I agree.

I convey the apologies of my colleague, the Minster for Justice, Deputy McEntee, who cannot be here for this matter due to another commitment. I am happy to respond on her behalf. On behalf of the Minister, I thank Deputy Durkan for raising this important matter and for giving me the opportunity to provide clarity on some issues. As the Deputy is aware, I am unable to comment on any individual case or category of cases. The Deputy may be interested to know that, yesterday, the Minister published the first national …

On behalf of the Minister, I again thank Deputy Durkan for raising this really important matter. The Minister intends to reform how our family law system operates to make it more efficient and user-friendly and less adversarial and to develop a system that puts the family at the centre of its work. That is very welcome. The Department also arranged for a separate strand of independent research on parental alienation to be carried out last year. The Minister is pleased to say that a draft report has been received by…

I think I drew the short straw today. I am taking this Topical Issue on behalf of the Minister for Transport. I was very glad that I was here for Leaders' Questions because this issue was raised and the Tánaiste answered and it was also raised under Questions on Promised Legislation. I reiterate what the Tánaiste said today. He said that we are not happy about it and that "obviously, news of the increase is not welcome.". He was unaware of it before it happened and he said the issue would be taken up with TII when …

Yes.

I will set out the position. Toll revenue is used for purposes that include motorway maintenance, toll collection and operation and for the maintenance of the wider national road network. Nobody is happy about this increase, but these are the facts. The money is reinvested. Returning to the point the Deputy is raising, in a time of inflationary cycles people are at the pin of their collars. This development goes against everything we tried to achieve in the budget. This week, for example, recipients of the fuel all…

I would also like to welcome my friends from Waterford, five ladies who are up to visit me today.

I am glad to have the opportunity to take part in statements on private nursing homes. I will begin by outlining the factual situation regarding the sector before turning to the issue of reform. There are 562 nursing homes in Ireland, which accommodate 31,867 registered beds. Approximately 20% of these are publicly-run HSE facilities or community nursing units, approximately 3.7% are run by not-for-profit organisations funded by the State under sections 38 and 39 of the Health Act, and the remaining 77% are homes r…

Did Senator Mullen say "neglect"?

Senator Mullen used the word "neglect".

Apologies.

Neither do I.

I thank all the Members who contributed. I am looking forward to being able to respond on some of the issues raised. It is a great opportunity to be able to come into the House. I always find that the contributions are balanced and measured. They differ, but at the same time this is a great opportunity. I wish to clear up some points because I do not agree with everything said regarding the private nursing home sector. I am making every effort to support reform in and to improve our nursing home homes to ensure eve…

To touch on the temporary inflation payments scheme, TIPS - we have TAPS and we have TIPS - for nursing homes, it has been bandied about that this amounts to €15 per person. This payment was not per person but per nursing home. If any of the Members wants to get out their phones and look at their calculators, this payment is for 433 private nursing homes. They have 18,000 residents and €10 million has been allocated. If everybody were to draw down this funding, then this scheme would actually amount to €13 million.…

I welcome the opportunity to discuss long Covid health services and I thank the Deputies for tabling the motion, especially Deputy Naughten, who has raised this issue continuously in the House for the past 12 months. A Private Members' Bill was tabled last night on home care, which I was delighted to attend and speak on, and I am here again to discuss long Covid. These debates are important and we have to have them. I welcome the tabling of this motion. Long Covid is a challenging condition for those who experience…

Sinn Féin voted against the help-to-buy scheme.

I thank both Senator Dolan and Murphy for raising this really important issue. In January of this year, to recognise their unique role and extraordinary efforts, the Government announced a pandemic recognition payment for front-line public sector healthcare workers. The pandemic recognition payment was introduced to express the appreciation of Government for those working in front-line environments exposed to Covid-19. Significant efforts have been made to progress the payments under this measure and it has been ex…

The pandemic recognition payment is in the final stages of its roll-out and should begin reaching organisations very soon so that eligible staff can receive the payment as soon as possible. The nub of the issue is that there is a wide variety of front-line workers in the HSE and section 38 organisations eligible for the payment. Support staff such as cleaning and catering staff, among other groups, are included once they meet the eligibility criteria set out. These also include private sector nursing homes and hosp…

I thank Senator Kyne for giving me the opportunity to speak to the issues around meningitis awareness and the supports provided. I am acutely conscious of some families that were recently bereaved, including the family of a beautiful young girl in my constituency. As I speak here today, I am very conscious of the families left behind. The HSE has recently investigated a number of cases of meningococcal meningitis and septicaemia. Meningitis is a serious illness involving inflammation of the membranes covering the b…

Further work on raising awareness is carried out by the National Immunisation Office and the Health Protection Surveillance Centre through the sharing of content on social media platforms and web pages. As we know, meningitis is also covered during the promotion of European Immunization Week in April every year. If the Senator does not mind, he might drop me a quick email with regard to this and I will certainly have it looked at through the Department. Volunteer organisations do a huge amount of work. It is very i…