The Gearagh is a magnificent place. It is the remains of a post-glacial alluvial rainforest formed after the last ice age, and it was flooded again more recently as part of the hydro scheme in the 1950s. It attracts wildlife, including travelling and migrating birds, from all over. It is a magnificent place in Macroom, County Cork. What efforts can be made to designate it as a national park, enhance its status and recognise it as the magnificent place it is?

The ESB is the primary owner of the site. Over the years, the electricity generated there has diminished as a proportion of the electricity used in the country. The need for the ESB scheme from an electricity point of view has declined. This wonderful park right beside Macroom town draws in wildlife, including migrating birds. We had a special visitor again earlier this year and that, in turn, drew a great many people to the Gearagh. This is a double-edged sword because the more that people know about the area, the…

To return to the issue of national park status, in terms of size, County Cork represents one eighth of the country, yet it has no national park. There is a huge, amazing landscape right along the valley, whether it is Gougane Barra or globally known places such as Blarney Castle further down the valley, and there is no national park anywhere in this large area. That surely strengthens the case for the general Cork area to have a national park, especially when we have a place of such quality and status as the Gearag…

Over 40,000 retired HSE staff have found themselves without increases in their pensions. Those staff include retired nurses, porters, social workers and many others. Pension increases have been approved since 2017 but problems updating payroll systems within the HSE have meant people are not getting their moneys. This is at a time when the cost of living is becoming more and more difficult for people. Individuals had been pursuing the HSE on this matter on a case-by-case basis. The HSE was supposed to catch up on t…

Does the Cabinet subcommittee on health have a focus on recruitment? It is a very significant issue that impacts community services right across the country. In my area of CHO 4, which is the area of Cork and Kerry, up to 20% of posts for home care assistants were left vacant. These are people who deliver services to people in their homes. This keeps them out of the hospital and allows them to more independently in their communities. It also gives backup to their carer. The Cope Foundation in Macroom, for example, …

One of the biggest challenges in the disability healthcare sector relates to having people available to deliver the much-needed services to clients. A great deal is involved in training people and preparing them to deliver a service. Has the Minister of State engaged with the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science to increase the number of training places in colleges and to bring forward additional occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, social workers, child an…

About 150 students graduate in speech and language therapy from five colleges each year, along with a further 150 graduates in occupational therapy. The figure for psychologist posts vary, given people have to go on and get a PhD. It is a longer, more difficult and more expensive route of qualification and that, too, needs to be examined in order that people can reach it. Likewise, about 200 people graduate as social workers. At the same time, there are large vacancy rates in the HSE, at 36% for speech and language…

I thank the Minister of State for focusing on colleges. It is going to take a number of years for people to qualify through those courses. I understand that, in the very short term, efforts are being made to increase the availability of critical skills employment permits to allow people from other areas in the world to be brought in to fill some of the posts. Are those posts and permits being taken up or is it too restrictive? Is there an opportunity to improve the process in order that additional people can be bro…

My question concerns Enable Ireland occupational therapist posts and the capacity to fill them and ensure people will be adequately paid. Enable Ireland is a section 39 body in respect of which there is major pressure and inequality regarding pay. What efforts can be made to support the organisation?

Enable Ireland provides services to 13,000 children and adults in 40 locations across the country. As the Minister said, Enable Ireland is part funded by the HSE and it must raise an additional €2 million from its own services to deliver vital services to clients. Last year, 70 people in Cork were out on strike demanding pay at the same rate as those in the other sectors doing the same work. For example, an occupational therapist starting off on the current scale of €39,900 to €53,000 with Enable Ireland contrasts …

I understand the process is under way and that the Minister cannot interfere or give a blow-by-blow account on it but I really want to highlight the pressure on the service users and on the staff due to that widening pay gap between the section 38 and section 39 organisations. It is more difficult to recruit and retain staff. This has a direct knock-on effect to the services being delivered to clients. Many families feel they are getting little or no service. In reality, they are getting none in so many different w…

There is dignity and opportunity in having a job. Yet for many people with disabilities this is denied them. The programme for Government has a target of doubling the numbers of people with disabilities employed in the State services. Can the Minister of State give an outline of the efforts to bring that about?

The minimum statutory employment target is set at 3%, as the Minister of State said, with a view to doubling that to 6% in 2025. That was enacted recently as part of the assisted decision making Act. As the Minister of State outlined, the NDA has a role in reporting and monitoring. She referred to its most recent report from 2021 showing the percentage at 3.6% across all sectors. Unfortunately, 27 of the 213 public bodies did not make that target. All of the organisations must comply by 2025. Will the Minister of S…

One of the issues that has been raised with me by a number of different people is that they feel there is almost a redefinition of what might be considered a person with disabilities. It has almost been broadened out to some extent, so that people who are possibly currently in employment might help to improve the figures, as it were. Unfortunately, others who are not currently in employment might not make it. Basically, there is a kind of a softening of the definition. That would be to the detriment of people with …

Will the Minister give an outline of the funding that will be available for community neurorehabilitation teams across counties Cork and Kerry, including any increases and supports that can be given to those organisations to be able to provide those vital services to people in those counties?

The census confirmed our ageing population, as we expected. That is no surprise. There is a great need for people who are growing older to be able to remain independent for as long as possible and to live in their own homes with dignity. Day centres are a fundamental part and a key support in providing social interaction, advice and support to both the clients and also to their carers. Unfortunately, there is a big gap in these services around the Macroom area and the Lee Valley, in parishes such as Macroom, Kilmur…

I thank the Minister of State and acknowledge the huge efforts and the work she has been delivering for dementia services across the country. Through that support, we have been able to get the Wednesday service up and running in Macroom. It could be so much more if it had that opportunity available to it. It is about being able to support families and clients right across that large area of Macroom and the Lee Valley. Building works are currently very advanced on Macroom's new community hospital extension. They sho…

Inflation has put huge pressure on household incomes over the last two years. People are struggling to make ends meet. Figures from the European Commission indicate that Ireland is now the most expensive country in the EU, with Irish consumers paying more for goods and services. Will the Minister outline the plan he has to deal with such stresses and strains on people across the country?

First, I wish to acknowledge the measures that the Government took in dealing with the cost-of-living issue. Measures such as those to help with energy costs and the school bus ticket, among many others, were very welcome. They helped with the more intense pressure. Inflation has eased, as the Minister said. It still remains high and the pressure is on people. Food prices, for example, in May were running 12.5% higher than they had been in May of last year. Mortgage interest rates have gone from 0.5% to 4% over the…

The well-being framework is setting out to go well beyond just economic measures in gauging progress for the country. It takes in environmental and social issues together as opposed to separately or in isolation. It is a fresh approach. The framework is showing positive results in ten of the 11 dimensions. This year, the Government has focused on equality in the analysis. There seems to be a particularly large difference in housing and the built environment despite record funding in housing and a huge range of supp…