Seán Kyne (Fine Gael)
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The Order of Business is No. 1, Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman (Amendment) Bill 2023 - Second Stage, to be taken at 1 p.m. and to conclude at 3 p.m., if not previously concluded, with the time allocated to the opening remarks of the Minister not to exceed ten minutes, group spokespersons not to exceed ten minutes each, all other Senators not to exceed five minutes each, time may be shared and the Minister to be given no less than ten minutes to reply to the debate; and Private Members' business No. 31, motion 1, motion re provision of special education, to be taken at 3.30 p.m., with the time allocated to this debate not to exceed two hours.

Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail)
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I support the Order of Business as outlined by the Leader. As our population grows and ages, we increasingly have people living longer, which is very much to be welcomed. People in Ireland live longer than in any other European country. However, more challenges and health issues come with that. One area where we see a lot of growth is the number of people presenting with dementia. The Alzheimer Society of Ireland does incredible work supporting people with dementia to live as independently as long as possible and supporting families and carers. Part of what it does is organising dementia advisers, home care services, daycare services and supports for families. Research is important to what it does.

It is interesting to read about the steps we should all be taking to improve our mental health and ensure we do not decline as we age. The Alzheimer Society of Ireland will attend the audiovisual room today for two workshops, one on at 3 p.m. and the other at 4 p.m. Part of the aim is to equip us all with the information we need to support those who live in our communities. I invite everybody to attend and I look forward to seeing Members there.

One of the requests I would make of the Leader this morning is to ask the Taoiseach to come to the House to talk about the shared island initiative. The shared island unit was established when the current Taoiseach became Taoiseach five years ago. It is doing incredibly important work. It is harnessing the full potential of the Good Friday Agreement to enhance co-operation, connection and mutual understanding on the island and to engage with all communities and traditions on achieving a consensus towards a shared future. Given the threats from the US regarding tariffs, we need to look at how we develop an all-island economy. It would be opportune to bring the Taoiseach to the House to address us because we also need to focus on the factors that are within our control in terms of tariffs and the possible tariff war, namely, diversification and expanding our markets. Doing that from a 32-county perspective would be opportune and welcome.

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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Averil Power and her team from the Irish Cancer Society are here with us today doing their great work in promoting cancer care, supports, counselling, transport and the multitude of services it provides. They are on here the ground engaging with us and, I hope, making a few bob. Ms Power is a former Senator and is doing amazing work. I wish her well in that.

This ties in with what Senator O'Loughlin said about cancer care. Many will be aware that there is an organisation called Home and Community Care Ireland. The former MEP, former Minister and former Member of this House and the Dáil, Frances Fitzgerald, is playing a key role as head of that organisation. It issued a report yesterday on issue No. 4 of the home support waiting list for 2024. It was published in the past day or two and all Members would have received a copy of it yesterday via email. I will spend my time highlighting HCCI's new report on the home care waiting lists because what it has unveiled is a disgrace. We can talk day and night in both Houses about the need to shorten lists and support people who have to stay in their homes and communities, but unless we make tangible efforts to put arrangements around finance and supports in place, we are going nowhere. The buck stops with us as legislators if we cannot lobby and advocate for this sector together.

The report clearly demonstrates that home care waiting lists are five times greater outside Dublin. It reveals that 5,556 older people were waiting nationally for home care at the end of 2024 when this report was completed for that period. It highlights something that is scary, namely, that the highest waiting lists were in Cork and Kerry while the lowest waiting lists, at 0, were in north County Dublin. The largest increase - up 43% on the previous report - was in Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Sligo and Monaghan. This is scary stuff.

The report suggests that home care is an eircode lottery. It is persisting and must stop. Why are waiting lists more than five times higher outside Dublin? We need to put particular resources into the areas that have been identified and a statutory list system that documents this data on a monthly basis because unless we measure this and keep an eye on it, we will not go anywhere.

I urge everyone to look at the report and to keep in mind that we need to respond to the rising challenges of building better, more caring and stronger supports in our communities for people who need them.

Pauline Tully (Sinn Fein)
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I support what Senator Boyhan raised. I know all too well on the ground the number of people who have had home care hours approved but cannot get the carers to fulfil them. It is a significant problem in my county of Cavan and other counties around me.

