Ivana Bacik

Order of Business

Wednesday, 18 January 2012

Senator Ivana Bacik:     I join Senator O’Brien in conveying the sympathies of the Labour Party Members to the family of the former editor of the Sunday Independent, Aengus Fanning, and to the families of the fishermen lost in the tragedy at sea off west Cork. We all commend the bravery of the search and rescue teams and the immense solidarity and bravery of the local communities in Union Hall.

I take this opportunity to commend the Oireachtas library and research service on its excellent briefing on trends in the economy. It managed to make the statistics and figures understandable and accessible. It is important that it should provide such a service to us, particularly in light of the ongoing crisis at European level. I note the reports today on the attempts at European level to avert default by Greece. It is of immense concern to us all that such a default be prevented.

I welcome the establishment by the Government last week of the expert group on the ABC case, in which the European Court of Human Rights found against Ireland in December 2010 in respect of our abortion law. It is very welcome that this Government is finally grasping a nettle which previous Governments failed to grasp. The expert group will examine how to implement the judgment and avoid future litigation against Ireland on this subject. The group, which is made up of eminent individuals from a range of disciplines, will report within six months. I ask the Leader to allow for a debate on that report following its publication.

Will the Leader arrange for a debate on waste strategy in light of the huge concerns of Dublin residents regarding the takeover of the city’s waste disposal service by a private contractor, Greyhound? There has been immense confusion, a lack of notice to residents and the wishes of councillors has been overridden, as city managers are legally entitled to do. The process has not been well managed and there is great concern about the need for upfront payments to Greyhound and for people to maintain money in an account before their refuse will be collected. This could lead to a serious crisis for litter collection in the city.

Social Welfare Bill 2011: Committee Stage

Thursday, 15 December 2011

Senator Ivana Bacik:     I support what Senator Norris said about the need for recognition of children of civil partnerships. This is an issue I, Senator Norris and a number of others made at various times during the Civil Partnership Bill debate. I am aware it is not directly concerned with this issue, but I want to mention it.

I am hugely impressed by the detailed knowledge Senator Moloney has of social welfare schemes and entitlements. She has brought a great deal of knowledge and expertise to bear on this debate and I could not possibly come near that.

It is very hard to sit and listen to Fianna Fáil Members attacking the Minister, Deputy Burton, for what has been an incredible achievement in protecting the social protection budget and in reducing the level of cuts that has been applied to far less than the level applied by the Fianna Fáil Government in its last budget last year. We should also remember the budget in which the Christmas bonus was abolished. It is very difficult to listen to Fianna Fáil talk about cuts and attack this Government.

Order of Business

Thursday, 15 December 2011

Senator Ivana Bacik:     I agree with Senator O’Brien that we need a debate on the issues around the EU deal done last week and the question of whether we will have a referendum in the new year. I am delighted we will have the opportunity tomorrow, when the Minister of State, Deputy Creighton is here, to try to tease out the question of whether a referendum will be necessary and, if it is to be held, what it will be seen as. I did not hear the Minister for Finance’s initial comments, but I read the interview he gave to The Irish Times in which he says that the practical politics - the shorthand - will be whether we want to maintain Ireland’s position as a eurozone country. We need to tease out whether that is a correct interpretation of how it will be seen and that is a different question to the one as to the content of the referendum. We need more time to debate those issues.

I renew a call for a debate on an issue I raised earlier in the week, on Tuesday, on the ESRI-UCD report on changing family forms. This important report looks at the changing demographic in Ireland and the changing make-up of family and there are political consequences from this. One of these is the need for more flexible work practices and the case for paid paternity leave, even just for a short time, to enable fathers get greater recognition in the workplace. I seek a full debate on this in the new year. I noticed that during the debate on the Social Welfare Bill on Tuesday, the Minister, Deputy Burton, pointed out that the report has implications for social welfare policy and social protection and how payments will be made in the future. A debate on this would be very useful.

I also seek a debate on education. A report from the CSO today indicates that Ireland is joint first in the European Union for third level attainment among those aged between 25 and 34. Some 48% of these have a third level qualification, well above the EU average of one-third. This is interesting and a debate on the issue would be beneficial.

