The Irish Human Rights Commission has joined in the “debate� on the proposals of the Minister for Justice Equality and Law Reform (the Tanaiste) as set out in the Criminal Justice Bill 2007.

They got their contribution in just in time. The Minister is rushing it through the Dail, presumably to ensure its passing before the calling of the General Election in which the Government of which he is a significant part will be going before the electorate in the hope of a return to office.

See HERE
and HEREand HEREand HERE
for this writer’s contribution and HERE
for that of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties.

The Irish Times has carried a claim that the Cryptosporidiosis outbreak in Galway has been ascertained to have arisen from human faecal sources and not animal faecal sources as had been generally implied by the Galway local authorities.

The Irish Farmers Association has issued the following statement:
“3/28/2007

IFA SEEK AN APOLOGY FROM GALWAY COUNTY COUNCIL

IFA Galway County Chairman Barry Donnelly has demanded that Galway County Council apologise for wrongly blaming farmers for the current water crisis affecting the area. It has emerged through reports that the water has been polluted by human sewerage rather than animal waste, causing it to be unfit for human consumption.

Mr Donnelly said “it was totally unfair for the finger of blame to be pointed at farmers. Galway County Council should have carried out a complete and thorough examination to discover the real cause of the water contamination, before making a scapegoat of the farming community.�

“It is now necessary that Galway County Council issue an immediate apology to farmers in the area.â€?”

Hmm… The management of human sewage is also the responsibility of the local authorities.

See HERE and HERE for earlier posts.

Galway City was due a new water treatment plant. The Minister for the Environment, whose job it is to make provision for such facilities, claims he provided the necessary finance in 2002 for the purpose. He claims the Galway local authority, failed to draw down the money and the Mayor is not fit to hold his job (the Mayor’s, not the Minister’s), on the grounds that the Mayor did not know of the Minister’s fund for the plant.

The Minister’s department seems to have been less than forthright in the information it issued to the press on the obligations of local authorities relating to public drinking water. See HERE.

Oddly, nobody in the political world has addressed the fact of the, apparently absolute, legal duty of the sanitary authority (the local authority) to ensure the public drinking water is clean and wholesome.

Breaches of statutory duty normally result in the obligation to pay compensation to the injured persons for whose benefit the duty was created.

The Minister seems to have overlooked earmarking finance to pay that compensation.

For Employers’ duties see HERE

Pressure is experienced most commonly in diving and tunnelling. Commercial diving and tunnelling are very dangerous occupations in themselves without the designed, pressured environment representing a further hazard to the worker.

Tunnelling is also performed under pressure in an enclosed chamber, called a caisson, at the face of the tunnelling. The caisson keeps out underground water.

Divers suffering from “the bends” are the stuff of emergencies in comic books; unfortunately it can happen in real life. Underwater pressure ensures nitrogen from the compressed air is kept in solution in the blood stream. If the pressure is removed too quickly, the nitrogen forms bubbles in the blood and gives the worker cramps or even leads to unconsciousness and death. Apart from pain and incapacity there will be other symptoms such as skin mottling.

Tunnellers can get the bends just like divers. Decompression under proper procedures is required in each case.

In the long term chronic decompression sickness causes bone necrosis. Apart from divers it is estimated that as many as 25% of compressed air workers suffer from bone necrosis. If this occurs in the joints it leads to disablement. About 3% of general compressed air workers and 0.2% of divers are disabled from this cause.

Among tunnellers in Ireland and Britain, a remarkably high number come from Donegal. They select themselves by being recruited by experienced foremen forming a “team” which the employer then hires as a group.

A medical code of practice for work in compressed air has been established, incorporating the Blackpool Decompression Tables. Compressed air workers should have X-rays of joints every two years at least. They should be X-rayed on commencement, in order to have a base for comparison.

In addition to this and other dangers, divers breathing oxygen or a mixture of oxygen and helium may suffer oxygen necrosis below depths of 25 ft. in the case of pure oxygen, and greater than 500 ft. in the case of the mixture. The onset of coma and convulsions can be sudden but is ordinarily preceded by minor feelings of discomfort. The remedy is to immediately surface and breath fresh air.

When matters are settled and not the subject of lively debate it is easy for the citizens to forget how important some ideas are.

The principle of the Separation of Powers is one of those ideas.

In Ireland we have adopted that principle and expressed it in Article 15 of the Irish Constitution.

It is possible to undermine that Constitution.

Consider the truncated “debate” of the Criminal Justice Bill in the Dail. It was truncated by the Minister for Justice Equality and Law Reform (the Tanaiste), bringing stinging rebukes from the Opposition HERE and HERE and HERE

That process diminishes the role of the Legislature at the expense of the Executive.

Elsewhere the Minister has been critical of the Judiciary in relation to sentencing.

The Judiciary have responded to that and have their own methods of combat, no doubt.

But, individually they are each a person generally trying to do the best they can in a conscientious way. Which is not to endorse everything that is done by every judge. (The writer does not warrant that something similar could not happen here).

There are consequences, not just for Civil Society, of politicised attacks on the Judiciary; see HERE for evidence of some of the other less obvious potential consequences.

