Dáil debates

Thursday, 14 June 2018

12:30 pm

Photo of Seán Ó FearghaílSeán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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We have 15 minutes for this item of business and 20 Deputies are indicating, so I will allow just one minute per Deputy.

Photo of Darragh O'BrienDarragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Maith go leor. I wish to ask the Minister about the home building finance Ireland Bill. The Bill has been announced, re-announced, recycled and regurgitated as far back as last October's budget, when the Government announced €750 million. This was a fund to assist building homes. Eight months later the Bill has not been published, yet apparently housing, in respect of which the Government is failing abjectly, is meant to be the Government's number one priority. The moneys have not been utilised, not one affordable house has yet been built, and no affordable house scheme has yet been launched.

I have asked the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, repeatedly and he says he will do it. He seems to say he will do a lot but never gets around to it. What is the cause of the delay with this Bill? When can we expect it to be published and what timeframe has been given for the Bill to go through the House?

12:40 pm

Photo of Richard BrutonRichard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I am glad to tell the Deputy that this Bill was approved by the Government this week. I am optimistic that it will be published very shortly. It makes provision for €750 million to be extended. From memory, it is hoped that the provision will allow thousands of homes to be built. It is a finance scheme so it supports access to finance to developers who have had difficulty getting access to finance. It is not by any means a free grant but will be charged at a commercial rate. It will come before the House when there will be opportunity to debate the Bill. The Business Committee will decide how quickly it can be moved through.

Photo of Pearse DohertyPearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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As the Taoiseach acknowledged yesterday, the programme for Government contains a range of commitments relating to the mental health services in this State. We all know that improvements are desperately needed in this area, particularly in respect of building capacity in the child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS. The Ombudsman's annual report, which was published this week, highlights the shortfall in staffing levels within the CAMHS team and the effect that this has on children and young people. For some time, these teams across the State have been operating at 50% capacity. CHO1, which includes my county of Donegal, has the lowest level of staffing at 51% compared to the recommendations set out in A Vision for Change. That is completely unacceptable. We know the impact this has on young people and their families as well as the staff who are charged with their care. They all deserve better.

Promises were made by Government last year to address the disastrous staffing gaps within CAMHS. We were told it would be addressed-----

Photo of Seán Ó FearghaílSeán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Thank you, Deputy.

Photo of Pearse DohertyPearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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It clearly has not. Will the Minister recommit the Government to doing everything that can be done to ensure that this happens without delay and set out very clearly how it intends to bring those recommendations contained within A Vision for Change into reality?

Photo of Richard BrutonRichard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I understand the HSE is in the final stages of recruiting staff required to deliver a seven days a week mental health service. It has recruited 114 assistant psychologists and 22 psychologists to develop a primary care element. One difficulty in our system is that primary care has been underdeveloped and everything is going to a consultant-led service in CAMHS, so that is a very important part of developing an integrated service. The additional funds have been provided but there are undoubtedly gaps and there are difficulties in recruiting in this area, which has been acknowledged.

In my area of responsibility, we are expanding very significantly the National Education Psychological Service, NEPS, because we recognise that increasingly mental health challenges appear in our schools and we must build the capacity at that stage, before access to any form of referral system to build greater capability and resilience in the system.

Photo of Pearse DohertyPearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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The Government is failing the executive badly.

Photo of Alan KellyAlan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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There is an ongoing crisis in healthcare and failure by the Government to address many issues. We have seen record levels of overcrowding on trollies and wards. Today the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, has said there are 376 people on trollies across the country. I welcome that in the last week the Government took up my suggestion to advertise the post of chairperson of the HSE before advertising the post of chief executive. However, the Government, as part of this Dáil, is committed to Sláintecare. It is something I worked on for over a year as a member of the committee. Since January, it has been looking at recruiting for the role of executive director. There is an urgent need for reform of the health service. We have seen the position of chair of the HSE being advertised-----

Photo of Seán Ó FearghaílSeán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Does the Deputy have a question?

Photo of Alan KellyAlan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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Why has the position of the executive director of Sláintecare not been filled, given the length of time it has been advertised and how vital a role all Members of the Dáil believe it to be?

