We will move all the way to Question No. 96 in the name of Deputy Brady.

The Minister to reply.

With the agreement of the House and if the Ministers are agreeable, the next question is in the name of Deputy Pauline Tully and then I will move back to Deputy Farrell's questions, Nos. 93 and 95.

At this stage, many of us feel like we could write a book, and, unfortunately, not a positive one, on CAMHS. I refer to the battle that parents face trying to find the appropriate service, the paperwork involved in filling in the forms when people are already experiencing a difficult and stressful time in their lives, and then being told this is not the appropriate service but not necessarily being told what is the appropriate service and where to go to access that. I also want to raise the issue of dual diagnosis …

-----because I do not see how that is acceptable. This person is fearful that the fact of her child's intellectual disability will be used as an excuse to reject a referral. That is already this mother's expectation. I do not see how it is acceptable for CAMHS to say it is not taking new referrals.

First, I would like to thank my colleague, Deputy Cullinane, and also Daniel who works with him, for all their work in this regard and for this evening. I join others in welcoming and thanking the families for making the effort to travel this evening to be here. It is really important that we continue to shine a light on the absolute failure of children's healthcare in the State. Undoubtedly, we are failing children. Endless promises are made. We often hear pronouncements that we cannot let things like this happen …

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time".

I am delighted we are finally getting the opportunity to discuss this Bill as for us it has been a long time in the making. It was prompted by the mother and baby homes report that was published on 12 January 2021, having started up in 2015. It was a huge amount of time for people to have to wait. Over the days, weeks and months that followed, we all expressed our absolute shock at its contents and our disgust that it had been leaked days prior to publication, which was a huge insult to the survivors. So many survi…

I thank the Minister. I appreciate her comments regarding how the mother and baby home issue was handled. There is some possibility. I take on board what the Minister said regarding setting out a statement. I have to say, and the Minister will not be surprised, that just because of the level of work, particularly with the involvement of the Office of Parliamentary Legal Advisers, OPLA, I do not see the difficulties the Minister is outlining with the Bill. Rather than rehashing that, however, there may be some way w…

Now we come to the Independent Group. Deputies Pringle and Connolly are sharing time.

I thank the Deputy.

When we talk about the situation in Gaza and in Palestine, it is nearly getting to the stage where we run out of words to describe the horrors we are witnessing. For a lot of people the fact that this is televised and is not some historical war we are reading about in history books and we actually see this live on social media and television makes it very difficult for ordinary, decent people to understand how on earth Israel is still getting away with the horrific, disgusting acts of genocide it is engaged in. At …

My question is in relation to skin cancer and the link that we now know relates to tanning beds. This has come to my attention primarily from a woman in the south east, from the same neck of the woods as the Minister of State, Deputy Mary Butler. I want the opportunity for us to discuss this further.

I thank the Minister. I acknowledge a particular woman, Laura, who brought this to my attention. There are also others who campaign with her. It is probably an issue about which we do not speak a lot. When we say it, people ask what is the problem. We can look at how much we now know about smoking and cigarettes and their links to cancer. We have the images on packaging now. With regard to sunbeds, however, while I acknowledge there are some measures it is widely felt that often they do not go far enough. Are they …

I am glad to hear the Minister acknowledge this because it is very important. I agree it probably is an enforcement issue, certainly with regard to ID and some of what I suggested regarding having a database. We could also do a lot more with schools and transition year and use this opportunity to educate and create awareness. Many people think there is no harm in it. There is still the myth that it rains most of the time in this country so how could a little bit of sun be that detrimental. However, given our levels…

This question is about negotiations with the various religious orders and, if any, the negotiations with pharmaceutical companies about their contributions to the mother and baby institutions payment scheme. How many meetings have been held to date? What actions do the Minister and his Department intend to take outside these discussions to ensure that religious orders and pharmaceutical companies contribute to the scheme? When does the Minister expect the redress scheme to open?

The reason I raise this issue is that Sheila Nunan was appointed in July. Is that correct?. Six months have passed since then. It is frustrating for people who are listening to this, especially as the religious orders played such a role. I accept that it was ultimately the responsibility of the State and that is key. However, it is difficult to even think that someone had to be appointed to handle the negotiations. They have to acknowledge their role. They have acknowledged their role by publicly apologising and th…

I welcome that the Minister would potentially consider other options and the fact that a report is coming. That is information people were not aware of to date. What is the timeframe? Negotiations cannot go on indefinitely, even with the best will in the world on both sides. It is unfair. The cynical part of me would ask whether the religious organisations are just pushing out the clock in this. That does not even get into the fact that the pharmaceutical companies are not included. Has the Government looked at oth…

This question relates to the mandatory chart of accounts for those services signed up to core funding. Some people refer to it as double accounting. I am interested in hearing if we can get some more information in regard to that and then I will expand further on it in my remaining time.

I thank the Minister. I had all my points ready on the stuff I was going to give out about, but I do not have to say them now. It is great to come in and hear about progress on an issue. That is really welcome. Issues were raised in offices and elsewhere but they were also raised at the committee, as the Minister is aware. The Association of Childhood Professionals and the Federation of Early Childhood Providers brought it up. It is good to see the right thing was done, people sat around the table and came up with …