Author: Ken Foxe

A project to build an emergency oil storage for use amid concerns about the impact of Brexit went over-budget and required approval for injection of an extra €1.6 million in state funding.

The project involved the refurbishment of a 40-year-old oil storage facility on the Poolbeg peninsula in Dublin to help protect against an “oil emergency” in the run-up to Brexit, or in the future.

However, the Covid-19 pandemic saw costs on the project escalate with an enforced closure of the site for almost three months and increased claims from contractors caused by public health measures.

These records were the subject of a frankly bizarre appeal involving the Department of Environment who had claimed that they did not constitute “environmental information”.

At one point, the department said it couldn’t be environmental because the oil supply was very unlikely to ever be used … and that they’d taken measures to ensure there would be no spill.

You can read the decision that resulted from that case here.

TL:DR, yes, information relating to a major project to store oil for use in an emergency is environmental!

The National Transport Authority (NTA) plans to survey customers about their experiences on public transport after dark amid fears some women are afraid to travel on services.

An internal presentation for the NTA board said decreased passenger numbers on services had made the problems of anti-social behaviour even more visible for customers.

And it said a significant part of people’s fears about public transport related to the “last mile” of their journey as they reached their homes.

The briefing had been requested by the board who believed safety on buses, trains, and Luas services was a matter of “particular concern”.

The Department of Finance said the state was already “in the money” as it planned a sale of its stake in Bank of Ireland.

Minister Paschal Donohoe announced in June that the government would be selling off its 13.9% stake in the bank through a pre-arranged trading plan.

Records released under FOI reveal the plan first began to gather steam in March when a banking roadmap said bank stocks had recovered from a “torrid 2019/2020”.

An internal presentation said sale of Bank of Ireland stock would allow the department to signal that the “privatisation programme is back on”.

It said the Exchequer was currently down €5 billion on its €29 billion investment in the banking sector and that shares would need to double in value from that date to close that gap with full recovery unrealistic in the short term.

Trinity College warned of the risk of a fire like that which struck Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral in an application for €25 million in government funding to redevelop their historic Old Library.

They said a “litany of destructive fires” at historic buildings around the world illustrated the risks of deterioration and damage to the library, which houses the Book of Kells.

The university wrote directly to Taoiseach Micheal Martin seeking financial support and saying the fire at Notre Dame “underscores the urgency of the project”.

They said it had been fifty years since any major work had taken place at the Old Library and that it was now in “vital need” of upgrading.

A submission for government said: “Fire prevention and suppression systems in the Old Library, especially in the wood-lined, cathedral-like Long Room, must be updated and improved.

“The collections contained in the Old Library are, collectively, the most valuable, and at the same time, the most vulnerable assets in the university.”

Trinity also warned that the damage to Ireland’s reputation if anything were to happen to the library’s famous Long Room or the Book of Kells would be “incalculable”.

A local authority hit back at a damning report by the Ombudsman for Children which said the rights of Traveller children were being violated at an accommodation site in their area.

Cork City Council said matters were “nowhere near as simple as outlined” in a lengthy finding-by-finding rebuttal, which they submitted to the Department of Housing.

It also said the report on the Spring Lane site did not show a “complete understanding or appreciation of the complex problems and deep-rooted socio-economic issues” involved at the site.

The report by the Ombudsman for Children had detailed failure after failure to improve living conditions with children left in filthy, overcrowded, rat-infested, cold and damp living conditions.

However, a six-page letter sent to Minister Peter Burke by the council said that while an external observer view was useful, that they had great difficulty in accepting a number of its findings.

Judges were worried about people recording virtual hearings and broadcasting the contents elsewhere, according to Courts Service research on remote sittings.

Issues were also raised about the loss of the “gravitas” of the courtroom, difficulties in presenting and viewing documents, and the ability to remove disruptive parties from a virtual sitting.

Also flagged were the presence of unauthorised people at court hearings, the ability to see at all times who was present, and an option to mute or disable sound from a person taking part in a remote sitting.

The research also said the ability to display documents live would be a key component of any long-term solution for virtual court sittings.

Key requirements also included clear guidelines on using documents in virtual sittings, the ability for only the judge to see them, or allowing access to multiple parties when needed.

Feedback from specific groups was also gathered including judges who raised concerned over “broadcasting and inappropriate usage” of proceedings from court sittings.

