Dáil debates

Wednesday, 26 May 2021

Ceisteanna - Questions

Cabinet Committees

1:27 pm

Photo of Cian O'CallaghanCian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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10. To ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee that addresses matters relating to equality last met. [28337/21]

Photo of Alan KellyAlan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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11. To ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on social affairs and equality last met, and when it will next meet. [26236/21]

Photo of Richard Boyd BarrettRichard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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12. To ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee that addresses matters relating to the arts and culture will next meet. [26507/21]

Photo of Bríd SmithBríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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13. To ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee which addresses matters relating to equality will next meet. [26509/21]

Photo of Mick BarryMick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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14. To ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on social affairs and equality last met; and when it will next meet. [27888/21]

Photo of Micheál MartinMicheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 10 to 14, inclusive, together.

Matters relating to arts, culture and equality are dealt with by the Cabinet committee on social affairs and equality. This Cabinet committee last met on 30 November and will meet again shortly. I have regular engagement with Ministers, at Cabinet and individually, to discuss priority issues relating to their Departments.

In addition, a number of meetings have been held between my officials and officials from relevant Departments since the establishment of the Cabinet committee in July 2020. The impacts of the pandemic across all areas, in particular arts and culture, have been considered by the Cabinet committee on Covid-19 and as the successful vaccination programme allows us to progressively reopen the economy, the economic recovery plan will set out how we will support the full resumption of economic activity and get people back to work. In particular, we will be looking at the arts and cultural sector, which has been a consistent part of the agenda of both the Covid-19 sub-committee and the economic recovery sub-committee of the Cabinet. We have worked on what types of specific supports we can provide to the arts and cultural and entertainment sectors and how we can facilitate their return now as society opens.

The Cabinet economic recovery plan and the Cabinet sub-committee will obviously deal with broader labour market and enterprise supports. We have been clear there will be no cliff edge. As I said, in terms of live events and arts and culture, we will also continue to support those sectors in addition to investing in infrastructure and reforms to enhance our long-term capabilities. In making those considerations, sectors such as live events and arts and culture, which are reliant on mass gatherings, will be given strong consideration.

Photo of Cian O'CallaghanCian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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In respect of the work on equality, I want to ask the Taoiseach about the report just published by the Ombudsman for Children entitled No End in Site – An investigation into the living conditions of children living on a local authority halting site. In that report, Traveller children describe their living conditions as hell and say that because of these living conditions, they feel like garbage. The report exposes severe violations of children's human rights due to insecure, unsafe and uninhabitable accommodation. It lists rat infestation, damp conditions, lack of sanitary facilities and lack of heating among the very serious concerns it details. What action is the Government taking to address the very severe housing problem faced by Traveller families, in particular Traveller children, and the very serious violations of human rights detailed in the report?

Photo of Aodhán Ó RíordáinAodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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Senator Bacik and I have been advocating for quite a while for a catch-up fund for children in the next school year. The Taoiseach will be aware of the scarring and damage experienced by young people and children, particularly disadvantaged children, in the past year or so owing to the lack of in-school tuition. The UK has provided a fund of £1 billion. The Government here has allocated approximately €40 million for a summer programme. Will the Taoiseach speak to the necessity for catch-up funding?

Will he also speak to the need for all schools to retain their current teaching posts? I am aware of a school in Ardfert outside Tralee that is losing a teacher. A number of other schools have contacted me with regard to losing teachers. Is it not time for a moratorium on schools losing teachers in order that we can repair the damage that has been done to children and young people over the course of the last year? That was not the Government's fault, of course, but we must invest to drive down class sizes and overcome and repair the substantial scarring and damage that occurred in the past year.

1:37 pm

Photo of Richard Boyd BarrettRichard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Income and employment insecurity and, very often, downright poverty are the reality for many people who work in the arts sector in this country, a fact highlighted even more during Covid. My first question is whether the Government is going to do the pilot on basic income for people working in the arts. Second, we have recently had a good news story with the reports about the Disney production, "Enchanted". However, other reports suggest the film might more accurately be called "Disenchanted" when it comes to some of the people working on it. Reports suggest, for example, that many of the performers and dancers found themselves being paid less and being denied the residuals or royalties for their work on the film under a so-called industry agreement that is shocking compared with the position and conditions those performers enjoy in films made in Britain and elsewhere. In addition, stage crew from the Irish Film Workers Association who worked on the first "Enchanted" film - this is "Enchanted 2" - were picketing outside Disney because they have been blackballed by the Irish production company involved, which has received tens of millions of Irish taxpayers' money-----

Photo of Catherine ConnollyCatherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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We are going to run out of time, Deputy.