Photo of Richard BrutonRichard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I will have to get back to the Deputy and get the Minister to explain the recruitment schedule for these posts. I know he has a very strong commitment to far greater accountability and transparency and to support Sláintecare and its principles.

Photo of Bríd SmithBríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The programme for Government contains a commitment to tackle the problems caused by increased casualisation and precarious work. There is also a commitment to strengthen the role of the Low Pay Commission in relation to in-work poverty. However, there is no commitment to allow workers to strive to seek these things.

Today, workers across the country have had to walk out in protest in branches of Lloyds Pharmacies. Lloyds is not exactly a local friendly pharmacy. It is controlled by the biggest drug distribution company in the world, the McKesson company, which last year pulled in $125 billion in revenue and which had to make a €12 million settlement with the Government last year for overcharging medical card prescription fees. The McKesson company and its pharmacy chain are refusing to recognise the rights of those workers to join the Mandate trade union and those workers have had to walk out today in protest.

Does the Minister think it is fair that a programme for Government can drag its heels on delivering on the issues that affect workers----

Photo of Seán Ó FearghaílSeán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Thank you, Deputy. The time is up.

Photo of Bríd SmithBríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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-----who are grossly exploited in these industries, on precarious work and low pay, but does absolutely nothing to recognise their rights to be represented----

Photo of Seán Ó FearghaílSeán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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The Deputy's time is up.

Photo of Bríd SmithBríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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----by those who they choose to have represent them? It is 105 years since James Connolly and Jim Larkin tried to organise unions in this country.

Photo of Richard BrutonRichard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I understand there is legislation which will introduce a ban on zero hour working. It will introduce the banding of hours so that where people have regular part-time work but which is not in a contract, employers will be obliged to put it in the contract. There will be other provisions to protect casual workers. It is very much part of the Government's strategy.

On access to the WRC for disputes, I understand there is legislation which provides that workers can get access to the WRC even where an employer refuses to recognise the union.

Photo of Mattie McGrathMattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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The programme for Government gives a commitment to increase accountability of State agencies. Quality and Qualifications Ireland, QQI, a State educational agency which deals with quality and qualifications issues, has consistently refused to engage with a company in my town of Clonmel. The Institute of Professional Training in Clonmel, which achieved provider status in 2013, having passed all FETAC audits after it spent considerable money and time, has been unceremoniously stood down.

I have written to the Minister, Deputy Bruton, on this matter but he has not replied. I have tried to engage with the chief executive of QQI who has refused to do so. I am asking the Minister, in the interests of transparency, to instruct the CEO of QQI, Dr. Padraig Walsh, to engage with this company and also with elected representatives. There is no accountability and this behaviour is unacceptable. No reasons were given for why having achieved accreditation for courses this was then withdrawn from the company.

Photo of Richard BrutonRichard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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As a longstanding Member of the House, the Deputy will know that QQI is a body with its own board. Ministers can only issue instructions in respect of policy issues.

Photo of Mattie McGrathMattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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Who are they accountable to?

Photo of Richard BrutonRichard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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We do not issue instructions in relation to day-to-day issues. If the Deputy has made representations, I will ensure they are responded to.

Photo of Mattie McGrathMattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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I have done so.

Photo of Eamon RyanEamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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Yesterday, the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, braved the ocean waves to swim in support of taking action on plastics pollution. Next Tuesday, will the Cabinet sit down and agree to allow us to debate at Committee Stage the Waste Reduction Bill that would tackle that issue in a very significant way?

The Minister, Deputy Naughten, has been spreading all sorts of economic arguments. We want that debate at Committee Stage to allow this House decide the measures in it which are very similar to what the European Commission is calling on us to do. Why is the Government blocking it? How can the Government say that it cares for the environment and the issue of plastic pollution if it is refusing to allow this Bill to go to Committee Stage? Will the Minister bring this to his Cabinet colleagues next Tuesday and come back to the House on Tuesday afternoon to let us know whether the Government is serious about plastics or if it is just public relations?

