Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I do not think I have ever praised Deputy Michael Healy-Rae but it is great to see him on this side of the House. After the election, everyone had a mandate to sit here. Some chose to come over here, make a difference and not speak out of both sides of their mouths but only from the side that could deliver and lead on policy. I welcome hearing the Deputy speak as a Minister of Government. Fair play to him.

One of the big positives in the programme for Government is the abolition of the means test for carer's allowance. Carers do so much work and save our country so much Exchequer money each year by caring for loved ones in the home environment, where people are cared for best. They do all of that for a pittance. For far too long, the wry eye has been cast over them and their finances have been examined. They have had to prove time and again a real disability and care need and a financial need in the house. That is not the way it should be. If someone is caring, the payment should not be means tested and I am glad the Government will abolish that. I would like the abolition of the means test to be sooner rather than later. The threshold should not be incrementally brought back each budgetary year. We should front-load it and try to remove it in the first budgetary cycle of the Government.

In the programme for Government, there are some very positive things relating to aviation. I am delighted to see Shannon Airport has been selected as a hub for testing new aviation technology. This was an issue I raised from the backbenches of Government over the past few years. I have already travelled to a number of airports around Europe, including to Rotterdam with then Deputy Joe Carey, to see what they are doing. I can see many new roles for Shannon in testing new technology. It is not all about jet engines and new fuels; so much more can be done with aviation, including vertical take-off and landing, new small aircraft, drones and hydrogen-powered and even electric aircraft. It is great to see Ireland embracing that new technology and that Shannon in my home constituency will be the test bed for all of that.

The regional airports programme needs to be expanded so the likes of Shannon Airport, and indeed Cork and Knock airports, are not left behind. There is a suggestion the cap on Dublin Airport could be lifted. I believe that cap does not have to be lifted if slots are better managed. Airports like Heathrow have a finite number of slots and they are managed effectively to ensure airlines can land and take off without disrupting the overall operation of the airport. Slots could be managed in Dublin and anything exceeding the slots of a particular airline could be allocated to the regions to ensure our other airports and, ipso facto, other regions can grow strongly.

In terms of healthcare, there is a HIQA review into UHL and whether there should be an additional accident and emergency department in the mid-west. That will be key for the Government going forward. I have long held the view the 2009 decision to downgrade Ennis, Nenagh and St. John's hospitals and close accident and emergency care was an absolute failure. We can only address that issue by reversing it and reopening an accident and emergency department. Of course, I am parochial and believe Clare more than any county in the mid-west needs 24-hour emergency care but, looking at Ennis, Nenagh and St. John's, I cannot see how you can shoehorn an accident and emergency department into any one of those hospitals.

This will require a new hospital building. It will require a seismic change and I hope this Government will lead us in it. We were promised the HIQA report would come out in February. I am hearing mutterings that it is delayed. We needed it yesterday. I do not expect there will be anything massive in it that we do not already know. The hospital has many good things, but there are also huge failings and lives have been lost in that hospital. What more evidence do we need?

I am a teacher by profession. I spent many years in the classroom before coming here. I am glad to see that more therapeutic supports will be offered in schools. I would like to see teachers at both primary and secondary level who give hours after school for sports, choirs, chess clubs and so forth rewarded in some way. All teachers can do courses during the summer that entitle them to extra personal vacation, EPV, days. The Government should reward the volunteerism of teachers, remove the awful Croke Park hours, acknowledge what they do, incentivise more volunteerism and reward them with additional EPV days each year. I would like the Government to examine that. Overall, the idea that therapeutic services are provided in schools, instead of children being referred onto lengthy child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, lists on each and every occasion will make a huge difference. It makes sense for children to be seen by a professional down the corridor on the school campus who knows the child better than a stranger in CAMHS via a list that is taking far too long.

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