Photo of Richard Boyd BarrettRichard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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-----but who have not been employed on the subsequent film because, in essence, they raised questions about their lack of security of employment.

Photo of Bríd SmithBríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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If the Taoiseach drives back and forth from here to Cork, he must frequently pass through Inchicore, which is in the constituency of Dublin South-Central. The constituency is a great area in which to live but also has one of the deepest socioeconomic disadvantages in the country. There has been a service, Hesed House, operating in Inchicore for people with mental health difficulties for 28 years. Approximately 80 to 100 people pass through its doors each week and it is a vital service, particularly for local youth, schools and the provision of family support. It is already in the heart of a deprived area. Yesterday, staff received a telephone call to tell them the service is shutting down as the HSE has withdrawn its funding.

This will be a huge blow to all the people who use Hesed House. In fact, I think it will drive them back years. The staff are deeply concerned for their users but we, as representatives, are deeply concerned for all of them, users and staff. Young and old will be pushed back many years and will lose faith in the system. It has been repeatedly said over the past year that as we go from lockdown to reopening, we have to look at the damage caused by lockdown and what it has done to people's mental health. The Taoiseach and every Minister talk frequently about the mental health of our population. Here is a prime example of a mental health service, staffed by volunteers and workers in the community, that helps people on a regular basis. It has now had the rug pulled from under it. Will the Taoiseach comment on this and will he intervene to save the Hesed House service in Inchicore?

Photo of Mick BarryMick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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Monday's report from the Office of the Ombudsman for Children on conditions at a Traveller halting site in Cork city found that 66 children at the site were forced to live in conditions that were filthy, overcrowded, damp and rat-infested. The report, undertaken on foot of a complaint submitted by the Cork Traveller Women's Network and the Cork Traveller Visibility Group as a last resort after years of campaigning, concluded that Cork City Council had failed to comply with the minimum requirements of the law, had acted in a discriminatory fashion and had violated the human rights of the children living on the site. The social affairs correspondent of The Irish Times, Kitty Holland, this morning described the report as "the strongest report on children's human rights abuses in Ireland" she had read in two decades in journalism.

Cork City Council is the landlord of the site and has the power to resolve these problems. The Taoiseach's party is part of the ruling group on the council. The message that urgent action needs to be taken must be driven home to the council officials and every elected member. To that end, I ask the Taoiseach to make a statement here on the matter and consider making a visit to the site in question in the weeks ahead.

Photo of Mary Lou McDonaldMary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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The Taoiseach might be aware that the Oireachtas disability group has highlighted the data deficit and the limited evidence on unmet needs of people with disabilities. Its concerns are well founded as Departments plan for another budget without the data needed to properly inform budgetary decisions crucial to the lives of citizens with disabilities.

I want to ask the Taoiseach about two reports that are outstanding and would go some considerable way to address this data deficit. The first is the Department of Health's disability capacity review, which was due to be published by the previous Government. The second is research by Indecon commissioned by the former Minister for Social Protection two years ago to consider the cost of disability. That report was due to be completed last year but the current Minister confirmed last week that it still has not been received. The delays in these publications are not academic matters. They are very serious. Can the Taoiseach reassure all of us that both reports will be published, and published in good time, to help inform a budget that I hope, on this occasion, will do justice to, and recognise the very considerable needs of, our citizens with disabilities?

Photo of Micheál MartinMicheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy Cian O'Callaghan made the first point regarding the No End in Site report. First, the report is a shocking indictment of all concerned in terms of the failure to develop plans for both the halting site itself and the housing that will be needed to deal with all of the residents. The site is far too overcrowded and there have been many issues with it for a long time. In my view, the council needs to take actions and decisions and implement them. Not everybody will be satisfied and happy with those decisions. My understanding, and I will be reverting to the council on this, is there have been lots of different initiatives and plans produced over time but they have not brought a resolution. The consequence of that failure to get a resolution to a lot of the issues is children living in absolutely unacceptable conditions in terms of health, hygiene, quality of life and so forth. It is absolutely unacceptable and the local authority will have to move decisively now in response to the ombudsman's report.

On Deputy Ó Ríordáin's point regarding catch-up funding for schools, the €40 million allocated for the summer is a good and expanded initiative primarily dealing with special needs provision during the summer months but also with children who have been educationally disadvantaged because of Covid. The Minister is looking at the next school year with a view to integrating additional supports to help students who may have fallen behind or who need additional supports arising out of the impact of Covid-19. It is a very important and serious issue and the Minister is taking it seriously. The Minister has also taken a benign approach to the reallocation of teachers generally to schools across the country and many of them have retained teachers. Of course, the pupil-teacher ratio was reduced in the last budget, which was a significant move in itself, fulfilling a commitment we made in the programme for Government. It is something we were very anxious to get movement on quickly. Again, we will look at education in a favourable light, notwithstanding the challenges facing us from a budget perspective as we continue, we hope, our cautious and significant reopening of society.

