Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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1. To ask the Taoiseach the number of Cabinet sub-committee meetings he has attended recently. [3273/15]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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2. To ask the Taoiseach the number of Cabinet sub-committees held in April 2015. [18118/15]

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 and 2 together. I chaired three Cabinet committee meetings in April, five in May and one to date in June. Also, the Economic Management Council met six times in April, once in May and once to date in June.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Taoiseach. I refer to the Economic Management Council, which met six times.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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It met six times in April, once in May and once in June, a total of eight times.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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What about the health committee?

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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The questions concern the number of Cabinet sub-committee meetings.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Given the two issues that have emerged, I am interested, in particular, in the number of times the sub-committees have met. It seems to me that the issue of child poverty has reached alarming levels. The number of children in consistent poverty has almost doubled in two years under the Government's watch, from about 6% to 12%. It is a shocking statistic which has been commented on by the United Nations and various NGOs with responsibility for children.

It has been exacerbated by cuts of one third to the back to school allowance, from €150 to €100 for primary school children and €250 to €200 for secondary school children. Up to 138,000 children live in poverty but I do not detect any strategic response to this issue in any shape or form. The latest manoeuvre, or decision, is to take 30,000 people out of the one-parent family payment, which we discussed earlier. When it is all added up, it is blow after blow. Take housing, for example, up to 1,000 children are living in hotel rooms in Dublin alone. I was canvassing last week within a mile of this House and noted some of the conditions in which children had to play were quite appalling and absolutely unacceptable. There seems to be no response whatsoever to this real serious crisis in society.

The Economic Management Council has been extremely weak and is not meeting often enough to deal with the social dimension of the Government’s economic and financial policies, policies which the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, has stated successively and consistently target low-income families and lone-parent families and, in particular, exacerbate the number of children now in consistent property. Will the Economic Management Council, as well as the other relevant Cabinet committees, such as the child care and health committees, meet more often in June and July to develop meaningful and urgent emergency responses to the various factors that give rise to, and increase, such consistent child poverty? These responses should cover the very basics of access to child care and basic incomes. They should allow children to get back to school without undue cost and for parents to get a roof over their heads without the necessity of sofa-surfing, which many of them have to do, as well as asking relatives to look after their children while they try to get rental accommodation which they cannot afford because the rent cap has been introduced and limits them. The rent allowance is not sustainable. When one adds up all the policies, it is a very sorry story in terms of the Government’s lack of coherence in its response to dealing with children in consistent poverty.

I also want the Economic Management Council to meet more often in June and July to deal with the crisis in research policy. Back in March, an extraordinary letter was published in The Irish Times, signed by many eminent and highly qualified researchers such as Tom Cotter and Luke Drury, which stated:

The policy of sustained investment in scientific excellence that helped build a vibrant scientific community in Ireland over the past 15 years has given way to a short-sighted drive for commercialisable research in a very limited set of prescribed areas.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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We are straying a bit here.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Research is fundamental to economic policy. I have spoken about it with many people recently. I was involved in it myself when implementing the Science Foundation Ireland strategy from 2006 to 2011. It is the cornerstone of the country’s future in economic potential, competitiveness and capacity to innovate but is going down the tubes under the Taoiseach’s Government because there is no coherent strategy. Will he confirm that the Economic Management Council will meet far more often and have this issue on its agenda, along with the consistent child poverty issue?

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy raised several issues. Dealing with Cabinet sub-committees in the normal structure of the Dáil week on a Tuesday and Wednesday, I found it became impossible to get anything done because of this kind of business, questions, other debates and all of that taking up time. Accordingly, I devote one Monday in the month to Cabinet sub-committee meetings from eight in the morning right through. If necessary, I will try to fit in one that has to be recalled for other reasons during the course of a normal working week, which is not that easy to do. This structure has worked well in that priorities and problems can be identified and one can request and demand that Ministers and Departments respond within specific time limits to these matters.

One cannot tackle the problem of low-income families and child poverty as effectively as one would like until one has an economy that is functioning strongly and will provide one with the resources to do that. That is why the Government’s mandate was to fix the public finances and put the country back to work. That is why I am pleased that 104,000 new jobs have been created since the action plan was published in 2012 and we expect 40,000 to be created this year and again for the following two years. By 2018, whatever party is in office, we will practically have full employment and anyone who wants a job will get one.

Generally, the best opportunity to deal with low-income problems is a job. That is why one of the first decisions the Government made in dealing with the troika was to restore the minimum wage. I was explaining to the Greek Prime Minister last night that when the troika demanded of and dictated to Deputy Martin’s Government that this is what it has to do-----

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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No, that is not what happened.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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In many cases those recommendations were not acceptable to this Government. If they were not, the Government was required to cost alternatives which would achieve the same growth objective. That is why one of the first decisions was to reverse the cut in the minimum wage that had been brought in by the previous Government. Despite economic constraints, there are now 420,000 people who do not have any liability for the universal social charge. That will increase to 500,000 people in the October budget, taking a further 80,000 people out of that bracket.

