Skip to main content
Normal View

Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 13 Dec 2017

Vol. 963 No. 2

Topical Issue Debate

County Development Plans

I am joined by Deputy Frank O'Rourke from Kildare North to share our common concerns about proposals in the local area plan for a road through St. Catherine's Park. The Minister of State, Deputy English, will be familiar with this issue, which centres primarily on the Leixlip local area plan. It comes on the heel of decisions made by the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government for Sallins and Celbridge. There have been three area plans in 12 months and there are more area plans for Naas and Maynooth to go through in the next 12 months. We are seeing a pattern where local democracy and democratic decisions taken by local councillors are being overruled by either the Ministers or their officials, and certainly by the Department. The local councillors live in the area, they are elected for the area and they understand what will work there. This will be three in a row if this Leixlip area plan is to go ahead. It is not good enough. The Minister and the Department are not accountable in the same way as local councillors.

The facts in this case are that St. Catherine's Park is a very important and strategic asset to the people of Leixlip, and to the people of Fingal, Lucan and surrounding areas. The two different councils, Kildare County Council with 40 councillors and Fingal County Council with 33 councillors, have passed motions at their respective meetings to safeguard the park, to ensure no road goes through the park, and that the park be protected as an amenity for the people. St. Catherine's Park enjoys green flag status and is an essential amenity for the people in those areas.

The proposed road does not need to go through St. Catherine's Park. The M50 outer orbital route is a viable alternative. The Minister of State will be familiar with the Navan-Newbridge proposed route where originally there was a plan for an outer orbital route from Drogheda through Navan down to Newbridge and back to Wicklow. If there is a need to go from north to south, it does not need to go through St. Catherine's Park.

On a point primarily of local democracy and, second, of amenity value, I call on the Minister of State not to overrule the democratic wishes expressed by the people of Leixlip through their councillors and to safeguard this park.

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the Chamber to discuss this issue today. With my colleague Deputy Lawless, I want to highlight and address the local concerns involved in this issue.

I represent the views of the many thousands of people who use St. Catherine's Park as an amenity every day. I am also representing the group, set up on a voluntary basis, called Save St. Catherine's Park. This group was formed as a result of the major concerns about this issue. People do not want the amenity of St. Catherine's Park spoiled in any way. They do not want any infrastructure or development going anywhere close to or through the park. People want the park kept as it is. It is a major, positive asset not only for Leixlip, but also for the people of Celbridge, Maynooth and the surrounding areas of Kildare and Dublin, including Lucan and Clondalkin. It is a recognised amenity and is determined as an asset at community, local, regional and national levels. Working with the Minister of State and his officials, we want to ensure that the park is maintained on that basis.

The original Kildare local area plan had a suggestion of an indicative line for a possible route for a road going close to or in St. Catherine's Park. At a later stage, RPS compiled a report on route selection and it put out one option as an indicative route to go through St. Catherine's Park. The Minister of State might appreciate the alarm bells and the local concerns around the Kildare local area plan and with the RPS report that reflects the road through St. Catherine's Park as an option or an indicative route. This is a route that absolutely nobody wants, locally or anywhere else. No group or individual wants this; they want to keep the amenity as it stands.

In the Chamber today, we ask the Minister of State, Deputy Damien English, to commit to upholding the views of the people locally, the community groups and the public representatives. The councillors in Fingal and in Kildare county councils have voted overwhelmingly to remove that indicative line to ensure the park remains as it is and I ask the Minister of State to commit to upholding those views. I thank the Minister of State.

I thank Deputies Lawless and O'Rourke for giving me the opportunity to clarify matters in respect of the Leixlip and Celbridge local area plans, a matter I addressed a couple of weeks ago in a debate in this House.

My role under the planning code in relation to statutory plans is simply to ensure that they are consistent with established national planning policies and that they comply with the relevant legislative requirements. Where this does not happen, the Legislature has provided a power to issue directions under section 31 of the Planning and Development Act, which acts as a safeguarding mechanism and, mindful of the local democratic process, I am glad to say it is used sparingly relative to some 300 statutory development plans and local area plans that exist across the State.

With regard to Leixlip and Celbridge, my sole concern is that Kildare County Council upholds its statutory obligations in relation to the core strategy outlined in the Kildare county development plan and given that they are at different stages I will address them separately. With the Leixlip local area plan, the statutory process is ongoing and so it would not be appropriate for me to comment in detail at this stage. Notwithstanding this, I am very happy to refute any suggestion that my Department or I support road development proposals through St. Catherine’s Park, which is a hugely valuable and strategic amenity for the communities in Leixlip, Lucan and surrounding areas. To the extent that existing roads infrastructure in the area is deficient, my Department would instead encourage enhancements to the existing network.

