Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 30 May 2019

Public Accounts Committee

Business of Committee

9:00 am

Photo of Seán FlemingSeán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That is correct. It is an example of members' commitment to their public duty that they want to see this matter through. We could have easily declined to insist on quarterly reports and allowed the matter to just hang there. We will publish the letter. There have been improvements in a number of areas. The Christian Brothers have recently contributed €2 million but they still owe €6.4 million to bring the balance up and Caranua is waiting for that cash, which we are told will come in the months after the sale of the lands in Clonkeen, Dublin. It is all contingent on that. It is a progress report and we will keep at it by asking Mr. Ó Foghlú to use the Committee of Public Accounts in his negotiations with the various organisations. He is under pressure to bring the matter to a conclusion. We should not have to supervise this and some might say it is not within our remit but we are happy to do it anyway, in the interests of the public.

The next item is from from the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Charlie Flanagan, dated 10 May 2019, providing information requested by the committee on proposed legislation regarding the court poor box. A reparation fund is to be established which will be used to provide additional funding for services for victims of crimes and compensation payments by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal. Moneys must be paid to the reparation fund unless provided for by law. There was a practice that a judge could direct a defendant to make a contribution to a third party charity or organisation but it all has to go through the reparation fund, other than compensation as directed by a judge under the legislation. That is good to hear.

The next item is from Ms Mary Donohoe, Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, dated 22 May 2019 providing follow-up information requested by the committee relating to 12 items. It is very thorough correspondence and it is good to put it on the public record. I will highlight some key points, while other members may want to make additional points. We asked about the EPA data relating to testing water supplies for illicit or illegal drugs. The agency confirms there is an issue but nothing on the scale of London or Amsterdam because we do not source most of our water from rivers in the cities. The vast majority of urban wastewater discharges are located in coastal or estuary areas, with none of it located downstream from any of these plants. The agency is doing a study on it but it will be nothing like on the scale we have seen in other European cities. There is a detailed report on landfill sites licensed by the EPA, unlicensed sites, historical land sites, private landfills, illegal landfills and a lot of great information that will be of interest to people. There is a lot of information on the radon strategy and details of costs that we had requested and there is information on the river basin catchment areas.

The EPA also gives information on the emissions trading scheme, which is interesting. It states that overall emissions of greenhouse gases from Irish power generation and industrial companies in the EU decreased by 4.8% in 2017 and a further 8% in 2018. The decrease in emissions is due to a significant drop in power generation emissions of 13.9% as a result of the ESB Moneypoint coal-fired plant being offline. That happened by accident and the EPA is taking credit for the place being closed but it is a fact that emissions are down. Conversely, greenhouse gas emissions from the main industrial sources increased in 2018 from 2017, with the cement industry recording a 4.7% increase, dairy a 3.6% increase and the pharmagen industry an 8.8% increase. The EPA states that this is on account of economic growth and that a wide group of industries contributed to the increase. Emissions from aviation showed a 6.8% increase in 2018, arising from flights in and out of Ireland but also flights anywhere in the EU where the aircraft carrier has an operating licence from the Irish Aviation Authority, including Ryanair and Aer Lingus. It means that emissions from Ryanair flights across Europe are booked in Ireland so it is important that people understand it is not all as simple as it seems.

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