. However, speaking as the Labour Whip, It won’t have a huge difference on the outcome of any votes. When Alan Kelly won the Ireland south European seat his Seanad seat was captured by the government parties. Realistically, it will be extremely difficult to win any more Seanad votes – it will require an almighty mess-up on the part of the government whips.

The bigger question is what this tells us about what’s going on inside the Green Party. I don’t buy the spin being put around that she was miffed about not getting the European job. That might be part of the picture, but it’s not the full story. It’s clear that there is a growing sense of dissatisfaction within the Green Oireachtas members. It can’t be nice for them to see the party they joined and built be one election day away from disaster. For a few of the oireachtas members there can be little hope. However, for a few others there’s still a chance of retaining their seats. Paul Gogarty has a fighting chance. So too does Eamon Ryan with George Lee now off the pitch. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if either or both of these decided that their future is best served by pulling the greens out of government. I think that ministerial pensions kick in after three years in office, which is in just four months time. Could we see them break out soon after then?

My time in Leinster House this week was filled up with various meetings and speeches. I took the committee stages of the Dog Breeders Establishments Bill on Wednesday, I spoke about unemployment on Wednesday evening. I also spoke about the reconstruction of Haiti, Greece and the Euro and the need to protect mature students from the swingeing cutbacks being proposed by the government. The last contribution was on the back of a meeting I had with some students from NUIG, who explained to me that because of the proposed changes to the grants system, many access students have lost several thousand of euros in maintenance support.

On Friday I dropped over from my Ashbourne constituency office to visit St Declan’s school. The children were holding an Open Day to highlight the need to conserve water. This Water Works Day consisted of plays, a fashion show, as well as songs. The children were pressing the message that with just ten small changes we could make significant water savings at home. These included checking for leaks, taking quicker showers, not filling the bath and using a basin to wash the car, not a hose. The kids seemed to enjoy themselves. I got the opportunity to talk to the teachers and some parents. I’d say that any Ashbourne parent who mistakenly leaves a tap on this weekend will get a right telling off from the kids!

We visit Dunshaughlin Community College

2010-02-07T12:47:00.001Z

The Leader of the House, Donie Casssidy, made one of his (not unusual) slips of the tongue during the week on the Order of Business. The subject of the Jack & Jill Charity had been raised by several Senators. In response Donie referred to it as the “Jekyll & Hyde Foundation” A few of us picked up on it and corrected him.

Poor Donie, he was slated in the press for the following few days. He’s also doing something similar in the past – constantly referring to the LISBURN Treaty as opposed to the LISBON Treaty, and to LAMA rather than NAMA (LAMA is the representative organisation of councillors across the country – his electorate!). Sometimes I wonder if he makes these mistakes on purpose, because it’s guaranteed to get publicity.

I spoke a number of times during the week. I brought up the issue of the increase in the applications for CAO places, I brought up the delays in bringing in legislation to regulate management companies (people in Ashbourne, Dunboyne and Ratoath were on to me about this) and I spoke on Lessons to be learned from the extreme weather in January. I also spoke with Minister Sean Haughey about the Dunboyne College of Further Education – I put videos of both of those speeches on my website.

I also got around to setting up my twitter account. So, from now on I am going to try and tweet at least 3 times a week. I’ve been warned against overdoing it - let’s see how it goes.

On Friday I was in Dunboyne Community School with local MEP Nessa Childers and local Councillor Niamh McGowan. It was the first time I can remember when there was an address by the local Labour MEP, the local Labour Senator and the local Labour Councillor in the same place. It shows how far the party has come in Meath in the last few years.

The students were great and asked some interesting questions. We had a bit of a debate about the benefits / disbenefits of nepotism in politics. Myself and Niamh have no family histories in politics, and Nessa does, so there was a range of opinion on this one. We also dropped into the staff room. I was shocked about the cramped conditions that the teachers have to put up. The room was far too small for the amount of teachers working in the school. I was glad to hear that there are plans to extend facilities at the school in the near future.

An Electrifying Meeting in Slane

2010-01-31T18:19:00.000Z

Another busy week in Leinster House. I had a range of speeches to give and meetings to attend. I spoke about the new Dog Establishments Bill – it seeks to regulate puppy farms, and I also gave a speech on the aid relief effort in Haiti. We also had a Foreign Affairs Committee meeting on Haiti, which I contributed to, as well as a meeting with our Ambassador to Tanzania, Her Excellency Anne Barrington.

I asked the Ambassador a few questions about issues such as corruption, tourism development and the treatment of Albinos in Tanzania. There’s an old superstition there that the bones of albinos are good for the health. In recent years scores of Albinos have been murdered and cut up. Our Ambassador confirmed that she has raised the matter with parliamentarians in Tanzania, who are frustrated and angry that the practice continues. They vow to put an end to it.

On Wednesday I had the honour of hosting a group of second year students from Greenhills school in Drogheda. There were almost 30 girls in all, including the teachers. Father Iggy also attended. The girls were great fun and asked lots of questions about the workings of the house. One girl was particularly “exercised” about the state-subsidised gym that politicians and staff could use. She wanted to know if I used it. I explained to her that the gym was mostly used by staff, since most politicians had their own private gyms at home. (I quickly pointed out that I was joking on this point!).

One question that came up several times was whether there would be jobs for them when they leave school in a few years. I told them that my view was that we are coming out of recession and that by the time they leave school things should be a lot better.

It was great to entertain the girls, and once again you could see at first hand the intensity of the classroom experience. People probably don’t realise how intense and demanding a teacher’s career can be.

My assistant in Leinster House also helped to show the class around. For whatever reason he became the subject of some attention from the group. He was so exhausted and traumatised at the end of it that I had to send him home early, just in time to hear the request played for him on Spin FM from the girls.

On Saturday I attended a meeting in Slane in relation to the proposed route of the bypass. I was there to listen to the views of the 100 or so people who attended. Whilst one speech was being delivered I leant back and my hand touched a fence. Unfortunately for me it was electrified. I received a large jolt, and the sound caused everything to stop and stare. Luckily for me the shock passed quickly, and if anything I felt rather better after it!

Race Hill – No way for a through way

2010-01-28T19:45:00.002Z

We held the AGM of the Ashbourne branch of the Labour Party on Thursday. The meeting was well attended and we talked about many local issues, including the proposed nursing home on Hunter’s Lane. At the meeting we elected the Chairman, secretary, treasurer and PRO of the branch. The branch is always looking for new members to get involved. If you would like to join then call my office at 01 835 3871 and we will sign you up!

One major concern for Ashbourne residents at the moment is the proposal for an industrial development in Ashbourne which would be served via the Race Hill Road. I agree with the local residents in Race Hill and in Tudor Grove – this access road is totally unsuitable for industrial traffic. I made that point to the residents who contacted me.

I also met with some Ashbourne residents and discussed the proposal. I also spoke to local councillor Niamh McGowan. Niamh lives very closeby (just off Hunter’s Lane). It’s clear that there is a depth of local dismay about the proposal. I am hopeful that the local planners will see sense and will reject the application. Not to do so would not only be a traffic nuisance, it could potentially be very dangerous to have trucks and the like travelling up and down this quiet residential road.

The issue of general road safety is also coming up a lot lately. Because of the recent atrocious weather the road surface in many parts of the county has been severely affected. For instance, the junction of Kilmoon Cross on the N2 has suffered significant rutting since Christmas. As a result you have to drive much slower than usual to avoid the potholes. I was driving home the other night from my Ashbourne office and was travelling particularly slowly to try and dodge them. Some other motorists don’t seem to worry about them – the bloke behind me decided to overtake me at speed. Maybe he can afford new tyres, or maybe my eyesight is getting worse, I don’t know! What’s clear is that more money is going to have to be found for repairs to our local road network. The current situation has to be improved on – a point I made in the Seanad during the week when I called on Minister Dempsey to make additional funding available for local councils to repair the roads.

Looking for Solutions from Copenhagen

2009-12-15T17:17:00.004Z

This article appeared in The Irish Daily Mirror on 14th December 2009

If we were in any doubt as to what climate change could mean to Ireland then last month’s floods will have washed that away. Cities, towns and rural areas across the country were underwater for days. Normal life was put on hold. That’s why this month’s conference of 110 world leaders in Copenhagen is so important. We need to agree together on measures to take that will protect our planet and our people.

Copenhagen is an excellent choice for the conference. World leaders will be impressed by the public transport system and by how easy it is to walk and cycle around. The Danes have been doing eco-friendly for decades.

The organisers have brought the conference onto the city’s streets. Dotted around the city are climate change event tents. In one of the city’s biggest squares, Kongens Nytorv, a tent hosts a photographic exhibition called “Hard Rain”, named after the Bob Dylan song. Each line from Dylan’s song is represented by hard-hitting pictures from around the world, illustrating the impact of climate change, poverty and inequality. The book, also called Hard Rain, will be a great present for a few friends for Christmas.

The impact of climate change on our coasts is particularly worrying. Ireland could face a rise in sea levels of half a metre by the end of the century, meaning that many of our coastal towns and villages would have to be abandoned. My local scout group from East Meath recently came into Leinster House to express their worries about the impact of rising sea levels in Laytown and Bettystown. The issue faces many communities across the world. Some islands, such as the Maldives, and Tuvalu, could disappear altogether.

To highlight this issue Friends of the Earth arranged for thousands of people to turn up dressed in blue outside the Danish Parliament. I joined this ocean of people. To make a wave we all knelt down and then first the front section of the crowd stood up, then the middle section stood up and then the back section. We repeated this a few times, mimicking giant blue waves hitting the sea shore.

Campaigners take to the streets in Copenhagen

Around the city thousands of campaigners and pressure groups are hosting and attending events like these, trying to make their voices heard. The vast numbers of TV and media people are helping to get that message on the world stage too. The crowds on the streets are mostly young and seem to be good-natured. However the local police are taking no chances. Police vans are everywhere. On every pavement are officers armed with what appear to me to be tear-gas canisters. They look like they mean business.

Police Wagons at the ready

At the Klima centre the range of climate change workshops and seminars is impressive (think of The Late Late Christmas Toy Show for environmentalists). Their aim is to showcase how local communities can work to make a difference in their own town or village.

One seminar focused on how sheep farmers in North Wales got together to form a co-operative to erect three wind turbines to provide electricity for 1,600 homes. The project has been so successful that the farmers plan to put up another seven turbines, in the process generating enough energy to power a further 7,000 Welsh homes. For me it shows that local people, acting as a community, can really make things happen.

That was also the message from Nobel Peace Prize winner Professor Wangari Maathai, who spoke to us at an evening seminar in the Danish Film Institute. She won the 2004 peace prize for setting up Kenya’s Green Belt Movement, which has planted over 35 million tress in Kenya and helped to combat illegal logging and deforestation.

I raised this issue in Leinster House a couple of months ago. I want our Government to stop using illegally logged timber in public buildings. The answer I got from the Minister was that “he would look at it”. After listening to what Professor Maathai said I’m going to table a parliamentary question next week to try to put pressure on the government to do this sooner rather than later.

Professor Maathai’s advice on what each individual can do is clear. She says that we cannot just leave matter to the politicians. Action by people in their own communities, combined with political will at a national and international level is what is needed, and it’s needed soon. As Martin Luther King once said, we are faced with the Fierce Urgency of Now. That should be the message coming out of Copenhagen.

North-South Matters

2009-12-06T11:22:00.005Z

On Monday I accompanied Eamon Gilmore to Stormont in Northern Ireland. The purpose of the visit was to meet with the various party leaders in the north, and to receive an update on the current situation there.

At the moment there is a bit of an impasse in the devolution of policing and justice powers. It is hoped that the situation will improve soon, because we are about to enter the Westminster election, which by law has to be held before next summer. If things go on much longer then the issue will probably get parked until some time after those elections.

Eamon and I had separate meetings with First Minister Peter Robinson, Martin McGuinness and Gerry Kelly of Sinn Fein, Sir Reg Empey of the Official Unionist and Conservative Party and with David Ford of the Alliance Party. We also met Mark Durcan, Alistair McDonnell and Margaret Richie of the SDLP.

First Minister Peter Robinson, Eamon Gilmore and me at Stormont

Apart from talking about issues in relation to the ongoing peace process, I also brought up the issue of north-south shopping and of cross-border tourism.

It was a fascinating two days for me. I had not been in Stormont previously, even though it's only 90 minutes from my front door in Drogheda. It's a beautiful building, the setting is great and it seems a lot smaller inside than Leinster House. I'd say the politicians are bumping into each other all the time (something with an updside and a downside!)

The next day I met some of the same people again, this time at a meeting in Leinster House. The Sub Committee on Overseas Development, of which I am a member, met with our northern counterparts to discuss our aid programmes. Among the northern delegation were Carmel Hanna of the SDLP (who was a VSO volunteer with me last year), Alliance Party Leader David Ford and Mr Jim Wells of the DUP. I met Jim a few years back when I brought him around the Battle of the Boyne site at Oldbridge - he was concerned about the impact of the Duleek incinerator on the site.

We had a mutual exchange of views on our aid programs. Later that day I spoke to a Scout Group from East Meath about our aid programme. They were in Leinster House to lobby for the protection of the aid budget. Apart from myself and other local politicians, we were also addressed by Minister Peter Power. The scouts made a great presentation and it was nice to see the commitment and effort they made to make their case for the continuation of development aid.

Finally, flooding continues to be an issue around the country. I attended a residents association meeting for The Northlands on Thursday evening. Residents are concerned about the lack of adequate drainage, as well as of safety issues in relation to children managing to get in to the stream in the estate. We will be following up these issues with the council over the next while.

Ireland leads the fight against AIDS in Lesotho

2009-12-01T17:57:00.001Z

The Kingdom of Lesotho is one of the most unspoilt and beautiful countries in the southern hemisphere. But it’s also one of the poorest, with a shockingly low life expectancy of just 44 years. Almost one out of every four adults has HIV, the third highest rate in the world.

Irish Aid has been in the country since the early ‘70s and it remains one of our nine priority countries. The 2 million inhabitants occupy a land area roughly the size of Munster. Landlocked by South Africa, the country is largely mountainous, apart from the lowland region where the capital, Maseru, is located.

During the apartheid years many countries kept an embassy in Lesotho, preferring to monitor developments in South Africa from here rather than from Pretoria. Once apartheid ended many countries closed their embassies and moved out.

Ireland stayed. Our Ambassador to Lesotho, Paddy Fay, is now the only ambassador from a European country. Our support here has been consistent over the years. Through Irish Aid every Irish man, woman and child gives around €3 a year to Lesotho. Last week as a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee I visited Lesotho to see the Irish Aid programme in action.

Ambassador Fay and his Head of Development, Pat Curran, guided us through the Irish Aid program during our visit. Our programme is focussed on several different strands, including the fight against HIV / AIDS. The disease has permeated the entire country, reaching deep into isolated rural mountain areas. It is thought that the spread is linked to returning migrant workers from the South African mines.

Working with the Ministry of Health and the Clinton Foundation, our programme has built 7 new health clinics in these rural areas, which can often be hours away from the nearest road. Typically each clinic serves about 100 local villages, providing health cover to about 100,000 people. In each clinic we visited there was just one doctor, supported by a handful of nurses. The staff undertake HIV testing and monitoring, and proscribe and provide the Anti-Retroviral Therapies (ARTs) to patients. The clinics also provide other general health care to the local population. Two more clinics are in the pipeline, which will mean that coverage is extended to a further 200,000 people.

Because of the remoteness of the areas the recruitment and retention of staff has proved difficult in the past. Irish Aid has assisted with the recruitment of over 100 nurses and has provided a “mountain working allowance” of 10% of salary to encourage nurses to remain. The recruitment and retention problem also affects doctors. I spoke to the doctor at the Nkau clinic. Originally from Maseru, he left Lesotho to study in South Africa. He came back to practise, but many of his fellow doctors stayed in South Africa. They didn’t just stay for the money, he told me, it was also that the opportunity for professional development, for instance in radiology, cardiology, or other fields, was greater in a more developed health system. “If I stay in Lesotho then I can only ever be a GP”, he said.

The clinics can be up to two days walk away for some – too far for many ill people. Where possible these are served by outreach health workers, who travel on the dirt roads by motorbike. These bikers provide a service that would otherwise not be available for many. Last year the singer Elton John donated 120 motorbikes to these health centres, saying “We want to improve the transport system by bringing health care to millions of people living in the most rural areas and thus make a difference in their lives.”

Our aid money also supports a rural food security project run by the Catholic Relief Services. Their Head of Programs, Adam Weimer, described how he works with families affected by HIV to improve their access to fresh vegetables. Beside their homes they build “Keyhole gardens” - small waist-high beds of about 2m in diameter - which the patients can tend to with little exertion and without bending. These beds provide a plentiful supply of onions, carrots, potatoes, maize etc, thus ensuring that the patients have a healthy diet whilst undergoing ART.

The programme has worked with households to establish about 5,000 of these gardens in rural areas. The costs of the gardens are largely up front: once built the gardens can last for years. Adam pointed out that a budget cut of €50,000 would prevent him from extending the program to another 2,000 people.

Walking around the villages and the health centres it is evident that the combined approached being taken by Irish Aid and our partners is having a significant impact on the health of the local population, and that the results have been dramatic. The only loser appears to be the local coffin maker. Ambassador Fay recounts how when he first visited here, people were literally coming in the front door of the clinic and being taken out the back shortly afterwards by the local undertaker. With the success of the ART drugs that undertaker has now gone out of business. “I just wasn’t getting customers anymore”, said the undertaker. “It’s time for me to move elsewhere”.

The advent of ART has had a large impact on the how the disease is perceived. Before drugs were available there was a huge stigma associated with the disease, which meant that many people failed to seek treatment. This denial no doubt helped to spread the disease. Now, with treatment so readily available, carriers feel less stigmatised and seek tests and treatment sooner.

The fact that the Irish mission is one of the oldest, largest and most giving is not lost on the government of Lesotho. At a working lunch at the Embassy Ambassador Fay hosted the Minister for Finance, the Minister for Health and the Minister for Public Works. Their joint presence illustrates the importance that Lesotho attaches to the continuation of the Irish Aid programme.

The Minister of Health asked that we take a clear message of gratitude back to the Irish people, adding that “without Irish help thousands of people who are alive today would be dead. Thousands of children would be orphans.”

The fight against HIV / AIDS has come a long way in the last decade. Just ten years ago the impact of stigmatisation, the lack of access to drugs, and food insecurity were huge problems. Now the hopelessness has gone. Because of the Irish Aid program thousands of HIV sufferers and their children have a chance of having a healthier, longer life.

Foreign Affairs Committee gets report on the assault on Gaza

2009-11-22T06:55:00.008Z

This week the Foreign Affairs Committee was lucky to have one of the authors of the Goldstone Report on the invasion into Gaza by Israeli troops come in to speak to us. Colonel Desmond Travers is a retired Colonel of the Irish Army and full credit must go to Senator Mark Daly for arranging for Col Travers to brief the committee.

Col Travers went through the report and drew out some key messages. The report found evidence that some Israelis had intentionally killed Palestinian civilians during the assault. The report said that the Israeli military assault on Gaza was “a deliberately disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate and terrorize a civilian population, radically diminish its local economic capacity both to work and to provide for itself, and to force upon it an ever increasing sense of dependency and vulnerability.”

I brought up the subject of the ongoing hardship that is being experienced by Gazan civilians. This is particularly the case given the damage to food production (30% of the agricultural land has been ruined) as well as the image of the war on the water and sanitation systems. In my view we must do what we can to ensure that there life is made more bearable for the people living in the territory.

As Col Travers pointed out, this is one report that is refusing to go ahead. It will not be buried and forgotten.

We got an answer back to a parliamentary question we asked about children's teeth in Meath. It follows on from a meeting I had with the Irish Dental Association about a month back. The representatives of the IDA told me that because of the cutbacks to the School Dental Schmeme (whereby children of school going age get access to a dentist) less children are seeing their dentist fro a regular checkup. A result is that when they do go it because they have a bad tooth, but often it's too late for the dentist to do anything to save the teeth and as a result it must be extracted.

It turns out that over 2,000 teeth were pulled last year from children in Meath. Some of these were baby teeth but others were permanent teeth. I can imagine that parents must be furious if one of their children has to have a permanent tooth extracted at a young age, all because of a lack of dentists to catch the problem in time. I have called for more dentists to be made available within the Meath area, so that the school dental program can do its job.

How Each Senator Voted on NAMA

2009-11-15T16:45:00.008Z

NAMA took up most of the week in the Seanad. We discussed the Second Stage of the legislation on Monday, concluding just before midnight. We sat again on Tuesday morning from 10:30 right through until 2am Wednesday morning. On Wednesday Committee Stage continued for a few hours. We then went to Report and Final Stage. Our last vote was about a quarter to ten on Wednesday night. I got out of the House directly afterwards.

I was exhausted by the time I got home an hour later. I turned on the TV to unwind and woke up at quarter past three in my chair! I carted myself off to bed and slept like a log. Next day (Thursday) returned to normality and I was in for the Order of Business, when I brought up the subject of the need to grow our foreign exports.

The NAMA debate was fascinating. The Labour benches contain two of the finest legal minds in the country, Senator Alex White and Senator Ivana Bacik, and they were hugely impressive to watch up close. I was also impressed by other Senators from both sides of the House. I also have to say that whilst we don't agree with the fundamentals of the legislation, Minister Brian Lenihan gave a very accomplished performance.

Lenihan was clearly on top of the detail of the Bill and as a result he was able to robustly defend his position on amendments. During the three days of debate he was unable to be there for the entire time and on occasions a different Minister sat in for him. Some of these were also impressive, for instance, Minister Peter Power gave a good performance. Other stand-ins did not appear to have as complex an understanding of the legislation.

I was disappointed that one of my amendments on the need for NAMA to provide a social dividend was rejected. My amendment was to allow unused properties in town centres to be provided to community groups on short-term leases at minimal rent. This would help to address the shortage of facilities for youth and community groups across the commuter belt. I put the matter to a vote and unfortunately it was defeated.

On the subject of the voting, I thought it would be useful to do a quick summary of the voting record of each and every Senator. The issue of NAMA is hugely important and has led to many emails from interested citizens to politicians and I thought that people might like to see an analysis of the votes.

In total, there were 18 votes over the three days. These included votes on the Second Stage debate, Committee amendments and votes on the Report and Final stage of the Bill

As expected, all of the Fianna Fail members voted with their government on every vote. So to did the Green Party and Fiona O'Malley.

The 6 Labour Senators voted against the government 100% of the time. There was an abstention rate of just 3% (i.e. in the 18 votes, of the total 108 votes that could be cast by the 6 Labour members, they voted 105 times).

The 15 FG Senators voted against the government 100% of the time. There was an abstention rate of just 2% (i.e. in the 18 votes, of the total 270 votes that could be cast by the 15 FG members, they voted 265 times).

The voting patterns of the Independent Senators were varied and as a result I provide them by the individual Senator.

Shane Ross voted against the government 10 times, with the government once and abstained on the other 7 votes.

David Norris voted against the government 14 times, with the government 4 times and didn't miss a vote.

Ronan Mullen voted against the government 9 times, with the government 6 times and abstained on the other 3 votes.

Fergal Quinn voted with the government twice and didn't vote on the other 16 occasions. Fergal did not vote against the government on any vote.

Joe O'Toole voted with the government 11 times, and abstained on the other 7 votes. Joe did not vote against the government on any vote.

The government won every one of the 18 votes cast. However, some of the votes could have gone the other way had the six independent Senators voted against the government en masse.

Please note - feel free to use / repeat / circulate this voting record to whomever you like. But just be clear that on the matter of abstentions above, one cannot tell whether these were deliberate or unavoidable. For instance, one Senator was unable to attend last week due to personal reasons. The fact that a Senator missed 0, 1, 2 or 10 votes may be very justifiable, and should be checked directly with the Senator in question.

Simon Community warns on homelessness

2009-11-08T12:02:00.001Z

Last week the Environment Committee, of which I am a member, received a presentation from the Simon Communities of Ireland in relation to homelessness.

The organisation provides services to around 5,000 people annually. As well as this they campaign for better facilities and treatment of homeless people, and for the root-causes to be addressed.

In attendance at the committee was their Chief Executive Officer, Mr Patrick Burke, as well as their research officer and staff from their Dublin, Cork and Dundalk offices.

As part of their presentation we were provided with the results of a recent study of their clients. Some of the numbers were shocking to me. Almost 60% of those who came into Simon’s facilities had a mental health condition, a further 48% had a diagnosed physical condition and 77% of the total had both.

