Will the Minister provide some detail on the Government's commitment to introduce a permanent cost-of-disability payment to help to address the significant additional costs that come with having a disability and impose financial hardship on many of our disabled citizens?

I thank the Minister for his response. A recent report from the Economic and Social Research Institute and the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission shows that the additional costs faced by disabled people are now estimated to be between 52% and 59% of disposable income. For those with more severe disabilities, that rises to as much as 93%. These costs arise across essential areas, including transport, medicines, specialised equipment, the need for personal assistance and care hours. The report also highlights…

The introduction of a cost-of-disability payment has been proposed but not acted upon for far too long. Detailed research and costings were carried out by the National Disability Authority as far back as 2006 and updated in the comprehensive Indecon report of 2021. Both reports clearly demonstrated the significant additional costs that come with living with a disability. These findings have been consistently echoed by the Disability Federation of Ireland, which has long advocated for a permanent payment that recogn…

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Grealish, for being here. The Social Democrats' views on the auto-enrolment system have been well articulated by my colleague Deputy Gannon in previous Dáil debates, particularly in April of last year. We very much welcome the concept but have concerns which I will go into in some detail. Every worker should have access to a retirement income capable of providing them with a decent quality of life as they age. There are many positives to auto-enrolment. Certainly, a greater rol…

Enrolment in our school bus system has become an annual crisis, involving huge stress and uncertainty for many families. It is a stand-out example of the Government's inability or unwillingness to get the basics right for families. What should be a straightforward service has become an epic fiasco of poor, disjointed planning and crude restrictions, with so much unnecessary worry and hassle for those families caught up in it. Across Cork East, the frustration is acute. From Youghal to Cobh to Mitchelstown, I have b…

I thank the Minister for being here. The Government's newly launched national human rights strategy for disabled people is strong on aspirational language but we have yet to see any details on implementation such as funding commitments, staffing benchmarks or timeframes to back it up. For a sector that is so deep in crisis across all areas, including educational placements, access to therapies in residential services, employment and transport, a disability strategy with meaningful targets has never been more urgent…

I commend Sinn Féin on its motion. At the Committee on Disability Matters this morning, the Minister of State told us that the number of children without a special education placement for this school term was in single digits. It is fair to say there was some respectful scepticism among committee members about that claim. I raised with the Minister of State the fact that there is a world of difference between a school placement in a child's local community and a school placement that is a very long distance away fr…

I also pay tribute to the outstanding staff in the Oireachtas, with a special mention for the excellent broadcast workers here, 13 of whom will be laid off over the summer due to the precarious and unfair nature of their contracts. Almost one year ago to the day, my party leader, Deputy Holly Cairns, raised the issue of more than 5,000 young people waiting for primary care psychology services in the Cork-Kerry region. Of this group, 109 had been waiting for between four and five years. The Tánaiste responded to Dep…

I thank Deputy Stanley for bringing forward the motion. It presents us with another opportunity to discuss the crisis in dental care. The Social Democrats tabled a similar motion in May of last year. Unfortunately, the challenges facing dental care in Ireland remain and urgent action on the part of the Government is still required. One significant issue relates to the number of dentists within the HSE and the numbers currently being trained to deal with unmet patient need. Patients are being left to sit on waiting …

There is a close relationship between this Bill and the HSE's corporate plan. In the HSE's corporate plan for 2025 to 2027, there is a stated commitment to, "Reduce waiting times for primary care therapies by standardising the management of referrals, waiting lists and discharges." There is no mention of a recruitment drive for services that have been hollowed out by years of recruitment restrictions imposed by successive Governments and senior HSE management, so much so that waiting list figures for them are so st…

The cost-of-living crisis in Ireland can no longer be considered a transient hardship. For much of our population, it has become an entrenched form of social injustice with a vast array of adverse outcomes, both short-term and potentially far-reaching for the many people caught up in it. Nowhere is this crisis more obvious for hard-pressed families than in the weekly grocery shop, which has become a morbid ritual in witnessing ever-more stratospheric figures tot up at the counter for what is often a modest range of…

The use of the term "mental disorder" is archaic and pathologising. Language reflects reality but also shapes it, and the term "mental disorder" is reductive medicalising. It has the potential to objectify people with mental health difficulties. We have had a long history of that and stigmatisation. This is something we need to move away from, not only in our concrete actions but also in the language we use. It is also unnecessary in the Bill. Every instance of the term in this Bill is qualified by further comments…

I move amendment No. 3: In page 16, line 32, to delete “ “mental disorder” ” and substitute “ “mental health difficulties” ”.

I move amendment No. 5: In page 18, line 5, to delete “mental disorder or other”.

Along with my colleagues, I express my concern here about the late-stage doubling of the timeframe for involuntary treatment from 21 to 42 days in a Government amendment submitted on the deadline for Committee Stage amendments. At the moment we are discussing the necessity of a capacity assessment after 21 days. However, the 21 days itself is fundamentally problematic. The whole point of this Bill is to strengthen human rights safeguards and not to just have a doctor-knows-best approach to treating people in emerge…

I clarify my remarks about the late-stage amendments. What I was referring to was over the time span of this Bill, which is a number of years, it was a late-stage amendment that was very dramatically impactful. It really altered much of this Bill. It took people by surprise and did not give sufficient time for consultation with interest groups outside of psychiatry. It is obvious that this came from lobbying by interest groups for psychiatry, as is their right, and I can see where they are coming from. At the same …

I move amendment No. 34: In page 47, line 13, to delete “a mental disorder” and substitute “mental health difficulties”.

I move amendment No. 36: In page 60, to delete line 21. This amendment relates to the changes in respect of involuntary treatment. I have spoken already about my concerns about the doubling of the timeframe for that from 21 to 42 days at a very late stage of the legislative process. The expanded criteria for involuntary treatment is also very concerning. While detaining somebody on the basis that he or she is "likely to benefit" from treatment is problematic, it does at least allow for a continued respect for a per…

I move amendment No. 39: In page 63, line 6, to delete “a mental disorder” and substitute “mental health difficulties”.

I move amendment No. 40: In page 63, to delete lines 10 and 11 and substitute the following: “(iii) the life of the person, or that of another person, is at risk, or the health of the person, or that of another person, is at risk of immediate and serious harm,”