Turning to the Celbridge area plan, unfortunately, there have been breaches by the council in relation to its statutory obligations by seeking to zone for new housing at peripheral locations sprawling towards the M4 while at the same time failing to meet the strategic needs of its existing town centre. Kildare County Council's own county development plan has earmarked Celbridge to grow in population by some 10,000 people over the next five to ten years. We need to plan for this and we need to ensure that Celbridge has a heart and soul. This means we need more than just sprawling housing developments surrounding weak town centres, which is so symptomatic of other Irish commuter towns.

We want Celbridge to be more than just a dormitory commuter town. We want the population to be part of the community - the spirit of the town. The existing historic town centre of Celbridge needs to be sensitively developed too in order to match the requirements of its fast-growing population. This must happen without resorting to the kinds of out of town centre retailing and other services which so many Deputies in this House have, rightly, decried as undermining the vitality of existing town centres. We had the same discussion earlier today at a committee meeting.

My only aim is to ensure that settled national policy is upheld, that we get the matter of locating new housing right and that we support strong town centres. It was for those objectives that I issued a direction to Kildare County Council last month. I did not do that lightly. I visited the town several times and saw what needs to be done. I recognise how important it is that I use the powers vested in me for the good of the town and that I uphold long-term planning objectives. That is not to say that decision-making on local planning policy at council level does not have an important role to play. It is rare that I overturn decisions made by local authorities. When I have to intervene, it is with good reason and following very careful consideration of all the issues. My role is to provide a strategic, national perspective in administering local planning policy, which, in turn, benefits local communities in the long term. If this were not done and these decisions were made under local planning policies, we would have a situation where the communities impacted upon by these decisions would regret the situations in which they found themselves in the context of having to provide the shops and services they need at the edges of their towns or, even worse than that, perhaps not in their own towns but in neighbouring ones. If ministerial powers were not used, the Deputies might raise another matter to discover why we had not taken action and what we should do to enable proper and focused town centre development.

I accept that concerns have been expressed to the effect that the development of the lands behind the main street in Celbridge is some sort of thin end of a wedge as regards wider development of lands at Donaghcumper and that it also involves the development of part of Castletown House demesne. From my perspective as Minister of State, I want to see the demesne of Castletown House protected and sensitively conserved as much as anyone else. It is stretching matters in the extreme to suggest that the development of lands to the rear of the main street in Celbridge, which are, visually and functionally, quite separate from the demesne, will compromise its integrity. I am quite confident that adequate safeguards are in place to prevent any wider development proposals - or any future development proposals - on the subject lands affecting the integrity of the demesne. More importantly, the benefits of being able to provide for the orderly and sensitive development of the town centre must not be set aside. In addition, the development of the area behind the main street will also facilitate a new public park and riverside amenity, which will be a major attractor for the town centre. All of those involved need to work together to get this moving.

I emphasise that I am ready to work with Kildare County Council in implementing its plans in a way that will protect the commercial vitality of the town centre and the heritage value of the adjacent Castletown House demesne, as well as enabling the creation of a new riverside public amenity as set out in the local area plan.

I welcome the clarification that the Department does not support, under any circumstances, any road through St. Catherine's Park. If that is the case, this can be categorically ruled out. It is a very welcome development.

The Minister of State says that this is a rarely wielded power but my experience suggests otherwise. In north Kildare, area plans have been drawn up for Kilcock, Sallins, Clane, Celbridge and Leixlip and there has been ministerial intervention in respect of three of them. The Minister of State's claim is not borne out by reality. The power is being used far too frequently, which is a matter of some concern in the context of local democracy.

There are other threats to area plans from ministerial overrides. There is the Confey master plan, which is an extension of the area plan. Before that progresses, what kind of master plan action is envisaged for that area? Residents are very concerned about the position in respect of lands adjacent to the Celbridge road at Leixlip, referred to in the local area plan as "KDA 2". They would like their concerns to be given a hearing at least, even if, ultimately, the override is wielded. This is the duty of councillors but they have been taken out of the picture. I hope this does not become a pattern.

I welcome the Minister of State's clarification. Many people will be watching this debate closely and have heard the Minister of State give his unambiguous commitment that he does not support any infrastructure or roads being constructed anywhere close to or in St. Catherine's Park. That is a very welcome statement from him and his Department and it will be received positively by the people of Leixlip and surrounding areas. We want to ensure that the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and Transport Infrastructure Ireland follow suit. I welcome the Minister of State's comment to the effect that he would encourage consideration of other alignments close to the existing network rather than spoiling a good amenity. That is very positive and we hope that position will remain unchanged. We thank the Minister of State for his commitment and his clarification.

