If we allow any watering down of what it contains in any area, not just in the pharmaceutical area but any area, we are narrowing and going into a smaller circle where we are liable to end up in the same position as we started before the Single Market came, and that would not be a nice place to be.
]]>There are several other cohorts of people affected as well, and the Minister of State has made reference to this with regard to carers and encouraging more carers into the system who are willing to carry out the caring provisions. The point is that there are many people who are on the verge all the time and who are worried . If anything goes wrong or if they get an illness of one description or another, it pushes them into the zone they cannot control. They are worried about that and I can understand that. This does not have to be older people. It is anybody of any age that has a particular illness that puts them in the area where they cannot work, their work is limited, they cannot get an income, their income is limited, and they cannot qualify for a medical card and other services in order to alleviate the burden they see upon themselves. That burden can best be evaluated by people who are in that particular category because nobody else can. One must put oneself in their shoes. They see themselves as being vulnerable and they are. The vulnerability comes from a number of things, including being dependent on all around them and being dependent on the rest of society coming to their aid at a time when they most need it. It is about recognising that in many of these cases these are people who have given all of their lives so far in employment in the private and public sectors. They feel that if there is a delay - and there have been delays in the allocation of medical cards - this then becomes something that increases what they see as a threat to them having a sufficient budget to survive reasonably well. It is also about recognising that more people providing care for more people means less of a burden on services, hospitals, the HSE and so on. I strongly support those recent provisions.
On the rent-a-room scheme, it would be ironic if the rent-a-room provision was made on the one hand, and with the other hand the money was being taken away. This is where the State moves in with the one hand and then with the other hand says "You get nothing or nearly nothing". In this regard it is a welcome provision and I strongly support it.
]]>In the circumstances, I believe it is high time the OPW made its case known. Does the OPW intend at any stage to make a serious effort to go back to the status quo and restore the access that was there previously for itself and its own staff, as well as for the benefit of the local community and the benefit of all interested in Castletown House? It is a stately home, a mansion of huge historical importance, including for the locality, for this House and for the country. I ask the Minister of State to impress upon those in the OPW the urgency of the situation and the fact that time is running out, and time that is running out does not go on forever. I ask that they make a special effort to concentrate in the next couple of weeks, and then come back and tell us what is their intention, other than to suggest that they intend to buy the whole estate at some stage in the future. It is time they got onto their game and set in motion whatever processes are necessary to do one thing or the other. However, they must at all times keep in mind the right of the State to gain access to its own property unimpeded.
]]>In this particular case in Castletown, there was a temporary situation in operation for past ten or 15 years whereby ongoing permission was given to go to and from the State's house, property and assets and to provide whatever services necessary to protect the State's interest in the historical house and gardens. The way the situation has developed is that there have been a number of meetings where the issue has been discussed but no solutions have been proposed. There have been no solutions and there has been no progress in tackling the fundamental issue.
The fundamental issue is how to go to and from the State's property at Castletown House and the 137 acres, or whatever it is at this stage. I have repeated it so often, I can barely remember it. The fact of the matter is that this was happening. The people and the OPW were quite happy with it - everybody was happy with it.
There is the aspiration of buying the rest of the property in the future. That has to be dealt with as well but it can be dealt with once secure access to and from the property is guaranteed. That is a first because if there were two private landowners side by side, this matter would have been decided long ago because it would have been decided in the courts and an injunction, an arrangement or agreement would be entered into. There would be no threat to the historical house or the adjoining landowner because ways and means would be found to share the access. There would be no problem at all about that. There needs to be progress in that area, and it needs to be soon and dramatic.
My reason for saying so is that the people who have kept vigil around Castletown House and the access to it since last September have done the State a considerable service, in that they have helped to protect the listed house for all kinds of reasons mentioned several times before for the foreseeable future. That has to happen anyway if access to the house is not allowed by the State and its agents to its own property.
I would like to know what better case would come before the courts. I would like to hear it and to see the evidence. We are told from time to time that there is legal advice but we have not seen the legal advice. We are told the legal advice is that we have no chance and it is compared the situation to Lissadell and so forth. It is not at all analogous to Lissadell. It is a different story altogether.
I ask the Minister to do all he can do to bring about a quick response and to ensure the access that was there already is restored in the first instance and thereafter to negotiate whatever purchase is required.
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