Dáil debates

Thursday, 24 November 2022

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation

 

12:30 pm

Photo of Catherine ConnollyCatherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Rather than me constantly interrupting, I ask that Members stick to the time limits to help all of their colleagues get in.

Photo of Pearse DohertyPearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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This week, Mr. Asadullah Aslam, a consultant urologist at Letterkenny University Hospital, LUH, resigned his position in public practice. He said he made his decision as a result of impossible working conditions at LUH. This has come as a shock. It is really troubling and saddening for patients to lose such an experienced healthcare professional. It is a worrying time for them with respect to their own pathway to care and the conditions in the hospital that led to Mr. Aslam's resignation are concerning for all of us. There has been no clear statement from the HSE or from Saolta as to whether a replacement consultant will be in place. Will the Minister for Health and the Government intervene? They need to ensure that Saolta and the HSE make a public statement clarifying the next steps. Have they been able to secure a replacement for Mr. Aslam? The Department and the HSE need to engage with Mr. Aslam to deal with the issues he described as regards impossible working conditions and a lack of resources and to try to get him back into public practice, if possible.

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I am very sorry to hear that consultant in Letterkenny, Mr. Aslam, has resigned. I am sure the position will be readvertised. A hospital of Letterkenny University Hospital's size should have a good urology service. I absolutely agree with that. Again, it is very difficult for me to comment on the details of any individual's employment but I will certainly make sure the Minister for Health knows the matter was raised. Perhaps the HSE can make a statement or engage directly with Deputy Doherty.

Photo of Pearse DohertyPearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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I appreciate that.

Photo of Aodhán Ó RíordáinAodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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Next week, the Labour Party will bring forward a Private Members' motion on the issue of drugs and the decriminalisation of the drug user. The Government has promised a citizens' assembly on drugs for early next year. Is the Tánaiste in a position to clarify when the proposed citizens' assembly on drugs will take place? It is needed. In many communities, the drugs crisis is spiralling out of control.

Photo of Frank FeighanFrank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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A citizens' assembly, as committed to under the programme for Government, is being initiated and is due to happen early in the new year. Preparations are ongoing.

Photo of Cian O'CallaghanCian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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It appears from the Tánaiste's comments that he is not aware of how seriously the housing disaster is affecting people. Is he not aware that Dublin is the most expensive capital city in the European Union in which to rent according to the OECD and EUROSTAT? Since this Government took office, rents and house prices have reached record levels, as have the number of people living in emergency accommodation for homeless people and the number of people in their 20s and 30s still living in their childhood bedrooms. At the same time, rates of home ownership continue to fall. Despite all of this, the Government has somehow failed to spend almost €500 million allocated for housing in the first nine months of this year. It is little surprise then that the Government will not meet any of the targets it set itself for the delivery of social, affordable or cost-rental homes. Does the Tánaiste accept that renting is more affordable in Paris, Berlin, Rome or any other European capital city than it is Dublin?

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I am very aware that rents are extremely high not just in Dublin, but across Ireland, and that we compare unfavourably with most other European capital cities.

Photo of Cian O'CallaghanCian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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All of them.

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Perhaps it is all. I am not sure about London, which is still part of Europe, although let us not go there. We all agree that rents in Ireland and in Dublin are unacceptably high. What can we do about it? A rent credit will kick in within the next few weeks. This will put €1,000 back into the pocket of the average single renter and €2,000 into the pockets of a couple. That will help. The best part of a month's rent will be back in renters' pockets within a few weeks. We are scaling up cost rental, a new form of rental where the Government provides properties for rent. We need to see a lot more of that. There are also the rent pressure zones. I refer the Deputy to the Daft report from earlier in the week. When properly studied and understood, it shows that, for the vast majority, 75%, of renters, rents increased by approximately 2.5%. That is the result of the rent pressure zones.

Photo of Richard Boyd BarrettRichard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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In the last few hours, thejournal.iereported that Irish troops were being assessed by NATO assessors in the uplands of north Cork, between Mitchelstown and Fermoy. They were being assessed by a US Navy commander, Sam Mason, who is part of the NATO command. Very worryingly, Commandant Daire Roache explained that this is "part of a program that is for partner nations within NATO." Every week, we see further evidence that this Government is trying to destroy what is left of our neutrality and bring us in with NATO by stealth. How on earth can anyone look at this report and see anything other than the Irish Government pushing into a military alliance with NATO, destroying our neutrality?

12:40 pm

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Government has no plans to join NATO or any other military alliance. We are involved in security and defence co-operation through PESCO with the European Union. We also co-operate with NATO through the partnership for peace and have done for a very long time. I have not seen the report the Deputy mentioned so I cannot comment on it but I will ask the Minister for Defence to come back to him directly.

