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ONLY A LIMITED number of TDs will be allowed to attend Leinster House today when the Dáil returns to pass emergency Covid-19 legislation.
While the majority of political parties back the legislation, a number of amendments are due to be tabled by some TDs.
The Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl wrote to party leaders last week proposing that just 48 TDs should attend the sitting today.
Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Sinn Féin will be asked to limit their TDs attending to 11 each, the Greens to four, the regional independent group to three members, and all other parties and groups to two each.
The Dáil will return at 2 pm and adjourn at 5 pm to debate and pass the 19-page long Health (Preservation and Protection and other Emergency Measures in the Public Interest) Bill 2020 (You can read the legislation here).
The new legislation provides for changes to remove the waiting period for payment of Jobseekers Benefit and Jobseekers Allowance in the cases of Covid-19 diagnoses and isolation.
A government statement said that “these changes involve a significant Exchequer cost but are necessary to support the public health objective of ensuring people who need to self-isolate do so”.
The Bill also deals with the issue of detainment, which is something that already arose a number of weeks ago when Covid-19 was added to the existing list of notifiable diseases. This already includes diseases like measles and TB.
At the moment, anytime there’s a public health emergency in Ireland or a breakout of infectious disease, it’s declared, and powers are in place to detain an individual who has an infectious disease.
The emergency legislation also contains powers to detain those suspected of being infected with Covid-19.
Under the government’s emergency measures, if a medical officer believes “in good faith” that a person is a potential source of Covid-19 or that the person is a potential risk to public health and refuses or is unlikely to self-isolate, then the medical officer can order their detention and enforce isolation.
Medical officers can order a person’s detention in a specified hospital or another place until the medical officers decide the person’s detention to self-isolate is no longer required.
A medical officer must also make sure a medical examination of the person detained is carried out as soon as possible and no later than 14 days from detention.
A person can ask that their detention be reviewed “as soon as practicable” on the grounds that they believe they are not a source of infection.
Speaking to RTE’s Morning Ireland yesterday, Executive Director of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, Liam Herrick described the emergency powers as “invasive”, adding that these powers “are so significant in terms of our fundamental rights”.
Herrick questioned why only one medical officer is being given the power to order detention and raised concerns that there is no time limit on detention stated in the legislation.
In addition, Herrick questioned what safeguards will be in place for a person who believes they have been inappropriately or illegally detained.
“We need to ensure that the technical aspects of safeguards are correct,” said Herrick.
“And I think what we’re particularly interested to look at is that the standard here is that a medical officer deems the detention to be appropriate.”
Herrick has said it is imperative that any emergency legislation introduced to curb the spread of Covid-19 should be time-limited, or include a sunset clause which stipulates that once this emergency is over it can no longer be used to interfere with rights.
He said the government must act within the Constitution and ensure that any restrictions of rights are proportionate and only as invasive as is necessary to protect public health.
He said our society will return to normal, and when it does, the government needs to ensure that there has been no permanent erosion of rights and that no future government could ever abuse legislation introduced to deal with this public health emergency.
TD Denis Naughten has also requested that the government insert an end date (sunset clause) into the emergency legislation.
“While I welcome the measures included in this emergency legislation to support the national response to the Covid-19 crisis, it is important that these powers are not used beyond this current situation.
“The Bill provides far-reaching powers in relation to gathering/events and travel which is understandable to deal with the current exceptional threat to human life and public health from the spread of Covid-19. It also includes the power to detain a person against their will, if it is necessary to prevent the spread of COVID-19
“These are very powerful legal provisions which must only be used to specifically deal with the current national health crisis, and we must be able to have the law repealed after this threat has abated.
“There are other instances where a sunset clause has been included in legislation such as the Offences Against the State Act that has to be renewed on an annual basis by Dáil Eireann” concluded Naughten.
It has also been noted that some of the provisions in the Bill, which relate to social welfare payments, have a time limit stated in the legislation, with the provisions only in operation until 9 May 2020.
There is a clause where this can be continually renewed indefinitely by Statutory Instrument, with some stating that this should also apply to the detention clauses.
People Before Profit’s Richard Boyd Barrett said his party supports the thrust of the emergency legislation to tackle COVID-19, however, he proposes amendments to it including the ability for the state to take over private hospitals.