All of us will have huge concerns about the report from the historical inquiries team yesterday, on the Miami showband massacre in 1975, which showed the team found RUC special branch involvement. This is something we need to debate in the House.

Social Welfare Bill 2011: Second Stage

Tuesday, 13 December 2011

Senator Ivana Bacik:     I welcome the Minister to the House. I had not quite anticipated that there would be no Opposition speaker between Senator Hayden and me. I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak about the Bill. I listened very carefully to the debate, including the Minister’s earlier speech, which was very strong. She is to be commended on preserving the basic rates of benefit in the face of such an enormous economic crisis. As other speakers have said we face an unprecedented crisis and in the face of that it is a significant achievement to have preserved basic rates and indeed to have taken less out of the Department of Social Protection budget than had been anticipated. I am grateful to Senator Moloney who pointed out that Fianna Fáil proposed to slash social welfare spending by an additional €665 million in 2012 compared with the €475 million adjustment in the budget.

As the Minister has pointed out, the Fianna Fáil-led Government made cuts in the last budget to social welfare spending worth €873 million, which is a great deal more than is being cut in this budget. It must be said, the Minister said it herself, that no Minister and no Labour Party Minister in particular has any desire to make the cuts she was obliged to make. Moreover, when introducing his statement to the Dáil last week, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, stated that as a Labour Party Minister, he found it hard to make the speech he made. However, in the face of the economic crisis and under the constraints within which the Government is operating with regard to the IMF-EU-ECB deal, it is conscious it must try to preserve basic rates and must try to ensure a certainty for families in receipt of welfare benefits that the basic rates will remain the same. Moreover, the Government must try to protect, in so far as it can, the most vulnerable and those who are most disadvantaged in society, which is what it has done. While many Members personally would have preferred a different balance between taxation and cuts, the compromise reached in the budget reflects the balance in the Government and, in particular, reflects the numbers we of the Labour Party have in the Cabinet. Given the economic constraints, it has been a remarkable achievement to keep the cuts in social welfare to the level announced, to retain the present rates and to preserve the basic rate of child benefit.

Another positive consequence to which the Minister referred is her commitment to reform of social welfare and the principles thereof, which is of huge importance. The move from a dependency culture to a culture of enablement and empowerment is something of which everyone in the Labour Party and everyone on the left should be strongly supportive. This budget commences an attempt to streamline allowances, to move towards a one person-one payment position and to align different rates of payments to ensure consistency. This is something to be supported and all Members must regret it did not happen during the boom years, when more money was available to do it. For example, other colleagues already have spoken about the one-parent family payment and I have received correspondence in this regard from organisations such as OPEN and the Irish Feminist Network, the aims of which I fully support. However, over the years in which it has been in operation, the one-parent family payment has not had the desired effect of tackling poverty and social exclusion for single-parent families. It is time this payment was examined and efforts made to reform it.

I note that under the previous Government, the age up to which the payment was made already had been altered. Until 27 April 2011, the payment had been given until children were aged 18 or until 22 if in full-time education and that had come down to 14. The proposal in this budget is to reduce progressively in phases the maximum age from 14 to seven between now and 2014. The idea behind this measure is that the best route out of poverty for lone-parent families, as for anyone else in receipt of welfare benefits, is through paid employment. This is a very important principle that Members must support. In addition, the effect of the one-parent family payment has been negative in a couple of other ways. First, by stereotyping parents and children into a particular compartment or box in society and, second, it has had the extremely negative effect in some cases of keeping fathers away from children and keeping people in a one-parent family when they might otherwise have moved to a two-parent unit. This has had highly negative social consequences and is a matter of which we on the left must be conscious when seeking reform. However, one must ensure that supports are available for single parents who are affected by this budget. In particular, as other colleagues have noted, one must ensure that supports are available in respect of child care provision. This country has always been very poor in respect of securing adequate child care provision for parents and families.

While there is plenty more to be said, Members will have an opportunity to speak further on the budget during the extended Committee Stage debate next Thursday. In conclusion, I again thank the Minister and look forward to the Committee Stage debate next Thursday.

