Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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The Government's failure to plan for the recovery of Ireland's tourism sector has come home to roost in a fairly catastrophic fashion. Families are missing out on holidays because of long delays in issuing passports, hotels are charging between €350 and €400 for one night and now the State's main airport is experiencing chaos. Dublin Airport on Sunday was a nightmare for those caught up in the mayhem. People waited hours in queues that stretched outside the terminal buildings. Passengers received no communication, updates or explanations for the delays. Indeed, many had not even made it to the security check before their flights took off without them. More than 1,000 people missed their flights. Big money had to be forked out for hotel rooms, connecting flights were missed and would-be holidaymakers had their holidays ruined. Now, confusion surrounding what any compensation package will cover is sowing further frustration. This is not only about tourism and holidays. As a small island nation, we rely heavily on our airports to ensure our connectivity with the rest of the world. We simply cannot afford this chaos. Last week's events at the airport risk damaging Ireland's international reputation for international business and investment.

All of this has its roots in the laying off 1,000 workers by the Dublin Airport Authority, DAA, during the pandemic and the subsequent lack of workforce planning as international travel reopened. At the time of those lay-offs, SIPTU's Jerry Brennan told the airport authority, "you will need to be hiring people because your queues will be extending through the carparks". What foresight. It seems he was the only person with any foresight. Yet, as we speak, Dublin Airport is still only at 70% of pre-Covid staffing levels. How can we expect the country’s main airport to operate at such low staff levels at the busiest time of the year? It was entirely foreseeable, after two years of lockdowns, that people would be very eager to get away on holidays again. Sunday’s chaos did not come out of the blue. There were warnings in the major delays in March and April. What action, if any, did the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, take then to get ahead of all this? Did he meet the airport authority back in March to work out solutions and prevent an escalation of the problem? He is now calling for solutions in the wake of chaos. He has shown up again a day late and a dollar short.

Teip thubaisteach ar thaobh an Rialtais agus an DAA a bhí sa phraiseach iomlán ag Aerfort Bhaile Átha Cliath ar an Domhnach. Ní hamháin gur chuir sé isteach go mór ar thaistealaithe ach rinne sé dochar do cháil idirnáisiúnta na hÉireann. An bhfuil muid ag súil le níos mó den chineál ruaille buaille sin in Aerfort Bhaile Átha Cliath an deireadh seachtaine seo?

Of course the Dublin Airport Authority should be held responsible for its part in this mess but let us be very clear on this. When the operation of the most important airport in the State breaks down, it is the business of the Government to get ahead of that. The public is in disbelief at this fiasco and those planning to travel through Dublin Airport this bank holiday weekend are now very worried. Can the Minister guarantee today that we are not facing more chaos at Dublin Airport this weekend?

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputy McDonald for raising what is such an important issue. The scenes at Dublin Airport that we all witnessed on our screens at the weekend are completely unacceptable. Passengers going through the airport should not have had to endure an experience like that and I can only imagine the stress, anxiety and anger that was caused to so many of them. Many of them had been saving long and hard for a well-earned holiday and, in too many instances, did not make their flight through absolutely no fault of their own. What we saw was unacceptable and it cannot be allowed to happen again.

It is the case the DAA has statutory responsibility for the running of Dublin Airport but of course, as a Government, we take a direct interest in this matter because of the impact it has on the people we represent and on Ireland's reputation, both domestically and internationally, and the importance for us as an island nation of having international connectivity and airports that are well run and well resourced and that meet the needs of the people.

These issues began to emerge in March and there was significant intervention at that point, which continued. In particular, the Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Deputy Naughton, had very regular meetings - every second day, in fact - for a period with the DAA to ensure this issue was properly addressed. To be fair, for the great bulk of that period, the issues were addressed and the types of scenes we witnessed at the weekend were not evident over that period. Since the weekend, there was a meeting yesterday involving the Minister for Transport, the Minister of State and the DAA's senior management to express the Government's deep frustration and unhappiness with the scenes we witnessed at the weekend. There was a further meeting this morning at which the DAA was asked to come forward with an operational plan to ensure we do not see scenes like this again, and to provide a reassurance to passengers going to Dublin Airport this coming weekend, which will be a busy, long weekend, that adequate resources are in place to ensure it runs as efficiently as possible.

As the Deputy knows, DAA senior management will appear before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport and Communications tomorrow. The Minister and the Minister of State have asked that the details of the operational plan be conveyed publicly and discussed at that meeting. Importantly, they have asked that there be an effective communications campaign in order that passengers who are relying on the services at Dublin Airport know exactly what is ahead of them and precisely how long they should allow to safely get through the various stages of check-in, security and so on.

