Workers in disability and GP out-of-hours services are among the hardest working healthcare professionals in this State. Without their commitment, so many of the services relied upon by so many simply would not exist, yet these workers are being paid less than their public sector counterparts for doing exactly the same work. They are being paid not marginally less but by 15% or more. In October 2023, through the WRC, the Government recognised workers in the sector were underpaid and it committed at that time to ful…

The Ministers are about 12 days too late. We are having statements on the Government response to a storm that happened 12 days ago, and the Ministers return here as the vast majority of homes are reconnected and, for many, the outages are over. Shame on this Government for ignoring the call I made two days after the storm that the Government should have come here to answer the questions and to put the supports in place much more quickly than they were put in place. The Taoiseach's response was to come down to Count…

I thank the Minister of State for being here to take this Topical Issue matter this evening. This is my second time in about a month to secure a debate with regard to Garda numbers in Roscommon and Galway. The falling number of gardaí is an issue I have raised consistently in this House, especially since January when we have had a spate of burglaries. They have been happening more or less all year long and are still sadly happening. I raised these issues with the Minister for Justice, the chief superintendent in my…

I thank the Minister of State for his response. Of course, the Department of Justice recognises that preventing crime in rural areas does not just mean putting gardaí on the beat but there lies part of the problem because we do not have gardaí on the beat. If that is part of the solution, and only part, we do not have them. That is the problem. We do not see our gardaí. In towns such as Ballaghaderreen and villages such as Glinsk, people do not see gardaí. The Garda station in Ballaghaderreen is typically closed, y…

I am proud that we are putting forward a motion to abolish the means test for family carers, many of whom take on the role of care, which they did not ask or look for, out of love. In many cases, it is for a child. In other cases, it is maybe for a parent. I was reminded of what was perhaps the first time that we heard from family carers at a committee meeting, when I sat on the committee on social protection. We had three family carers who came before us in May 2022. I was reminded of them. One of them was 65. He …

I am proud to stand here and call Ballaghaderreen my hometown. I was proud to stand with people of Ballaghaderreen at a well-organised and well-attended vigil in the town on Sunday night. Ballaghaderreen is a good town with good people. The sole purpose of the vigil was to send a clear message to this Government and to the Garda Commissioner that we need gardaí and we need to see. The falling number of gardaí is an issue I have raised repeatedly in this House and with the Garda Commissioner, although to no avail wi…

I want to ask the Minister about the current position of the mother and baby institutions payment scheme. I welcome that he said yesterday there will be a review in the new year. That is important. In regard to the extension of the scheme, I have given the example a couple of times of Temple Hill in particular.

Could the Minister confirm that the review will be in 2026, within six months of the second anniversary? The review will look at the operation of the scheme, but I presume it would not include the possibility of extending it even if there is money there to do that. I believe that is the case. I do not think anyone could say there is not money to do it. Will the Minister consider extending the scheme if he is in his current position when the review is undertaken? As part of the review, will he also consider looking …

I may not get the opportunity to raise this again. Coming new into this role, it is only now that I am meeting the survivors. Does the Minister not wonder about Temple Hill? I cannot understand how it can be regarded as a hospital when babies were adopted to America, via newspaper advertisements. How is that a hospital? I cannot understand that at all. I have never heard of a hospital that facilitates the adoption of babies to foreign countries, and does it via newspaper advertisements. There are four institutions …

SIPTU and others, including educators within the early years sector, welcomed the funding increase the Minister announced as part of budget 2025. As previously, I presume the joint labour committee, JLC, will meet in order to determine what that increase will be. I am conscious of the work of the committee. Is the Minister aware of when it will meet on the back of the budget announcement?

It is important the Minister makes that call again, as he has now, for them to get around the table because the last pay increase was 65 cent and it took 14 months to negotiate. Frankly, that does not give me much hope. We know that SIPTU looked for a €1.50 increase. We also know that come January, when the minimum wage increases, there will be 15 cent between the minimum wage of an early years educator and the minimum wage itself. That is not right. The JLC needs to come together as quickly as possible, particular…

That is really helpful and important. We need to give certainty to early years educators that pay increases will come and they will continue to come. It is really important because we need to retain those we have; they are highly educated, highly professional, many of them have years of experience and we also need to encourage more people to join the profession. Where there is uncertainty about your wages and you cannot plan for the future, it makes it really difficult. When you are relying on a JLC that you do not…

I met with some foster carers just before the budget and they outlined their current circumstances and the circumstances for foster carers in the Sate, which is fairly grave given how the numbers have reduced. We obviously need more foster carers. There were a number of moves made in the budget, which I very much welcome, and I know they do too. I am interested in knowing the number of foster carers we had in 2014, ten years ago, and the number we have today. I believe it has reduced significantly.

The number of carers has reduced, obviously, but over ten years it is perhaps not as stark; we lost 368 from the system which would be for many reasons. In relation to bringing new foster carers into the system, is the Minister aware of any of the reasons foster carers may have chosen to stop foster care other than those who are getting older and naturally stop providing foster care? I am interested to know of those who have left by choice, what may have been the reasons for that. For them, it may not have been a c…

I thought of that very point when the Minister said one of the biggest reasons people are leaving is age. Giving security to foster carers when they reach the age of 66 and ensuring they can access a State pension is important. I discussed that with the representatives. They said that perhaps a new system is needed. The best thing we can do is consider the new system introduced for family carers more generally from January of this year in the social protection system. I do not believe it would cost a lot of money b…

I wish to ask the Minister about the publication of the review of the early childhood care and education, ECCE, scheme. I believe it has been published and I welcome that. Will the Minister give us some detail on his response to that review? I understand it was completed in April. Why did it take so long to publish it? It is something for which the sector has been asking for quite some time.

I too welcome the publication of the report. The ECCE is an important scheme, which I acknowledge. The report acknowledges the very good points and positives in relation to ECCE. It is important for parents, children and providers because where it is provided it is very well done. Some of the challenges the report highlighted are around availability, accessibility, the hours and weeks and the adult-child ratio. Parts of the report are learnings and will provide the Department with ideas around changes and flexibili…

I thank the Minister. With that said, it is for the next Government. It is important that this report is passed on and acted upon as quickly as possible because it is an important programme. We need to ensure that where changes can be made to improve it, that happens for the benefit of everybody. That is all I can say because the report has been published, which I welcome.

This is about the funding allocated to the youth sector in budget 2025. I note that the National Youth Council of Ireland was particularly disappointed with the amount allocated. Is the Minister satisfied with the budget for next year?

I thank the Minister. It is important to note that the National Youth Council of Ireland described the budget, particularly the allocation for youth work, as a missed opportunity. It said it was disappointing and falls short of what is critically needed to support Ireland's growing youth population. The confirmed €7 million for the expansion of youth work services is less than half of what was advocated for by young people and the sector, which was €15 million. Both Foróige and the National Youth Council of Ireland…