The focus of the Government in terms of income has been on earners of €75,000 down to €30,000 who have had to pay for everything. The real priority is in there, hard-pressed working families in many cases. While the situation has improved, I am the first to say it is not yet the way we want it to be and we still have quite a distance to go.

The Deputy spoke earlier about some of the issues in respect of lone parents. I did not have time to say the single parent child carer tax credit is €1,650 per annum and this has the effect of reducing the claimant's tax liability by €31.73 a week, which is an important consideration for a person in that position. In addition, that claimant may also be entitled to an extension in the rate band of €4,000, which would increase the rate band for 2015 from €33,800 to €37,800 which is an important element. Where income exceeds €37,800, that additional rate band is worth a maximum of €840 or €16.15 per week. These are deliberate changes to impact beneficially on lower-paid people. The maximum value of the credit in the additional rate band is €2,490 or €47.88 a week, and this credit is payable to any single person with a child under 18 years of age or over 18 years of age if in full-time education. As well as this, as the Tánaiste has already pointed out, there is the jobseeker's allowance transitional arrangement which is important. The back to work family dividend is designed to further improve the incentive of taking up employment for people with children. It will allow lone parents transitioning from the jobseeker's allowance to retain their increase for a qualified child if they move off welfare and into employment. There is the re-rating of the family income supplement and enhanced access to the Intreo service, which is now a very different animal than it used to be as people are spoken to and interviewed in respect of their ambitions, motivation, experience and willingness to work. We also have JobsPlus and the changes that have been made in child care, and further work is going on.

Child poverty is an issue for everybody. It is important that something be done about it. This is why these changes in the welfare area are all positive. The difference in what the Government did in meeting the targets to allow us to move out of the bailout programme was to remain competitive, not increase income tax and have pro-growth proposals which have now led to a point where this country is recognised internationally, as the Deputy knows, as being exceptionally attractive for investment.

The Deputy raised a number of important points about the Tyndall National Institute and other areas around the country. We have the major success of the web summit every year and all of the people who work on it. Up to 25,000 people will participate this year. This has all to do with research and innovation to an extraordinary degree. At the other end of the scale-----

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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It has nothing to do with what I asked the Taoiseach.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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-----5,000 young children presented their particular proposals at a gaming and science fair recently which was quite exceptional. I was at a firm in Sandyford recently and it was interesting to see two ends of the research and innovation spectrum. Some of the brightest students from universities all over the world were at the plant concerned speaking to and being mentored by Irish peers in terms of the research and the innovative work they do. At the lower end of the scale, they had teams of children aged six or seven who are now well ensconced in CoderDojo which is an important voluntary movement. These children mentor their own age group on the writing of code which makes computers work and think.

I do not know the industrial relations problem that exists-----

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I was talking about the research environment generally.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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We are talking about the Cabinet sub-committee meeting.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I addressed a conference in the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre the other day, mostly driven by extraordinary women involved in the STEM area of mathematics, research and technology, pointing out the opportunities that exist here-----

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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That was all developed before the Taoiseach's time. I am talking about what is happening now.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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This is all happening now and this is all for the future, as the Deputy is well aware. The Deputy has to make his case, but let me assure him this is one of the real focuses and priorities of the Government. As pointed out by Mr. Ferguson of Science Foundation Ireland, we do not have the money to invest in everything but we do have money to invest in research, innovation and development, and there is a great deal of it going on. Perhaps I can take details from the Deputy later of the problem in so far as industrial relations are concerned. I know Her Majesty went down to the Tyndall National Institute and I was there myself once or twice. It is a fabulous location, no more than many others around the country in universities.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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I remind Deputies that the next group of questions will deal with the World Economic Forum held in Davos in January. I want to get through this agenda quickly.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Déanfaidh mé mo dhícheall. When we ask questions about how often these committees meet and how many of them the Taoiseach attends it is obviously an attempt to try to figure it out, hold the Government to account and ensure there is sufficient delivery for citizens. This is difficult given that there is a prohibition on the Taoiseach giving the detail of these meetings, although I must say in fairness he has said he will try to inform us as much as he can about it.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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That has been the case since Adam was a boy.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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If I try to come to a sense of the efficiency of these committees, it has to be based on the results. I will present very briefly three issues I have raised consistently. I have called for a root and branch fully independent inquiry into all care facilities for citizens with intellectual disabilities. We have had three reports, one on Áras Attracta and HIQA reports on Redwood and, most recently, St. Mary's in Drumcar. These are the most vulnerable people in the care of the State. With regard to the questions I raised earlier, the Taoiseach acknowledged without a blink that the Government had not implemented all the recommendations of a report which reviewed the deaths of 196 children in the care of the State. He said the Government's intention is to do so. He has not done it and he has only whatever time he has left in this term. An issue which has almost become normal is citizens on trolleys, including most recently two citizens who were alive during 1916. Today, there are 397 patients on trolleys, 41 of whom are in my constituency in Our Lady of Lourdes-----

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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The Deputy is really straying, I am sorry.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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With respect-----

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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With respect-----

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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-----I have only started to talk-----