The Deputy is correct to point out a voluntary severance scheme was operated by the DAA over the course of 2020 and into 2021, which was the authority's judgment as to the resources it would need for the period ahead. It was also in the context of a period when passenger levels had simply collapsed and the DAA was losing enormous sums weekly, and it proposed a severance scheme. In recent months, it has recruited several hundred staff. About 300 of the 370 additional security staff required have been recruited and about 170 of those are fully trained. The DAA has had more than 5,000 applications for the positions since the start of March.

It is important the public are given a reassurance that what we saw at the weekend does not happen again. The Government has reinforced that message to the DAA directly and the public will see tomorrow the details of what it is proposing operationally to ensure it does not happen again.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister said there was a significant political intervention in March and April, when these problems emerged. I have to tell him, that intervention did not succeed in its purpose and Sunday showed us the evidence of that. The airport is still operating understaffed, at 70% of its pre-Covid strength. The management of the Dublin Airport Authority, it seems to me, grossly misjudged what the capacity requirements would be as travel reopened, as was always going to be the case.

I must say I do not hear anything from the Minister, as a Minister in government, that would reassure me or reassure the public that in fact the airport authority or the Government have got on top of this issue. I ask the Minister again to perhaps be more categoric and reassuring for the public. Will he tell us we are not going to face scenes such as those we saw on Sunday again? Is he satisfied that is the case? Is he satisfied the airport authority can and will mobilise the required numbers of staff, including full use of overtime, over the coming bank holiday weekend?

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy. The message from the Government could not be clearer. The DAA needs to do whatever it takes to ensure this issue is addressed and that we do not see those kinds of scenes again, especially on the forthcoming bank holiday weekend. That is why the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan and the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, reinforced to the DAA executives the imperative to get on top of this because it is just not fair. It is not fair on the members of the public who rely on the services at the airport to go about their business, travel abroad, see loved ones, return home after a trip to Ireland or go on business abroad. They should be assured that if they turn up in good time for their flight, the airport will do its job and get them through the various stages and get them on board. There was a detailed discussion today about what is required to ensure that is achieved, including measures to improve queue management and maximising the availability of staffing resources to increase the number of security lanes at peak times. The DAA is now finalising those operational arrangements and we expect to hear much more about them in the next 24 hours and of course the authority will appear before the Oireachtas joint committee. The message from the Government, as conveyed by the Minister and Minister of State today and by me here in the Dáil could not be clearer, namely, the DAA must ensure this is not repeated.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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I also raise the outrageous delays in Dublin Airport over the weekend. Clearly, these have had a devastating effect for so many people. We know 1,000 people have missed their flights and that people missed out on job opportunities, work-related travel, funerals, weddings, holidays and so much more. Clearly, this is a huge issue of consumer rights and a huge issue for those passengers who were so seriously inconvenienced over the weekend.

However, it is not just a matter of poor planning by the DAA, although that is clearly a serious issue in itself, but also points to two broader issues for which the Government must take responsibility. The first is a failure of our national aviation policy, specifically, a failure to ensure effective distribution of flights among our airports, because it is not just about Dublin Airport and we are conscious many people are now looking to other airports like those in Cork or Farranfore. They are looking at airports where there is capacity and seeing the contrast between them and the chaos we saw at the weekend at Dublin Airport. It is, therefore, about a national aviation policy that must take into account distribution of workload among our regional airports.

It is also, at a broader level, about workers' rights. That is something our transport spokesperson, Deputy Duncan Smith, has been raising consistently for some time now. We saw the DAA lay off staff during Covid in significant numbers and we saw the Government failing to put in a no-redundancy clause as a condition of the State supports that were being granted. We know the DAA took advantage of those supports, such as the employment wage subsidy scheme, EWSS, that comes to an end today, yet there was no conditionality around workers' rights in that. We heard this morning from an anonymous worker at Dublin Airport about the serious issues around workplace conditions and pay that pertain for the many staff at Dublin Airport. Many of them took the brunt of understandable passenger frustration at the weekend and so many of them are in such a low-paid sector. The real concern we have is we have seen Dublin Airport become a low-cost airport, as the preponderance of low-cost airlines has dominated and we have seen a race to the bottom as a result.

