Not in the home.

They are not doing it in the home.

Two years ago, the Dáil referred the Patient Safety (Notifiable Patient Safety Incidents) Bill 2019 for Committee Stage consideration by the health committee. This new law will provide for mandatory open disclosure in the case of serious medical mistakes. We have all dealt with incidents where individuals or their next of kin have been refused honest answers to the most basic of questions by the health service. Sadly, the pandemic and the cyberattack have been used in some instances to justify the continuation of t…

I move amendment No. 1: In page 4, to delete lines 8 to 11 and substitute the following: “but does not include a claim— (i) under a policy that fails to provide cover for day case and inpatient care in model 2 hospitals, or (ii) for the cost of drugs that are not listed on the Reimbursement List established and published by the Health Service Executive under section 17 of the Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Act 2013;”. We touched on this on Second Stage. This amendment is quite clumsy, but it is the on…

I made it clear at the start of my contribution that this was a clumsy amendment. As the Minister of State knows, if I tried to word an amendment on this, it would cause a cost on the Exchequer and be ruled out of order. Second, it is disingenuous to talk about the public consultation because officials here have known for years about this issue. This is not the first time I have raised it. I have been consistently raising it every December for a number of years. This has not come as a surprise to anyone. I know Gov…

For the Minister of State to say the reason she is not prepared to support the principle of what I am talking about is that including smaller hospitals on health insurance plans would lead to health insurance policies costing more is, with all due respect, a load of rubbish. As I said this year, last year and in preceding years, we are talking about an insurer, rather than the insurance industry. A single insurer has selected a number of hospitals that it will not cover. What would happen if that insurer decided to…

It may be that the Minister of State is not prepared to listen to me. I made those points to her. As I indicated, all the other insurers cover those hospitals. How can it increase the cost if a number of hospitals with one insurer are included when every other insurer is prepared to do it? We are talking about a level playing field here. That is all I am looking for. A principle of this legislation is that there should be a level playing field. We are saying that in terms of age and illness it must be a level playi…

Before we move on, I just want to state that it would help immensely if we had a consolidated Act. The principal Act has been amended nearly 15 times. It is impossible for any human being to try to read through it. If it could be consolidated, it would, at least, make it easier for people to draft an amendment.

I wish to make a few brief points on this amendment and on the Bill before us. I accept that the Minister is in a difficult position. I also accept that we need legislation, and I fully support the provisions set out in section 4. The Health (Amendment) (No. 2) Act expires on 9 January and there will not be ample opportunity between now and then to debate it and I believe an extension of it is warranted. However, to be honest with the Minister, as someone who has reluctantly supported the provisions in this series …

This is the final point I will make, and I will not intervene again. The Minister will say, as the Taoiseach said to me yesterday, that the Government will listen to the advice, but it is only certain advice that it is prepared to listen to. Last week, the Ombudsman for Children said there should be a fortnightly review of the use of face masks in schools. That is being ignored by the Government. The Office of the Ombudsman for Children is an expert in dealing with issues regarding children. I accept the office is …

We have had clarification overnight from the Department of Education on the wearing of face masks in schools. Earlier today, the Taoiseach said the Minister for Education would be guided by expert advice. As the Taoiseach knows, the Ombudsman for Children, this day last week, made a strong recommendation that face masks in schools should be reviewed on a fortnightly basis. Will the Taoiseach give a commitment that this ongoing review will take place and that we will have a debate in the House on what is happening i…

The Ombudsman for Children is an expert as well.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this legislation. In this House on 9 November, the Taoiseach suggested, in response to comments from Deputy Tóibín about the reconfiguration of Navan hospital, that the Deputy should visit Roscommon University Hospital to see the expansion in the range of services there. I noticed that the Taoiseach said that when I was not present. He might have taken a different approach had I been present. However, having said that, I want to see if the Taoiseach is prepared to live up to hi…

By the end of next year, 75,000 fewer homes will have access to high-speed broadband than had been planned just two years ago under the national broadband plan. The build of that plan is a full 12 months behind schedule after only two years of the project. This will have a significant impact on the uptake of remote working across the country. This includes public sector workers, for whom the Government has set a target of having 20% working remotely by the end of the year.

Wait for the supplementaries, Minister.

I thank the Minister. I welcome the fact this task force is being re-established. I am deeply disappointed it did not sit for the two years since the signing of the national broadband plan contract. In that time we have seen ongoing delays in engaging with local authorities, CIÉ and Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII. These are all problems the contractor has had with getting access to infrastructure. Does the Minister not agree that if the task force had not been put in abeyance and had been actively engaging w…

When it was formed, the Government made it quite clear that one of its priorities was to fast-track the national broadband plan. Surely, one of the first things that should have been done was to re-establish the task force rather than considering it 18 months down the road. I have a suggestion for the Minister for inclusion on the work programme. As she knows, as National Broadband Ireland delivers fibre broadband to homes, families will come off wireless services. That will provide an opportunity to improve the qu…

The Deputy is making progress.

I warmly welcome the announcement made by the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, on undocumented workers. This is a significant announcement. Many of us in this House over a long period have looked for these changes that have been announced today. It concerns people who have been sadly living in the shadows in this country and I welcome the measure because it is a positive step for approximately 17,000 undocumented people and up to 3,000 of their children. They are being denied access to basic services even thou…

We are being asked to guillotine legislation to restrict the rights of citizens in this country and this must be balanced against the scale of the threat posed by this virus. It is important we see the legislation and we have not as yet. There is no proposal whatever to discuss the advice that primary school children should now wear masks or a mechanism to have this reviewed, as was advocated by the Ombudsman for Children this morning. He has also raised a legitimate point about the treatment of children if their p…