Four out of five of their users reported using alcohol and almost half of that group described themselves as heavy users. Whilst in the past alcohol used to be the main feature, drug use is now becoming more common.

Niall Mulligan, of the Dundalk Simon Community sees at first-hand how the current recession is hitting people who are vulnerable. He told us that “People turning to us now, often have nowhere else to go, they have run out of options, are in poor health and are isolated, lonely and excluded. Many have experienced great trauma in their lives and at this point their only option is the Simon Community. The added tragedy is that in the current climate all the Simon communities around Ireland are under increasing pressure in terms of funding - with reductions in statutory funding across a range of budget lines and uncertainty in terms of voluntary donations.”

Like the Peoples Resources Centers around the country, it is in times of recession that more people need these services. Currently, the Simon Communities have no idea how much funding they will get next year, other than that it will probably go down. If it does, cuts to services are likely to follow.

The uncertainty of future funding could impact on the behaviour of homeless people within the shelters. In response to a question of mine I was told that the longer a person stays in an uncertain situation the likelier it is for a drug or alcohol addiction to take over. It becomes harder and harder for a person to break an addiction but stability in housing can help to address addiction.

So, cuts to these services, such as to the amount of sheltered housing available can have a real impact on the ground, with more people likely to have to go without services, fewer people gaining access to rehabilitation centres, higher rates of medical interventions needed by homeless people. My view is that in the short, medium and long term such cutbacks are unlikely to be cost-effective.

Action Needed on Vulture Funds

2009-11-01T18:29:00.004Z

Last week the Debt and Development Coalition of Ireland came before the Foreign Affairs Committee. The aim was to update us on progress in relation to a Justice Centered Irish debt policy.

The Coalition suggested six recommendations for action. These included one particular issue in relation to the existence of Vulture Funds. These funds buy up sovereign debt of poor countries, often paying very little for the “face value” of the debt, and then chase the countries for payment of the full amount. There have been some atrocious incidences in recent years. At the Committee I brought up the example of one Vulture Fund, Donegal International.

The story began in 1979 when the Zambian government borrowed $15 million dollars from the Romanian government. Over time the Zambians realised they could not pay and so they attempted to seek a revised payment agreement with the Romanian government. However, early in 1999, just before a deal was done, the Romanians sold off the entire debt to a private limited company called Donegal International for $3.3 million.

Over the next few years the Zambians started to pay off some of this money. By the end of 2003 they had paid off $2.4 million – 75% of what Donegal International had paid for the debt. At that stage, for various reasons, Donegal International took the Zambian government to court for the full amount owed. In 2007 The UK High Court found in their favour and awarded then $15 million.

So, for their expenditure of just over $3 million on the loan they got almost $18 million back. Of course, the Donegal International website says that the actual profit, after costs, legal fees etc., is a lot lower than this, but it’s clear that they made a fair old whack from this.

The issue was covered in depth by BBC Newsnight, and you can look at a video report here.

Their actions and their success are no doubt encouraging other vulture funds to do the same. Of course, the impact of this is that much of the debt relief that countries like Zambia are getting is just being eaten up in payments to these vultures. It has been asserted that the payment of $15 million to Donegal International meant that up to 100,000 Zambians went without medical care provision as a result.

There is some hope on the horizon. A Bill has been introduced in the States trying to get the process banned there.

In the UK, Gordon Brown is strongly against allowing such companies to use UK courts to progress claims. But the EU needs to act as well. As part of their presentation to us last week, the Debt Coalition proposed the following recommendation:

“The development of internationally binding, just and responsible financing standards by supporting efforts at EU level to curtail so called “vulture funds” from making claims in EU member state national courts”.

In order to keep pressure on at European level, I have asked our MEP, Nessa Childers, to table the following questions in European Parliament

“To ask what the current policy of the EU is in relation to the curtailment of so called “vulture funds” from making claims in EU member state national courts.”

President Blair? - Not in our name!

2009-10-26T13:31:00.004Z

It looks like the Czech President Vaclav Klaus is about to sign the Lisbon Treaty. That means the position of the President of the European Council will become available in the very near future.

At the moment one of the most often-mentioned candidates is ex-UK Premier Tony Blair. The Taoiseach Brian Cowen has already intimated that he would be very happy to support a Blair candidacy.

I think we need to sit back and think about things before we offer our support to any candidate.

Our nation has just concluded a national conversation on our role in Europe. As someone who spoke to thousands of citizens during both Lisbon referenda I am very conscious of the importance which people placed on the whole issue of Irish neutrality, and the potential involvement of Irish troops overseas. The presence of the triple-lock mechanism in relation to our overseas involvement (approval of the UN, the Government and the Oireachtas before we engage in any military action) was reassuring to many people. So, if one of the first acts of the new, reformed European Union is to appoint someone who went to war without a UN mandate, then this will be a real kick in the teeth to many of our citizens.

I recognise the many talents of Mr Blair. As a member of the UK Labour Party in the early ‘90s I had the opportunity to vote in the election for Leader of the Labour Party in July 1994. I cast my vote for Blair (and I voted for Brown for Deputy Leadership) and was delighted when both won their respective contests.

I applaud the work he did on Northern Ireland. But let’s not forget that he came into power less than a year before the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. Much hard work had already been done by that time. He was like the fourth runner in a relay race. He finished well and never dropped the baton and he is deserving of credit for this.

But I don’t think that he is owed anything by the Irish people because of this. And I would prefer if there was some sort of debate about his suitability as President of the European Council before the Taoiseach goes off anointing him on our behalf.

Already many prominent writers are engaging in a sales pitch for Blair. Frankly some of them should know better. Will Hutton is supporting him, on the basis that “It’s better to back our man, however imperfect, than refuse a prize that may not come our way again for decades”.

Jackie Ashley’s backing is less than wholesome. She says “I think the Iraq war was such a big error that, morally, nobody who led us into it should be able to return to a position of leadership. There should be some mistakes too big to recover from.” But she seems to reassure herself that all will be ok if he becomes president because “He’d have no army. He’d be able to start no wars”. Well that’s alright then.

Blair made a big mistake. A huge mistake. The Iraq War. Politically he should be consigned to the graveyard because of it.

Back in February 2003 I along with millions of others marched from Euston to Hyde Park in London on the day of the worldwide anti-war marches. I remember stopping off for a coffee break along the way in Bar Italia, in Soho, and watching live coverage from other European cities – the millions of people marching in Rome, 100,000 people on the streets of Dublin listening to Michael D Higgins and Christy Moore in Dublin.

We were furious that preparations were being made for war. “Not in our Name” was our cry. Surely, we all thought, Blair will see the strength of opposition across Europe and call a halt to this madness!

But Blair was not for turning. Blair would not listen. He was completely anti-european when he turned his back on us, as well as on the leaders of the rest of Europe. Instead he rushed off to war with his ally George Bush.

Like millions of other, from then on I lost my faith and trust in the man. Now, just six years later, some people are asking us to support him again. We shouldn’t. He is too divisive to be considered for the position.

Even in his homeland people are querying a potential Blair presidency. The Sunday Observer’s lead article this week was entitled “Europe needs a president we can all trust. Blair is not the man for the job”.

What’s more, the past is creeping up on Mr Blair. In the same way that Mahon Tribunal might put a stop to Bertie Ahern’s Presidential ambition here at home, the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq War awaits Blair.

The purpose of the inquiry is to consider the UK’s involvement in Iraq, including the way decisions were made and actions taken. It has appointed Dame Rosalyn Higgins, one of the most renowned experts on international law as an adviser, in what is viewed as an indication that the Blair government's legal justification for the invasion is to come under serious scrutiny.

The Inquiry's chairman, Sir John Chilcot, says he will not carry out a "whitewash". He has insisted the committee "will not shy away from making criticism. If we find that mistakes were made... We will say so."

So, things are going to get a lot hotter for Mr Blair. Last week the father of a killed serviceman told the inquiry that "I believe this country has been badly let down and been lied to. I would like to see some accountability... The prime concern I have is over the legality of the war."

A grieving mother told the Inquiry that "Blair had to be held responsible for what he's done, to our children, and to our husbands". Another mother told the hearing that "I lost my son and he was only 18, and I blame Tony Blair.”

Blair himself will be giving evidence to the Inquiry. He will be pushed hard in relation to the evidence for weapons of Mass Destruction. A central issue is whether he took Britain to war on evidence he knew or suspected to be fake.

Blair’s appearance in front of the inquiry will coincide with the first months of the new president’s term. Not the type of attention that a new president needs. And of course, when the report comes out, this will cast further spotlight on him. There’s also the potential of criminal charges afterwards.

Do we really want to run the risk of having such a tarnished and controversial person figure as President of the European Council? I think the answer has to be no more Blair. Not in our name.

Community Alert Scheme Launched in Ashbourne

2009-10-18T12:05:00.001+01:00

The Ceann Comhairle resigned his position on Tuesday. RTE put together a political panel to comment on the proceedings in the Dail and because all of the TDs were needed in the Dail Chamber to vote for his successor, RTE chose three Senators to sit on the panel. Myself, Cecilia Keaveney and Eugene Regan were all plastered in make-up and marched into their Montrose studio for the 2:30pm start.

The programme flew by and it was reasonably enjoyable. I wasn’t hugely surprised that Seamus Kirk got the position. Rumours had been going around to that effect for days and it made a lot of political sense as well. I bumped into ex-Senator Jimmy Mulroy of Fianna Fail Drogheda branch on Tuesday morning in Leinster House and was chatting to him for a while. He said nothing about the Ceann Comhairle position, but I took it from his presence that he was there to celebrate with his party and county colleague. In my dealings to date with Seamus Kirk I have always found him to be very pleasant and I wish him well in his role.

I was surprised by the reaction I got afterwards. It seemed like the whole country must have been watching. I suppose it was the only piece of drama on telly that afternoon and as a result it got a high viewership.

On Wednesday evening I went to the Ashbourne GAA Clubhouse to attend the launch of Ashbourne Community Alert. The event was well attended, even though it clashed with Ireland’s match against Montenegro.

The scheme is part of a town-wide initiative from residents of various estates in Ashbourne (Garden City/Crestwood, Killegland, Huntsgrove/Tudor Grove and Racehill Manor). It was addressed by the local Gardai and by a representative of Muintir na Tire. The aim of the event is to involve local residents in the prevention of crime.

I made a few points to the meeting and updated them on the position in relation to new by-laws on drinking. Cllr Niamh McGowan of the Ashbourne Labour Party is mid-way through introducing new by-laws to prevent drinking a Millennium Park and at Killegland beside Crestwood. The by-laws have already been passed at local level and are now going for debate at the full council. From speaking to local residents over the years I am sure there is huge support for this position.

If anyone would like further information on hoe to get involved then call my office and I will put you in touch with the organisers.

The Irish Exporters Association came before the Foreign Affairs Committee during the week. They believe that one way to get out of the economic crisis is to increase our exports. They are very concerned about the proposals to close missions abroad, as suggested by the McCarthy report. In their view our embassy and trade missions abroad are a huge benefit when it comes to achieving export sales. I asked them if there was any evidence they can provide to support this assertion, because this subject will come up in the coming months and I’d like to be able to argue the case on the basis of evidence available. In my view our embassies give us great value for money and cutting them makes little sense.

Launch of Youth Attitude Report

2009-10-11T20:37:00.002+01:00

The week just finished has been one of the most “full-on” that I’ve had for quite some time. On Monday afternoon I launched our new report on the views of young people in the Commuter Belt. It’s called “Youth Attitude” and is the culmination of quite a lot of work and effort by myself and my team. We held the launch at Labour HQ on Monday afternoon. Paul, Ciara and James were there (they had all worked on the report) as was Liz McManus, who was the joint launcher of the report.

The launch itself went well. We made our points about young people needing more Youth Cafes and that NAMA should be giving us a social dividend such as this. The point was picked up by a few radio stations, such as 2FM and INN and it went out on the airwaves for the rest of the day. It was also picked up by The Six One News on RTE, who showed a clip of the launch on their show.

Here’s a photo of myself and Ciara at the launch

The next morning we got a good write up in The Irish Times and the Irish Examiner. I was also asked onto LMFM and Kildare FM to discuss the report.

Once the interviews were over I headed into Leinster House for the Audit Committee Meeting. The Audit Committee reviews issues in relation to the running of Leinster House (such as the payroll system, the upkeep of the building itself, the IT system etc.). It feeds into the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission. There are three politicians on the Audit Committee. Myself, Senator Jim Walsh and Deputy Tom Hayes. They are both also on the Commission, although I am not. Whilst a member of the Commission gets €16,000 a year for membership, audit committee members do not receive remuneration.

At the meeting the Chairman of the Committee, Mr Tom O’Higgins, announced that he had tendered his resignation. He passed around a copy of his resignation letter, which was duly subjected to a Freedom of Information request from the Irish Times and ended up in Thursday’s Irish Times.

I spoke about the matter on Wednesday and was contacted by several journalists on the matter. Subsequently, I was quoted on the front page of Thursday’s Irish Times and was asked to go on Morning Ireland, 4Fm, INN, Country FM and LMFM. I also spoke about the matter again in the House; my contribution was played on Oireachtas Report that evening. Basically my key message was that in order to restore some credibility to the parliament the Minister needs to introduce a new system of expenses immediately.

It appears that the message got through. The new Programme for Government has got a section in there promising that a new system of expenses will be introduced shortly.

Time to move on from Lisbon

2009-10-04T12:09:00.004+01:00

I spent the week on the Lisbon trail again, talking to people about Friday's Referendum. It was a pleasant time. People were very eager to listen and wanted to know what it was about. That was a huge difference to Lisbon 1.

Our campaign involved several different strands.

1. Posters - but without the local names and faces as per Lisbon 1.
2. Canvassing outside supermarkets - myself and Nessa Childers MEP did a number of these across Meath.
3. Leaflet delivery - we sent out about 15,000 to houses in Meath.
4. Door calls. Myself and my team called in person to thousands of doors in the county.

Separately to this I also attended a walkabout on Grafton Street with Eamon Gilmore on Wednesday, which went very well. The day before we had been in Dundalk where we met with Mark Durkan of the SDLP to hold a joint press conference advocating a "Yes" vote. It was at this press conference that some local Sinn Feiners decided to hijack the press conference. We let them into the conference but they wouldn't afford Eamon or Mark the opportunity to speak without interruption. They kept shouting every time they tried to answer a question. The television cameras were there to catch it all and the subsequent coverage probably swayed a numbers of undecided voters onto the "Yes" side.

All of our senses told us that the "Yes" side would win. When the results came in I was a bit surprised by the results. I had predicted 63 / 37, which turned out to be an underestimate.

Now it's time to move on. The next big issues for us will be the NAMA legislation, the McCarthy Report("An Bord Snip Nua") recommendations on cutbacks and the forthcoming budget. Of course, there's also the possibility that some other unpredicted issue of importance comes along as well.

On Friday I visited the People's Resource Centre in Kells town. The centre is the first point of call for many Kells residents who want to access a number of services, such as Money Advice, Citizens Advice, shelter from Domestic Abuse, etc. With the downturn in the economy they are busier than ever. However, one of the recommendations within the McCarthy Report could have significant implications on their funding. I was fully briefed about the impact that this would have. It's something that I expect to speak on in the Seanad over the coming weeks.

A "Yes" Likely for Lisbon

2009-09-27T12:10:00.003+01:00

The Seanad returned this week after the summer recess. For us on the Labour Party benches it also meant a new member. Senator Ivana Bacik joined us from the ranks of the Independent Senators. Ivana has been a long-standing member of the party and is an expert on a range of issues, particularly in relation to law and justice. Apart from that of course, she's also a lot of fun! She is going to be a huge bonus to our team.

The economy dominated the proceedings in the house. I made a speech on the issue on Wednesday evening. I focused on the government debt, and compared the likely trajectory of the debt to GDP percentage to that of other countries.I pointed out that Japan has a percentage of debt to GDP of around 200%. The debt to GDP percentage is made up of a numerator (debt) and a denominator (GDP). Historically in the G20 countries the percentage has been reduced by growing the denominator and I believe that's what we should be doing here.

I am of the view that the way out of the crisis is to invest in infrastructure, education and research, and that we won't create any jobs or wealth by a slash and burn approach.

I spent a lot of time last week out talking to people about Lisbon. I met people in Ratoath, Ashbourne, Dunshaughlin, Laytown and in Drogheda. We were joined on one day by Nessa Childers, Labour MEP for Ireland East. On another canvas Harry McGee of the Irish Times came along. The key message I am getting is that it will be a YES vote, because sufficient people who previously voted "No" are switching, with little leakage from the "Yes" side.

Finally, congratulations to Laytown scouts for a very enjoyable pub quiz last Tuesday in Jimmy Gilna's bar in Laytown. As an ex-scout I was keen to be involved, and I got together a few other ex-scouts who are now Labour party members. Remarkably, my team ended up as the winners, picking up the prize of a dinner for four in the restaurant upstairs. A great night's entertainment, all for a good cause.

Think-in at Faithlegg

2009-09-14T13:04:00.003+01:00

On Wednesday the Parliamentary Party travelled down to Faithlegg in Waterford for the annual "think-in ". Like the other parties, we hold these two-day sessions every September before the Oireachtas resumes. It gives the parties a chance to regroup and to talk about strategy in advance of the resumption of parliament.

This year's event was dominated by the two main issues on the horizon, namely the NAMA Bill and the forthcoming referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.

We were lucky to have some key thinkers on both issues. Professor Karl Whelan gave a very stimulating talk on the NAMA Bill and its implication for the citizens of Ireland. Karl was an advocate of temporary nationalisation even before the Labour Party was, and he clearly spelt out to us why this policy is more preferable than that proposed by the governing parties.

(The previous day I had attended the launch of our strategy in Buswells Hotel,along with Eamon G and Joan B).

We also got a chance to discuss the emerging government approach to risk-sharing, which is something I reckon we are going to hear a lot more about in the near future.

At the weekend the Sunday Independent broke the story of Rody Molloy's pension payment from FAS. It was a subject that was first raised with me about four months ago by a constituent. I followed it up by talking with Roisin Shorthall. She raised a few questions about the matter in the Public Accounts Committee. As a result of that the SINDO journalist Daniel McConnell decided to write the story. It will be interesting to see where it goes from here. Here's a link to the story.

Have the Greens lost the plot?

2009-07-14T07:58:00.004+01:00

On Tuesday the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon visited Leinster House. He met with myself and other members of the Foreign Affairs Committee for about 40 minutes. He gave a wide-ranging address, outlining the major geo-political issues as he sees them.

UN Secretary Ban Ki-moon with members of the Oireachtas

I used the occassion to bring up the issue of Aung San Suu Kyi's ongoing captivity in Myanmar, and also of the Karen people on the Myanmar / Thai border area. I stayed with a Karen hill tribe on the Thai side of the border earlier on in the decade, so I am aware of the hardship that they are enduring. The Secretary General answered that for democracy to have any credibility in Myanmar the junta there must free all political priosoners and engage in meaningful dialogue with the ethnic groups.

I spoke on several debates last week, including the Defamation Bill - the Blasphemy sections were particulary contentious. When it came to the vote the members in the House entered the Chamber, the doors were locked and the vote was taken.

The opposition won 22 - 21. However, the government whip, Diarmaid Wilson, then asked for a "walk through vote". This means that each Senator has to walk through the lobby, as opposed to the normal electronic vote from the member's seat. When a walk through vote is called the doors to the chamber are reunlocked. This allows any members who missed the original vote to enter the chamber.

With the doors opened I went out into the chamber ante-room to see if the government whips were having any success in raising the absent members. While there I noticed that a Cabinet member had come along. I overheard some of his language, which was certainly not very parliamentary. It appeared that he was less than happy with the lost vote!

Of course the inevitable happened and along came a Green knight to save the day. Senator Deirdre de Burca had missed the original vote but entered the chamber once the doors were opened and voted with the government to include Blasphemy in the Bill.

With the vote tied at 22-22 the Cathaoirleach cast his deciding vote for the government and hence the Bill now contains the Blasphemy section.

I still haven't got my head around the reasoning behind having a walk-through vote. I asked several senior members of the House for a rationale but no-one was able to provide a coherent answer. I couldn't find anything in Standing Orders. It's something we should think about getting rid of during the Seanad reform process.

It was a bit much though to see the Greens come riding to the rescue on this of all things. It's not exactly core party policy for them. Senator Dan Boyle mentioned that he thought that the section should be reviewed in the short to medium term, something that Minister Ahern ruled out straight away. I don't see why they went along with this.

I know that a lot of rank and file Green members are upset at this latest turn of events. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if many of them start to have a serious think about the performance of their party in government. I share a hell of a lot of their agenda on green issues, but a line in the sand has to be drawn when it comes to core principles and their parliamentary members seem unable, or unwilling, to see that.

Civil Partnership Bill is a first-step

2009-07-05T11:27:00.004+01:00

The long-awaited Civil Partnership Bill was finally published by the Government. I spoke about it in the Seanad on Tuesday. I see it as a first step along the way. It provides for rights in relation to Power of Attorney, Next of Kin and inheritance. It doesn’t deal with issues in relation to tax matters or social welfare matters. The government has said that these will be dealt with separately in the next Finance Bill at the end of the year. We will keep the pressure on to make sure they deliver on that.

What it doesn’t address is the issue of children and adoption. That’s something of a disappointment and no doubt we (the Labour Party) will have to address this when we next get into government. Overall the Bill received a mixed reaction. Some campaigners were upset, arguing that “you can’t have a little bit of equality”. Personally I am surprised that the government has even gone this far. For a party that has filleted the Equality Authority I am surprised that they have even started down the road. I thought that they would kick this to touch.

It’s nearly the end of the Dail & Seanad session and as a result of that there are many piece of legislation that need to be completed. We sat into the evenings on a few occasions during the week and I fully expect that we will be doing so again in the coming week. Unfortunately, if legislation is too rushed then mistakes can be made, so that’s something we have to particularly watch out for.

On Tuesday I spoke on the Criminal Justice Surveillance Bill, and on the Broadcasting Bill, On Wednesday I spoke on the Local Government Charges Bill. All of the media pressure managed to convince the government to change their mind on the Mobile Home charges, a decision I welcomed – I had tabled an amendment in relation to this. I also made the point that the money raised from the Bill must not be seen by the government as an excuse to reduce its funding in local authorities. I also made the same point the next morning on LMFM radio.

Some people pointed this out as an example of how the Seanad serves a purpose as a check on legislation, to allow changes, amendments and corrections to be made to draft Bills. I felt that the instance here was an exception, rather than the rule. It was more because the legislation was rushed that the Minister had to make amendments, rather than a desire by him to involve Senators in the drafting of the legislation.

On Thursday I brought up the issue of the new EPA report on Sewerage plants. It shows that there is chronic underinvestment in sewerage plants and that further work needs to be done in training and upskilling of workers within the plants. I called for the Minister to use his authority to improve the situation. Only one County – Longford – fully complies with EU Standards.

Action on Management Companies at Last

2009-06-29T18:12:00.004+01:00

Finally the Government has started to act in relation to the regulation of apartment buildings and management companies. It's an issue that myself and the party have been calling for over the last number of years, so the possibility of things now being regulated is good news. I made that point in my speech to the Seanad on Tuesday.

On Wednesday and Thursday we held several votes in relation to the Financial Measures Bill. In some of the votes we came quite close to defeating the government. In fact, one of their Senators was in Brussels at the Council of Europe and received a phone call telling him to come home to vote. Votes are likely to remain close for the remainder of this session. So I'd say that the government will act swiftly in relation to the Seanad by-elections. They are certain to win them both (only TDs and Seantors vote in Seanad by-elections - so they have a built in winning majority) so they will hold them early to give them a bit of breathing space.

In terms of voting records and speeches delivered, I came across a useful site the other day. Its called www.kildarestreet.com and it provides a comparison of the performance of Senators. It's only in its early stages of usefulness (whether someone speaks a lot or not doesn't really tell us whether they are good or bad as a public rep) but it's an interesting site at any rate. I'll be checking it up from time to time to see how I compare to my colleagues.

We win four new seats on Meath County Council

2009-06-21T12:27:00.004+01:00

The recent Local and European elections gave the electorate the chance to give Fianna Fail a bloody nose for their performance in government over the last year That’s generally what happens worldwide in other democracies. In Ireland the performance of the government parties varied by party and by area.