Photo of Richard BrutonRichard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I will have to refer this to the responsible Minister, which is not Deputy Eoghan Murphy, despite his brave swimming on behalf of the cause, but the Minister, Deputy Denis Naughten.

12:50 pm

Photo of Eugene MurphyEugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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I want bring the Minister back to audiology in the community healthcare organisation, CHO, 2 area and particularly to the recent damning news about the review of the cases of 900 children who had gone to the service which found that 49 had been misdiagnosed. It is shocking news and a shocking state of affairs. Obviously the Minister will not know the answer today but, on the basis that some of these young people have been left with lifelong impairments because they were misdiagnosed, what is the Government's intention in respect of the screening of staff? That is very important. Does the Minister think there should be an audit of all equipment being used? Will there be further investigation of this situation on the basis that the audiologist in question worked in other parts of the country? That audiologist has been suspended from working in this jurisdiction but it is necessary and crucial that the Government investigates this situation further to ensure that no other children have fallen into the net.

Photo of Richard BrutonRichard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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While I appreciate the seriousness of the issue Deputy Murphy is raising, it would be reckless of me to comment on what the appropriate response to it would be. I will again have to get the responsible Minister to get back to the Deputy.

Photo of Bernard DurkanBernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I raise again the issue of unregulated lenders and their agents who are at the moment attempting to launch a major campaign to repossess family homes and businesses throughout the country. I refer to the courts and land conveyancing (amendment) Bill, which is promised legislation, and to a Private Members' Bill which I have drafted and left in the custody of the Minister. Might it be possible to ask the Government to focus on this issue as a matter of extreme urgency rather than allowing the unregulated activity to continue?

Photo of Richard BrutonRichard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I understand the heads of that Bill have been approved. The hope is to publish it before the end of the session in July. It will not be taken this session but it is hoped that it will be published.

Photo of Michael CollinsMichael Collins (Cork South West, Independent)
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The O'Donovan brothers, Gary and Paul, together with other world-class rowers from the Skibbereen Rowing Club are among the greatest ambassadors that this country has ever had, but this summer these world-class rowers will miss one of three World Rowing Cup events due to the lack of funding for Rowing Ireland. Rowing Ireland is getting the same funding this year as it got in 2017, but it is now a senior rowing team of 11 world-class rowers and, as a result of this level of funding, it can only send a team to two of the three World Rowing Cup events this year. On 21 March, I asked the Taoiseach about this in the Dáil and subsequently wrote to him to seek funding for Gary and Paul O'Donovan to sell Ireland abroad. I have yet to get a reply to this request. It was appalling to read the headline in the Southern Star last week: "Funding shortage will force O'Donovan brothers to pay own way to World Cup II regatta". Why are we-----

Photo of Seán Ó FearghaílSeán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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This is not really promised legislation.

Photo of Michael CollinsMichael Collins (Cork South West, Independent)
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It comes under the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport. Why have we turned our back on these world-class winners? Will this Government increase the funding to Rowing Ireland through Sport Ireland in order that it is not disadvantaged by not being fully funded?

Photo of Richard BrutonRichard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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While I know funding has been made available for elite athletes, I again cannot respond in detail to the question the Deputy has raised concerning Rowing Ireland. I will get the Minister of State, Deputy Griffin, to respond.

Photo of Bobby AylwardBobby Aylward (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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There are various commitments within the programme for Government to protect our most vulnerable citizens. The issue I am raising relates to psychiatric care and I want to speak about the south east in particular. SIPTU staff in the department of psychiatry in St. Luke's General Hospital in Kilkenny have lodged their intention to take industrial action over patient safety concerns. This department consists of 44 beds, but due to overcrowding in May and June, patients have been admitted and then told they have to sleep on couches. If the matter is not resolved, shift nurses in the department will not take up duty until such time as the numbers are reduced to agreed safe levels.

