I thank the Social Democrats for raising this important matter. Unfortunately, it is a daily issue for many families and virtually every school. Highlighting it in the Dáil is important because not every school is prepared to come forward and say that it has trouble sourcing teachers, including substitute teachers. Some schools do not want to admit that children are sometimes being minded instead of being taught. Crucially, what school wants to say that its pupils with special needs are not being supported properly…

I am again raising the crisis in the private and voluntary nursing home sector, where 17 homes have closed this year. These homes tend to be independent, small and family run. While some of the chains are replacing some of the lost beds, that is not happening in rural or smaller areas where family-run homes are closing. More and more older people will not be able to remain reasonably close to family, friends, GPs, pharmacists and so on. That is just wrong. In a small, 35-bed private nursing home, the current fair d…

I am substituting for Deputy McNamara.

I thank Deputy Connolly for her timely and comprehensive motion on a new vision for transport in Galway and other areas. I was happy to sign the motion. While the proposals put forward in the motion largely relate to Galway city and county, nonetheless many of these proposals can in principle be applied to other areas throughout the country. That is one aspect I appreciate about the motion. In principle, these proposals can be applied at a national level. The motion is timely because it is in the shadow of COP27, w…

In my 20-plus years in politics, I have never experienced anything like the tsunami of emails from consultants across all disciplines. So far, I have received emails from 34 consultants at Sligo University Hospital, SUH, highlighting the completely unacceptable and unsafe conditions for patients and staff, the consistent underinvestment in the hospital and the unfair and unjust sharing out of resources within the Saolta University Health Care Group. This action is unprecedented, which tells you that this is an emer…

I have listened to what the Taoiseach has said. He has told me about all the things that have been done. He is not responding in any way to the fact that 34 senior consultants signed an email that was absolutely incredible. The Taoiseach talked about the €30 million increase in funding to Sligo hospital. How does this compare to elsewhere? He talked about staffing increases, but he did not compare them to what is happening anywhere else. We are not at the races. After the crash, Sligo hospital lost 60 beds, which w…

We need a proper focus on Sligo University Hospital. Saolta University Health Care Group is too Galway-centric and this needs to change. I do not believe in beggar-my-neighbour politics, but this needs to change.

I wish to highlight the great work being done by Leitrim Volunteer Centre in providing a community car scheme to assist isolated and vulnerable people to attend hospital appointments, go to the pharmacy and pick up shopping etc. In fact, about 90% of all these trips are hospital appointments. It has become a go-to support system for the HSE with referrals from public health nurses and so on. The centre gets no funding of any kind. Could the Taoiseach bring this to the attention of the Minister for Rural and Communi…

As the Minister of State is probably aware, an unprecedented event took place over the weekend, when 34 consultants from all disciplines at Sligo University Hospital, SUH, all sent emails to the Minister for Health and others highlighting that conditions for patients and staff at SUH are completely unacceptable and verge on the unsafe at times. These emails did not come out of the blue. The issues and these concerns have been building for years and have culminated in record numbers of people on trolleys - proportio…

The Minister of State spoke about three issues. She spoke about the winter plan. Seven of the ten actions involve recruiting extra staff for SUH. When I wrote to the HSE asking how many extra staff had been recruited, I received a response not two weeks ago that told me that it was expecting to start recruiting soon. We are in the middle of winter so there is no winter plan here. Second, the Minister of State tells me that the budget allocation in four years has increased by 25%. I do not know how much the health b…

On behalf of the Independent Group I extend my heartfelt sympathy to the family and friends of Vicky Phelan. Death always comes too soon, but at 48 and after suffering so many years of pain, both physical and mental, it was just heart-breaking for Vicky, for her husband Jim, for her children Amelia and Darragh, for her wider family, and her friends in the 221+ support group. Vicky will be remembered for her courage in refusing to walk away quietly when she knew that her stand would make a real difference in improvi…

I want to raise the inadequacy of the service provided by the pain clinic at Sligo University Hospital. Over the past two years, I have submitted a number of questions about this service and the most recent response stated that the HSE had received funding to establish the clinic on a permanent basis. Previously it was established on a pilot basis. However, 11 months after the pilot programme finished, patients tell me that the pain services are inadequate with waiting times of 12 months and in some cases up to 24 …

Last Sunday I joined an energetic and happy group of people, mainly families, heading into in Atlantic Technological University Sligo, ATU Sligo, to attend one of the first programmes of Sligo Science Festival 2022. I could hardly believe the crowds and the real interest that so many people had in all of the different events from the exploration dome to the Its Like Magic but Real event, from the Mad Professor to the kitchen chemistry event, from crime scene investigations to sustainable foods, and from the mermaid…

I thank Sinn Féin for tabling the motion which allows us the opportunity to ask the Minister of State and the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, who was here before him, to urgently address many of the core concerns of retained firefighters. Retained firefighters need a fixed adequate income. The current retainer varies from about €9,000 per annum going up to a maximum of about €11,000. While there are opportunities to earn more on foot of callouts and training, the total salary is completely inadequate. Nobody coul…

Will the Minister consider increasing the percentage payment for the temporary business energy support scheme, specifically to SMEs that are highly energy-dependent and where their energy bills form a significant portion of their outgoings? I accept the Minister has moved to help businesses, but in truth, a lot of businesses are in trouble and the help is not enough. I also accept there are issues relating to EU state aid rules, but what flexibility is there and is there anything more that he can do?

I hear what the Minister said. He has to look after the money, as it were. We already know from many businesses that they are in trouble. The Minister knows that in his constituency, as I do in mine, businesses are closing. A very well-known butcher in Sligo closed one of its shops yesterday. They said it was because of increased electricity and operational costs. They are just one of many. We know now it is not going to be enough. I know the Minister has certain constraints around state aid rules, but is there any…

What I am asking is that the Minister would keep it under review, because as I said, businesses are struggling. The Minister will be very well aware that even though he is bringing in this scheme and he decreased the VAT rate, the VAT payments on energy bills for most businesses are now greater, even at 9%, than they were a year or two ago. He has extra money. I want him to look at the reality of business and to think in terms of how flexible he can be. I asked the Tánaiste about this a week or two ago and he indic…

I thank the Regional Group for tabling the motion on long Covid. I am pleased to be able to contribute to the debate because I have been contacted by many people who are unwell. Their lives have been turned upside down. They have gone from being fit and healthy to being sick and exhausted. People are searching for answers. They want their lives and their health back. Those people deserve to be represented. They deserve to be heard. The motion from the Regional Group provides an opportunity for this and I thank them…

I again raise the issue of the large numbers of people waiting for beds at Sligo University Hospital, SUH. Since January of this year, SUH has had the third highest number of people waiting for beds. The headline for figures for Cork are worse, but bed capacity in Cork is more than twice that of Limerick so in real terms, in terms of capacity, SUH is second only to Limerick. Time and again I have been told the winter plan will deal with the problem. However, seven of the proposed actions in the winter plan for SUH …

I thank Sinn Féin for tabling this timely and important motion. For many families, this is a priority. Indeed, many families are trying to provide home care either part time or full time and they find it exceptionally difficult to do so. Many are struggling. As more and more people live longer and demand for home care increases significantly, this is the issue. Everybody wants to remain in their own home. We want it for our parents and elderly relatives and we will want it for ourselves. This is the problem we are …