I thank both Deputies for raising the issue. The Legislature has made provision for ministerial powers to issue statutory planning guidelines. These guidelines need to be implemented in practice, they are not something to which we should only pay lip-service. The Deputy referred to the powers being used in three of five locations but there are 300 plans ongoing and I have had to intervene in very few cases. The Legislature has put in place powers of direction in respect of local planning and policy-making decisions for me to use as necessary. Usually, the local process gets it right but on this occasion it got matters wrong. The focus should now move to implementing the Celbridge local area plan and I wish to confirm again that I will work actively with Kildare County Council on infrastructural delivery and sustainable urban development. In addition, we are ready to work with the council in tackling the wider infrastructural delivery challenges to ensure that Celbridge and Leixlip play their full part in fulfilling the core strategy of the Kildare county development plan using the full range of housing and planning policy initiatives. Decisions will be made on the issues raised this evening in respect of the Leixlip plan in the coming week. This discussion is timely. I cannot go into the details now but I will keep the issues raised here in mind.

I hope the position on St. Catherine's is clear. Many of the people who approached the Deputies have also emailed me but I have not had a chance to respond to them all. I am not sure where these rumours come from but people should understand that I have no intention of putting a road through their park.

Planning Issues

Dublin city councillors recently voted in favour of a Part 8 development of 70 apartments on 1 ha of land at the front of Scribblestown estate, which is located on the Ratoath Road to Finglas. The latter is a road with which the Minister of State is probably familiar. This is a public private partnership development which will see six sites - across five local authority areas - being developed. The numerous issues which we face in housing can only be solved by supply and there is no disagreement on that, but the placing of this development causes me disquiet and I strongly believe that the area needs serious commitments in respect of facilities to match the development.

The Dublin city development plan outlines that Dublin City Council must ensure that all large developments are delivered in tandem with access to "essential infrastructure, such as transport, schools, childcare facilities, health facilities and recreational facilities." Looking at transport in particular, the figures are confusing as to why this site was selected. The nearest public transport is a bus route a 600 m walk away. It should be borne in mind that this is an entirely social development and that there is no provision for car parking or at least not for every apartment. It is confusing why people are expected to walk 600 m. The new Luas extension was given as one reason for why the site was chosen but it is located 1.5 km away. When representations were made to Dublin Bus that Finglas South and Finglas West - and Scribblestown within that - be linked to the Luas line in Broombridge, a straightforward and modest request, the company agreed. The matter has been resting with the National Transport Authority, NTA, for several months. The Luas line has been opened but there has been no movement.

The new primary school provided for Scribblestown by the Department of Education and Skills was not built in the catchment area. It is not in Finglas or Scribblestown but in Broombridge which, as I said, has no transport links with Finglas or Scribblestown whatsoever. That is incredible. We are putting people in more social housing without giving them the wraparound services or facilities that they need. Having grown up in an entirely social housing development in Ballymun, I can say that it was and is a good community and a good area but one which was not provided with the services it needed, which gave rise to the troubles that plagued the area during the 1980s and 1990s. It is clear that mistakes have been made in the past and that lessons were learned but they seem to have been forgotten in the context of this development in Scribblestown.

Will the Minister of State give a commitment from the Department that if this public private partnership development goes ahead, he will lobby other Ministers, Departments and the NTA to ensure the provision of the basic services this area needs? There is not even a footpath leading to the Scribblestown estate on one side of the road. This is incredible in Dublin city, and now we are adding another 70 apartments to the front of the estate, which was originally built as an affordable housing scheme when Fianna Fáil was in government. We obviously need more affordable housing schemes.

I look forward to seeing the Government's plans on that in due course. These people in Scribblestown understandably feel somewhat shafted because when they bought their houses as an affordable housing scheme they were told this site at the front was going to be developed as a community centre but it is being used for apartments, without any of the services initially promised and no sign of that community centre whatsoever. I would appreciate a commitment from the Minister of State that he will advocate proper transport links, proper schooling and health care facilities in the area. The primary care centre for Finglas was promised in 2011 but is nowhere in sight. No site has been found. Apparently a site cannot be found yet 1 ha of land was suddenly discovered when it came to housing. I would appreciate the Minister of State's comments and commitments on this. Perhaps he could point Dublin City Council formally towards developing a local area plan which is sorely needed for Finglas.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. The social housing public private partnership, PPP, programme is a critical part of the Rebuilding Ireland action programme for housing and homelessness, involving an investment with a capital value of €300 million to deliver 1,500 social housing units in three bundles.