He said other amendments are need to strengthen the legislation, adding that he is also in favour of a time-limited clause on the detention powers, stating that any such extension to them should only be permitted by a vote of the Oireachtas.
The Bill to be debated today also provides for certain extra powers to be used if “extreme situations were to arise”, in relation to gatherings/events and travel “where there would be an immediate, exceptional and manifest risk to human life and public health from the spread of Covid-19″.
Boyd Barrett said it is of critical importance that the debate today facilitate amendments being put down and voted on and that speaking time is given to all.
Speaking yesterday at a press conference, where social distancing between reporters was in place, Finance and Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe said “any amendments or reforms that improve the legislation, or better help us to respond back to a public health challenge” should be accepted.
“I would ask those who are putting those amendments forward though, to recognise the crisis that we’re in, and the time pressure that is there, and the need to have this legislation implemented,” he said.
When asked about the sunset clause by TheJournal.ie yesterday, he said:
I think we should think carefully about putting in place a sunset clause on these measures until we’re all clear how long this public health crisis is going to last for. But these are emergency powers, they’re only going to be used in the most demanding circumstances. And I’m sure Minister Harris will be able to give assurance to the Dáil regarding how very rarely these powers will ever be used.
Donohoe said the country must work together.
“We must support each other,” he said, and giving assurances that “we are coming at this great challenge from a position of economic strength and that everything that can be done, is being done to deal with this economic crisis. We can and we will get through this”.
In addition to the Dáil meeting tomorrow Fine Gael will also hold its parliamentary party meeting by video and telephone conference with members phoning in from all over the country.
The minister said social distancing will be in place for those that attend the parliamentary party meeting in person.
“People will be sitting at a distance from each other,” he said, adding that if this crisis continues “we will look at other ways in which colleagues can participate in this, including to use phone conferencing.
“So, the first trial that will be taking place tomorrow morning. And we’ll see how it goes,” he said. Donohoe said that is unlikely that any vote will be taken on whether Fine Gael should enter into in-depth talks on government formation.
With reporting by Cónal Thomas
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Designate the Docklands as a high rise zone. Leave the Georgian parts of Dublin alone. Problem solved. Stop f****g about, Taisce. This needs to happen.
Was going to suggest exactly that, which automatically means your opinion is more right than the others.
Well said Peter. Agree totally. There is too many people with too much to say with our planning authorities. Just get on with the docklands
I second this motion!
It’s funny Peter, they don’t ever seem overly concerned about the Georgian parts of the city anyway. Rarely see them kick up a fuss over the state of the north inner city Georgian areas. They only ever seem bothers with the southside Merrion Square etc…..hmmmm!
Move Dublin Port to Drogheda and use that land to build a new city center, all proper high rise. Then grow up and put in a proper underground system.
Sadly our useless politicians have no vision
and don’t forget the intimate charm of o connell St with its lovely urban characters
They go on about the Georgian parts of Dublin, its a shame that most of those street are filthy and rundown. Most haven’t seen a lick of paint in 50 years and some have trees growing out of them and filthy windows. Dublin needs to start building up to stop the urban sprawl. The city should have designated areas for highrise and the docklands should be one of those areas. 25 years ago it was a rundown part of the city. Shame most of the land is now built on with 8 storey buildings
Not for this plan though. 28 metres is hardly “high-rise”. it’s only about 10 stories.
Guess nobody ‘suggesting’ the docklands as the designated high rise area actually lives here?
28 metres is not high rise. Even though I believe Dublin should go higher, the proposal is for only 28 metres (and city-wide, if I’m not mistaken). The only people suggesting that qualifies as high-rise are the nuts in Taisce
There is little ‘intimate charm’ in a 2 hour commute from a sprawling and soulless commuter belt development to work and back again which is reality for many people due to the past refusal to build higher in the city. Surely a city should first and foremost serve the needs of its people and allow them to live within its limits rather than keeping a few elitists happy as they want to to remain unchanged forever. Dublin needs to evolve with its citizens
Well said, and also we can keep the moderate heights in the heart of the city and the Georgian areas if we want while still building upways in the docklands. A skyline would only add to the aesthetic of the place anyway
Couldn’t agree more. Over 1h commuting, it’s simply a waste of time.
“A skyline would only add to the aesthetic of the place anyway”
This, the city has such a bland skyline, it’s the reason many people want to keep the Poolbeg towers.
