Red C Poll: Majority of voters want Dublin Airport taken out of Fingal County Council's remit
Red C Poll
Red C Poll: Majority of voters want Dublin Airport taken out of Fingal County Council's remit
Calls for Dublin Airport to be given strategic status has highest support from Fianna Fáil voters at 68 per cent
Vish Gain
20:00
Only 19 per cent of respondents said they oppose the calls, while 30 per cent said they were neutral or didn't know. Photo: Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Journal
2 days ago
- The Journal
Dozens of politicians' print requests refused, including 2,000-page document for Simon Harris
TDS AND SENATORS have had dozens of print jobs refused by the Oireachtas over the last few years. Politicians at Leinster House are entitled to have tens of thousands of items printed for free every year to help promote their work. However, a strict policy is in place that covers only 'parliamentary duties' and not material related to elections, political parties, or fellow candidates. Between 2022 and 2024, a total of 125 print jobs were rejected by the Oireachtas for a variety of different reasons. Records released under FOI show that Fianna Fáil were behind more than half the refused batches – 67 in total. Fine Gael had 22 print jobs refused, Labour 11 and Sinn Féin 8; there were also lower numbers recorded for other smaller groupings or Independents. High-profile political figures were among those who had printing rejected with three jobs refused for Public Expenditure Minister Jack Chambers. Little detail was provided on the reasons why, with Oireachtas records simply saying they were not in line with the 'service level agreement.' Both Tánaiste Simon Harris and Justice Minister Jim O'Callaghan had a single print job refused. Harris' 2,000-page-print job was rejected as outside the bounds of the 'service level agreement' while Mr O'Callaghan's newsletter was declined due to 'overtelectioneering.' Advertisement Former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar also had a 5,000-batch constituency update refused during 2023 – it was simply marked 'rejected' in the Oireachtas files with no further information provided. There were other reasons for refusal too with one newsletter denied because it breached rules about the promotion of a business. A note said this was based on: 'Material which is or could be construed as being related to or promoting a private commercial endeavour, for example a newsletter which promotes, whether directly or indirectly, a company, business or product.' Another was refused because it was considered to be promotion of a political party. It said that was covered by rules covering a ban on 'political party/independent members' corporate material e.g. headquarter type printing, such as application forms for party membership; material which is either directly or indirectly aimed at party fundraising; information notes to party members.' Other jobs were rejected for more banal reasons including faulty file types, defective documents, and one case where a senator exceeded their monthly printing allowance. One job for a batch of 1,500 printed leaflets was refused because it contained information on an upcoming referendum. A note on the file said: 'It is the responsibility of the members and qualifying political parties to ensure that items printed in the printing facility that could be said to be designed to influence voters on how to vote in a Referendum are not distributed after the passage of a [bill].' Fianna Fáil's John Lahart, who had four separate jobs refused, said: 'I don't remember the specific ones offhand, but it often relates to materials about councillors. 'We have had generic material sent back and generally where that might be about the Fianna Fáil team in our area and they would have come back and said that wasn't allowed.' Under Leinster House's printing policy, jobs can also be declined where they have information that could be considered a crime or encouraging others to commit a crime. However, there were no refusals under that section according to the documents that were released. Asked about the records, the Oireachtas said it had no further comment to make. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
Irish Times
2 days ago
- Irish Times
Department objected to Government's ‘housing tsar' amid concerns over pay and recruitment
The Department of Public Expenditure sought to block the approval by Cabinet of the so-called ' housing tsar ' in April, new internal records show. The Government department responsible for State spending cited concerns about the lack of a business case for the role, the implications for wider public pay policy and concerns about the process for the selection of the preferred candidate, Brendan McDonagh , the chief executive of Nama. Mr McDonagh withdrew from consideration for the role after political concerns were raised about the possibility that he might retain his €430,000 salary at Nama in the new job, and public disagreements between Coalition partners Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael over the issue. The Government intends to proceed with establishing the role to head a new 'Housing Activation Office', which is being created in a bid to speed up the building of homes to ease the housing crisis. READ MORE But it is understood objections from the Department of Public Expenditure over the role have not yet been addressed. [ Nama's Brendan McDonagh says he could have added 'value' to new housing delivery agency Opens in new window ] The proposal is not yet ready to be signed off at a meeting of the Cabinet housing committee scheduled for today, though senior sources expect that possible names for the post will be discussed by the leaders of the Government parties soon, possibly next week. Newly released emails between senior officials in the Department of Public Expenditure ('DPer') and the Department of Housing – issued under the Freedom of Information Act – reveals concerns about the role. DPer officials told their counterparts in housing on Friday, April 25th that the memo relating to the role was 'not in position to go to Government' the following week. 