The first bundle, which comprises six PPP sites, is expected to provide over 500 units in the greater Dublin area. Two of the sites are located in the Dublin City Council area, including the one at Scribblestown, which has approximately 74 social houses. It is expected that construction on this bundle will commence next year, following the tender award, with new homes becoming available in 2019.

The PPP programme complements the increased Exchequer-funded capital expenditure which is part of Rebuilding Ireland and allows for more social housing to be built in the context of available State resources. The PPP is part of a range of housing options being used by the Government in order to maximise social housing delivery. It is important to note that the sites being used will remain in local authority ownership and are being provided under licence for the duration of the 25 year PPP contract. Tenants allocated to PPP units will be drawn from the local authority social housing waiting list in accordance with that local authority's allocation scheme. The tenants will be subject to the standard arrangements that apply to other social housing allocations.

The PPP site at Scribblestown was identified and proposed for inclusion in the social housing PPP programme by the Dublin social housing delivery task force and by Dublin City Council, having regard to social housing need and the suitability of the site to be developed for social housing at this location.

The Department's guidelines concerning sustainability and social mix are set out in the 2007 document, Quality Housing for Sustainable Communities. The assessment criteria for the selection of PPP sites, including the site at Scribblestown, reflect these guidelines. While the new homes being developed are all for social housing purposes, sustainability is achieved within the wider framework of development planning for the area. Based on data and analysis from Dublin City Council, the percentage of social housing in the wider Finglas south area, after the Scribblestown development is completed, would be just 27%. The social housing need in the Ashtown, Blackhorse Avenue, Santry, Whitehall, Cabra, Finglas and Glasnevin areas of Dublin City Council is in excess of 4,000 applicants, based on the city council's data. The development at Scribblestown will therefore contribute to delivering much-needed homes for these applicants within their general area.

I am fully committed to and supportive of the development of the site at Scribblestown as part of the PPP programme and welcomed the news that Dublin City Council approved the Part 8 planning process early last week.

The Deputy is right to say that all Departments have a role under Rebuilding Ireland to make sure that any new housing is blended into an area and is well serviced in respect of transport and links to the community and facilities in respect of health and education services. As social housing delivery is the number one priority of the Government all Departments have been involved in the Rebuilding Ireland action plan. They all feed into that. They all have a role in that. I have no problem advocating that the services required to serve this would be developed if need be, if they are not put in place in 2018 and 2019 to service the site and the 74 new homes and families.

In general as a planning authority we try to encourage planning to be done in the correct way, ideally through local area plans which identify all the needs of the area. This site has been picked out and recommended by the local authority, as is its responsibility. It passes all our tests for suitability too. The Deputy is correct to say every Department has a role to play here and I will certainly make sure that message is passed on and that we advocate it across the board.

I thank the Minister of State and appreciate his remarks. He referred several times to sustainable communities. He can see from what I said earlier why I feel this scheme as it stands, with the resources as provided, does not constitute a sustainable community whatsoever. It seems that some kind of cordon sanitaire has been set up around Finglas, particularly in the past decade, in respect of developments in health care, education and transport. There is next to no public transport available there.

In the past year when the Taoiseach said he stands up for people who get up early in the morning I believed him. I still believe him and the people of Finglas believe him. However, it goes without saying that the people in Scribblestown will have to get up earlier in the morning in order to access school or to get to a health care centre that is nowhere near there and to get to their places of work because there will be 70 apartments lumped in front of their community with no footpath, no bus stop for 500 m, no link to the new Luas station they are being told about and no school in their catchment area. They were told they got a new school but it is nowhere near them. Only four people enrolled in it because it is not in the right catchment area. That is incredible.

I would appreciate a commitment and a whole of Cabinet, whole of Government approach to these problems which are bubbling. They will get worse. I am not against social housing or developments but it is clear that more is being added to an area that is oversubscribed and under-resourced. We are not getting the resources to match that need. I appreciate that the Minister of State said he will advocate on behalf of the community and work with the city council and the relevant line Ministers to get something moving there because it is sorely needed.

I am not familiar with the exact site although I know the area quite well because I have tried to travel through it but have had to change my route on a couple of occasions due to the Deputy's good work in that area, blocking off certain routes to drivers.

The site has been picked by Dublin City Council. I presume there are plans for a footpath to serve it because it has passed all of our tests and that is part of the planning process. I understand there has been extensive dialogue with local residents and representatives who are understandably interested in what happens on the site and are keen to see that the development is delivered to a high standard and is socially sustainable for the area. This dialogue has resulted in amendments to designs for the planned development and will further inform arrangements for its management and for developing the community. The planning decision has already been made by members of Dublin City Council. The PPP project at Scribblestown is an availability-based PPP model in which a private sector company designs, builds, finances and maintains the social housing units over a 25 year period in return for a monthly unitary payment. The homes will be handed back to the local authority after 25 years in a pre-defined good quality condition. The sites will remain in State ownership for the entire period.

