There are 158 Deputies in the Dáil, elected by the people of Ireland. The Naval Service is the maritime defence force. Just two of those Deputies have shown direct interest in the “strategic implications for the State” threatening the Navy which I identified in this Podcast three weeks ago. That is associated with the proposal to build a hazardous waste incinerator at Ringaskiddy in Cork Harbour, close to the Naval Base. I have Emailed every political party in the Oireachtas and the Independent members, asking for their views on those “strategic implications,” identified by the Department of Defence. Scroll down to listen to this week's podcast below.
Deputy Tommy Broughan, Independent T.D. for the Dublin Bay North Constituency is the only TD who replied to me personally. He raised the matter with the Minister of State who has special responsibility for defence matters.
Fianna Fail’s Press Office replied with a comment from their Leader Micheál Martin, the only other TD to respond to my queries. He said that “Fianna Fáil is opposed to the plan to construct an incinerator at Cork Harbour,” that he believes “the plan is fundamentally flawed” and that the “intervention by both the Irish Naval Service and Air Corps is significant. “ He said he included some of their concerns in his statement to the Bord Pleanala public hearing.
Excluding the Ceann Comhairle because of his position, why have the rest of the TDs in the Dáil, including Ministers, not expressed concern or raised for discussion in the national parliament, the issue identified by the Department of Defence as: “Haulbowline is the Naval Service’s only base in Ireland…..an important strategic location for the Irish Defence Forces, with aviation activities performed there, including marine counter terrorism, joint Naval Service/Air Corps exercises including simulated attack, cargo slinging for replenishment of ships at sea … and so on…. Restrictions on the Irish Air Corps’ ability to operate with the Naval Service at Haulbowline is not just a local issue, but carries strategic implications for the State….” That is what the Department of Defence said in their statement to the Bord Pleanala public hearing.
Surely such a statement merits national attention, but it seems that the national planning board, Bord Pleanala, not the elected representatives of the people in the national parliament, will decide on those “strategic implications for the State.”
What does this say about maritime interest or concern amongst the members of Dáil Eireann?
Minister of State with responsibility for defence matters Paul Kehoe’s reply to Deputy Broughan was: “Dear Tommy, I wish to acknowledge receipt of your recent e-mail correspondence regarding the Naval Base at Haulbowline, Cork. I will be in touch with you again soon in relation to this matter.”
I Emailed the following questions to Minister Kehoe at [email protected] because the Taoiseach assigned special responsibilities for Defence to Minister Kehoe.
1 - What is the Government's attitude to the defined threat to the Naval Service/Air Corps operations? 2- Is the Government prepared to accept that an industrial project can compromise Naval Service/Air Corps operations? 3 - Is it conceding to Bord Pleanala the right, through a planning application, to decide on the operations of the Naval Service/Air Corps?
Up to the time of this Podcast and despite a reminder sent yesterday to the Press Office, no reply. I also Emailed Minister Kehoe’s constituency office. No reply.
Sinn Fein’s Senator Pádraig MacLochlainn, formerly Spokesman on Defence, sent my query onto Aengus O'Snodaigh TD who is now the party’s Spokesperson on Defence. I Emailed Deputy O’Snodaigh myself. No reply.
The Labour Party undertook to make a reply when a Spokesman on Defence is appointed.
As I have said before, I live in Cork Harbour and, from my home see three wind turbines powering chemical factories close by, hear and at times smell the operations of some of these plants every day, plus the noise of operations at Cork Port’s Ringaskiddy Deepwater Terminal, so I am well used to the heavy industrialisation of the harbour. This issue, however, is about strategic national implications for the State. In the midst of all the discussion about drugs, drug trafficking and the resultant gang war in Dublin, the importance of the Naval role in drugs interdiction should not be forgotten.
When I interviewed the Managing Director of Indaver, which is proposing the incinerator, he spoke of “compromise” with the Navy and Air Corps and equated waste management as being an important concern for the State, as well as the Naval Service.
I disagreed with him on any such equation of the Naval Service and disagreed that the nation’s maritime defence force and the Air Corps should have to make any compromise with an industrial concern, irrespective of that concern’s self-perceived importance to the country in waste management terms.
However, it seems to me that the majority of TDs in the Dáil could show more concern about the day-to-day operations of the Air Corps and Naval Service.
