I raise the issue of boarding-out services. These are services that support older people to live in their own community, people who do not require nursing home care but cannot live on their own or do not want to live on their own. They live in their community and are supported where they need to be they but live practically independent lives. At one time there were eight houses providing this service in County Cavan. The last one is due to close at the end of July. The reason that all the providers, including this …

I support Senator Stephenson's amendment. The Department of education should liaise with the UK's Department for Work and Pensions on this issue. My understanding is that approximately one third of the people deemed eligible for the payment live in the UK. We need clarification as to whether the payment will be disregarded for the purpose of means testing applicants for benefits given in the UK. Philomena's law will, we hope, progress through Westminster. We must make sure staff in the Department for Work and Pensi…

I move amendment No. 28: In page 15, after line 11, to insert the following: “Commensurate compensation from Religious Orders 22. Within 6 months of the passing of this Act, the Minister shall prepare a comprehensive plan to deliver commensurate compensation from Religious Orders, this to include a consideration of every avenue of recourse and a timeline of engagements and actions, in pursuit of the public good.”. The amendment calls for, within six months of the passing of the Bill, a plan to be put in place to se…

I thank the Minister for acknowledging that. Could there be a way, under a different Department or in a different scenario, to set out a plan? The amendment calls for a plan that looks for that money, so that it is not left at the discretion of the organisations. If they signed up for this, they should be made to acknowledge that and properly pay for the damage they have caused. This is not to take away from all the good work many people in religious institutions have done in this State over the years and continue …

I have been recently notified by Cavan County Council that it is pausing the private housing grant applications for the moment due to high demand. This refers to the housing adaptation grant, the mobility aids grant and the housing aid for older people grant. These grants are vital to make changes or improvements to homes to accommodate changing needs which may occur due to ageing and mobility issues as a result of ageing, accident or illness. It also makes it possible for older houses to continue to be liveable in…

I thank the Minister of State. As he noted, that tallies with what the council has been informed of and I know additional funding was provided last year. I am really asking whether there is a possibility that can happen again this year. I know the council has made an application for additional funding to the Department. The council is willing to try to come up with the matching funding of 15% within the council. It has to managed to do that even though it has put a fair burden on the council, because it realises th…

I wish to share time with Senator McCormack.

What happened to Grace is forever unforgivable. It is unconscionable to know what she went through. She was a young girl of ten or 11 years of age with an intellectual disability and non-verbal who was put into a place - I would not even call it a home - that was not properly assessed before she went into it. She was left there for a period of six years during which there was not one visit by a social worker to see whether she was okay, whether her needs were being met or whether she was being subjected to abuse or…

We are talking about balanced regional development, but it is anything but balanced. I come from Cavan, a Border county that is a part of the northern and western region of Ireland, which is ranked No. 218 out of 234 EU regions in terms of transport infrastructure. Cavan, Monaghan and Donegal have no rail service. They did 65 years ago but all was stopped by a Government that had absolutely no foresight in favour of a lobby by car manufacturers to get people into cars. Even the road infrastructure is very poor. The…

The trade union Fórsa represents over 2,300 school secretaries and approximately 500 caretakers. It recently held a ballot, which closed at 12 noon yesterday, on whether to take indefinite strike action. Some 81% of the members took part in that ballot, 98% of whom voted in favour of indefinite strike action. It was practically unanimous. That is due to start on 28 August to coincide with the start of the new school year. This matter relates to pension provision under the single public service pension scheme, which…

I was not expecting to be next. As a former teacher, I am delighted to speak on this issue. I was a teacher for nearly 30 years and most of that time was spent in Breifne College in Cavan town. I am proud of my teaching career, our education system and the good work teachers, SNAs and the whole school staff, including secretaries and caretakers, put into making our schools not only good places to learn the academic subjects, but also to develop young peoples' social skills, which is almost as important as the forme…

I received correspondence from Cavan County Council the week before last indicating its intention to temporarily pause private housing grant schemes. I refer to the housing adaptation grants for older people and disabled people, the mobility aid grants and housing aid for older people. The reason the council needs to pause the grants with immediate effect is that it has run out of funding. It has made a submission to the Department of housing seeking further funding. I support that submission today and call on the …

I will be sharing time with Senator Nicole Ryan. I join in acknowledging Sheila O'Byrne and Catherine Coffey O'Brien in the Gallery. I acknowledge the profound detrimental impact residential institutional abuse had on survivors, not only at the time but right up to the modern day. I also join Senator Curley in acknowledging Senator Boyhan on his passionate speech today and for all his advocacy work in this area, bringing it home to us what it really means to have been a survivor of something like this. I wish to qu…

I am happy to speak in support of the Dereliction and Building Regeneration Bill. We are living through a housing crisis at the moment so every opportunity must be used to ensure we bring buildings of all sorts back into use for housing. I noticed the levels of vacancy in our towns and villages when I was canvassing in 2020. We saw many vacant buildings, some of them derelict, on the main streets and along all the other streets in all the towns and villages throughout Cavan. I know it is no different from any other…

Tesco is taking over the lease of a SuperValu store in Virginia, County Cavan. I have been informed that all local suppliers have been told they must be prepared to give a 40% margin immediately on their goods. This is just going to hammer local suppliers. They were supplying SuperValu and, if they want to continue to supply Tesco, they have to slash their prices. They cannot afford to do that. They are already barely keeping their head above water. They have families to support, transport costs, production costs a…

Senator Collins is delayed at the moment but Senator Ryan wants to use the time.

Senator Collins may come in and take a couple of minutes of the time.

I commend my colleague, Senator Chris Andrews, on introducing the Equality (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025.. This Bill proposes to add a tenth ground of discrimination to the nine grounds that already exist. It is to prohibit discrimination on the basis of your address or your accent - your socioeconomic background. Every city or large town has areas that are associated with poverty and discrimination. There is often intergenerational poverty so it is very difficult for people to actually get out of that pover…

Is the Minister of State, Deputy McConalogue, going to take this matter?

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. This matter relates to paediatric diabetic services, specifically insulin pump services, in Cavan and Monaghan general hospital. I raised it with the previous Minister for Health, former Deputy Stephen Donnelly, in the Dáil on a number of occasions. Parents of children and young people have approached me to say that children with a diagnosis of type 1 diabetes were unable to access insulin pump therapy through Cavan General Hospital and had to be referred to Our Lady of Lourdes Ho…