Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom chuile dhuine a fháiltiú ar ais. Cuirim fáilte freisin roimh an gceapachán atá déanta ag an Rialtas go mbeidh Aire tuaithe againn.

I welcome the appointment of a Minister with responsibility for rural affairs. Having attended the Teagasc rural development conference this morning, it is quite obvious there is a great need for a Minister to work in this area because of the huge dichotomy in farm incomes, particularly in the west and Border areas.

I call for a debate on rural areas, rural affairs and how the Government is looking to implement the CEDRA initiative. I note that this morning the Minister said all policies and strategies by State agencies are to be rural-proofed. What I have called for, and what I call for again today, is that the Minister talks to her Cabinet colleagues to ensure all budget announcements are rural-proofed also because that is where everything starts.
Coming back today was likened by many to coming back to school, but at least during the break we got to catch up on some things we do not normally do like reading books. I would like to let people know about a book I read over the summer, called Abuse of Power: Because Councils Can, by Julie Grace. I recommend it to every Member of the Seanad. It is a very serious book which deals with the death of Bríd Cummins in Galway a number of years ago and the situation in which she found herself. It talks about the abuse of power of a council, in particular by unelected members. It is important we have a debate around the powers of CEOs, in particular, of the local authorities.
Bríd Cummins died in a very tragic circumstance. There had been issues around her being put out of a council house in the city. It was an absolute scandal. At the time, the now President said it was absolutely understandable in the light of the terrible event and the many unanswered questions which the family had that it should request a public inquiry into the distressing nature of Bríd Cummins's passing, and I would agree with him. There is a need for a public inquiry into what happened and anybody who reads the book will agree there are huge issues.
Has anybody in the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government read this book? What is being done about this? Has anybody apologised to the family of Bríd Cummins and what is the status of the whistleblower in this case, Julie Grace, who wrote the book?
The main question is whether the Minister has a role in investigating the issues highlighted there. The Leader might say it is a question for an Adjournment debate but the power of CEOs and unelected people in local authorities is the core issue we should debate because a number of the characters who appear in the book have gone on to much bigger and better things in Irish Water and have become CEOs of other county councils in this State whereas this poor woman suffered very badly at the hands of the local authority, as is alleged in the book. As was said, the people who instigated that have gone on to much bigger and better things and have been rewarded for their work.