Green Party/Comhaontas Glass Newsroom

Digital Television �green for go�

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:57:48 GMT

Communications Minister Eamon Ryan today announced plans for the transition from analogue to digital television in Ireland. The analogue terrestrial television service is nearing the end of its life and will be switched off by the end of 2012.

RT� will build a replacement digital service, which is expected to provide full national coverage and will also provide significant coverage throughout Northern Ireland.

The new TV service will be available on both a terrestrial network and a satellite network. RT� is planning on building a terrestrial network which will operate from 51 transmitter sites throughout the country providing coverage to 98% of the population. RT� currently operates 170 analogue sites. For the remaining 2%, RT� plans to develop a new satellite service. Such a public service satellite service is unique to Ireland. This provides all-Ireland coverage of RTE and TG4 for the first time.

RT� estimates that the new digital network will cost in the region of �70 million. Digital TV will provide access to 7-9 TV channels, including RTE, TV3 and TG4, the national radio channels, will provide on screen programme information and will provide a new digital teletext service.

Digital technology is much more efficient than analogue technology. Going digital will free up valuable spectrum in the broadcasting bands, which can be used for mobile, broadband and other services.

Announcing the move, Minister Ryan said, �I am pleased that we are now in a position to go ahead with the provision of a new nationwide digital television network. Digital television will offer viewers more channels, more choice and higher quality television.

"Going digital will also free up valuable spectrum, which can be used for broadband and mobile services. I have asked ComReg to expedite release of the 800 MHz band, which they will be consulting on shortly.

"Analogue switch-off will take place at the end of 2012 and we need to be prepared. My Department will be coordinating the preparations and I will be receiving regular updates on progress.

"I am glad we are in a position to move to the next generation of television transmission. I thank RT� for their work to date and look forward to the successful completion of this important modernisation project for Ireland.

"This is good news for television viewers, for the broadcasting industry and for those looking for faster and better broadband. This will bring a huge boost to Ireland�s economic and social development by providing jobs, new services and revenue to the country.
"Ireland is moving firmly into the digital age and we will all reap the benefits.�

Cuffe welcomes NUI Maynooth report on planning failures

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 12:25:03 GMT

***"A Haunted Landscape: Housing and Ghost Estates in Post-Celtic Tiger Ireland" by Rob Kitchin, Justin Gleeson, Karen Keaveney and Cian O'Callaghan. Click on this link to download the report (PDF file, 1.5Mb) ***

The Green Party's Minister for Planning, Ciar�n Cuffe, today welcomed the publication of an expert report from NUI Maynooth, which finds planning failures contributed to the property bubble and the current financial crisis. He also said that many of their recommendations are already well in hand.

"I look forward to a more considered reading of this detailed report. But an initial reading tells me that we in the Green Party have been saying precisely these things for many years now," Minister Cuffe said.

"There is a direct link between planning failures and the over-supply of housing in totally inappropriate places. This did feed the property bubble which has now had terrible consequences for so many ordinary workers and their families," he added.

The Minister of State said that many of the recommendations are already covered by the Planning and Development Act. The Act was passed by the Oireachtas just before the summer recess and will very shortly become law. He said this was the biggest reform of planning since the early 1960s and especially targeted the issue of land over-zoning by local councils.

Minister Cuffe also noted that the National Institute of Regional Spatial Analysis called for an investigation into the planning failures. "This is already to be done in the case of six councils which have the subject of complaints and which will now be assessed by independent outside planning experts. This process will be very revealing and there is nothing to stop its extension to other areas," the Minister of State said.

He also said that measures are now being prepared to deal with the issue of unfinished housing estates in various parts of the country and these will be advanced in coming months. The new planning act gives local authorities powers to take control of unfinished estates.

Minister Cuffe said he looked forward to new national spatial planning guidelines, which are currently being considered by government and likely to be approved in September. He also said he was bemused by comments from some opposition politicians who had totally opposed his planning reforms as they passed through the D�il and Seanad.

Gormley announces �20.5m in extra funding for local authorities

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 12:59:21 GMT

Green Party Leader and Environment Minister John Gormley today announced an additional �20.5m from the Local Government Fund to assist city and county councils with running costs on their water and sewerage treatment plants. This follows on from an additional �1.5 million from the Fund that was notified to authorities last April to support training needs in the water services sector. The additional �22m is on top of the Local Government Fund general purposes grants of �870m, notified to authorities earlier this year.

