I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. The nursing homes support scheme, NHSS, commonly referred to as fair deal, is a system of financial support for people who require long-term residential care. It was designed to protect and support vulnerable older people, to ensure equal access to nursing home care based on what they could afford. This gives certainty to people and families. Funding to support people to access services in the sector continues to be provided in line with the long-established statutory mech…

I encourage continued engagement between the nursing home providers and the NTPF to try to resolve this issue. I really mean that. Primary responsibility for the provision of safe care and services to residents in long-term residential care facilities rests with each individual care provider. The 2013 regulations set out clear obligations on a registered provider to agree in writing with a resident the terms upon which the resident resides in the designated centre, the services to be provided and the costs involved…

I spoke with representatives from the NTPF last week and speak to them regularly. I cannot advocate for one particular nursing home but what I did this year was-----

What I did this year was put €41 extra into the NTPF to support nursing homes. I also provided an additional €10 million on 1 July last year for the temporary inflation payment scheme, TIPS, which is still available. Each nursing home can claim up to €5,250 per month towards its inflationary costs for heating the home. Private nursing homes and voluntary nursing homes continue to receive free personal protective equipment, PPE, which started during Covid-19. This has cost the State to date between €75 million and €…

I thank the Deputy. Tuigim an cheist. I have put my heart and soul into reopening day care centres the length and breadth of the country. More than 300 day care centres are open and last Friday, we opened the 46th dementia-specific day care centre. Another will be opening soon in the Ceann Comhairle's area. We are looking forward to that. The Deputy will know that the HSE has operational responsibility for planning, managing and delivering health and personal social services. A wide range of core services are provi…

It does not.

I am extremely proud of the social care model we have in Ireland.

We run a social care model for day care and meals on wheels. I was abroad last year, representing Ireland as the Minister of State with responsibility for older people, at an event organised by the UN that included approximately 40 different ministers. The number of people who came to talk to me about the social care model we have in Ireland was unbelievable. There is still a medical model in, for example, the UK.

That is no problem. The only area we are challenged is in respect of day care centres that are part of or associated with a community nursing unit. These are residential facilities and it is no longer appropriate to bring people from the community into a community nursing unit because believe it or not, we are still dealing with Covid-19 in those areas, as well as other respiratory illnesses and flu. The situation has changed. At a previous time, people could come in from the community. They were able to share the …

On behalf of the Minister of State with responsibility for special education and inclusion, I thank the Senator for raising this matter. She is right. We have made great progress in recent years and I will be able to provide some clarity about the case to which she referred. At the outset, I stress that enabling students with additional needs to receive an education appropriate to their needs is an ongoing priority for this Government. It is important to remember that the vast majority of children with special educ…

The Department of Education continues to work closely with the City of Dublin ETB and the NCSE in planning for the establishment of the new special school. Details regarding the admission process and the number of places to be offered for 2023-2024 in the new special school will be confirmed very shortly. Recruitment for the school is expected to commence this week, with the principal position being advertised as the first step in this process. The Minister, the Minister of State and their officials are happy to pr…

I am taking this Commencement matter on behalf of the Minister for Health. I appreciate the spirit in which the question has been presented. Ireland has been significantly deepening its collaboration with World Health Organization across all levels, including with the WHO Regional Office for Europe. This closer engagement has been driven in part by the Covid-19 pandemic and associated global health processes. The WHO is an important pillar of the United Nations system, to which Ireland is committed in the context o…

The scale of the Covid-19 response and recovery requires us to utilise all the tools and knowledge that we can mobilise to ensure we have the best defences in place should we be faced with a future global health emergency. We are all aware of the importance of global co-operation in the field of public health. Much of this is technical in nature and involves a wide variety of stakeholders. We believe that Taiwan has expertise to share at a technical level on Covid-19 and other health matters. As the strongest of su…

I thank the Senator for raising this Commencement matter, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister for Finance. As the Senator will be aware, the programme for Government, Our Shared Future, contains a number of specific commitments relating to income tax, specifically that: from Budget 2022 onwards, in the event that incomes are again rising as the economy recovers, credits and bands will be index linked to earnings. This will be done to prevent an increase in the real burden of income tax, to prevent more low …

I again thank Senator Byrne for raising this issue. The Government is committed to supporting and encouraging workers and to reducing their income tax burden. As I outlined, significant progress has been made in recent budgets to deliver on the programme for Government income tax commitments. The summer economic statement, which will be published in coming weeks, will set out a budgetary framework within which budget 2024 can be delivered. It will also set out the overall parameters for the total tax package for bu…

It is not being opposed.

It must be Thursday evening.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue again. I would say I have heard him raise it almost a dozen times at this stage. He is very passionate about it. It is important to discuss the recently published report of the UN special rapporteur relating to the pseudo-condition of parental alienation in family law, wherein it was found that mothers and children are being denied their human constitutional rights. It is soon to be discussed at the 53rd session of the Human Rights Council of the UN. I convey the apologies …

As the Deputy will be aware, the Minister, Deputy McEntee, published the first family justice strategy in November 2022, which sets out a vision for a family justice system of the future. This will be a system that focuses on the needs and rights of children, a system that assists their parents in making decisions that affect all of the family, and a system that makes it easier for vulnerable parents and families to get support and make informed decisions. The strategy is foundational in nature, recognising the man…

Well done, Deputy.