Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I dtosach báire, ba mhaith liom fáilte a chur roimh an dream atá anseo i nGailearaí na gCuairteoirí ó Chumann Náisiúnta na mBodhar. I would like to say hello to the people from the Irish Deaf Society who are in the Public Gallery. I wholeheartedly support the call for the debate. It is absolutely essential that this funding be restored. I think I mentioned yesterday that on the one hand, we have Pobal taking an average of €43,000 from these organisations while on the other, €250,000 was being spent on preschool inspections not so long ago. It shows where the priorities have gone wrong.

I also stand to support the amendment to the Order of Business. On the scale of human tragedy, some of the issues today, although they may be important, are in no way close to the issue raised by Senator Reilly. I wholeheartedly agree with her. I sincerely ask the Leader to arrange by whatever means he has available to him a debate today or tomorrow so that we are seen as a Parliament that takes a stand on the Palestinian crisis.

I also have another very serious issue to raise with the Leader. It has been brought to my attention that a HIQA inquiry is ongoing into a nursing home in Connemara called Aras Chois Fharraige. I have been told that two whistleblowers have been suspended because they drew attention to what they saw as misconduct within that nursing home. They are concerned about the treatment of the patients within the nursing home. I would have raised this issue on the Adjournment but we obviously do not have that capacity available because the House is going into recess. It is a very serious issue that needs to be brought to the attention of the Minister for Health. Obviously, the first issue is the welfare of the patients and the need for any allegations to be thoroughly investigated. Perhaps the Minister can check what the scope of the ongoing investigation is. Is he absolutely sure that the patients are being dealt with properly? The second issue is that the whistleblower legislation came into effect this week. People find it strange that the whistleblowers - the people who drew attention to it - are the ones who have been suspended in this case, which seems to be the wrong course of action. It is a very serious issue and perhaps the Leader through his good offices could follow up with the Minister and revert to me on this issue so that we can make sure that the best is done for everyone involved.