Author: Ken Foxe

Libraries across Ireland were told they should consider having safe rooms for staff or at the very least effective ways for employees to escape in the face of aggressive right-wing protests.

In an advisory, the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) also suggested the use of panic buttons and lone worker devices especially for small libraries where only a single person might be working.

They were also told to put up signage that explicitly prohibited the use of audio or video recording within the building, including with mobile phones.

The LGMA urged as well that all staff be given training in “dealing with difficult scenarios” in the face of increasingly aggressive protest tactics over the presence of LGBQT+ books.

The August 2023 advisory said as soon as somebody became aware of a planned protest, this should be notified to senior management and An Garda.

It said: “In consultation with the city [or] county librarian and or senior management, decide whether to close the library in advance of the event, based on the risk to personnel or the public, considering the proximity of a garda Station, location of the library and numbers [or] vulnerability of staff at the premises.”

The guidance said small, rural, or remote libraries should simply close and larger libraries should decide on whether additional security was needed at their building to protect staff.

Library staff were given guidance on what to say, especially to point out that they did not consent to be recorded or for the sharing of their image online.

It said after that contact should be kept to a minimum and that gardaí should be alerted about any threatening language, destruction of materials, or disruption of other service users.

“If there is any perceived threat to persons, any panic button or lone worker protection devices should be deployed,” said the guidance document.

Separately, the LGMA issued advice to libraries on how to deal with a flood of requests they were receiving under Freedom of Information (FOI) laws about LGBQT+ books and gender identity.

Councils were told they should strongly consider whether the names of staff should be redacted from records if inclusion could endanger their safety or facilitate a criminal offence.

In ordinary circumstances, the names of public servants are supposed to be kept in FOI records; however, there is an exemption where a risk to their safety is anticipated.

This has become a more regular feature of FOI decisions recently and is an understandable concern given the dramatic upsurge in violent far-right activity in Ireland.

A Fáilte Ireland presentation on concerns over anti-social behaviour in Dublin said perceptions of safety in the capital were in line with the norm for other large cities but that nearly a quarter of businesses were worried about their impact.

The briefing, which was prepared for the board of Fáilte Ireland last summer, said that 63% of visitors to Dublin were “more or less neutral” on safety in the city with 8% saying that they considered it poor.

It said that reported incidents of crime against tourists and the public had not increased in recent months, that there was “no cause for alarm” but that there was equally no “room for complacency and improvement is certainly possible.”

The briefing said that 23% of businesses in Dublin had concerns about anti-social behaviour, which compared very unfavourably to just 5% of businesses for the rest of Ireland.

It cited a Global Peace Index, which ranked countries according to safety and the likelihood of danger, and in which Ireland came in third place.

Among those who said that Dublin was unsafe, around 59% said it was a fear of crime, 38% a lack of police or security presence, and 32% who complained of the general appearance of the cityscape.

The Fáilte Ireland presentation also detailed how they had “scraped” social media to get a sense of how people were talking about safety in the capital.

Common themes were anti-social behaviour, open drug use and dealing, and violent attacks with O’Connell Street, Dame Street, and Temple Bar the most frequently mentioned locations.

There are also presentation on safety in Dublin from the city council and An Garda in the below document:

An Air Corps plane had a near miss after it suffered a loss of engine power while getting ready for take-off at Baldonnel.

An investigation report said it was only good fortune that the aircraft had been carrying out taxiing practice or else the engine failure could have occurred during take-off or shortly after leaving the ground.

The report said the incident was considered of the highest category of seriousness.

The aircraft was a Britten Norman Defender, which entered service in 1997, and is operated along with the Department of Justice for garda operations.

The report said: “Prior to reaching the holding point for Runway 05, the crew elected to conduct taxiing practice prior to take-off.

“It is likely that had this not been conducted, the aircraft would have experienced the loss of power on the number 2 engine while lining up on the runway, during the take-off roll or shortly after becoming airborne.”

Ireland’s largest university said its sky-high fees for exam resits were the highest in the country and put students under “great financial stress” when they failed.

UCD announced last year that it was eliminating the €180 fee that it charged students who wanted to reattempt an exam they had failed.

In an internal analysis, the college looked at resit fees across the third level sector in Ireland, concluding that theirs were the highest and examining whether they should be cut, or abolished altogether.

It said the old €180 fee “maintains the perception that the university is applying a resit fee as a penalty as opposed to a recognition of the additional cost of resit administration”.

