I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, for taking the time to stay back at this late hour to take this Topical Issue matter. I commend the Mental Health Commission on its stark report, Access to Mental Health Services for People in the Criminal Justice System. When I first submitted this matter to the Ceann Comhairle, I was asked to clarify which Department it was going to. I was not sure if it would go to the Department of Health or the Department of Justice. Therefore, some of my questions and input will b…

I understand that. It is one of those things that falls between a couple of stools. There is not a debate in this Chamber where mental health is not mentioned. There is not a decision made at the Cabinet table, good, bad or indifferent, that does not have an impact on people's mental health. Good decisions will impact people mentally and bad decisions will have an adverse effect. When I was thinking about this earlier, I wondered where this debate could go. We could bring in health, justice, social protection, educ…

Page 95 of the programme for Government states the Government will continue to work with the Garda on tackling and interrupting organised crime. I want to ask about a tweet sent out over the weekend by Fianna Fáil Deputy, Barry Cowen, that eulogised the man held responsible by many people for flooding Dublin with heroin in the 1980s. The tweet stated, "Reminded of Larry Dunne famously remarking 'if you think we're bad, wait till you see what's coming after us'". The heroin epidemic wiped out large parts of Dublin a…

Tackling and interrupting organised crime instead of glorifying and interrupting organised crime.

Does the Taoiseach stand over the comments?

I welcome the Minister back to the Chamber as this is my first opportunity to do so. I wish her well. As my colleagues have stated, we support this Bill. Some of the changes in the Bill are welcome and some are not before their time. For example, sex offenders will have to notify gardaí within three days rather than the current seven days if they have a change of address. This would enable gardaí to track where the sex offender is. However, the sex offender should be required to notify gardaí immediately on or even…

This State has a dark history of neglect and abuse of some of the most vulnerable in society. I am a member of the Joint Committee on Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth with my colleague, Deputy Funchion, and in my short time as a member, I have heard heartbreaking testimony from those affected by mother and baby homes and the real-life stories of those who have been impacted by forced adoptions. I am also very aware of the enduring pain inflicted on women and children in Magdalen laundries and i…

We debated scramblers in this House previously. There is a need for legislation to stop the misuse of these motorbikes and to deal with the scourge of these machines. Sinn Féin has been consistent on this issue right from the start. My colleagues, Deputies Ellis and Munster, introduced legislation on this issue in previous Dáileanna and a group that included myself and Deputy Paul Donnelly introduced legislation during this Dáil. It is needed, because in areas such as mine we have seen scramblers destroy public spa…

The cost of living has gone through the roof, as has the heat from people's houses because they cannot afford to retrofit or insulate their attics. Central Statistics Office, CSO, figures indicate that inflation rose by 3.7% over the past 12 months to the end of September, which is the highest rate since 2008. The cost of electricity, gas, oil and petrol and diesel has increased by 20%, 14%, 45% and 15%, respectively. Today, a report was published that stated rents are 6.8% higher than they were this time last year…

The programme for Government seeks to reduce the waiting time for children accessing assessments of need. The feedback I have got from people in Clondalkin and Lucan is that children are getting partial assessments of need under the standard operation procedure but they are not getting the treatments they need such as speech and language therapy, occupational therapy and child psychology. Children are being moved from one list to another without reaching their developmental milestones. I received a reply to a parli…

I had a feeling the Minister of State would do so.

I feel like a bit of an interloper here because I am the only Teachta Dála for Dublin Mid-West present with my colleagues from Dublin South-West. However, I knew many of the people on the news report yesterday on a professional basis as a result of the work I used to do. I thank and commend the TDATF for its really stark report on the realities of living with crack cocaine. I am a former director of the Clondalkin drugs and alcohol task force and have worked in front-line addiction centres across Dublin over the ye…

As the Minister of State knows, crack cocaine is a dirty, hungry drug. There is no such thing as enough for the people who are using it and that is the problem with it. It is not a new thing. It has been around for years. I worked on drugs task forces more than 20 years ago and crack cocaine was on the scene then, but because of the lack of resources they had at the time, they were unable to deal with the impacts we are facing now. There are solutions. I have tabled a Bill that would provide that any money seized b…

Since Fine Gael came into power, we have seen community Garda numbers reduce dramatically right across Dublin. Does budget 2022 provide for additional community gardaí in Dublin? When will the Garda number meet the needs of the citizens of Dublin?

The Minister of State mentioned that there has been an 11% increase since 2018 but I want to put that into context. There has been a 45% decrease since 2010 so we are only playing catch-up. The Minister of State said that, in an ideal world, community gardaí would have a visible presence – the feet on the beat. We do not live in an ideal world. We have lived under Fine Gael Governments since 2011. In this time, community Garda numbers have been decimated. In 2010, the year before Fine Gael came into power, there we…

The Minister of State mentioned that designation is a matter for the Garda Commissioner, but if the Commissioner does not have the personnel, he cannot move them around. Rathcoole is a small town at the edge of my constituency, Dublin Mid-West. It has one of the fastest-growing populations in the State. It has a Garda station on Main Street. In 2010, prior to Fine Gael entering Government, there were 28 full-time gardaí in Rathcoole. In 2021, the figure dropped to 18, representing a decrease of 36% under Fine Gael'…

I will speak about school completion and the overly elaborate funding streams that were operated by Tusla. Hopefully, this Bill will stop that happening again. I want to tell the story of the Get Ahead Club, which was a vital service in the north Clondalkin area that offered a wide range of community-based educational initiatives aimed at increasing children's chances of completing school. It was based in north Clondalkin and Lucan and operated in schools in Neilstown, Rowlagh, Quarryvale and Balgaddy. Approximatel…

The motion is one of several proposals to reform anti-money laundering legislation at EU level. The motion, when ratified, will support the Garda and the Criminal Assets Bureau in tracing the proceeds of crime, which will hopefully assist in the conviction of criminals in Ireland. This is something that needs to be addressed at a European level and also at a national level. For those who live outside of disadvantaged areas, I want to point out that in areas that are disproportionately impacted by crime, there is a …

I, like the many people who advocate for better mental health care, waited with much anticipation for the mental health budget to come out this year. With the emphasis there was on mental health over the past 20 months, I was disappointed to see an allocation of only €24 million in new development funding for mental health. What exactly will this €24 million be spent on? Does the Minister of State believe it is adequate to meet the demand in mental health?

I acknowledge the work the Minister of State has done on the €53 million in debts. That was very welcome and did say it would work in a tangible way. To put it into context, the budget she has outlined is the same amount of money that was in the 2008 budget. We have not gone forward since 2008. We are still playing catch-up in the provision of mental health services. The Minister of State mentioned the €47 million figure. If you break that down and go into it, €13 million is, as she said, for existing service level…