The Green Party were virtually wiped out at a local level. They lost the one seat they had on Meath County Council and their most promising candidate, Sean O Buachalla, did poorly in the Dunshaughlin area. His vote declined from 1,330 in the General Election of 2007 to 142 in the local elections just 2 year later. That’s a shocking result for them, given the fact that their candidate, from what I’ve seen of him, is a very able person and would have made a fine councillor.

However the situation was different with the Fianna Fail party. At the last local elections in Meath in 2004 they won about 38% of the vote and 12 seats. This time around they won 30% of the vote and 8 seats. Considering that we are in the middle of the worst economic crisis the country has known and we have by general agreement a fairly lacklustre, tired government that is short on energy after 12 years in power their performance in the elections was fairly remarkable in my view. It certainly is NOT a meltdown!

In the Labour party we worked extremely hard on the campaign. All of our candidates were out there day in, day out. As the overall Director of Elections for the county I was putting in hours all over the county. We increased our share of the vote to about 10%, in the process winning four County Council seats – our best result in decades. So, we had a good election internally and we are celebrating our successes. Still, we have to recognise that we only got a third of the votes countywide that Fianna Fail got. So, we have a lot of building to do if we are to ever match their strength locally.

Cllrs Tracy McElhinney, Jenny McHugh and Niamh McGowan just after being elected. Cllr Eoin Holmes was also returned but is not in the picture.

On Friday last our new Councillors took their places on the benches of Meath County Council in Navan. We have entered coalition with Fine Gael and in return two of our Labour Party councillors will be the Mayor (Cathaoirleach) of Meath County Council in two of the next five years. In addition, we will Chair two of the Strategic Policy Committees for part of the next five years. Two of our Councillors will sit on the VEC and Cllr Tommy Grimes of Kells will be the Chair of the VEC for the next year and a half. We think it’s a good deal – one that will allow us to put Labour Party policies at the heart of the actions of Meath County Council.

The next five years will be about growing locally. These elections have shown two things. Firstly, even in their darkest hours, if we don’t offer people good, alternative candidates, Fianna Fail will still win seats in Meath. Secondly, when we put up good candidates and run good campaigns people will move away from Fianna Fail and elect Labour Councillors. Next time around we will be going for eight seats!

Labour kicks off its campaign in Meath

2009-05-10T10:55:00.005+01:00

On Tuesday we launched the party's policy on Taxis. Myself, Deputy Tommy Broughan and Deputy Mary Upton launched the document at Buswells Hotel. The document welcomes the additional choice that customers now have as a result of the expanded base of taxis. It also calls for stricter licencing requirements, so that safety standards are improved for passengers.

Myself, Tommy and Mary at the launch in Buswells

You can read our document here

The local election campaign got underway in earnest later that evening. We were ready to go at midnight on Tuesday night with teams of poster erectors across the county. They worked throughout the night and the following day in fairly appalling weather. Thanks to a great effort we had all of our postering completed before the end of the week.

There are just four weeks left in the campaign. With the postering completed it's now time to move on to leafleting and canvassing. I was in the Seanad all week but managed to get some canvassing in on a few of the evenings.

I spent Saturday in Trim with our candidate for Meath County Council, Tracy McElhinney and our candidates for Trim Town Council James O'Shea and Donal O'Brien. All of them are first time candidates and all have an excellent chance of getting elected.

Tracy on the Dublin Road in Trim

We got a great reception on the doors. James seems to know absolutely everyone and Tracy was also well know, - she works in the Trim Castle Hotel so is always around the place. I hope to get back to Trim over the next four weeks to help the team.

Love and Peace in Bolivia

2009-04-14T12:10:00.002+01:00

“El amor y la paz” is the greeting we receive from the gang leader as we enter the small clearing beside the ring road. Straight ahead was a tiny shack, the territory of the band of homeless youths we were visiting. “El amor y la paz” we shout back.

Around the clearing the scene was one of decay. Burnt rubbish and mangy dogs were scattered around. So too were the plastic bottles which used to contain the particular brand of glue that is the staple diet of the street kids of the city of Cochabamba in Bolivia.

The gang leader beckoned us into the shack. I was accompanying Saul, a local youth worker. We stepped from the bright morning sunshine into the darkness of the small, kitchen-sized room. I gasped and tried not to wretch from the utter stink. It was so overpowering that my automatic reaction was to leave. I stayed, knowing that I would soon get used to the stench. After a few seconds my eyes adjusted to the darkness and I was facing seven youths of indeterminate age.

It was clear that a lot of them were already high on drugs, even though it was only ten am. I asked them their names. Lourdes was 23 years old with a pretty face. Already a mother, she had her child taken away from her because she was unable to care for it. Beside her sat Gabriel, who had difficulty moving about. Last year Gabriel’s leg was broken in a car accident. The medics tried to re-set it but Gabriel implied that he didn’t follow the treatment advice given to him and one year on the bone sticks out at a 45 degree angle to the rest of the leg. Gabriel is eighteen.

Saul the youth worker was treated with respect by the gang family. They are one of many gang families in Cochabamba, a city the size of Cork. These gangs range in size from ten to thirty youths and the members look out for each other, much the way a family would. Indeed, Gabriel’s younger sister was also a member of his gang. These youths come from broken homes, or are unwanted, or leave home because despite the harshness of life on the street, they consider it to be more preferable than life with their parents. Once they hit the streets they are exposed to the small bottles of the toxic glue, which they buy for less than a dollar.

Saul visits all of the gang families. He works for a local charity CIES, which provides outreach support and runs a clinic offering medical attention. Saul’s job is to try and make sure that they receive medical attention for any illnesses that they have, as well as helping to provide information on sexual and reproductive health. He also works with other agencies to try to get the kids back into settled accommodation. For just $700,000 per annum, this project runs in Cochabamba and other cities in Bolivia, and also in Peru and Guatemala.

Although the number of street boys outnumbers the number of street girls, there are still a large number of girls on the street. According to Saul virtually all of them will have been raped either by members of the gangs or through prostitution. We visited a group where one girl sat amongst a gang of ten boys. Because of her severe overuse of solvents she has lost the power of her legs. Every few hours the group gets moved on by the police and her friends carry her over to their next gathering spot.

Her inability to walk also means that she can’t get to a public toilet on her own. Her one request to Saul was for some diapers, as she had none left that she could use. Beside her lay a kid in obvious discomfort. He threw back a filthy blanket and pulled up the leg of his pants to show us a large oozing sore just below his knee.

His friend beside him asked Saul for medical help for the leg. Saul told him to bring the kid along to the CIES clinic in the afternoon, but told them both to refrain from sniffing any more glue until then. Later in the clinic Saul gave us a presentation, during which he explained that it’s their policy to ask the kids not to come in for treatment when they are under the influence: they want to get the kids to keep off the glue for as long as possible. That’s a difficult thing to do when the rest of your gang family are all abusing on a regular basis and when live on the streets of Cochabamba is so tough.

After the presentation we were shown around the clinic. In one room a young man taught a group of twenty students about sexual health. These students will go around the schools and colleges of Cochabamba to educate their fellow students on sexual health issues. All the evidence is that such peer education has a dramatic impact on getting the message through to other young people in the community. This work also forms part of the CIES project, as does a programme to train women in empowerment issues.

Saul brought us over to the boy with the ulcerous leg that we had seen in the morning. All of us felt some relief that he was getting the medical attention which he clearly needed. He wouldn’t get it if it wasn’t for contributions from the development aid budgets of organisations such as USAID and the European Union. Clinic staff told us that despite promises from the local politicians to address the issue of homelessness it appears that little has been done. Local and central Government expenditure on public health care is too low to be able to meet the needs of these street kids.

But there’s currently no space on the political agenda for these street kids, because Bolivia itself is at a turning point. President Evo Morales recently won a referendum to introduce a new constitution. A socialist in the mould of Chavez in Venezuela, Lula in Brazil and Castro in Cuba, “Evo” is intend on redrafting mounds of legislation to ensure that the majority indigenous people in Bolivia have the same rights as the rest of the Bolivian population. That includes the right to health and his intention is that 10% of GDP will be spent on the health service.

The new constitution contains many aspirational aims such as this. New laws will be required to implement the thrust of the constitution. Changes to society are expected to be huge, and expectations among the poorer indigenous population run high. Evo will have a difficult balancing act to satisfy their expectations whilst at the same time ensuring that he takes the rest of the population along on the journey to his new Bolivia. Failure to do so could result in civil unrest and potential secession of some of the states.

Omnipresent in Bolivia is graffiti stating “Evo Si” or “Evo No”. His picture is everywhere and the subject of the political future of Bolivia is the only conversation in town. And because the whole local and national political establishment is caught up in the big picture issues there is scant attention being paid to the invisibles on the streets.

Saul has been working with the street kids for the last five years. He’s seen some success but he admits that there have been many other failures. He says that if he doesn’t rescue the street kid before he or she reaches eighteen then there’s little chance that they will be rehabilitated back into Bolivian society. He reckons that the average length of time a kid can spend on the street is about ten years. Then they perish because of disease, drug overdose or violence. When that happens the last thing he does for them is organise a collection within his office to help pay for the cost of a burial.

But now his job is on the line. The project is funded through various international charities and it comes to an end in June. Unless more funding comes from international aid budgets the project will shut down. He’ll have to find another job – tough enough in a country with 25% unemployment but Saul has the ability to pull through. What happens to the street kids of Cochabamba is likely to be a lot sadder.

I spent St Patrick’s Week in Bolivia with the Irish Family Planning Association and the International Planned Parenthood Federation.

Mullingar Conference

2009-04-05T11:45:00.005+01:00

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Our “Annual Conference” took place last weekend in Mullingar. I say “Annual” because it’s just four short months since our last one in Kilkenny. The move to an Annual Conference was agreed a couple of years back, and it’s just the way that things fell that we had two so close together.

The event was a success. There were many new faces there, not least from my own constituency of Meath East. The recent drive for new members, in the form of a “Membership Month” appears to have been successful. Certainly, we’ve managed to attract quite a few from around County Meath. Each new member brings energy, drive and helps to extend our network of contacts throughout local communities.

I managed to get myself “bumped” off the speakers list at the Conference. I had received confirmation that I would be speaking about Wave Power on the Saturday morning, and duly did a bit of research and prepared a script. Because my slot was at 9:10 in the morning I made sure that I stayed off the sauce and went to bed at a reasonable hour on the Friday evening. I presented myself on time on Saturday morning (even getting to the hall before the Conference starts) but because of some issue in relation to time availability I was told that I couldn’t speak. In the process a huge swathe of delegates was deprived of my musings on the future of renewable energy in Ireland. I hope no lasting damage was done.

The conference heard from many of our June local election candidates, including Meath’s Tracy McElhinney (she’s running in the Trim area) and Michael McLoughlin (He’s running in the Dunshaughlin area with Niamh McGowan and John King). Both Tracy and Michael spoke very well and were broadcast live on RTE1.

I also got the chance to meet our new candidate for Europe in Ireland North West, Susan O’Keefe. From talking to her I’d say she is going to be one of the surprises in the election.

Meath's Eileen Drew, Kirsi Hanifin and Susan O'Keeffe chat in Mulingar

I did get to speak at a fringe event in the afternoon (a fringe event happens away from the main conference chamber). It was Deputy Tommy Broughan’s Transport Seminar. There were about fifty delegates present and we discussed public transport, cycling and I spoke about commuting from the Greater Dublin region to the capital.

I mentioned our idea to include car parking charges at stations within the fares regulation system, and talked broadly about the results of the Commuter Survey I carried out last year. The Transport Group is an initiative of Tommy’s and the intention is that we will meet on a fairly regular basis to debate issues and help to shape transport policy for the country.

Eamon gave a speech to the party at half eight – just in time to compete with the Ireland – Bulgaria match. It was unfortunate timing but one of those things that is outside our control. Afterwards the count for the elections to Labour’s National Executive Committee got underway. Despite valiant efforts, our own Mary Quinn narrowly missed out on a seat. The news filtered through at about 1am and it meant that all of the team went to bed disappointed.

By the time conference ended on Sunday I was quite tired from the whole thing, but another busy week beckoned with meetings every evening. I attended the Oireachtas Sub Committee on Thursday morning on Overseas Aid. Hans Zomer of Dochas was there, as was the CEO of Oxfam Ireland and of Concern. I had just finished speaking on the issue during the Order of Business in the Seanad. I was calling for the aid budget to be spared in the forthcoming budget – it has already suffered disproportionate cuts in funding over the year. With just days to go before Minister Lenihan stands up in the House we are all anxious about what his proposals will bring.

We need to talk about Donie

2009-03-24T22:28:00.004Z

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I was contacted last Tuesday by the Late Late Show. They wanted me appear in the studio on Friday’s show. I had to turn them down because I was away. As it turned out the invite was just to sit in the audience and speak for about 30 seconds, so I was glad I wasn’t around.

I managed to watch the debate online later. It turned out that the show was just a hatchet job. Considering that Pat Kenny gets paid about 700k a year (equal to the salary of ten senators) I would have hoped that he could have put on a more balanced show.

Let’s face it, everyone in both chambers of Leinster House believes that fundamental reform of the Seanad is necessary. I spoke about the issue of reform a few weeks ago. My view is that unless we have fundamental reform then the whole place should be scrapped. I’d like to see three key reforms:

1. We need to expand the franchise to every Irish person over 16. Candidates would be nominated by the nomination groups as currently exists (nursing associations, Institute of Engineers of Ireland, etc.). They would be placed on a list system. Voters would be able to choose to vote for candidates and / or professions. Minor changes to the system such as extending the franchise to University of Limerick graduates is not enough. Many of my friends didn’t go to university because they couldn’t afford it or didn’t want to. Why should they have no vote? If we just extend the franchise to other universities then we are just making an undemocratic institution slightly less undemocratic.

2. The work of the Seanad should be reviewed. At the moment we spend too much time making statements of little worth across the floor of the chamber to each other. Senators should have specific roles and powers, for instance the examination and scrutinising of new European legislation. At the moment it’s clear that we are not providing the value to the state that we could provide. This has to change.

3. Transparency of expenses should be introduced. We need to move away from the multitude of allowances to a single allowance, payable on the basis of days attended. People need to know that we are earning the money we get.

If the Government doesn’t implement these proposals then I think we would be better off abolishing the Seanad and introduce the necessary legislation to allow the Dail to pick up the pieces.

Eamon Visits Meath

2009-03-08T16:39:00.003Z

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Eamon Gilmore spent Friday in County Meath, his first official visit to the Royal County since his election in Autumn 2007.

The purpose of the visit was to see at first hand our preparations for the local elections in June. Eamon started the day in the offices of LMFM, where he did a 30 minute interview with Michael Reade of the Loose Talk show. He was preceded by Fionnan Sheehan, political commentator with the Irish Independent. Fionnan was critical of the Labour Party’s approach to the current economic climate, but I feel that Eamon more than answered the criticisms he raised when his turn came.

After the interview the visit started in earnest. Myself and Cllr Eoin Holmes brought Eamon into the council offices in Slane, where we met several staff. Eamon then did another interview in the Jumping Bean café in Duleek (I opened the coffee shop four years ago this week, during the Meath by-election campaign). Then we travelled into Navan and had a walk around the Fair Green market place. It was quite busy for a Friday afternoon and we managed to meet lots of Navan residents. Eamon concluded the Navan visit with an interview with the Meath Chronicle.

In Kells the local branch put on a big show with a social event in the Headford Arms. We were tight for time so we had to leave just as things were getting going, and we travelled down the backroads to call into Ballivor Community Centre, where we met with Tracey McEhinney and her supporters. The day finished with a walkabout in Trim with local election candidates James O’Shea and Donall O’Brien.

No doubt Eamon will be back down to Meath before the local elections take place. We have great candidates in place and the more support we get the better our chance of winning.

In the Seanad this week I spoke about the need for a national strategy on apprentices, particularly in the light of so many companies closing down. It followed on from a meeting myself and my colleagues held on Wednesday evening with about 30 of the apprentices from SR Technics. These apprentices are over half-way through their training and are in danger of being left in a situation where they are unable to complete their courses. We will be working to try and find a way forward on this in the next few weeks.

Childers Launches Meath Euro Campaign

2009-03-01T10:45:00.008Z

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Monday night saw the launch of Nessa Childers' European election campaign in Navan. A large crowd gathered in the Ardboyne Hotel to welcome Nessa. I chaired the event and addressed the audience. So too did Nessa, Cllr Brian Collins and the Meath area local elections candidates, including Eileen Drew, Anton McCabe, Michael McLoughlin and Tracey McElhinney.

Nessa Childers with Meath local election candidates

Nessa faces a difficult battle to win a seat for Labour. The East constituency is a 3-seater, with Fine Gael holding two and Fianna Fail holding one. The retirement of Avril Doyle and the absence of any other candidates at this stage bodes well for Nessa, as do the recent poll results showing the party at 22%, but really we all know that the only way to win this seat is through the hard work of the candidate and the support of the local election campaigning teams. The people at the Ardboyne Hotel were given that clear message: when you are canvassing for your councillor make sure that you also ask people to vote for Nessa.

As the party's Spokesperson on Community and Rural Affairs I got to speak on the debate about life in Western Ireland on Tuesday. The debate referred to a report published by Senator Pearse Doherty from Donegal. I complimented him on the work he had done (which was considerable) and stressed the need for better broadband in rural areas.

I also attended the Joint Committee on Transport meeting on Wednesday night. Although I am not a member, I am able to attend if I so choose. The Committee was being addressed by representatives of SR Technics, so I was keen to take part. The representatives gave us an update of the current situation and briefed us on the ongoing developments in relation to their negotiations with the Swiss Parent company. The 30 day notification period is now underway so the workers and representatives are working hard to try and find a way of saving jobs.

Later in the week I spoke on an All-Party Motion in relation to Gaza. My debate clashed with the meeting of the Overseas Development Aid Committee, of which I am a member, so unfortunately I had to miss that. These clashes are a regular occurrence for all members in the house. Last week one of my colleagues had three meetings at the same time. One can either try and attend all three, in the process spreading oneself very thinly, or just pick one and send apologies to the others. I tend to choose my approach based on the subject matter of the meetings - sometimes I attend them all briefly, on other occasions I stick with one. Either way I fear that one's absence or one's brief attendance looks bad to the observer.

Time to join the Facebook Generation?

2009-02-22T13:12:00.002Z

The big news of the week was the continuing scandal in relation to the Anglo Irish Bank. It reached its height on Wednesday and Thursday, when talk of an election surfaced. It was certainly news to me. As I arrived in Leinster House I was listening to Roisin Shorthall on Morning Ireland and next thing she told the nation that we in the Labour Party are on an election footing. I was feeling very left out of the loop – no-one had bothered to tell me in Meath East. My averagely paranoid mind started to wander. Perhaps I was about to be replaced by one of our excellent local election candidates? Luckily I bumped into Jan O’Sullivan ten minutes later. She hadn’t been told we are on a election footing either. The Central committee must be out to get the two of us.

In case the party apparatchiks are have trouble reaching me I am thinking about joining Facebook. The power of the brand is quite startling. More and more of my friends and family seem to have joined up over the last few months in particular. I’ve resisted up to now, but I may have to re-consider. I dropped in to see my dad yesterday, who is in his ‘80s. He was desperate to show me his new Facebook site. He had spent the previous hour writing on other people’s walls – as an ex-Garda he has frowned on that practice for the last 80 years. I am now seriously thinking that if I don’t get one then I’ll be left behind.

I had a rather busy day on Wednesday in the Seanad chamber. Some days are heavier than others; last Wednesday was one of those days.

I spoke on the Order of Business first thing in the morning. This was then followed by the Committee Stage of the Electoral Amendment Bill. We had an amendment down to limit the number of 3 seat constituencies – we believe that three seat constituencies make it harder for smaller parties to win seats. I spoke on the Bill on and off over a two hour period and I called a vote on the matter (which we lost heavily!).

Afterwards the House debated the situation in the Middle East. Myself and Seanad Leader Alex White have divided External Affairs between each other. Alex does anything in Europe and I do anything outside Europe. So, the Middle East is something I have to cover. (I am sure we will have a fight when it comes to debating something like French Guyana, and if the Indian Ocean island of Reunion is ever invaded by Madagascar then Alex gets to cover it, not me).

I listened in to the debate and waited my turn for my slot, only to be told that the Leader was guillotining the debate early. As a result, I never got to make my contribution. I was pretty annoyed because time had gone into the preparation of my speech.

The House moved directly on to debating the new Home Insulation Scheme. As the spokesperson on the Environment I also had to speak on this matter. When it finished at 7pm I had a matter down on the Adjournment Debate. By the time I finished I had been in the Chamber for a large amount of the day. I spent most of Thursday catching up on the office work that had built up during my time in the Chamber!

Bleak day for SR Technics

2009-02-15T11:47:00.004Z

On Wednesday the Labour Party introduced a motion on Child Poverty. We are concerned that there are still almost 80,000 children living in families with poverty. The debate was well attended, with many Senators from Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and the independents contributing. I opened and closed the debate on behalf of the Labour Party.

I got back to the office in time to catch the Ireland vs Georgia match. I had hoped to get along to the match but couldn’t because of the debate. The last time I saw Georgia play was in Tbilisi during the 2002 World Cup campaign, in May 2001. They were playing at home to Italy and I was working in Tbilisi at the time. They have a toughness of spirit which, matched with their skill, makes then tough opponents to play.

One of our candidates for the Ashbourne area, Niamh McGowan, held a fundraiser on Thursday night. There were about 60 people there, including Deputy Eamon Gilmore and Senator Alex White. Alex, myself and Eamon said a few words to the audience as did Niamh. While we were speaking the news came in that the latest poll has us at 24%.

As someone who did a lot of statistics at college, and who uses them on a daily basis, I don’t get too excited by polls. At the moment the country is in the middle of the eye of the storm. Thousands are losing their jobs, workers are facing new levies on their income and the behaviour of the banks has infuriated the Irish people. It truly is a GUBU moment and I think that’s being reflected in the poll.

The loss of almost 2,000 jobs on Thursday was one of the bleakest days on the jobs front that the country has experienced. SR Technics employ 1,200 workers in the airport and the closure will have serious repercussions for local economies across north county Dublin and south and east Meath.

I spoke to workers on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and it’s clear that things are not over yet. The workers firmly believe that the company can be saved and I’ll be doing what I can to help explore alternatives to the current drastic situation.

Proposed cuts to Irish Aid are disproportional

2009-02-08T11:24:00.008Z

The announcement that Overseas Aid will be hit in the the most recent cutbacks announced on Tuesday has generated a lot of concern in the Irish Aid community. As Hans Zomer of Dochas pointed out, the cuts to the aid program represent 5% of the total cutbacks announced, yet the percentage of government expenditure on aid is significantly less than that. The disproportionality is something I would like to see addressed, a point I made in my speech on Human Rights on Wednesday night.

The Human Rights debate was tabled by Senators David Norris, Joe O'Toole and Ivana Bacik. The debate covered issues such as the attacks of the Equality Authority, Prison Rights, and the international situation in Gaza, Tibet, Burma and Sri Lanka.

I returned to the issue on Thursday morning during the Order of Business. I was disappointed to hear Senator Dan Boyle, who I agree with on most things, refer to the cuts as "unfortunate". It's not the word that the Irish Aid Community is using to describe the cutbacks. I asked Senators Boyle, O' Murchu and Ormonde, who are all fine contributors on Irish Aid matters, to use their influence with Ministers to get the proposed cuts reduced.

I also raised a matter in relation to the Irish Film Board. The authority of the current Board ran out in mid-January and the members have not been reappointed. As a result no funding decisions can be made. The Irish Film industry is now getting worried about what is going on. I asked for the Minister to clarify the situation. At this stage he hasn't done so, but at least the issue is now out there in the open - my concerns were reported in Screen Daily, the international film community's online newsline.

Later I travelled over to Trim to meet our candidates there for the Town Council elections in June. Both James O'Shea and Donal O'Brien have excellent chances of winning two of the nine seats on the Council. We talked about the issues facing Trim - unemployment rates have risen significantly in the last year. They will both be fighting to encourage more jobs into the area.

On Friday and Saturday I called to people in a few places around the county. On both days I met people who had recently been affected by unemployment. Many people are not aware of what they are entitled to or where to go, so I hope to get back to them with some information on their rights and on organisations (such as MABS) who can help them through their current crisis.

Kilmoon Cross toget €100,000 for safety improvements

2009-02-01T12:42:00.004Z

It was late on Monday when a phone call came through from the Housing Minister’s Office. He called in person to tell me that he was introducing emergency legislation to cover an anomaly in the Residential Tenancies Act of 2004 and that this would be introduced on Tuesday evening.