The report, carried out by an internal working group, said students believed the fee was “arbitrary” and “too large to be nominal” although there was a cost to the university in providing resits both in administration and academic work.

The possibility of reducing the fee to just €50 was examined saying this would bring UCD below the national average fee while recognising the “additional costs” for the college in running additional exams.

It said this would reduce college income from resits by 72% but would still retain the “financial burden” for failing a module.

The UCD analysis also said there was an inherent unfairness in the fact that some of its courses allowed students to take part in “in-module remediation” where if they failed a subject, they could subsequently pass without having to go through a formal repeat.

The university ultimately agreed with the analysis that scrapping the charge would reduce the financial burden on students “at a time of academic stress”.

The working group’s report said this would remove the perception that the fees were a “penalty,” and that UCD would be able to manage without the lost revenue from fees.

The internal analysis also looked at whether the resit fees were hitting poorer students harder, by looking at whether there was any link between exam results and the provision of grants under the SUSI system.

“One potential concern with repeat and resit fees is whether they disproportionately affect students who can least afford to pay them,” said the document.

However, they said this wasn’t apparent from their analysis and students dealing with money struggles were no more likely to resit an exam than those with no obvious financial strains.

The analysis said: “Even though students receiving needs-based assistance potentially face more obstacles in third-level education due to lower household incomes and other challenging family environments, these students appear to be as successful as their peers in progressing to their second year at UCD.”

The only obvious trend the university could find among students who were resitting exams was that they tended to have scored lower points in their Leaving Cert.

In recommendations, the analysis said any final decision would be up to management but that its conclusion was that the resit fee should be lowered or dropped especially during a “cost of living crisis”.

“The working group does not believe that the current resit fee of €180 is a tenable position for the university,” said the report.

“It is the highest charge in the sector, was projected to reduce on an annual basis but has not, and [it] is perceived to be an unfair financial penalty at a time when it is widely recognised that students can least afford such costs.”

The Department of Defence told the Air Corps that “all confidence” in the government’s €8 million government Learjet was gone and that it needed to be taken out of service full time.

In an email, Department of Defence Secretary General Jacqui McCrum said the aircraft had yet again let them down after Minister Simon Harris arrived at Baldonnel for a scheduled flight to Belgium only to be told he couldn’t fly.

In a message to the Defence Forces Chief of Staff Seán Clancy, she wrote: “As discussed, all confidence in the Lear is gone. I know that [staff member] was speaking to [Air Corps] about the retirement of same and that a report is to be [or is] being prepared.

“I will await your comments, but in my view, it has to be taken out of service full time now. We cannot provide an appropriate [government transport] service with it, and we cannot risk ministers missing critical meetings or being stranded.”

The latest controversy began in early December when Higher Education Minister Simon Harris was due to travel on an early-morning flight to Brussels only for the jet to be deemed out of service at the last minute.

An email from an Air Corps officer said: “I informed Minister Harris of the issue in person and outlined some potential timelines based on other aircraft types.

“Based on this, he advised that they would not plan to travel to Brussels today.”

A copy of the heavily redacted documents below:

The Department of the Environment has published a full list of the submissions it received as part of its ongoing review of the Access to Information on the Environment (AIE) Regulations.

These regulations have been a point of emphasis for Right to Know in recent years as we have tried to push the boundaries of what information citizens can obtain, and from whom.

Our submission, which is posted below, focuses on some of the key issues we have identified through our work in recent years.

These include:

• long delays in dealing with cases.
• the abolition of fees for appeal.
• greater powers and resources for the Office of the Commissioner for Environmental Information.
• some form of sanction for delays and maladministration.

There are also a list of submissions from other public bodies, including various government departments and city councils.

Somewhat perplexingly, the “industry” section includes the likes of Coillte, the daa, ESB, and Bórd na Móna.

These are all semi-state entities and are already fully subject to requests for information under the AIE Regulations in case anybody was in doubt.

Leinster House is beginning a crackdown on cranks to ensure people who continually make calls or emails to staff working in parliament can have their access cut off.

The new policy for dealing with “unreasonable behaviour” has been formulated to contend with a growing problem of individuals bombarding the Oireachtas over the phone, electronically, or even via the postal system.

A business case for the policy said it was designed to protect the “health, safety, dignity, and well-being of staff” who are forced to deal with people who make a nuisance of themselves or who find themselves the subject of vicious online abuse or trolling.