We cannot accept a situation in which our psychiatric nurses are forced daily to endure unfair and unsafe working conditions. We owe it to the very dedicated staff and to their patients to reduce admission numbers to previously agreed safe levels. This has been an ongoing problem for a long time in the south east. As I have said, there are 44 beds in St. Luke's in Kilkenny. Patients are being sent from all over the south east. There are as many as 50 or 60 patients there at one time, some sleeping in armchairs. This is not good enough for these very vulnerable people.

We need a bed manager for the whole south east. There is a commitment to have 14 units in Clonmel. The sooner the HSE intervenes and opens these and relieves these patients, the better. We are going to have industrial action in St. Luke's within a fortnight if the Minister and the HSE do not intervene.

Photo of Mattie McGrathMattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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Hear, hear.

Photo of Pat BuckleyPat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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On the same matter and under the heading "building further capacity in child and adolescent mental health services", from mid-July this year Waterford and Wexford may not have any consultant psychiatric services for children. This comes after the resignation of three psychiatrists who cited a totally unsuitable working environment and unsafe work practices. In an opening statement from the Irish Hospital Consultants Association at yesterday's meeting of the Joint Committee on the Future of Mental Health Care we also learned "In short, the Irish health service is uncompetitive in recruiting and retaining the number of high calibre Consultants it requires." We also learned that in 2016 no applications whatsoever were received in respect of 44 consultant psychiatrist posts advertised. These positions were in the Sligo-Leitrim and Cavan-Monaghan areas, the Central Mental Hospital, the Carlow-Kilkenny area, Donegal, Longford, Westmeath, Laois, Offaly, Waterford, Wexford and Cork. Surely this is having a detrimental effect on the level of safe and effective care to patients. What is the Government going to do to solve this recruitment issue?

Photo of Seán Ó FearghaílSeán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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We cannot have a detailed debate on it now, just a question.

Photo of Pat BuckleyPat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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If Government does nothing, mental health services are going to come crashing down.

Photo of Mary ButlerMary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I also want to raise the issue we heard about yesterday in the Joint Committee on the Future of Mental Health Care. From 1 July this year three psychiatrists who look after children in the Waterford-Wexford area are going to resign because of the unsafe practices they have to work under in Wexford. These psychiatrists look after a population of up to 250,000 people. There are many children with these issues. Here we have a situation in which we have 3.6 people employed where there should be six. One of these is out on sick leave. We are going to end up with no psychiatrist for any child in the south east.

Photo of Louise O'ReillyLouise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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On the same matter, central to the crisis, which is just one on the list of crises to which we continually refer which are presided over by the Minister's Government, is the issue of recruitment and retention. It is only weeks since a Sinn Féin Private Members' motion was passed which instructed the Government to prioritise pay as part of the recruitment and retention process. This has not been done. It is not good enough to say that we have to wait for the Public Service Pay Commission. Something needs to be done now. If we do not address the issue of recruitment and retention, we will continue to come into this House day after day and list off new crises within our health service. Recruitment and retention need to be tackled as a matter of priority.

Photo of Richard BrutonRichard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Deputy O'Reilly recognises that a very specific provision was made in the recent pay agreement that, where there is difficulty in recruiting in particular grades, there would be a process under which the Public Service Pay Commission would examine the case and come back to Government with specific recommendations based on the evidence. It is right that that approach be taken. I understand the issues the Deputies are raising because I see them myself in my own work. There is a huge surge in need in this area. I know the number of children being cared for in child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, has increased by 40%. That is the number getting services, but there are still waiting lists and those lists are expanding. This is an area of very high growth in need. There is a real difficulty in recruiting not just in Ireland, but in other countries.

One of the responses has to be to rebuild our primary care service in the mental health area, which we have neglected. We have relied too much on a consultant-led service and we need to develop a more coherent response in this area. That is what is being worked on.

Photo of Bobby AylwardBobby Aylward (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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The answer did not cover the situation in Kilkenny, which was the original question I asked.

Photo of Seán Ó FearghaílSeán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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The Minister will come back to the Deputy on that matter.

Photo of Richard BrutonRichard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I will have to get the Minister to respond to the Deputy.

Photo of Seán Ó FearghaílSeán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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That concludes Questions on Promised Legislation. Unfortunately 11 Deputies were not reached.