Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Will the Leader invite the Minister for Health to the House to discuss addiction services in Cork, his city? I have read his comments on the area and the need for treatment centres and the setting aside of beds in the mental health unit for those who are entering detoxification, and his words on the need to amend the Mental Health Act 2001 to include addiction. I have had representations from Cork on this. Ordinarily I do not take representations about community-based issues but this mental health issue is a national one. Anybody who has been close to addiction knows how destructive it is for families and individuals.

Will the Leader invite the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to the House? More and more I hear of young professionals starting their careers in teaching, counselling and the health services being unable to live on their paltry salaries, particularly those unfortunate enough to be posted to Dublin or the greater Dublin area. We will have to do something to redress the deficit in their incomes. It is not sustainable for professionals starting on salaries in the low €20,000s to pay room rent of between €700 and €1,000 per month.It is simply not sustainable. Families are subventing their children in order to get them into teaching, nursing and counselling jobs. This cannot continue. We really need the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to come here. Perhaps it is time to look at the London solution and have a separate salary structure for those who are unfortunate enough to find themselves working in the capital city where it is becoming almost impossible to live if the person is a young professional starting out in his or her career. The health and education services are not being served well because highly qualified graduates are now seeing better and greener pastures outside the capital city so we really need to do something about it. I ask the Leader to bring in the Minister at his leisure.