It is not available.

I thank the Minister for a copy of his speech. It is helpful when it is set out in written form. I will take up a theme raised by Deputy Bríd Smith. As I listened to the debate, I went to my office and came back to the Chamber because I thought my memory was not serving me right. I went back to the Kilkenny incest case and the report from 1993. One of the comments that stood out for me then was that the level of violence was not untypical for the area. There is a big warning sign there for us. When that report was …

I have run out of steam and am tired of the spin.

The Minister did not give any spin there but there has been spin about public health medicine provided through private hospitals. There is certainly spin there. How many hospitals signed up to the deal at a cost of €150 million per month for three months? Was it 17 or 18? Exactly how many hospitals did so and is there a service level agreement in place with all of those hospitals?

We are almost at the end of that period and I thank the Minister for not renewing those contracts. I understand he has stopped it and is going to look at the whole thing.

However, after three months of those deals being in place, we have no service level agreements in place and do not know precisely how many hospitals signed up. The State paid €150 million per month to leave the hospitals empty, by and large.

To take an example, the rehabilitation unit in Merlin Park University Hospital was stopped. Patients were transferred to the private hospital. Inexplicably, the nurses were sent to University Hospital Galway where they went from ward to ward. I do not know who was behind that decision and who will be held responsible for making it. Luckily, that has now been undone and the rehabilitation unit is moving back to Merlin Park. The Minister can understand my scepticism about all of this. I come from a city with two publ…

I appreciate that. It is a matter that quite a number of Deputies have raised. I understood that it was almost at the point where it was to be done a year ago. Here we are now, having done all of this and given out public money, and those hospitals are not under the remit of HIQA. I found myself in the unusual position of supporting the private consultants' misgivings about this deal, the way they were treated and the fact that they could not see their patients. I fully understood those points and supported the con…

I left the Chamber earlier to check on that. I saw a press release from the organisation stating that planning permission was about to go in. That press release was from 2016. It is now 2020. I obviously forgive management for not progressing the matter over the past few months but it is inexplicable to me. There are 150 acres available in Merlin Park, or at least that is what I thought. I recently heard representatives from Saolta hospital group state that there are 180 acres available. It makes absolute sense to …

Fáiltím roimh an deis cúpla focal a rá ar an ábhar seo. Tá breis is dhá nóiméad agam, agus laistigh den dá nóiméad sin ba mhaith liom díriú isteach ar an tuarascáil ón Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission. Níl a fhios agam ar luaigh an tAire é. B'fhéidir gur luaigh ach níor chuala mé é. We speak here today because of the murder of George Floyd. I wish we were speaking because of the submission the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission made to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination i…

Is sciobtha é a rá go n-aontaím go huile is go hiomlán. I fully agree. From day one of the Covid-19 crisis there has been an attempt to stop the Dáil sitting. I do not believe that is acceptable. I have turned up every week, as have my colleagues. We have to show leadership. We have to give people a forum for debate and allow them to ask questions. Restricting the Dáil to sitting one day a week in order to facilitate discussions is simply not acceptable.

I thank the Minister for the written copy of her speech. It is helpful to have it in my hands. I congratulate her on the €25 million allocation for the arts. She clearly listened to the groups working on the ground. The next step is detailed in their 13-point plan. The Minister has answered one of those points and there are 12 other points they have asked for action on. We cannot put a value on the arts so I urge the Minister to go back and follow up on her good work on that. The Minister mentioned two sectoral pla…

Tá mé ag roinnt mo chuid ama. I thank the Minister for the written speech. It is always very helpful to get a written speech and to go through it. I realise that a lot of work has been done. I have the greatest of respect for the OPW except in regard to its policy of renting buildings. That comes back into the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. I understand there is a review of that, but that is for another day. I was a councillor and saw the initial CFRAM work. An enormous amount of work is involved. I d…

When did it last meet? Are minutes available?

Minister, I did not-----

I have only a very short-----

The Minister might comment on this issue. Flooding is completely related to climate change, bad planning and to a lot of other factors. One of the factors is climate change and resulting rise in our water levels. We then go to biodiversity. I have gone from Billy to Jack with regard to a biodiversity officer in Galway city. Given the Minister's role in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform is he aware there is a moratorium in Galway city - I have the email confirming this - and that it cannot employ a bio…

Ní mór dom a rá ar dtús go n-aontaím le ceannaire Fhianna Fáil agus leis na Teachtaí eile go bhfuil gá práinneach le cinnteacht ó thaobh ghruagairí na tíre. Ní mór dom a admháil go bhfuil coimhlint leasa agam mar tá sé deacair domsa. I agree with what was said by the leader of Fianna Fáil and the other Deputies about hairdressing. There is an urgent necessity in that regard. I confess to a conflict of interest regarding this matter. We are talking about a minimum of 25,000 people, not to mention the linked companie…

I welcome the clarification that there will be an independent monitoring body. I do not agree with the Taoiseach that A Vision for Change ran out. The date ran out - 2006 to 2016 - but the vision contained therein and the implementation, and what they set out on every sector, and the fact that it was a partnership with the community and with families, and to rebalance the power in the mental health sector, was all clearly set out. None of that is stated. The problem is it was not implemented. I welcome the good new…

I want to zone in on the private and the public hospitals in Galway and their underutilisation. I welcome the decision to review the contracts in question at the end of June. I have raised it many times already. The Minister described the virus as a villain. I do not think it is helpful to contribute human characteristics to a virus. A virus is a virus. It is a matter of our reaction to that virus and how we deal with it. The Minister spoke about highlighting inequality. Many of us have highlighted inequality repea…