Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
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The first petition, No. P00032/13, concerns the introduction of a supplementary primary education tax payable by Australian and other non-EU nationals on working visas in Ireland. The petitioner is of the view that as a result of the current financial situation in the country, the Government should study the system adopted by Australia and implement the same system in Ireland. Australia has enacted a law under which working visa holders, with children attending government funded primary schools, must pay an additional fee per child attending school. We first considered this petition on 26 March 2014. We wrote to the Minister for Finance as we considered it was a tax matter. The reply from the Department of Finance states this proposal would be more appropriate to be administered via a charge similar to that imposed on third level students from outside the European Union. The Department of Education and Skills has confirmed that it is not planning on introducing such a tax. We forwarded the petition to the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. We have considered it and received responses from the Departments concerned. We have agreed to forward the departmental responses, the rationale for the viewpoint expressed and close the petition. Is that agreed? Agreed.

Petition No. P00024/2014 relates to social inclusion. The petitioners believe the Government policy of tendering out the new Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme, SICAP, threatens to undermine community development projects and will result in a deterioration of services for the most disadvantaged. They cite as the problem the enforcement of EU procurement Directive 2004/18/EC and advise that it has been superseded by EU Directive 2014/24/EU. When it came before the committee on 11 December, it was agreed to invite the petitioners to address the committee on 28 January 2015. We have deliberated on this issue. I invite Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh to propose the recommendation.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Given that the Dublin Inner City Community Alliance had cited EU Directive 2014/24/EU during its presentation as a valid reason for not proceeding with the tendering, we asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government to confirm to the committee whether it was the valid directive. Has the previous directive which was used for the tendering process earlier this year lapsed and will the State have to pass into law the new directive by April 2016? Given that the SICAP tendering process has to be repeated within a number of years, the Dublin Inner City Community Alliance believes some of the concerns it has raised may be addressed by EU Directive 2014/24/EU. It believes that if it were in place, community organisations would not be forced to compete against each other in the tendering process, as was the case in this instance. I also believe we should forward the response we received from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, together with the response from the chief procurement office, to the petitioners. We should respond to the chief procurement officer again seeking clarification that EU Directive 2004/18/EC does not apply to certain services funded by way of grant aid. We should also ask if the Teckal principle applies to the new directive. There has been a loss of service in some areas as a result of the tendering process. It is still a valid petition, given that the tendering process has been completed but still affects local areas.

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
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Is that agreed? Agreed.

Petition No. P00027/14 on the abortion referendum is in the name of Mr. Alan Moran. He is requesting the joint committee to call for a referendum on abortion. This petition was brought before the consultative working group on 15 April for its consideration of its admissibility. It was agreed not to deem the petition inadmissible but to bring it before the full joint committee for consideration. It was also decided that calling for a referendum may not be something the committee should request, given the number of debates held on the abortion issue. We also sought legal advice on the issue. While we have agreed that the petition is admissible, there have been wide ranging debates in the Dáil and the Seanad. The issue has had a considerable hearing in the Houses without us duplicating that work. We will write to the petitioner, advising that we do not intend to take the matter further and we will close it. Is that agreed? Agreed.

The final petition is P000020/2015on the affordability of domestic Irish Water charges is in the name of Mr. Ben Dalton. He is requesting that legislation be introduced which would allow for a section to be set up within Irish Water to deal with customers not in a position to pay their water bills, that Irish Water agree to a payment plan with the customer and that in a situation where there was a default on this agreement, there should be the facility of an appeals process. He also recommends that individuals be allowed to make an appeal to the Commission for Energy Regulation, should they not be happy with the appeals process. Similar to the previous petition, this matter has received considerable attention through legislation dealt with in recent times. We agree to refer the matter to the Joint Committee on the Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht to see if it believes it needs further attention. As always when we refer a petition to another committee, we will continue to monitor the position. Is that agreed? Agreed. The petition will remain open and has been sent to another committee for its deliberation.