Photo of Peadar TóibínPeadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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In July 2019, a very brave woman by the name of Sharon Butler Hughes blew the whistle on the fact that 4,088 women had received either the wrong letters or no results from CervicalCheck with regard to their smear tests. Brian McCracken investigated the matter and recommended that an examination be made into whether these women were negatively affected by the delays in terms of their health outcomes. We have no evidence that this has happened to date. Will the Tánaiste tell the House what is happening? The HSE has never spoken to Sharon Butler Hughes to see if she is okay. Yesterday, she received a letter from the Department and I have seen that letter. It states the HSE will now undertake to fulfil this recommendation. It will undertake to fulfil this recommendation now, three years and three months after the recommendation was made. Given all that has happened and all of the apologies, why was this not treated seriously? When was the last time the Department or the HSE reached out these 4,088 women? Will the Tánaiste give details of when this will be completed?

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I appreciate the importance of this issue but I am afraid I just do not have that information to hand. I will ask the Minister for Health or the HSE to come back to the Deputy on that. I understand he has said the recommendation is now being implemented. I do not know why that was not done previously. I will ask the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, to get back to the Deputy directly on that.

Photo of Richard O'DonoghueRichard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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Before the vote on the Impaired Farm Credit Bill was taken last night, I emailed the Tánaiste's office, the Taoiseach's office, the office of the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and the Whips, Deputies Chambers and Griffin, asking if a free vote could be given to their party members last night on that Bill. Did Fine Gael offer a free vote to the rural Deputies in the party or were they under the whip?

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The answer to the Deputy's question is "No." We do not commonly do free votes in our system. The Deputy is an Independent Deputy and every vote is a free vote for him. Most Members in this House are members of a political party and are bound by the policies of that party, the programme for Government and collective responsibility. We allow free votes on a small number of issues, particularly relating to abortion or life and so on.

Photo of Richard O'DonoghueRichard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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What about rural Deputies?

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The answer to the Deputy's question is "No".

Photo of Michael McNamaraMichael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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The Tánaiste has spoken about the problems with how this House does its business. He has also spoken about the benefits and frailties of Mercosur. I want to know how, when he is Taoiseach, the Tánaiste's Government will interact with this House. The current Taoiseach seems to have no problem with Mercosur being passed without a vote of this House or the people of Ireland. Important Bills are regularly guillotined. For example, on the Communications Regulation Bill from the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth, amendments were introduced the evening before Committee Stage so that nobody could table amendments to them. I now believe this Bill, as it stands, will be guillotined through the House. The Bill has constitutional frailties but it would also potentially involve the payment of large amounts of compensation to multinationals in Ireland. The Dutch equivalent has acknowledged that compensation will inevitably be part of it. How will the Tánaiste - when he is Taoiseach - interact with this House? Will he give a guarantee that he will not guillotine Bills and that important trade agreements such as Mercosur will require at least a vote of the House, if not of the people?

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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That is very open-ended question. I will interact with the House in different ways depending on circumstances. When it comes to any international agreement that depends on the advice of the Attorney General. If the Attorney General advises that an international agreement requires a vote in the House, then of course there would be vote in the House. Some agreements - and this applies to some trade agreements - are not a national competence and are decided at a European Union level. It will depend on the agreement whether it requires a vote of the House. In general, international agreements require a vote of the House but there may be instances where that is not the case.

I believe that the ratification of Mercosur by the European Union and, therefore, by Ireland is a remote prospect for the foreseeable future. There is a very strong view across the European Union, and one-----

Photo of Michael McNamaraMichael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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What about the guillotine?

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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-----that I share, that the environmental protections in it are not adequate.

Photo of Michael McNamaraMichael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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What about the guillotine?

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I do not like using the guillotine but sometimes it is necessary to get things done.

Photo of Richard BrutonRichard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The Government now has a legal obligation to cut peak-hour electricity demand by 5% over the winter and a voluntary obligation to cut both gas and electricity demand by 10%. What policy tools has it identified to deliver this? As well as protecting people from higher prices, it is very important that we help them to reduce their usage so we become more resilient. I suggest that the revenue from windfall tax be put to facilitating this. Smart meters, shallow retrofits, sharing platforms and solar can all be part of a national resilience campaign. They would get a massive boost from such revenue to do that. The Tánaiste has said how fitting doors to fridges in many of our supermarkets could help to transform usage, but there is not sufficient support for that to be undertaken. Will the Tánaiste consider that?