Order of Business

Tuesday, 13 December 2011

Senator Ivana Bacik:     The Leader will respond to the Order of Business but in respect of developments in the eurozone, clearly things have moved on since we last met on Friday. Unfortunately, there is still a lack of detail as to what is in the agreement reached by the European leaders on Friday. We will need to wait and see the detail before we know for sure whether a referendum will be necessary here. The Taoiseach has already said it will be a number of months before that is likely. It is very much wait and see.

I understand Deputy Ó Ríordáin has raised a very specific issue with the Minister about the preservation of a small number of legacy posts in DEIS schools. It is fair to say the vast bulk of funding for DEIS schools was protected by the Minister in the budget last week.

I call for a debate on appointments. An issue was raised by a number of colleagues last week concerning the appointment of the Irish representative to the Council of Europe’s Committee on the Prevention of Torture. The person appointed from Ireland last week was the former Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality. Valid concerns were raised by colleagues about the outcome of the appointment process. It was understood somebody else would be appointed. I have asked the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality to investigate the matter in the new year as it is something it should do. The Minister for Justice and Equality should appear before the committee to explain the process by which the former Secretary General was appointed against what appears to have been the expressed preference of a sub-committee of the Council of Europe for one of the two academics also nominated by Ireland.

I also call for a debate on changing family forms. A very interesting study was published today by UCD and the ESRI on changing family forms. It shows the need for greater flexibility in terms of family leave arrangements from the workplace. It is something about which colleagues have talked. I have an article in The Journal.ie calling for paid paternity leave to be introduced. It is something for which I have been looking for a long time and it would make a huge difference to working families and in terms of fathers bonding with their children on birth. It is something for which I think there would be cross-party support.

Order of Business

Thursday, 1 December 2011

Senator Ivana Bacik:  I am calling for a debate in the new year on the reports that have been published by the Catholic Church’s own internal body, the National Board for Safeguarding Children, on a number of dioceses and child protection policies in those dioceses. Some of the findings are encouraging and demonstrate great improvement in practice but equally there are some that are very worrying about the dreadful and appalling recent failure by the church and its authorities in particular dioceses to protect children in those areas. We must debate that in light of the reports from within the church but also in light of the other reports that have been published over time about different failures in the church.

We also need to look at failures by the State in terms of inadequacies in State protections. Important steps were taken by the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality which looked at the new legislation on withholding information to create a regime of mandatory reporting of child abuse. That was very welcome and we heard from a number of organisations, as we heard from organisations on the vetting Bill. It would be useful for this House to debate this in the new year to look at the panoply of legislative measures promised or in train by then. Not only have the heads of the vetting bureau Bill been published and comments made by the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality, we have made useful recommendations on foot of submissions made, will now do the same about withholding information and then see the Children First guidelines put on a statutory footing. All of this is in train and it is welcome the Department of Justice and Equality and the Department of Children and Youth Affairs have moved so swiftly on this. It would be useful in this House to review what has been done in light of the reports.

I also call for a debate on community policing. We had the Garda Commissioner before the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality this morning to speak about community policing. Some of what he said was extremely informative, particularly on the closure of Garda stations in rural areas and other matters. He gave an interesting response to a question I asked about February 2012 and the retirements at senior level and their effect on front-line policing services. It would be a useful debate for us to have in the House.

STATEMENT BY SENATOR IVANA BACIK 

Labour Party Seanad leader and Spokesperson on Justice
Tuesday 29th November 2011

BACIK SPEAKS AT SONAS LAUNCH, CALLS FOR WOMEN’S REFUGE IN DUN LAOGHAIRE

Sonas Housing Association, which offers support, refuge and housing to women and children made homeless because of domestic and gender-based violence, today launched a feasibility study report recommending the establishment of a women’s refuge in the Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown area.

Launching the report, Senator Ivana Bacik called for a women’s refuge to be set up in the Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown area as a matter of urgency, saying:

“Domestic violence is undeniably a major cause of homelessness for women. Where the civil and criminal justice system fail to provide protection for women in the home, as we see happening in Ireland, women become forced to leave home and make themselves and their children homeless. However when there are no suitable refuge spaces for them, they may either be forced either to return home to danger; or to use inappropriate emergency bed and breakfast accommodation, where they will not get the support or security that they and their children need.

