Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Holy Angels centre has been on the priority list for a new school building for over five years. The HSE was supposed to make land available at Kelvin Grove for a new school. I ask the Minister to check that for me as I would like to know what is happening. It disturbs me that local councillors in Carlow have noted that this promised site, which is supposed to be earmarked for the Holy Angels school, remains on the vacant properties list. Can the Minister check that for me? The school cannot wait any longer due to the current condition of the building it is in. It is not good enough. The staff in the Holy Angels school are absolutely excellent and the conditions in which they are working are unfair. I worry about these kinds of capital projects because these issues are huge.

There is also a massive need for a scanner in St. Luke's Hospital, of which the Minister is aware.

I have two other points which I will make quickly. Today I met with the National Ambulance Service Representative Association, NASRA, and the Psychiatric Nurses Association, PNA. One of the issues they raised was that €7 million was spent on private ambulances through the HSE in the last eight months. That is a concern, as they feel they are not being listened to. I ask the Minister to set up meetings with those organisations because they feel no one is listening to them.

I have raised this next issue with the housing committee, but the HSE is also involved as it relates to a women's refuge. There has been massive confusion in Carlow lately because Carlow County Council, Tusla and the HSE are not working together. There is a lack of communication, on which we need to work. More than 300 cases of domestic violence were recorded in Carlow from January 2019 to the middle of this month. A Tusla report originally stated that we did not need a women's refuge, but we do. The HSE seemingly said it would look into committing a site, but I am not sure about that and am open to correction. Everyone must work together on this. I will get Carlow County Council and Tusla together and I ask the Minister to get CHO 5, which is part of the HSE, on board in order that we can sit down and talk. If all of us work together we can deliver a women's refuge for Carlow. Overall, the Minister has been most gracious whenever I have gone to him. He has always listened to me and made time for me. The one commitment I ask of the Minister today is to come back to me about both the women's refuge and the Holy Angels school for children with disabilities. It will not survive another year or two in its current building and is still using prefabs over 40 years on. I ask the Minister for a commitment on that.