I am asking the Minister first to reassure passengers that we will not see the same chaotic scenes at the airport this weekend. Will he also assure the House there will be a proper and effective national aviation strategy put in place to ensure this imbalance between one airport and our other airports does not occur again? Will the Government also take steps to ensure the serious staffing issues and the low-pay conditions for so many staff at Dublin Airport are addressed and that we see better conditions for staff and a genuine commitment to move to a living wage, as we saw in our Labour Party Bill on a living wage?

Last week, we welcomed the Tánaiste's announcement that the Government will introduce legislation on a living wage. We are conscious that Ireland has a serious problem with low pay, with one in five of the workforce low paid. It is not just about Dublin Airport, but clearly that was a major factor in the staffing shortfall that led to such chaotic scenes for so many at the weekend.

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The decision of the DAA in May 2020 to embark on a voluntary severance scheme was against the backdrop at the time of a collapse in the aviation industry and the commercial reality that it was losing an enormous amount of money daily. It proposed a voluntary severance scheme and there was significant uptake of the scheme. It is also fair to say that the recovery in aviation has exceeded the expectations of the majority of commentators, and I believe it has exceeded the DAA's own expectations, to be frank. That is why in recent weeks, as manifested and crystallised at the weekend in such a terrible way, it simply did not have the level of staffing resources that it needed. It is a good thing that aviation has recovered much more quickly than was forecast, but it is important that the DAA upholds the integrity of the security arrangements at the airport to the highest possible standards. Its first priority is to ensure the safety of the passengers who are going through the airport and, indeed, those who work in the airport.

There has been significant interest in the recruitment campaign. I heard what the Deputy said about terms and conditions but more than 5,000 applications since the beginning of March indicates a high level of interest in the security roles that are available. It is important to point out that the terms and conditions of employment are negotiated and agreed on a collective basis between the DAA and the trade unions representing the staff there.

Regarding the Government's wider aviation policy, we have a policy that supports the regions. There is a regional airports programme. Just last month, the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, announced capital funding not just for the airports that traditionally avail of the regional airports programme and of the public service obligation, PSO, such as Donegal, Kerry and Ireland West Airport Knock, but also included for the first time the State regional airports at Cork and Shannon in the regional airports programme. Both of them benefited from capital funding, which I believe was the correct decision. By virtue of the size of passenger numbers at those airports, they are now eligible for funding under the programme. It is anticipated there will also be a round of operational grant aid under the regional airports programme. Almost €22 million is available in operational support during this year to support measures such as air traffic control, fire services and security-related operations at airports. There will be invitations to apply for that operational aid and it will issue to eligible airports towards the latter half of the year.

The Government's strategy is to support regional airports, including the State regional airports, which all provide an excellent quality of service and provide competition for Dublin Airport, which is needed too.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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I thank the Minister for his response on the aviation strategy as it relates to airports such as Shannon, Cork and Farranfore. I also heard what he said about the recovery of aviation. However, this was not unpredictable. Airlines sold flights, so the number of people who would be flying out of Dublin Airport last weekend was utterly predictable. Clearly, there was a serious problem, a serious failure of workforce planning.

In terms of the issue of staff conditions and pay, the trade unions at Dublin Airport have been raising this for some time. There is a serious issue again with retention of staff and that is related to the pay levels and the conditions that apply to staff at the airport. That has to be addressed to ensure we do not see these shortfalls on an ongoing basis. I repeat our concern about Dublin Airport effectively becoming a low-cost airport at a time when inflation is rising above 8% today and there is a cost-of-living crisis that is really biting into so many people's pockets and incomes. That is why the Labour Party has been saying that Ireland needs a pay rise and why we have been pushing for enactment of a Bill that would transform the minimum wage into a living wage. We call on the Government to adopt the principle in our Bill. That would bring about a much quicker transformation, a much speedier increase in the incomes people earn and would address some of the issues with low pay that are affecting staff numbers in Dublin Airport and in so many other places around the country.

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The DAA has major obligations as an employer. It now has a duty to ensure that it reaches a full staffing complement in order to ensure the safe and efficient running of Dublin Airport and Cork Airport, which also comes under the remit of the DAA. That is why it is in the process of a significant recruitment campaign, which has attracted a lot of interest. It has offered existing security staff contracts with a minimum of 30 hours per week. The contract requires staff to be available to work 40 hours across a 24-7 roster, with employees notified 30 days in advance of their next four-week schedules. In reality, most staff work more than the guaranteed minimum hours, and overtime is available. Permanent security staff are employed on a pensionable and secure basis, and all the DAA arrangements are collectively bargained for.

