I have just come from the Family Carers Ireland briefing across the road. In their own words, this is a group that is relied upon but not listened to. I listened to the testimony of Lynsey O'Donovan from Swords who is the carer of her son Jack. They do not want praise or platitudes, they want action. Their prebudget submission has been launched and I am sure the Tánaiste and his Government colleagues will see it. The Labour Party wants to ask about a key area of this, which is carer's allowance. Carer's allowance i…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on these statements on progress concerning the NPWS. This organisation has required dramatic structural change. An attempt is being made to do this, but it is a shame this is happening at a time when the world is burning and we are at crisis levels in respect of biodiversity loss. We are playing catch-up to get our own battalions in order and ready to fight this multiplicity of crises. The biodiversity and climate crises are interlinked. What binds and is common to both is that th…

These payments are now delayed and they need to be paid. They speak to a fundamental systematic problem with how this pension is being run. This dates back to section 46 of the Postal and Telecommunications Services Act 1983. Back then, the workers were Civil Servants. The terms of this Act were to ensure that it was a clear wish that all sides if necessary should guarantee transferred staff that their tenure of office and security of employment would be as good, strong and safe as in their present Civil Service ca…

I thank the Minister of State for his response. Again, I agree there is an inadequacy to it. I also will need to take back the information, which is new to me, about how An Post wrote to the Department for the superannuation scheme to be aligned with the PO grade in the Civil Service. I just want to go back and have a look at that. While NewERA and the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications etc. may be reviewing these requests, they have ultimately to be bound by section 46 of the Act. This discretio…

I echo what has been said already in terms of how unacceptable this is as a method of doing legislative business. I have in my hand the list of amendments from the Opposition select committee members and the names of Deputies, including Deputies Ivana Bacik, Cian O'Callaghan, Aengus Ó Snodaigh and others. Even a cursory look through the many pages of amendments shows that the key words match the Title of the Historic and Archaeological Heritage Bill. However, the amendments in the Minister's name have nothing whats…

When receiving the freedom of Dublin last night, the environmentalist, my namesake Duncan Stewart said we are nowhere near making our 51% target in emissions reductions. Last week, we heard the Department had underspent to the tune of €200 million for the first quarter. We need capital projects to be delivered. Will the Minister of State comment on this?

My concern is that perhaps we should be broadening what could be included in the capital spend. The earlier question spoke about expanding a rail network in the south east and the south-east connectivity. We have a really good campaign, South East on Track, for a line which begins in Rosslare, moves on to Waterford and moves up to Limerick. As Deputy Ó Cathasaigh said, we could have really good connectivity between our third and fifth cities and with minor upgrades of the line between Waterford and Limerick, it wou…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill, which the Labour Party will support. It is a relatively straightforward and common-sense Bill to which I do not think there will be any opposition. It inserts itself into the overall policy framework, designed in 2013, that seeks to make Ireland tobacco-free by 2025. Currently, Ireland has a smoking rate of 18%. While we as a nation consider ourselves to have been a leader in tackling smoking and smoking addiction by bringing in the smoking ban nearly 20 years ago, th…

May saw 11,856 people, including 300 children, waiting on trolleys. What plans does the Minister have to end hospital overcrowding and accident and emergency department wait times, knowing that the numbers in May were higher than the numbers in January when we had triple the respiratory threat?

The Minister mentioned that Saturday is the best day, and I know what he means. However, the average figures are such that even when we get to Friday and Saturday, the numbers are still far too high because of the carryover from the weekend. In respect of the seven-day roster, a number of unions, such as the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, has said it is willing to talk. The Minister said in an earlier reply that he is setting up a working group. Will he articulate in more detail which groups are relu…

The emergency department task force, which is co-chaired by the HSE and the INMO, warned this week that we could have another winter with RSV, Covid-19 and other respiratory challenges. Given everything the Minister has said and offered, and everything in the pipeline, is he considering specific targets? He does not have to mention those targets on the floor of the Dáil but is he considering targets on a month-by-month basis, leading into the winter, and the reduction he wants to see in emergency department waiting…

We are just over a year on from when the Medical Laboratory Scientists Association, MLSA, suspended its industrial action to return to talks. Can the Minister provide an update on the progress made with regard to the medical laboratory scientists' long-standing pay parity claim?

The recommendations from that report were most welcome. They backed up what medical scientists knew for a long time, that there was no material distinction between the work they do and the work the clinical biochemists do. This dispute is not just a year and a bit long, it is 22 years long. We have the upcoming pay discussions that this will be included in. This group of workers have been waiting a long time for this. They need support. They need to see that the Minister and his Government are supporting them and p…

It is worth pointing out that this is all happening against the backdrop of 13% of medical scientists' posts being vacant. Staff are being attracted out of the public health service. Many are going into the private sector. We have a booming pharmaceutical industry. There are many jobs outside the public health system. With morale low, the increase in demand and pressures on staff in the public health system, and the stubbornly high levels of vacancy, it is understandable how demoralised these staff continue to feel…

I am seeking an update on outstanding pay claims for workers in section 39 organisations. This is an issue on which we have been supporting the trade union movement. It goes back to the problem with recruitment and retention right across our healthcare provision, including the voluntary sector.

It is not an easy issue and we are aware of the complexity of it. It is, however, important for us to keep the pressure up. These workers took pay cuts back during the economic crash, in line with public sector workers. They have not had their pay restored. We are looking at the structure of the CDNTs, which we all want to see be successful. CDNTs are provided across HSE services and across, section 38 and section 39 organisations. The vacancy rates are at 34%, the equivalent of 707 whole-time equivalent posts, giv…

Over recent days. the Minister and his Government have trumpeted and celebrated the country's high employment figures. However, if we look under the bonnet, what workers are really facing is a crisis in their real wages, terms and conditions of employment and how far their wage packets are going. In recent weeks my colleague, Deputy Nash, has raised how the price of basic foodstuffs and essentials is pushing workers to the brink. Senator Marie Sherlock said in recent days that real wages in almost every sector of t…

The contingency plans are cutting it very fine for something so important. On the retained firefighters - and I want the Minister come back on this - this is a 24-7 commitment, 365 days a year. That huge sacrifice impacts on their professional careers, their ability to get mortgages and loans and it ties them physically to the towns and villages they are in. The cost of a fully staffed fire station would be substantially more than what we have with the retained service. The role is becoming increasingly less attrac…

This year.

There are currently 856 unsolved missing persons cases in the State. In addition, an unknown number of unidentified remains are documented in various files in coroners' offices throughout the country. Advances in DNA profiling have led to some cases being solved in recent years. In the middle of May, for the first time ever, the Department of Justice published information provided by coroners on unidentified remains. However, there are limits to the data provided. Does the Minister share the concerns expressed that…