Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for their questions. Starting with Deputy Durkan's question on school transport, I agree with him regarding how important this issue is, especially in rural areas, for children accessing school. We have done a lot in the last couple of years to improve the situation. Fees have been reduced significantly for school transport, which has been a big benefit for families struggling with the cost of living. We have also expanded the programme to tens of thousands more children. We are now also thinking ahead and working towards the September period to ensure that improvements are put in place before then. While this is not a major issue in my constituency, I would struggle to count the number of phone calls I get from other members of my parliamentary party in the run up to September concerning children unable to get tickets or places on a bus. We just have to ensure we do better again this year than in previous years.

Regarding the issue of overholding, I am very conscious of remarks made by the Free Legal Advice Centres, FLAC, in recent weeks. We must all be careful about advising people that they should overhold. I have never advised anyone to overhold. I should make this clear. People do sometimes overhold. It does depend on individual circumstances. This is not new. Long before there were any temporary eviction bans and before anyone even called for eviction bans, overholding was an issue. In some cases, people will overhold with the permission of their landlord, while in other cases they will not. We must, however, ensure that anyone considering doing this gets advice and also knows the risks involved, because there are risks. It can go against people in terms of their record as tenants and potentially they could also have a judgment against them.

It is important that those campaigning in this area ensure they do not fail to advise people of the potential risks if they do overhold. I encourage the Deputies from People Before Profit, and others, if they are telling people they should overhold or encouraging them to do so to ensure, and they have a duty of care in this regard in my view, that those people whom they are dealing with know the risks as well and the potential consequences for them in respect of getting future tenancies or other things that could be held against them. There is a duty of care in this regard. People should not be used as pawns in political campaigns. They are individuals and families and the Deputies have a particular duty of care in this regard and I hope they will fulfil it.

Regarding the role of the Garda, it is to keep the peace and to enforce the law. Evictions are a civil matter. I do not know the details of the situation Deputy Smith described. There could be more to the story than we are being told. It certainly sounds to me, however, like a breach of the law and it is the role of the Garda to enforce the law. It is as simple as that. Again, we had illegal evictions long before there were ever temporary winter eviction bans. Illegal evictions are illegal, and it is the role of the Garda to enforce the law in that regard. I do not know if any new guidelines are being issued but I will make inquiries with the Minister for Justice in this regard.

On the Quinn report, this has been published and the Government has accepted its recommendations. No findings were made against any individual. It is important to say that the secondment did not proceed. This was stopped before it happened, if that makes any sense. It is clear that we need to put in new procedures. When a job is advertised, it is a very simple process. The job is advertised, people apply for it, candidates are short-listed and interviewed and the best person gets the job. Secondments are more complicated and this was to be a secondment. I regret, by the way, that it did not happen. Dr. Holohan would have made an excellent professor in Trinity College Dublin. He would have been an addition to the State by staying in the public service in that way and giving us his advice on public health and leadership. It did not happen, for various reasons that are clear in the report. I regret it did not happen. Nobody comes out of this well. It is important, therefore, that we have proper procedures around secondments in future. They have been done on anad hocbasis until now and that is not right and not fair on the people involved either. I do not know if the Joint Committee on Health is going to consider this matter. It is up to the committee to choose to do so. I understand the Secretary General of the Department of Health is appearing before the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach during the week, but this is obviously a different committee on a different matter.

Turning to the issue concerning libraries, this has not been discussed by the Government, or at least not at Cabinet. I am not aware of any particular issues being brought to our attention in that regard, although I am concerned by what I have heard here in the Chamber. I would despair if we ended up going back to a world where people are told certain books are banned or children are not allowed to see material that is appropriate to their age. I see what is going on in the United States and I hope we are not going to start to see that happen here.

Regarding children in adult mental health beds, my understanding is that the number of children admitted to adult beds has been falling consistently over the past couple of years. It has been trending downwards and we are making progress in this regard. There is a reluctance to legislation against it. It has been explained to me that there are circumstances where having a 15-year-old or a 16-year-old in a single room in an adult ward closer to home is better than having him or her in a paediatric ward 200 miles or 300 miles away from his or her parents and community. There is a reluctance to legislate because legislation is so black and white and cannot take into account individual circumstances where, perhaps, an older teenager, an adolescent, might be better off being nearer his or her parents, family and community than in a paediatric unit 200 miles or 300 miles away.

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