Ireland lags far below the European standard for provision of refuge spaces – we should have 424 places available nationally, but there are only 131 in total. There are no places at all available currently in Dun Laoghaire, yet this report shows that there is an urgent need for at least 8-10 family spaces to be provided in this area. It is imperative that we recognise the needs of women and children who are subject to abuse in their homes and that we take action now to tackle the serious incidence of homelessness which results from abuse.”

ENDS

Order of Business

Wednesday, 12 October 2011

Senator Ivana Bacik:     I believe all Members share the concerns expressed by Senator Darragh O’Brien on the reports of potential job losses at Aviva. As Senator O’Brien is aware, the Labour Party group already has devoted specific Private Members’ Business time to the plight of the workers at TalkTalk in Waterford, during which debate there was much talk of other projected job losses, including those at Aviva, and of what the Government can do in circumstances in which large-scale collective redundancies are faced. It is a highly disturbing situation and at that time, Labour Party Members called for consideration of a review of the notice period that companies must give, which also would be useful in the context of the Aviva reports.

I renew the call on the Leader for a debate on Government housing policy. Yesterday, Members, myself included, called for a debate in the context of the Keane report on protection for those in difficulty with mortgages. Such a debate in this House would be timely and the Dáil will debate this issue for at least one day and potentially two days next week. However, it would be useful to have a broader debate on the Keane report and on housing policy more generally, in which I would include the issue of the provision of rent supplement. There are reports in today’s newspapers about the nature of rent supplement and how it is being considered in the comprehensive spending review in the context of the social protection budget. However, it is a matter of concern when one notes that the €500 million spent on rent supplement effectively amounts to a subsidy to private landlords. The effect is that the State is subsidising 50% of private rented accommodation, which clearly distorts the market and keeps rents high, unsustainably so in many cases. A question arises as to whether this is an effective use of Government funding to protect the most vulnerable. Consequently, it would be worth having a debate in this House on the broader issue of housing policy. It should not simply be on those who require protection because they are in difficulties with mortgages, although this is a critical issue, but it should be on the manner in which State spending is targeted and whether it could be targeted better.

I compliment the Carers Association on its briefing today. It made a pre-budget submission and a highly compelling case for maintaining levels of carer’s allowance. All Members recognise that family caring, much of which is unpaid, constitutes an enormous saving to the Exchequer.

Order of Business.

Tuesday, 11 October 2011

Senator Ivana Bacik:     I compliment the Leader and everyone else involved in organising last Thursday’s excellent and wide-ranging debate on the economy with the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan. Some of the information the Minister provided in response to a query from Senator Tom Sheahan on credit unions became the lead headline on all news programmes that evening. It is worth noting that as a result of the more meaningful format now in use during debates in this House, whereby Members can interact directly with Ministers on a question and answer basis, valuable and newsworthy information of the sort to which I refer is being obtained. I commend the Leader on the format and I hope we see more of it.

I know we will see more of that today with a Minister of State, Deputy Seán Sherlock, in the House and when we come to the health debate with the Minister for Health, Deputy James Reilly, on 27 October.

I ask for a similar question and answer session and debate on housing. I have already made contact with the Minister of State, Deputy Willie Penrose, on the issue. In particular, we should discuss the report due to go to the Cabinet this week on how best to protect people in mortgage difficulties. Anybody who saw Richard Curran’s excellent programme last night on RTE will have felt very concerned about the position of many people, even those who are not directly distressed mortgagees. These people are able to make their repayments but like a couple we saw in Clonee, they could be stuck in an apartment that is far too small for a growing family. Those people did not wish to stay in the apartment. There is a significant number of people in negative equity and their position should be addressed by the Government.

The Government is taking steps to address the issue but in the Seanad we should follow up the publication of the report with a debate on its proposals, particularly if there is a proposal for a new independent group to negotiate with lenders on behalf of borrowers and redress the balance as Deputy Ciarán Lynch has argued. We must consider how best such a group can work to ensure that people in distress with their mortgages, who are struggling with repayments or who are in negative equity can have their needs addressed.