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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The Deputy does not even have a question down in this group so I am letting him in with a supplementary.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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I will come to the conclusion. Here are three critical issues. There is the business of patients on trolleys. We are in the height of summer with glorious weather and these are figures we normally have at the height of winter. There is a crisis. The Taoiseach talks about a recovery. Do not talk about a fair recovery. It is not a fair recovery if the Government does not implement recommendations and just dismisses a request for an inquiry into the way we treat citizens with intellectual disabilities or if we just ignore the fact that in June 2015, after four years of Government, almost 400 patients are on trolleys and other patients in hospital beds cannot be released because although they have been medically discharged, it is not safe to bring them home because of the cuts made by the Government to protections and the necessities of life. Is this is not how we should judge, not by how many meetings and how many the Taoiseach attends, and this is all important, but by results? On these three issues the Taoiseach batted away a serious question today and has not even responded to the request for an investigation into care centres for citizens with intellectual disabilities.

There is ongoing dreadfulness in hospital corridors with people on trolleys, if they are lucky enough to get trolleys. Is that not a way to judge the efficacy of these committees?

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will recall that I read out for him the fact that 25 recommendations were made by the report and all of these were not implemented. The Deputy would certainly have a valid reason to say something very different if I said they had been implemented. I pointed out to the Deputy the recommendations where work was under way and it is the intention to implement all of those. Of course, every issue that the Deputy or any other Deputy raises is perfectly valid. With regard to the question of trolleys, he has had this discussion before with the Minister for Health on many occasions.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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The Government promised to end it. It had big billboards pronouncing that.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I know. In Ireland in 2015, under any circumstances, it is just not acceptable that a person of those senior years should be left on a trolley in the first place. That should not happen. I do not manage the corridors in hospitals but anybody with a management responsibility could understand a situation where-----

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Name the manager.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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-----one would not have to have such a situation applying. The Minister was very concerned about that, as I was myself. In any circumstances, that should not be, as Deputy Martin knows well.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Taoiseach was meant to take charge of it.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The question is how to deal with all these issues. The transition and the work under way in the Department of Health will certainly not be easy to conclude successfully. Every person I meet who has been through the health system and had treatment has nothing but the highest regard for those who work on the front line, including nurses, doctors etc. The problem in our system is getting in to get that treatment. Trolley numbers are not as high as they used to be but they are still too high. Clearly, the issue has been addressed, in part, by the Government in making further funding available in the transition to the setting up of the hospital groups. That is complex because in some areas they are all HSE hospitals and in others, there are private or voluntary hospitals involved. Careful scrutiny is required so that there can be responsibility allocated to each group. This will eventually transition to a trust to make decisions about what services can be best supplied in an area.

A senior consultant said to me only last week that we could look at it in the following way. He said that in his hospital, the question is what it does as well or better than anybody else, as if a hospital cannot measure up in the standards of what it does, the hospital fails itself, the patient and the system. Many accident and emergency departments are under pressure but all have escalation plans in place to manage the movement of patients through the system in a safe, controlled and planned way. That supports and ensures the delivery of patient care.

The task force convened in December last year had the purpose of providing focus and momentum in dealing with the challenges of overcrowded accident and emergency departments. The Deputy knows from the experience of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital the problems that can cause pressure because of the footprint, the numbers of people coming through and the stress that staff experience. The HSE published the task force action plan in April with a range of time-defined actions to optimise the existing hospital and community capacity, develop internal capability to deal with the issues as they arise and improve leadership, governance, planning and oversight.

On top of that and based on that report, there was an extra allocation of €74 million provided in 2015 to increase the number of long-term nursing home care places and reduce the waiting time for the funding in such places, as well as providing additional care, beds and home care packages that would provide viable supports for those who no longer need acute hospital care. I saw reports on that recently and if people are asked their preference, they will of course say they prefer to be at home for as long as possible. The additional funding came on top of some budgetary measures, when the Government provided an extra €25 million to support alternatives to and relieve pressure on acute hospitals.

The number of delayed discharges is reducing steadily to a current figure of 650, or a reduction of over 20% since November last year. The waiting time for funding under the nursing home support scheme has reduced from 11 weeks at the beginning of the year to four weeks at the moment, which is a significant improvement. The numbers waiting for the support scheme funding have reduced to 535 and are stable; the funding is set to support an additional 1,604 people this year. I understand that 1,513 transitional care places were provided in the first four months of this year and that will benefit patients who require a transfer from the acute hospital system. There are 140 from a total of 173 additional short-stay, non-acute beds available in public units across the country, and the remaining numbers will be provided over the next number of weeks. The Deputy knows that Mount Carmel opened on target in April and that will provide a further 65 beds by the end of this month, with 45 currently in place, which is welcome. An additional 400 home care packages have been provided to specific hospitals in the greater Dublin area since January this year, with a further 860 additional home care packages to be provided from June to the end of the year.

I spoke to relations of a good lady who was approved for a home care package quite recently and it is extraordinary to hear of the change in her comfort and convenience arising from a good home care package. It can complement their private resources and make for a very comfortable position for the person in question. We need to see more of that rather than having people transition at a very early stage into a long-stay institution, where they may not wish to be in the first instance, until they might have to go because of physical or medical conditions.