On the Deputy's wider point in respect of pay, there are, as she knows, negotiations under way on public pay in Ireland. That will impact on 365,000 public servants across the country. I hope we will be able to reach a successful conclusion on that matter in the next short number of weeks. That is important not only from a public expenditure and an industrial relations point of view but also from the point of view of the thousands of workers who provide essential services to us all.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The recently established Cost of Living Coalition is calling people out onto the streets on Saturday, 18 June, for a national demonstration and day of protest to demand a comprehensive, urgent and radical package of measures to address the cost-of-living crisis that is absolutely crucifying workers, pensioners, students and people on low and middle incomes. It will be a protest against the Government's spectacular failure to address the cost-of-living crisis.

Today, we have more evidence of the Government's failure in this regard. EUROSTAT has indicated that we are facing inflation of 8.3%. This means that the value in purchasing power terms of workers' wages, pensions and incomes will drop by more than 8%, meaning real cuts in income for the people who can least afford them. Then we have the Taoiseach warning of a new era of high energy prices. That is on top of a 42% increase in energy and heating costs for ordinary people in the past year alone.

Against this background of a cost-of-living crisis, the Government acts like a helpless, innocent bystander that can do absolutely nothing about it. The Government is not going to do anything before the budget, and it is totally unclear whether it will do anything at all. That is why people are coming onto the streets.

Even the crisis in Dublin Airport is linked to this problem. In a word, the problem there is that the DAA, which has executives on total packages in excess of €366,000, expects the security workers it hires to operate on rubbishy flexible contracts for €14 an hour. When they cannot even plan and will not even know what hours they will have and, therefore, what income they will have in a week's time, is it any wonder that the DAA has difficulty recruiting people? The chief executive overseeing this is on a package of €366,000 a year. That is the problem in the context of the bigger crisis we face.

More than 600,000 people in this country are suffering deprivation and there are hundreds of thousands of workers are on low pay. However, spectacular profits are being made by the energy companies. Last year, Energia's profits were up 46% and the ESB's were up to nearly €700 million. Even Boris Johnson, a Tory, can introduce a windfall tax on the profits of energy companies to try to get some revenues to protect ordinary people from the cost-of-living crisis, but this Government will not do what even Boris Johnson is doing - and, my God, he is no left-winger. When is the Government going to bring in emergency measures in respect of housing costs, the slaughtering of people's incomes and a cost of living that is crucifying ordinary people? What is going to be in that package? So far, the Government has done nothing.

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I do not expect Deputy Boyd Barrett to come in here and give any kind of fair assessment of what the Government has done, but to come in and say it has done nothing is just blatantly incorrect. He knows that. In the most recent budget, and the measures since, we have introduced a package of approximately €2.4 billion of taxpayers' money to support households because we recognise and acknowledge the impact of the extraordinary level of inflation that is currently being experienced. Of course, an inflation rate of more than 8% is a real concern because it impacts on people, living standards and the competitiveness of businesses.

This is a global phenomenon. We have to acknowledge that. In the UK, the rate is 9%. In the US, it is 8.5%. In today's EUROSTAT publication, 12 of the 19 eurozone countries have rates of inflation that are higher than Ireland's. That is why we responded. It is why the Government continues to ensure that we can fund the measures we have already announced, including the reduction in VAT and excise duty. As the Deputy is aware, we have brought in two separate bullet payments for fuel allowance recipients, a €200 energy credit in respect of electricity bills for all households and a cut to the PSO levy from October. There is a major multi-annual national retrofitting scheme. We have put caps on school transport fees for families. We have cut transport fares by 20%, with an additional 50% cut in fares for young people. We reduced the drugs payment scheme threshold to €80 per month, benefiting more than 70,000 families. We brought forward the changes announced in the most recent budget in respect of the working family payment. We completely abolished any hospital charges for children overnight. There are also targeted measures. For example, the 9% rate for tourism and hospitality has, as the Deputy will be aware, been extended. We also introduced specific measures in the haulage sector. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, introduced a suite of measures to support the tillage sector, farmers, and rural communities. I do not expect Deputy Boyd Barrett to give the Government any credit for that. He wants more to be done. That is a reasonable political position to adopt.