'We have only got sight of the draft today and we need time to properly consider a number of elements, particularly around the organisation structure,' the spending department told them. DPer complained that its pay policy division had not received a request to sanction the post describe this as 'the usual process'. 'There seems to have been no engagement with them on this and the wider pay policy implications,' the officials said. There was, the department said, no business case made; the pay rate was not disclosed; there were 'unclear' references to 'contracted expertise' for staff; and no background material was supplied on the recruitment process 'that appears to have been undertaken for the selection of the appointee'. Earlier, Eoin Dorgan, an assistant secretary at the Department of Public Expenditure, had written to the Department of Housing warning that several issues would have to be considered before the memo could go to Government. They included the functions and objectives of the HAO, its Exchequer implications, pay and conditions for the chief executive and wider staff and the precedents established by them and how the new office would interact with 'wider infrastructure projects and the National Development Plan'. Sources with knowledge of the issues raised said DPer's objections have not fully been addressed yet, though it is expected that the office, with a new chief executive, will be established in the coming weeks. In response to questions, the Department of Public Expenditure said it was continuing to engage with the Department of Housing 'to finalise the establishment of the new office and its operations and also in relation to the arrangements for the CEO of the HAO as appropriate'. Last week, the most senior civil servant in the Department of Housing Graham Doyle told a property conference he did not think a 'housing tsar' was necessary. The department later said in a statement that his remarks reflected his opposition to the term 'tsar' rather than the role.
Irish Times
3 days ago
- Irish Times
Commitment to climate action hard to find in Government
The programme for government by this Fianna Fáil - Fine Gael Coalition may have been written this year but, from a climate perspective, it could be a document from a decade ago. A simple comparison with the 2020 document gives a striking contrast. Cycling and bikes were mentioned in that document almost 50 times; this time it's down to 11 and most of them relate to tourist greenways or the bike-to-work scheme, both long-established policies. The references to forestry , woodlands and afforestation have fallen from 50 to 11; there are absolutely no mentions of peatlands, bogs and rewetting, compared to 10 in 2020. The word 'sustainable' is used 46 times in the document, compared to 75 five years ago. READ MORE Professor Diarmuid Torney: 'It is hard to see how these targets are going to be met' 'There is a lot of aspiration but little by way of concrete details of how we are going to meet our targets,' said Professor Diarmuid Torney, director of the DCU Centre for Climate and Society. 'The programme recommits to the big-picture targets, but if you start to drill into the detail of the different areas, it is hard to see how those targets are going to be met. 'And that's against the backdrop of EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] projections that the State is on track to get a little over halfway to the 2030 target,' he said. The EPA report, published last week, made for stark reading. The main conclusion of the report was that, with all existing measures, Ireland is projected to achieve a reduction of up to 23 per cent in total greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, compared to a national target of 51 per cent. [ Ireland has a dismal amount of tree cover but 'wild' is partly between our ears Opens in new window ] Most sectors are on track to reduce emissions, including agriculture, which has reversed years of growing emissions. A reduction in nitrogen fertiliser use, better spreading technologies and liming programmes – to improve the overall health of soil – have contributed. There are some worrying outliers. Total emissions from the land sector are projected to increase by up to 95 per cent, the report found. Ireland's forestry is reaching harvesting age and will move from being a carbon sink to being a carbon source. To counter that there will be a need for increased afforestation, water table management on agricultural organic soils and peatland rehabilitation. But when the programme for government is scanned it is hard to see a tangible commitment to achieve that. To the dismay of environmentalists, Kerry TD Michael Healy-Rae, who wants to allow forestry on peatlands, was appointed Minister of State for Forestry. However, it's too early in his tenure to make any conclusions on what he will, or won't, do. The focus has pivoted to policies that will increase emissions, such as increasing the number of data centres, investing in roads, lifting the passenger cap The programme commits to the overall target of reducing emissions by 51 per cent by 2030 compared to 2018 levels and all the other high-level targets. They include 22 gigawatts (GW) from wind and solar energy: that's enough to power the entire State, accommodate new data centres and generate a surplus. But many of the targets of the 2020 document have disappeared. Unlike the last government, there is no commitment to a two to one ratio for public transport over roads, or a 20 per cent ring-fencing of the total transport capital budget to cycling and walking – some €360 million a year. Rewetting peatlands is gone from the programme for government. Photograph: Getty Images Rewetting peatlands, which stops the decomposition of peat and prevents harmful carbon emissions, is gone. Two pages on forestry in 2020 have been reduced to two paragraphs. However, it's not a total abandonment. The focus has pivoted to policies that will increase emissions, such as increasing the number of data centres, investing in roads, lifting the passenger cap in Dublin Airport, retaining the nitrates directive derogation, and a campaign to remove biogenic methane (emitted from ruminant livestock) from emissions calculations. 