Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Twenty Members are seeking to get in during these 30 minutes, but that will not be possible. It will not even be possible with their full co-operation.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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We will be full of co-operation.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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You will be. Inevitably, there will be Members who are not reached. I will do my best to stick to the exact time, but we will still run out of time.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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It is almost a decade since the Tánaiste first promised to reduce waiting times for children with scoliosis. I have lost count of the number of times his Governments have made and repeatedly broken promises. According to Children's Health Ireland, CHI, 149 children with scoliosis or spina bifida have been waiting six months or more for surgery, with 117 of those waiting for more than a year. The Minister for Health has said that the promise will again be broken this year. This means that those children will be facing another Christmas living in agony, waking up in the middle of the night because they are in so much pain or left in tears because they cannot do what other children their age, including their friends, can do. No child should be waiting in such an awful situation. No child should be waiting for an operation that can change his or her life. These children and their families need a straight answer. I will ask a question on their behalf. Has the €19 million in additional funding that was announced this year been spent and, if not, why not?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I do not know if it has all been spent yet, but I will make inquiries with the Department of Health and get the exact figures for the Deputy. It may be the case that it has not all been spent yet.

I appreciate that far too many children are waiting far too long for the spinal surgeries they need, but I will point out that, since January, the waiting list for spinal fusions has decreased by 44% for those waiting more than 12 months and by 24% for those waiting more than four months. The waiting list, therefore, is coming down.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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Will the Government commit to introducing a right to paid leave for early miscarriage and reproductive health-related reasons? In 2021, the Labour Party introduced the Organisation of Working Time (Reproductive Health Related Leave) Bill in the Seanad. If passed, it would allow a woman who experienced an early miscarriage leave from the workplace of up to 20 days and up to ten days of paid leave to any employee who needed time off work to undergo IVF or other reproductive healthcare treatments. The Government assured us in the Seanad that it would co-operate with us on seeing the Bill pass. Eighteen months on, though, we have not seen any progress.

On Tuesday, my colleague, Deputy Sherlock, tabled an amendment to the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2022 to provide for this issue at no cost to the Exchequer, but it was disallowed. The Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, indicated that research into this issue was under way at UCC, but I am hearing every day from women and couples who are experiencing the trauma and grief of early miscarriage and pregnancy loss and of having to take significant time off work for IVF treatment. Can we see a Government commitment to introducing legislation?

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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As I said in reply to Deputy Sherlock, research has been commissioned following the amendment tabled by Deputy Bacik's colleagues in the Seanad, particularly regarding leave for women who have suffered miscarriages, especially prior to 24 weeks.

As the Deputy will be aware, women who are subject to a miscarriage are able to avail of maternity leave. That research is taking place in three separate phases and we will look to have the results of that later next year. We will then look to take steps in furtherance of what that research determines.

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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The RTÉ documentary on the sexual abuse at Blackrock College highlights the murky history of abuse and cover up in our education system. The redress scheme for survivors of sexual abuse in schools only came about through the bravery of Louise O'Keeffe who went to the European Court of Human Rights. The scheme, however, is intentionally restrictive and even with last year's changes it is designed to exclude many, as it is only open to those who had begun legal proceedings prior to July 2021. The Government is fully aware that many cases were dropped or even not initiated following the Supreme Court ruling against Louise O'Keeffe in 2009. This cruel restriction needs to be removed to enable all survivors of abuse to claim redress. Also, there is a glaring need to establish a commission of investigation into sexual and other forms of abuse in our schools.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I did not have a chance to listen to that documentary yet but I intend to do so over the weekend. I extend my sympathy and solidarity to the very brave men who are former students of Blackrock College for coming forward in the way they did. This, of course, is a matter for the Minister for Education, Deputy Norma Foley. I will let her know that the Deputy raised this and I will ask the Minister to come back to her with a direct reply.

Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I wish to express my solidarity with the tech workers this week with regard to the possible layoffs in the tech sector. The last week has shown that tech companies are quite ambiguous about employment laws in Ireland. There are penalties for breaching employment law in respect of notice of redundancy. Has the Tánaiste made the tech companies aware of this law and the penalties for breaching employment law around redundancies?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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We have. They are aware. Their legal departments and their human resource departments are aware of their obligations under employment law.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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Just over a week ago, there was a tornado in south County Wexford. It arose in Haggard and Ramsgrange and travelled to Balliniry and from Balliniry it went to Milltown and Ballycullane on to Clongeen and finally to Foulkesmill, leaving destruction in its wake for more than 40 families. Their homes and their properties were damaged beyond recognition in many cases. On inspecting the scenes their homes and properties resemble Armageddon.

What was equally hurtful and possibly more damaging for the Government was that the 5,000-strong community of south County Wexford believe there was no support from the Government and no recognition of the event. The term that was used was:"If there was breeze in Donnybrook it would make headline news". I am afraid that the people feel very let down by the Government. I have visited many of the homes and have spoken to other affected householders on the phone. The Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, did visit. When he was asked what the families were to do, he told them to do nothing until they heard from him. If one is sitting with 40 families who have had the roof ripped off their house, which is probably the minimum of damage-----

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Deputy, we are over time.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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-----how can a family do nothing? I ask the Tánaiste, for his own sake as the prospective leader, to come to Wexford next Tuesday night-----

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Please, Deputy, we are over time.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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-----where a meeting will be held with the families and the communities, please.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy. The Minister of State, Deputy Browne, raised this matter with me only last night and made me aware of the situation. My sympathies go to the families and to the people affected. We have a Red Cross scheme, which the Deputy will be aware of-----

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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The schemes are no good. You have to visit the people.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Please, Deputy.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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I specifically asked the Tánaiste if he would come to Wexford to meet the people. That is the question.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I cannot next Tuesday night because the Dáil will be in session and I must be here. I will examine if it is possible to do so at some point.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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I was in disbelief that the Government Whip informed the Business Committee earlier that there would be a special sitting of the House on Saturday 17 December to re-elect the Tánaiste as Taoiseach. It is musical chairs again to accommodate the current Taoiseach and the Tánaiste It is musical chairs and it is backslapping and praising, while people cannot put bread on the table. I want to know the cost of this ridiculous proposal. It is the Saturday before Christmas. Has the Government any respect for the staff here, or the ushers or anybody else? It is a special sitting just to massage the ego of the Tánaiste and the ego of the Taoiseach. It is on a Saturday, which is not a working day. People are entitled to their rest days. It is a charade but it is an expensive charade for the people of Ireland and for the taxpayers, with all of the problems that are there. People are trying to live, get food to eat, and go to work. People are losing their jobs. Such a sitting is appalling and I want it discontinued. We in the Rural Independent Group are fundamentally opposed to it.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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This is far from unprecedented. In fact, the current Taoiseach was also elected on a Saturday. It is not unusual for us to sit on a Saturday, on occasion.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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Those were different times.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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We are all paid anyway so none of us get any extra money for being here on a Saturday. There may be some additional costs in relation to ushers and support staff-----

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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How out of touch is the Tánaiste.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The alternative is for us to come back to the House on the Monday or Tuesday of Christmas week. It is no skin off my nose whether it is a few days one way or the other but I do not believe there is a major desire on the Business Committee, as I understand it, that we should sit during Christmas week.

Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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I wish to return to an issue I raised previously with the Tánaiste, which is the poor rate of maternity benefit in Ireland compared to other EU states or other OECD states. In Ireland, the average proportion of previous earnings that maternity benefit accounts for is 25.2%. It is one of the lowest rates in the OECD and the EU. During the pandemic, people were coming off pandemic payments of €330 per week and being reduced to €250 because they had just had a child. That is a penalisation of women for having children.

