Dan Boyle (Green Party)

Senators Coffey, O'Toole, Alex White, Donohoe, Ross, Ó Brolcháin, Coghlan, McDonald, Bacik, Buttimer, O'Reilly and Fitzgerald raised the issue of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority report. The position on the news report on RTE this morning is that RTE has seen a copy of the report. The report was commissioned by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. It is a series of three reports undertaken by the recently appointed chair of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority, Professor Niamh Brennan, as part of a wider appointment of a largely new board in the Dublin Docklands Development Authority. It was received by the Minister in February. The Minister immediately passed it on to the Attorney General's office for legal vetting. That process of legal vetting is ongoing. It includes handing out copies of the reports to the people mentioned. That is expected to be finished within a matter of weeks. It is anticipated the report will be published in April and there will be a debate in this House on the contents of the report. I expect the Minister to be very forthcoming in such a report. As a Member of this House and like all current and former Members, I have not seen a copy of any of the reports. We should all await their publication before we discuss the wider issues. I am led to believe there are no specific political references but the wider political issues involved are a matter for debate in this House and I look forward to such a debate taking place.

On the question of whether the public service actions are appropriate and how they are being dealt with, most Members expressed an opinion that they are not appropriate, particularly in circumstances where talks are being organised and are set to take place and there is a hope of a resolution of the issues involved. It is particularly counterproductive that these actions, whether they are of the work to rule nature we have seen or threatened all-out action, only serve to lessen the economic circumstances we are collectively trying to overcome and make resolution of the economic issues all the more difficult. I appeal to all those currently involved in undertaking actions or authorising any future actions to consider the consequences of those actions.

Senator Coffey raised the issue of the European Globalisation Fund. He was joined by Senators Ryan and Cummins on that issue. As Senator Coffey pointed out, the European Globalisation Fund is €500 million for the 27 member states of the European Union and the degree to which Ireland can apply for it is quite small. Ultimately, it is our own Exchequer and Government that is responsible for meeting the training needs of all the workers involved but if administrative issues arise in the three cases mentioned here, I will have those brought to the attention of the Department and ensure an appropriate response is given to the Members.