EDITORIAL

 

 

THE Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government Phil Hogan and Health Minister Dr James Reilly are running neck and neck in the race to win the title of the Cabinet’s most unpopular figure.

While Dr Reilly has been very busy trying to deal with awkward questions about the number of primary care centres earmarked for his own constituency, Mr Hogan has been digging a deeper hole for himself with his handling, or perhaps that should be mishandling, of the Household Charge issue.

On Thursday of last week, Mr Hogan intimated that any local authority that had a 65% collection rate would not be deprived of the 2012 final-quarter payment from the Local Government Fund.
This was music to the ears of Clare County Council’s executive and members, as the authority had reached a 67% collection level. It was plain sailing, money in the bank, or so they thought. The next day, however, the council received notification from the department of a reduction of €243,631 in the third-quarter allocation.

Minister Hogan compounded matters when he said the department would be withholding more than half of the fourth-quarter payment, due next week, until November. County Clare is not alone in this and other counties that haven’t been as successful as Clare in collecting money are under terrible pressure. In withholding payment of the fund, the minister said he is incentivising local authorities to collect the Household Charge.

When challenged about what was generally seen as a shift in position, a spokesman for the minister said there was no change and that Mr Hogan was referring only to the fourth-quarter payment. The spokesman insisted councils that achieved a compliance rate of 65% would not see a reduction in their fourth-quarter allocation. The department spokesman explained the third-quarter payment to local authorities was reduced by between 1% and 3% after receiving their full allocation in the first two quarters.

Explain it how you like but Clare has been stung by the Government for over €243,000. There’s outrage that all the council’s efforts to get a high compliance rate in respect of the change has come to nought. The local authority is now being penalised for doing a good job. The council and us, the local population, have been short-changed.

This issue has evoked as much anger as the controversy that erupted early last week when the payment of the Household Charge was linked to student grant payments, until Taoiseach Enda Kenny said the council was not entitled to do so under law. This has effectively been put to bed, however.

No money coming into the council’s coffers could mean quite an amount of normal winter work would be hampered. This could also help Phil Hogan in his quest to lose friends and create enemies.
Meanwhile, Dr Reilly’s tenure as Health Minister took a turn for the worst on Wednesday evening when Róisín Shortall resigned as Junior Minister for Health and also resigned the Labour Party Whip. The decision, she said, is due to “a lack of support for the reforms in the Programme for Government and the values which underpin it”.

Ms Shortall had been on a collision course with Dr Reilly for some time, even though members of their respective parties tried to explain it as healthy differences of opinion between two strong characters. The former junior minister wanted a full explanation as to what criteria were used to select an extra 15 sites for primary care centres. The ministers met on Tuesday and still unhappy that satisfactory answers weren’t forthcoming, Ms Shortall stepped aside.

In a statement, Ms Shortall said the public has a right to expect that decisions on health infrastructure and staffing will be made in the public interest based on health need and not driven by other concerns. This debacle reflects very badly on Dr Reilly, who has stumbled from one controversy to the next.

One must wonder at what stage will Enda Kenny realise what liabilities they are in Cabinet and, of course, what he will do about it.
As for the most unpopular minister, it’s too close to call.

On the alert

“ALL of us wish to live in a caring, safe and responsible community where people greet each other with warm smiles, care for one another and take ownership of the community they live in.” The words of Muintir na Tíre president, John Hogan in launching October as Community Alert Awareness Month have a rather innocent tone.

Unfortunately, recent events with people being seriously assaulted and murdered in their own homes remind us that we have moved a long way from the kind of society Mr Hogan envisages.
Outside of violence and killings among the criminal fraternity, ordinary law-abiding citizens, men and women, are being randomly targeted. The wrong place at the wrong time, a wayward glance, a silly remark, any excuse for a violent person to attack a shocked and bewildered passerby.

Planned, random and opportunistic break-ins are also, unfortunately, a daily occurrence all over the country. It is especially appalling and indeed very sad to hear of the elderly being robbed, attacked and even beaten to death in their own homes.

However, decent, honest people must not lose heart. They must redouble their efforts to protect society against crime and assist the gardaí in every possible way to bring criminals to justice. They must have no place to run, no place to hide for criminals and members of the public should provide as much help as possible to the gardaí in their investigations, as well as crime prevention duties.
The key message of Muintir na Tíre’s Community Alert Awareness Month is, “A safer caring community begins with each of us”. While friendship and neighbourliness at the heart of this, crime prevention is also an issue.

The day of the unlocked front door is gone and nowadays neighbours are mainly people who live in adjacent houses; they’re no longer neighbours in the traditional sense of the word. There is no reason why this tradition, which was encouraged by Muintir founder, Canon John M Hayes, cannot be rekindled.

The dedicated Community Awareness Month is as good a time as any to get to know our neighbours and practise a little thoughtfulness and patience. This can create bonds that will stand in good stead at times of crisis.

On a broader level, communities as a whole can be strengthened. The closure of traditional meeting points in villages – pubs, shops and post offices – has had a negative impact but this could be overcome to some degree through putting greater emphasis on the importance of supporting social activities in community centres. To this end, volunteers must step up to the plate to help improve the quality of life in their town, village or rural parish.

If you want to get involved in Community Alert, details are available from headoffice@muintir.ie.