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The policy tools are differential pricing, which now exists, and also the Government ad information campaign encouraging people to reduce energy use and, where possible, to use energy at times when it is more efficient. I would never tell anyone when they should or should not cook the dinner but it is fair to say that when it comes to things like using the washing machine or putting on the dishwasher, it is possible to do that in the morning or at night-time, rather than between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m.

The windfall tax does not quite exist yet; it must be legislated for. We have not raised any money from it yet, so no decisions have been made as to how it will be spent. It is additional revenue that we will have next year to assist us in reducing the cost of energy for people and businesses, if needs be.

I agree with the points the Deputy made about solar and micro-renewables but I would be disinclined to fund that from windfall tax because it will have to be sustained rather than being a once-off.

Photo of Brian LeddinBrian Leddin (Limerick City, Green Party)
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In advance of the changeover in a few weeks' time, I want to raise the issue of the lack of and deficit in health services and infrastructure in the mid-west region. I believe the Tánaiste is aware of this. There is a huge demographic challenge as we look to five, ten and 15 years ahead. We have challenges at the moment but as we go forward to the end of the decade and into the next one, we will need new hospitals and new services in University Hospital Limerick, UHL, and also in other parts of the region. I want to impress upon the Tánaiste the importance of this to the region because the hospital has been let down in the last number of years.

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising the need to expand and develop our public health services in the mid-west, not only in UHL but also in the other hospitals such as Nenagh, Ennis and Croom hospitals. I am very much seized of the matter, having visited all of those hospitals on more than one occasion. I assure the Deputy it is very much on the Government's agenda for the next two years.

Photo of Thomas GouldThomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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This weekend 15 workers from the Butcher's Block shops in Cork were told their jobs were gone. They were made redundant by text message. Some workers went in to find the shops had been cleared out and the doors locked. They were told that no statutory holiday or redundancy pay would be paid. The workers were advised that the process for the Government to pay redundancy would take weeks and they should go to their local social welfare office for an urgent needs payment. It is six weeks out from Christmas. I know some of these people personally. Some of them have worked in the company for 18 and 20 years and this is how they are being treated by employers. Once again, we have a situation where workers are at the bottom of the list when it comes to liquidations when they should be at the top. The workers in the Butcher's Block have done nothing wrong but work hard all of their lives. We are seeing unscrupulous employers in the tech sector and we see it here now.

Photo of Catherine ConnollyCatherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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The Deputy's time is up.

Photo of Thomas GouldThomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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I will make one last point.

Photo of Catherine ConnollyCatherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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No, we are out of time.

Photo of Thomas GouldThomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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There are families who have saved for their Christmas food and their money has gone now as well.

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I am very sorry to hear about the job losses at the Butcher's Block shops and I am very sorry to hear how those people are being treated.

I strongly encourage them to engage with the Intreo service and the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, as needs be. The Government is there to help and to make sure that employment rights are enforced. That means that the people affected will get their compulsory redundancy payments, even if we have to pay for them out of the Social Insurance Fund. Exceptional needs payments are available as needed, as is jobseeker's benefit while they try to find new jobs. We can also help with education and training. I strongly encourage the people affected to engage with the State services because we are there to help.

12:50 pm

Photo of Thomas GouldThomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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The company cleaned up the shop and took all the assets.

Photo of Pauline TullyPauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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We are constantly encouraged to use public transport where available and to leave the car at home. I wish to raise problems with the bus service from Cavan to Dublin, the 109X. The service has sufficient capacity going to Dublin but there are huge problems with the return journey. Buses are at capacity when they reach the last stop out of Dublin, which is at Blanchardstown, from about 4.30 p.m. or 5 p.m. for a number of hours. In many cases the bus does not stop at all or it stops and there are one or two space available. It can leave up to 14 people behind at times. An 87-year-old man who had attended an appointment at Connolly Hospital was waiting an hour and a half for a bus and was very anxious because he thought he had missed the bus and did not know how he would get home. People tell me it can take three hours extra to get home if the bus is full when it reaches them. There is no shelter at the bus stop. Bus Éireann is aware of the issues but has not dealt with them. If we are serious about climate change, we need to create a reliable public transport system.

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I am afraid I am not familiar with the 109X, but if it stops in Blanchardstown I probably should be. The provision of a shelter should not be too difficult. With the additional funding for public transport, perhaps additional capacity can be provided. If the Deputy would like to set out the details in writing on one or two pages, I will make sure the matter gets taken up with the NTA and Bus Éireann and we will see if we can make some improvements.

