We welcome this Bill. I would be interested in hearing from the Minister, Deputy O’Gorman, and from the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, if she is summing up at the end - I am not sure if she will be - because there are concerns when there are such changes. Everyone has said that this is a technical Bill etc., but technical changes can and do have real impacts. One of our concerns is that the brief of the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth is a big one. While we have an able Mini…

The Cabinet has approved retrofit grants of up to €25,000. There will also be low-interest loans. The aim is to retrofit 500,000 homes by 2030 and install 400,000 heat pumps. The €352 million allocated for this year is just shy of €1 million per day compared to last year's €221 million for Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, schemes. However, there was a large underspend across SEAI grant schemes in 2021. The better energy, warmer homes scheme had a budget allocation of €100 million last year and the war…

Last week, Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, representatives were before the Committee of Public Accounts to discuss MetroLink. A sum of €250 million has been spent on metro north up to this point. Some €83 million has been spent since it became MetroLink in 2018. Given that it is supposed to be a priority of the Government and that there is cross-party support, why are State agency representatives continually appearing before Oireachtas committees or briefing the media with a view to pushing out the date and …

I thank Deputy Shortall and the Social Democrats for bringing this excellent motion, which crystallises clearly the problems with the cost of cancer care. We have been speaking a great deal in this country in recent months about the cost of living. This motion speaks dramatically to the cost of trying to stay alive. When people are diagnosed with cancer, their first thoughts should be about their treatment, the impact on themselves, their families, loved ones and friends and the journey ahead. However, for many one…

I am not usually one to mention this because I know that Ministers need to travel on occasion. However, there are reasons for travel and there is the extent of the travel. We have had a week where we discussed south Kerry CAMHS, statements on youth mental health, a motion on the cost of cancer and now we have statements on the easing of Covid-19 restrictions and the Minister is not here again. All those issues that we discussed have been compounded by Covid. It is all interrelated. We have been discussing as an Opp…

I commend the motion. I also commend Deputy Ward, in particular, for his ongoing work in this area. He certainly does not just pop up when issues hit the news. He consistently raises the need for improvements to mental health services. Fair play to him. Referrals to child and adolescent mental health services in Ireland increased by more than 40%, from approximately 12,800 in 2011 to 18,100 in 2019. Unfortunately, our services have not increased to match that. At any time, more than 3,000 children and young people …

I will raise the matter of the once-off tax free €1,000 bonus payment. There was great shock among section 39 workers and disability service providers that they may be excluded from this. These are front-line staff who have worked in residential, respite, day and clinical services. At the height of the pandemic in March 2020, these staff donned personal protective equipment and worked in Covid-19 environments and family homes to provide continuity of services for the people they support. The Tánaiste stated last we…

We are running a bit behind and I may have to leave before my ten minutes is up. There is a mounting degree of concern in relation to how NBI is running this contract and how it has been structured. The previous Deputy mentioned this and I would like a specific answer on it. If the Minister of State cannot provide it in the Chamber now, he can provide it in writing. Granahan McCourt Dublin (Ireland) Limited was made the preferred bidder on 7 May 2019. Four days before it signed the contract, the name was changed to…

Yes. I seek an explanation for it.

Why was the name change made? Why were the directors only appointed four days before, when they had had a successful bid?

I will accept that. The Minister of State mentioned that he has had meetings with the board of NBI. The membership of the board of NBI is not published on its website. I accept it is not a semi-State agency, but it is the practice in big semi-State agencies for us to know who is on the boards. We know who is on the board of almost every organisation that has any interest in the public good or public services in this country. In this case, we do not. Instead, we have another biography of Mr. David McCourt, as the ch…

They do. I will double-check if that is the case because I checked it a couple of hours ago in advance of this and I did not see it. I will check again. I would rather be here talking about the many local issues that I and my party colleagues have in relation to the roll-out and how far behind it is but we are not there with this. There are too many questions. The €50 million that was paid in fees and interest payments last year has prompted the Department to ask William Fry and EY to examine the funding structure …

The crisis in our dental care has been discussed many times in the Chamber over the past number of months. The crisis is getting worse. The most recent estimates state that only 750 dentists remain in the dental treatment services scheme, DTSS. That is less than half the number in the scheme prior to Covid-19. Covid-19 is not the reason these dentists have exited the scheme, which covers medical card clients. Covid-19 has exacerbated this crisis, as has been the case in many areas. We are now left with a situation …

The situation is very complex. Another area of delay is the assessment of primary school children. I was very privileged to benefit from being screened in primary school, in fourth or fifth class, and being taken into what was the Eastern Health Board system at the time. Through my teenage years, right up to the week before my leaving certificate, I had everything from crowns to braces all done through the State. I was discharged a week before my leaving certificate and I will never forget it, having been captured …

A debate on flexible working arrangements is currently taking place and we cannot miss this opportunity to introduce strong flexible work legislation because it has cost of living benefits in areas such as transport. People are being pushed back into overcrowded buses and trains, the fares for which are expensive, and into their cars, which emit carbon and damage the atmosphere, when we could provide stronger protections to enable them to work from home and to be as productive as they were during the past two years…

Something we say quite often - sometimes, we trot it out without thinking - is that it is access to health services that is the problem and that, once we get in, the services are great. We said this a great deal during Covid. However, what we have seen from CAMHS in south Kerry is that that is not always the case. Given the Taoiseach's response today, the Minister of State, Deputy Butler's response, which I watched from my office, the other contributions so far and the other contributions that will follow, this iss…

Yes, it is something for which we will all be calling. I met representatives of Mental Health Reform yesterday. I commend them on the briefings they gave us and, I am sure, others in advance of this debate. They are always available to provide briefings and support. They made a strong case for the reinstatement of the role of national director for mental health. I asked why it was gone but no one could answer. When people were asked during Covid what the most important issues to them that needed to be resolved were…

I commend Deputies Joan Collins and Pringle and the Independent Group on moving this motion. I will start by saying the practice of the Government not opposing motions is starting to wear a little thin. The motion is not being opposed but that is not because the Government agrees with it. Sometimes a motion comes to the House and the Government, understandably, does not oppose it because it might be a motherhood and apple pie motion. This motion, however, calls for something specific and it is very clear the Govern…

In light of the publication of the Cost of Disability in Ireland research report last week, I would be interested in the Department's specific policies the Minister plans on implementing in response to this report. It is a detailed report containing 202 pages. I do not expect the Minister of State to have read it yet, but it is something she and her senior officials should read over the Christmas break. I look forward to hearing what her plans will be.

The findings from this report are quite stark. It outlines extra costs annually of between €9,500 and €11,500 a year for a person with a disability, and transport costs are included in the amount. I accept that some of the costs are for the adaptation of cars, but they also include the use of taxis. There has been a 37% increase in the cost of taxis for people with a disability because of the lack of public transport accessibility. I do not deny the strides that have been made, as the Minister of State outlined, bu…