I propose to take Questions Nos. 95 and 97 together. Ireland ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD, on 20 March 2018. This marked an important milestone in the process to strengthen the rights of people with disabilities in Ireland and has gathered momentum since Ireland became a signatory to the convention in 2007. Ireland’s approach to meeting the obligations of the UNCRPD is one of continuous advancements each year moving forward on key reforms to strengthen co…

This is an issue that Deputy Canney raises continually, as do I. It is why I am chairing the transport committee, which operates right across all of the various Departments, to find those solutions. The Deputy is right that it is unacceptable that the board has not been put in place. It is unacceptable that the legislation takes such a narrow view that it cannot be worked within. We are hoping to have a board put in place as quickly as possible but also that the legislation will be amended to take into account that…

I thank the Deputy for tabling this question. The disabled drivers and disabled passengers scheme is the responsibility of the Minister for Finance and is administered by the Department of Finance and the Revenue Commissioners. It provides relief from vehicle registration tax and VAT on the purchase of adapted car, as well as an exemption from motor tax and an annual fuel grant. The scheme is open to severely and permanently disabled persons as a driver or as a passenger as well as certain charitable organisations.…

I thank the Deputy. My Department is completely committed to ensuring that people with disabilities have access to transport, whether through the disabled drivers scheme, local transport or ensuring that Bus Éireann makes provisions for services for people with disabilities in its bus system. However, I have to be fair in terms of the working group. The Department of Finance attended the meeting and its representatives were very forthcoming on what it will cost and how we consider restructuring because it is restri…

I will answer the last question first. If I was in the Deputy's position, I would table a Priority Question to the Minister for Finance, who could answer that question. Regarding the board of appeal, the Deputy is correct in saying that it is very difficult to fill the board because GPs have recognised that it is far too restrictive. To be fair to the nine CHOs where the first assessment has been completed, they are fully operational. They are getting through the assessment of needs process. It is only at an appeal…

I am also responsible for the people of south-east Galway, and the Senator is quite right. We attended that meeting the other night and it is important to share here that a selection of GPs from right across the Ballinasloe, Kilconnell, Kiltormer, Eyrecourt, Lawrencetown area were in attendance. There was one outlier, a Dr. Fahey, who came with me came from Portumna to attend. The whole purpose of the meeting was to ensure the creation of a cell in what I would deem technically the Ballinasloe area and to highlight…

Let us be very clear. The Department funds the HSE. We give the HSE the money and it is up to it to operationalise it. How the HSE decides to do this is out of my control as much as it is out of the control of the Senator. In any case, the HSE get the funds to operationalise it wherever it deems it necessary. The HSE obviously does not deem south-east Galway a priority within its allocation of funding. To get €4 million and not see Ballinasloe as a priority to me is wilful neglect. That is what it is. I call on the…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I am taking this matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Mary Butler. The Government is conscious of the financial challenges faced by the nursing home sector, in particular inflationary cost increases. The Department of Health is bringing forward appropriate responses. The Minister of State is aware that a number of nursing homes have closed this year. The closure of any nursing home reduces bed capacity and puts pressures on other local health and…

Ensuring the welfare and safety of residents is secured when nursing homes close is the most important thing. They and their families remain the continued focus of the Minister of State, Deputy Butler. Maximum prices for individual nursing homes are agreed with the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF, following negotiations based on NTPF cost criteria. It carries out this role independently and there is no role for Ministers or the Department in these negotiations. Aside from the script from the Minister of Stat…

I am taking this issue on behalf of the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, and the Minister of State, Deputy Browne. It is important to say that often Ministers make commitments before Topical Issues are tabled and cannot change them. That is why I am here. I thank Deputy Cahill for raising these issues in the House today. Rural communities deserve to be, and to feel, safe. The Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland recognised that community safety is not solely the responsibility of An Garda Síochána o…

I thank the Deputy again for raising the issue. As I have already outlined, the Government is committed to ensuring An Garda Síochána has the resources it needs. We had an unprecedented allocation of more than €2.1 billion in budget 2023. Garda numbers are at the highest level with 14,283 members and 3,117 whole-time equivalent Garda staff nationwide as of 31 August. Since the lifting of the moratorium on Garda recruitment in 2014 a total of 4,000 new Garda recruits have attested and been assigned mainstream duties…

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

I thank the Labour Party for bringing forward the motion and using their Private Members' slot, which comes around once every six weeks, to put this on the agenda. I have been finding this Private Member's motion to be one of the more difficult I have dealt with because, if I were in opposition, I would be standing alongside the Deputies and in support of them, as I did many a year. That is why, when the Minister for Health stood here earlier and spoke about the process, I really welcomed that step change and that …

I wish to reassure the Deputy and anyone looking in here that I was very fortunate in the budget to secure €11.5 million with the help of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to ensure that everyone awaiting an assessment of need since last March will be seen. We will clear the entire backlog of assessments of need. We have provision for all.

We are working on that.

I thank the Deputies for tabling this important motion this evening. I thank the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, for being present to receive it with me. The motion before the House tonight addresses many issues regarding people with disabilities. However, I want to be clear from the outset, as Minister of State with responsibility for disability, I am completely dedicated to improving the lives of people with disabilities in Ireland, and to strengthening vital s…

I thank the Deputy for raising this Topical Issue matter today, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly. As the Deputy is aware, the cross-party Sláintecare report in 2017 articulated a new vision for healthcare in Ireland, including the provision of elective only hospitals and providing protected capacity for elective care. This policy has also been informed by a number of subsequent policy documents and Government decisions including the 2017 Sláintecare report, the Sláintecare implem…

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. As I said in my opening remarks, I am conscious of Deputy O'Donnell's desire for new elective facilities in the mid-west. However, I would stress to him that the new facilities that are planned for the three locations in Cork, Dublin and Galway should be considered as national assets that will introduce a new delivery capability into the public healthcare system, which will benefit the whole population to the greatest possible extent. I am conscious of the remark…

I assume it is a constituent who came to the Deputy so I can only assume he is talking in the context of community healthcare organisation, CHO, 4. On behalf of the Minister for Health I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter. The Health Service Executive provides a wide range of medical aids under the community funded schemes to eligible persons, as set out in the Health Act 1970, free of charge following assessment by a relevant health professional. The HSE oversees the provision and supply of inconti…