I made some changes to my plans for Tuesday evening (moving meetings etc.) and proceeded to do some research on the Bill. As it turned out it was pulled on Tuesday evening, because of an issue raised by Labour TD Ciaran Lynch. Instead, it came into the Seanad on Wednesday morning, when I spoke on the issue.

We would have liked the Minister to improve the legislation by allowing Councillors to serve on the Private Residential Tenancies Boards and also to put them within the scope of the Freedom of Information Act, but the Minister refused to allow our amendments to do so. Nevertheless we supported the Bill in its passage through the House.

Later in the week I was glad to receive a letter from the National Roads Authority informing me that they would be spending €100,000 on safety measures at Kilmoon Cross. Many people either drive through Kilmoon on a daily basis or they catch a bus into town from there. Traffic flies through on the N2 at about 100kph and when it’s dark and you are walking or waiting on the road it can be a scary place. So, hopefully this money will be spent and the facilities in the area improved.I know that it’s something that will be welcomed by many people around the area. Our local representative Eileen Drew and myself have had many people expressing concern about the junction in the past.

In the afternoon I got to talk to a few Ashbourne people at their houses with one of our local candidates, Niamh McGowan. Although she is from Ratoath, Niamh has lived in Ashbourne for the last decade and is campaigning for better facilities for people in the town. I was surprised by how well she is known in the area. The reception we got was very positive. People are worried about their futures and aren’t convinced that the current government has the answers. They were glad to hear that we were offering a clear strategy for how to get us out of the current crisis.

That evening I travelled up to Kells to chair the selection convention for Kells Town Council. Although the convention was uncontested, the convention was packed out. We selected sitting Councillor Tommy Grimes and current Cathaoirleach Cllr Brian Collins to run for the Town Council. I addressed the convention and told them that we have an excellent chance of holding our two seats, but only if they all help out. I also told them that earlier in the day I had spoken on the Electoral Amendment Act, which will move Kells into the constituency of Meath East. The Act should become law in the next few weeks.

That completes our candidate selection for the local elections in Meath. Earlier that week we had chosen our candidates for Trim Town Council. They are Donal O’Brien (Cllr Danny O’Brien’s son) and James O’Shea. Our competed list of candidates is as follows:

Meath County Council

Dunshaughlin Electoral Area – 7 seats – John King, Niamh McGowan and Michael McLoughlin
Kells Electoral Area –5 seats - Councillor Brian Collins
Navan Electoral Area – 7 seats - Eileen Drew
Slane Electoral Area – 6 seats – Councillor Eoin Holmes
Trim Electoral Area – 4 seats – Tracy McIlhinney

Kells Town Council – Councillor Brian Collins and Councillor Tommy Grimes
Navan Town Council – Anton McCabe
Trim Town Council – Donal O’Brien and James O’Shea

Good luck to them all!

Is the nationalisation of Anglo Irish Bank Constitutional?

2009-01-25T15:05:00.006Z

We were called back "early" to debate the nationalisation of Anglo-Irish bank last week. The Seanad and Dail members were all in Dublin anyway, to attend the 90th anniversary commemoration of the sitting of the first Dail.

Labour Party members met beforehand in Leinster House, and walked down en masse to the Mansion House. Myself and a few of our colleagues were surprised by the huge Garda presence. The whole street was closed off and there were scores of Gardai holding back the "crowds" of onlookers. Actually, there were probably more gardai than there were onlookers! The question of who was being protectors from whom was raised by one or two wags on the way in. Also, someone suggested that the country would have been better off if they had been deployed elsewhere in the city.

The event passed off quite quickly. There were some fine speeches made on the day, including that from Enda Kenny and from Ciaran Cannon, who I though performed very well.

I spent the afternoon catching up on correspondence and reading up about the issues in relation to Anglo Irish. By the time we came to the debate that evening the Labour Party had decided to oppose the legislation unless our amendments calling for an investigation into the actions of the bank's managers was undertaken.

Unfortunately the government failed take our amendment on board, leaving us with no option but to try to vote down the Bill. We managed to vote against it in the Dail, but when it came to calling a vote in the Seanad for some reason the Cathaoirleach, Pat Moylan, failed to spot the fact that we had called for a vote.

I tried to raise the matter as a Point of Order, asking for the House to be suspended so that the staff could check the tapes of the proceedings (which would show - and did subsequently - that a vote has been called). However,the Cathaoirleach ploughed on and so no vote was actually held on the issue on the Seanad.

Whether the bill is constitutional is now a question, one which has been raised by Senator Frances Fitzgerald in the Irish Times on Saturday. Time will tell.....

Will this be the last bit of legislation to nationalise a bank? I doubt it. I think there's a real possibility that we may have to repeat the process for another bank in the not too distant future.

Friday was a bad car day. I spent the afternoon around Rathfeigh with our local election candidate Eileen Drew. A big cause of concern is the potholes on the local roads. I took a picture of a trench running across the road. The locals were furious with the council for not fixing it, despite repeated requests.

Eileen Drew beside a trench in Rathfeigh.

We said that we would take the issue up with the council. Just a few hours later I was coming back from a meeting in Trim and I hit a similar trench on the far side of Kentstown. Once I hit it I knew that I had done the wheels in. I managed to crawl into Kentstown and left the car there overnight. On Saturday, I arranged for a tow to a garage in Duleek and got both front types replaced at a cost of €300. It really is infuriating when this happens to you - the Council needs to get their act together in dealing with the resurfacing of local roads.

Dodgy bankers gone, hand-guns on the way out...

2008-12-21T12:39:00.008Z

The Seanad finished its Autumn / Winter session this week. It was another roller-coaster few days, culminating in the resignation of the Chairman and Chief Executive of Anglo-Irish Bank.

I was doing a lot of reading around the subject and from what I've seen nothing would surprise me about the behaviour of the bankers anymore. They seem to live in a completely different world than the rest of us. We rightly worry about the dangers of secret societies, of the spread of nepotism and cronyism in society, of corruption by some politicians, but these guys take the biscuit! We clearly need to take control of this situation. We need to get to the bottom of what's going on across the banking sector and we need to do it quickly. Without wishing to appear partial on this, these are exactly the reasons why we pushed for so many amendments to the Banking Bill a few months ago.

This week the Minister of Justice, Dermot Ahern, came into the Seanad to outline his plans for the regulation of handguns in Irish society. He proposes to re-instate the ban that existed from 1972/1973 until 4 years ago (in 2004 the ban was successfully challenged). As our Seanad Spokesperson on Crime it fell on me to make a speech.

From talking to people across all parties, as well as most of the lobby groups, I would think this ban will be re-introduced in the New Year. I read the Garda Review magazine on Saturday - they are also in favour of a ban.

I don't think the ban will be the end of the matter, though. The argument is that there's no need to provide for handgun use to be legitimised (subject to certain sporting exceptions). It's important to remember though that there has been virtually no crime by the owners. Also, handguns from legal owners are not being stolen in any great numbers. In fact, of the 1,300 guns stolen from legitimate owners in the last few years only 30 were handguns. Therefore, even with a new ban, we can still expect to see about 300 firearms a year being stolen from their owners and entering the criminal underworld. This is certainly something that needs to be tackled by the provision of more Gardai resources.

The Motor Tax Bill was also discussed in the Dail and Seanad this week, and was passed into law. As our spokesperson on the Environment I was responsible for delivering a speech on this, which was broadly in favour of the Bill - although we don't think it goes quite far enough in many areas.

This will be my last blog for 2008. Whilst I am working up to Christmas Eve, I will then be taking a short break over the Christmas period. However, if there are any issues over this time, please give me a call and we can sort something out.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Dominic

The Bells, The Bells!

2008-12-14T12:14:00.008Z

As a member of the British-Irish Parliamentary Body I attended a meeting in the House of Parliament in Westminster on Monday. The body meets in full session twice a year (either in the UK or in Ireland) and there are a couple of other committee meetings at other times of the year.

The purpose of the session was to discuss the issue of apprenticeships, and see whether there were things that could be learned and shared across both jurisdictions. We started off in the basement levels of the Palace of Westminster, where we were introduced to several workers who were on the House of Parliament’s own apprenticeship system. They explained how it worked and extolled the virtues of the process.

We also met with a Professor with specific expertise in the area, and with the Chairman of one of the Committees with responsibility for the issue in the UK. At the end of the meeting we agreed terms of reference for a study into the area, the purpose of which will be to improve and extend the system of apprenticeships in both countries.

In the Seanad I experienced the most bad-tempered week I have yet seen. The aftermath of the government’s defeat on Thursday last (see previous blog) meant that almost all of the government senators were whipped into being around for the whole week.

One major bone of contention is in relation to the Friday sitting. By tradition the House meets on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. At the start of each day there is a one hour slot for the “Order of Business”. This allows Senators to rise from their seats and bring up an issue of topical and general importance. The Leader of the House, Senator Donie Cassidy, has now organised business on four consecutive Fridays and yet has not allowed us to have an “Order of Business” on any of them, claiming it was unnecessary. We disagree with him and think there should be a slot for this every Friday.

We had thought that the Leader had agreed to take our concerns on board and allow some time – he had intimated he would do this on the previous week. However, when he spoke on Tuesday he informed us that he would not be allowing an “Order of Business” on Friday. The Oposition was united in its objections. To force the point home we raised the issue as often as possible throughout the week. Eventually he relented and now from next week we will have an "Order of Business" on Friday, along the lines that I suggested.

I also covered the Report and Final stages of the Housing Bill on Wednesday and the Charities Bill on Thursday. Both Ministers took on board some of our amendments, which I was quite happy with. Thanks must go to Richard Humphries, who is responsible for putting them all together for the Party.

Not all of our amendments were accepted by the Ministers and as a result we called quite a few votes on them. Every time a vote is held the bells go off around all of Leinster House to alert Senators to the upcoming vote. There went off non-stop on Wednesday and Thursday. By Thursday evening I was hearing them everywhere I went - in the shop, in the car, at home. I can now sympathise somewhat with Quasimodo's predicament now.

"Don't tell me that another amendment is being pushed!"

In principle both Bills are positive and progressive, so I wished them well in my concluding remarks.

During the week I attended two meetings in our Ashbourne office to discuss next year’s local elections. The first was on Tuesday night with the three area candidates and their Directors of Elections. The meeting was positive and we agreed some aspects for how the overall campaign will link up with individual campaigns. It did, however, go on for hours and it was past midnight by the time I got home.

On the following evening I attended the Ashbourne branch meeting with our recently unveiled candidate there, Niamh McGowan. The local branch were keen to meet her and to discuss issues in relation to how we can win in the local elections next June and generally in improving the quality of life and facilities (such as creches etc.) in the Ashbourne area. The meeting was lively and almost all of the branch members contributed to the discussion. Once again it was gone midnight by the time I got home to my dinner.

I got out with local election candidate Michael McLoughlin on Thursday evening. We met and greeted shoppers in Dunboyne in the evening. Despite the appalling weather there were quite a few people out shopping.

I also went “shopping” with our European candidate Nessa Childers and East Meath Councillor Eoin Holmes on Saturday at the new Tescos in Bettystown. The store has now been open a few months and seemed to be doing a reasonable business. Both Nessa and Eoin got to speak to quite a few local shoppers. We managed to last a couple of hours before our hands and toes were frozen from the cold weather.

We win a vote in the Seanad

2008-12-08T15:26:00.004Z

On Thursday we managed to defeat the government and its partners on a vote in the Seanad. It's the first time we have been able to do this in this parliament in either the Dail or the Seanad, so we were very pleased with the outcome. I was particularly pleased since it was my amendment (and Jerry Buttimer's) that we won the vote on.

The way it works is that if we decide to push something to a vote, the Cathaoirleach asks "is the amendment carried?" We shout "No" and then he automatically announces that "the vote has been carried." He does this because there is a built in government majority, so even if we shout higher, he knows that the government is almost certain to win. The opposition then calls for a vote by saying as Gaeilge "Votail!"

Once we say that the clock starts ticking and senators have seven or eight minutes to get into the chamber before the doors are locked.

Generally the government side wins by 6 or 7 votes. However, after the doors were locked it became apparent that we had the numbers. My colleague, Senator Brendan Ryan was beside me and he moved over to me and said "we're going to win this!" I did a quick count and sure enough there were more on our side than on theirs. When the electronic vote concluded we had won by 19 votes to 18.

As a Whip I had to go to the back of the room to sign the result sheet. Senator Diarmaid Wilson, the Fianna Fail whip was there, and I heard him say that "we will win a walk-through vote". I must admit, I didn't really grasp the significance of this at the time - as a rookie Senator I am not an expert in parliamentary procedure.

It turns out that if a Government is defeated on a vote they are entitled to call for a walk-through vote - a recount if you like. However, if one is granted the locked doors of the chamber are unlocked and other Senators are allowed in. The outcome is that any Senator who was late for the initial vote is then able to enter the chamber and vote with the government.

When the Cathaoirleach rose to make the announcement of the electronic vote known he did not notice whether Diarmaid Wilson was standing to call for a walk-through vote. As a result, he declared the amendment carried.

The place went wild! On our side people were cheering. On the government side there was huge consternation at the Cathaoirleach. Some of their members were almost intimidatory in their attempts to get the Cathaoirleach to reverse his ruling, claiming that he should have allowed Diarmaid Wilson to call for a walk-through vote. The Cathaoirleach was adamant that he didn't see Diarmaid rise and therefore he felt that he was right to announce the result.

I didn't notice if Diarmaid rose or not. All I know is that:

1. The Cathaoirleach was sure that he didn't notice Diarmaid rising and once the Cathaoirleach makes a ruling the we have to accept it; and
2. Diarmaid had clearly told me of his intention to call a walk-through vote, so I'd be fairly sure that he was trying to call one from his place in the Chamber.

I can only suppose that in the general melee his signals were not noticed by those at the top table. One thing is for sure, I don't think any of the blame for the lost vote rests with him.

In terms of parliamentary procedure, I don't think that if I rose at the time to state that I heard him declare his intention of seeking a walk-through vote would have led to the Cathaoirleach reversing his ruling, but I do think it needs to be put on the record, as I have sought to do above.

On Saturday, myself and Niamh McGowan, one of our local election candidates in the Dunshaughlin* area went around various houses in the Hunter's Lane area. Niamh got a great response. Something that came up time and again was the road surface in the surrounding area, as the following picture illustrates.

With Niamh in potholes in Ashbourne in December - the poor crater was frozen

We got a letter off to the Council engineers asking them to look into them.

It was dark by the time we left for Kells, to attend the launch of Rex Lee's DVD on the history of Kells. The roads were treacherous and as a result we had to crawl along all the way to Kells. By the time we got there the event was over. Apologies to Rex.

I drove straight down to Pat Holton's exhibition in Enfield. Pat was our candidate in the Trim area in 2004 and came within a whisker of taking a seat. Since then we has helped out with every campaign in the area and also concentrated on his art and business.

The place was packed by he time I arrived. Pat has spent the last year putting together a collection of works and the result was very impressive. The exhibition runs for the rest of the week and I am sure that it will be a tremendous success.

* John King and Michael McLoughlin are also Labour Party candidates in this area.

We select Cllr Eoin Holmes to continue his work in East Meath

2008-12-01T09:24:00.008Z

This week saw the passage of the Cluster Munitions Bill through the Seanad. I welcomed the Bill and the positive impact it will have in the world.

Afterwards I got chatting to Minister of State, Peter Power, in the Seanad ante-room, where I complemented him on the good work he is doing on this and other issues.

I was on the Scott Williams show on Q102 later that day to talk about the price of coffee. Scott was pushing for us to do something about providing coffee docks in libraries - people could use the internet for free, read papers for free and look through books and magazines for free over a coffee that they pay for. He thinks it would be great for the libraries (more throughput and more money from the coffee) and great for the public. Afterwards I spoke to Cllr Dermot Lacey, former Lord Mayor of Dublin, and he is going to try and follow this up.

Thursday evening saw the Selection Convention for the East Meath area. It's the seat that I won in 2004 and that I handed over to Eoin Holmes when I moved to the Seanad. Eoin was up against another branch member Greg Curren, for the nomination.

It was a tense event. Both candidates and both of their proposers made fine speeches. When it came to the vote Eoin was chosen to go and fight to retain the Labour seat at the local elections next year. I spoke briefly afterwards, making the point that the party was lucky to have people of the calibre of Eoin and of Greg. It's a very positive sign when we have to choose between two excellent candidates.

Eoin speaking at the Convention in the Village Hotel, Bettystown

At the end of the week I drove down to our Annual Conference at Kilkenny. It was a very enjoyable event and I had hardly a minute to myself all weekend. I gave two speeches - the first on job creation and the second on trying to regulate car parking charges at train stations.

I was reasonably happy with both of them. On the car parking one I was seconded by Laytown branch memebr Mohammed AlKabour. We managed to get the car parking regulation issue agreed by all of the delegates unanimously, so that will now become official party policy.

Myself and Mohammed on stage at Kilkenny

During the day I also attended a few fringe meetings. I had lunch with a delegation from the Congo and I went to the Labour Councillors meeting. I also attended a workshop on lessons to be learnt from Obama's campaign. One of the speakers was Keith Martin. I told him that I had raised the issue of the price of the new Blackberry in the Seanad and on my blog - it was something I had read on Keith's own blog. He kindly gave me a quick explanation of "netiquette" - seemingly I should have put a link on my blog back to his. So here you are Keith.

Saturday evening was electrified by Eamon's speech. He was on fire and provided us with a huge amount of energy. If only we could plug him into the national grid we would solve our renewable energy problems overnight!

On Sunday afternoon I drove back from Kilkenny up to the Headford Arms in Kells, where the annual Labour Party Christmas dinner for the elderly of Kells was underway. The event was attended by about 150 people. Cllr Tommy Grimes and his team pull the event together each year, with the help of donations from many local businesses. It's a credit to himself and the team. The atmosphere was very enjoyable, and I'm sure it gave people a lift during these difficult times.

Blackberry Storm users set to be ripped off

2008-11-23T12:33:00.007Z

On behalf of the Labour Party I had the responsibility and honour to speak in tribute to the late Seamus Brennan last week. Seamus' wife Ann and family were in the public gallery at the time to hear the tributes. You could tell from the heartfelt comments how much respect and warmth he generated in those who knew and loved him. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

I took the Order of Business in the Seanad on Wednesday. I spoke about the fact that the new blackberry storm is about to come out and that once again the Irish are going to be ripped off. In the Netherlands the phone is free. In Newry the phone is free. In Navan it will cost €110. And the ongoing contract prices are higher too. In this climate where every cent counts these multinational phone service providers take the biscuit!

Afterwards we had the Committee Stage of the Housing Miscellaneous Bill. Whilst we join with others in welcoming the Bill, the Labour Party has tabled plenty of amendments to the Bill in an attempt to improve it. I was glad to see that the Minister did accept a small number of our proposals, but on others he didn't budge. As a result ourselves and the Fine Gael Senators called several votes. On one occasion we came remarkably close and lost by only two votes (usually we are nowhere near as close as this). It turned out subsequently that some government Senators had failed to hear the Division Bell going around the house. Could it be that their ears have received too much of a bashing recently?

Later I travelled up to Croke Park to watch the Ireland vs Poland game. The only tickets available were for the Polish end, which we took. Initially I thought that I was in the Cork end - everyone was in red and white scarves and I couldn't understand a word that anyone was saying.

The spectacle was amazing. Of the crowd of 75,000 the vast majority were Polish.

The atmosphere was great and despite being surrounded by so many opposing fans we felt in no way threatened.

As an example of how Ireland has changed it was very telling. Here we had 75,000 Irish residents of different nationalities and different ages watching a team of 11 players resident in Poland and 11 players resident in England, managed by an Italian. Who says we haven't embraced Europe!

On Saturday I heard the news that we are to run three candidates in the Dunshaughlin Area. New candidate Michael McLoughlin of Dunboyne will join with new candidate Niamh McGowan of Ashbourne and Ratoath along with John King of Ashbourne. We will certainly be doing our utmost to try and win seats in this 7-seater ward.

Ag deanamh mo obair baile

2008-11-16T18:51:00.004Z

I go to Irish classes at 9am every Thursday morning in Leinster House. Our obair baile this week was to find an occasion before Christmas to give a speech as gaeilge. I managed to get my homework done on Friday night, at the launch of the Strategic Plan for Gaelscoileanna in Bettystown.

I know some of the driving forces behind the event very well. I was at school with the organiser, Michael O'Broin and when he asked me to say a few words I was delighted to accept. I kept the address short - about three minutes in total. The audience was made up of about 100 muinteoiri, so I was suitably nervous! I knew a few others in the audience, including our own Councillor Sean O' Hargain from Kilkenny and Seosaimh, who was my muinteoir when I went to Gleann Finn in the Donegal Gaeltacht during an samhradh.

I got a clap at the end of the speech, and one half-way through when I told them that there are many TDs and Senators that are taking lessons to try and improve our Irish, so I think they managed to understand me!

The announcement of the new funding programme for Meath Partnership offers some positive news for rural life in Meath. From my time on the board of Meath Partnership I know that this will mean that more residents of rural Meath can be helped, and more rural projects will get underway. I mentioned this in my speech in the Seanad on Wednesday.

I also raised the issue of new Post Offices to Minister O Cuiv. I am pushing for an assessment to be carried out to see whether one could be opened at Donore - I believe that it would be of great benefit to the community in and around Donore. I asked that the Minister should look again at how we support rural post offices.

We had an interesting debate on Thursday about the effects of radon gas. It's the second highest causes of lung cancer (after smoking) in Ireland, and claims the lives of about 8 Meath citizens every year. Certain pockets of the county, such as Ashbourne, Stamullen, Ratoath and Dunshaughlin are more likely to suffer from radon contamination. I called for a major communications campaign to be launched to alert homeowners of the dangers. A test cost just €56 but could help to save lives.

On Thursday evening I accompanied our Navan Area Representative, Eileen Drew in Kentstown. We wanted to get peoples' views on the dump at Knockharley, and about general issues in relation to the area. We spoke to quite a few villagers. Many have concerns about the dump, as well as traffic speeds through the village. This is something Eileen intends to follow up on.

Councillor Brian Collins, Joe Rourke and myself went into Carlanstown on Saturday to ask for views on life in the village. We got a very warm welcome from the doors - even at those who were looking at the rugby match. Of course Carlanstown has always had strong links with the Labour Party - Meath Labour TD Jimmy Tully hails from the village.

Later that evening I met Jimmy Tully's daughter, Margaret, at an event in Drogheda. Margaret was one of the exhibitors at a painting exhibition organised by Richard Moore in St Peter's Church. I was under strict instructions to leave by 7:55pm as I had to meet family for a family event. I was just about to leave when a glass was chinked and the Mayor moved forward to make an announcement. I decided to make a dash for the exit, moving swiftly past Mayor Frank Maher, who gave me a somewhat quizzical look. I hope he didn't think I was leaving because of his impending speech. I would have loved to have stayed but would have been murdered if I was late for my sister!

Active Citizenship in Action

2008-11-09T10:52:00.003Z

Tuesday night saw our selection convention for the Dunshaughlin area of Meath County Council. Party HQ decided to go for a one candidate strategy for this 7-seater ward. By the close of nominations it was clear that there was going to be a competition for the slot, so both candidates were called on to give a speech to the members assembled at the Dunshaughlin Country Club.

I'm not taking sides in the contest, so we got an external Chairperson in, Senator Brendan Ryan from Dublin North. When both candidates votes were tied Brendan was called on to draw names out of a hat. Unlike most cases, the name we draw out of the hat loses, rather than wins. It makes no great difference really, as long as that rule is known in advance of the draw, which it was.

Afterwards I spoke to many members and the general feeling is that HQ should think again about just running a single candidate. Many felt that in the current economic climate we should be running two or three candidates. I believe that this point has been made to HQ by the Ashbourne branch, so we await the feedback from HQ.

After all the excitement at Dunshaughlin I headed off to watch the US Presidential Election. I had been invited to the Amercian Embassy bash in central Dublin, but I'm not a big fan of events like those. Generally they tend to be full of well-meaning amateurs who tend to talk through the announcements of the most important results. Can't have that!

Next morning I was surprised by how many Senators made it in for the start of business. There were a few bleary eyes there, but the Seanad is made up of a hardy bunch and a late night of TV doesn't affect us that much.

I mentioned how great it was to see the huge turnout at the US election. Almost 140 million people voted and the turn-out was the highest in 100 years. I suggested that it was a clear example of active citizenship in action.

