I thank Sinn Féin for tabling this important motion. It is a pity that the Minister is stepping out because I have some important questions for her, but no doubt the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, will be able to take them up. There is considerable frustration among parents, early years workers and providers because, while this issue got an awful lot of attention in the run-up to the election, it has really fallen off the bandwagon since then. The hope of families, providers and early years workers that they w…

We have a large number of parents in the Gallery this morning who come from brilliant groups like the NIC Side by Side group, FUSS, the ICON FAACT group and Embrace Autism D9. Many of these are part of the Equality in Education in Dublin Central group. These groups were set up out of sheer desperation because of the lack of health and education services for children. They have provided a lifeline to many parents, who bear the scars and the exhaustion from a health system that fails far too many of their children. A…

This is my final point. While we rightly focus on the many children with autism, there are other children with learning needs such as dyslexia. There is an inherent hostility within the Department of Education that we have seen for many years with regard to the opening of new reading classes in schools. That needs to change.

I move amendment No. 1: In page 6, between lines 19 and 20, to insert the following: “Role of jury in High Court defamation actions 4. (1) Subject to subsection (2) and notwithstanding section 94 of The Courts of Justice Act 1924, or any other provision made by or under any enactment or rule of law, where a defamation action is tried by the High Court sitting with a jury— (a) all questions of fact shall be tried by the jury, and (b) damages (if any) shall be assessed and awarded by the trial judge. (2) This section…

I very much welcome that we are having these statements. It is important to say that over the past number of weeks, I have spent a good deal of time talking to staff of CHI - doctors and nurses - and many of the parents of patients. As we all accept, every day brilliant work is done across the three sites in question. I know that as a parent who has had to use Temple Street hospital on a number of occasions in recent months and also as a public representative. However, that brilliant work is being overshadowed by t…

May I just make two quick points, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle? First, with regard to the weight of expectation, the Minister raised earlier the 22 new theatres. They will be brilliant when they are up and running, but it will take years for them to open, from what I hear when I talk to the commissioning team in CHI. I think we have 15 theatres at the moment. There is a very serious question about the resourcing and staffing to make sure that the existing level of services across the three sites will be maintained when …

The reality is that three years ago the commissioning team in CHI put in a request for 382.8 whole-time equivalent staff and they believe they have got little or no response from the HSE or the Department of Health. In fact, in the words of one, they have never been so far behind in the staffing of a new hospital project. We need to make sure that that staffing is put in place next year because the public expect at the very least that the hospital will maintain existing services and will increase its services over …

When the Taoiseach was asked yesterday about a public inquiry into the practices at CHI, he appeared to rule that out. I believe jumping to that conclusion without considering the facts, the impact and the outcome is a mistake. Parent groups and patient advocates have for many years been calling for transparency and accountability. We have to be clear that there are many fine clinicians across Temple Street, Crumlin and Tallaght hospitals, but there are also serious concerns. Such is the depth of systemic dysfuncti…

We do not.

There is the matter of the Medical Council.

As this is a trade war that none of us want but that we have to respond to, we need to be clear about a few things. I do not believe anybody in this House is calling for an economy-wide wage subsidy scheme as I heard the Taoiseach and some others suggest in recent days. To do so would be disproportionate and unnecessary, so we should not waste our time on a bogus debate about jobs supports or no jobs supports. What we clearly need are targeted wage subsidy supports for the worst-affected sectors. The reality is tha…

Yesterday, I spoke to Louise Collins in Tralee, County Kerry. She is mother to 14-year-old Daniel, who suffers from severe scoliosis and has 95% curvature to his spine. The Taoiseach might have been alerted to the article about the family in The Irish Times today. In the 14 months since Daniel was told he needed surgery, his surgeon in Crumlin has not been able to offer him a single date, not even a missed or potential date. That flies in the face of everything we have been told would be put in place for such child…

Not today.

Almost 70,000 health workers will go on work-to-rule next Monday. The issue is not about pay or conditions but the intolerable staffing levels in our health service. Not every part of the health service is impacted, but where it is staff are at boiling point. What action is the Government going to take to avert the industrial dispute that will start on Monday? We have gross understaffing in parts of our mental health and disability services, particularly in the community. Within hospitals, the spend on agency has i…

I thank my colleague, Deputy Wall, for bringing this important motion before us today and I acknowledge the incredible work of the children and young adults across this country who day in, day out provide support to their family members. I know they do it out of love and loyalty. I know that many do not even consider themselves under the label of carer. It is a way of life. It is their life and they do it out of necessity. It is to that necessity that I want to speak today. There are children in this country, teena…

I very much welcome the opportunity to speak on what was a groundbreaking report by the Housing Commission. I join in acknowledging the members of that Housing Commission who gave their time and service to the State. While we might not necessarily agree with all the recommendations in that report, certainly the time and effort that went into it was enormous and it is a huge disrespect that the Government has effectively ignored that report since publication. Listening to Leaders' Questions today, I found myself alm…

Last week, I raised with the Minister the issue of the GP Care For All practice in Summerhill, Dublin 1. In the Visitors Gallery today, we have the chair and the practice manager of that GP practice. It is a very serious situation because, by June of this year, this practice will be facing closure unless there is direct intervention by both the Department of Health and the Department of Finance. In particular, I want to ask about the plans of the Department of Health for the continued existence of medical charities…

I wish to put on record that three options were offered to GP Care For All, none of which are operable. Option one was the partnership model, which is simply not viable because of the risk GPs would have to take on. Almost 97% or 98% of this practice is GMS-reliant. The second option, which was the hybrid model, and the third option, which was direct subsidy, were not acceptable to the HSE. The options put forward by the Department of Health are not workable and the HSE has paid for Western Urgent Care to come up w…

I do not doubt the goodwill there is regarding ensuring GP services, particularly to the 2,600 people on the list in GP Care For All, continue but the reality is that the HSE funding is only for the 2024 liabilities, nothing is in place for 2025 liabilities and I am not hearing any solution. We have a private system of GP care in this country with the result that we have significant gaps across this country in some of the most socially deprived areas and this Government is not coming forward with any solution as to…

My question relates to the 2018 commitment regarding inpatient beds for those with an eating disorder. It is important to say there was a significant amount of hurt at some of the previous comments made by the Minister of State about the need for these beds. We met some of those suffering from eating disorders last week. The reality is that while we very much welcome an expansion of community care, there is a desperate need for an increased number of inpatient, specialist beds for those suffering from an eating dis…