Prime Time

• Prime Time - 9th Februrary 2012

  Katie Hannon blogs ahead of her report tonight on the GAA:

  
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• Profiting From Prostitution

  On tonight's programme:

  

  In an extended edition of Prime Time, Paul Maguire reports on prostitution in Ireland. If you've been affected by any of the issues raised by the programme, you can contact Ruhama on their 24-hour helpline (01 8360292) or visit ruhama.ie.
  Prime Time, RTÉ 1, 21:35

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• The Neverending Story

  Paul Murphy blogs ahead of his report tonight on the saga of the Poolbeg Incinerator:

  

  
  
  
  
  If it seems like we have been have been talking about a municipal incinerator in Dublin for years, it’s because we have been talking about it for years. In 1997, when an incinerator was first proposed, we were recycling only 3% of household waste (the latest figures say that is now 30% and higher for commercial and other waste). The case for an incinerator seemed clear. The plan was that Dublin City Council would work in partnership with a private company, which would design and build a 600,000 tonne incinerator. Work progressed at a snail’s pace; a contract was finally signed in 2007 and site work began in late 2009. But now the snail has stopped. Since May 2010 there has been no site work on the incinerator. Though there is still a case to be made for an incinerator, it is much less clear cut as private firms invest in recycling technologies. There are also questions over the contract with the incinerator provider which obliges Dublin’s four councils to supply a certain amount of waste to the incinerator or pay a penalty.
  The project may be stalled but its costs are still mounting. Dublin City council has spent €81m on the project so far, it got about €4.5m back from Covanta the proposed incinerator operator but most of the spending is from the public purse. Slightly over half the money has been spent on buying land, according to council figures supplied this month to Cllr Paddy McCartan, but €29m has gone on consultants.
  A consortium of consultants led by RPS was paid a healthy €26m in fees so far. RPS say that they don’t get all of that money and that depending on the year, between 40% and 66% of the money they got for the project is passed on to sub-consultants.
  Under the Freedom of Information Act, however, Prime Time obtained invoices paid by Dublin City Council to RPS dating from mid 2004 to Sept 2011. Some of the spending seems quite extraordinary. In the 16 months after the site work stopped, the council paid RPS over €2.6m, even though the project appeared to be at a standstill.
  For several years the council was paying the PR wing of consultants RPS over €50,000 every two months as a “Communications Retainer.” That retainer continued to April 2011.
  Even more extraordinary is that council figures show the PR spend on the project at €4.3m including a dedicated information office. And this €4.3m is separate from the communications fees paid to RPS.
  Whether the incinerator ever gets restarted could depend on the Environment Minister Phil Hogan. He was avowedly anti-incineration when in opposition, but it seems a u-turn is in motion. When he got into power he threw out a tax on incineration that was proposed by his predecessor John Gormley. Now he is reviewing waste collection with a view to introducing something called competitive tendering. This could mean that waste collectors would compete for the right to collect waste in an area but whoever wins the tender gets a local monopoly. Councils may then be able to insert a condition in the tender that says they have the right to direct waste to a particular landfill… or incinerator. Dublin’s councils would be delighted with such a change, they have invested a lot of time and effort in Poolbeg and have said publicly said that competitive tendering would make the incinerator “bankable.”
  The four Dublin councils say their interest in the incinerator is driven by “Government policy and to assist Ireland in meeting its obligations under the Waste Framework Directive.” They also say they are “confident that the project will be brought to fruition and that monies expended to date will be recouped through the contract.”
  It would certainly save the blushes of the councils if Poolbeg got up and running. Last month Fingal Council cancelled its proposed Nevitt landfill in North Dublin, after spending over €30m on it.
  Regarding Poolbeg, factor in land that the council is locked into buying and the spend will rise from the current €81m to around €100m, nearly twice the amount spent on e-voting. If the Poolbeg incinerator were to fail, it would be a big embarrassment indeed.
  Paul Murphy

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• Prime Time - 26th January 2012