I compared it to progress on our own active citizenship taskforce. Since the publication of the report by the taskforce in March 2007 very little has happened. The budget for 2009 has been cut from €200,000 to €56,000. One wonders how the taskforce will be able to implement any of the recommendations on such as reduced budget.

Before I left for a few meeting back in Meath on Thursday I thought I would drop up to the Chamber for a quick chat with Senator McCarthy, who was representing the party during the Harbours Bill debate. I said a few words to him and left, but was caught on the way out by one of the Seanad staff, who asked me to Chair the adjournment debates. It was something I've never been asked to do before so I decided to take the opportunity.

Each day there are three adjournment debates allowed in the house. These are heard directly after the close of regular business. It's an opportunity for a Senator to raise a local or national issue directly with the Minister. Typically people raise issues about schooling (I raised Le Cheile, Mornington, last year) or immigration cases, or general policy (I have spoken about subjects from Economic Partnership Agreements to car parking charges).

As the Acting Chair my job was to make sure that the correct speakers were called and that they stuck to the time limits allowable. Fairly straight forward really. The session went well, and it was nice to see the chamber from the other side of the fence, so to speak.

Grey Matters

2008-10-25T12:10:00.006+01:00

I was on Q102 radio on Monday afternoon to talk about price differentials between Ireland and England. In advance, I did a bit of research over last weekend. Here are some comparisons.

Big Mac: £2.09 in London compared to €3.70 in Ashbourne - 50% higher when you take account of the exchange rate.

Sub of the Day: £1.99 in London compared to €2.99 in Ashbourne - 20% higher wen you take account of the exchange rate.

Other stores were also a lot higher: some goods I checked in Tesco were 20% cheaper in London, taking account of the exchange rate and some stores like New Look and Argos were also charging 20% more than in the UK.

£25 in Islington but €40 in Ashbourne - 60% higher!

Why is this? Transport costs? Cost of Wages? Is it just profiteering? I can't be sure about that, but it's clear that they have a case to answer!

On Wednesday outside Leinster House I experienced what was one of the strangest sights I have seen. Tens of thousands of our elderly took to the streets to defend their hard-earned rights.

I went out to join them. I could hardly move through the crowds, they were so big. It was actually a bit frightening, and I know from talking to people that some of the elderly marchers people were beginning to feel a bit crushed, particularly in the centre of the crowd.

Is this government so short of brains that they failed to see the furore that they were going to cause by withdrawing universality for medical cards? You would have to wonder. Last week saw scenes on our streets not experienced since the foundation of the state.

What's more, some of the government seem to think that we were orchestrating pensioners to come up to Dublin and protest, a point I tried to debunk during the Order of Business in the Seanad on Wednesday. These people are the salt and earth of Ireland, not some cabal of Trots that have been hiding in the woodlands of Tipperary, waiting for the right time to start the revolution.

"After 60 years of planning for global revolution, the Borrisokane branch of the Lev Davidovich Trotsky Party sensed their time was coming" -----NOT!

The continued presence of The Greens in government is surprising, given that they seem to be getting so little of their agenda onto the statue books, something I took up with the Leader in the Seanad on Thursday.

This man seems to know where to put the blame

Next week sees the turn of the teachers to come up to Dublin. My phone has been hopping on the subject for the last few days. I would have little doubt but that the crowd will be huge. The Labour Party has a motion down on the Order of Business seeking to reverse the cuts in education. The question now is whether the government is forced into another u-turn - losing whatever is left of their shattered credibility in the process.

Medical Card Madness

2008-10-19T10:27:00.004+01:00

The budget dominated the week, particularly the decision on Medical Cards. I had calls from some very worried and anxious pensioners who needed details of the scheme. Of course, the scheme details seemed to change by the minute so there was a lot of confusion out there, a point I made in the Seanad on Thursday.

I also spoke about Volunteering in the debate on Tuesday. I called for the introduction of a nationwide insurance scheme for resident associations and community groups, something the Minister agreed to consider.

Later in the week I spoke about Climate Change and about the need for a bit of urgency. Compared to some European countries we are still lagging behind.

On Tuesday evening I went over to the Castle Arch Hotel in Trim to chair the Trim Electoral Area convention. We choose Tracy McElhinney from Ballivor. Tracy used to work for the NEC factory there and has been active in the community in a range of areas. The Trim area has four seats and we will be gunning to win one of them.

Tracy & myself after the Selection Convention in Trim

I also chaired the convention for Drogheda Borough Council on Thursday night. The convention was attended by Eamon Gilmore and Nessa Childers. We picked four candidates. They were existing Councillors Paul Bell and Gerard Nash and two new candidates, Linda Bell and Gareth Fitzpatrick. We have an excellent chance of winning four seats of the twelve on the council.

The Seanad was convened on Friday to pass the rescue scheme for the banking institutions. I spoke on the debate on behalf of the Labour Party. We were concerned about a few things, including the whole area of banking responsibility, and the inclusions of subordinated debt. Although I was wearing a suit, I wasn't wearing a tie (I usually don't on a Friday). It was a point picked up by a few people, including Miriam Lord in the Irish Times on Saturday.Semminlgly although wearing a tie isn't a rule, it is custom and tradition to wear one.

Our new Ashourne Office opens

2008-10-12T11:11:00.004+01:00

We opened our new Ashbourne office on Friday, which we are all very pleased about. The Party Leader, Eamon Gilmore, came down from Dublin to cut the ribbon.

It's surprising how hard it was to get suitable office space in the area. We went on quite a search before we found this office, which is perfect for us. It is sizeable, can accommodate a large meeting, and is accessible for people with mobility difficulties. It is located smack bang in the middle of Ashbourne, just beside the library, the citizens advice centre and the offices of Meath County County. The only drawback is its proximity to ladies fashion stores, which are already experiencing more custom from my staff at lunchtimes.

The office will be open Monday to Thursday mornings and afternoons, and on Friday morning. We are also looking at the possibility of an evening opening during the week. More of this in a future post.

On Monday I gave a speech and presented the graduation awards at the Dunboyne College of Further Education in Dunboyne Castle Hotel. The event was atended by about 200 people and was a very happy occasion. The following day I made the point that Post Leaving Certificate courses need to be supported by the government.

I also brought up the issue of students appealing their Leaving Certificate results and in particular the fact that there is a 30% chance of getting a higher grade in geography if one appeals. The problem with such high levels of appeal success is that any student who does not get the grade that he or she hoped for will appeal, as this is now the sensible thing to do. I worry that this might clog up the system and I asked for a review of the marking process so that we restore confidence to the system.

The news that my old college UCD finished in the top 108 universities worldwide was welcomed in the House on Thursday. Of course, Trinity also did very well, a point I made in the Seanad during the Order of Business.

On Thursday I attended the official opening of the new Anglo Printers Plant in Drogheda. The event was packed with people from the area I got talking to a few of them - everyone was of the view that it's nice to see something expanding in the town. We all wish them well.

Not so good were the reports of the financial difficulties at Drogheda United Football Club. It's a bit of a roller-coaster ride at the moment for anyone involved in the club. Let's hope that the club manages to sort out the current problems.

All-night session on Banking Bill

2008-10-05T20:48:00.009+01:00

The Seanad returned this week after the summer recess and what a week it was! We knew from early on Tuesday morning that we were going to have pass new legislation about the banks at some stage. The only question was when.

As the Whip, I made arrangements for our Senators to be ready and able to contribute during the second stage and committee stage. At first it looked like we would be discussing the Bill on Tuesday evening at 10pm. I went off to a meeting in Navan with the intention of returning to Dublin for the 10pm resumption of business. Then I got a call from the Seanad Leader's office at about 7:30pm telling me that it would not happen until Wednesday. I called all the others and told them to stand down.

On Wednesday morning it was clear that we were going to get to the Bill in the evening. Myself and my fellow Senators all put arrangements into place, cancelling previous commitments where necessary. We were clear about the importance of the occasion, and the need for us to be involved.

I've had all-nighters before, but they were usually of a different type. In a few of my jobs I've had rushes on where you have to deliver a project for a client asap. I remember going in to work one Saturday morning at 9am and not leaving my desk until Sunday evening. Now that was bad! So, they don't really bother me. Apart from which it's a huge privilege to be involved in something of such importance to my country. From talking to my colleagues I know they all felt the same way.

I went to a pre-arranged meeting in Rathmines at 8pm and rushed back to the House for 10pm, only to find that we were adjourned again until 1am.

For the next three hours I worked in my office, sorting out correspondence and representations on various matters. I had the House TV on in the background so I could listen to the debate going on in the Dail. I also dropped down to the Dail to have a look at the debate up close. The time flew and at 1am the Dail was still debating the issues, so the Seanad was adjourned again, this time until 2:30am.

I went down to the Members Bar, not a place I spend a lot of time, and had a meeting with a few of the other Labour Senators, just to agree who was covering what issue. I also got talking to some of the other Senators and TDs about various issues. The atmosphere was both collegiate and businesslike.

By 2:30am the Dail had concluded its business and we were ready to go. The Seanad was about two-thirds full, which is about what you would get on a normal day. Minister Mansergh kicked off for the government but was soon replaced by Minister Lenihan, who I thought looked fairly fresh considering the turmoil of the previous days.

The second stage went on for two hours. There were some fine speeches from both sides of the house. Myself, Alex White and Alan Kelly spoke from the Labour bench. Minister Lenihan was in flying form.

By quarter to five we were ready for Committee Stage. After a quick break and some caffeine shots we were back in action. I spoke on a few of the amendments but it was clear that the government was not going to accept any at this stage. A pity really, because I think they would have strengthened the legislation and given some additional safeguards and protection to the taxpayer.

By 8am we were all done. I was fairly tired but decided against going to bed. I had meetings scheduled for 10am, 11am and the House was back in session at noon. So, I talked Alex White into joining me for breakfast in the Shelbourne, after which I was ready to face another day of work.

The Bill is now law. Let's hope it fulfils its objectives and helps avert any disasters in the banking system.

We also considered the second stage of the new Housing Bill this week. As the party's Housing Spokesperson in the Seanad I made a speech setting out our views. We welcome the principle of the Bill, but feel that it could be made significantly better with a number of amendments, which we intend to table during committee stage.

This week saw the start of the public inquiry into the proposed bonemeal incinerator at Nobber. People who are against incineration are a bit perplexed about how Minister Gormley can be against incineration but yet his own department remains in favour of it as a policy, a question I raised in the Seanad on Thursday.

Away from the Seanad we selected our candidate for the Navan Electoral Area of Meath County Council this week. Her name is Eileen Drew and she's a lecturer in Trinity. The Navan Electoral Area is one of the largest in Meath and covers the whole of Navan town and surrounding areas such as Wilkinstown, Kentstown, Baile Ghib, Rathkenny, Skreen and Rathfiegh. Eileen lives in Rathfeigh and is up for the fight. There are seven seats in the area, so we will be in there challenging to win one of them.

Myself, Eileen and Kirsi Hanifin at Leinster House

It was my second convention of the week. I chaired the Dublin South East convention on Monday night in the Mansion House. We selected 5 candidates for two separate wards. They are all firmly focused on winning. It will be a terrific achievement if we can take five seats out of the ten available. But then you're talking about Councillor Dermot Lacey, Councillor Mary Freehill, Councillor Oisin Quinn, Councillor Kevin Humphries and exciting newcomer Maria Parodi. If any team can do it they can!

Friday night was spent in Bennet's pub in Ardcath at a table quiz to raise money for the local school. I was there with a few friends, including Councillor Eoin Holmes who lives locally. My team was appalling - I was totally off-form and managed to get some basic questions totally wrong - I'm blaming the fact that I was still zonked from the all-night sitting of the Seanad. Anyway, we didn't come last, and we had good fun, and of course, helped to raise some much-needed funds for the local school in the process.

St Pat's turn the sod on their new complex

2008-09-28T11:17:00.006+01:00

I was in Stamullen on Saturday to witness the turning of the first sod for the new sports complex of St Pat's GAA club. The complex is well needed for the growing club, and it will be a welcome addition to facilities in the Stamullen area.

It's been a few years in the making and involved some complex negotiations between the councillors, the GAA and the local landowners. At one stage we were having weekly meetings first thing every Tuesday to sort out the process. Because it was all being prepared at the same time as the County Development Plan it was important to ensure that the Local Area Plan and the County Development Plan dove-tailed. After all the tooth-pulling of the last few years it was great to be up on the pitch and witness the start of the complex.

I look forward to going back to the official opening of the complex, which hopefully should be within the next two years.

I chaired three separate selection conventions in Dublin South on Thursday night. We selected Councillor Aiden Culhane to run in Dundrum, Councillor Lettie McCarthy to run in Glencullen and Richard Humphreys to run in Stillorgan. All are excellent candidates and hopefully will do the business for us on the day. In the meantime we have the by-election in Dublin South, so no doubt I will be back in the area to help out with some canvassing.

Our new office continues to take shape. This week we got broadband connected and got some more tables and chairs. The location is excellent and we are working hard to get it open to the public within the next couple of weeks. The Party Leader is due to come down to Meath in the next forthnight, so I'm hoping that he can officially open the office when he comes down.

Amateurs or Pros?

2008-09-21T11:45:00.006+01:00

Although the local elections are still months away the pace is already picking up. Potential candidates are coming out of the woodwork, making their pitches as to why they should be the candidate for their area.

Over the next few weeks there will be a few conventions in the Meath area (for Slane, for Dunshaughlin and for Navan). I'm hoping that the conventions will select people who have got a realistic chance of winning a seat for us. Too often in the past it has been said that candidates are selected "because it's their turn". Unfortunately, that's just not good enough if we are serious about winning seats.

We have to focus on winning seats and if that means wounding the pride of some of our longer-serving party members in the process, then that is the unfortunate price we have to pay. We are all in politics for the common good. We can only be of service if we are elected. So, we need serious candidates, not amateurs fiddling at the edges.

I'm chairing a convention myself, in Dublin South East, the week after next. No doubt the proceedings will be very interesting. The race there will be tight. As a party, we already have some very able candidates in those wards (as well as a sitting Deputy, Ruairi Quinn), so we will be going all out to build on the successes of 2004.

Launch of Commuter Report

2008-09-08T13:21:00.004+01:00

I launched my report into Life in the Commuter Belt this week. It's been something that my ofice has been working on for the last six months or so. Eamon Gilmore asked all of the Party's Spokespeople to come up with some initiatives for their respective portfolios, so I went away and decided to do some research into life in the commuter belt.

The launch toook place in Buswell's Hotel on Tuesday afternoon. It received great coverage. It was mentioned in the Irish Mirror and the Star on Monday, Morning Ireland , the Irish Independent and the Irish Examiner on Tuesday, and the Irish Times on Wednesday, as well as the local papers.

I also did interviews with TV3 and RTE television and was on Matt Copper's The Last Word, George Hook's The Right Hook, Michael Reade's Loose Talk and Mary Wilson's Drivetime, as well as FM104, 98FM, Q102, INN, East Coast FM, KFM, and Wexford FM.

The report is available here on the Labour party website. If anyone wants a hard copy then email me at info@dominichannigan.com

But the most enjoyable interview of the week was on Radio na Life ar 106.4FM. Bhi me ag caint ar feadh deich noimead - bhi se an cead am a raibh me ag caint as gaeilge ar an radio.

It was good to get stuck back into constituency work after my time in Mongolia. The traffic situation in Duleek is still causing difficulty. Everyone accepts that roadworks are necessary to enable the extension of the sewerage treatment plant to proceed, but at this stage the council should have sorted out the notification procedures to local residents. This is clearly not happening, as an article in this morning's Irish Independent makes clear.

I will continue to press for better communication between the council and the residents.

Last day in Chingeltei

2008-08-28T11:54:00.005+01:00

Today was the last day of my placement in Chingeltei. I arrived in the office at 9am and met Uka and Namjilmaa for a last run through before our presentation started.

Uka had made some final changes to the presentation, including putting in pictures from my visit. The cover slide had me posing with an Eagle. It certainly livened up the presentation, which went quite well.

The first page of the presentation

I went through the key issues I had found, and suggested five recommendations. Basically the main problems are:

1. Equipment is outdated and needs replacing
2. The hospital buildings are in a very poor state of repair. There are also too many premises. We need a new building to replace these.
3. There is a lack of autonomy within the district. Too much of the control rests outside the district, with the Ministry.

Me in action

From the feedback I got I think it was generally well-received. Afterwards I got a presentation of a plaque, a cup with my picture on it and a cashmere sweater - the team were concerned that I hadn't brought winter clothing with me, so they thought I needed something warm!

Mugshot of me

We drove from the presentation to the National Television Centre (their equivalent of Montrose) where we met Alison, the VSO Country Director. We were ushered into the press conference room and kicked off with our press launch.

The team at the press launch

I outlined the nature and purpose of the visit and described the problems I had encountered and my recommendations for making things better. Afterwards I was approached by a number of the journalists for additional quotes (the national radio station was there as well).

Discussing our recommendations with a radio journalist

I believe that we go out on the main news this evening, so I will be looking in!

By the time we got to the wedding the bride and groom had arrived. I had been working with the groom's mother over the last few weeks, so they had kindly invited me along. There were about 200 guests in the dining room, many of them in traditional Mongolian costumes.

View of the top table

The set-up is similar to an Irish wedding, although one thing that they do which we don't is go round every table at the beginning of the meal and get one person at each table to introduce everyone. It breaks the ice and means that everyone had an idea of how others fit in to the event.

Just before we started the main course the compere called down to me and asked me to come up and say a few words. I had nothing prepared, so spoke briefly to the crowd, making sure to thank the wedding party for the invite and wishing them well for the future.

After the meal I gave my gift to the happy couple (some crystal) and went to the VSO for my exit interview. I think the interview went ok - at least they gave me my passport back, so I can now leave the country. I head back home early in the morning after what has been a very enjoyable and rewarding trip for me. I hope that I've managed to leave something positive behind!

Putting the finishing touches to my final presentation

2008-08-27T11:24:00.004+01:00

My flatmate Gecca moved out last night. She is off home to the Phillipeans. Already I am missing her - not just because she took the last of the chocolates and the tea with her, but also because she looked after me very well for the last few weeks.

Today being my penultimate day meant that I had to concentrate on pulling together my notes from the last two and a half weeks. I was surprised with just how much I had written down. I've gone through two copybooks in that period, speaking to many people along the way who were very generous with their time and advice.

I also spoke to a few patients to get some thoughts from them on how the system works. This morning parents came to the hospital to get their children inoculated. There were large queues forming when I arrived at 9am. I managed to speak to a few.

Children queue for their inoculations

My presentation is now largely complete. I ran it past the Director of the District and her assistant and they seemed happy enough.

Slide from tomorrow's presentation

I am making five recommendations:

1. A review of the level of expenditure on health by central government
2. Implementation of the Asian Development Bank Project looking at structural reforms
3. More training in business planning for senior management staff
4. Better communication systems within the Health District
5. Work towards setting up the hospital as an autonomous unit

There are quite a few coming to the presentation and I'm hoping that the press conference afterwards will also be well attended. Then that's me done and I'm off to a Mongolian wedding before leaving for the airport!

Visit to Darhan City Health Unit in Northern Mongolia

2008-08-26T12:27:00.004+01:00

I travelled up to the northern city of Darhan this morning. We left UB at about 8am for the 250km journey. Once we left UB the road was surprisingly quiet and the driver was able to do about 80kph.

It was only on the journey that I noticed for the first time that although all vehicles drive on the right-hand side of the road, almost half of the cars have their steering wheel on the right-hand side of the car. I would love to see some research done as to whether the high road traffic accident rate is linked to right-hand drive vehicles here. I’d be surprised if there isn't any correlation.

At Darhan we met the Director of the City Health Department. He gave us an overview of the city and also of the problems facing the area. Darhan is the third largest city in Mongolia, with a population of about 100,000 people and like elsewhere in the country the health sector is in need of more funds for equipment and buildings.

The Norwegian aid program has been very active here. They have worked with the Health department for the last ten years to train local health staff and build capacity. We visited one of their training rooms to have a look.

In a local training room

After our briefing the Director took us on a quick tour of Darsan, including a visit to the new suspension bridge outside the city(the first suspension bridge in Mongolia!).

View over Darhan

Although the sky was relatively clear the temperature was only about 15 degrees, well down on the temperatures of just a week ago.

View over the New Darhan suburb

It is quite shocking how quickly the temperature has dropped during my visit. When I first arrived a forthnight ago the days were very hot. Just two weeks later and although the sky is sunny the temperature is in the low teens, almost like a fresh November day in Ireland.

The Director was kind enough to invite us to lunch in his home, where we shared in a large feed of mutton, potatoes and carrots with his wife and daughters. I presented him with a small box of chocolates (which had unfortunately started to melt in the sunshine) after which we made or way back to UB. On the way back I did some preparatory work for my final presentation, which I need to finalise tomorrow.

I experience Mongolian Health Service as a Patient

2008-08-25T10:40:00.008+01:00

I suppose that there's no better way of seeing the health service in operation than to experience what it is like for the end user. That’s what happened to me on Sunday night, when I had to take a detour to the chest X-Ray department.

My problem had begun on the first night I reached here. Someone texted me in the middle of the night and I got out of bed to get the phone. Unfortunately I stumbled and fell heavily on my left ribcage.

I was in a bit of pain for the following 10 days, and there was quite an amount of bruising, but I thought that I was probably just bruised and didn't bother to see anyone. The pain subsided to a large extend until this weekend, when my activities aggravated the condition.

After work on Friday myself and Leo had headed out to the Terelj district east of the capital. It's about a two hour drive, and with the flooded rivers it took a little bit longer. We arrived at our Ger and after went out for a cycle on our mountain bikes across the plains.

Our Ger in Terelj

That night we built a fire and whilst the cold wind was biting, we stayed out to watch the sky. Because of the lack of air pollution in Mongolia you have a marvelous view of the stars. We saw a very clear Milky Way, several constellations, a few satellites and a couple of shooting stars.

We also had a fire within the Ger, so although the temperature dropped during the night I managed to have a sound sleep. In the morning we went out for a ride on some Mongolian Horses.

Our horses

I've been on horse a few times before but would not consider myself an expert by any means. The trotting managed to give me a bit of pain and my ribcage was aching a little.

Lunch in our Ger

After lunch in our Ger we went canoeing for about 20km down the river. The temperature had picked up and it was quite a pleasant trip. However, I did notice an increasing level of pain in my ribs.

We got back to UB late and went out for a bite to eat. I got to bed by midnight since next morning I was accompanying the Senior Management Team to the countryside for an away-day.

We started off at the new monument to Chinggis Khan, about 40km outside the capital. It’s due to open officially in early September, but we were lucky enough to get an advance showing. Once again, I noticed the lack of quality on the construction techniques at the monument.

The new monument to Chinggis Khan

I also got my chance to hold an eagle. Not the most thrilling experience of my life, but it did seem to be the thing to do.

One very non-plussed eagle on my arm

We spent the day eating and talking about things in general, and specifically in relation to training needs within the health district.

With the Senior Management Team

We took a break to watch the two Mongolian Gold medal boxing fights and also to see Kenny Egan’s fight.

The Mongols go for gold in the boxing finals

The Mongols won one and lost one of their finals, but they were delighted with the result, and tears were evident. They were right behind Egan (A bit of the “Anyone but the Chinese” syndrome), but it was not to be.

On the way back to UB my pain started to get a bit worse, and when I mentioned it to one of the doctors he did a quick examination and announced that I had a fractured rib!

So, the minibus headed straight to the hospital, where we were brought to the X-Ray room.

After a bit of effort we finally managed to get an X-Ray taken. The result? I’ve been walking around for the last two weeks with a fractured rib.

With Director Tungelag and Namjillmaa, awaiting my X-Ray result

They bandaged me up and gave me painkillers, and told me that I’ll be right as rain in about a month. I suppose the lesson is not to answer text messages in the middle of the night!

It didn't stop me travelling down to Nailakh district on Monday morning. Nailakh has a population of about 30,000 and is about an hour's drive outside UB. We met with the Governor of the Region, who told us about the problems facing the area.

Myself and Chingeltei Senior Management Team with Nailakh's Governor

A key issue for them is the level of unemployment. When the Soviet Union collapsed many local factories closed - you can still see these derelict factories today.

View of one of the derelict factories

One of the main sources of employment in the area is in mining for coal. As a result there are a lot of respiratory illnesses in the district. The aim of the Governor is to increase the number of jobs from tourism over the next decade.

