We do not need an extra grant. Sufficient money is there within the budget. To return to Inclusion and Accessibility Labs presentation to the Oireachtas, its handout pointed out that on websites such as Facebook, Jobs.ie, Dunnes Stores, Free Now, Aer Lingus and Dublin Bus, there are difficulties for people with disabilities in accessing and using their interfaces. Yet, the websites of companies such as Netflix, The Irish Times and Just Eat are easily usable by people with disabilities. Clearly, some companies are d…

We are running through questions at an awful rate. What are we doing to assist workers to work from home and in co-working hubs?

The reason I tabled this question is that we are bringing fibre into homes, and that is very positive and it is happening throughout the country. However, there will be issues in terms of health and safety for employers, which is encouraging some employers to bring people back into the office. I think the solution to all this is a hybrid mechanism in order that people do not work at home on their own. Along with the health and safety issues, there are mental health issues associated with that. However, bringing wor…

No. I thank the Minister of State.

On 9 November, my colleagues and I in the Regional Group secured the unanimous support of this House for a motion on long Covid seeking immediate action because of the impact it is having on our health service. That includes studies such as the one published in the Irish Medical Journal in June 2021 which found that long Covid had a significant impact on our health system, particularly in terms of increased demand for healthcare services, longer hospital stays and increased healthcare costs. Another study by resear…

The Estimates are too far away. Many front-line workers are getting no support from their employers or through the occupational system. For some front-line healthcare workers, the money will run out next June so money coming at the end of the year is no good. As I said, we are talking about, on a population basis, over 21,000 people who may be unfit to work due to long Covid. That figure excludes people who have relapsed after initial recovery and the many thousands more who are still in employment but are struggli…

I welcome the opportunity to contribute on this legislation. I wish to discuss the Irish Land Commission. Mr. Pat Shine, a neighbour of mine, came to see me in Leinster House recently. In his retirement, he has, unfortunately, been involved in the registration of bogs in County Roscommon. In the case of his family, 280 pages of documentation, including 96 different documents that had to be signed in 98 different places, had to be submitted to register the bog. It took three years to process the application. The big…

I want to ask about the status of Custume Barracks in Athlone and the plans for investment in it. There has been ongoing concern about the status of the barracks since Athlone lost its brigade status. These are genuine concerns. I want an update on the future plans for Custume Barracks in Athlone.

As the Tánaiste knows, the Commission on the Defence Forces, which was established on foot of a commitment in the programme for Government, published its report 12 months ago. The Tánaiste will be aware that the commission recommended a number of changes to the high-level command and control structures within the Defence Forces. One of those recommendations is on the structure of the Army, which is to be reviewed, and rearranging units across the Defence Forces is now to be considered. In that context, will the Tán…

As the Tánaiste knows, the report talked about the geographic location of this, and slap bang in the middle of the country could not be a better location from that point of view. Custume Barracks is also the only headquarters that is not currently a headquarters today. It has all the infrastructure in place. I also put it to the Tánaiste that when brigade status was removed from Custume Barracks there was a clear commitment given on the maintenance of personnel numbers in the barracks that has not been achieved. Ma…

On 10 November last I raised the case of Una, who is a 66-year-old pensioner. Despite working all her life she is in receipt of a non-contributory State pension and she has been refused a medical card because she receives a net income of €1 per week on top of her pension for the rent of a field. Her next-door neighbour gets €11 per week extra because the neighbour is in receipt of a contributory State pension and qualifies for the medical card. This anomaly arises because the income limits for the medical card have…

I repeatedly raised with the HSE the case of a ten-year-old child with ADHD who has expressed on a number of occasions the wish to die but yet cannot access the child and adult mental health services, CAMHS. This is just one of the thousands of cases across the country. I thank the Chief Whip for facilitating a debate on this important issue on Thursday. It is important that the report be thoroughly debated in the House.

Last weekend, again, local subaqua clubs were out on a search and recovery mission in my constituency, Roscommon-Galway. Sadly, this is far too common. Families need closure. Without remains, they can never have that. Volunteers are going out in horrendous weather doing vital work, not only without financial assistance, but paying the operational costs out of their own pockets. It is not good enough.

The Department covers search and rescue and search and recovery in the offshore by the Coast Guard, on mountains and in caves and the inshore, but when it comes to the inland waterways, the Minister washes his hands of it and tells us it is someone else's problem. The Minister of State may recall the previous Minister who was in charge of sport. He could give funding to subaqua clubs, but only for sporting activity, not for search and recovery. The reality is that the only Minister who has given any support whatsoe…

I thank the Minister of State for his response, which is very positive. It is the first response of its type that I have received in this House on subaqua clubs in more than 15 years. The point I make is that they provide a vital service. Sadly, every single community in this country has been impacted by suicide. People stand by the edge of a lake, canal or river waiting for the remains to be recovered. We had a tragic situation in the midlands some years ago where it took weeks for bodies to be recovered. These vo…

I am grateful for the opportunity. Following on from that question on planning challenges, there is a blockage at the moment in respect of carrying out climate adaptation measures that impact on communities and on our environment. The blockage is Lough Funshinagh in County Roscommon which the Minister of State has visited. Has he engaged or spoken with the Minister with responsibility for the National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS, about visiting and seeing the situation in Lough Funshinagh and trying to undo th…

I thank my colleagues in the Regional Group for tabling this motion and the newest member of the Regional Group, Deputy McHugh. He is very welcome on board. I also thank Cáit Nic Amhlaoibh for her assistance in this. I thank every Member in the House who spoke, both Government and Opposition, in support of this motion, and the fact it is being unanimously adopted by the House is a clear message. It is to be hoped we will see the proposals in this motion adopted. I was contacted during the week by Mary. She has been…

At the start of this year, 76-year-old Mary Hughes was in Roscommon hospital and was transferred to Portiuncula after suffering a seizure. Mary passed away on 4 January at Portiuncula hospital after waiting more than seven hours for a bed before finally being admitted to a ward. Mary had been forced to leave a bed in Roscommon hospital to go onto a trolley in Portiuncula hospital. Her daughter, Edel, spoke to the Roscommon Herald and she said: My poor mother went to Portiuncula unwell, and it is not so much a case …

What we need to see is pressure taken off the emergency department and we need that modular building. I am asking the Taoiseach for his intervention on this. He is correct that the second modular building at the hospital was to facilitate the relocation of the outpatient department and provide those ten additional single beds to replace some of the beds lost to Covid reconfiguration. This project was to be completed as part of the 2020-2021 winter initiative. These beds will not be available until this summer. As t…

A collection might be made for that flight.