Given that it is an availability based PPP, I have to make clear that it is not possible for me, my Department or the council to agree to a condition that the site be developed using a different model to PPP or with a different density of social mix. It has already gone to tender. These are intrinsic elements of the PPP model being used for social housing. With planning permission not in place we need to move on and deliver homes from all these key sites for local households who need them badly. I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy and he can be assured the site is being developed to meet pressing social housing needs while being fully respectful of the importance of good planning and community practices. I will work with our colleagues to do that as well.

Crime Levels

I wish a speedy recovery to the garda who was injured in the line of duty last week. When such an incident happens it is a reminder of the grave dangers of the job of protecting and serving our communities and that our respect and gratitude must be extended to our Garda public servants, those men and women who put their lives on the line for us.

Just a few weeks after the school holidays began last summer and over following weeks I received shocking reports from delegations of my constituents about outrageous anti-social and criminal behaviour involving joyriding and related mayhem being inflicted on residents night after night and often all throughout the night. I was informed that up to five and six vehicles were dangerously driven around a part of one estate in Dublin Bay North and then set on fire in nightly episodes often lasting up to 6 a.m. Community leaders complained of cars being burned directly outside family homes and then being used as blockades of those homes as the lives of local children and families were put in jeopardy on a daily and nightly basis. This hugely distressing mayhem was captured on photos and videos sent to me by constituents. I immediately reported the re-emergence of this appalling behaviour to senior Garda officers and to the Deputy City Manager for housing and estate management.

Unfortunately, the initial response of An Garda Síochána and Dublin City Council in midsummer was very slow and many residents felt let down by the gardaí and local authority officials. Following urgent requests from community leaders and local community safety forums and our Dublin North Central Joint Policing Committee, a policing plan was at last put into action which resulted in a reduction in this crime by early autumn.

I have contacted local gardaí and Dublin City Council about the issue repeatedly in recent months because of grave concerns of a further upsurge in the joyriding terror in the period around Hallowe'en. I raised the matter with the previous Minister, the former Tánaiste, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, on Leaders' Questions on 26 October last. Even in recent weeks, I have received ongoing reports of cars being driven recklessly and burned out in broad daylight. On one recent Saturday afternoon, for example, a car was being joyridden disgracefully from 3 p.m. while residents allege repeated and multiple calls to An Garda Síochána did not elicit a response until approximately 9 p.m. that night. While tyres are wrecked and cars are driven on the wheel rims, it is reported that the alleged ringleaders were witnessed calmly changing a tyre to continue the mayhem for a further period of hours. I have visited the worst affected district many times and can verify that some streets and green amenity spaces have been left in a disgusting state with debris and blackened damage still clearly visible even after the removal of burned out cars.

This appalling anti-social and criminal behaviour represents just one serious aspect of a wider increase in anti-social behaviour across other districts of Dublin Bay North and, I believe, other constituencies. My office receives regular complaints of the intimidation of citizens and families, widespread vandalism of public facilities and damage to apartment blocks and housing estates. What steps is the Minister taking to bring this behaviour to an end and to reassure householders that mindless anti-social and criminal behaviour will not be tolerated by this House or the Government? What action is being taken to identify and apprehend the alleged ringleaders of joyriding and other criminal behaviour, to caution them, link them with junior liaison officers and the Garda diversion programme, which has been so successful and, if necessary, prosecute those who are most responsible? As I asked the previous Minister last October, what action is being taken to identify and prosecute adults who sell or transfer vehicles to youngsters? The Minister might remember that I brought the original legislation to cover that issue before the House myself because most of these cars are not stolen vehicles. When will the long-promised community policing teams under the national Garda model of community policing be introduced in Garda Dublin metropolitan region north?

Community policing and general Garda resources were devastated by the long years of austerity foisted on us by the Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael blanket bank guarantees. In Dublin metropolitan region north, which covers Dublin Bay North and most of Dublin Fingal with a population of over 300,000 people, there were just 202 and 160 gardaí deployed in the R and J Garda districts, respectively, last year. The number of community gardaí was cut to only 40. We need urgent action to stop the resurgence of this horrible criminal behaviour and to bring peace and security to my constituents.