We meet some Irish Mongol Rally Teams

2008-08-22T06:32:00.002+01:00

Last night we went out to a local pub quiz in Sukhbaatar Square. It was a pleasant experience, and we managed to come in 2nd out of ten teams. When I heard that one of the other teams was called "The Langers" I guessed that they were from Cork.

I approached them and sure enough they were from the real capital. They had just arrived by Lada car from London, via a whole lot of countries, as part of the yearly Mongol Rally. We joined them for a drink and also met another Irish Team who had just arrived. After hearing some of the horror stories about car breakdowns I think that it's one adventure I'd prefer to read about rather than experience at first hand.

My first meeting of the morning was with the Ministry of Health. They outlined the procedure for how expenditure plans are prepared and agreed.

When I got back to the office I was handed a small scroll, which when unfolded turned out to be a wedding invitation for next Thursday, which will be my last day of work here.

My Mongolian Wedding Invite

I'll certainly be attending. It will be my first time at a Mongolian Wedding and it should be fun.

I also had another meeting with some staff at the District. An emerging issue is the lack of communication and feedback within the organisation. I think I will address this in my list of recommendations next week.

Presentation on Effective Financial Management

2008-08-21T10:16:00.004+01:00

During my three weeks in Mongolia I will be giving two presentations. The first one took place today and was entitled "Effective Financial Management". I widened the presentation to include some information about the health system in Ireland and also to talk about what I have learned in my time here so far.

The talk was attended by the director of the CHDU and the senior team, including the Head of Finance. I discussed issues such as budget planning, predicting the growth of current expenditure, how to justify new investment, Whole-life Costing, Budget monitoring and Auditing of Expenditure.

I also pointed out some issues with the current set-up, including:

The way that the health district gets funded is too complex
There is little autonomy for making financial decisions internally
There is little transparency as to how new investment is approved
The share of government spending on health, at 4.5% of GDP, is very low by international standards.

My presentation on Effective Financial Management

The presentation went on for about an hour and a half, and the conversation and questions continued over lunch afterwards.

I think the presentation was generally well-received. I meet with the Head of Finance in the morning to clarify some issues. The main thing is that we have identified the main issues facing the health unit, so now it should be possible to suggest some potential improvements.

Visit to the Christina Noble Children's Foundation

2008-08-20T11:40:00.007+01:00

I spent the first part of the morning preparing for tomorrow's presentation. When I was happy with it we travelled out to Ambulatory 2 in the Ger district. The facility provides a medical service to over 70,000 people.

The building is quite dilapidated and really needs to be replaced, rather than refurbished. I made this point later to the Ministry of Finance, when I met them for a briefing on how the government allocates expenditure across departments.

After lunch myself and Leo met up with Eamon Thornton from the Christina Noble Children's Foundation. Eamon is the programme head in Mongolia. After volunteering with the CNCF for a year in 2002 he returned as a full-time staff officer 3 years ago.

Originally set up by Irishwoman Christina Noble in Vietnam, the Foundation is now active in many different ways in Mongolia. It helps with streetchildren living on the streets an in the sewers, it provides a drop-in medical clinic for kids. It also undertakes schooling in the boys and girls prisons.

It also provides direct financial assistance to 1,500 children and their families. For just $24 a month anyone can sponsor a child and their family, helping them eat, keeping them at school, basically improving their prospects in life.

Eamon briefed us on the operation on the way to the Ger children camp. The camp is home to 60 children. They have come to the camp in various ways.

The Ger village provides a home to 60 streetchildren

One boy was simply left at the front door by his parents. Another boy was brought to a local market and told to "Wait here" by his father, who promptly disappearded. Hours later, when the boy was still standing there crying the Foundation was called and they took him in.

Onsite playground

Another two little girls were found living in a cardboard box in a municipal dump - it is believed that their parents had both died.

Entertainment put on by the Sunshine Village children

The kids appeared to be very happy. We were given a tour of the kitchens, where dinner was being prepared. They also put on a mini-show for us. It was great to see how the contributions and efforts of our countrymen and countrywomen are making a huge difference to these childrens' lives.

On LMFM from Mongolia

2008-08-19T09:33:00.002+01:00

Before I left Ireland I did a radio interview with LMFM's "Loose Talk" show about my forthcoming visit to Mongolia. After the show we agreed that I would do an interview from Ulanbataar, to give an update on how I was getting on.

We arranged a time for the interview and I found a quiet room in the VSO building. Although I could hear Gerry fine I think that he had some problems hearing me, so I'm not sure how good the quality of the sound was when the broadcast went out.

On the phone to LMFM

I got to visit Chingeltei's two "Polyclinics" today. They are located in separate buildings next to each other and house various clinics, including the Sexually Transmitted Disease centre, Ear Nose and Throat centre, the Tuberculosis centre, Cancer centre, Cardiology, Gynaecology, trauma, infectious diseases and eye surgery.

The Sexually Transmitted Disease and TB centres had recently been done up, thanks to funding from international donors. The incidence of TB is quite high here. There were 370 new cases diagnosed in the district last year, roughly about 1 per day. I asked whether any research had been carried out as to where cases were coming from. Seemingly there is a higher probability of the disease being found in residents from Ger district 7 and Ger district 12. When I asked whether these districts shared a commonality I was told that they were both close to the cemetery (the cemetery is huge and stretches for kilometers!). The doctors suggested that some people may have built their Gers over old graves and that this might have had an effect. I have no idea whether there is any medical link between TB and graves, but it was an interesting observation.

I was shown the Chest X-ray machine, which is specifically used for TB cases. the machine is quite dated and seemingly breaks down a lot.

Chest X-ray machine from the '70s

I also got the chance to avail of some treatment myself, although I politely refused. I have had a sty in my eye for a few days now, brought on by a sand storm last week, I think. Anyway, it's nearly gone now but during my interview with the eye specialist she noticed my eye and suggested that she examine it. I agreed and before I knew it she was shipping me down to the treatment centre to get radiography heat treatment on it for a short burst of 8 minutes. Once again, I have no medical expertise to say whether this is the usual way to treat eye stys, but by the time I reached the centre I told my translator that I was happy to go without it.

The Surgery department deals with minor procedures, such as abscess removal and ingrown and infected toe-nails. When I arrived a young lady was having a toe-nail treated, so I didn't stay long. After each procedure the scalpels are sent for sterilisation, but don't return until the next day. Because there are so few they often run out of sterilised scalpels around lunchtime. When they do, any patients who are waiting are sent home and told to come back the next day.

After lunch I visited the Asian Development Bank and had a discussion with the Country Officer. He explained that Ireland was now a shareholder of the bank (we have 12,000 shares, or about 0.3% of the share capital). He's very optimistic for the country, pointing out that there are vast reserves of minerals such as coal and uranium. He thinks the country will grow and prosper in the not too distant future.

Visit to the Mongolian Women Farmers' Association

2008-08-18T12:43:00.003+01:00

I spent the morning at home preparing a draft report for my seminar on Thursday on Effective Financial Management of Health Systems. I put it together based on the information I gathered last week coupled with my own knowledge of different systems. I was relatively happy with it by about 1:30pm and then headed into the office.

Namjillmaa met me and we spent the next couple of hours going through the presentation slide by slide. Namjillmaa must now translate each slide into Mongolian, so it's important that she knows and understands exactly what I am saying.

I left the office at 4:15pm and met Ruth from the VSO. We travelled on a Microbus to an outlying Ger district to see one of her projects. For the last year she has been working with the Mongolian Women Farmers Assoicaiton at their Ger farm.

The Ger farm is used to teach local Ger dwellers how to grow vegetables and keep some livestock. It's intention is to make Ger dwellers more self-sufficient in their food needs. Ruth showed me around the project. There are a range of vegetables growing, both indoors and outdoors. All are organic.

Carrots growing at the Ger farm

Apart from vegetables the farm also raises chickens and rabbits. They teach students about animal husbandry. Whilst chickens are becoming more popular as a food source in Mongolia, they are finding it difficult to encourage people to grow rabbits as a source of meat.

Organic Chickens in the pen

The size of the farm is roughly twice the size of the standard Ger enclosure, but there is still sufficient space available in a standard Ger enclosure to provide more than enough of a family's needs. Since the project has started in 1999 over 4,500 families have learned how to grow their own food.

Tomatoes almost ready for picking

You can also stay at the farm for just $5 a night. In return, you get to experience life in a Ger district whilst contributing to an environmentally friendly organisation - you even get to help out with some farming if you want to. Ring them at 976 11 306 187 or on mobile at 99 177 666.

Countryside around Ulanbataar

2008-08-17T12:22:00.006+01:00

I spent the weekend checking out some of the sights within UB and close by. Our first port of call was to the local Monastery, where we saw a fantastically tall Buddha and listened as scores of monks chanted in meditation.

Outside the main monastery, housing the statue of Buddha

We hopped in a taxi and travelled across the city to the Big Buddha statue on the banks of the river.

Big Buddha statue outside UB

From the Buddha statue we climbed the hill to the Russian / Mongolian friendship monument. It was only about 10 minutes to the top, but it was worthwhile. Apart from the fact that it's quite an impressive structure, the views over the city were magnificent.

The view from the Soviet / Mongolian Friendship monument in the hills over UB

That evening we attended a dinner in one of the volunteers houses. I got speaking to a local Catholic priest, who is involved in pastoral work with young people around the city. I took his number with the hope of meeting up with him later on in my placement to visit his mission.

On Sunday morning we set off to for a Ger tourist camp in the countryside with the new volunteers, who had just arrived yesterday. On the way we stopped at a few vantage points, including this prayer mound. I walked around the mound each time, each time placing a stone on the top of the mound.

Volunteers Gecca and Ruth attempting to throat sing

We eventually arrived at the tourist camp in the hills. It's like a mini-adventure centre and gives tourists the opportunity to stay overnight and get a bit of a feel for what life is like living in a Ger tent. I stayed in a few last time I was here and experienced them then.

Lunch was an hour away and after having been cooped up in the bus for so long I decided to go for a hike in the surrounding hills.

The GER camp for tourists

I got back after an hour or so, but there was still no sign of lunch. It eventually arrived at about 3 o' cock, two hours later than expected. We were all ravenous. It was a local Mutton BBQ. The sheep, freshly killed this morning, was hacked up into pieces and boiled in an urn with potatoes and hot stones. The end result can be seen below.

Choosing the mutton cuts from the BBQ

The meat was very tender, although there was quite a lot of fat on the bones. All in all, I'd have to say that I prefer my meat cuts in the more traditional manner.

Ulanbataar erupts in celebration of Judo gold

2008-08-15T11:32:00.004+01:00

The town went totally mad last night when local Judo star Tuvshinbayar Naidan won Mongolia's first ever gold. I was having dinner at the time and the entire restaurant was cheering him on as he fought his way to victory. For the remainder of the night people moved out onto the streets, and all the traffic blasted their horns in celebration. It was akin to celebrations you see when a country wins the World Cup.

I visited one of the local bars with Leo and we got talking to a selection of various travellers, including a crowd from Spain, a crowd from America and some Swedes. The Europe to Mongolia rally is finishing up this weekend and many of the teams had just arrived.

I walked home through Sukhbataar Square just after midnight. The place was still very much alive with joyous Mongols.

Fireworks go off on Sukhbataar Square as Mongolia win gold

I started the day with a visit to the main hospital in the Chingletei District. It's got 167 beds, but no operating theatre. Originally designed as an office, there are few facilities for patients. On one floor a total of 44 patients share a small 2 closet toilet.

I also visit the Intensive Care Unit. There are two heart monitoring machines to be shared amongst the 7 patients. The Doctor has to prioritise their allocation on the basis of need. The beds were very basic and only one bed had oxygen. The need for equipment was very obvious. Where there is equipment it is often very dated. The X-Ray machine, which is the only one in the entire district, was made in 1968, forty years ago.

I got back to the office for a meeting with the Chair Professor in the Institute of Health Care Administration at Asia university, Professor Chih-Liang Yaung. Professor Yaung is visiting Mongolia with some students and was interested in meeting me to discuss my thoughts to date. We discussed the situation in relation to health insurance payments and the finances of the hospital. From his experience he was firmly of the view that the hospital authority needs to be given more autonomy.

Professor Yaung, myself, CHDU staff and students from Asia University

Afterwards we went to the Family Group Practice in the 6th District, where we were met by the Practice Manager.

The exterior of the Group Practice, 6th District

The Manager gave us a tour of the practice. One of her main concerns is the structure of the building. It's quite dated, as can be seen from the picture above. The building is the primary point of medical attention for 8,000 people but yet there is no water supply coming into the building - it has to be carried in.

I finished the day with a two hour meeting discussing the cash planing and financial management processes for the Health Unit and for the Department of Health in general. It was very worthwhile, in that my overall knowledge of the system is a lot clearer than it was before the meeting.

My first appearance on Mongolian TV

2008-08-14T11:54:00.005+01:00

I found it hard to sleep much last night. A crowd of Mongolians decided to have a party in the area beneath my window, and they were quite loud. I was surprised that no police came along to move them on. They must have disturbed a few thousand sleepers in the buildings surrounding the square.

The day stated off with a meeting with the Primary Care Director of the Health District. He provided me with an overview of how the system operates. Each of the GP practices lacks equipment such as ECG, ultrasound and blood and urine testing devices.

The meeting was interrupted by a pre-scheduled interview with TV9, the Ulanbataar television station. I was asked the reason why I had come to the city and also questioned about the type of project I was doing. Of course, the interview was in Mongolian so Namjillma my translator will be speaking over my voice when it goes out on the air tonight.

Getting Interviewed by TV9

We went for lunch around the corner from the HQ building. Some of the dish names seemed to have lost something in translation. You could have tried the "Ladies", or the "Horse Meat", or for the adventurous you could go for the "cowboy". There was also a dish called "Wind", which sounded very unappetising. I went for the horse meat, which turned out to be ok.

After lunch we went to visit a General Practice. The Practice covers 1,350 families in a city centre apartment district, which can be seen below.

Map showing Chongeltei District

The head of the practice explained how the system operates. A major cause of annoyance for her is the amount of paperwork that has to be completed. Some of this could be removed by introducing a computer system across the health district. But it also requires the removal of some layers of bureaucracy. The Ministry of Health has introduced 17 new procedures or requirements over the last few years but has not increased resources at the same time. For instance, one of the 17 requirements is that the practice has to update the number of females between the ages of 16-49 (referred to as "females of child-bearing age") every year. In the absence of any computerised records this requires them to personally call to every house in the district every year.

The Head of Practice also referred to the lack of basic equipment, such as weighing scales and ink for her printer. I noticed for myself the quality of the workmanship of the builders. The practice building was only 3 yeas old but when they asked me, I guessed 40!

The inside of a GP practice. This building is just 3 years old!

We make news in The Mongol Messenger

2008-08-13T12:27:00.004+01:00

My day started with a three hour session with the Head of Finance and Chief Economist in the Chingeltei District Health Unit (CHDU). They spent the morning explaining the way in which money comes into the health budget. The health system is funded from a range of sources: central taxation, contributions from health insurance, ancilliary income (for example from renting out space to private pharmacies operating on the public hospitals grounds) and income from sources such as tourists requiring treatment.

It was a fairly intense meeting. Because of the need to translate I had to go back and forth with my questioning a few times just to make sure that I understood what I was being told (for instance, "Fixed Assets" was translated as "Non Moving Assets").We agreed at the end that I would go back to them to clarify any issues that I didn't fully understand.

At lunch we met with Mr Peter O'Brien, the Deputy Head of the UK Mission in Mongolia and the person who deals with any issues that arise in relation to Irish citizens here. Peter told us that there are only about 10 Irish people living in Mongolia on a full-time basis. That struck me as low, since I've already seen the outside of FOUR Irish pubs here, and I've only been here 4 four days. I stuck my head into one, there was little that was particularly Irish about it - they weren't even playing U2 - so I went to a Korean place instead. Peter asked us along for a visit to the Embassy on Friday evening, which with luck we may be able to accept.

Lunch was served very slowly and we ended up being ten minutes late for our meeting with the Minister of Health, Prof Byambaa Batsereedene. She was extremely welcoming and expressed the hope that our visit would lead to additional ties between our two countries.

With the Minister of Health, Prof Byambaa Batsereedene and VSO Country Chief Alison Rusinow

We also visited the United Nations Population Fund Country Representative Ms Delia Barcelona where we had a chat about the country's demographics. One area of concern is the low level of educational attainment for boys. Many leave school early to work with their livestock, as a result there is a huge disparity between the educational achievements of girls and boys. This means that in middle-management and office jobs the majority of appointments are women. At the same time there does appear to be a glass ceiling in place, in that all the top jobs still go to men. Certainly some changes are needed to address both of these issues.

At a brief meeting with the World Health Organisation Country Chief he informed us that our visit had attracted the attention of the local English Language newspaper. Here's the article.

Reports of our placement in "The Mongol Messenger"

The other volunteers have made sure that we are welcome and part of the group. My flatmate Gemmamarie cooked us up a traditional Phillipino disk called Adobo chicken last night, which we washed down with some Mead, brought from Ireland by Leo.

Dinner with other VSO volunteers at Daniel's house

Chingeltei District Health Unit

2008-08-12T10:55:00.006+01:00

I reported for duty at the HQ of Chingeltei District Health Unit (CDHU) this morning. The first person I was introduced to was Jill, my interpreter, who is going to translate for me for the next three weeks. Jill is a General Surgeon by training and spent a few years in Auckland, New Zealand, before returning to Ulanbataar (UB).

We met with the Director of the CHDU and her staff and had a one-hour question and answer session about the District and about what they hoped that I could help with over the coming few weeks. They also gave me an overview of the area they work in.

UB is split up into 9 Duuregs. Each has their own local government structure. I have been assigned to the Chingeltei district. It's population is about 160,000 (about the size of Meath) and it stretches from the city centre right out to the hills surrounding the capital. There are 18 sub-districts, or Khoroos, different in character and ranging from city businesses to Ger encampments.

CHDU has 18 family General Practices (like local GPS), one for each Khoroo. Each deals with between 3,000 and 10,000 people. Usually these have between 4-6 doctors and 4-6 nurses. There are NO administrative staff. All reception work and filing is done by the doctors and nurses themselves.

There are also two ambulatory buildings (assessment, consultation, dental services, outpatients) two polyclinics and one General hospital.

The Director then took me to meet some key people in other institutions. The first was the Chairperson of Chingeltei Representatives - she was elected by the 35 local area representatives. She outlined her hopes for an improved heath service, and believes that new equipment for the area is essential.

Meeting the Director of Chingeltei District Health Unit and the Chairperson of the Chingeltei Council

I also met with the Deputy Governor of the district and with the Director of the City Health Unit. Each provided me with an overview of how their organisation fits into the overall health system. I will be working with these bodies over the next few weeks and they all expressed their willingness to help out on the project.

We went to see some of the CHDU premises after lunch. I went to two GP practices - one old and one new. The facilities were quite basic compared to western standards and the quality of construction left room for improvement. Both of the GP practices served the Ger districts on the outskirts of the capital.

Ger District on the outskirts of Ulanbataar

I also visited the two Ambulatory premises. Both were in need of serious refurbishment. Coupled with that, the equipment looked like it has been there for a very long time.

After work I headed over to a dinner with other VSO volunteers. At this time of the year many volunteers are finishing their placement. As a result there are a lot of "farewell parties". Also, their replacements are now arriving. So it's a constant flow of people out of and in to the volunteer network.

The volunteers come from all walks of life and from right around the world. I've met people from Australia, New Zealand, America, Europe, Africa and Asia. The ages range from early 20's to early '70s (the cut-off age is 75, but I believe that this is being re-considered). So, one is never too young or old to become involved!

Briefing from the VSO

2008-08-11T11:31:00.003+01:00

I was dog-tired by the time I got to bed at 10pm on Sunday. I decided to stay up for the day, so that I would sleep all night. It worked, and I woke up as normal at 8am on Monday, ready and fit for the day ahead.

At home in the Soviet style apartment block

Our first day was spent at the VSO HQ in downtown Ulanbataar. The Country Director, Alison, gave us an overview of the political situation in Mongolia. There were fairly serious riots in early July, brought on by political discontent. However the trouble seems to have subsided for the moment, so we are expecting a peaceful few weeks.

Most volunteers spend their first four weeks getting an overview. It includes training on language, learning about the country and the specific areas of work. Ours was concentrated into just a day. We received a health and safety briefing, a security briefing, a briefing on the culture and beliefs (did you know for instance that if a Mongolian baby urinates on you then your or your wife is likely to become pregnant?).

We also received a briefing on our specific placements. I will be working in north inner Ulanabatter on issues in relation to the financial management of a health district.

Our final briefing was on matters related to life in the capital, and it covered stuff like transport, shopping and where to eat.

A very intensive day, but I came away with a clearer picture of what the next three weeks were going to be about.

With the VSO in Mongolia

2008-08-10T09:06:00.005+01:00

This year is the 50th anniversary of the setting up of the VSO. As part of their celebrations they invited members of the Oireachtas to become volunteers for a few weeks during the summer.

I have always been interested in working as a volunteer, but generally the minimum commitment was for at least a year and I was unable to find the time for that. This program is just for three weeks so I jumped at the chance of volunteering.

In all there are six members of the Oireachtas volunteering. Myself and Leo Varadker have been sent to Mongolia to work on health service reforms. The others were sent to Africa.

We boarded an Aeroflot flights to Moscow on early Saturday morning and, after a three hour stop in Moscow, changed onto another plane for Ulanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia.

The flight was fine. The last time I flew with Aeroflot was five years ago. It was the only time in my life that I was on a plane that had to abort its landing. It seems that the air traffic control guys hadn't told our pilot that there was already a plane on the runway. Anyway we landed safely. So, I was slightly anxious before the plane took off. However, this time around the planes looked better and the service was faultless. It was actually quite a comfortable ride.

When we touched down in the capital we were met by the local office head, who immediately took us for a health and safety briefing. The main concern seems to be the prevalence of pick-pockets. I was fading rapidly and when I got to my apartment I had a quick coffee with my new flatmate (also a volunteer) and then went to bed for a few hours.

I forced myself up at noon and although still tired, I went out for a walk in the town. The weather is about 30 degrees C and the skies are cloudless. Here's a picture of me in Suhkbataar Square with a statue of Genghis Khan in the backgrounds.

In Suhkbataar Square

I went out to a vegetarian restaurant for lunch, where I had soya chicken curry. Yes, even in Mongolia there are vegetarian restaurants!

Work starts early tomorrow morning. I'm hoping that I will be over my tiredness by then.

Summer Growing season is affecting road safety

2008-08-05T14:26:00.004+01:00

Another wet summer is upon us. Apart from putting a downer on people, it's also making driving conditions more difficult, not just because of water on the road surfaces, but because of the impact it's having on roadside vegetation.

In the last couple of weeks I've been contacted about excessive grass at roadside verges around the Beamore area and on the M1 between Dublin and Drogheda. Motorists are complaining that they can't see the road signs, because they are covered in vegetation. I've written to the National Roads Authority and to Meath County Council asking them to take action.

Unfortunately, we're smack bang in the middle of the holiday season, so I can't be sure that the necessary work will be done before the Autumn. Let's hope that accidents don't occur beacsue of inaction on the part of the authorities!

I've also had complaints from housing estates which have been taken in charge by the Council. In some estates the grass on the common areas is growing by the day and unless the residents have made arrangements for a third party to cut the grass then the likelihood is that it will remain uncut. Meath don't have a parks department in place to cut grass within estates and it's unlikely that this situation is going to change in the short term. Not the answer that a lot of poeple want to hear, but that's the reality we are in until Minister Gormley agrees to sanction a Parks Department for Meath.

Senator Alan Kelly to run for Munster

2008-07-25T17:59:00.008+01:00

We flew out of Tanzania on Sunday to Entebbe in Uganda. On the way we stopped briefly at Kilimanjaro airport. I could see the snow-covered peak as we came in to land. It brought back bitter-sweet memories of my time at the summit on New Year's Day.

Entebbe lies on the shore of Lake Victoria. It used to be the capital of Uganda, before it was moved 40km away to Kampala in the '70s. It’s probably best known for the daring raid by Israeli commandos to free the hostages held there by German and Palestine hostage-takers. The hostages had been on their way from Tel Aviv to Paris before the Aer France plane was hijacked. The plane was abandoned at the airport and can still be seen on the runway today.

The visit kicked off with a briefing session in the Irish Embassy by the Ambassador and his staff to set the scene for our visit.