  Robert Shortt blogs ahead of his report tonight on Europe's Fiscal Compact:
  
  
  
  Earlier this month, the ratings agency Standard and Poor’s downgraded the sovereign debt of several Eurozone countries. France was stripped of its prized ‘Triple A’ rating.
  The markets barely budged.
  Last week Spain and Italy went to the bond markets and raised money at half the rates they were being charged before Christmas. Eurozone bank shares are up 14% in the past week.
  Yesterday, Ireland stuck a toe in the treacherous waters of the bond market and successfully rolled over a portion of its debt.
  Did the Eurozone crisis just end?
  Not quite.
  This week, the IMF reiterated its belief that the euro crisis could still bring disaster on all our heads. And the potential for Greece to slip into a messy default remains very real. So don’t break out the euro shopper champers just yet.
  Next Monday, European leaders will gather in Brussels to agree the text of a new treaty; a fiscal compact it’s hoped will solve the Eurozone’s debt crisis. Tonight on Prime Time, we’ll ask what’s in the Compact and hear from those who believe it’s crucial to the survival of the single currency and those who think it’s cementing the wrong policies which will drive Europe into a recession.
  The Fiscal Compact is a series of rules which have the potential to radically change the way eurozone economies are funded and run. It proposes that over an economic cycle (itself a concept about which economists argue) a country can only run a budget deficit of 0.5% GDP. That is essentially the same as running a balanced budget or one where the government takes in more than it spends. It also proposes that countries return to the old Maastricht criteria of a debt to GDP ratio of 60%.
  Those profligate nations (and yes, with a forecast 115% debt/GDP ratio this year, we’re one of them) will be given twenty years to get their houses in order.
  There’s a lot about reverse qualified majority voting, the European Court of Justice, automaticity (don’t ask) and possible constitutional challenges but cutting the deficit and paying off the national debt in relative jig time are two tenets of the treaty which will have far reaching implications.
  We could look back fondly on the Troika as boot camp instructors because the austerity they’ve taught us will be with us for a long time. And it won’t be just us. The rest of the eurozone will be on the treadmill machine too.
  That’s what scares the IMF, Italian interim Prime Minister Mario Monti and others. If everyone is on an austerity drive, where will the growth in Europe come from? IMF chief Christine Lagarde repeated again this week that Europe faces a ‘1930’s moment’ if it does not act to introduce Eurobonds and beef up the bailout fund, the ESM (European Stability Mechanism).
  The optimists believe that if Europe signs up to the Compact, those countries which can afford it – namely Germany - will act to stimulate growth. It’s still a hard sell politically in Germany, as former German vice-chancellor Joschka Fisher tells us in tonight’s report, but in the end it might just happen.
  And in some ways it may already be happening.
  When newly installed European Central Bank President Mario Draghi opened the spigots and pumped half a trillion euro into the European banking system before Christmas, he was not acting like someone versed in the conservative arts of Germany’s Bundesbank. In central banking terms it was a radical move.
  It might be one almighty kicking of the proverbial can three years down the road, but it might just give Europe’s intertwined and indebted banks and sovereigns enough time to adapt to austerity and emerge intact.
  Robert Shortt

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• Prime Time - 24th January 2012

  Katie Hannon blogs ahead of tonight's programme on illegal moneylenders:

  

  
  