I thank Deputy Broughan for raising this important public safety issue. I join him and other Members in extending my good wishes for a speedy recovery to the garda who was injured in the line of duty last week in Ballymun. Deputy Broughan will recall that I responded to his oral question on that issue on 5 December last. Today, his focus is on the impact of dangerous driving and anti-social behaviour in his constituency of Dublin Bay North. I share the Deputy's concern about joyriding and anti-social behaviour. We all want and deserve to feel safe in our communities. We want our families, friends and neighbours to feel safe. Our communities are extensions of our homes and, in that regard, joyriding and anti-social behaviour fly in the face of what we expect to experience when we are at home in our communities. The results of such behaviour can be tragic. The participants in dangerous anti-social activities can be injured, sometimes seriously and sometimes fatally. They may also inflict injuries on law-abiding citizens in communities. Innocent passers-by, including other road users and pedestrians, can, unfortunately, meet a similar fate. Families, friends, neighbours and, indeed, communities are left to pick up the pieces.

I acknowledge the work of Deputy Broughan as an active public representative in his district and ask him to appreciate that I have no direct role in the prevention of anti-social behaviour or the enforcement of road traffic legislation, which are operational matters for An Garda Síochána, in particular the Commissioner. I am informed, however, that the Garda conducts operations on an ongoing basis to target anti-social activities by young drivers. To combat this behaviour, intelligence is gathered locally and areas are targeted as appropriate. The Garda also works closely with local authorities to reduce such incidents and the opportunities for joyriding, anti-social behaviour and wider instances of public disorder. As a result of the dangerous and anti-social driving behaviour experienced in a number of areas in the Deputy's constituency, the Garda has introduced a robust policy of public order patrols at weekends. This has been particularly evident in recent weeks with a view to ensuring that there is a visible Garda presence in the communities concerned, that gardaí attending calls are safe, that offenders are identified and targeted and that anti-social behaviour is prevented. Ongoing liaison has been maintained with Dublin City Council and local Garda management has engaged continuously and directly with the communities affected and with local public representatives. As a result of this collaborative approach, the Garda reports a clear improvement in the levels of anti-social behaviour in recent weeks in the communities concerned. I commend this approach and all those involved in it.

In particular, Dublin City Council has made improvements to the railings around Darndale Park, which has contributed to a reduction in driving in the park. A number of youths involved in anti-social behaviour in the area have been identified and plans have been put in place to bring them within the case management programme, which is an effective tool to prevent future criminal behaviour. A specific policing operation was put in place in one of the areas concerned in late October. It involves a range of policing activities and the deployment of more than 25 gardaí drawn from across the district and public order units. Intensive patrolling and check points were conducted and I understand there has been an obvious improvement in the area recently, though I would be grateful if Deputy Broughan would keep me informed of developments. The programme for Government underlines the need for close engagement between An Garda Síochána and local communities as part of the strong community policing ethos which has long been central to policing in this jurisdiction. Active engagement has proved fruitful and it is now vital that this ongoing engagement continues.

In the reply the Minister gave me a few months ago, he stated that he was in ongoing contact with the Garda Commissioner and was committed to ensuring that the Garda had the necessary resources to deal with all types of criminality in our communities. Nevertheless, local superintendents reported at a joint policing committee for the north central region in late summer that the move towards armed specialist units had meant local units had suffered from depleted resources. That brings us back again to the need for community policing and to ensure that the necessary resources are made available. Will the Minister come out to the Dublin metropolitan region north Garda district to visit the affected areas himself and meet directly with residents and some of the excellent community development activists who work diligently on the ground to promote more peaceful, safe and respectful communities? Many of those leaders have given years of service and volunteer hours but, unfortunately, they feel let down by the Government, Garda and local authorities with regard to the current wave of anti-social and criminal behaviour.

Some residents and community activists have reported to me that when they have contacted local gardaí, they were told that the resources were not available to send a car. In one case, a constituent alleges that he was told to get in touch with a local Deputy. When one's street is being terrorised on a nightly basis, it is simply not good enough to hear such a response. People are afraid to speak out and we know that when they do, they are often targeted, intimidated and harassed. The estate most affected is supposed to have a Dublin City Council system of camera surveillance to act as a deterrent to this type of crime. Unfortunately, there have been regular disruptions. Why are these cameras not being monitored from Dublin City Council headquarters at Wood Quay or from the local civic offices for the north side on Bunratty Road to provide vital information to the Garda? Citizens have also asked whether there is a major role for plain-clothes surveillance and unmarked cars to invigilate and end this type of crime. The citizens I represent want an urgent and total end to the re-emergence of joyriding as a crime and the associated mayhem and anti-social behaviour which accompany it. They want peace and security in our district.