There will be a proposal coming to the Cabinet soon to realign unemployment benefits with previous payments and with what people were being paid before they became unemployed. Will there be a similar alignment of maternity benefit with average pay? People's requirement to pay their mortgage goes on. Many families are now two-salary families to pay the mortgage. It will be a disincentive. Would the Tánaiste, at the very least, support this being addressed?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The short answer to the Deputy's question is "Yes". Work currently being done by the Minister for Social Protection in moving towards pay-related benefits is not just about jobseekers; it could also apply to maternity benefit, paternity benefit, and illness benefit to better reflect the fact that if people are out of work for a temporary period, the money they get should better reflect what they earn and how much they are paying into the PRSI system. The Deputy referred to maternity benefit. That is the minimum payment. A lot of employers pay more, including in the public sector and the State, and sometimes those international comparisons do not take into account the fact that our system is different. Many employers top up maternity benefit and pay a lot more than that minimum amount.

Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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Sometimes we forget about people not in the public service.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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IBEC has stated that the establishment of an Irish local division of the Unified Patent Court would lead to job creation, benefit SMEs and boost Ireland's innovative performance, and could also contribute between €450 million and €1.66 billion to GDP growth. We need to pass legislation to allow for a referendum before this can happen. The general scheme of the Bill was approved in 2014. When will the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment request approval to proceed with the Bill?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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We intend to hold the referendum to allow Ireland to join the Unified Patent Court. It is up and running. We would like to join it and we intend to hold the referendum on that, either next year but certainly no later than the local and European elections in 2024. That requires primary legislation in this House, which we are currently preparing.

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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Earlier this week, contract cleaners, security personnel and catering staff working in our public hospitals came to Leinster House with their union, SIPTU. They told of horror stories of their time working on the front line during the pandemic. I have heard similar stories from contracted staff in Portiuncula Hospital, Ballinasloe. Yet, 11 months on, they are still waiting for the Covid recognition payment. Home care workers and those in private nursing homes and others are also waiting. Will the Tánaiste please confirm that those in contracted services are included in this payment, and that all remaining payments will be made to those who worked on the front line during Covid by the end of the year?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I am afraid that I just do not know the details on that issue. I will check it out with the Ministers for Health, and Public Expenditure and Reform, and I will come back to the Deputy with a reply as soon as I can.

Francis Noel Duffy (Dublin South West, Green Party)
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Yesterday, a motion on long Covid health services was passed by the House.

There are issues with long Covid. I know the Government supported that motion. Will it be in a position to provide funding for research and GP training in that area going forward?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy. That is our intention. We are still learning about long Covid. Many viral illnesses produce a post-viral syndrome. The vast majority of people who get the virus recover, but some develop a long-term illness. We need to see it in the context of other post-viral syndromes. More and more, we need to see Covid not as a separate illness but as one of many viruses from which people can develop post-viral illness that is long term. That is the context in which we hope to see it.

Johnny Guirke (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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I spent the last few weeks going around my constituency of Meath West talking to small businesses in towns and villages. The issue that kept coming up was energy costs. I was talking to butcher shops and convenience stores. These were essential workers during the pandemic. They have mostly between five and seven employees and their energy costs have gone up three to four times. The supports in place are not enough for these businesses and many will go under this winter if they do not get additional funding from Government. Will the Tánaiste see what can be done for these businesses? It will cost the State much more if these people end up on social welfare.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy. Help is on the way for businesses struggling with high energy costs. It is in the Finance Bill. It is the temporary business energy support scheme, which will cover 40% of the increase in energy costs up to €10,000 per month per business, backdated to September. There are European rules and regulations around how far we can go in this regard and it is taxpayers' money, but we are doing as much as we can.

Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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As Teachta Dála for Tipperary I welcome the €31 million we got this morning from the urban regeneration and development fund, URDF. The people of Cahir, Carrick-on-Suir and Roscrea are absolutely delighted. I thank the Government for delivering that for us.