Photo of Niamh SmythNiamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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This is a question about the Cavan disability network team. It is experiencing a significant staffing crisis, which is having a huge impact on the team's capacity to provide services for children and their families. There are approximately 650 children waiting for various therapies and interventions, and 12 posts are vacant. Is there anything we can do to address this vacancy crisis, which is having a huge impact? The bottom line is that a letter I have states that kids will be waiting over two years for that intervention.

Photo of Anne RabbitteAnne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I have a meeting with CHO 1 next week to address the issues facing Enable Ireland in the Cavan area and to address exactly what the Deputy has raised and what we can do in the interim to assist with recruitment and retention in that service.

Photo of Neale RichmondNeale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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In the past week, the New IRA has been linked to two attacks on the police in Northern Ireland, the first such attacks since April. What is the Government doing, in partnership with the authorities in the United Kingdom and in Northern Ireland, despite the impasse, to ensure that all efforts are made to allow for co-ordination between An Garda Síochána, the PSNI and all other State agencies and to ensure that dissident terrorist groups and all other organised crime groups are not allowed to continue their reigns of terror on a cross-Border and cross-national basis?

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for reminding us once again that paramilitarism in Ireland is far from dead. I very much condemn the events in Strabane in recent weeks. There is very good co-operation between the security authorities here and those in Northern Ireland and in Britain. We want to enhance that in any way we can. Obviously, much of this relates to security, much of it is confidential and much I do not know about, but I do know that the co-operation is very good and that will continue.

Photo of Marc Ó CathasaighMarc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
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I know the Tánaiste's Department leads on the oversight of work permits from non-EU and non-EEA countries. I have engaged on this specific issue previously with the Minister of State, Deputy English. The critical skills occupation list was last updated in June 2022, relatively recently, but is there sufficient cross-departmental engagement on addressing specific skills shortages in particular areas? In this case I am referring specifically to a shortage of bus drivers and the difficulty getting work permits for people who are adequately qualified and ready to come here to provide services but who are unable to do so because they are unable to access the correct permits. Do we have any plans to review that list or to engage in a cross-departmental way to make sure we are addressing skills shortages that exist in our economy?

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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We review that list every six months, so it is probably up for review about now. It is handled by the Minister of State, Deputy English, as Deputy Ó Cathasaigh mentioned. Generally, we are guided by what we hear from employers as to which skills and posts they cannot fill. Two have crossed our desks a lot recently. One is bus drivers, which the Deputy mentioned. There are well-qualified bus drivers from outside the EU who could come here and help solve some of our problems. The other relates to care. There is a very significant shortage of home carers in the country, as the Deputy will be aware. The qualifications in that sector are more complicated but those are the two areas we are looking at, with a view to expanding the permits within the next couple of weeks.

Photo of Joe CareyJoe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael)
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I wish to raise the plight of the Burren programme in County Clare. This flagship farming and conservation scheme, which takes place on one of the most sensitive landscapes in the world, has been a win-win for farmers and the environment since its introduction. While the new agri-climate rural environment scheme, ACRES, will lead to better outcomes for farmers and the environment, it will also lead to a reduction in income for Clare farmers and farmers in the Burren area and in the Slieve Aughty area, in east Clare. This week, a deputation of Clare farmers met with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, and the Minister of State, Senator Hackett. It is important there is a positive outcome to those discussions. I ask the Tánaiste to publicly support the campaign for the continuation of the Burren programme. Will he give a commitment that he will speak to the Minister about it?

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I am happy to give a commitment that I will speak to the Minister about it. It came up in my meeting with the Irish Farmers Association, IFA, only in the past two weeks. I understand that the Minister and the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, met farmers from the Burren and local representatives on 22 November. I am told that the meeting was constructive and that the work of the Burren programme was acknowledged. Ministers will now reflect on those discussions while work will continue with all the ACRES co-operation project teams to deliver the scheme. It was always the intention to mainstream positive actions from programmes like the Burren programme into a large-scale agri-environment scheme in order to ensure a much larger environmental benefit and a greater number of farmers contributing to environmental goods such as biodiversity and water quality.

Photo of Claire KerraneClaire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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I wish to ask the Tánaiste about the temporary business energy support scheme. I understand it is still being designed. I was contacted by a business in Roscommon town that has been in existence for almost 30 years. It uses oil, not gas. We know that oil has increased in price by about 145% since January 2021, and oil is currently excluded from the scheme. This will no doubt impact other businesses in Roscommon, Galway and elsewhere. Will the Tánaiste ensure that oil is included in order that we support as many businesses as possible throughout the winter months and do not exclude businesses based on their energy usage?

