Second, why was there a request to bring in a judge to adjudicate on whether this individual should stay in place?

It is €500 million.

I referred to the independent adjudicator.

I thank Sinn Féin for tabling the motion. It is a pertinent motion because my father is in an ambulance on the way to UHL at the moment. I have just come off the phone. That is why I have been in and out a bit. He has been quite unwell lately. Both of my parents have been quite unwell for some time and the last thing my father ever wants to do is to go to UHL. Forget about politics for a minute; this is my father. The last thing that man wants to do is to go in to UHL. That is a terrible indictment of all of us. I …

No, you did not. I listened back.

He said it will be midyear. Why do I always watch that? It is not only because we need it. It is because the opening of our famous nursing home in Nenagh is dependent on it. When that block opens, our nursing home will return to being a nursing home. It should never have happened. Medical assessment units, MAUs, were meant to be open 24 hours. That will not happen. I think the Minister has acknowledged it will not or else Mr. Gloster has. That is not the issue. Then that changed to them being open until midnight. T…

This week the Health Research Board reported an increase in the incidence of cocaine addiction across our country. I believe in a health-led approach to deal with this. We have a real issue, however, with the so-called middle classes in this country creating a narrative that cocaine use is okay. Cocaine is everywhere in society. It is in every corner of Ireland now. It is in every sporting club. I imagine it is in here. This Chamber needs to lead a challenge against the narrative that cocaine use is okay. It is not…

-----is that we get a co-ordinated campaign under way, involving all the leading sporting organisations in this country, to highlight that the narrative around cocaine use is not okay and needs to be challenged.

Will the Government lead on this proposal with these organisations?

It is the narrative.

The people of Borrisokane bucked a trend in 2019 when they took in and welcomed 96 international protection applicants in the Riverside apartments, which included 27 primary school children. They now have status but are actually being evicted. The Minister's Department, in November 2019, sent and signed an agreement with them and with the liaison committee in Borrisokane stating that once they had HAP, they could stay in the apartments. The Government is now reneging on this. I attended a large protest meeting last…

That is impossible.

I will ask the Taoiseach about staffing levels in UHL. The Government has said that it is committed to doing everything it can in this regard, hence Mr. Justice Clarke's report, which is due out soon and which I presume will recommend a level 3 hospital given the Minister's statement in recent weeks. There are 183 nursing positions vacant despite some derogation from the embargo. What is going to be done about this? There is another real issue that is even more important. A recent missive of 19 April stated that al…

The matter I am raising is unique. We all know that the issues surrounding asylum seekers and refugees in our country are significant at the moment, but the town of Borrisokane, County Tipperary is unique. The Minister of State visited it and met people there. Unfortunately, various protests have been occurring across Ireland from time to time. In Borrisokane, though, the people are up in arms because the asylum seekers who have been there since 2019 are being evicted. Some are meant to leave in July. If this happe…

The Minister of State is a good person but that response, by and large, is just a standard reply. I contacted his officials, as he will be aware, this evening to let him know that I would read into the record this agreement from November 2019. I cannot state this any clearer: if the relevant Department, which I grant was the Department of Justice and Equality in 2019, cannot honour the agreement it made with the town of Borrisokane and with the residents - I met with Maria, Mags, Martin, Keith, Tom and Robert late …

Did they have a letter like this?

It is in black and white.

The Minister of State is a decent man and a decent Minister of State, but the Minister for Transport or a Minister of State in the Department of Transport should be here to conclude this debate. It should be a rule of the House, with all due respect. There is a bit of passing the buck between the Departments of Transport and Justice, the Department of housing in conjunction with local authorities and the RSA when it comes to this issue. It is a big conglomerate of different people and no one is fully in charge. We …

It will be no surprise to the Minister what I am going to raise with him. I welcome his announcement last week regarding consideration for a model 3 hospital in the mid-west. It is so obvious. The Mr. Justice Frank Clarke report into Aoife Johnston's passing is imminent. I hope that the former Chief Justice will actually recommend same. I hope that will help the Minister to make such a suggestion. However, I cannot stand here as a TD for Nenagh and say that the decision by the HSE with the Minister to take over the…

The streets of my home town Nenagh will be packed on Saturday with people protesting against the Government and the HSE and the scandalous decision to take over our new nursing home, which the Government of which I and the Taoiseach were a part actually funded. On 24 April 2024, I raised this issue with the Taoiseach in this Chamber. I asked him where the loved ones of the 50 families were meant to go. Are they going to just die at home or will they be left in hospitals? Where are they going to go because two wrong…