David Norris (Independent)

At the beginning of this difficult economic period over a year ago I sounded a warning about the Government's sinister manoeuvrings in seeking to dismantle every single State agency, including the Combat Poverty Agency, the Equality Authority and the Irish Human Rights Commission, which protected the vulnerable. It was done with little protest. Despite the fact that the issue was raised repeatedly in the House, there was no appetite to cover these issues in the media. A group called Equal Rights Alliance was established to fight for the retention of some support for the vulnerable. It recently held a conference and invited a distinguished legal person, Mr. Colm Ó Cinneide, a member of the European Committee of Social Rights, to address it. In his lecture he indicated there was a perception that Ireland which had been seen as a leading country when it came to social rights had fallen from grace. It is now being used as an example by countries such as Pakistan which recently cited our blasphemy law.

I want to give a specific local instance of what is happening without much being said in public about it, that is, the takeover by the Government of community development projects. This is nothing other than a smash and grab raid. So much for the Government's commitment to promote active citizenship, participatory democracy and local consultation. There have been no examinations, reviews or evaluations of these projects, some of which have been dismissed as non-viable. Those which are viable are told to dissolve and surrender their assets. In Ballybeg, County Waterford, the parish centre is legally an asset of the community's development project. It was given to the project by the Dominicans and later funds were raised by local people, with up to 20 women walking to Dublin, among other projects, to raise money to furnish and equip the centre and add an extension. The project has recently been told to surrender the centre to the Government. This is a smash and grab raid.

These matters must be consistently and continually raised in the House because the Government has disabled every voice for the people concerned. It is disgraceful in this circumstance that this is the way the Government is behaving.