Hear, hear.

Hear, hear.

Last October, when we debated the multibillion euro budget brought forward by the Government, we warned that people had been put to the pin of their collars. The Government brought in a budget - and the Minister of State supported it - which gave billions of euro to corporate landlords, banks and the wealthiest in the country, but very little to most working families. They were promised tax cuts and childcare cost cuts that they never got. What they actually got were increases. College fees went up. People looked o…

That is disingenuous.

I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — the National Cancer Strategy 2017-2026 is due to end this year, and a new strategy is needed to drive improvements in access to, and the quality of, care from 2027; — in 2025, 15 per cent of chemotherapy, and 23 per cent of radiotherapy, patients did not get access to treatment in the target timeframe; — in 2025, 45 per cent of breast cancer surgeries and 39 per cent of lung cancer surgeries, and in 2024, 61 per cent of prostate cancer surgeries, did not happen within the ta…

First of all, I will correct something I said in my opening remarks when I was talking about chemotherapy patients in Cavan. In fact, 100% of those were seen on time; it was in Waterford that 66% of patients were seen on time, which means 33% were not. For radiotherapy, 98% of patients in Waterford were treated on time, compared to just 67% in St. Luke's Radiation Oncology Network, which covers Dublin, the east and the midlands. They are two examples of the postcode lottery I was talking about. I thank everybody fo…

It is not a case of the Government coming a day late and a dollar short. Rather, it is a year late and several hundred dollars short for the vast majority of families. The clock did not start ticking in the last number of weeks, although it has got worse for families and fuel prices have gone up. In the budget last year, the Government had an opportunity to deal with the cost-of-living crisis, but it did nothing for families. Of course, before the election – people could see this clearly and transparently - any amo…

Their only concern is what the Government will do right now for them.

That is what they want to know. What will it do? The Tánaiste has come to the Chamber today with nothing. He has no proposals. He talks about how the Government might do something but we do not know what that will be.

Sinn Féin has come with proposals, not just this week but before the last budget, when the Government had the opportunity to support families and workers but decided to look after vested interests instead. Fine Gael is the party that looks after a cosseted, privileged class. It has showed that time and time again.

How long do I have?

I thank Minister, Deputy Calleary, for taking this Topical Issue debate today. As he knows, my party leader and I have written to him a number of times over recent months. I have received his correspondence and responses, which I know have been drafted by officials in his Department who have been responding to this issue for some time. The issue here is that many former Waterford Crystal workers who paid into their pension schemes and were left down initially by the company, but also by the State, have received com…

It is not a case of whether the workers were the victims of an injustice; in my view, they were. As I said earlier, at the time those workers should have been given three options: the preserved benefits option, a transfer value or a refund. They were only given one option, which was the refund. The quarrel seems to relate to the fact that the Minister and the Department are of the view that this was a matter for the company and the trustees of the pension fund as opposed to the State and, therefore, the State does …

My first question is on the Rotunda Hospital. Since the question was tabled, however, a memo was brought to Cabinet and the Minister has decided to abandon the plans to colocate the Rotunda Hospital with Connolly. If I am right that this is her position, she might outline that. Now the key thing has to be what happens with the critical care unit. I welcome that, as part of an enhanced planning application and the critical care unit, the sexual assault unit will also be enhanced. The Minister might take the opportun…

The colocation plan unfortunately was an anchor around the hospital for far too long so I welcome the fact that anchor has now been removed. It is policy since 2015 but very little money has been spent on it and there was no real timeframe. An Coimisiún Pleanála's decision did mention colocation not as the main reason but certainly as one of the factors it took into account, so removing that obviously helps. It is possible and necessary that we protect the built environment that is Parnell Street. Nobody, including…

The decision for the Rotunda in relation to colocation has raised issues around other colocation proposals as well. The Minister mentioned Holles Street, which is moving to Elm Park and which is much more advanced. There is a plan for Limerick and for the Coombe. Now questions are being asked about where they stand, particularly the Coombe, which is to move to the site adjacent to the new children's hospital, which is yet to open. Are there timeframes for that? What is the policy of the Government? Is there any fre…

It would be a good issue for the Oireachtas health committee to examine in the next number of months, namely the whole colocation strategy.

The Dental Council of Ireland does not have sufficient powers to protect the public from unregistered dentists. It has been unable to act in 80% of cases of credible concern of unregistered dentists in the past three years. I have met council representatives on a number of occasions. I assume the Minister has as well. It has been raising this matter for some considerable time. I also know compulsory continuing professional development, CPD, is important and the Minister is working on it and has supported it. Regula…

I welcome the wider work but the Dentists Act, an issue I have been over several times, does not provide the Dental Council of Ireland with sufficient powers to deal with unregistered dentists. In fact, it has been saying recently that it has not been able to take action against a total of 37 unregistered dentists over the past eight years, including one who was practising unregistered with a sexual assault conviction. I met a locum dentists recently who spoke to me about some horror stories of him being placed in …

I welcome that as well. It will add real value. The Minister spoke about oral health generally. The are issues with screening in schools. Enough simply is not being done. There is a need for more publicly hired dentists. I have made the same argument in relation to GPs. I would like to see a public GP contract but for dentists we need to look at that space. Dentists are not engaging with the dental treatment services scheme. There are rights and wrongs on both sides. I have said to dentists and the representative b…