EDITORIAL : THE INDENDENT, IRELAND

         

 

Job creation the ace in gaming decisions

BRILLIANT business proposition, adolescent's dream, or daft idea? An Bord Pleanala has given developer Richard Quirke planning permission for the Tipperary Venue, a casino-centred project that seems to combine, if not outshine, the most spectacular features of Disneyland and Las Vegas.

Covering a site of 800 acres and estimated to cost €460m to build, the development will include, in addition to the casino, a 500-bedroom hotel, a health spa, a swimming pool, a golf course, an all-weather racecourse, a greyhound track and a full-size replica of the White House. There is also a plan for a polo ground. The board has refused permission for a 15,000-seat concert venue.

The most prominent advocate of the project has been the controversial Michael Lowry, but those in favour include such giants of the racing world as Coolmore Stud, as well as local tourism and business interests.

Elsewhere, opinion as to its merits is deeply divided. It is all but impossible to calculate the likely effects on the environment outside the 800 acres near Thurles. Tipperary is a big place, but one assumes that the casino and the surrounding buildings and facilities will not be entirely isolated from the local community or devoid of any effect on its life.

Some degree of isolation there will be, and it could take on an eerie shape. Will hordes of people -- American billionaires or Arab sheikhs -- arrive by helicopter, spend days or weeks enjoying the luxuries laid on for them, and depart from a location which, for all they have seen of it, could be on another continent?

Will reliance on gambling have an insidious effect on the wider society? Hardly, if there is so little contact. And in many countries, casinos exist without any visible detriment to society.

But when the pros and cons are argued out, one issue will surely take precedence.

It is calculated that it will create up to 2,000 jobs, and that could be the overwhelming consideration, both in the public debate and when the Government has to make up its mind whether to change the gaming legislation and make possible the profits on which the enterprise depends.

Our education is always worth a conversation

EDUCATION Minister Ruairi Quinn showed a good sense of priorities and of parents' anxieties when he published a discussion document on school enrolment policies yesterday. He also set a reasonable date, October 28, for receipt of comments on the document before he considers legislation on the subject.

He said yesterday that it was "not meant to be prescriptive". No decisions have been made on final regulations or legislation. However, the paper makes no attempt to conceal the thinking behind it or the general lines of what the minister considers the right approach.

There is intense competition for places in the "right" primary and secondary schools. Unquestionably, some families enjoy advantages which others do not. The others include, notably, immigrants and families living in disadvantaged areas. But the competition extends across all areas and classes.

Mr Quinn's thinking is clearly aimed at achieving greater fairness and overcoming some practical problems, such as those which arise from waiting lists.

Whether or not this is his intention, the document gives gentle guidance on the preferred lines of debate.

Much is merely common sense: for example, giving priority to siblings and, in the case of denominational schools, to children of a particular faith, but not giving priority to children related to a staff or management board member, a past pupil or a benefactor.

But gentle guidance ends and a flash of teeth appears when the document tells its readers that new regulations, when introduced, will bring with them new sanctions. The minister may have the power to appoint an external admissions officer. It would seem that legislation is not so far off after all.