Housing Market: Motion

22^nd June 2011

Senator Ivana Bacik:     I join colleagues in welcoming the Minister of State to the House. I thank him both for his commitment to the House and for his thoughtful and considered response to the issues raised in the motion. The Labour Party is delighted that he responded to the content of the motion and to the broader issues it raises of how we deal with the huge social and economic problem of mortgage holders in significant difficulty with repayments. We thank him for that.

I pay tribute to Senators Hayden and Moloney for raising this issue within the Labour Party and for bringing it before the House. We have had a strong debate on the motion in the best tradition of the Seanad. We framed this as a non-partisan motion aimed at trying to generate discussion on ideas and creative and constructive solutions to deal with this problem. It is deliberately reflective in tone and we are grateful to Opposition Members who indicated their support for the motion and who mostly addressed it in the non-partisan manner in which it was intended. Like Senator Gilroy, I am trying to refrain from partisan comments. We all accept that this is a matter of deep concern to everyone, whatever the genesis of the problem. We have a strong view on that but we are trying to suggest solutions in this debate.

The difficulty is the growing scale of the problem. As Senator Hayden said, repossession, which is generating so much distress for families and individuals, is the great fear and there is anxiety that there will be a large number of repossessions. That point is made in the programme for Government. As the Minister is well aware, under the section dealing with housing and distressed mortgages the recommendations of the Cooney report, which he has addressed in such detail, are inadequate to address the scale of the current crisis. That is the real difficulty and that is the reason we are putting forward more radical proposals for consideration by the Government. We thank the Minister for his response to the proposals we have raised.

Turning to those proposals, and again I pay tribute to Senator Hayden and Senator Moloney, in particular Senator Hayden’s years of experience with Threshold, the housing agency, there is an interest and a great deal of merit in exploring the Scottish scheme further. That is the scheme set up by the Scottish Government under its homeowners support fund which offers supports to householders with a view to ensuring families are kept in their own homes and ensures better use of public money rather than simply putting it into the rent supplement currently eating up so much of our public finances here. It is to try determine how we can keep families in their homes, take pressure off social housing lists and target funding in a more effective way and in a way that addresses the real needs of families. In that regard, the two schemes outlined in the motion and which were outlined in more detail by Senator Hayden have great merit.

The mortgage to shared equity scheme, where the Scottish Government takes a financial stake in a home but the applicant continues to own the home, live in it and have the responsibility of maintaining and insuring it but with a reduced amount due to their lender each month, has huge merit. The Minister pointed that the difficulty with adapting that scheme in the Irish context is that it generally depends on the owner having a loan not exceeding 75% of the value of the home. Where a large number of mortgages are in negative equity the scheme would have to be adapted. Changes would have to be made to ensure it would work here but, equally, there will be people here in difficulty with mortgages who have built up sufficient equity in their home to whom the mortgage to shared equity scheme could apply.

Deputy Brian Hayes:     Yes.

Senator Ivana Bacik:     As many Senators have stated, it is a question of trying to find a variety of different schemes that will address the different needs. Senator Crown put forward an idea, that again would only apply to certain distressed home owners, about the use of pension funds. Senator Hayden pointed out that many of those in difficulty and with negative equity may not have access to the type of resources in a pension fund that could be targeted in the way he has described. It is a question of trying to find a variety of different ways to support distressed home owners, and that is what we are seeking to do in this non-partisan motion.

We are conscious also that the programme for Government has made a number of proposals which as the Minister stated are being progressed by the Government. There are some initiatives suggested in the Cooney report that deserve greater consideration. In particular, the proposal for trading down has huge merit where householders are in significant negative equity.

As many people have stated, this is a matter of deep concern not just in terms of the economy and at a macro-level of the housing market but for individuals, householders and families. All of us are touched by this issue. It is one which will be of growing importance and an issue I am glad we have had the opportunity to address in this reflective manner in the Seanad. I thank the Minister again and I thank my colleagues in the Labour Party.