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Processing payments to Ukrainian accommodation providers costing the Government millions

by admin 22 December, 2023 0 Comments

Processing invoices for Ukrainian accommodation providers is costing the Department of Children millions every year. By Conor O’Carroll. A new report from consultancy firm Auxilion has found that processing invoices for Ukrainian accommodation providers is costing the Department of Children millions of Euro each year. The report, which was obtained by Village, states that “based on assessed processes and current assumptions, the current cost per invoice processed is approximately €902”. With the Department processing a minimum of 700 invoices per month, the cost quickly spirals. Based on 8,400 invoices processed over the course of a year, the projected cost rises to €7.5 million. By comparison, the worst-case performers across industry are able to operate at €9 per invoice, substantially less than the Department, while “best in class organisations process at a cost of less than €1.80 per invoice”, the report says, over 500 times better than the Department. Some of the reasons for the extraordinary cost relate to the number of staff involved. Close to 70 people in the Department are involved across the entire payment cycle, from contracts and procurement to the payments team. A proposed headcount increase of 70 people would significantly worsen the cost associated with processing invoices according to the report, bringing the cost per invoice to €1,817 Other challenges noted in the report include a shared Excel document containing information the entire system relies on that can only be accessed by one person at a time. “This is creating a significant bottleneck in the process”, the report notes. Most of the accommodation suppliers are procured without proper contracts, with the limited number of beds available and uncertainty surrounding the number of arrivals forcing the procurement team to constantly add new suppliers. According to the most recent update from the United Nations Refugee agency, UNHCR, Ireland has taken in over 100,000 Ukrainians fleeing the war. In September, an extra €1 billion in funding was provided to the Department to aid in accommodating Ukrainians and others seeking international protection. A significant backlog in processing invoices is also created with each payment form from suppliers requiring approximately 25 minutes to check and ensure the information is correct. Up to 90 of these forms are processed every week, falling far short of the numbers required to clear the number of invoices received. There is also a substantial amount of checking and re-checking of the same data according to the report, with the manual nature of the work contributing to the time-intensive task. Other challenges noted in the report include that the Excel document containing information the entire system relies on is shared and can only be accessed by one person at a time The report makes clear that staff at the Department “recognise the need to improve, but have not been able to take a step back and reflect due to the ongoing challenges”. However, a proposed headcount increase of 70 people would significantly worsen the cost associated with processing invoices according to the report, bringing the cost per invoice to €1,817. Based on current figures, that would result in an annual cost to the Department of over €15 million, the report states. Instead, the report recommends that the process be re-designed and technology be introduced to automate some of the processes and reduce the demands placed on staff. The Department of Children has been contacted for comment.

Government sought advice from UK Home Office on controversial asylum-seeker barge