It said soundings had been taken from other government departments and public bodies who said having a policy in place helped to provide reassurance to staff that unreasonable behaviour would not be tolerated.

However, one department warned it could be quite tricky to implement as individuals could for example easily switch to using a different phone if their original number or email address was blocked.

The Oireachtas business case for the policy said they had also consulted with the Data Protection Commission over the legality of retaining the names and contact details of people who engage in crank behaviour.

It said: “The [Oireachtas] Service has a legitimate interest in processing the data and processing the data is necessary and proportionate for the performance of our functions and to help protect the health, safety, dignity and well-being of individuals at work against risks arising out of or in connection with their employment.”

A copy of the policy said the type of behaviour that was considered “unreasonable persistence” including making excessive and disproportionate demands on staff members either in writing or by phone.

It said repeated contact in which employees were dragged into “lengthy telephone calls” were also being cracked down along with “lengthy, complex letters” that demanded immediate and comprehensive responses.

Other behaviours included continued correspondence on matters that were already dealt with or demands that another staff member investigate it instead.

Attempts to obtain “copies of confidential files” or seeking personal information from staff will also be targeted as well as any effort to “overload a person or division with excessive or voluminous correspondence”.

Unreasonable or irrational arguments are also flagged including “placing too much emphasis on trivialities or focusing on immaterial or irrelevant details”.

At an even more serious level, the policy deals as well with use of physical violence or threats of violence against staff members, along with cases of bullying, harassment or the making of “derogatory, sarcastic, or defamatory remarks”. The policy said this included material posted on social media as well as “online trolling” of staff members of the Oireachtas.

Twenty members of An Garda Síochána were charged and convicted of criminal offences since the beginning of January 2020.

Data obtained under FOI reveals how officers were convicted of crimes including assault, drink driving, domestic violence, and criminal damage.

Gardaí said that the information was provided by their Internal Affairs Office and that it may not be a “definitive list of all members of An Garda Síochána who have received convictions during the relevant period”.

They said that twelve members had been convicted of either careless driving or drunk driving in the period between January 2020 and November 22 last year.

Another was prosecuted for driving without due care or attention while one was convicted of refusing to provide a breath, blood, or urine specimen following arrest on suspicion of being drunk behind the wheel.

There were three convictions for assault, one for domestic violence, and one conviction for a garda who damaged somebody’s property “without lawful excuse”.

A single officer was also prosecuted and found guilty under legislation that targets the laundering of money.

The IDA spent more than €425,000 on a rebrand project they hope will represent a “contemporary Ireland” for the digital age.

The outlay included “discovery research”, the design process, “signage, wayfinding, and sample application” as well as stationary, a website revamp, and marketing material.

However, the notoriously secretive development agency would provide no breakdown of the €428,301 they paid and also redacted almost all of a presentation that described the thinking behind the rebrand including the choice of their new logo and even “colour considerations”.

A heavily redacted copy of the slideshow said they wanted to develop a new identity showing them as the “best and most successful investment promotion and development agency” in the world.

The vision for the project was their “ambition, north star, rallying cry, and an emotive movement forward” according to records they released.

It said they were looking for something “honest [and] direct” that explains exactly what the IDA does as it tries to win and develop foreign direct investment.

The presentation said: “What is our reason for being? It’s our noble purpose. Our brand purpose can make us irresistible to those we hope to serve.”

The new logo includes a “trinity of dots” which is designed with a nod to Ireland’s iconic shamrock.

The development agency said the vibrant green colour and the “bespoke typeface” are designed to “exude confidence with a nod to Irish personality”.

The IDA has reaffirmed the decision at internal review so it will now be appealed to the Information Commissioner.

The country’s main maternity hospital has had to spend more than €500,000 after being warned of the risk of a catastrophic power failure and a fire that would cause “unrepairable and permanent damage” to their electrical systems.

The National Maternity Hospital on Holles Street in Dublin had been operating using electrical cables that were laid around 35 years ago and which were never meant to manage the load that the hospital has needed in recent years.

An expert engineering report explained how the electrical system was frequently operating at a level way beyond its “recommended rating”.

The report said: “This will lead to a catastrophic power failure. When cables such as these fail, they have a real risk of causing a fire within a main switchboard/hospital building causing unrepairable and permanent damage.”

It said the expected wait time for replacement parts was in the order of four months during which the day-to-day running of the hospital would have been compromised.

The antiquated system had already caused the failure of back-up power equipment as well as the loss of the main electrical supply to the hospital during periods of “peak demand”.