Tom Clonan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome all our guests.

I echo the sentiments about Christy Dignam. As a Finglas man myself, I lament his passing. I knew members of Aslan growing up; Alan Downey on drums was a neighbour of mine.Finglas has made a huge contribution to the arts and music over the decades, for example Bono, the much maligned Paul Hewson is also a Finglas man from Cedarwood. While some people claim that is Glasnevin North, I do not think that Glasnevin North exists but it absolutely is Finglas. There have been other great musicians from Finglas, such as Séamus Ennis for example. Finglas has contributed disproportionately to the arts and to music over the decades. There is a great energy in Finglas and it is a great community with great people and we should celebrate it. I think of Christy Dignam's family today and 63 years of age is very young to lose someone. I will also mention that Samantha Libreri of RTÉ, who is also a great Finglas woman, published a number of books celebrating people of note from Finglas and I hope to feature in the next one. That is a little plug for myself.

I wish to raise two issues. First is the Ombudsman's report that highlights the deficiencies in the scheme for disabled drivers. It is very disheartening to note that disabled drivers have been in limbo for ten years and excluded from participation in the full economic, sporting and cultural life of the State by being denied access to their own private transport. The Ombudsman pointed out in the concluding remarks of his report that there is a lack of leadership there. In other words, we have not as yet identified the Minister responsible. I know there is huge goodwill on the part of Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, for example and the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, or whoever might be responsible for this. Perhaps it is the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan. I ask the Acting Leader if as a House we could identify who that person is and show that leadership and get them to come to the House and have a robust investigation into how we can rectify this matter. These are most vulnerable and precious citizens and we should celebrate them and not put obstacles in their pathway.

Finally, I will raise the issue of the military special medical education scheme, which is not functioning as it ought to. Having medical officers rotate on a medical training scheme through the Defence Forces is a very good idea. It started in 2017 but as yet none of our medical officers have qualified and number of them who have delayed final assessments are faced with what actually consists of compulsory military service. I think of one young female doctor in particular who cannot make very important life decisions about how to proceed professionally, and regarding family. That will have a very negative effect on other doctors. It will put them off from joining the scheme. Is it possible to ask the Minister for Defence to come to the House to resolve this issue? I have asked for meetings and have got no response.