I thank the Deputy for the question. He is quite right in saying that the provision of home care for people living at home is very important. Today as we stand here, approximately 56,500 people will receive the support of a home care worker. Without these workers they could not age well at home, so they are very important. I might chat to the Deputy offline because I am not sure whether this is specific to community healthcare organisation, CHO, 4, whether it relates to the HSE only or whether it relates also to pr…

I thank the Deputy for the question. As I stand here today, 56,000 people the length and breadth of the country will have received home care. At the moment, approximately 3,200 people funded for home care cannot have the service delivered to them because we do not have the staff. Approximately 3,000 people have a partial supply. We are challenged at the weekends, especially in rural areas. We are working on it. I was provided with a budget of €723 million this year. We have extended eligibility for work permits to …

As this is an operational matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the deputy directly, as soon as possible.

As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond directly to the Deputy as soon as possible.

As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond directly to the Deputy as soon as possible.

As this is an operational matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the deputy directly, as soon as possible.

I thank Deputies Martin Browne and Mattie McGrath for the opportunity to update the House on the new 60-bed community nursing unit in Cashel. I hope we are not going to make a political football out of a good news story. The HSE is committed to the development of a new community nursing unit for older persons in Cashel. In early 2016, a capital programme for older persons residential centres was developed in response to the introduction of HIQA's national residential care standards. To date, 43 of these centres hav…

The HSE is committed to the development of a new community nursing unit for Cashel. Provision has been made in the capital programme 2023 to progress a 60-bed community nursing unit for Cashel. I cannot be clearer. A HSE-owned site in Cashel is being reviewed by the HSE for suitability.

I am entitled to answer under Standing Orders. There will be a community nursing unit built in Cashel. The HSE is currently appraising a couple of sites and will have a report in the next few weeks. There will be a community nursing unit constructed in Cashel, comprising 60 en-suite bedrooms, to support older people in the area.

The Tánaiste is answering.

He did not say that.

Judge and jury.

I thank the Deputy. I am aware that youth services held a meeting across the road yesterday. One of my staff members went over. As I was in a meeting, I was not able to attend personally. If the Deputy sends me the details, I will have a look at them. He is quite right in what he said. Some young teenagers have emotional distress, anxiety or low-level mental health challenges that can escalate if they do not get the correct interventions. Work is up and running. I know organisations do extremely good work. Low-leve…

Before the Chair of the Joint Committee of International Surrogacy, Deputy Whitmore, makes her closing remarks, I will contribute briefly to the debate. First, I thank Deputy Whitmore for her fine work in chairing the committee and also the Vice-Chair of the committee, Deputy Higgins, and all the members. I give a special mention to Senator Mary Seery-Kearney for her work, her openness and her lived experience. It is so important that we listen. I also welcome all the families present and thank them for their lived…

The Deputy is quite right. In the last budget, the Government provided €750,000 from the mental health budget to support counselling psychologists. As we know, clinical psychologists were already funded but counselling psychologists and educational psychologists were not. When I met with the psychologists' association it pointed that out. Under my remit as Minister of State with responsibility for mental health, I was able to secure €750,000 to support counselling psychologists. My budget does not extend to the edu…

That is what I have decided to do. We are working with the psychologists, Trinity College Dublin and the HSE to work out the details.

As the Ceann Comhairle will be aware, in early 2016, a capital programme for older persons' residential centres was developed by the Government to replace, upgrade and refurbish care facilities at approximately 90 locations throughout the country, and this is happening all over the length and breadth of the country. The Deputy will be aware that one is under way in Clonmel, with a new community nursing unit-----

-----comprising 60 beds, and also a crisis home for mental health patients with another ten-bed unit-----

If the Deputy will please allow me to answer, he referred to the unit in St. Brigid's hospital in Carrick-on-Suir having closed but he forgot to mention that 24 people are now delivering services in St. Brigid's.

In regard to what the Deputy raised, I think he is missing the point. Under the capital plan, a new community nursing unit, CNU, is going to be built in Cashel. If HSE estates decide the current site that was recently identified is no longer suitable, that is completely within its remit. I cannot discuss any new site at the moment because it is commercially sensitive-----