I thank the Regional Group of Independents for bringing forward this motion again and our own Deputy O'Rourke for putting our amendment forward. I welcome the majority of the Minister of State's response. Much of the PSO aspect has been covered but this is about the vital nature and the seriousness of losing a service like the post office in any town, village or city. It is just unbelievable. The social impact of it is huge. We have heard about the banking sector and so on, but a banking machine will not advise a p…

The Taoiseach may be aware that the Owenacurra health centre in Midleton is to close in October. With the current Covid crisis and the hacking of the HSE, it has been very difficult to get answers. Is there any way the Department of the Taoiseach or the Department of Health could find out what is going to happen with that centre when it closes in October? Nineteen long-stay patients will be relocated and every other service will be lost. It is a very big site and people are very worried and want to know what is goi…

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, for being here. I welcome the opportunity to raise this issue. I will provide a brief background. It was the wording in the previous Mental Health Commission report in 2018 that got me. It said the Owenacurra centre "was" a 24-bed unit situated in the middle of the town. It "was" a single-storey prefab building centred around an internal courtyard. There were 16 single bedrooms and four twin bedrooms. We learned as recently as last Monday that the centre would be clos…

I thank the Minister of State for the reply, but while it is welcome, the Central Mental Hospital is in Dundrum not Midleton. We are talking about getting local services. Local knowledge is local expertise. When any service is run in the community, people get to know each other and more trust is built up. I would not say there is a more laid-back working relationship but there is more understanding and there is harmony and more empathy and respect. As I said at the start, however, our biggest fear concerns what wil…

I thank the Minister for his opening contribution. While we might not agree on some matters, we can agree that the Common Fisheries Policy has not been great for Ireland. It is archaic and dates back to the 1970s. We can also agree that the latest trade deal, incorporating a 15% reduction in quotas, will lead to an additional loss to fishers of €43 million. We can further agree that we live on an island that is surrounded by water. We can agree that we have potentially the richest fishing waters in the world, parti…

The EU has to give a very clear response to this, otherwise we are giving all the wrong signals. European leaders will, I hope, send a very strong signal to a regime that is repressing its own people, expelling foreign journalists, silencing civil society and human rights defenders. If indecision or weakness is shown by the EU, it will reinforce in the minds of the decision makers in that country that we have done the right thing here. The response must be clear and tough and has to happen quickly. There must be an…

I too welcome the opportunity to speak on this matter. I will start with a bit of positive news by welcoming the upgrades in Mallow, Cobh and Youghal. The environmental impact is welcome. As many Deputies have said, we have major issues with capacity in other areas, particularly in my town of Midleton and in Mitchelstown. It is slowing down the building of homes. I know it has sometimes been mooted that it is not desirable to have people from the cities coming into the towns and jamming the place up, but this is ab…

I thank the Minister for attending. We know it is an ungodly hour. We have had issues with school places in recent years, and today I looked through my records going back to 2017. We also have a problem with school transport. The Minister is well aware of the over-subscription for schools, in particular schools in Midleton, Youghal, Cobh and Carrigtwohill. There has been a lot of juggling in recent weeks trying to get people into schools. I want to give three examples of the problems. One letter, which is a bit iro…

Some of this is ironic. I have a reply to a parliamentary question in 2018, and much of the Minister's response is actually in it. The Minister mentioned a review. I am sure she is aware of the document "The East Cork Secondary School Crisis - A Profile of East Cork Population Demographics and Other Rationale". I do not know about her office but the Department definitely has a copy. It might be a handy addition to the steering group. I have three brief questions. Has she a date for when the review will be actually …

I commend Deputy Barry on bringing this important Bill to the floor of the House. I had one thought when I listened to some of the speakers but it was more pronounced when I listened to the reply from the Government side. If this Government was a doctor, I would be very frightened. If I arrived into a hospital with a broken leg and my doctor was the Government, I would be told that it would look at my leg in 12 months. That does not make sense. I cannot believe what we are listening to. This has been going on for y…

I thank the Minister of State for her opening speech and for her honesty. We can sometimes have a fairly heated debate in here, but when progress of any kind is made it must be welcomed. It would be remiss of me not to congratulate the Minister without Portfolio, Deputy McEntee, on the birth of her baby boy this morning. I wish to touch on the surge capacity requirements in mental health hospitals and the €13.5 million in additional funding that will be allocated for that purpose. I welcome that funding. I also wel…

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Butler and Minister of State, Deputy Feighan for their responses to the motion. My only disappointment is that while they said they will not oppose it, they are not supporting it. A great deal has been already said so I do not propose to get into the nitty-gritty of the issues. It was mentioned earlier that the Government inherited this crisis and I accept that is extremely difficult. This Private Members' motion tabled by Deputy Ward, whom I commend on bringing it forward, set…

I wish to raise the issue of school investment. The Taoiseach will be fairly familiar with east Cork and the problems we have with school places and, in particular, the more than 50 children with special needs who have no school places for September. I seek the Taoiseach's commitment that no child will be left behind when it comes to school places in east Cork or to school transport. I acknowledge the Taoiseach met people from the Cork ETB and some principals some weeks ago, but I want to get a commitment because i…

I congratulate Deputy Funchion on bringing the Bill forward. I welcome that the Minister is not opposing the Bill but, unfortunately, he is not supporting it either and is sitting on both sides of the fence. What this Bill does, and why it is so important, is that it would immediately provide access to birth certificates for adopted people in the short term before comprehensive information and tracing legislation is brought forward by the Government. This is so important because the history of adoption in Ireland i…

On the same issue, we have the same situation in Cobh. More than 60 appointments for people over 85 years to get their vaccinations were made for last weekend and two surgeries in the town did not got their vaccines. It is very confusing and disheartening for the patients. They are elderly and very nervous. There must be clarity in this regard because it is starting to cause hysteria, especially in my constituency of Cork East. Something similar is also happening in Youghal. It must be looked at.

I thank the Social Democrats for tabling this motion. We have been here many times and I cannot believe that this has been going on for five or six years. I have been speaking to survivors. They still have no clarity or trust. Some simple redress has been mentioned a number of times in the Dáil. For four, five, six or seven years, or even since the final report, the Government has had access to the survivors' PPS numbers, addresses and so on. What about giving each of them a simple medical card? Many of them are el…

I will give the Minister of State a good news story for a change to start. Bernard O'Hehir is from Cork City. I know him well. Many years ago, he went through the addiction services. It is well documented. He actually had to lie to get help - that will tell you how serious the service was. He has formally now just finished a little book, Memories & Hope: my long journey from there to here . What he meant by "there" was "in the bad place". A previous speaker mentioned homelessness as well. It is joined-up thinking b…

Just a statement. I thank the Minister of State for her opening speech. I will tip on two issues. I am glad the Minister of State noted in her speech that the availability of staff is and has been an ongoing issue. She stated in her opening statement: While we do not yet fully understand the impact of Covid-19 on mental health and any subsequent demand on services, it is acknowledged that there have been increased presentations in certain areas, especially in first episode psychosis and eating disorders. I will quo…

Over 5,000 children are on a waiting list for assessment of need appointments. It is totally detrimental to the development of children. What can this Government do to reduce these waiting lists and support these children and their families?

I thank the Minister of State for taking the opportunity and the time to listen to us. Cobh is an area in east Cork I represent and I have worked with many lobby groups and activists down there over the years. There seems to be a problem. From the emails I have, one specific question resonates most in terms of what people are feeling throughout Cork East, particularly Cobh: Please ask the Minister and the Government Department if it is the Government's policy to allow private enterprise decide whether families shou…