University Hospital Waterford is one of the hospitals that has performed very well. I know that senior officials from the Department visited the hospital last week. There has not been a patient on a hospital trolley in 18 months, or maybe longer, in Waterford. We need to learn from best practice. The reality is, however, that many of the beds that were promised still have not been delivered. Of course, while I welcome the additional 1,000 beds, 1,200 beds were funded. My understanding is that there are approximatel…

Several times over the past couple of months I have had to raise with the Taoiseach and the Minister for Health the issue of the pandemic bonus payment. It has still not been paid to many front-line healthcare workers. Many workers who work in nursing homes, some of the carers of whom we spoke earlier who are not HSE staff and staff in section 39 organisations that provide services to people with disabilities have still not been paid. We were told that there was a verification process in place and an organisation t…

Today will see the publication of the HSE's winter plan. I must put it to the Taoiseach that the time to provide for the winter plan for this year was last year's budget and the time to plan for next winter is this year's budget. It takes time to open beds, which is why 177 beds that are funded are still not open. Seventy two beds announced as part of last year's winter and national service plans are still not open. It takes time to hire staff and increase diagnostic and surgical theatre capacity. Is the Taoiseach …

Tell him to cop himself on.

The findings of the IBRC Commission of Investigation report lift a veil on the reckless and elitist culture that infected certain echelons of Irish business and high finance during the Celtic tiger years. As we know, the commission is still preparing a report with its recommendations on the investigation of the other 37 transactions it has considered as part of its work. Does the Taoiseach expect that the commission's report on these transactions will be submitted by the end of this month? How soon after that can w…

As the Taoiseach knows, solar is a renewable energy source that is quick to deploy, but it faces many of the same institutional barriers as wind. Changes in planning for rooftop panels on residential and other buildings will finally bring Ireland into line with the EU's solar rooftops initiative. However, issues remain for larger projects that are reliant on a decision by An Bord Pleanála. A solar project can take three months to construct but a year and a half to go through the planning process and even after all …

We have had several debates on disability services in this House in recent years and especially over the last 12 months. These have been particularly on the children's disability network teams but go across a whole range of areas impacting children and adults. We certainly have introduced a number of Private Members' motions and there has been very significant debate. The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, visited many counties and spoke to parents of children with disabilities. I am sure she heard the same storie…

The family of an eight-year-old girl, Brianna, was left devastated when her surgery for scoliosis was cancelled for the second time. This transcends politics. We need to fix this problem. This is about decency and right and wrong. That young girl left the hospital not with her surgery completed but in a wheelchair. She was in tears. We were left with images of young girl crying her eyes out because this Government has not provided the capacity. This goes back to when Deputy Harris was Minister for Health, and indee…

Before this budget and for many years now, we have had a crisis in healthcare. Year in and year out, winter after winter, the health service is in crisis management mode. After this budget the health service will, unfortunately, still be in crisis. Waiting lists will continue to spiral out of control. There are now more than 910,000 people on hospital waiting lists and a backlog of more than 225,000 people waiting for a diagnostic scan. Children with disabilities cannot get access to vital therapies. People with me…

There are 36 minutes.

I would not call it immediate relief. It is a very marginal measure being taken by the Government. As the Minister said, the fee for the licence is €110. Halving it is an insult to a sector that was severely impacted by Covid. It was one of the worst affected sectors, possibly the worst affected, of any business sector during Covid. We are all aware of the range of issues that affect the night-time entertainment sector. The cost of insurance is probably one of the biggest issues and affects all businesses. It is on…

The measure we are debating to increase in the amount that is allowable for the small benefit exemption is not something that I would oppose. However, in the overall context of today's budget, the biggest losers in this budget are the squeezed middle - a group the Tánaiste has spent much time in this House talking about as has the Taoiseach - and they have been badly let down. Some 1.8 million workers in this State who get up early and go to work, as the Tánaiste once famously said, will not get 1 cent from the Gov…

Some 1.8 million workers who pay tax got shafted.

The Tánaiste was not here earlier when almost the entire Opposition opposed even having this debate here today. We have 15 minutes to discuss a €6 billion fund. I understand €2 billion will be allocated this year. We could have a quarrel or debate about the amount of money which is being put aside. Under Sinn Féin's budgetary proposals, there would still have been a surplus and, in principle, we are not against having money in a rainy day fund, as it is called, and having money to use in the future. That is not the…

Doing it right would have been a better option.

Earlier today, the Taoiseach commended public servants on their response in handling Covid-19, and rightly so. Many of those public servants, however, have still not been paid the pandemic bonus payment. Members of the Defence Forces and the fire services have not been paid, and then there are tens of thousands of agency workers, nursing home staff and many others who have also still not been paid. My understanding is that the Government is now looking at hiring a consultancy firm to figure out how those staff are …

I thank the Minister.

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. This Bill presents welcome amendments to the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005, the Medical Practitioners Act 2007 and the Regulated Professions (Health and Social Care) (Amendment) Act 2020. I and my party will support the Bill. These amendments will address barriers which prevent holders of British medical degrees from taking up interim training posts in this State. This is essential for attracting more internationally trained doctors into the HSE and for …

Four of the previous seven Ministers for Health sit in this Government, with nothing to show for it but a record of failure, and most, if not all, of those failures predate Covid. Let us not look back on those failures just over the past two years, because the truth is Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have been in government since the foundation of the State. The only reason they came together after the previous general election to act as one was to keep Sinn Féin out of government.

Let us look at their failures. The trolley crisis gets worse year on year. Emergency department waiting times are more than 12 hours on average, and what has this Government served up? A damning report from HIQA on the danger of University Hospital Limerick's emergency department, with patients left waiting up to 116 hours. The Government has run down the emergency department at Navan, and the ambulance service is stretched thin, with no plan in sight. We have wholesale cancellation of elective surgeries, which is …