Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirligh. Can I thank the 14 Members of the House for their contributions to the Order of Business.

Can I begin on my own behalf, as Leader of the House, with Senators Conway-Walsh, Higgins and Nash, in paying tribute to the memory of the late Tom Murphy, the playwright who passed away. As Senator Nash rightly said, he was a playwright who held up a mirror up to the nation. In his work he very ably and sometimes controversially portrayed a different type of Ireland to what some people might have expected to have seen on the stage.

As the youngest of ten children, all of his siblings emigrated and that may have had a bearing on his work and an influence on him. He was, as has already been said here today, a playwright who was influenced by his life. Emigration and displacement were part of what he has written. It is a testimony to him that the President, Michael D. Higgins, who paid tribute to him this morning and earlier presented an award to him, described him as the playwright of the emigrant, whose contribution to Irish theatre has been immense and unique. On my own behalf and on behalf of the House can I offer our sympathies to his family. Ar Dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.

Senator Ardagh raised the issue of CAMHS. Obviously the issue of CAMHS waiting times is a challenge. There are, as Senator Ardagh is aware, acknowledged difficulties in the recruitment and retention of specialist CAMHS staff around consultant psychiatry. Recruitment is continuing, both internationally and locally. In the recent budget, the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Daly, secured €35 million for new mental health initiatives and I think what he is trying to do, which is very important, is to create more appropriate referral system, whereby people do not have to be automatically seen by a psychiatrist. What he is talking about here is more levels of intervention at a lower level. He is right. Everybody has to be seen by a consultant psychiatrist. However, in saying that this is an issue that needs to be addressed. The Government is committed to doing that. We have seen that 114 assistant psychologists and 18 psychologists posts have just been filled in the counselling and primary care service, which will relieve pressure in specialist CAMHS. It is important, and I accept the point made by Senator Ardagh, that young people especially, who are particularly vulnerable who need intervention and who need assistance, receive same in a timely manner. I concur with the Senator's remarks.

Senator Ardagh also referred to the issue of housing. The Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, through Rebuilding Ireland is very committed to increasing the housing stock, and to the provision of both social and affordable housing and building in general. The point the Senator made in respect of the issue of the number of homes available for long-term letting is one that needs to be addressed urgently and that is why Government is addressing this through a compendium of measures.

The big issue is that there are people who were in the long-term rental market as landlords and have decided to get out of it. In some cases it is to sell and in other cases it is because Airbnb is easier for them. We need to get that balance right. Some people come in here every day shouting about X and others will look to have Y defended. There is a balance to be struck and I agree with the Senator on that point. I will ask the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, to come to the House again in regard to this matter.

Senator Lawless made a very important point about Apple and we discussed it last week on the Order of Business. The Senator is right. The decision of Apple has a repercussion that we may not feel in the short term, but in the medium and long term it may well send a message to international investors that Ireland is not a place to locate. We have an obligation now as a Government and as Members of this House to sell the message through the IDA and through the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation, under Deputy Humphreys, that we are open for business. That is why the Government took decisions on strategic infrastructure development whereby one has fast-track planning. We had this debate last week. It is about ensuring that we get a balance on the rights of the person to object and the rights of the company to develop. The Senator is correct in that regard. I commend the Senator for the work he is doing in promoting Ireland across the United States.

Senators Conway-Walsh, McFadden and Noone made reference indirectly and directly to the issue of health as regards the cervical cancer issue and the eighth amendment, which are not linked. I do not want to pick a row on the Order of Business on a very important sensitive matter. I appreciate that Senator Conway-Walsh has left to attend the health committee. It is because of the interventions of this morning, that there is a need to take this issue out of the political arena. We have an independent statutory inquiry established under Professor Scally. I remind Members who may not agree with my next couple of remarks to read his memo which I referenced here yesterday.This is an independent, eminent scholar heading up an inquiry and he expressed concern about the "fevered atmosphere" around the issue. In correspondence he said he was making progress in the investigation but expressed concern that the current fevered atmosphere is posing some problems. I chaired the Joint Committee on Health for five years and, as I have said here every day, when an eminent scholar like this is leading an investigation and is saying that people and officials are being distracted from the work he is undertaking because they need to appear before Oireachtas committees, we have to ask what we want to get. Do we want to have an independent inquiry which will get to the bottom of all this or do we want to have a three-ring circus which ends up in nothing happening? That is a choice. We can leave it in the political arena and have people stepping in and stepping out on "Prime Time", "Claire Byrne Live" and "The Tonight Show". What I have said from the beginning of this awful period is that we have to have accountability. People must be held to account on the basis of all of the facts being made available.

The overarching concern must be support for the women who have been let down by the system. That is why last Friday, the Government announced a series of measures were being put in place. As Senator Swanick also said, we have a duty to restore confidence in the cancer screening programme and the HPV vaccination because vaccination and screening work. That is what we must be about. We can politicise the issue if Members want but I want to see the women and their families supported, the system rectified, confidence in the cancer screening programme restored and those who have done wrong held to account based upon the full facts. I certainly hope that we will not see people using committees of these Houses to politicise this issue because it is not about that.

Senator Higgins raised the issue of online manipulation and fake accounts. She made a very good point in that regard. There is more work to be done and I hope that we can work collectively to ensure that happens. I commend Senator Nash for his contribution with regard to inflammatory bowel disease. The points he made are well supported. Government has committed to funding a variety of posts through the Minister, Deputy Simon Harris, and the Minister of State, Deputy Catherine Byrne. I do not have all the information to hand but I will certainly be happy to have the Minister come to the House in that regard.

Senators McFadden and Noone also raised the issue of the referendum with regard to posters and broadcasting of debates. The Oireachtas committee on which Senator Gavan, Senator Noone and I sat expressly prohibited and outlawed the issue of disability as part of our report, which is now before the people in a referendum. People have a right to have different viewpoints from one another's. That is called democracy. However, the use of young adults or young children on a poster is both unfair and is wrong. These are people who have a life, who have an opinion and who have feelings. They are affected by the posters and they speak about them. They have spoken to me about them. We are letting them down in this case.

I am all in favour of the right to have a debate in a referendum campaign. If people vote "No", as some will choose to, that will be their decision and I accept that, but please let us not go into the arena and the space in which we use people for political gain in the context of this referendum. The point made by Senator Noone regarding the format of the debate, which we also discussed yesterday, is one which I hope the Referendum Commission can take up with the relevant broadcasters because it was unedifying. Whether it was the "Yes" voters or the "No" voters in the audience last Monday night, the middle ground got lost in the debate. It was not about the people on one side.