Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have been seeking a debate on universal health insurance with the Minister, Deputy Reilly. The Leader has said he will ask the Minister to come here. It is unreasonable to expect him to come here today but it would be good to have the debate so we can hear from the Minister about the steps that have been made towards universal health care such as the introduction of free primary care for those aged under six. It would be good to hear from the Minister in detail about that in the near future.

Following the contributions many of us made on yesterday's Order of Business I welcome the news from the meeting of EU leaders that there is a very serious pledge to tackle youth unemployment. A funding stream of €6 billion in the EU fund specifically to implement the youth guarantee will be made available from 1 January 2014. As I said yesterday, the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Burton, has indicated she will come into this House to discuss with us in detail her plan for the implementation of the youth guarantee in Ireland. It is very important to see the Taoiseach committing to the four-month guarantee, that is that no young person would be on jobseeker's allowance for more than four months without having access to a work placement, traineeship or a place in further education and upskilling. It is very important that we have that debate.

I commend Ms Kitty Holland on her excellent but very harrowing piece in The Irish Times about the plight of the tracheotomy babies, children up to three years of age who are in Crumlin hospital for seemingly unnecessary periods awaiting a home care package from the HSE. It is hard to know what is the reason for this but it would be good to have a debate with the Minister for Health on this or to hear from him why the HSE cannot make available the funding to enable these young children and babies to be brought home.

There is no economic reason for this. It is far better economically, as well as emotionally for them and for their families, to have them cared for at home. In each of the seven cases Ms Holland described the parents have been trained to offer the 24-hour care needed and all that is required is for the home care package to be made available. It is a very serious matter if these children are being kept in a hospital longer than they need to be and it would be good to hear from the Minister as to why that is.