I very much agree with the Deputy that local policing measures to address the issues to which he refers will undoubtedly benefit from the increased level of resources now coming on stream through the Garda recruitment programme. The Government has committed to increasing Garda numbers to 15,000 to provide the Commissioner with the capacity to address the needs of communities throughout the country. This, of course, includes the greater Dublin metropolitan area. Specific responses have been put in place by the Garda to tackle antisocial behaviour in the area to which the Deputy refers and I understand that, as a result, this past Hallowe'en was one of the quietest in recent years.

The Deputy will be aware that An Garda Síochána signalled its commitment to increasing the overall strength of the roads policing unit by 10% prior to the end of this year, and the acting Garda Commissioner recently announced that a further 10% increase is planned during the course of 2018. It is proposed to continue to increase the overall strength of the roads policing unit each subsequent year until full operational strength is restored. Along with the greater number of recruits, I should also mention the increased funding for the Garda fleet of marked and unmarked cars, many of which are evident in the Deputy's area.

The joint policing committees are working well. I am always anxious to hear from local stakeholders and from the meetings on how best we can maximise the work of local stakeholders and public representatives working with An Garda Síochána in communities. Road safety is a shared responsibility for all road users, not just An Garda Síochána, the RSA and other State bodies. I urge anybody affected by, or with information about, these types of anti-social behaviour to contact his or her local Garda station. The Garda confidential telephone line is 1800-666-111. It is a monitored free telephone line that allows members of the public to contact the Garda with information of a confidential nature. People can also contact Crimestoppers at 1800-25-00-25.

With regard to Garda resources, we are on target to have 13,500 gardaí by the end of this year and a total of 21,000 by 2021. I am keen to accelerate the process of civilianisation in order that gardaí can go out on the streets to do the work they are trained to do. There was also a reference to CCTV. There is grant aid available to local community groups. I will be happy to speak to the Deputy on these issues.

Legal Costs

I wish to ask the Minister for Justice and Equality, in light of ongoing concern about his Department's approach, what his Department is actively doing to bring Ireland into line with EU law by ensuring that limited companies can access our courts if they cannot afford to engage the often disproportionately expensive solicitors and barristers by whom our courts insist they must be represented. The previous Minister said in reply to parliamentary questions in 2016 that she was:

aware of case C-258/13 regarding Article 47 of the European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights ... While there are no plans at present to introduce legal aid for the type of commercial enterprise referred to, the situation is kept under review in my Department.

Article 47 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, on the right to an effective remedy and to a fair trial, states:

Everyone whose rights and freedoms guaranteed by the law of the Union are violated has the right to an effective remedy before a tribunal in compliance with the conditions laid down in this Article. Everyone is entitled to a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial tribunal previously established by law. Everyone shall have the possibility of being advised, defended and represented. Legal aid shall be made available to those who lack sufficient resources in so far as such aid is necessary to ensure effective access to justice.

In essence, this is being denied to small businesses in Ireland due to the rules that they must engage expensive legal representation in order to get redress before the Irish courts. As a businessman, on several occasions I have been in need of legal redress for relatively small amounts, but the certainty of the expensive legal cost involved ensured that I could not pursue the matter. Businesses in Ireland have enough stress without the added frustration of knowing that the justice system, which is paid for through our taxes, is denied to them.

With regard to intellectual property, there has been a major problem with protections for people with rights in this area. This has been raised on many occasions in both Houses of the Oireachtas. Holders of intellectual property rights are in many instances individual people who need their rights defended without incurring massive legal fees. They can do this in other EU countries but not in Ireland. This has been known by the Government for some years now and many Deputies on all sides of the Dáil, including the current Taoiseach, have tried to secure action on it, but it appears to have been lost in translation in the Department of Justice and Equality. It appears that the Government knows it is breaking EU law but is doing little about it. It also appears that the European Commission has been led to believe that the problem does not exist in Ireland.

Will the Minister tell the House what his Department or the Government has told the EU, either directly or indirectly, on this matter?

I acknowledge the important issue raised by Deputy Casey. At its root is the question of the impact of legal costs on small and medium enterprises in terms of their access to the courts and other means of legal redress. As such, the Deputy will appreciate that it is an issue which straddles both the Department of Justice and Equality and the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation in policy terms. That said, the Deputy will appreciate the priority that must be given to our more vulnerable citizens in the allocation of finite Exchequer funding in support of the provision of civil legal aid.

It is important to note the key structural and transparency reforms that are being made to the legal costs regime under the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015, which will also be of key benefit to business and small and medium sized enterprises. For example, as well as obliging legal practitioners to provide better costs information, the Act allows employed or corporate lawyers to act in proceedings on behalf of their employers and for direct access to barristers on non-contentious business. Another important development is the Mediation Act 2017, which will come into operation fully on 1 January 2018. The Act, which deals with disputes of a civil nature, will speed up the resolution of disputes, reduce legal costs associated with such disputes and reduce or avoid the stress involved in adversarial court proceedings.

