Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. Tá a fhios agam gur ábhar é seo ina bhfuil spéis aige. Tá a fhios aige gur ábhar é atáimse ag ardú le tréimhse mhaith anuas.

I welcome the Minister of State. I am glad he is taking this Commencement matter because I know it will be of great interest to him personally. He will know and recall from his time in the Seanad that it is an issue I have been raising consistently. I last raised it as a Commencement matter with the then Minister of State with responsibility for the diaspora in 2020 when, as we all understand, we were in a very different climate. We were not in a position whereby a referendum could be held, given the health restrictions that were in place.

As we head into the St. Patrick's Day celebrations and as Ministers prepare to travel around the world to rightly engage with our diaspora, following the commitment from the Government that no citizens in the North would be left behind, this is a crucial and opportune time for the Government to outline the timeframe for this referendum. At the time of my previous Commencement matter on the issue, I outlined all the substantial steps going back many years relating to this issue. I outlined the fact it had been committed to and agreed to at a constitutional convention, the fact the legislation had been published but fell during the previous Oireachtas, and the fact it was then reissued, republished and returned to the Order Paper.

All that preparatory work has been done. We all agree, as parties and groups, that we value our diaspora and that Irish citizens in the North should have full citizenship rights. One of the most basic rights and entitlements of any citizen is the right to vote. The President is not the president of a land mass, as he recently articulated very eloquently. He is President of the Irish people, so it is only right that all Irish people would have the entitlement and the right to vote.

I look forward to the Minister of State's response. We need to hear a timeline and what tangible actions the Government will take to implement this non-contentious commitment which was in the programme for Government. All we are asking for is to ensure our fellow citizens have a say, whether they are part of our global diaspora family or our fellow citizens just up the road in the Six Counties.

Deputy Frankie Feighan: I thank Senator Ward for raising this important issue, and for giving me, on behalf of the Minister for Health, the opportunity to clari$' the position in relation to the provision of wigs and hairpieces by the Health Service Executive (HSE) under the community funded schemes. The HSE provides many aids and appliances through its community services and endeavours to meet needs in an equitable way within available resources and given the many demands. The provision of wigs and hairpieces by the HSE to patients who are being or have been treated for cancer and Other illnesses is operated by means of a grant or voucher system administered by the Community Healthcare Organisations or CHOs. Patients can select their preferred wig or hairpiece and the HSE refunds the service user or the service provider up to the value of the voucher issued. The HSE established a Community Funded Schemes Service Improvement Programme in order to standardise HSE provision of aids, appliances and related items, so that irrespective of where someone lives, they have access to the same items as people in other parts of the country. The HSE established an Expert Group for Post-Mastectomy Products, Wigs and Hairpieces whose work includes a review of the provision of wigs and hairpieces. The Expert Group is a sub-group of the Aids & Appliances work-stream of the Community Funded Schemes Service Improvement Programme. Page 12 The Expert Group comprises clinicians and operational staff. It engaged in consultation with service users, including participation in focus groups. It noted significant variations in what is currently provided, including current allowances for wigs and hairpieces. The Expert Group made initial proposals in 2019 for the development of guidelines by the Health Service Executive to standardise the grants paid. The work of the Expert Group was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, as clinical staff were redeployed to deal with the demands of the public health crisis. However, in 2021, the Expert Group furnished a draft summary of proposed national guidelines for the provision ofwigs and hairpieces and for the provision of post mastectomy products. The finalisation and implementation of these guidelines in 2022 should address the inequity of provision on a geographic basis that has been a real problem for many years now. In addition, the standardised provision recommended ensures that the approval process and the associated administration should be simpler to operate. The HSE recognises that the Covid-19 pandemic has created added difficulty for cancer patients, including the absence of a facility for wig fittings. To address this difficulty the HSE put in place a temporary measure whereby each patient affected by the absence of wig fittings is being provided with additional funding of €80 to facilitate the purchase of up to two pieces of headwear. I wish to commend the HSE for introducing additional measures to support cancer patients. It is essential that such patients are not subjected to any additional worry or stress at what is a very difficult time for them. Finally, I wish to see the implementation of the new national guidelines for the provision of wigs and hairpieces as quickly as possible. ENDSI look forward to the Minister of State's response. Crucially, I look forward to working with Government colleagues and colleagues right across this House, and the other House, because it will need a positive, collaborative sentiment and work similar to that we have seen come about in recent referendums held in this State. It will require us to put our shoulder to the wheel to make sure this is won and ensure that we say to citizens who do not currently have a vote in presidential elections that we value them, they are equal and this is a small but important step forward in ensuring they have full rights as citizens.