Its decision to strike yesterday was contrary to its commitment under Building Momentum, which states that parties to the agreement concur that industrial peace will be maintained within the lifetime of the agreement. The Department of Health is bound by Building Momentum, which clearly states that sectoral bargaining is the only mechanism for addressing outstanding claims within the lifetime of the agreement. I will take the Deputy's views back to the Department of Health. I assure the Deputy-----

-----that health management remains committed to engaging with the MLSA. I reiterate again how significant its presence is across the health service. We will continue to engage with the MLSA and make every effort to ensure that no further days of strike action take place in the coming weeks. I want to acknowledge the dedication, professionalism and commitment of all medical scientists throughout the country. I hope that the issue can be resolved. I will bring the Deputy's views back to the Department.

I thank Deputy Matthews for raising this matter and I also thank him for outlining how important the Citizens Information Board is. I know myself when I was starting out in politics how very useful and necessary its advice was in my own local town. The Citizens Information Board is the statutory body with responsibility for the Citizens Information Service, CIS. The CIB provides funding to eight CIS companies that operate a national network of Citizens Information Centres, CICs. Each CIS is a limited company overse…

Again, I thank the Deputy for raising this quite complex issue. The CIB continues to work closely with the board of south Leinster CIS to support the region and to ensure that the delivery of high quality services to citizens remains a priority. I can confirm that south Leinster CIS is continuing to provide citizens information services to the citizens of Wicklow through the CIC offices located in Arklow and Bray. However, as the Deputy has rightly pointed out, there are difficulties in respect of transport service…

I fully appreciate the importance of this issue and the not insignificant concerns raised by many over recent weeks and months, and I am grateful for the opportunity to address some of those concerns. As the Minister for Health noted, we are all trying to achieve the same goal, which is best described by the vision of the national maternity strategy, whereby women and babies will have access to safe, high-quality care in the setting most appropriate to their needs, whereby women and families will be placed at the c…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue in the House. The Deputy will appreciate, of course, that Garda training is an operational matter for the Garda Commissioner. Under section 26 of the Garda Síochána Act 2005, as amended, the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the management and administration of Garda business, including the training of Garda members and staff. The Minister for Justice has no role in these operational policing matters. I am advised by the Commissioner that the armed support units are reg…

I thank the Deputy again for raising this very important issue. As I outlined, tackling organised criminal activity remains a key priority for the Government. The Minister, Deputy McEntee, and I are very conscious of the repercussions such criminal behaviour can have on the quality of life for residents in local communities, as the Deputy has outlined. It is important people feel safe and are safe in their communities. The Deputy will be aware the criminal justice (miscellaneous provisions) Bill is currently being …

On behalf of the Minister for Justice, I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I am very familiar with the disturbing news that has come from Longford in recent months. As he acknowledged, the allocation of Garda resources is an operational policing matter for the Garda Commissioner. Section 33 of the Garda Síochána Act 2005, as amended, provides for the Commissioner to determine the manner in which members of An Garda Síochána are distributed and stationed throughout the State, and the Minister has no statutory…

Deputy Flaherty has again outlined the fact that businesses, retailers, citizens and communities need to keep safe. Tackling organised criminal activity remains a key priority for this Government. The Minister, Deputy McEntee, and I are very conscious of the repercussions such criminal behaviour can have on the quality of life of residents and local communities. It is important that people feel safe and are safe in their communities. Again, I am familiar with this issue. It is not nice to listen to the bad news ema…

I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter for discussion. On behalf of my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, I restate this Government's commitment to children and young people with disabilities, as well as their families. The Deputy talked about Leo Dixon and the fact that a letter spent nine weeks on a desk. That is simply unacceptable. The Deputy was involved in the private sector and ran her own haulage company. It is very difficult to stand over a letter spending nine weeks on a desk…

I thank the Deputy for articulating the details relating to this very difficult issue. As stated, progressing children's disability services is the policy underpinning children's disability services. All 91 CDNT teams are now established and while I know they are challenged with recruitment and retention issues, they are in place and the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, is continuing to engage with the HSE to fill the vacant posts and to progress the service provision. This has never been a question of a lack of…

I thank the Deputies for raising this important matter. On behalf of my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, I reaffirm the Government's commitment to children with disabilities and their families. As Minister of State with responsibility for disabilities, Deputy Rabbitte is fully committed to the development and enhancement of services for children with disabilities. She recognises that the changes brought about through the progressing disability services, PDS, programme have been challenging for man…

Once again, I thank the Deputies for their contributions and for their concerns about this matter in their counties. Deputy Ó Murchú referred to workforce planning. That is quite a reasonable suggestion. Progressing children's disability services is the policy underpinning children's disability services. The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, believes in the overarching aim of PDS, which is equitable access to a team of multidisciplinary clinicians. However, she acknowledges that the HSE's roll-out of PDS has not …

I thank the Senator for raising this issue and I welcome the opportunity to provide an update to the House on this very important matter. The ongoing development of both community and primary care is core to the Sláintecare vision. The Government is committed to ensuring local people are provided with the care they need as close to home as possible and have access to a wider range of health and social care services within their community. The development of primary care centres in communities such as Gorey is a pra…

I will raise that issue again. The Senator makes a lot of sense. In the eight years since 2014, that title should have been investigated. We should not be in this situation and I will raise it with the Minister. Good progress continues to be made in the development and roll-out of primary care centres, and 150 are now operational. Some 12 of these opened in the past 12 months despite the challenges posed by Covid, and a further 21 are at various stages of the construction and equipping process and are expected to o…

I welcome the opportunity to discuss this important topic with Senators on behalf of the Minister for Transport. I understand that the Senators' question relates to improving the service and rolling stock on the Rosslare-Dublin rail line. I have been advised Iarnród Éireann's operational fleet is currently fully deployed on scheduled services, in line with the prevailing passenger demand. The current capacity on the rail network is primarily based on demand levels pre-Covid, when rapid growth in demand resulted in …

I will certainly convey the Senators' views to the Minister. Nevertheless, subsequent fleet orders for DART+ will be deployed in line with infrastructure development under the DART+ programme. I have been advised the public consultation on DART+ Coastal South, which seeks to enhance capacity on the southern coastal route, will commence later this year. This consultation will examine options for the southside DART line to facilitate improved frequency, which will benefit Rosslare-Dublin rail services, as I mentioned…

I thank Senator Sherlock for raising an issue that has been of significant concern for women and their partners. I fully appreciate that limitations on partners accessing maternity services have been very difficult for women and their families during the Covid-19 pandemic. The current version of the HSE guidance on access to acute hospitals for nominated support partners in maternity services was implemented on 21 February 2022. The guidance recognises the central role the nominated support partner plays in support…

I acknowledge the difficulties and the impact that access limitations in maternity services have had on women and their partners during the Covid-19 pandemic. While I appreciate that the support of a partner is vitally important to expectant mothers, I remind the House that maternity hospitals and units introduced these measures to protect the well-being of the vulnerable women and babies in their care. It is worth noting that maternity services have performed very well in this respect and have continued to provide…

I thank the Senator for giving me the opportunity to update the House on this important matter on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly. Both the Minister and I are fully committed to supporting our population screening programmes which are a valuable part of our health service. I am pleased to say that the CervicalCheck programme is back screening at pre-Covid-19 levels. Furthermore, by the end of 2021, CervicalCheck had screened the same amount of people as in any other two-year period. I take this oppo…