I thank the Minister. There is a lot of very welcome stuff in it. Many communities in my constituency, across Cork and across the State will benefit, which I welcome. Specifically, the question related to the target that exists of €30 million this year and €20 million next year. I would be grateful if the Minister could give me an answer on that and as to when the advertisement for next year's round will come out. Is it anticipated to happen at the start of next year or towards the end of this year that organisatio…

It is interesting and novel to hear a Minister urging this side of the House to make sure to spend the money. She is right, absolutely. The local authorities and organisation need to make sure they spend it. The timescale of it, necessarily, was tight enough and some organisations were not aware of it and might like to put in more comprehensive applications. They might like to come back next year, if she can tell us when that advertisement is going to come out and how organisations can prepare for it. The other com…

I am not sure the bus has been acquired.

I have a question on a similar issue. Dereliction is a substantial problem in many villages and towns but also in some urban areas. While under different funding streams, sometimes we neglect how significant a role vacancy, even if not quite dereliction, can play. There could be three or four buildings next to each other on a street that might not be derelict or reportable under the derelict buildings register but they can still impact on the vibrancy of a town or village. That in itself can be a challenge. We need…

The Minister of State will be familiar with clinics. I am sure he knows they can be difficult. There can be all sorts of difficult cases, whether it is social welfare or issues of health and housing. One of the most frustrating and difficult clinic appointments we have is with people who are not able to qualify for social housing. There is nothing for them. We have a conversation with them, try to think of things we can do for them but there is pretty much nothing we can do. Many of these people are the same age as…

A mother who is at breaking point contacted my office this month. She is a single mum with two sons aged 17 and 14, both of whom have profound intellectual disabilities. She had not had respite since before the pandemic. She thinks December 2019 was the last time she got a break, which was three and a half years ago. It is scandalous that someone has not had a break for this length of time. She and her two boys are suffering as a result of the failures of this Government. Respite was the only thing keeping her goin…

I am glad the Minister of State agrees with this point, but it is a scandalous situation. In the same response, we were told that HSE Cork Kerry Community Healthcare disability services had received their letter of allocation of new funding under the service plan for 2023. This funding for CHO 4 is less than 50% of the usual annual development funding for this area for respite. There is no funding for residential respite services. On top of the reduction in beds, therefore, we are fundamentally talking about less f…

Ba mhaith liom tréaslú le baill Pháirtí an Lucht Oibre. Tá siad tar éis rún den saghas seo a chur chun cinn cúpla uair agus is luachmhar an rud atá ann. It is hard not to feel I am repeating what others have said. If you take the part of the motion on disabilities, you could speak for an hour. If you take the part about autism, you could speak for another hour. If you take all the parts of it together, you could easily speak for 20 hours about the stories we have heard and the experiences we have. It has been said …

The south coast and the area around Cork Harbour have a key role in Ireland’s offshore renewable energy future, a greener power grid and energy independence. To achieve that, however, we need to ensure we have people with the skills required. The Government's Climate Action Plan 2023 places offshore wind power at the centre of the State's commitment to producing up to 80% of our energy from renewable sources by 2030. To do that, we must ensure we are training enough people to meet the demand. The Department of Ente…

Baineann an Bille seo le rud a bhfuil tionchar aige ar go leor gnéithe den saol agus de ghnó daoine, ó thaobh ábhair teaghlaigh, ábhair coiriúla, ábhair tráchtála, agus fiú amháin ábhair tithíochta agus ábhair bóithre ó thaobh pleanála de. Is é tionchar na moille air seo ná go gcuireann sé stop le cinntí atá le déanamh agus go gcuireann sé stop le go leor gnéithe de shaol na ndaoine. We will probably all come back to the same cliché that justice delayed is justice denied. In many ways, it is more than justice denie…

This week is national epilepsy week. I am raising a very important issue which matters to people with epilepsy, namely, improved access to the free travel scheme for people with epilepsy. As the Minister will be aware, epilepsy is a complex individual condition. People living with it face a wide range of challenges. We are awaiting a final report from the Department on proposals Epilepsy Ireland made on this issue. Why has this report not been finalised? Will the Minister give a commitment on when it will be ready?

We could do with a little more information. As the Minister will be aware, there are 40,000 people living with epilepsy in Ireland. With the right treatment regime, 70% of people diagnosed with epilepsy can become seizure free but for 30%, their condition will be more challenging due to the nature and impact of uncontrolled seizures. Almost all diagnoses of epilepsy in adults come with restrictions on driving. This typically occurs without time to plan and prepare and can lead to major challenges and upheaval in a …

I take the Minister's point but in the majority of the examples that one could give of people with other conditions, the individuals in question will already have a qualifying payment. Many people will be on disability allowance or invalidity allowance because of their condition and will be entitled to free travel in any event. I am not sure we are talking about a large number of additional people receiving free travel. I appreciate this would be a significant departure. However, given that free travel was provided…

A week or two after the recent cost-of-living bonus payment was made to families, I started getting calls, primarily from pensioners, who were shocked and surprised that they had not received the €200 cost-of-living payment. These people are adult dependants on a social welfare payment. This seems grossly unfair because they were given to believe they would qualify as they get the Christmas bonus. Those who are affected by this are predominantly from low-income households.

I thank the Minister for what was a very substantial and excellent answer to a different question. It certainly did not answer mine, which related to dependants who did not receive the cost-of-living bonus payment. She offered nothing regarding her views on that or the rationale for the decision. The precedent in respect of bonus payments, insofar as there are any, relates to the Christmas bonus, which has been paid for the past four or five years. There was a period when it was not paid but it was also paid prior …

I understand what happened. What I do not understand is the rationale for why it happened. There could be two couples living next door to each, number 3 and number 4 on Connolly or Pearse Road or whatever you want to call it. Those two elderly people could have individual payments and their neighbours, one as an adult dependant, and neither would have ever anticipated they might lose out on a payment such as this because they applied for that payment. There is a great deal of shock about this for those families and…

EmployAbility services provide sustainable employment opportunities for people with a long-term illness, injury or disability and support them into employment. There is currently supposed to be a process to EmployAbility service contracts put out to tender, similar to the tendering of local employment services and job club services over the past two years. I urge the Minister to avoid changing the payment model for EmployAbility under the upcoming tender, which was due to be published in April. When can we expect i…

The Minister mentioned that it was her responsibility to ensure her Department provided these services. The fear regarding a tender is it will not be the Department but somebody else on behalf of the Department who will offer these services. It is crucial the Department learns the lessons from the previous tender process that saw community-based, not-for-profit employment services dismantled and the commodification of people seeking employment through the implementation of what appears to be a profit-focused model.…

That lady or gentleman is not any of the people I have been speaking to about their experience of it. If the Minister is getting legal advice from the Attorney General or Chief State Solicitor, I am sure they will tell her if a tender is put out then anyone can win and she cannot guarantee the outcome of it. They will tell her in any such process the outcome cannot be decided by the Department and cannot be decided by them either. It is all about the terms and conditions the Minister puts forward. Perhaps she will …

It is not the Deputy's question in fairness. I do not believe this is necessary. It is possible to provide them the autonomy necessary, if that is the issue, without a tendering process. We need to avoid a for-profit model. We need not look very far. We can look across the water and see the dangers a results-based model can lead to.