What we, as a Government, are seeking to do is navigate our way through this. In order to help the country to get through this period, we are engaging in social dialogue with the main social partners, through the Labour Employer Economic Forum, the trade unions and the employer bodies. The national economic dialogue will take place on 20 June. This will provide an opportunity for a wider set of stakeholders and Opposition parties also to set out their positions. However, we also need to be honest with people. These are extraordinary times. This is a record level of inflation. It has never happened before in the eurozone. In fact, it is global. We will do the best we can as a Government to support and assist people, and we have to date, but it is not possible for any government to introduce measures to completely offset the impact of a terrible war in Ukraine, which has caused such dislocation in the energy markets and in relation to so many foods and materials across the supply chain. We acknowledge that it is having an impact and that is why we have responded to date. That is why we are finalising our budgetary position as we move towards the summer economic statement and the preparation of the budget.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The reason so many people have got involved in this new Cost of Living Coalition - pensioners groups, retired workers groups, student unions, single-parent advocacy groups, anti-poverty groups, trade unions and others - is because the measures the Government has been taking are a drop in the ocean; they are making little or no difference to the crucifying increases in the cost of living that people face. The key point is that people are acutely aware that this is a tale of two crises. Ordinary working people, pensioners and students are being hammered with the cost of inflation, but they see simultaneously that some people are doing very well out of it. The Oxfam report published last week shows that Ireland's nine billionaires saw their assets and wealth increase by 55% last year. The energy companies see their profits going through the roof. The billionaires, millionaires and the CEOs of the DAA, who seem to be more interested in setting up airports in Saudi Arabia than in sorting out the problems at Dublin Airport, are doing very well. For workers, pensioners, students and ordinary people, however, the measures the Government is taking are simply not enough. This is because the Government will not address the elephant in the room, namely, the gross inequalities in income and wealth that exist in our society.

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy's statement that what the Government has done is not enough is a fairer comment because that is his view, but to come to the Chamber to say we did nothing is, as I said, completely incorrect. I do not accept that €2.4 billion in measures represents a drop in the ocean. For a country the size of Ireland, the use of taxpayers' money of that magnitude is a major decision. It is not one we made lightly but it was absolutely warranted. To take those interventions outside the normal budgetary calendar, to reduce VAT and excise, and to introduce once-off payments and better social welfare supports is not something any government would consider in normal times.

We also have to be cognisant of the wider picture. There are increasing risks to the global economy and as a small, open, trading economy, Ireland is not immune to those risks. The Deputy will be aware the cost of borrowing for our country has increased significantly in recent weeks. We will work our way through this. The priority now is to agree in the summer economic statement, taking all those factors into account, what the appropriate budgetary stance is for Ireland and how much money we should be spending-----

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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People cannot wait until then.

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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-----and can afford to spend. We will then make decisions as a Government to be as fair as we possibly can in recognising the cost-of-living challenges people are undoubtedly facing but also being honest with people. The Government cannot fully off-set the impact on people's lives of this terrible war, which it had nothing to do with.

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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This morning saw the publication of Safeguarding Ireland's comprehensive discussion paper on safeguarding vulnerable adults. It called for the establishment of an independent national adult safeguarding authority, a recommendation I fully support. The chairperson commented:

There needs to be a Statutory obligation on State bodies to do more than respond to crises. They also need to have accountability to take steps which prevent adult abuse and uphold people's rights.

It is a timely reminder for a number of reasons, as this week we debate the Assisted Decision-Making Capacity Bill and, disturbingly, over the weekend, we saw revealed in reports by Maeve Sheehan in the Sunday Independent, Kitty Holland inThe Irish Timesand Catherine Reilly in The Medical Independent further major concerns arising from the Brandon case in Donegal and the safeguarding issues it highlighted. The latest report, apparently delivered internally within the HSE, now contains allegations of rape going back to 1992. It is also revealed in correspondence between the HSE and HIQA, dated 7 March this year, that HIQA's deputy chief inspector of social services called for "The review of governance structures should not be limited to local... level but should also include the overall national governance and oversight structures used to identify and respond to issues that may arise...".

The Medical Independent revealed that a social care risk register for the safeguarding and protection team, SPT, dating from 2021, showed that risks related to staffing were ongoing. The SPT has been operating at 75% capacity since March 2020 due to staff redeployment. There was a risk of the SPT "not being able to continue to provide a cohesive service across CHO 1 if staffing falls any further due to leave or illness of remaining staff”. On 28 June 2021, another staffing risk was recorded, which was due for review on 3 July. It read:

Due to 50 per cent reduction in staff there is a significant risk that the safeguarding team may not be in a position to provide a cohesive service across CHO 1 [again]. We currently have no staff in Donegal and have lost 0.5 of our staff in Cavan/Monaghan.

This was all happening while I was being told by the HSE that everything was fine.