Obviously, education is critical. We showed our prioritisation of education by getting our schools back last September. A huge effort was made by all of the teams in schools, from parents to teachers, special needs assistants, SNAs, school staff, principals and education and training boards, ETBs, right across the board, as well as all the communities wishing them on.

We got hit with the third wave, we got the schools back up again and now we must ensure we can settle it down in the next school year. We must do this in order to give the kids every opportunity we possibly can to grow and develop and overcome whatever negative impact Covid might have had on quite a number of students. I have no doubt it impacted on their development, their overall well-being and their educational attainment itself.

Deputy Boyd Barrett raised the arts sector. In the sector the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, is working on the idea of a universal basic income and is doing some other work on that with other Departments including the Department of Social Protection to see what type of scheme could be developed. I do not have the specifics of the working conditions or pay that apply to the Disney production, "Enchanted 2". There may be an alternative view to the one the Deputy articulated and I am conscious of that. Quite a number of times he makes observations and others do not often get the chance to defend themselves or respond. There could very well be an alternative narrative to the one the Deputy has described. Suffice it to say that all the regulatory frames governing pay and conditions should be adhered to and all the basic conditions the State insists on should be adhered to. There is no excuse on productions of this kind for workers, artists or dancers to be left short-changed. That should not happen because the purpose of such investments, of the facilitation of film-making in Ireland, is to provide quality employment to people working in the arts right across the board-----

1:47 pm

Photo of Richard Boyd BarrettRichard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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It is not happening.

Photo of Micheál MartinMicheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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-----from sound technicians to those who are acting, dancing and performing. That should apply. I will ask the various authorities and the Minister to investigate that, assess it and make their own analysis of what has happened here.

On the matter raised by Deputy Bríd Smith, I am not familiar with the specific service and the HSE decision to withdraw funding. Again, I am unsure if there are particular local or specific issues for why the HSE is withdrawing funding. We have provided additional funding to the HSE this year for mental health services so it should not be an issue of funding. However, there may be other issues. I will ask the Minister for Health and the Minister of State with responsibility for mental health, Deputy Butler, to check this out and work with Deputies and Senators with a view to seeing what can be done to ensure services can continue for the users of that particular service and to look at what the story is here and why this has occurred right now, in the middle of Covid. We have provided additional funding to mental health over and above - in fact, in one of our earlier announcements this year we allocated an extra €10 million to mental health and particularly for community initiatives. I do not see why this has happened here and I do not have the specific details of the centre, which the Deputy will appreciate.

Photo of Bríd SmithBríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Will the Taoiseach follow up on that?

Photo of Micheál MartinMicheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I will. I will ask my officials to contact the HSE immediately about it and I will talk to the Minister about it.

Photo of Bríd SmithBríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Thank you.

Photo of Micheál MartinMicheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy Barry also raised the 66 children living in appalling conditions at a halting site. That must come to an end. All parties to this must agree to the decisions the council takes on this. All parties to this must agree to the various proposals that have been put forward in the past and we now need cohesion and unity of approach to get this issue properly resolved, from a human rights perspective but also just for the basic well-being of the children and families concerned. The initiatives in response to this must be agreed to and brought through because it is not at all acceptable that there be this level of deprivation and lack of access to basic living conditions. There is also a very strong health and safety dimension to this which causes me great concern. We have had very tragic circumstances in the past in respect of loss of life at halting sites where health and safety was just not what it should have been. There is an imperative here to get this issue sorted once and for all because neither children nor anyone else should be residing in circumstances that are so poor for quality of life, but also for health and safety. That is very important.

By the way, I must tell the Deputy there is no ruling group on Cork City Council. Deputy Barry served on the council himself before he became a TD and is well aware of the issue. This is an issue we can all agree should be dealt with.

Deputy McDonald raised the issue of the Oireachtas disability database group. Again, when I was last in government, there was a comprehensive intellectual disability database which provided very good information which informed Government decisions and the allocation of resources. This was likewise the case for physical and sensory disabilities. That was developing at the time and seems to have weakened over the years. We need more proper data to inform the provision of services. We must also look at how services are provided into the future. This should be from both the health and educational aspects, particularly for people with disabilities and children with special needs.

Sitting suspended at 1.56 p.m. and resumed at 2.58 p.m.