I wish to raise the continuing difficulties people face with the humanitarian assistance scheme following Storm Éowyn. People are now getting letters rejecting their claims for assistance, seemingly for different reasons. Some are being told they cannot claim for lost freezer or fridge contents because that is covered by insurance but it is not, as by the time someone pays the excess on an insurance policy, several hundred euro has already gone. Most fridge or freezer contents would amount to a few hundred euro, so unless a person is making a bigger claim for something and includes them in the claim on the insurance, the insurance does not cover them, yet the humanitarian assistance scheme is refusing to cover them. People have had to throw out food and eat out or get takeaways, which has caused a lot of extra expense. A lady received a reply that stated that, because her application was not received until 19 February, it would not be accepted. To my knowledge, though, this scheme had no closing date. If there was a closing date, it should have been well flagged.It is not mentioned anywhere on the website or in departmental literature. I do not know why the forms were still available if the scheme was closed.

The payment was not means tested. I know of some quite wealthy people who applied for the scheme and were granted money. In fairness, they were out money as a result of the loss of power. I would love to know what the criteria were for the scheme because different people have got different amounts of money while some have been refused and will receive nothing at all. I imagine it should be based on the number of days a person was without power and the number of people in a family. That would seem to be a fair way. If you are without power for five or 12 days, you are going to be out costs, and more the longer you are without power, and then there is the number of people in your family. If the Ceannaire could get some clarification on the scheme and how it was administered, I would appreciate it.

Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael)
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Will the Leader invite the new Minister for sport to come the Chamber at some point at his convenience? As the Leader will know, the sports capital grant has been very beneficial to clubs throughout the country, including in my own area in Tipperary. This was a scheme that was reintroduced a number of years ago by Fine Gael when we were in government. Can we have a discussion with the Minister on getting extra funding and supports for clubs and to allow him to outline when a new scheme will be put in place and his vision over the next five years of how we can support clubs throughout the country?

Sharon Keogan (Independent)
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I wish to speak about recent information I have received on exploitation and the shortcomings of the new surrogacy legislation which was signed into law last year. Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, I have made repeated freedom of information requests to the Department of Foreign Affairs. After three years, I have finally learned that, from January 2022 until today, 98 emergency travel certificates have been issued to children born in Ukraine as a result of surrogacy arrangements.

Despite assurances from the Government that new legislation would enforce ethical standards and curb exploitative practices on commercial surrogacy, some of the most vulnerable women on earth - Ukrainian women - are still being taken advantage of at the same rate as before. While we do not know the specifics, common sense dictates that surrogacy cases in war-torn, corrupt and impoverished countries can hardly be anything other than exploitation. How can this be anything other than a case of women being forced to rent out their wombs in poor desperation as bombs are falling around them? That is if commercial surrogacy can ever be non-exploitative and unethical in the first place. We certainly do not think it is in Ireland. We have banned commercial surrogacy in Ireland. We protect Irish women from being exploited and prevent people from exploiting them but then we think it is fine for our people to rent the wombs of women in other countries, in war-ravaged countries. It is beyond me how this Government can find this even remotely acceptable and allows this outrageous exploitation to continue.

Gerard Craughwell (Independent)
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I am wondering today about the woman who is in a queue in some consultant's room awaiting a diagnosis which tells her she has breast cancer, or that her child, husband or brother has cancer. I also wonder about the mother who is at home today with an autistic child who cannot get a place in school, or the young couple who have had their dreams dashed to the ground because they will never see a home. In this Oireachtas, the Dáil has been in session for 62 days and all we can do is argue over eight God-damn minutes. Is it not time we started to be honest and realistic about what is going on? Any one of the political parties in this Oireachtas, irrespective of who they are, would, if they were in government, suck up the Whip and vote through whatever has to be voted through.

Democracy is about the majority. That is what we pay for. That is what we get. It has been the way this organisation has worked since time immemorial and we have this charade going on. I do not care which side is right and which side is wrong. People are out there looking in at us. As a former teacher I would have given detention to the whole God-damn lot yesterday and made them stay until they sorted it out. Now there is going to be an attack on the Ceann Comhairle. This is the first female Ceann Comhairle in the history of the State and they are rounding on her. Where are they all now? Obviously, they are all in their party rooms preparing the next attack and to see to where that will go. Is it all about taking the blood of a colleague in one way or other? Is that what it is about? Is that what we are here for? I have seen Members of this House come in here today and argue reasonable things for real concerns within the areas in which they live, and that is what people pay us to do.

Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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I remind the Senator that the business of the Dáil is the business of the Dáil so it is not an issue.

Gerard Craughwell (Independent)
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I understand that but it reflects on us, a Chathaoirligh, in that, if the Dáil is doing no business, we can do no business. At the end of the day, this has to stop. The public elect us. I know people say Senators are not elected by the public, but we are by default. I plead with all sides to set aside this nonsense and get on with the work of running this State. We need housing, health and education. We need the Defence Forces to be put right. We need so many things in this country. Is eight minutes worth all this?

Joe Conway (Independent)
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I agree with much of what my colleague, Senator Craughwell, has said. On a different subject, the House will be glad to hear that the University Hospital Waterford's cath lab last Sunday provided life-saving intervention to three patients on its first weekend of service.

Gerard Craughwell (Independent)
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Hear, hear.

Joe Conway (Independent)
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These are three patients who did not have to travel to Cork or Dublin but received timely and appropriate emergency care in Waterford's national cardiac centre. This is one of the things we, as public representatives, have supported for a long time, that the 24-7 service in Waterford would be expanded fully. I can confidently predict that UHW's cardiac cath lab numbers, even on the seven-day rota, will increase and answer the challenges that exist. There will be no let-up in this service delivered, with a fairer allocation of healthcare to regional units.

I thank all of the people in both Houses, and the public representatives in all the surrounding counties that are served by University Hospital Waterford, for their steadfast support over the years. We want to push on with ensuring we have a full 24-7 service and that people will not be put at risk at the weekend. It was said in Waterford that it was fatal to have a heart attack in the Waterford region between 5 o'clock on Friday evening and 8 o'clock on Monday morning because, by the time a person was brought to a hospital in Cork or Dublin, their chances of survival were small. Now that the cath lab is operating in Waterford, such a situation is obviated because we have close to a proper service in the area. I am delighted to record that for the House and thank all those who have supported this matter.

Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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We have no more speakers on the Order of Business. I call on the Leader to respond.

Seán Kyne (Fine Gael)
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I thank all Senators for their contributions. The first speaker was Senator O'Loughlin. She initially talked about dementia supports and welcomed to the House the Alzheimer Society of Ireland, which is holding two workshops here later today. I acknowledge and commend the Senator's work on the all-party group on dementia over the years. Dementia is a very serious illness. It is a sad illness in that people's memories of loved ones and families are greatly impacted. The all-party group does great work. Obviously, the research into finding what causes Alzheimer's disease and finding a cure for dementia is something we would all support. The latest research, and you cannot believe everything online, suggests that dementia is in some way linked to gum disease. I am not sure if that is the case but it is promising that research continues and I hope researchers will find the cause of and cure for Alzheimer's disease.

The Senator asked me to invite the Taoiseach to the House, which I will initiate. Obviously, the shared island scheme has been hugely beneficial, both financially and in bringing both parts of this island together.The importance of an all-Ireland economy is evident, and it is important we invite the Taoiseach in to let us know his plans and the Government's plans regarding the all-Ireland economy and our shared island. I will certainly initiate that.

Senator Boyhan talked of the Irish Cancer Society and mentioned that former Senator Averil Power, its CEO, is here in the Houses. I wish her continued success in very important work in terms of research into cancer and the supports for cancer sufferers and their families. I refer to the works of, for example, the facility in Galway, and I am sure there are other facilities across the country. Community support or cancer support facilities were funded on a permanent basis, or at least for the coming years, in the recent budget and they do tremendous work in supporting families and those who suffer from cancer.

