I thank the Minister for the reply but the devil is in the detail. Does the Minister know how many pilot schemes will be rolled out before Christmas? I know the Minister mentioned unannounced inspections but when does he propose that all of the centres, which are in effect permanent, will be subject to regular HIQA inspections or when will they all have been inspected? The Minister said the staff would be required to be Garda vetted but are those working there actually Garda vetted? Is the Minister saying that all …

The particular concern is about minors, young people and those who are of disputed age, some of whom may have serious medical and physical conditions. Has the Minister been notified about assaults of any type in any of the centres or has that come to his attention? Are all unaccompanied minors given a social worker or placed in local authority care when they are in the centres? The staff should be Garda vetted, and the Minister will come back to me in that regard. Do any of the staff receive child protection traini…

I appreciate that was not the initial question.

I also welcome the distinguished guests. Earlier this week I spoke to the head of the South Kerry Development Partnership about the work it does in the rural social schemes and Tús schemes in south Kerry. I refer here to care of the elderly, social farming, the rural men's officer, DJ Moran, whom it employs, the maintenance of sports fields and support for meals on wheels. It assists 200 projects in the area. However, the people working on those schemes only receive an extra €19 on top of their social welfare. That…

I recently came across a parliamentary question from 22 February 1951 which asked when was it intended to proceed with the Annascaul water and sewerage schemes. The reply was that the Minister was not in a position to state when the work would commence. Seventy-one years later, we had a briefing from Kerry County Council on the residential-zoned land tax that there are more small towns and villages out of the scope of the tax than are actually in scope. Annascaul is at maximum capacity and needs work on its wastewa…

I commend Deputy Brady on proposing the motion. He has a long history of advocacy on this issue. Credit must also go to the National Retained Firefighters Association of Ireland. We debate health and emergency measures in the House regularly and the issues that occur in other areas are unfortunately relevant here too. Fire services are understaffed to dangerous levels and experienced firefighters are leaving at a rapid rate. The sacrifices we ask these individuals to make on our behalf are extreme and many face the…

We welcome the intent behind the Bill and the effort and work that has clearly gone into addressing the needs of people who experience hatred on account of who they are. As the Minister said, people need to feel safe and we accept that the current Act is not effective. We have received, as I am sure all Deputies have, many submissions on the Bill, even after the pre-legislative scrutiny concluded, and there seems to be an attempt to get it through as quickly as possible. We agreed that the amendments deadline, whic…

I thank the Regional Group for bringing forward this motion. We in Sinn Féin will support it. The various issues which accompany long Covid have yet to be properly researched and identified. There is no doubt but that many have caught the disease, many of whom I know, and continue to suffer. Some 90%, I think, who have it continue to suffer. Their lives are on hold and many of the up to 200,000 people suffering from it are suffering in silence. The Regional Group is right to highlight the waiting list figures from …

The sample audit for north Kerry child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, is due either this week or next week. In my view, the HSE must expand the sample audit to a full review of all files in north Kerry, going back 15 years, as a matter of urgency. As the Minister of State knows, the Maskey report found that significant harm was caused to 46 children in south Kerry and that a further 240 were placed at risk of serious harm. Since that report was published, I have spoken to social workers, parents, pat…

I thank the Minister of State for her reply. The only problem is that some of these families have been waiting 15 years since the misdiagnoses and the overprescribing of antipsychotic medication to their children. They are suffering internally in their family units and their children are still suffering as a result of what happened. The random sample, I believe, will lead only to a look-back. At least 25 families have come to my office to ask that they be included in the north Kerry review. Unless there is a huge p…

The test of any budget is whether the lives of the people of the State will be improved as a result. In the context of tax measures, there was a need for a reduction in USC but that was not delivered. We see zero-rating of certain VAT products. That is welcome. Hopefully, the savings will be passed on, most crucially, to workers and to the guests staying there. In terms of transport, the measures are unfair on those under financial pressure. A further tax increase will affect Kerry residents who have to drive to wo…

I thank the Social Democrats for tabling the motion. I also acknowledge all the work that the Minister has done over the past number of years in this regard. The issues with the report, the redress scheme and access to testimony and other data are well known at this point. The fact that claims are still based on length of time rather than the degree of abuse or other factors is worrying. The most recent revelation regarding the pharmaceutical tests is also worrying. Those horrific practices have been part of the re…

In June, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, stated that local authorities could purchase housing assistance payment, HAP, properties where the tenants were under notice to quit. I subsequently asked Kerry County Council to use this measure for a number of constituents who had received such notices. Some of these families went into hostel accommodation, having to throw out children’s toys and family memorabilia because there was no other solution. The Taoiseach said this…

They await a directive and have not got one.

Will the Taoiseach ensure that a directive goes out to them?

I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to amend the National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Act 2012 and to provide for related matters. I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for granting me time to introduce the Bill. I thank the staff in the Bills Office and the Office of the Ceann Comhairle for their assistance. Particular thanks are due to the Office of Parliamentary Advisers, OPLA, and Niamh McKenna, who helped me tease out the considerable legal issues involved while p…

I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."

I also congratulate Deputy Tully on all her work in bringing this motion forward. I want to raise two issues. The first is an urgent matter regarding the lump-sum payments arising out of the budget. It is my understanding that those in receipt of the partial capacity benefit will not receive the lump sum of €500, which has been announced for carers, those with invalidity pensions and disability allowances. This is very unfair, given that the people in receipt of this benefit are in many cases, by definition, modera…

I spoke to the housing officer in Kerry a fortnight ago who told me that three families in Kerry are becoming homeless every week. That is three families who have, by and large, been in rented accommodation for the past ten, 12 or 15 years and now face going into one room in a homeless shelter before they can get somewhere else, if they can get somewhere else. The housing crisis in Kerry is, similar to most of the country, at breaking point. We have sky-high rents. They were 15.4% higher in quarter 1 of this year c…

I raise the issue of haematology services in University Hospital Kerry, UHK. The Minister of State will surely agree that people with blood cancers should be treated as close to home as possible, especially as they require multiple visits to hospital. Basic services, however, such as bone marrow testing, cannot be done in Tralee. Therefore, I ask the Minister of State to ensure that the haematology day ward will be opened. The provision of ten beds or chairs would do to establish that unit. Additionally, the isolat…