An taisce must have been livid about that, but it’s their own fault.
we should build the tallest building in the world and give tourist more to go to other then the Guinness store house
The problem you talk about will only get worse when the population density in the city increases without proper transportation, build the support infrastructure first then let’s talk about increasing density
Have you seen the state if the city centre? That’s “restructuring the infrastructure” right there. And now new structures well be built around the infrastructure. There’s a mouthful!
Land is scarce. Stop the urban sprawl. Upwards !
The only way is UP.
Baby….for you and me now.
The fact that I get this shows how old we are!
Yes!
I can’t believe I was once a member of An Taisce. It’s controlled by a bunch of D4 wannabe environmentalists who couldn’t give a toss about the development of a modern, functioning Dublin and Ireland.
Dublin needs to have a dense population and needs to control the sprawl out to the west and north.
It’s ironic, An Taisce don’t want thousands of acres of countryside ruined with sprawling housing estates and they don’t want proper high density development in the city. Morons.
We need more people like you back in An Taisce. Remove the dinosaur’s with no vision for the city. Same goes for those idiots in An Bord Pleanala.
Strict planning guidelines on space, light, rooftop gardens etc and let’s go up. They could also legislate for minimum maintenance and security!
Also more schools, buses, Luas trams, underground parking (infrastructure)to cater for extra people/extra demand.
There’s no easy answer. a carte blanche isn’t the answer. A controlled ana zoned area would be good like the docklands, but sticking one in the middle of merrion square isnt good.
They should let me plan it… I’m amazing at Sim-City! As long as the difficulty is set to Easy with no Godzilla attacks or tornados!
Or Residents’ Groups
@David, well, I think the possibility of a Godzilla attack on Dublin is remote, tornadoes could happen though, once in a while, so I think you should have a go at designing
And you’d need a builder that can construct buildings with proper fire safety and everything else done correctly. Seem to be precious few of those about in Ireland in recent times.
Brilliant. We build 2 story fire death traps so well that I can’t wait to see our 40 story plus towering infernos.
But hollywood will make a big blockbuster based on the disaster :)
its funny. we’re one of the only cities in the world without threats of natural disasters. ie earthquakes, tornados but yet we’ve not built all that high. 4storeys seems to be a tall building here!
Yes deffo. A mix of high rise and old dublin would be fantastic
Mega City One all the way…
Zarjaz ! Splundig vur Thrigg
Yes for crying out loud. The precious skyline, give be a break
High rise makes so much sense in commercial and residential living. Ok we can’t really compare Dublin to New York say as it’s apples and oranges. But take modern residential skyscrapers in New York today. They have big 2/3/4 bed apartments, on site gym, laundry, pool, grocery store at bottom. I know these are for the mega rich but then within a 2-3 block radius you got restaurants, bars, shops, a city park, schools etc etc.
The Ballymun project failed because the lack of services and policing and maintenance of lifts etc. In the US every building or co-op has a super which is the man who looks after the maintenance of the building from a stuck door lock to a light out in the stairwell. We need this approach to city living here.
18,000 residents per square mile in low rise Copenhagen. 11,000 per square mile in Dublin. Copenhagen doesn’t tower blocks to reach that density. It’s a 4 1/2 story city where people want to live. Maybe you need a higher minimum density for new development around the city so that it doesn’t have to sprawl.
And if Dublin’s anything like Belfast arterial routes that were once lined with houses now have vacant shops at ground level with empty space above while the council puts ever more parking restrictions along the roads to try to move people more efficiently from out of town rather than trying to reclaim the unused space in town. How much potential residential space is available and unused already?
Copenhagen also has a far better public transport infrastructure than Dublin
…and is a lot cleaner. And more cycle-friendly. In fact, it’s a nicer city all ’round.
Having a city that has an “innate charm” is all well and good for tourists (though the notion that tourists would be put off by high-rise in Dublin is a highly dubious proposition based on ZERO research), but so does Disneyland.
I think you’d quickly find it rather impractical living in Disneyland. Likewise, a city of 1~1.5 million occupying an area as large as Dublin and its attached suburbs in Kildare, Meath and Wicklow is absolute madness. It’s bad for house prices, it’s bad for urban planning, and it’s bad for the environment.