The N75 is the main artery from Thurles to the motorway. The junction at Drish Bridge has, unfortunately, seen a number of fatalities over the years. This junction needs work from Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII. Will the Tánaiste urge the relevant authorities to look at the junction and introduce safety measures there?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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We will certainty look at that. I appreciate the need to improve safety on that road. I have travelled it many times. I will make the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, aware that it was raised in the Chamber.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I remind the Tánaiste of the continued use of section 47 reports, which deprive mothers of children who are removed forcibly from their care. They are being continuously punished for being mothers and being in the family law courts. We are failing to deliver to them natural justice, due process and their entitlement under the Constitution and the laws passed by this House. I ask the Tánaiste to interfere in their favour.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Once again, I remind the Deputy of the separation of powers in relation to this issue he keeps raising. I will now leave it up to the Tánaiste.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I acknowledge that Deputy Durkan has raised this matter before in the Chamber and corresponded with me recently. I read the letter he sent me the other day. I am not sure if this is an area in which we can intervene as a Government. I undertake to speak to the Deputy about it, perhaps properly next week, and engage with the Minister for Justice.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I reiterate the separation of powers and that comments on reports and judges are not allowed. I am moving on. I call Deputy Naughten.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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Una is a 66-year-old pensioner who, despite working all her life, is in receipt of a non-contributory State pension of €242 per week. She has been refused the medical card because she receives a net income of €1 per week on top of her pension for the rent of a field. Her next-door neighbour gets €11 per week more by way of a contributory pension yet qualifies for the medical card. This is all because the income limits for the medical card have not increased since 2005, when the Tánaiste was just 26. By January, the basic rate of social welfare will have gone up by €71.20 over the past 17 years but Una, with an additional income of €1, is deemed too well-off to get a medical card. In the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, when will medical card income limits be revised?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising the matter. I take his point. I have a constituency service too and sometimes I find means tests are very mean. No matter where the line is drawn, there will always be somebody €1 or €2 above it. I know the Deputy appreciates that. In the current budget we have relaxed the means test for the SUSI grant, carer's allowance and fuel allowance but not for medical cards. I take the criticism that there is some inconsistency when you index means tests in some areas and not others.

I will take this up with the Minister for Health and see if we can make some changes because I do not want people to lose medical cards or be knocked off the housing list because they got paid a little bit better or got an increase in welfare. That is not right or fair.

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Many National Learning Network students have received letters stating they will not get the €500 disability support due to be paid on Monday, 14 November. That is people in receipt of disability allowance, invalidity pension, blind pension and carer's grant. When a National Learning Network student enters training, their disability allowance changes to a training allowance for the duration of the course and on that basis some will not receive the grant. This is unjust. Many will have made plans in relation to this. The disability support grant is paid to recognise the huge costs for those with disability and their families. We need to rectify this straightaway.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy. I will ask my people to look into that. I do not want to make any promises here, but it may be an anomaly. We will look into that and see if a change is warranted. Next week, a number of lump sum payments will be made: fuel allowance, €400; living alone allowance, €200; to carers, €500; working families, €500; people in receipt of disability payments, €500. Significant help is on the way to put money back in people's pockets to help with the cost of living, all coming into effect next week. The Minister, Deputy Humphreys, will let people know the detail of that in the next couple of days.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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On Monday, residents of a number of apartment and duplex complexes affected by defects came together. They are part of the Not Our Fault campaign and were announcing the major public conference on Saturday, 19 November in the Plaza Hotel, Tallaght. These people bought their apartments or duplexes in good faith, did everything right and now face bills of up to €68,000. This is not their fault but that of successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Governments that allowed a system of self-certification to reign and of the cowboy builders who jumped through it. There are up to 100,000 victims of that system. The Tánaiste will be Taoiseach again shortly. Will he give a commitment that any scheme introduced will be retrospective? Will he accept the only just and workable solution is 100% redress, with the State then pursuing the builders responsible?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I acknowledge this is a very serious issue. We have helped people with pyrite in their homes to have those homes repaired, are trying to help people with mica in their homes to have them repaired and need to help people living in defective apartment buildings with the cost of those repairs. I agree with the Deputy that it is not their fault. We can argue about whose fault it was, but it is definitely not their fault. That is why we need a scheme to help them and the Government intends to have that scheme in place in 2023. I cannot make any promises or commitments about the detail of that but the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, is working on it and I can give the commitment that this is something I care about. It affects many people in my constituency. We will do everything we can to get the scheme up and running next year.