  Where do those on low incomes with few assets and perhaps a poor credit history turn to for credit in a severe credit crunch?
  Until recently they would have gone to their local credit union, which has a fine tradition of offering affordable credit to those on social welfare or low incomes.
  But recent moves by the financial regulator in placing restrictions on credit union lending has in practice meant that even long-standing customers who have never defaulted on a repayment may now be refused credit.
  For many of those customers the only option open to them for sourcing credit is now moneylenders.
  Any company or individual wishing to offer credit at rates of over 23% must apply to the Central Bank for a moneylender’s licence. There are 47 moneylenders currently licensed by the Central Bank. The interest rates they are authorised to charge vary. When collection charges are included, a loan from the most expensive moneylender would cost 287.72% APR.
  Moneylenders argue that it is unfair to quote APR, or annual percentage rate, in relation to the short term loans that they provide as it exaggerates their rates. They also point out that this type of credit carries more risk and is expensive to administer, as it involves agents calling door-to-door for relatively small repayments. But there is no doubting that the doorstep credit offered by moneylenders is very expensive when compared to the rates charged by mainstream lenders.
  There are calls for the interest rates to be severely capped but there are fears, not least by the Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) that, in the absence of any other social lending mechanisms, such a move might actually make matters worse by restricting the market and driving more people into the arms of the illegal moneylenders.
  It is impossible to quantify the levels of illegal moneylending but there is anecdotal evidence that it is thriving in these difficult times. The 1995 Consumer Credit Act gave the Gardaí robust new powers in this area. However, with few people witnesses willing to come forward to give evidence against illegal moneylenders, convictions have remained elusive.
  In the UK, the Stop Loan Sharks project by the Trading Standards Office has had considerable success. Since its launch as a pilot project eight years ago, it has written off almost £40 million of illegal debts and helped over 18,000 people. More than 200 prosecutions have been secured.
  Fianna Fáil’s Senator Marc MacSharry has called for even more draconian legislation which would allow as on the sworn testimony of a superintendant.
  The crackdown in the UK was in tandem with key measures such as offering social lending at low interest rates to those on welfare. Until policies such as these are introduced here, those who can least afford it will continue to pay the high price.
  So what can we do here? Should interest be capped? What can be done to get easier credit for those who need it? And what can be done about the illegal end of the spectrum? Join us tonight at 21:35 on RTÉ 1.
  Katie Hannon
  

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• Prime Time - 19th January 2012

  On tonight's programme:

  

  Ireland is now over a year into its bailout programme with the EU, ECB and IMF and this week has seen the latest visit from the Troika to inspect Ireland’s progress. We’ve thus far set ourselves up as the star pupils in the bailout class, consistently meeting the targets set, and this review has been no different. After the first full year of the programme, the Troika are satisfied that the Government have been meeting all the requirements dictated to them by the terms of the bailout. These most recent discussions have also taken in the sale of State assets, and what the Fine Gael-Labour coalition can hope to do with the proceeds. There are many who insist that checking all of the Troika’s boxes may look good on paper, but that the policies taken to ensure it happens are causing the Irish economy to further stagnate, with prospects of growth continuing to dwindle.
  Minister for Finance Michael Noonan said today that some progress has been made in negotiating for the Government being permitted to use money generated by the selling-on of State assets to invest in job creation. These are the small battles one must fight following the loss of financial sovereignty. Another, larger, battle is the fight to keep Ireland’s corporate tax rate at 12.5%, with France and Germany renewing their efforts to secure a harmonised rate across the EU. Tonight, Robert Shortt examines our latest Troika report-card and what chances Ireland has of growing itself out the current economic wasteland by pursuing a policy of continuing austerity. Joining Miriam O'Callaghan is studio will be Fine Gael's Paschal Donohoe and Mary Lou McDonald of Sinn Féin.
  Also tonight, an issue that has been generating growing consternation in public Ireland. Legislation on the upgrading of septic tanks has passed committee stage and is currently due before the Dáil next week. If passed, it will force owners of septic tanks to ensure their systems meet new European standards, with fines of to €5,000 for those who do not comply. Clearly, it is in the Ireland's interests to ensure that the country's water supplies are kept clean and Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan is under pressure from Europe to pass the legislation before February 3rd, warning that Ireland will face paying daily fines should this not happen. The minister has announced a public consultation but will it be enough for hard-pressed rural dwellers worried that they simply will not have the money to ensure their tanks are compliant? Tonight, Edel McAllister attends a public meeting in Aughrim, Co. Wicklow and speaks to members of the community about their fears regarding what this new legislation will mean for them. Minister Hogan will be in studio with Richard Crowley, debating the issues at stake with Independent MEP Marian Harkin.

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