Senator Boyhan also talked about Home and Community Care Ireland and waiting lists for home care. Fine Gael had Private Members' Business a number of weeks ago that was supported across all parties and none within this House. The Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, was here to talk about these issues of home care. I think most of us would want to spend our last days, our later stages of life, at home and we want that to be the case for people. As I have said before, however, not all families are the same. Not all families are the same size. Some older people have a lot of family and some may not. Some may have family abroad or in other parts of the country and they just cannot be there 24-7 or for the most part. Home care is therefore so important. The Minister of State made the point, and it needs to be brought up, about having a more geographical focus on the provision of care. There are carers having to drive long distances to care for somebody and then drive back, whereas if there were somebody more locally based, I think it would alleviate those issues. What we want is not to have carers having to drive long distances but to be spending that time caring for and looking after people. A lot of additional work needs to be done there. Senator Boyhan talked about the postcode lottery as well.

Senator Tully raised the humanitarian assistance scheme. I welcome the fact that we tried to get out a scheme as fast as possible and that it was not means-tested because that can sometimes complicate and delay issues. However, we have seen a standard refusal letter being sent to too many people. I urge people to appeal those, to provide as much information as possible, to provide where possible through their local ESB offices accurate data regarding the number of days they are out and to provide all the additional information if they have had to go out for meals, if they have had to spend money replacing the contents of a freezer and so on. I take the point about the insurance excess and covering the cost of the freezer. I will ask the Minister, Deputy Calleary, to come in and perhaps answer this and provide the up-to-date data on the number of applications received, the numbers granted and the numbers that are under appeal or refused. I will ask him to come in on that.

Senator Ahearn sought that the Minister for sport come before the House to address matters pertaining to sports capital grants. We know the importance of sports capital grants and their benefit to communities up and down the community. His party colleague Senator Evanne Ní Chuilinn yesterday talked about the GAA and the tremendous work it does regarding the one-team initiatives, and there are so many other clubs that benefit. It is a very valuable scheme. For the last number of years, all clubs that were valid were supported, but there are also sometimes shortfalls as to what they request, and that puts huge pressures then on some of the smaller communities in trying to raise funds to complete very important projects. I will certainly invite the Minister for sport, Deputy O'Donovan, to come in to see what his vision for this is. I know he was in Galway on Saturday with the GAA president, Jarlath Burns, at the turning of the sod of facilities in Oranmore-Maree. He spoke about the difficulties that communities have in, as is said, shaking the bucket to buy land and then trying to co-fund or match-fund Department funds as well. There is a bigger issue here in this regard. I will certainly invite the Minister in at the earliest opportunity to talk about all matters sport.

Senator Keogan talked about the surrogacy legislation. She talked about loopholes. I am not sure exactly what loopholes she has indicated. Perhaps she could put those down to the Minister directly or in a Commencement debate. The surrogacy legislation went through these Houses and was supported by the vast majority. I do not agree that surrogacy is exploititative. Surrogacy is about creating life and giving life and happiness to families up and down this country, many of whom have gone through IVF and not just the cost but the emotional trauma those life-giving issues can cause. I urge the Senator, if she has the basis to her claims about loopholes, to put those directly to the Minister and they can be dealt with.

Senator Craughwell talked about the goings-on in the Dáil. There was a vote yesterday, and hopefully that can put matters to rest. We will know in about five minutes how things will go for the next while but, seriously, the goings-on yesterday were not good. They did not paint a great picture of the other House, and it is very important that we establish the committees to do all the very important work of the pre-legislative scrutiny of legislation and the questioning of Ministers, departmental officials, State agencies and interested advocacy groups in all areas. That is very important work that we have not had since last November or late October. We need to get the committees back up and running as soon as possible and for that we need the speaking rights issues and the groupings to be sorted to allow for the establishment of the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission and the committees. I hope that can be put in train this week.

Finally, Senator Joe Conway spoke of the delivery and the ongoing work of the second cath lab in Waterford. It is good news that lives are being saved, that the groundswell of support for and campaigning for a second cath lab bore fruit and that the results are being seen now in lives being saved. It is very important that we have as close as possible access to healthcare. There is always that conflict between centres of excellence and having sufficient consultants in an area who can provide the maximum care, that they have the best use of their skills and that they are not waiting around for patients. There is always that balance in all this and we have seen that in debates on cancer services and some of the smaller EDs that, unfortunately, were closed. We see the pressures in Limerick as well. It is good news, and I will certainly ask that the Minister come in at a later date to talk about capital infrastructure and capital plans across the country because it is a very important area.