Prior the launch of the national childcare scheme, NCS, those working in the sector warned the previous Minister and the Department of the effect it would have on services in disadvantaged areas. It seems the report did justify their concerns. I would be concerned about children. Just because parents are unemployed and at home does not mean children do not need childcare. It may be the only hot meal they get in the day. They need supports from services like this, especially when they are in disadvantaged areas. It …

Did Deputy Funchion's office not do so?

I just assumed they had. No problem.

What are the Minister's plans to increase resources to community organisations that are and will be delivering services to the expected 100,000 refugees from Ukraine?

What the Minister has outlined is around accommodation, which is the first port of call and the first important thing. However, I have been hearing from local community groups such as family resource centres that have been to the forefront of assisting families fleeing conflict in Syria and Afghanistan. In Cavan-Monaghan a number of family resource centres have been reporting that staff are under extreme pressure on a daily basis with requests for help and support for these families who often have limited English. …

I would welcome any supports that can be given to family resource centres because they really are under pressure at the moment. That is before they even start to deal with people from Ukraine. The Minister said a cross-governmental approach is being taken. Is there a good plan in place in this regard? Many of the people coming here are highly qualified professionals in areas where there are staff shortages in this country. Will they be allowed to work within a short period of arriving here? It would give them the m…

I was anxious to co-sign this Bill because I have witnessed within my constituency the devastating consequences of online bullying. Social media is a relatively new phenomenon and is a very useful tool for communication and sharing information about events. However, it has been misused by some who are basically cowards. They assume an identity and post their bullying or defamatory remarks about someone without using their own name. A young man Eden Heaslip committed suicide just before Christmas. He was bullied at …

I am regularly contacted by people who have been diagnosed with cancer. The last thing they need when they get a devastating diagnosis like that is to have to fight for a medical card. Could the application process for a medical card for cancer patients be simplified? It would only be required for the duration of the treatment. Many patients also have to travel to receive treatment. In Cavan we often have to go to Dublin depending on the treatment. Because they are medically vulnerable, they do not feel like using …

I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — early intervention is essential to meet the health and educational needs of children with disabilities and additional needs, in order to improve their quality of life from a young age; — the Disability Act 2005 provides that an Assessment of Need (AON) must be commenced and completed within six months; — section 8(7) of the Disability Act 2005 requires an AON to state determinations on whether the applicant has a disability, the nature and extent of the disability, the healt…

First, I thank all the Members who contributed to this debate and thank them for their support of the motion. I also thank the Government for supporting the motion. It is an issue that is affecting children and families in all parts of the country. We all agree it is an urgent issue that must be addressed. Children cannot continue to wait for supports they are entitled to, and parents cannot continue to face ongoing battles for supports or to have to source services privately or take the State to court. We are call…

There is a need for a cross-departmental strategy on workforce planning. A clear plan on training, recruitment and retention of sufficient health and social care staff is required. The HSE needs to discuss this with the professional organisations that represent the various therapists and health professionals in the CDNTs. At present, it is refusing to engage with them, and there are things that can help to address the issues there. We need to take everybody on board and look at everything. We also need a fully cost…

I commend my colleague, Deputy Cullinane, on the work he is doing to highlight the dreadful situation whereby more than 1.3 million people are on waiting lists for some sort of health service. These people are waiting not for months but for years. I am inundated with queries from parents of children with disabilities or additional needs who are looking for assessment of needs or early intervention. The latter is key but it is not being provided. A parent contacted me recently whose teenaged child has been called fo…

Two recent reports by the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland into loyalist murders and attempted murders in the north west between 1989 and 1994 and south Belfast between 1990 and 1998 shed light on the activities of British state agents and their involvement in and connection to numerous murders and attempted murders. These are just the latest reports setting out the nature of the relationship between the British state and loyalist paramilitary gangs, a relationship that nationalist and republican communities w…

While the plan to retrofit homes is of course welcome, this plan will predominantly benefit people with means. Struggling working families will be encouraged to take on more debt if they want warm homes. There are aspects of the scheme that are very welcome, such as the SEAI no-second-visit rule being removed and a step-by-step scheme of small works will be supported. There are, however, serious concerns that it will result in a three-tier programme. On the first tier, there will be grants and immediate work for th…

I commend the Regional Group on raising this important matter, taking in the primary medical certificates and the lack of personalised transport supports for people with disabilities. It is something that is discussed regularly at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Disability Matters meetings, and it is also raised at practically every meeting I attend with disabled people or their representative organisations. People with disabilities should be able to live full and active lives within their communities but many ob…

A disability package was promised to people affected by Valproate, which is a drug prescribed for the treatment of epilepsy but causes serious developmental disorders and congenital malformation in children exposed to it in the womb. A number of years ago, the affected people and families obtained a report from a genetics doctor which was submitted to the CHO area in which they live. They were told a liaison officer would be appointed to engage with those concerned to identify the supports required to address their…

I welcome the Bill and the resulting transfer of statutory responsibility for disability services from the Minister for Health to the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. This transfer is not before time. The Joint Committee on Disability Matters had been requesting information on when this would happen for more than a year and a half and was initially told it was going to happen a year ago. I welcome that it has happened at long last. Disability is not solely a health matter. It is g…

Things went a bit faster than I anticipated. What are the plans of the Minister and the Department to address the findings and conclusions of the Indecon report on the cost of disability published a number of months ago?

I thank the Minister and acknowledge that the report requires a whole-of-government perspective and support. I also acknowledge that it has been referred to the national disability inclusion steering group for further work. The report confirms what was widely suspected but perhaps not acknowledged, which is that the cost of disability is quite significant. The cost of disability amounts to the extra spending that a person with a disability must face in daily life that able-bodied people do not have to face. It is t…

I acknowledge there has been an increase in the weekly payment and weekly disregard but we can see how rapidly the cost of living has increased. The increases in the weekly payments and disregards do not even cover that cost-of-living increase. We have a very poor record of employment for disabled people in this country and more support must be provided for people to support themselves. Perhaps, for example, we can revise the current timeframes for reducing social welfare supports for people going back to work or e…