Paris’s skyline didn’t lose its “innate charm” because of its high-rise (did you even know it’s there, An Taisce? Amsterdam has high-rise too.). No matter how high you build, it will never be visible from every point in the city. Go around Taipei and see if you can see Taipei 101 from every point in the city. Further than 2km you’d never know it existed.
So sorry, An Taisce. You can eff off with your ill-informed, totally-unresearched nimbyist BS.
And, Paul, maybe consider changing the subtitle. An Taisce is only wants you to have your say if it’s what they want.
There’s no excuse not to go high rise. Even an aesthetically beautiful city like Paris has no issues with skyscrapers, they have them in the CBD district in La Defense. Simple, keeps the skyscrapers away from the really historic and beautiful areas. And many skyscrapers look fantastic, works of architectural genius. The Shard in London is fantastic looking.
If we won’t build proper infrastructure to address the ever increasing commuting from Leinster, we will have to start building higher. Obviously, we will have to ensure certain architects and developers aren’t involved in any future projects so as to avoid the insanity of Long Boat etc
There is quite a bit of unwanted intimate charm when you’re stuck on a steamy commuter bus for an hour. I’m not sure that’s what they are talking about however.
Commercial high rise buildings, yes of course, domestic high rise apartment buildings, not so sure. This will make living in Dublin even more expensive and compromise our quality of life. We are one of the few places in Europe and the world where most people live in houses, we have the precious space that everyone else would kill for. Never compare living in a house vs living in a flat.
Well… I wish I could live in a modern apartment, rather than in a cold house here… Fact is, I had no choice. Every tikme I was lookinf for an apartmente I was told: “You got kids? Don’t even bother to apply…”. Apartment is more energy efficient and space efficient.
I can tell there are plenty of peoole out there who;ll prefer a flat, rather than forced into a house.
Your house might be cold, mine is properly insulated. A building would have the same problem, we just don’t have many old flats, most flats in Dublin are new and are better insulated, but go anywhere in Europe and stay in a 40 year old flat and it would be as cold as your house. And insulating your house is an easy job, insulating your old flat would be a very expensive and maybe impossible task.
Mi parents in Italy live in a building built in the ’50s,
Thick 50cm wall on the perimeter, standard 15cm cement inside. We’d insulated just the windows with double-layer.
Obviously, no cardboard anywhere, and it’s a flat on a build of five floors.
Celilings 2.40 cm height.
I can tell you, is much more warm than here, even in winter. And no, they’re not living in a warm location. In fact, winters can be colder over there than here.
I grew up in a small apartment on the 5th floor, and always dreamt of having a garden to play in. Each to their own, I suppose.
Who are these an taisc clowns? ….The seem to treat this city as their own personal museum. A city should be a dynamic growing thing not a static relic protected from development. It’s not reinventing the wheel. It’s a small city with too much sprawl. We need to build up ams have a subway system ASAP not in 2027 as the idiots in government are planning
Most of Ireland was untouched landscape with so many wonderful buildings, With campaigns to save, modernise, redevelop no one really ever won we have bits and pieces all of the place.
What we need to do is stop all planning and with public input draw up new plans that develop growth, jobs, promote & preserve our history, provide better transport, services etc… Build a great new Ireland look what fellow Irish did for the rest the world that could be here.
What you need is a tyrannical architect overlord to tell you how its going to be everywhere. We’re even worse for wasting land up here than Dublin up here as everyone built new hoses out in places like Bangor and Lisburn when no-one wanted to live in Belfast. So the suburbs have more people than the city and we’ve two story social houses a couple of minutes walk from the City Hall.
For example if Belfast was as tightly packed as Barcelona we could fit the entire population of Northern Ireland in. They’ve 1.6M people in 39 square miles and this place has 44 square miles. And Barcelona’s grid system generally works – you can drive around a lot faster than in Dublin anyway.
Still so much dereliction – take a walk through the city – empty buildings, vacant floors above shops, redundant basements are all deserving of proper use before we go up and make a mess of it. Developer led planning a la Longboat Quay here we go again.
yes highrise is the way to go but maintenance must also be provided e.g. facade, lifts, security features etc. Unfortunately, this may entail maintenance/service changes for people but provided the charge is reasonable and accountable may halt the reappearance of a ballymun project.
The highest place I have ever done it is sixth floor
Time for ecofriendly high rise buildings. The only way is to build up.
When the sea rises, it will have too lol.
have your say