Our first meeting was with the Minister of internal Affairs (akin to our Minister for Justice). We asked him about questions in relations to domestic violence and internal security. Amnesty International has some concerns about the rights of gay people in the country, so I took the opportunity to ask him at first hand for his thoughts. His response was that the country will have to move slowly on these matters. He believes that their society has difficulties with any legislation, because of beliefs embedded in the culture, and that further education is needed before the politicians can move. Micheal D made the point that human rights are sacrosanct and that politicians need to show leadership on these issues.

All in all it was a constructive meeting, with a healthy exchange of views. I’m not sure how much we influenced the Minister, but was did impress me was that he was very open to discussion on all of the points we raised.

The Irish aid program provides assistance for a local Aids organisation called TASO. We visited one of their centres in Kampala and were given a tour of the operation. They deal with hundreds of people on a daily basis, providing medical assistance in the form of Anri-retroviral therapy as well as counselling support.

At lunch in the embassy we were joined by several guests including the Ambassadors from Denmark and Holland, as well as the Chief Executive of the Human Rights Commission in Uganda. We had a round table discussion about the international aid effort in Uganda, and how the country is responding to this.

Afterwards we visited a local program which seeks to counter the incidences of domestic violence. There are some huge statistics for the amount of women who suffer violence in the home. Our aid program focuses on the education of males in society. We met about twenty of them whose role is to spread awareness within society on the issue, with the aim of reducing the scale of the problem. The organisation pointed out that they lack a shelter for abused mothers to stay in. Perhaps this is something that our aid program can help with in the future.

The following morning we travelled from the capital up to the Karamojo region, which lies in the north eastern part of Uganda. It’s one of the poorest parts of the country, with low educational involvement.

We travelled up to the Moroto district by plane and were met at the landing strip by some of the local politicians, council officials and an assortment of dancers, educationalists and singers. There was also a strong presence of armed military personnel. There is ongoing strife in the region and many of the males live away from their homes in travelling gangs.

Our aid program here is focused on education and we have provided assistance to two local secondary schools. We visited one and had a chat to three students who are receiving bursaries from the Irish aid program. One of the students explained that he was the only one of his family to go to secondary school. His described his two brothers as “warriors”. Without our help he would most likely be carrying around an AK47, rather than books on calculus.

The “warriors” travel around the villages in the area, protecting their own but also raiding others. We visited a couple of them. They are designed with security in mind: in a circle with large wooden walls running around the outside. Directly inside the walls are the small hits that families live in. Further inside, in the inner circle of the enclosure, there is space for the animals to be kept (typically pigs, chickens and cows).

The area has suffered significant drought over the last few years, and because of this and the hardships caused by the ongoing feuds, there is little food. We looked into some of the storage vessels and there was not a grain of food in there. In one of the villages there were no livestock – they has died, been eaten or sold. We also saw the depressing sight of children picking ants out of a molehill for food. Hunger was very evident, with lots of children walking around with distended stomachs

We left some medicines and food items with the villagers, but in truth it was just a drop in the ocean. I’ve never seen poverty at this scale or so close before. Unfortunately, the hunger here is caused by a number of factors, mainly drought and war. Both of these can’t be solved easily.

On our return to Kampala I left for the flight back to Dublin. Once again, I was hugely impressed by the organisational abilities of our local embassy staff, as well as the kindness and affection shown to us by the local people. At every meeting the Ugandans asked us to remind people back home how grateful they are for our help. It’s a very tough country for the people living there, but we certainly saw many instances of how the Irish aid program is helping to build hope across the country.

After a few days catching up with some local matters I headed off to Cork, where the convention to select our European election candidate for the Ireland South constituency (in effect Munster) took place on Saturday. I turned up at the Silver Springs hotel just after lunch. Even though it where was still an hour to go before kick-off there was already a sizeable crowd building. The two candidates for the nomination were my colleagues Senator Alan Kelly from Portroe in Tipperary and Arthur Spring from Kerry.

The hall filled up and there were over 500 people in attendance by the time the Party Leader spoke. He was followed by each of the candidates and then the voting took place upstairs. As a Leinster man I didn't have a vote, but it was clear to many that Alan was going to do it. For Arthur to win he needed a high turnout from the Kerry contingent. However, from looking at the numbers voting it appears that no more than 100 turned up from the Kerry constituencies. As it transpired, Alan won the day by 276 votes to 144.

The contest not only raised the profile of both candidates, but it also gives Alan a resounding vote of confidence as he starts his campaign proper. It'a tough task but if anyone can do it Alan can!

Irish Aid in action

2008-07-20T07:45:00.006+01:00

As a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee I was asked to go to Tanzania and Uganda to see the Irish Aid program in operation. I was delighted to accept, because I know from talking to people that there are concerns about ensuring that our money is well spent and is making a difference.

A group from the committee flew out at 6am on Wednesday for Dar es Salaam via Tanzania. It's a nine hour flight in quite cramped conditions and I felt a bit sore and tired upon arrival. We were met at the airport by the Irish Ambassador to Tanzania, along with here staff and brought to our hotel.

We were up at 6am the next morning and were taken to the Dodoma region, where we viewed at first hand the benefits of the Irish aid program. We met some local farmers who have benefited from assistance and are now able to provide sufficient food for their families, with some left over to trade.

We also went to a local primary school. There were about 70 children to the class, all were extremely well-behaved and eager to learn. 90% of children get a primary education, which is a significant increase in the last five years. The government has been able to commit to a program of school building and teacher recruitment largely as a result of aid from Ireland and other donor countries.

Later we met with the Prime Minister. He went into detail about how they are improving their accountability and transparency. They have had some major successes with fighting corruption. His pre-decessor was brought down because of dubious behaviour. So, the system here is working at stamping out corruption. The Prime Minister has been educated by Irish Missionaries and made a point of recognising that Ireland has been helping the Tanzanian people "since time immemorial", as he put it.

Over the next few days we visited hospitals and schools which have received funding from Ireland, either directly or indirectly. We also met some tremendously inspiring Irishmen and Irishwomen, who are working here to improve conditions for local people in need. At one hospital I spoke to a young mother whose child had a cleft lip. The child was about to be operated on. On the next bed was a child who had successfully undergone the operation the previous week. The comparison between the two was astounding. It's a reasonably simple operation but only possible because of the donations from the Irish people.

We also visited a cancer centre which provided the only free treatment in Tanzania. We met a young Doctor from Ireland there who told us that the drugs for the children's chemo are largely paid for by the Irish. Many of the kids were well on the road to recovery, although some had extremely large tumours protruding from their necks. Thanks to our support over 70% of the children will make a complete recovery.

Over dinner on Friday night we met many of the Irish aid community. I spoke to many, including Sister Angela, the head of the Medical Missionaries of Mary here in Tanzania. The MMM, who set up and ran Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda (where I was born) do great work here, and have a base in Arousha in the north of the country.

Everywhere we have gone we have received a tremendous welcome - people are very well aware of the work that the Irish aid program is doing here and are appreciative of the efforts of the aid community.

Now it's on to Uganda for a look at the aid program in operation there.

Liquor Act is rushed through

2008-07-13T11:43:00.006+01:00

I got a call from The Pat Kenny Show on Monday morning. They wanted to know about the situation in relation to signs to Newgrange. It was a story that appeared the previous week in most of the national press, so I was able to go on the show and explain the problem.

The visitor centre and car park are located on the south-side of the river, from where visitors use a footbridge to cross the Boyne and enter the tomb on the north-side. The vast majority of the 250,000 visitors that come to Newgrange every year make their way here. However, almost 10,000 end up at the the "front-door" of the tomb, due to poor local signage and a dependence on SatNav systems. There's no parking there so they have to turn abound and cross the river at the next bridge and make their way to the visitor centre, a journey of almost 7km. Many don't bother and just move on to the next tourist attraction in the Boyne Valley.

I'm hoping that with the issue now aired we might get an improvement in signage in the area.

In the Seanad on Tuesday I spoke about the need for more affordable and social housing and criticised the government for not providing more over the last ten years.

Wednesday saw the opening of the new pedestrian bridge in Laytown. The bridge replaces the old wooden bridge and was named after the late Jimmy Tully, TD for Meath for decades and also the Deputy Leader of the Party in the early '80s.

The rain held off long enough for the naming ceremony to take place. In attendance were council staff and the local councillors and most importantly, the family of Jimmy.

In the afternoon the local branch of the party held a private reception at the bridge and we were joined by Jimmy's family and by branch members from across county Meath. We made a few speeches in tribute to the work Jimmy did. Then we boarded a bus to Leinster House for a meal in the restaurant. Whilst my guests were having dinner I spoke about Ireland's dependency on Fossil fuels.

Speaking about Ireland's dependency on fossil fuels

Afterwards I took the group on a tour of the House, and we dropped into both the Dail and the Seanad to listen to debates.

The Seanad broke up on Thursday but before we did the government managed to railroad the new Intoxicating Liquor Bill through the House. Debate was limited and the Minister refused to take any of the amendments tabled by the opposition.

One main point of concern is that from now on all night clubs must close at the same time in the early hours. That means masses of people spilling out onto the streets at the same time, trying to find taxis, get food in take -aways etc. It's a potential recipe for chaos on the streets, a point made by the scores of people who contacted me on this issue and one I made myself in the House.

Unfortunately, despite our opposition, the Bill passed through all stages. It was a bad-tempered Seanad that went into the recess.

Opening of St Clare's Centre in Stamullen

2008-07-06T10:44:00.006+01:00

Wednesday is always a particularly busy day for members of Leinster House. It's the main sitting day of the week and is generally packed with meetings. This Wednesday was no exception. After my Irish language course finished at 10am I met up with Navan local election candidate Anton McCabe, who was up to talk about his local election campaign.

Anton and I outside Leinster House

Later on I had lunch with the Minister for Overseas Development Peter Power to discuss volunteering for the VSO in the developing world. The lunch was a cross-party affair, with representatives from most of the Republic's parties and with Carmel Hanna from the SDLP.

VSO Volunteering Programme

In the Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday afternoon we had the chance to listen to various aid organisation discuss their work in Malawi. I was impressed by the commitment and energy displayed by the groups. It brings it home to you how much individuals can help to change the world.

On Wednesday evening we had a chance to debate Cancer services with Minister Harney. I used the occasion to raise the subject of the threatened closure of the Dochas Breast Cancer unit in Drogheda. Here's my speech.

Speaking about the Dochas Centre in Drogheda

In the Seanad on Thursday I raised the subject of affordable housing, asking for a debate on issues such as whether land at Gormonstown in County Meath will be used for affordable housing. The Leader of the House agreed to hold a full debate on housing issues in the coming week.

On Friday I attended meetings in Navan, Ratoath and Trim on various issues. I also saw Minister Harney again on Friday, this time at the opening of the extension to St Clare's Nursing Home in Stamullen. The centre is very much state of the art and I spent some time chatting to staff and clients of the centre. It is a much needed resource in the area and hopefully it will be very successful.

Brian Collins becomes Cathaoirleach in Kells

2008-06-29T20:37:00.003+01:00

I had the pleasure of going to a shindig in Kells on Monday night. Cllr Brian Collins had just been elected Chair of Kells and so friends, family and members of Labour Party branches from across Meath attended to celebrate the event.

Cathaoirleach of Kells, Cllr Brian Colins at his election party

We all wish Brian the very best for the coming year.

On Wednesday I raised the topic of broadband speeds in the Seanad. The Japanese have speeds of up to 30 time the speeds in Ireland. I was interested to note that some new entrants to the market are now offering significantly increased speeds and that indications are there that prices might start to come down. Let's hope this materialises.

I brought up the subject of computers for schools in the Seanad during Thursday's Order of Business. A video of this is below:

I also spoke about the proposed move to the Abbey Theatre and the new prison in North Dublin.

On Friday I travelled over to Galway for the annual Tom Johnson Summer School, which is organised by Labour Youth. I had a cracking Friday night and stayed up rather late. On Saturday morning I was up bright and early as I was the first speaker of the day. My topic was "How to build and grow in 2009". I spoke about my plans as Director of Elections for Meath. Although it was the first event of the day there were about 150 in the Hall, and there was plenty of interaction from the floor.

That evening Eamon Gilmore gave a speech in advance of presenting the Jim Kemmy Award to Mike O'Reilly. He spoke about the challenges facing us over the next year.

The Party Leader addresses the conference. Party President Michael D is in the foreground

Another late night was followed by an early start, but the sleep deprivation was well worth it. Once again, a very enjoyable event and congratulations to Paul Dillon, Cian O'Callaghan and all at Labour Youth for their efforts.

Meath East gets extra Council seats

2008-06-22T11:21:00.003+01:00

This week saw the publication of the new report on the representation on local councils. The report has major implications for Meath County Council. The Slane electoral area (where I was a Councillor before I became a Senator) has increased from five seats to six seats. The Kells area has dropped from six to five seats and the Dunshaughlin area has increased from six to seven seats. This more accurately reflects the populations within each area. Our constituency council will meet very shortly to discuss our strategy in the light of these changes.

The changes are welcome and reflect a movement to improve and reform the whole electoral system. One key element in the reform will be the setting up of an Electoral Commission. I got a chance to ask Minister Gormley about the proposed Electoral Commission during the week. He was attended the Environment Committee, of which I am a member, to outline his response to our report on how to improve the election system in Ireland.

I queried the amount of time it is talking to set up the Electoral Commission. His response was that he will make sure that this is done as quickly as possible. I will keep an eye on this!

The prevalence of drugs in Irish society is a concern of everyone. This week the Progressive Democrats tabled a motion in relation to the new National Drugs Strategy. I am my party's Seanad Spokesperson on Crime and in my speech I concentrated on harm reduction strategies, such as needle exchange programmes.

The disparity between supermarket prices in the north and the south was highlighted in a report this week. I raised the issue in the Seanad on Thursday morning, and my contribution was subsequently broadcast on that evening's Oireachtas Report. The price differential is having a major impact on shopkeepers and shoppers in the Louth / Meath area.

I also raised the subject of trade agreements between the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific bloc countries. These agreements are meant to be signed off within the next few months but there is still a lot of disquiet about the impact they will have on the developing countries. I asked the Minister of Foreign Affairs to consider making changes to them.

Discussing Trade Agreements between the EU and the ACP countries

That evening I attended the AGM of Lagavooren Manor Residents association in Mother Hughes pub in Drogheda. I am more used to being in Mother Hughes apres match - it's the main watering hole for the Drogs fans - so it was a new occasion to attend a meeting there. Despite the German / Portuguese match there was a fair crowd, and I ended up with a number of actions to chase up in relation to the estate.

Saturday saw the annual Pride parade in Dublin. The Labour Party had organised a bus for the event and I dropped up to join in for a while. Despite the awful weather there was a reasonably sized crowd, including my colleague Senator Deirdre de Burca (a Wicklow Green) and Deputy Joe Costello.

I couldn't stay long because I was invited to a Family Fun Day in Dunboyne Castle Estate. When I got there the rain was bucketing down and everyone was indoors. It's always a pity when events fall foul of the weather. Just as long as the whole summer isn't like this!

Work needed in Headfort Grove

2008-06-15T10:31:00.006+01:00

The Leaving Certificate examinations are underway. One of the statistics that I picked up on is that the participation rate of young males undertaking the Leaving certificate exams is lower than that of young females. We need to examine why this is happening, and see whether there are ways of keeping young males at school for longer. Leaving school early can lead to under-achievement in later life, a point I made in the Seanad on this issue. We need to address the issue and see what can be done to increase rates.

The lead-up to the local elections continues and on Tuesday night I dropped up to Howth for a fundraiser for one of our local candidates there, Brian McDowell. The local GAA club was fairly busy and there were many faces I knew present, including former Deputy Sean Ryan, Deputy Tommy Broughan and Councillor Aodhan O'Riordan.

My team put in a great performance and finished joint first, but we were pipped at the post when we lost the tie-breaker. Congratulations to Bernie and Angie (from Head office) and Councillor Brian Collins from Kells, who were on the winning team.

Myself and Brian had a quick chat about Headfort Grove in Kells, and so on Thursday I went over to Kells to meet Councillor Tommy Grimes and to have a walk around the estate. The works have been promised for some time now, but there are fresh concerns about whether sufficient funding will be made available for the project.

Myself and Councillor Tommy Grimes in Headfort Grove, Kells

During the walk Tommy introduced me to several local residents, who briefed me on the situation within the estate. We have a Dail question tabled to seek to get some more information on the funding issue.

After a long campaign the Lisbon Campaign was turned down at the polls. It was a very strange campaign to be involved in. I can't say it was very enjoyable at all, and there will be few moments I look back on with any fond memories. The big question now is where next. We need to take a bit of time at this stage to think about what the next step should be, because it's important that we get it right.

Accident Clear-ups are taking too long

2008-06-01T11:00:00.005+01:00

Many people will have been stuck in their cars on Thursday morning on the way to Dublin. Because of an accident on the M1 at 2am, there was a closure during the rush-hour period. I don't know the exact details of the accident, and sympathise with the vehicle occupants, but I am concerned about the length of time it takes to clear up after accidents in general. Other countries seem to manage much better. This is a point I made in the past, and repeated again during Thursday's Order of Business.

We need to improve our Emergency Response Procedures

Everyone knows that Ireland is one of the largest givers, per head, to aid for the developing world. However, we still have not reached the target of 0.7% of GNP. Although all parties are committed to reaching that figure within a short number of years, there is a worry that the downturn in the economy may in some way affect the timescales. I spoke on the matter at the Foreign Affairs Sub-Committee during the week.

Our campaign in favour of the Lisbon Reform Treaty continues. An increasing number of people are engaging with us on the matter, whether its at their front-doors , over dinner, or at supermarkets. At this stage I think it's going to be a very close vote. Turnout will be the deciding factor.

There's a lot of confusion out there about what the Treaty means. Lots of people have been asking whether the result will affect fuel prices. Many want to give the government a kicking over the level of petrol and diesel prices. We're telling people to refrain from kicking the government on this occasion and to vote for the Treaty.

I raised the issue of prices in the Seanad on Tuesday. It's clear that the issue is of major concern to people across the country.

The proposed prison at Thornton Hall was discussed in the Seanad during the week. I've been attending meeting about the proposal for over three years now, and so I was glad to have the opportunity to speak about it. I am not convinced about the decisions to co-located the Women's prison and the Central Mental Hospital on the site. However, when it comes to the size of the prison, I have heard strong arguments from both sides of the debate. Some say a maximum size of prison should be about 700 (the proposal is for 2,200). Others point to the success of prisons like Riker's Island and the proposed Titan prisons in the UK. I asked the Minister for a justification as to why the proposed size was optimal. I'm posted up my speech on my homepage and on youtube.

The weekend brought some fantastic weather and it gave me an opportunity to get out and do some leafleting for Lisbon. I delivered to lots of houses in Duleek on Friday and finished off the last of the Kentstown houses on Saturday. My legs haven't seen his much work on ages - I was exhausted at the end of both days. But it did guarantee an uninterrupted sleep on both nights!

Visit to Ratoath School

2008-05-25T11:04:00.004+01:00

There's been much debate nationally as to whether the HSE is fit-for-purpose. The Labour Party launched a six-point plan for how it could be improved. I spoke on the matter in the Seanad on Thursday.

HSE needs to be re-structured

The roadworks to prepare for the new sewerage scheme at Duleek continue. After the Council closed roads a few weeks back we sought confirmation that there would be no more closures without advance notification.

However, I got calls again this week about further closures. People were complaining that they had not received adequate notification.

Station Road Duleek, closed again with little notification

My understanding from talking to some essential service providers is that they also received no notification. I have raised the subject again with the local council office and subsequently received a draft letter from them which will be sent to all residents outlining them of the closures.

I met with Dick Fearn, Chief Executive of Irish Rail on Wednesday to talk about rail services. I brought up the subject of crowded commuter carriages, something he is working to improve, and also we discussed the issue of fares from Laytown and Gormonston stations. From what Mr Fearn said I'd be confident that the fares anomaly (whereby people from Laytown and Gormonstown pay more per passenger mile than commuters from Balbriggan) will reduce in the future.

In the Seanad the next day I brought up the subject of train car parks. Although it's possible to reclaim tax on rail fares to work, the car parking charges incurred at train stations do not fall within the tax rebate structures.

I asked the Minister would he consider the matter during the preparation for the next budget.

Car parking charges at Stamullen station

Minister Martin Mansergh from the Department of Finance came into the House. Here's his response.

On Friday I went into Ratoath Primary school to talk to the senior classes about politics. The students have their own government structure in the schools, and I was introduced to their Taoiseach, the Tanaiste and the Cabinet. They have several Ministries, including a Minister of Entertainment and a Minister of Culture. I spent an hour debating local and national issues with the class.

Des Bishop in da House

2008-05-18T11:18:00.004+01:00

Our Ranganna Gaeilge had a special visitor on Wednesday morning. The comedian Des Bishop came in to tell us about his experience of spending a year in the Gaeltacht to learn Irish. The class had a slightly larger attendance than usual and Des gave a very positive, uplifting experience. Afterwards he came into the Seanad Chamber with Maire Breathnach, our teacher, to view proceedings. I welcomed him on behalf of my party.

I've been going to the class since last September and my Irish has certainly improved, although I'm still nowhere near as comfortable with it as I was in my schooldays. However, I was just about able to struggle through an interview with Foinse, the Irish language newspaper, on the subject.

The need for a plan for Rural development was debated in the Seanad on Wednesday. As the Seanad Spokesperson for Community and Rural Affairs I put forward our views on what could be done, focusing on development of tourism and agriculture, along with strengthening and supporting local communities, particularly through the retention of post offices and rural schools.

I attended the AGM of the Millmount Abbey Residents Association in Teach Mhuire, on the Dublin Road in Drogheda, during the week. There was a good turnout on the evening, despite the fact that it clashed with the Rangers UEFA Cup Final match. One of the areas of interest was the proposal for the new Drogheda United football stadium down the road in Beamore, which I updated people on. Another area of interest was the pending review of the boundaries in this area. Millmount Abbey is on the border of Meath County Council / Drogheda Borough Council and there is a possibility that it may be moved into the Borough Council administrative area. The report is due out next month.

The Campaign for a Yes Vote for the Lisbon Treaty is now well underway. I was canvassing for it during the week in Duleek, Kentstown and Yellow Furze. The level of awareness about it has certainly picked up since the previous week. For example, I was having dinner in a restaurant in Ashbourne during the week and just after we paid the bill our waiter asked me could I explained briefly what the Treaty was about. I did my best to summarise the main points into a three-minute snapshot of the Treaty. From instances such as this it's clear that people want information are very willing to engage on the issue.

In the East Meath area Councillor Eoin Holmes was out putting up his "Vote Yes to Europe" posters.

Eoin Holmes puts up his "Vote Yes to Europe poster"

With just over three weeks left to polling day there's still a lot of ground to be covered if the Treaty is going to be passed.

Sherpa Hannigan

2008-05-11T10:39:00.009+01:00

The Battle of the Boyne Visitor Centre officially opening on Tuesday. I was one of the lucky ones to get an invite to go along to this historic occasion.

It was especially meaningful to me because as a teenager I spent a lot of time walking and cycling around the area. I had friends who had a place just beside Oldbridge and many evening and nights were spent around the area. I've also travelled by canoe and currach on the Boyne at this location, so I am delighted that this centre has been completed. The Boyne Valley is a special place and I think that it's wonderful that more people will now come into the area to enjoy its many delights.

The opening ceremony was an interesting affair. Historic - because of the symbolism that it represents for the communities on our island, but no doubt tinged with a bit of sadness too for the friends and supporters of the departing Ahern and Paisley. The local Fianna Failers has certainly turned out in numbers for the occasions. I chatted to cumann members from across the county. In fact, at one stage I wondered if I had taken a wrong turning at Donore and ended up at a Fianna Fail Ard Fheis.

Paisley addresses the crowd.

The following day Leinster House was packed out,with people up from Offaly and other places to join in the celebrations for the election of Taoiseach Cowen. I met and chatted to a few Fianna Failers from County Meath who had travelled up for the day.

I also brought up the subject of post-primary funding. The government has been accussed or reneging on promises it made just before the election, which was something I mentioned to the Leader of the House during the Order of Business.

Later I went over to Navan, where I chaired a Selection Convention for next year's town council elections. We are pursuing a one-candidate strategy and with two contenders a vote was necessary. The successful contender was Anton McCabe, who will be aiming to win one of the 7 seats on Navan Town Council. I wish him well.