'If we were to take our commitments seriously, that would mean a significant ramping up of implementation, but also new policies and measures, and it's hard to find those in the programme for government,' said Torney. 'Reducing transport emissions is probably the most difficult because we have such an ingrained car dominance in our system' Last week, the secretary general of the Department of Environment, Climate and Energy Oonagh Buckley said that given the capacity of the grid, policymakers faced a stark choice between housing and artificial intelligence/data centres. Taoiseach Micheál Martin later took issue with the comments. 'I was at the event where she said that,' said Prof Torney. 'Statistics were shared [at that event] that 50 per cent of electricity generated in the Dublin region is now being consumed by data centres. I'm not sure that the average member of the public knows that.' The base point for the EPA projections is the performance of the last government rather than this one. That government did manage to achieve a 7 per cent reduction in overall emissions in 2023 but it was always known the hard slog would be in the last five years. Former leader of the Green Party Eamon Ryan. Photograph: Alan Betson/The Irish Times For former Green Party leader Eamon Ryan, some of the first gestures of the new Government did not bode well for climate action, such as its decision on a LNG [liquefied natural gas] storage facility, an emphasis on data centres and what he says is the lure of the 'smell of tar'. 'Reducing transport emissions is probably the most difficult because we have such an ingrained car dominance in our system,' said Ryan. 'The Bus Connects project is starting in Dublin but it really needs to accelerate. There's starting with two but we need them to start in groups of four. 'The same in Cork, Galway, Waterford and Limerick. We need them at speed and at scale. I don't see that happening.' Ryan claims the figures show the last government in which he was minister for the environment and climate 'delivered in the last five years'. 'Part of the reason is because the Greens were in government. The difficulty is that political science trumps climate science. 'What we did wasn't [electorally] successful for us ... political science is maybe telling this Government it shouldn't push so hard because of the [electoral] consequences.' Minister for Climate, Environment and Energy, Darragh O'Brien. Photograph: Conor Ó Mearáin/Collins Photo Agency Minister for Environment, Climate and Energy Darragh O'Brien has acknowledged that delivery must be accelerated to meet the 2030 targets. He points to 'significant investment' such as a €2.5 billion grid-upgrade programme, new interconnectors to the UK and France and the expansion of renewables through further support schemes for offshore wind and other renewable energy sources. The 2030 target for electric vehicles (EVs) is 945,000. At present the number is 125,000. O'Brien says after a dip the numbers are back on track with a 23 per cent leap in sales in April. Figures from the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) on Tuesday showed this increase was sustained in May with 12,392 new EVs being registered in the first five months of the year. [ EV Q&A: Why doesn't Ireland use roadside furniture for charging electric vehicles? Opens in new window ] 'The first meeting of the new Climate Action Programme Board was held last week, involving senior officials from all the main sectors. Its remit is clear: to focus on accelerated delivery of the actions needed to close the emissions gap,' he said. But objectively, the task facing O'Brien and the Government is daunting and will need radical policy changes if Ireland has any hope of coming close to reaching the targets. Professor Hannah Daly: 'You're talking about an increase in emissions in agriculture and almost a doubling of emissions from land use change by 2030' Hannah Daly, professor in sustainable energy and energy systems modelling at University College Cork, has said that even if all the current measures were implemented the gap could still be much bigger than is commonly spoken about. 'It's really alarming. You're talking about an increase in emissions in agriculture and almost a doubling of emissions from land use change by 2030 with existing, actual implemented policies, rather than the ones that are just spoken about,' she said. The programme for government contains strong language on commitments to phase out fossil fuel use, carbon budgets and the 2030 target, she said. 'But while you have this high-level commitment on paper it does not actually commit to the hard choices that are necessary,' she said. 'There's very little on agriculture as well. What's needed to fill that gap is just far more investment in clean energy transition and a halt in the support for the growth of carbon intensive industries.' This means a focus on dairy farming, flights at Dublin Airport and data centres, she said.