Photo of Paschal DonohoePaschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I will take that matter, if I may. The Revenue Commissioners are responsible for the roll-out of the scheme, and I am working closely with the Tánaiste's Department on the design of the scheme. We hope we will very shortly be in a position to announce that the scheme is open. It is not possible for oil to be included in the scheme because we depend so much on the metering mechanisms available to monitor in particular the price of electricity, from which we then calculate the subsidy or support that will be available to businesses every month. We will in the time ahead look at the scheme and how it is operating and see if it is having the desired effect in supporting businesses and our economy. The scheme does not currently and cannot include oil, but we will look at the general level of support within our economy for businesses such as the one the Deputy has raised.

Photo of Dessie EllisDessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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Under the Government's housing plan, a review of the housing adaptation grant scheme for older people and people with disabilities is under way. Grant limits and income thresholds are being considered. Does the Tánaiste know when this review will be done? Inflation has gone up considerably and has eaten into this.

Photo of Peter BurkePeter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I will take that matter. The review is finalised-----

Photo of Dessie EllisDessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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Good.

Photo of Peter BurkePeter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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-----and will be published before the end of the year. The key issue is to ensure the increase in funding penetrates in order that we have additional work carried out for all our citizens. The grant to which the Deputy refers is a key support to ensure independent living. We hope to publish the review before the end of the year.

1:00 pm

Photo of Gino KennyGino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Yesterday, with other Deputies, I attended the launch of the "Final Report – Scoping Inquiry into the CervicalCheck Screening Programme" by Dr. Gabriel Scally. It was an uplifting briefing but it was also sombre. One could not help thinking of all the women who should have been here today had it not been for the systemic failures in the cervical cancer screening programme.

A number of issues arose on the recommendations, namely capacity and there being none and the Coombe hospital is trying to fill that gap; outsourcing, most of which is going to the United States; and also language which is very important with the question of "should" or "must" in relation to disclosure. Is the Government committed to all the women who should have been here who are not because of this awful part of our history?

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I join with the Deputy in thanking Dr. Scally and his team for the work they have done in the past couple of years. We were very lucky as a country that we found him. He has done some really good work to help us improve the CervicalCheck programme. I am very grateful to him and his team for that.

The Coombe lab is being developed at the moment. We are keen to have it up and running and commissioned as soon as possible so that we can have many more, if not the vast majority of smear tests examined in Ireland rather than abroad. As Dr. Scally pointed out, it is a good idea to have more than one lab for many obvious reasons, both in terms of redundancy and also comparing results from different labs. He did point out that the labs currently being used, such as Quest, are very high quality. His previous report pointed out that the labs used abroad were very much up to international standard.

Photo of Jennifer Carroll MacNeillJennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I wish to ask the Tánaiste again about the implementation of the sexual offences Bill where we would have legal representation for victims of sexual assault. I met with Aimee Foley who very bravely became a public advocate for this in challenging her own father and the difficulty she faced in terms of communication with the DPP and understanding court process would be made easier by proper legal representation for victims.

There is another case of a lady whose harasser dropped his legal team so that he could cross-examine and question her directly. We are outlawing that with respect to domestic violence in the family law Bill but it may be an important extension to the sexual offences Bill or harassment legislation to protect victims throughout the court process at every stage.

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I had the chance to meet Aimee Foley myself yesterday very briefly when she was in the House. I really admire her courage in going public in the way that she did and seeking a tougher sentence. I am glad that the DPP did appeal that sentence and that a higher sentence was secured. I would like to see that happen a little more often than it does.

I understand and see the case for legal representation. I am not 100% up to date on what the plans are and where that stands but I will check with the Minister for Justice and come back to the Deputy directly.

Photo of Violet-Anne WynneViolet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Sinn Fein)
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There are 43,981 adults on outpatient waiting lists in the mid west; 11,422 have been on the list for over 18 months. That is almost 26% of the overall figure of those on the list. As a former Minister for Health, I hope the Tánaiste will appreciate that these long delays for scheduled care directly relate to overcrowding in the one emergency department in the region which is consistently the most overcrowded emergency department in Ireland. We need Ennis upgraded to model 3 to take the pressure off. What is the Government doing to get the consultant contract over the line and shrink these abhorrent waiting lists and get more people seen every year?

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The negotiations on the consultant contract are ongoing. They are at an advanced stage. Within the next couple of weeks we will know whether agreement is possible or not. They are being chaired independently and it would not be helpful for me to engage in running commentary on some of the outstanding issues. I think we are close to the point in the next couple of weeks as to whether we are able to say that we can come to an agreement or not.