by admin 27 October, 2023 0 Comments

Officials from the Department of Children approached the UK Home Office seeking advice following the launch of the controversial asylum seeker barge, the Bibby Stockholm, as preparations for the Irish ‘flotel’ continue. By Conor O’Carroll Irish Government officials congratulated their counterparts in the UK Home Office following the launch of the controversial asylum-seeker barge, documents released under Freedom of Information (FOI) show. The emails, which were released to Village Magazine, show how an official from the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth congratulated his peers for the launch of the Bibby Stockholm barge off the coast of Dorset, in southwest England in August 2023. “Congrats on getting the barge ‘open for business’ – have been watching the various news feeds with interest”, the unnamed official said on 9 August, days after the first asylum seekers had been moved onto the barge. A few days later, the barge was evacuated following the discovery of Legionella bacteria in the water supply, which can cause a serious type of lung infection known as Legionnaires’ disease. Contact was established between the two officials in June this year when the Department of Children official reached out through an unnamed mutual contact to the UK Home Office seeking advice in the contracting of barges for asylum-seeker accommodation. They stated that the draft request for tender for Ireland’s version of the barges was “well advanced” and that “berths [had] been identified”. The official sought advice on “planning and environmental matters”, suggesting that a call between both government departments would be beneficial. The Department is seeking tenders to provide floating accommodation for International Protection Applicants (asylum seekers) and not Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection (Ukrainians) However, much of what was discussed between the two officials has been redacted, with the Home Office citing the protection of its commercial interests as the reason for obscuring the information. In May, Minister Roderic O’Gorman confirmed that his department was planning to tender floating accommodation to help ease pressures on providing accommodation. The formal process was expected to have been launched this summer, however, no tender details have been published as of yet. A spokesperson for the Department of Children told Village “publication of a tender is not likely in the immediate future with Department officials still working through the various legal and regulatory issues associated with using floating accommodation”. The Government’s examination of procuring floating accommodation dates back to 2022, when they received a number of proposals from various companies offering cruise ships to house Ukrainian refugees. Further documents released to Village Magazine under FOI show that an approach by Clare-based company ML Hospitality Ltd in 2022 was initially rejected by the Government due to “the lack of port/berths with sufficient deep water for vessels of this size and as a result potential remoteness and lack of access to services and facilities”. An internal feasibility study dated May 2022, produced by the Maritime Transport Division at the Department of Transport, concluded that the sole location suitable to accommodate the two vessels offered by ML Hospitality (the Cobh cruise berth) “would create a significant environmental impact and air quality issue for the area” owing to the need for the continual operation of the ship’s engines to power onboard utilities. Other proposals for cruise ships at Dublin Port were also rejected as it was suggested there would be a negative impact on “overall port capacity and on other port business”. The same feasibility study also raised the potential solution of a “flotel”, with the Department requesting an unnamed entrepreneur who previously approached the Port of Cork with a proposal to locate a ship as a hotel in the port to explore this option on their behalf. The entrepreneur was made to sign a non-disclosure agreement as the enquiries were made. The option presented in the study involves “up to three vessels with a capacity of 800 passengers per ship” and suggested that “it may be feasible to berth the vessels in the centre of Cork at the city quays”. It is unclear whether this is the basis for the forthcoming tender from the Department of Children and a spokesperson did not provide any further details, but did state that the Department is seeking to tender for International Protection Applicants (asylum seekers) and not Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection (Ukrainians). The plan to move asylum seekers onto barges in the UK, such as the Bibby Stockholm, which has a capacity of 506, has proved controversial, with campaign groups and public health officials condemning the plan. The Guardian newspaper reported that cabins were slightly larger than a prison cell and had been fitted with bunk beds to double capacity. The UK’s Fire Brigade Union has also threatened a legal challenge against the use of the barge over safety fears, calling it “a potential deathtrap”. Amnesty International UK’s Refugee and Migrant Rights Director, Steve Valdez-Symonds, voiced objections too, calling it “reminiscent of the prison hulks from the Victorian era” and “an utterly shameful way to house people who’ve fled terror, conflict and persecution”. The Irish Refugee Council expressed concern at the prospect of floating accommodation being used in Ireland; “We are strongly opposed to floating accommodation. They are wholly inadequate places to house vulnerable men, women and children who have come to our country in search of safety. We are concerned that short-term responses tend to become permanent. Direct Provision was temporary. Tents were meant to stop last autumn. Just because something is better than sleeping rough on a street doesn’t mean that we should accept it”. “We shouldn’t let standards slip just to warehouse people and we encourage government to invest in sustainable medium- and long-term accommodation options that support people with dignity”, they continued. A spokesperson for the Department of Children said the contact with the UK Home Office and other “shared experiences will help to establish the most appropriate vessel type for the various factors and considerations, such as berthing, for any ‘floating’ accommodation that the Department publishes a Request for Tenders

Opinion: Use of depleted uranium in Ukraine ignores environmental & health consequences