I do not believe these allegations are new to the HSE. They were part of what the whistleblower told me in 2016, they were part of what I brought to the HSE at that time, and were in the available HSE files at Ard Gréine Court. I believe they were suppressed by management within the HSE at all levels, right up to the very top, and only for the dogged determination of the whistleblower, these journalists, myself and, thankfully, the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Rabbitte, all this would have been conveniently swept under the carpet.

I am calling on the Government and the senior Minister finally to stand up to the HSE, to stop accepting mediocre management and lack of transparency and to get the Brandon report and other linked reports published in full, so we can confidently put in place the measures to ensure this never happens again.

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I have not had an opportunity to see the report he referenced that was published today, but I can give an update on the initiatives-----

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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Nobody has seen it. That is the problem.

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I was not aware that the Deputy was going to raise this specific issue, but I will update him on what the Government is planning to do at policy level. We can respond to the Deputy on a bilateral basis in more detail.

The Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015 does not extend to people who are involuntarily detained under the Mental Health Act 2001 or detained subject to an order under the Criminal Law (Insanity) Act 2006. The Attorney General's office has identified legal issues that need to be addressed before the 2015 Act can be extended, specifically around ensuring that detention orders continue to be valid in cases where all treatment is refused. The Government supports the extension of the principles and provisions of the Act and its 2022 amendment Bill to individuals whose treatment is regulated by Part 4 of the Mental Health Act. The Government will extend these provisions to this cohort of people through the mental health Bill, which is being drafted.

People accessing mental health services generally can avail of decision-making supports under the 2015 Act, including people receiving treatment on a voluntary basis in approved centres. The Act provides for the introduction of decision-making supports to help individuals with impaired decision-making abilities to make decisions about finances, healthcare and personal matters. The Act is not yet fully commenced. The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth has prepared an amendment Bill, which is expected to pass through the Oireachtas this month. Its amendments will allow the Act to be fully commenced. Currently, the 2015 Act's provisions do not apply to people whose treatment is regulated under Part 4 of the Mental Health Act, those being, people who are involuntarily detained under that Act and people detained under the Criminal Law (Insanity) Act 2006.

On a parallel track, the Department of Health is progressing a mental health Bill based on the general scheme agreed by the Government last July. It is being drafted by the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, has put a considerable amount of work into it.

The Department of Health sought legal advice from the Attorney General's office. While the official advice has not been received, the Department has been informally told that, if the 2015 Act is amended so that its provisions fully apply to people detained under the Mental Health Act, there is a risk that, where such an individual refuses all treatment, the basis for his or her detention may become invalidated. The Attorney General's office has advised that further work is needed to safeguard against a situation arising in which people who pose a risk to others cannot be detained and treated where they refuse all treatment. The office has also advised that this policy work would be more appropriately addressed in the mental health Bill. That Bill will significantly update and overhaul existing mental health legislation, including provisions relating to consent to treatment under Part 4.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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That concludes Leaders' Questions. My apologies. Deputy Pringle gets another go.

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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Yes. I will speak to the Brandon report. This is a long, drawn-out saga and what stands out to me is that HSE management failed the residents of Ard Greine Court, who are vulnerable adults for whom we as a society are asked to care. HSE management also failed Brandon, a highly vulnerable adult. Importantly, in the ensuing mismanagement of the case, the HSE has failed its front-line staff as well. The concealment of the truth at any cost, which to my mind is the only conclusion one can draw as being the modus operandiof the management's response, is dictated from the very top of the HSE. This leaves the staff on the ground abandoned even though they were the ones highlighting the problems throughout. This is not a Donegal or CHO 1 problem alone. It is a national problem. Previous Governments tried a similar thing with Garda corruption, in that they tried to box it off and claim it was only in Donegal. We saw where that got us.

The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, is conducting a review of safeguarding in Donegal. It should be published when completed and I ask the Minister to ensure that it is. The Minister of State intends to, but the whole of the Government must ensure that it is because doing so would be vital for all of our citizens.

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I acknowledge Deputy Pringle's track record on this issue and the fact that he has raised the Brandon report in particular many times in the House and with our colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, who has taken a keen personal interest in the matter. She has been to Donegal and held a series of meetings on the matter there. She is most anxious that the full details in the Brandon report be published as soon as possible.

Separately, the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, is introducing a safeguarding Bill. She expects to have it before the Oireachtas before the end of this year. That will provide an opportunity for the Oireachtas to tease out these issues in detail and ensure that we have adequate safeguards in place for vulnerable people who are under the care of the State.