I thank Senator Cummins for raising this issue. It is something I am very familiar with myself. We come from the same constituency. As the Senator is aware, GPs are self-employed practitioners, and accordingly, they may establish practices at a place of their own choosing. The HSE fulfils its obligation under the Health Act 1970 in providing GP services to patients who hold a medical card or GP visit card through the GMS service. Most GPs, over 2,500 of them, hold a GMS contract to provide this service. The HSE bec…

I will follow up on those two cases. I agree there must be a common-sense approach and that people must have options. When a list is frozen, which happens for a myriad of reasons, people may not be in a position to move. Health issues are challenging enough without causing further distress to people. The number of doctors entering GP training has increased by 80% between 2015 and 2023. The availability of 350 training places for new entrants is planned for this year, representing a 22% increase on last year's intak…

I thank Senator Currie for raising this important matter and for her sustained engagement on issues of North-South co-operation. I am taking this question on behalf of the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, who is away on Government business at the moment. Like others I welcome the restoration of the power-sharing institutions in Northern Ireland. Saturday was a great day, a hopeful and positive day. It was down to work immediately as we saw on Monday morning. The Government looks forward to working closely…

I thank the Senator for her response. I have taken note of her remarks on this important issue. She is right about the potential. It is absolutely massive. She has spoken about tourism, energy and infrastructure. The Government is fully committed to supporting economic growth across the island of Ireland. We will continue to promote the benefits of this island for trade, tourism and investment. This is the consistent expectation of business and community stakeholders. We particularly look forward to the resumption …

I thank the Senator for raising what is a very important issue for CBS High School, Clonmel. I am familiar with the school. My son taught there for a while so I know the school and its bordering counties. I thank the Senator on behalf of the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, for giving me the opportunity to update the House on the current position regarding the additional school accommodation, ASA, scheme project for a new building project for CBS High School, Clonmel, County Tipperary. As the Senator said, the…

I thank the Senator. The design team for the school has submitted a stage 2a report to the Department and this is currently under review by the Department’s professional and technical officers. Once this review is completed, its outcome will be shared with the school authority. The Department will continue to provide practical support and assistance to the school authority’s design team throughout the process. Therefore, the next stage is for that review by the Department’s professional and technical officers. As s…

I thank Senator Boylan for raising this really important issue. I am responding on behalf of the Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Noonan. It is not an area in which I have huge expertise but I come from a rural area and am well equipped to know what wildlife crime means. It is a widespread issue that poses a serious threat to our biodiversity and the sustainable development of countless communities. While there is no universally agreed definition of what constitu…

I will bring back those questions to the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan. His office is directly opposite mine on the corridor. I have no doubt he will also engage with this Oxfam-led initiative. Adherence to environmental rules is a safeguard for preserving biodiversity health and sustainable progress over time. It is difficult to process the drivers for the loss of biodiversity through deliberate disregard of the law by some. There is no doubt action is needed to thwart this. The NPWS, in collaboration with othe…

I am multitasking.

And Independents.

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. The independent report of the lookback review into child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, in south Kerry was published on 26 January 2022. This examined the files of everyone who received care from south Kerry CAMHS between 1 July 2016 and 19 April 2021, which is a five-year span. Almost 1,500 children and young people were identified by Maskey as falling within the relevant time periods and requiring further review. No extreme or catastrophic harm o…

I accept everything Deputy Daly has said. He said it in good faith. People, families, children and young people have been through enough. This is not to say that the scheme in question is limited. The current situation where people from south Kerry were allowed into the scheme occurred because we did a random sample audit of 50 files and then we did a complete look back over that five-year period. That look back is now happening in north Kerry. As soon as we have the results from north Kerry, I expect more children…

It is currently under way. I hope to have it at the end of the first quarter of this year.

I thank the Deputy very much for his question. There were two parts to it. We have seen increasing waiting lists for young people with mental health difficulties who need psychology supports. We have been running a waiting list initiative over the past three years that has proven very successful. We have targeted children who have been waiting in excess of 12 months. We have also looked at making sure that the waiting list is accurate. In the context of the National Treatment Purchase Fund, there is a commitment in…

The HSE and I met separately with Families for Reform of CAMHS in September and October last year to discuss HSE youth mental healthcare and specialist CAMHS services, including linkages with autism and intellectual disability services. Along with the Department of Health and the HSE, I will continue to liaise with that organisation as appropriate. As the Deputy knows, access to CAMHS services is in line with CAMHS operational guidelines, also known as the COG, which applies to all staff working in CAMHS. I have en…

I thank the Deputy for her question. This is a conversation we have had across this floor several times in recent years. I welcomed the recent ESRI report on long-term residential care in Ireland and developments since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. The report articulated an awful lot of what we already knew about the challenges facing the long-term residential care sector. The Government continues to address these to provide short-term stability and then long-term growth to this sector. The ESRI report highli…

The majority of people want to age in place. They want to age in their own homes. Working with my colleagues in Government, I have put in place a triangle of supports consisting of home care, day care and meals on wheels. Today, 56,000 people will receive care in the home to support them to age in place. We have 323 day centres open across the length and breadth of the country, plus an additional 52 dementia-specific day centres. We have made great progress in that regard working with the Alzheimer Society of Irela…

I continue to support the 22,700 people who are in nursing homes under the fair deal scheme. The whole purpose of that scheme is to support older people, regardless of their means, to have access to nursing home care. It is important to also point out that the commission on care has commenced. It is led by Mr. Alan Barrett, the chairman of the ESRI. The commission will look very closely at all the issues the Deputy has raised. It is also important-----

We have short memories here. When I came into post in July 2020 the nursing home sector was under immense pressure due to Covid. We all know that Covid bore down very hard on older people. For almost two years, the emphasis and focus were on supporting older people in nursing homes.

As the Deputy will be aware, in furtherance of the commitment in the programme for Government, in October this year the Minister for Health and I sought the establishment of a commission on care and we got approval from the Cabinet. Subsequently, a budget of €1.24 million was allocated to support this important initiative. The commission will examine the provision of health and social care services and supports for older people and make recommendations to the Government for their strategic development. Subsequently…