by admin 8 August, 2023 0 Comments

By Caroline Hurley Military authorities increasingly try to categorise armaments containing depleted uranium (DU) as conventional, despite epidemics of cancers and genetic mutations following their use in Iraq and elsewhere. These arms use nuclear waste and take advantage of the dense weight and flammability of uranium, primarily to penetrate tank metal, of the likes of Leopard 2. Massive stores of DU are now held in the Netherlands (Almelo), Germany (Lingen) and the UK, since the cessation of arrangements to send nuclear waste to Russia for dumping. An estimated one million tons of the poison had been produced in the world by 2016. Re-use for genocidal ecocidal destruction is a highly questionable recycling choice, showing up the entire nuclear industry as a redundant albatross. DU features in radioactive shielding and in aircraft, forklifts, and boat keels for weight. The National Crime Prevention Office oversees a small number of high-activity field sources in Ireland e.g. radioactive material to sterilise medical equipment, and radiography, which requires secure transport in solid containers. Nuclear-powered marine vessels, and vessels carrying nuclear material or other radiation-emitting materials, are expressly prohibited from entering an Irish harbour without prior dispensation, under Section 52 of the Harbours Act 1996. In contrast, the aerosol powder released on impact and combustion of DU munitions can potentially contaminate wide areas, depending on weather, and result in the inhalation of radioactive nanoparticles. Since uranium 238 has a half-life of 4.5 billion years, any harms spreading worldwide are cumulative. Health conditions like those observed after the Chernobyl accident have been noted since the first use of DU weapons in 1991. Survivors of bombings in Iraq, Bosnia, Somalia, Serbia, Syria, the Lebanon and Afghanistan share far higher rates of cancer, deformities, blood diseases and other symptoms than the military personnel who struck them. Overburdened health and social services struggle to cope, no matter how NGOs try patching things up. Will that be Ukraine’s fate? Abandoning compassion is the ultimate crime against the biosphere’s endangered future The WHO/IAEA Agreement (WHA12-40) of 28 May 1959, giving the IAEA power of veto over WHO’s activities. Similar “agreements” constrain other UN agencies. Rather than being independent, the IAEA’s objective to promote nuclear power is enshrined in its constitution, requiring the WHO to remain subservient in matters of radiation and health. This conflict of interest may prejudice decisions. Research on tissue damage from low-level radiation by John Gofman, and Helen Caldicott’s consciousness-raising about related diseases, garnered official opprobrium. UN brush-offs ring hollow e.g. “The results of the radiological assessments conducted by IAEA in cooperation with UNEP and WHO provide the basis for public reassurance”. An international campaign calls for WHO to be independent of the nuclear lobby. Disquiet about WHO governance extends to other areas, including pandemic management, power imbalances, and funder influence. Top-down WHO regulatory controls being drafted are failing to please everybody. DU releases mainly alpha radiation, which wreaks havoc on internal organs. The EPA does not monitor for DU in the environment but focuses on radioactivity sources normally delivering the highest radiation doses to members of the Irish public – namely, exposure to radon gas, medical exposures, cosmic radiation, terrestrial gamma radiation (which includes natural uranium), radioactivity in food and drinking water and occupational exposures. Atmospheric radioactivity due to depleted uranium is not a significant source of exposure to members of the Irish public when compared to those mentioned above, according to the EPA, while accepting that Uranium 238 has a half-life of 4.5 billion years and emits alpha radiation not routinely monitored. The EPA reports no evidence from Ukraine of nuclear weapon use or power plant leaks (yet) and points out that DU is less radioactive than natural uranium, is used commercially, and DU weapons are not nuclear. But the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Instead, emerging reports of harm should spur further studies, as the inbuilt societal systemic response. During the Iraq war, German (Bavarian), Austrian and Swiss scientists detected traces of DU in air and soil samples. Conversely, no testing means no information and silent risk. Since DU’s first military deployment, the trend of rising cancer rates among young people worldwide is attracting attention. After more than 15 tons of uranium bombs were dropped on Yugoslavia in 1999, over 4,000 citizens of Serbia, including Kosovo and Metohija, are suing NATO for causing their cancers. 400 have already died. More than 30,000 people are now diagnosed with cancer each year, compared to fewer than 7,000 cases before 1999. Blood analysis shows 500 times more metal than normal. Healthcare services are already being stripped back and exploited for profit. Entities like Physicians for Social Responsibility, and SHAPE are trying to reverse this trend. The Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) collates facts and updates. Other nuclear watch organisations include ICAN, the UN’s Unfold Zero, Arms Control Association, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and World Beyond War. The International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons focuses primarily on DU usage in war, “since its residuals prolong the war into an indefinite time. The aim of the coalition is to ban DU weapons, eliminate the environmental damage caused by uranium weapons, help the victims, and prevent future damage from such weapons and actions”. UN inertia persists as member states refuse to comply with principles, but credible evidence and expert warnings mount. Primum non Nocere (first, do no harm)? 2022 research recognises that “Uranium contamination has become a nonnegligible global health problem” about which understanding is “still at a preliminary stage”. However, the US EPA clearly warns that DU is a “serious health hazard”. Britain has admitted sending DU weapons to Ukraine, while Europe goes along with the ammunition-as-solution fantasy by obligingly arranging more arms production, which only builds momentum towards more wars. Where are the leaders who care more for life than for economics? Similar warnings from parties such as the IPPNW, and the Organization of Doctors for the Prevention of Nuclear War, are gathering. A lawyer for 400 sick Italian soldiers exposed to DU cautioned Britain to “think about the risks and the consequences”