"I am pleased to be able to make these allocations to financially support local authorities in running their water services infrastructure and in meeting their environmental obligations," the Minister said in announcing the allocations. The Minister added that this 'top-up' allocation, within the Local Government Fund, which has been provided successively in each year since 2003 was further evidence of the Government's commitment to the sector.

The Minister said that the �20.5m was additional to the capital spend of �508m available to his Department in 2010 to fund water services infrastructure. Average spending on water services infrastructure over the period 2009 and 2010 will be up 3% on the 2008 outturn. "Given the ongoing economic difficulties, this continuing high level of expenditure reflects the Government's ongoing commitment to preserving and protecting our water resources, to meeting EU standards for drinking water and wastewater treatment and to putting critical infrastructure in place that will ensure ongoing support for industrial, commercial and other development," Minister Gormley said.

�8.7m from the �20.5m package will directly contribute towards local authorities' operation and maintenance costs on recently completed water and wastewater treatment plants. The balance of �11.8m will be used to offset sampling costs to establish compliance with drinking water and wastewater effluent standards and the cost of licence applications to the Environmental Protection Agency for wastewater discharges. The Minister pointed out that allocations from the �11.8m fund had been weighted towards those authorities that were meeting the required standards.

Gormley pledges to reform donations and lobbying rules

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:20:44 GMT

The Green Party Leader and Environment Minister John Gormley has said that he intends to change the way politics is funded and curb the influence of lobbyists when the D�il resumes in September.

Addressing a meeting of Green Party members in the Strand Hotel in Limerick today, Minister Gormley said: "Recent revelations about the fundraising activities of Fine Gael highlight once again the need for reform in this area. The inordinate influence of big business and wealthy individuals on legislation and government policies must come to an end.

"Why did we have light touch regulation on the banking sector? Was it simply part of a trend in liberal capitalist countries like the USA, Britain and Ireland or had it something to do with the donations the banks gave to the political parties? Yes, even the Labour Party took donations from the banks and did little while in power to curb the power of those banks.

"The legislation, which the Green Party will propose, will end not just corporate donations but also donations from trade unions. Is it really good for our society if the unions are hand-in-glove with the Labour Party and dictating policy?

"The Croke Park agreement, which, extraordinarily, Labour did not publicly back because of a possible backlash from some of their donor unions, shows that public service reform is possible and indeed long overdue. If Labour had been in power it might never have happened.

"Outside forces also influence the conduct of politics through the actions of paid lobbyists. These individuals or companies who are paid handsomely by companies to achieve certain policy objectives have ready access to those in power. Many of them have previously been involved in political parties and know the system and the personalities. They also know the journalists and opinion formers.

"The influence of lobbyists is pervasive and at times pernicious. This is why we need a register of lobbyists to regulate their activities. It would immediately allow the public to identify these individuals and the causes they espouse.

"This Autumn, the Green Party will be bringing forward an ambitious but deliverable programme of reform. Work is well underway in these two areas that I have already mentioned, but there will be other significant changes too.

"We will again be delivering real change; reforming institutions and practises � and bringing about a political system that people can be proud of. We will see when the D�il resumes if those most noisily clamouring for change and calling for good governance will embrace our plans, or if they will continue to play politics and protect the status quo � and their own vested interests," Minister Gormley concluded.

Thalidomide survivors must have access to documents - O Brolch�in

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:16:08 GMT

Green Party Health and Children spokesperson, Senator Niall O Brolch�in has called for the release of all State documents relating to the birth defect drug Thalidomide.

Supporting calls by the Irish Thalidomide Association to release all associated documents from the 1960s onwards, Senator O Brolch�in said: �Full information must be given to the Irish Thalidomide Association. This includes all state documents relating to the catastrophe from the 1960s onwards.

�The Green Party is fully behind transparency of information and the survivors of thalidomide have a right to this information. I have asked Minister Mary Harney to support their request.�

Senator O Brolch�in said: �I welcome the fact that last week the Minister publically stated that she would like all documentation released to the victims of thalidomide. However, I am calling on the Minister to take every possible step to ensure that this now occurs.