In case C-258/13 cited by the Deputy, the Court of Justice of the European Union determined in its order of 28 November 2013 that it "clearly had no jurisdiction to rule on the question referred to it" including as it would have related to the interpretation of Article 47 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.

Against a background of ever increasing demand for civil legal aid, great care was taken to maintain the Legal Aid Board budget during the recession. It has seen a budget allocation increase of 28% over the 2011 to 2017 period, with an increase of over 10% during the period 2016 to 2017. The board received an additional €1.25 million in the budget this year, bringing the budget to a total of €38.9 million. This has built on those other budgetary increases made in recent years - over €8 million since 2011 - to continue to reduce waiting lists and to consolidate services across a number of areas. This includes the Abhaile scheme for persons in mortgage arrears. It also includes provision for pay increases in 2018.

At present, the Legal Aid Board, which was established under the Civil Legal Aid Act 1995, provides civil legal aid and advice to persons of limited means who cannot afford to pay a solicitor privately. Section 5(1) of the Civil Legal Aid Act 1995 states that the principal function of the Legal Aid Board is to provide legal aid and advice in civil cases to persons, who satisfy the requirements of the Act. The board has always interpreted the word "persons" to mean natural persons only and not to include legal persons, that is, companies. Section 29(1) of the Act requires that a person satisfy certain financial eligibility criteria set out in regulations. The financial eligibility criteria set out in the civil legal aid regulations 1996-2013 clearly contemplate a natural person's income and resources being assessed.

There are no plans at present in the Department of Justice and Equality to introduce a scheme of legal aid for commercial enterprises. However, the Department is in regular contact with officials in the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation on cross-departmental matters and the situation in regard to legal aid of the nature referred to will be kept under review. I am not in a position to make any firm commitments to the Deputy having regard to constraints on my budget.

I thank the Minister for his response. It is disappointing that a sector of Irish society, the small and medium sized enterprises that play a huge role in that society, is left without any support. To put it in perspective, we are talking about amounts in excess of €2,000. If the amount is above €2,000 we must engage the legal professions. It is equally disappointing that even the Chief Justice, Mr. Justice Frank Clarke, last September stated that there was little point in having a good court system if a great many people found it difficult or even impossible to access it for practical reasons.

He said it was increasingly becoming the case that many types of litigation are moving beyond the resources of many. The Taoiseach said it seven years ago when he asked the very same question, yet we are back here seven years later and there is still no movement regarding this aspect of legal aid or indeed tackling the small claims court and looking at increasing the claims amount there. I understood that this requires just a statutory instrument, which would insert language into the small claims court legislation allowing these claims to go through an easier court system, one that does not require as many complicated forms as barristers or solicitors. Intellectual property should be considered as a separate entity.

While I appreciate that Deputy Casey would support the provision of civil legal aid to small businesses and enterprises, it is important that we do not lose sight of the enhanced and much more transparent legal cost regime that is being introduced at the moment under the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015. This will impose greater transparency obligations on barristers and solicitors in the charging of legal fees to private and commercial clients and includes discussing the legal costs implications of any new developments in a case with a client before proceeding any further. The Act allows employed or corporate lawyers to act in proceedings on behalf of their employers and for direct access to barristers on non-contentious business. It also allows barristers sharing a premises to advertise themselves. This had all been prevented under existing codes. Under the Act, it will not be permissible for legal practitioners to set fees at a specified percentage or proportion of damages payable to a client from contentious business. Moreover, it will no longer be permissible for barristers to charge junior counsel fees at a specified percentage or proportion of those pertaining to senior counsel. In addition, there will be a new office of the legal costs adjudicator, which will replace the existing Office of the Taxing Master and maintain a publicly accessible register of determinations. It will be supported in its decisions by a set of legal cost principles contained in Schedule 1 to the 2015 Act.

As Deputy Casey may appreciate, a review of the administration of civil justice in Ireland has recently commenced under the chairmanship of the President of the High Court, Mr. Justice Peter Kelly. Among other things, this review will consider such areas as access to justice, reducing the costs of litigation, ensuring timely hearings and the removal of obsolete, unnecessary or indeed over-complex rules of practice and procedure.

On the matter of extending the scope of civil legal aid to corporate entities, I again point to the enormous demand for such legal aid, including in respect of sensitive litigation in areas such as family law. As I mentioned in my opening remarks, priority continues to be given to our more vulnerable citizens in the allocation of finite Exchequer funding in support of the provision of such legal aid.

Top
Share