The Department of Social Protection were mystified by the tsunami of mobile phone scam calls to Irish people seeking their personal details.

They said the calls had already caused the department “reputational damage” and had seriously affected their ability to deal with customers over the phone who had become “apprehensive” believing legitimate calls might be fraudulent.

Monitoring of PPS numbers that had been divulged to the fraudsters had not “thrown up any suspicious activity” to suggest it related to bogus social welfare claims however.

The calls, which appear to have begun in earnest in April, have seen hundreds of thousands of people contacted by people purporting to be from the Department, the Courts Service, or the Attorney General’s office.

An internal note said that while the “modus operandi” was mostly constant with soe variations, but that “the outcome [the scammers] are seeking is unknown”.

The department also said a major issue was that that public announcements or ad campaigns about the scam calls were not reaching all pockets of the population.

The Department of Housing received nearly 300 submissions about controversial plans to tackle the number of legal cases being taken against planning proposals.

The government had put forward plans to restrict the right of community groups, non-governmental organisations, and citizens from taking legal action against developments around the country.

Among the measures were that groups would have to be in existence for at least three years, have at least 100 members, be personally and substantially affected by a development, and have enough money to cover legal costs.

However, the plans were met with a wave of complaints from members of the public and environmental groups, according to 294 submissions received as part of a public consultation, a significant majority of which opposed the plans.

Submissions described the proposals as “a total travesty of the rights of citizens” with one piece of correspondence saying it was an “absolute contravention of democracy”.

Others described the plan as a “crude instrument” and an “outrage” with one barrister saying he feared objections to the plan would inevitably be ignored by government.

An Taisce were among more than a dozen environmental groups to object to the proposals, which form part of the Housing and Planning Development Bill.

They asked for it to be withdrawn saying it represented a “significant erosion” of the public’s right to access justice and participate in the planning process.

Industry groups were more welcoming of the plans with energy providers, airport operators, and chambers of commerce all voicing their support for some of the changes.

The IDA warned that Ireland’s planning system had become a “reputational risk” and was working against their efforts to attract international investment.

These records were re-released to Right to Know following a decision of the Commissioner for Environmental Information.

We did not make this request so all credit goes to the person (unknown to us) who did the legwork.

Access to information like this in a timely fashion is a critical part of the Aarhus Convention and the AIE Regulations.

More than €123,000 was paid out in on-call allowances to Courts Service staff that should not have been paid, according to an internal audit.

The audit said that on-call allowances should only be paid in offices where there was a minimum of 12 callouts for out of hours or emergency court sittings each year.

However, their inquiries found multiple instances where money had been paid out when this had not happened and questioned whether the allowances should now be recouped.

The audit report said the overpayments had happened in an average of six offices annually with a “number of the same offices featuring each year” for the incorrect payments.

The audit also found a separate agreement in place for staff at one office in Co Galway had never been properly implemented.

Under the deal, some staff had their positions upgraded providing that payment of an on-call or callout allowance to them would cease.

The report said: “But this has never been implemented and the allowances continue to be paid.”

Way back in November 2018, Right to Know sought copies of records held by RTÉ relating to how they cover climate change.

We were looking primarily for guidance or policies created for editorial staff on how to approach global warming.

At the time – and today as well – there is a sustained level of criticism of RTÉ’s approach to the climate crisis, how they cover it, and particularly the level of specialist resources allocated to reporting it.

Our request was refused by RTÉ and subsequently appealed to the Commissioner for Environmental Information, who ruled that the information was not environmental.

We disagreed, with this based on the belief that broadcasting is clearly a measure that can affect the environment as outlined in the AIE Regulations.

When a public service broadcaster has very significant TV, radio, and online audiences … of course how they cover climate change issues will have a far-reaching influence on what people know and do when it comes to the environment.

In his judgment, Justice Max Barrett agreed and ordered a fresh decision-making process in light of the fact that broadcasting was clearly a measure for the purposes of our request.

RTÉ has now “without prejudice” released copies of the records, a selection of emails received from the public commenting on their coverage of climate issue.

In correspondence, the public service broadcaster has also indicated that it shouldn’t even have had to deal with such requests for environmental information in the first place.

They have also made repeated spurious attempts to suggest these requests impinge on press freedom, even though we have never – and would never – seek material where that consideration would arise.

So, it is clear this story is not over … and we will keep you posted on developments.