Dominic Hannigan and Anton McCabe outside Ryan's of Navan

On Saturday I was out in Kentstown to talk to people about the Lisbon Treaty. As I arrived I started getting texts from a few people who has seen Miriam Lord's article in the Irish Times. She referred to me as Sherpa Hannigan after my "roundabout" congratulations to Brian Cowen during the week.

It's obviously a popular column, because I continued to get texts on the matter throughout the day. Just as long as it doesn't stick...

British-Irish delegation meets in Wexford

2008-05-04T13:45:00.005+01:00

I travelled down to Wexford on Sunday for the bi-annual meeting of the British-Irish Parliamentary Body. The body is an opportunity for parliamentarians from both sides of the water to talk about issues or common concerns.

Once a year the event takes place in Ireland, once in Britain. This session (the 36th) took place in Whyte's Hotel, Wexford.

I travelled down via Dublin, where I stopped off at Leinster House to collect my briefing papers. I got there just after half past five on Saturday to find out that the whole building goes into shut-down mode at 5pm on a Saturday. When I explained that I needed the papers for Sunday the Gardai let me in, and arranged for two soldiers to accompany me to my office. Unfortunately, the door was locked and despite trying about 100 different keys we couldn't get in. Whilst the soldiers were armed, I decided that I'd leave it rather than get them to shoot the locks.

I worked in the private sector for many years, and I was able to come and go as I pleased. Often I'd go in to my office on a Saturday evening for a few hours, or on a Sunday morning. It's a bit strange that I can't do that in Leinster House.

Whyte's hotel was buzzing with politicians when I got there. There was a good turnout from our side of the water and a smattering of familiar faces from Britain. For instance, I came out of my bedroom on the first morning at the same time as Peter Hain came out of the adjoining room.

The main focus of the session was in relation to drug problems on these islands. We received presentations from various experts about what is being done to tackle the problem. I got chatting to a member from Guernsey - from what he was saying they certainly have a tough regime there when it comes to sentencing for possession.

Attendance at the session is a great opportunity to meet colleagues from across the political divide and I got a chance to chat to quite a few before the session closed on Tuesday afternoon.

I drove from Wexford up to Ardcath, to a meeting in St Vincent's GAA clubhouse to discuss road safety issues in Ardcath and Clonalvy. There was a crowd of about 40 there, including local Councillor Eoin Holmes, who lives in the Ardcath / Clonalvy / Stamullen area and Cllr Jimmy Cudden, along with Shane McEntee.

The schools at Ardcath and Clonalvy are both looking for additional traffic safety measures at the schools. The Council claims to have limited funds and this year only three schools will receive funding: Lobinstown, Stackallen and Knockcommon.

Residents are also concerned about cars speeding through the village late at night. This is clearly a case for additional garda enforcement and I will be making this point to the local gardai.

I met a delegation from the Union of Students of Ireland in Buswell's Hotel on Wednesday. They were lobbying for something to be done about the costs of accommodation for students and for a removal of the means testing for part-time students. I brought up this issue that day in the Seanad.

Order of business in the Seanad

During our private members time this week we introduced a Bill on Freedom of Information. the aim was to reverse the restrictions brough in by the current government. I opened the debate in the Seanad, and was followed by Senator Phil Prendergast.

I had to shoot off early to meet a delegation from Amnesty Ireland, who came in to discuss the ongoing situation in China. They asked me to raise the recently published report on Human Rights in Ireland, which I did the following morning.

Dinner was an interrupted affair - I had to rush of half-way through for a vote on our Bill (which was defeated). However, I did get back to my guests in time for coffee!

Lisbon comes to Termonfeckin

2008-04-28T15:39:00.005+01:00

This week saw the continuation of our Commuter Belt survey. Myself and the team were out delivering on Tuesday morning. - we managed to do about 1,000 houses in Duleek in a couple of hours. At this stage people are beginning to send back their responses and the results promise to be very interesting.

I raised the issue of Broadband speeds in the Seanad on Tuesday afternoon. Eircom are suggesting that higher broadband speeds are provided in the Gateway towns. Why stop there! There are thousands of workers travelling into Dublin every day from towns across the commuter belt. If people had high-speed broadband in places like Ashbourne and Ratoath then more people could work from home. Also, we might see more businesses relocating to these towns as a result.

I spoke on the Lisbon Treaty twice this week. Both times it was in the company of the Minister for Europe, Dick Roche. On Tuesday we shared a platform at the Irish Countrywomen's Association event in Termonfeckin, County Louth. Also on the platform were Donegalmen Deputy Joe McHugh and Senator Pearse Doherty.

It was a well-attended event, and the audience even included my mother (a local ICA member), who was very well-behaved.

I also spoke on the Treaty the following day in the Seanad. It was a busy day there. I had to take the Order of Business in the morning and later on I spoke about primary schooling.

A video of the Order of Business is below.

On Saturday I attended the Meath East Community Association Open Day at Laytown school. The hall was packed with table stalls of various local and national groups including the Laytown Pitch & Putt club, Meath Partnership, the Army Reserve, Sonairte - the National Ecology Centre and Meath Local Sports Partnership. Congrats to MECA for organising such a successful day.

Life in the Commuter Belt

2008-04-20T11:05:00.004+01:00

As the Spokesperson on Commuter Belt Issues I've started a major survey of life in Commuter belt towns. Over the next two weeks we will be sending out leaflets to towns in Louth, Meath, Kildare and Wicklow. In all, up to 80,000 households will receive a questionnaire from myself and the local Councillor for the area, asking questions about health, education, crime, planning and entertainment facilities in their area.

Up to now there has been little real research undertaken on Commuter Belt issues. I'm hoping that the feedback will give us a real grounding for understanding concerns and more importantly, allow us to develop policies to improve the quality of life for residents of the Belt.

The economy continues to be a concern with further announcements this week of job losses. A recent economic report on Ireland calls for more investment in areas such as education to help to maintain our economic growth. In the Seanad I pointed out that the report calls for more help to be given to lone parent families and that more needs to be invested into the education system.

The Nation buried our former President, Dr Paddy Hillery on Thursday morning. Dr Hillery was given a State Funeral, which I was privileged to attend. It as a well-
managed, respectful event and a fine way to mark his passing.

The week also saw the passing of a new Criminal Justice Bill. Its aim is to increase international co-operation for cross-border crimes. Minister Lenihan was in the House on Thursday for the debate, during which I spoke briefly on the benefits of the Bill.

I was in the Newgrange Lodge in Donore this week to open the latest art exhibition of one of our local artists. Many of the works on display resonated with the local landscapes - Newgrange, Oldbridge, the Boyne Canal. The opening was well attended was very enjoyable.

The Lisbon Reform Treaty is now less than two months away. We held a briefing night for our prospective canvassers on Friday in Kelly's of Ashbourne. The purpose was to increase people's knowledge of the treaty and agree on a strategy for spreading awareness of the benefits of the Treaty.

Pottering in the House

2008-04-13T00:21:00.004+01:00

The works to upgrade Duleek sewerage system continues. Over the last few weeks residents in High Meadows Station Road Duleek have had to put up with road closures and diversions. I met with some of the residents on Monday night. They were livid that the Council didn't inform residents about the road closure in advance. As a result a lot of people were inconvenienced. Coupled with that the diversionary route was down narrow lanes behind The Commons - totally inadequate.

The work is going to continue throughout Duleek village for the next year (at least!). I spoke to the engineers and called for more communication, better management of the roadworks, proper notification to businesses and residents and adequate diversions to be put in place. Hopefully they will learn for the messy situation that arose over the last few weeks.

I was called to a meeting with residents from Kilegland House and Killegland Hall in Ashbourne, who are experiencing anti-social behaviour in their car-parks. It seems like a lot of the behaviour is alcohol related. I brought the matter up in the Seanad the following day,

On Tuesday the Seanad was addressed by the President of the European Parliament, Mr Hans-Gert Pöttering, MEP. He spoke on a wide range of issues, including the European Reform Treaty.

I repeated some of his remarks at a meeting in Laytown that evening. The meeting was held to discuss and explain the changes and benefits that will arise from the adoption of the Treaty. The feedback from the meeting was that in general, it appears that people feel they don't have enough information on what the Treaty proposes, a point I made in the Seanad on Wednesday.

This week a delegation of Algerian parliamentarians came to visit Leinster House. On Wednesday I was asked to meet them for a half an hour. I had imagined that the event would be quite informal, maybe myself and another half dozen Irish parliamentarians grabbing a coffee and moving around the room chatting to them. However, when I arrived at the room a lady from the Department of Foreign Affairs stopped me from going in.

"Enda Kenny's not finished speaking yet" she said.

I noticed that I was the only one waiting to enter the room. Alarms bells started ringing.

"Just what exactly is the format here" I asked.

""Oh, has no-one told you? Deputy Kenny is speaking for 30 minutes, then you are on for 30, then they go for an audience with An Taoiseach" she replied.

I'm afraid my language in response was less than Parliamentarian, and I turned the air blue. I had nothing prepared at all. However, needs must, and so when Enda came out I went in.

There were about ten senior Algerian parliamentarians around the table. I took my place opposite them and proceeded, with the help of a translator, to chat to them until it was time for them to go to the Bert.

For my efforts I got an invite to Algeria and a large tray of fresh dates!

From there I went down to a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Committee on Tibet. We were given a presentation from the Irish Tibet Solidarity Group. Their delegation included a young lady who had escaped from Tibet. She gave a heart-wrenching account of some of the atrocities visited upon her and her family. At one stage she broke down, but managed to recover to finish her presentation. Myself and Senator David Norris co-sponsored a motion calling for dialogue between the Chinese and the Tibetans, a motion which was carried unanimously. The following morning I brought up the issue of Tibet and China in the Seanad.

The race to be Mayor of London is hotting up. With just a few weeks left until polling day the main contenders, Ken Livingstone (Labour) and Boris Johnson (Conservative) are reputed to be neck and neck. Myself, Cllr Dermot Lacey and a few other Irish members went over to help with some canvassing in Kilburn on Saturday. Ken's reception on the streets was mixed. After being Mayor for eight years everyone knows him and they either love him or hate him.

Myself, Cllr Dermot Lacey and Mayor Livingstone in Kilburn Irish centre.

The week ended on a sad note with the death of President Hillery. I met the man briefly once, in the late '70s. He came down to a scouting event (Jamborora) in Mount Melleray, Waterford that I was at. He always struck me as the epitome of what a President should be - dignified, gracious, accessible. May he rest in peace.

Kells picks its Candidate for Local Elections '09

2008-04-06T11:55:00.004+01:00

I attended an event for the screening of new films by emerging Irish film makers in Drogheda Arts Centre. The evening was launched by the actor, film-maker, and playwright Mr Peter Sheridan. I had the pleasure of introducing him.

Speaking at the Drogheda Arts Centre (Film Director Fiona Ashe is on the left)
One of the films on display was about the M3 and the Tara Valley by the Director Fiona Ashe. You can check it out on youtube.

Alveno Heights estate in Laytown continues to suffer from a lack of investment. Despite high hopes in the last couple of years that work would be done, there are still no concrete timescales for the works. I took some time off to go canvassing around the estate last week and it's clear that opinions are still strong on the issue: the upgrade should not be linked to the provision of additional housing on the green areas.

This week saw the selection of our candiate for the June '09 local elections for the Kells electoral Area. Meath has five electoral areas, Slane (where I live), Dunshaughlin, Navan, Trim and Kells. Dunshaughlin and part of Kells, with Slane, form Meath East constituency, Navan and Kells form Meath West. I chaired the convention, which chose Cllr Brian Collins from Kells as our candidate.

Cllr Brian Collins, Cllr Tommy Grimes and myself at the Headford Arms Hotel

Brian won a seat on the Town Council in '04 on his first attempt. He also ran in the General Election last year in Meath West. So, he has been consistently building his profile in the area. It will be a tough campaign but I think he's going to win a seat.

I also headed north to Dundalk during the week and met our new Dundalk Candidate, Frank O'Brien. Frank has high hopes of taking a seat next year, and was in buoyant mood after his selection. Over the next few months we will be putting candidates in place across the northeast - the elections will be upon us before we know it!

Coastal Erosion in Action

2008-03-31T13:22:00.004+01:00

I had a phone call after the big storms to alert me to the fact that the Laytown Pitch & Putt club had once again suffered damage. The club is one of the few local facilities in in the Laytown and Bettystown area and has a membership of over 100 people. Because of its location (at the edge of the beach) it suffers from coastal erosion.

The grass now lying on the beach was part of the course fairway!

One of the major enviornmental issues for the country, and not just Meath, is that there appears to be no defined planning strategy for how we deal with coastal erosion. With the advent of global warming the worry is that these storms will increase in frequency, leading to further damages to facilities along our coastline. I told Environment Minister John Gormley about this when he appeared in the Senate on Wednesday.

I also spoke on a number of other issues, including the high costs of mobile phones in Ireland, the new Motor Tax Bill which encourages people to use more emission friendly engines, and a debate on the draft guidelines for new residential housing estates.

As someone who working in the Planning Department of a local authority (the London Boroiugh of Camden) and as someone who actually lives in a newly built housing estate, I was particularly keen to make some points to the Minister. There are so many lessons that can be learned from the last ten years of house building. The need for new playgrounds, community facilities, schools, shops etc. to be put in place at the same time as the houses. I think everyone realises this now, and so the next generation of new homes should benefit from past mistakes. However, it´s not clear how we are going to retrofit badly-needed facilities on the residential areas that currently don´t have them.

And finally, thanks to those people who have left comments on myblog. Unfortunately, I have not been able to publish all of them. Even though some of them were very funny, and I might share the views expressed, I cannot allow anything up on the site that could be libellous. Otherwise, I´d be taken to the cleaners! So if you leave a comment, please omit any bits that could get me in trouble :) Thanks for your understanding.

Are Ministers milking St Pat's Day?

2008-03-16T10:19:00.005Z

St Patrick's Day approaches and once again our national day is celebrated across the five continents. It's a great opportunity to raise our country's profile and in the process generate additional jobs and tourists to our shores. Therefore it's important to milk the day for all it's worth.

There was a lot of debate about whether some of our Ministers are milking the day in the wrong way. I raised the issue in the Seanad about whether it was really necessary for our Ministers to stay in rooms costing €1,650 a night in Italy. I've stayed in Rome on a few occasions and I know that you can get a fantastic room for €300. Why does a Minister need to spend like Madonna just because he has access to the taxpayers money?

I agree that these foreign trips, although they might sound like great fun to many, can be hard work. I don't begrudge any Minister a bit of privacy and comfort at the end of these days. But really, there has to be some sort of limit brought in for the sakes of decency.

This week the Labour Party introduced a Bill to try and provide increased protection in the workplace for Agency workers. I spoke on the matter on Wednesday night. My worry is that the proposed legislation by the Government will not go far enough. Our Bill was voted down, but myself and the Party expect to table amendments to the government Bill, if it isn't up to scratch.

Some positive developments this week for the residents of Bellewstown. Meath County Council agreed to issue a notice asking a local quarry to cease operations - concerns had been expressed as to whether the quarry was operating legally. My belief is that we need to see a review of the current legislation quarries, a point I made again in the Seanad on Thursday. Well done to the local campign group for their efforts on this.

The good news of the week is the launch of the new Youthreach centre in Bettystown Square. I attended the launch on Friday and spoke to the staff of the centre. It's not before time that this has come to the area. We have one of the highest rates of early school leavers in the country. Full credit has to be given to Peter Kierans and his staff at the VEC. The building also hosts an Adult Education Officer, who is keen to talk to anyone who thinks they have a need for courses. I am confident that the centre will be a big success!

Dublin Airport Authority need to up their game!

2008-03-11T09:40:00.004Z

We got the chance to debate the issue of Cluster Bombs last week. The entire Senate was in support of the motion against their production and use. I made the point that there are still people dying from unexploded bombs for decades after they are dropped (such as in Laos and Vietnam) and called for money to be specifically allocated to the victims of these bombs.

The Seanad also debated the Fair Trade campaign. I spoke about how it can help to improve the livelihoods for small farmers in the developing world. There are currently 30 Fair Trade towns in Ireland and another 30 are seeking Fair Trade status.

I passed through Dublin Airport at the end of the week. The place is a complete rip-off! Their long-term car parking charges are now €9.50 a day. And, if you park for a part of a day they charge for the full day. So, because I stayed for 2 hours I had to pay €19.

And once you get to the terminal the rip-off continues. I had a cup of black tea (1 tea bag, 1 cup and some hot water, that I was charged €2.75 for, while sitting at a table that looked like it hadn't been cleaned since Christmas.

€2.75 to drink your tea from this table

It's time that some pressure was put on Dublin Airport Authority to up their game!

Labouring to the Top

2008-03-02T11:54:00.003Z

The Daily Star called up on Tuesday to inquire about my health. They had heard that I was still recuperating after my efforts on Kiliminjaro. I spoke to Catherine Halloran for a bit and she did a very nice piece in the paper on Thursday, including a picture of me at the summit. She called the article "Labouring to the Top".

In the Seanad we debated the issue of Civil Unions. The subject was introduced by Senator David Norris and I spoke in support of his motion. The debate was well attended, both in the public gallery and by Senators, and views were expressed from all sides of the political specturm. In the end, the motion was defeated. Minister Brian Lenihan, who was in the House throughout the debate, says that he intend to introduce the "Heads of a Bill" (I explain what this is in my speech) within the next couple of months. It will be interesting to see how long it takes to get an actual Bill on the Statute books.

Wednesday saw another day of gridlock in Dublin, this time brought about by the closure of the Dublin Port Tunnel. A few days previously there was congestion due to some hoardings from Pearse Street flying around. A few weeks ago an accident brought the city to a standstill. I raised the matter in the Seanad and called for the emergency services to review their planning procedures. I don't accept that it should take so long to recover from these events.

I finished off the week with a visit to the opening of a new estate agency in Bettystown, A1 Auctioneers. It was a very pleasant event and I'd like to wish the proprietors, Mary and Val, every success.

435 Bettystown houses refused by An Bord Pleanala

2008-02-26T13:59:00.004Z

The debate about the recognition of Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) schools continues. Last Thursday we had the opportunity to discuss the matter in the Senate. I spoke about the local school in Drogheda, ABACAS which serves the south Louth and East Meath region. I also raised the subject of the costs incurred by the Ó Cuanacháin family in their recent legal case against the Department of Education.

There seems a groundswell of goodwill in favour of movement on the ABA issue. I know that Minister Hanafin has appeared reluctant to change her stance on the issue, but I would be hopeful that recent noises coming from rank and file FF backbenchers may get her to re-consider her policy on this occasion.

I heard at the end of the week that An Bord Pleanala had agreed with my appeal against a 435-house development in Bettystown. The situation was that the original application was approved by Meath County Council, despite the objections of myself and a large number of residents.

I lodged an appeal against this development and a number of submissions were also made by local residents. Although the Inspector recommended that the development should proceed, the Bord decided to go against their own inspector’s decision and REFUSED the development.

So what does this mean? Well, since last year’s adoption of the County Development Plan (CDP) only a limited number of houses will be allowed to be built in the East Meath area. The total number has been “set in stone” in the CDP and included the 435 houses referred to above.

This decision by An Bord Pleanala means that this allocation of 435 houses can now be “re-allocated” somewhere in the East Meath area by our local Councillors, according to where they see the priority to be. They could decide to keep the housing at the appeal site, or they could instead decided to allow 435 houses at the Eco-Residential site beside Laytown Station (in turn, getting a community centre for the area), or they could decided to prioritise another site, or they could decide not to use this allocation at all.

It will be down to the councillors to decide this one, but I'm sure they will get an ear-twisting from both developers and local residents before a decision is made!

Unite Against Climate Change

2008-02-10T14:49:00.000Z

The news that a quarter of car divers who died in 2006 were NOT wearing seat belts is incredulous. I raised the matter in the Senate, and asked for better enforcement to be taken by the Gardai.

The law exists to prosecute people who don't wear seat belts. I did an arbitrary, random survey from the side of the road the other night and sure enough about a quarter of drivers weren't wearing their seatbelts.

Who are these muppets and what does it take to get through to them? The fact that they seem unafraid of any legal action from the Gardai indicates to me that enforcement of the matter is poor. But then, you just have to look at the amount of trucks overtaking in the Motorway fast lane (illegal), the amount of L-plates on the Motorways (illegal) to see that the Gardai are obviously very busy doing something else, somewhere else, to bother with mere matters of traffic enforcement. Would this happen in another country? I don't think so!

I spoke about the success of the brown bin experiment in Fingal during the week. The Senate was debating Waste Management issues. I called for a roll-out of brown bins across the North East, to try and reduce the amount of waste going to landfill sites.

The Labour Party organised a Conference in the Mansion House on Saturday about Climate Change. Sean Sherlock, our Spokerperson on Agriculture had a long-standing engagement elsewhere so he asked me to attend and to speak about Agriculture and Climate Change.

The Conference is part of our campaign to get government to provide leadership on this issue. We believe that a concerted approach is needed between Agriculture, planning, energy policy and transport policy and our Spokespeople on these portfolios all attended and spoke at the Conference.

Tommy Broughan speaks about Transport and Climate Change. Joanna Tuffy TD is in the foreground.

The Conference was fairly well-attended, considering it clashed with the Labour Youth Conference on the Lisbon Treaty (which voted to support the Treaty!). I called for more research into emissions, a review of the incentives for afforestation schemes and for further thought to be given to the use of bio-fuels.

A New Plan for Slane

2008-02-03T10:23:00.000Z

I attended the launch of the new planning document for Slane during the week. The document is about 18 months in gestation and has been put together by Professor Philip Geoghan on behalf of the Slane Forum.

Once again, as with most meetings in Slane, there was a big crowd - well over a hundred citizens attended. Slane village benefits from a great community spirit and that bodes well for the future.

The Plan seems well thought out and proposes various schemes that could help to revitalise the village, including a local park and the refurbishment of the Mill. I'm hopeful that this is not the end of the process, but the end of the beginning of the process and that we might see some much needed investment come into the village.

Over Christmas I visited Keyna and Tanzania. I was in Kenya on the day of the fateful election and saw at first hand the queues building up at polling stations. The EU needs to do all it can to bring peace back to this country, a point I made in the Senate last week.

We crossed over into Tanzania and I climbed the highest mountain in Africa, Kilimanjaro.

Taking a rest on the way to the summit.

The climb took seven days and six nights. I had a dreadful time. I vomited every day and for the whole week I couldn't keep any food down and I didn't sleep a wink. However, people from the North East don't give up easily; I managed to keep going and reached the peak, Uhuru, on New Year's Day.

At the summit on New Year's Day

Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there, if you parden the appalling pun. By the time I got to the bottom again I had developed a severe bronchial problem, which has been with me ever since. Four weeks later I am just starting to recover. The doctors tell me I have a few weeks of recuperation to go yet. Not a great start to 2008!

We need to see more zebra crossings - I saw this one in the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania

Mobile Phone Bills - French Pay less and talk more

2007-12-23T10:57:00.000Z

An interesting finding from the latest survey by the Communications Regulator was that Ireland pays very high rates for mobile phone usage compared to the rest of Europe. The French talk longer on their mobiles and yet pay about €100 less a year than we do. It's something I raised in the Seanad, asking the Minister to look at ways of reducing costs.

I also brought up the subject of the costs of electricity for industry. At the moment we pay 20% higher than the European average. It means that the costs of doing business are higher in this area, and given the economic outlook it's something that the ESB should be brought to task on - they made over €200 million last year in profit.

I am a member of the Joint Committee of Foreign Affairs and this week the issue of Extraordinary Rendition was discussed. We had invited in the Irish Human Rights Commission to talk through their recent report on the matter. Dr Maurice Manning from the IHRC attended with his staff, as did representatives from the Departments of Justice, Foreign Affairs and Transport. I was one of the (few) members calling for independent, real-time investigations to be carried out.

The Seanad broke up on Thursday afternoon for the year. I've certainly enjoyed the experience to date. A key part of being a member of the opposition is to highlight areas of concern and put pressure on the government for changes to be made in these areas. I've probably spoken in the Chamber about 40 or 50 times on a very wide range of subjects. Next year I hope to continue to do this.

This will be my last blog for 2007. It's been a hugely exciting year for me, what with the preparation for the general election, the campaign itself, the Seanad campaign and then settling in to my new role as a member of Seanad Eireann. I couldn't have gone through all of this without the support of a large number of people, so much thanks to everyone for their help in this and previous years. Happy Christmas and Best Wishes for 2008.