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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One of the many impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic was the cancellation by public health nurses of the provision of developmental checks for newborn babies. This happened across the country and across Dublin and, since the ending of the emergency phase of the pandemic nine months ago, we have seen these steadily return.

One part of the capital, however, namely Leopardstown, Dublin 18, in the constituency the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, and I represent, is still under-serviced in this area. In Leopardstown there are no developmental checks and the public health nurses are not making those visits. Instead, new parents have been told to go to their local GPs. The GPs are absolutely swamped. They do not have the capacity. Will the Government intervene to provide these new babies and their parents with the basic level of care needed in developmental checks?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this. It is something I have heard about and am concerned about. The service public health nurses provide is essential. Calling to those homes and checking those babies can bring to light issues that need to be brought to light and make sure help is provided at an early stage. There may be a particular issue with staffing in one or two parts of the country. There is a difficulty recruiting public health nurses at the moment. We are definitely working on that. I will inform the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, that the matter was raised today and we will get back to Deputy Richmond with more details as soon as we can.

Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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The Government took a number of measures in the budget to protect people from the cost-of-living crisis, not least the increase in the fuel allowance for those who are over 70 years of age and who earn up to €26,000 and for couples earning up to €52,000 where one member of the couple is over 70. That is a really important measure. Many people are waiting for it, particularly because of the benefits of the better energy warmer homes scheme, but the Department is indicating that the payments will be made in the first quarter of next year and backdated to 1 January. Will the Tánaiste raise with the relevant Minister the need to have applications for the scheme open as soon as possible in order that people can make their applications and that the Department process those claims as soon as possible?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I certainly will. The Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys, spoke about this issue at a meeting only yesterday evening. She is very keen to get the application process under way as soon as possible because there will be a lot of applications and the sooner we can open the applications, the sooner we can make the payments. The Minister does not want to wait until the new year to do that. She is working on this with her officials with a view to opening applications as soon as possible.

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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The British-Irish Council meets today. It is the first time in 15 years a British Prime Minister has attended. That is a very good omen. I welcome in particular the fact that Rishi Sunak is looking at trying to improve the relationship between our two countries. That is significant. Does the Tánaiste agree that the key relationship in bringing about the peace and prosperity on our island was the relationship in the past between British Prime Ministers and Irish taoisigh?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I absolutely agree. The situation in Northern Ireland is always at its best when the Irish Government and the British Government work together with a common agenda and common objectives. Unfortunately, those have been absent for quite some time. The fact that Prime Minister Sunak is attending the British-Irish Council in person, the first time a Prime Minister has done so in a very long time, is very welcome and a very significant gesture. It is to be hoped it is a sign of a better relationship to come.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I agree about working together. In that context I wish to raise with the Tánaiste a very serious issue, that is, the fact that five male republican prisoners who are on remand in Roe House, in Maghaberry Prison, are being strip-searched twice a day and being brought to and from court. That means over 100 strip-searches or, as they are called in the jargon, full-body searches, are being carried out on these men over a 12-day period. The prison authorities have the technology to obviate the necessity of doing this. I believe that it is unnecessary and purposely degrading treatment and conflicts with any decent human rights code. It seems to be directed solely against republicans. It is also worth noting that two women co-accused prisoners in Hydebank prison are, very thankfully, not being subjected to this treatment. Will the Tánaiste assure me that urgent representations - and I mean urgent because these hearings are going on day after day - will be made to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and to the British Prime Minister to stop this barbaric treatment from happening?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. It is an issue I am not familiar with so it is new to me. If the Deputy wants to pass on more details to my office, the Taoiseach's office or the office of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, we will make sure the matter is raised with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland as a matter of urgency.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Sin deireadh le Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht. Táimid laistigh den am, so go raibh míle maith agaibh as bhur dtacaíocht.