For Employers’ duties see HERE

Chemical-induced effects on the human body are of infinite variety, depending on the chemical, the level of exposure, the length and type of exposure and the constitution of the victim. In addition, if exposure to more than one chemical occurs, the chemicals may together have a different and amplified effect than that which they would have singly (“Synergy”). The following is a list of possible hazardous properties of chemicals ;
• Corrosive
• Explosive
• Toxic
• Flammable
• Combustible
• Oxidizing
Corrosive means that the chemical will burn the skin of other organs of the body to varying degrees. The burns can occur on the skin or deep in the tissue after the substance has been absorbed into the body. The substance may take the form of a vapour and be inhaled causing the burning in the respiratory tract or the lungs themselves.

Explosiveness is a well known property. It may result from an extremely rapid generation of gas or heat and may be triggered by a rise in temperature, a jolt, or mixing with another chemical.

Toxic means that the chemical has an effect on the body which interferes in some manner with the body’s ordinary functioning. Toxic substances are, in effect, poisons. The effects may be acute or chronic; the route of invasion may be through the skin, into the respiratory system, swallowed, or enter through the mucous membrane or the eye.

Flammable means that the substance will burn or explode when ignited at temperatures below 140°F. The actual temperature at which a substance will burn or explode is called its flash-point. Some substances such as Acetaldehyde, have their flash-point below room temperature.
Combustible means that the substance has its flash-point above 140°F.

Oxidizing means that the substance reacts, normally on the basis of it’s content of oxygen, with other substances to generate and instantly release energy. This release may be explosive or in the form of a fire or both.

Consider a shoe repairer. You leave your shoes with the repairer to have new soles put on. If you are like the writer, you want rubber soles glued to the original leather sole. (By implication, the shoes are brand new).

Under the Constitution of Ireland the protection of private property is guaranteed. The shoes are your private property.

You return to the repairer and ask for your shoes. The repairer declines to return them; there is the small question of payment for the work done. That work was done on your private property. (more…)

The source of the outbreak of parasitic illness in Galway has been confirmed; it is the public water supply.

The responsibility for the management of the public water supply rests with the sanitary authority, that is, with Galway County Council/ Galway City Council.

Under Section 58 of the Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992 sanitary authorities are subject to obligation to report to the Agency the quality of drinking water in their area of jurisdiction.

The Agency has, pursuant to the Act of 1992, published Annual reports on water quality, the most recent being for the year 2005.

The relevant parasite, a micro-organism known as Cryptosporidium is associated with faecal matter, human and animal. It also manifests itself on a seasonal pattern. See HERE and HERE.

The parasite is not, or not readily, amenable to control by drugs. It can have severe effects on young people or old people or those whose immune systems have been attenuated; e.g., persons with AIDS.

There are mixed reports on the quality of drinking water in Ireland.
The Environmental Protection Agency notes the indifferent quality of drinking water from local rural water schemes. For sanitary authority public schemes, it declares in its report for 2005 that 99.8% of such supplies are compliant with “…the E. Coli standard…�.

On inquiry from the Irish Times the Department of the Environment, it is reported, stated that there is no specific legislation requiring filtration of public water supplies for Cryptosporidium. It also stated that such authorities are obliged in law to establish surveillance systems for the parasite “…in certain… drinking water supplies…�

In fact, sanitary authorities are obliged in law to “…take the necessary measures to ensure that [drinking] water is wholesome and clean…� and specifically that it “…is free from any micro-organisms and parasites…�. In addition it is the duty of the authority to ensure that “…other measures, such as appropriate treatment techniques, are taken to change the nature or properties of the water before it is supplied so as to reduce or eliminate the risk of the water not complying with the parametric values after supply…�

Government Policy

The Irish Times reports Ms. Mary Harney, Minister for Health and Children informing the Dail that it has been Government Policy to arrange for the building of private hospitals on public land for almost two years.

This is a revelation to the writer and, from the context of the Irish Times report, a revelation to the Dail also.

It also provokes some consternation; we inhabit a world where Government Policy can be settled on, yet not published for almost two years.

Consequently, it is possible to be in breach of Section 49 of the Electoral (Amendment) Act 2001 unwittingly. See HERE for prior comment on this subject.

Archer’s Religion

Jeffrey Archer has written a new book, – “The Gospel According to Judasâ€?.

He says he wanted it to be a gospel; that it be in verse; that it be credible scholarship. So, he had the assistance of Fr. Francis J. Moloney S D B

A report coming to hand says it looks, feels and reads like a gospel, and the author’s name is absent from the cover. (Actually it purports to be written by “Benjamin Iscariot”).

So, Archer being Archer, we can expect heavy advertising for the book.

Which raises the question; what will Today FM do if Archer’s publisher places a radio advertisement with the station?

Will Today FM react as it did when Trocaire placed its advertisement with the station and unilaterally refer the advertisement for clearance by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland?

After all, Archer’s book is clearly a religious book? Right? Did he not support Margaret Thatcher and her voodoo economic programme for the United Kingdom? Was not her great friend Ronald Reagan frequently closeted with his soothsayer?

So, the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland, to be consistent, must ban any radio advertisement promoting Archer’s book.