I welcome the Minister of State's response and his statement that it is a priority for the Minister for Health. He also said the National Screening Advisory Committee is considering adding a tenth condition, but he did not say if it would be SMA specifically. I ask him to clarify that. Is the tenth condition to be added to the testing SMA? SMA Ireland represents children already diagnosed but it wants to ensure the best possible treatment for children going forward, so all children born with the condition receive t…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion regarding cutting back-to-school costs. I commend my colleague Deputy Ó Laoghaire on his work in bringing it forward. Families across the State, and I have spoken with many in my constituency of Cavan-Monaghan, find back-to-school costs a huge burden every year. However, this year it is more severe, with a cost-of-living crisis and continually spiralling fuel and food costs, as well as high rents and childcare costs to contend with. Letters about the purchase of boo…

Sinn Féin will support this Bill. I commend the Labour Party on bringing it forward. My party colleagues in Sinn Féin and I supported a similar Bill from the Regional Group in October 2021. It is important that we see the development and implementation of a cross-departmental and multiagency autism strategy that has legislative underpinning. In April 2019, my colleague, Deputy Funchion, moved a motion on behalf of Sinn Féin calling for the development of an autism empowerment strategy and the establishment of an Oi…

From early August, the North East Doctor on Call service will implement a reduced service where out-of-hours care to patients on a face-to-face basis will be provided until 10.30 p.m. on weekdays and 10 p.m. at weekends but, thereafter, there will be no in-person appointments or home visits provided. The changes are as a result of acute doctor shortages and underfunding of the service by the HSE. The HSE has been aware for some years of the issues facing this service and has provided some funding, but it is not suf…

I commend the Independent Group on bringing forward this motion. I and my colleagues in Sinn Féin will be supporting it. We need to recognise the key role respite plays in supporting persons with a disability and family carers. However, it is not enough to recognise the role respite services play as we must also ensure they are funded adequately. Respite helps prevent out-of-home full-time residential placements, preserves the family unit and supports family stability. There are approximately 500,000 family carers …

A large proportion of the people who live in the part of my constituency that is in north Meath, including in Drumcondra and Kilmainhamwood, and in parts of east Cavan avail of the services of Navan hospital but, unfortunately, successive governments have been attempting to shut down the service in Navan for years under the small hospitals framework. This has resulted in a lack of investment in emergency and critical services in the hospital despite the significant increase in the population of Meath during this ti…

One of my constituents contacted me last week. She is a medical card holder. She has a severe toothache and has been in pain for six months. She requires a wisdom tooth extracted, which has been referred to a dentist who is a specialist in that. The other day she rang to see where she was on the list. This is six months later, with five infections and five doses of antibiotics. If she were to pay, she could jump the queue. As a medical card holder, if she could afford to pay she would have done so, but she cannot a…

In 2018, Ireland ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD. I will cite part of two articles of the convention. The first, Article 7, states: Parties shall take all necessary measures to ensure the full enjoyment by children with disabilities of all human rights and fundamental freedoms on an equal basis with other children. In all actions concerning children with disabilities, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration. Article 24, which relates…

I am hugely concerned about the worrying shortage of staff within disability services, particularly services for children. The progressing disability services model saw the establishment of 91 children's disability network teams. However, there is a vacancy rate of 28%, on average, across all teams. This amounts to more than 700 vacancies, with some teams having a vacancy rate of 33%. There is a need, in particular, for occupational therapists, physiotherapists, speech and language therapists and psychologists. Whe…

This is important legislation that aims to abolish the wards of court system for adults with reduced decision-making capacity and introduce a graduated supported decision-making framework that is intended to support a range of people who may have capacity issues. This is critical legislation for disabled people, their families and carers, as well as many others. While I am generally supportive of the Bill, I am extremely critical of the lack of meaningful consultation that has been afforded to relevant stakeholders…

The British Government recently stated that it will introduce legislation in Westminster in the coming weeks that will alter what it agreed in the protocol. The protocol is part of an international agreement that it signed with the EU in an effort, they both stated, to protect the Good Friday Agreement. Unilaterally altering the protocol will have the opposite effect. It will undermine the Good Friday Agreement. Businesses are benefiting from the significant opportunities afforded by the protocol to create jobs and…

It is stated on page 49 of the programme for Government that the Government will extend the remit of the National Treatment Purchase Fund in order to secure timely assessment for child and adult psychological services. Has this happened? If not, why? There is a huge issue with recruitment and retention of staff in children's disability services under the progressing disability model and in primary care itself. If we are to believe the HSE, it is working to resolve the staffing issues but this will take time. In the…

I live in the heart of rural Ireland, in the constituency of Cavan-Monaghan. The vast majority of people generally agree that we need to change the way we live in order to tackle the climate crisis but this needs to be done in an equitable way. The price of home heating oil, for example, increased by 50% in the 12 months to January 2022. This was prior to the recent decision by the Government to increase the carbon tax. Imposing these increases in carbon taxes while inflation is already disproportionately impacting…

I am very disappointed the Cabinet agreed earlier today to sign off on the national maternity hospital going ahead on non-publicly owned land. The question as to why the land could not be gifted to the State has never been answered. We have been told the 299-year lease at nominal rent is ownership in everything but name but why can it not just be signed off and given at a nominal fee in order that ownership can be made without question? The State will build a state-of-the-art hospital at a cost of €800 million and …

There is a section of the population who just cannot afford to buy a home in Ireland today. This cohort, often called the squeezed middle, would say they pay for everything and are entitled to nothing, but house prices continue to spiral upwards. The CSO residential property price index report for February 2022 shows that house prices across the State have risen by 13.5% and the median new-build house price for first-time buyers is now €335,000. That is not affordable for most people. The Minister's response is a f…

I want to raise the issue of Shabra Plastics in Castleblayney, County Monaghan, which is Ireland's only PET recycling company. It recycles more than 12,000 tonnes of plastic which it buys from materials recovery facilities. It sells 90% of the processed, recycled materials to Irish companies. This model has become untenable because some European countries, including the UK, have a levy on virgin material, increasing demand for recycled material. The Irish Government through Repak is paying a subsidy on recycling PE…

I am contacted regularly about the lack of respite services in counties Cavan and Monaghan. Currently, respite services for both adults and children are provided in Annalee View, a respite centre in Cootehill, County Cavan. However, because adults and children cannot be facilitated together, the services are provided on alternating weeks, that is, adults one week and children the next. It is not sufficient to deal with the large number of people who require respite services throughout the two counties, so there is …

The house in Cootehill actually caters for Cavan and Monaghan - it is two counties. I accept Steadfast House cater for some in Carrickmacross as well but for children in the two counties, it is Annalee View. The day the Minister of State refers to in Carrickmacross, I was talking to some of the people in the HSE as well. I will not name the place they mentioned but they were talking about some of the settings that are now being decongregated. Is there a possibility that some of those could be now turned into centre…

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." The purpose of this Bill is to ensure that local authorities administrating the housing adaptation grant for people with a disability shall, as far as is practicable, process applications for the grant within a period of not more than four weeks from the date of receipt of the application. By application, I mean the date on which the application form and all relevant documentation is received by the local authority, which will include an occupational therapist's re…

I thank the Minister of State and my colleagues, Deputies Ó Broin and Ryan, for their support and for staying back on a Thursday evening when we are on the eve of a recess. To explain again, the whole basis for this Bill is to help people all over the country to live comfortably within their own homes because they are unable to do so, sometimes for months and sometimes for longer, as they need adaptations done to their houses or they need mobility aids put in. The application process takes far too long. I am just l…