I ask the Minister to outline the progress made to date in securing a suitable location for a domestic violence refuge in Monaghan town; and the efforts that have been made to identify a suitable location and secure funding for a domestic violence refuge in County Cavan.

One of the main reasons many women do not leave an abusive relationship is the shortage of available and affordable accommodation that could rehouse a victim of domestic abuse at short notice. According to the Council of Europe, it is recommended that there be one refuge place per 100,000 people, which means there should be 446 places in Ireland. Currently, there are 137, which is ten less than four years ago. We signed up to the Istanbul Convention. Why sign up to a convention if we are not going to implement it? …

I welcome that the issue will be the responsibility of one Minister. We know that what is needed to tackle domestic violence and violence against women is a multipronged approach. It is very welcome that one Minister will be able to choreograph all of that. It is scary. We are all aware of the recent death of Ashling Murphy. Almost every week, the newspapers report that a woman has been murdered or a case is being heard in court. Domestic violence is a scourge and a pandemic. The Garda reported that it responded to…

Does the Government have plans to revise the cross-border directive or the planned healthcare scheme when it is applied to the North? Recently a woman contacted me who requires two knee replacements. She has been advised that she will have to wait for at least two years in the public system here for an operation. When she inquired about having the operation in Derry, she was told she would be approved by the HSE for just over €11,000 for the operation, but it costs in excess of £12,000, which equates to more than €…

The news about the treatment of children attending CAMHS in south Kerry was alarming but I firmly believe that the problems there are being replicated in many ways across the State, although hopefully not as seriously. The news of a nationwide audit is welcome but it needs to happen without delay. I hear from those involved with CAMHS there are issues around medication, poor management and nurse dominance and that there is a lack of training, of appropriate resources, career progression and there is a hierarchical …

The delivery of high-speed broadband is crucial to our ability to grow the economy, particularly in the context of regional development. As a Deputy who represents a rural constituency, I know the lack of broadband connectivity is having negative impacts on the ability of rural communities to remain sustainable. The work of NBI is vital. It was reported recently that NBI is once again going to miss its target for access to high-speed Internet for homes and businesses. The target was 60,000. It had been revised down…

I hope there are not further delays because targets are missed. Most worrying are the areas in which there is no indication of planned activity. There are a number of small gaps in rural areas around Shercock and Virginia, to name but two. An extremely large part of west Cavan is not covered by the map. I was recently contacted by a man from Ballyconnell who told me he has two daughters who were doing college exams in the first week of January. They were doing those exams online and when they were submitting their …

Mental health services prior to Covid-19 were in crisis but it is now an emergency situation. The child and adolescent mental health services and Jigsaw both report an increase in demand of over 40%. Similar increases are relayed to me by community and voluntary organisations working in this area in Cavan and Monaghan. There is an over-reliance on community and voluntary services, with the HSE routinely signposting people while neglecting to increase their funding or not providing funding at all to some organisatio…

One of my constituents, Andrew Brennan, from Mullagh, County Cavan, was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 2015. He was strongly advised to build an extension for his future needs. An adaptation grant was approved in 2016, a builder was chosen, work was approved to proceed by Cavan County Council and the extension was built. During the winter of 2016, Andrew noticed the extension was extremely hard to heat. As he was only using the bathroom, and the builder assured him all was okay, he did not think much more …

I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to amend the Education Act 1998 to grant additional functions to the Inspectorate to examine and report to the Minister on the prevalence and standard of individual educational plans for children with special educational needs on an annual basis; and to provide for related matters. I am sharing time with Deputies Guirke and Ó Laoghaire. The Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs, EPSEN, Act was passed in 2004 to ensure that children wit…

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

I have been contacted by many students and parents who are very concerned about the leaving certificate this year and how best to proceed to ensure that it is fair to all students. The students currently in sixth year missed out on three months of schooling this time last year. I acknowledge that online teaching was provided and commend all the teaching staff who went to great lengths to ensure that teaching was provided. Many teachers to whom I have spoken would have much preferred to be in the classroom setting t…

What has become very clear since the horrific murder of Ashling Murphy last week is that practically every woman has a story to tell. Women have been speaking out bravely on the radio during the past week and have been recounting incidents of abuse, assault, rape, being groped, degraded or followed. The list goes on. This is women of all ages and all backgrounds. Disturbingly, some girls who were still in school recounted incidents of inappropriate touching or behaviour within the school community. Most of these in…

I wish the Ceann Comhairle and all the members of staff a very happy Christmas. What is the Government currently doing to replace the mobility allowance and the motorised transport grant, which were discontinued for new applicants in 2013? An indication was given at that time that an alternative scheme would be put in place. We are now almost nine years on and that has not happened. It is inequitable because some people who were in receipt of the allowance prior to 2013 are still receiving it, and rightly so, but t…

I welcome the publication of the Indecon report on the cost of disability, which was published last week after months of waiting. We were informed last summer that this report was completed. It is regrettable it was not presented to the Government prior to budget 2022 as it might have influenced how spending on disability would be managed in the coming year. I hope the next few months are used wisely to consider the findings in the report and how best to address them as the year progresses and that budget 2023 will…

We must recognise that if we are to deal with disability directly, a response by all Departments is required. One of the things that struck me from the report is that Ireland is fourth from the bottom of the list of 31 countries where the percentage of our social protection budget is the lowest when dealing with disability supports. The level of payment and allowances to disabled people must be increased if we are to end the exclusion and risk of poverty for disabled people in this country. However, as the Minister…

I commend my colleague, Deputy Ó Broin, on introducing the Bill, which is supported by the Opposition parties. It aims to provide increased protection for those at risk of homelessness following an eviction notice by providing a three-month extension to the notice-to-quit period triggered by a housing authority, which would prevent their entry into emergency accommodation. The primary drivers of homelessness in recent years have been legal evictions and rent increases. Homelessness has increased in each of the past…

I was contacted by the mother of an 18-month-old boy during the week. When the child was six weeks old, their GP highlighted that the baby had an undescended testicle. He was referred to a consultant in County Cavan, but he needs to see a paediatric urologist in Temple Street Children's Hospital. His parents have just been told that he may get a consultation when he is five years old. That is three and a half years from now. The parents are naturally worried because if untreated, their son may encounter fertility i…

I am happy to support the motion and Sinn Féin's amendment to it. Ireland has huge potential not only to meet its 2030 greenhouse gas targets but also to become a leading provider of green energy in Europe. However, this will not happen if proper and robust planning is not carried out now and the substantial investment needed in the sector provided. Ireland is not on track to reach our target of offshore wind by the end of 2030 as things stand. Proper resources must be invested in our planning infrastructure to ens…

I was speaking to leaving certificate students and their parents last week. They are very concerned about what is happening at the moment. They have no teachers. We know there is an issue with substitute teachers, and teachers are out sick with Covid. One parent told me that five teachers were absent from her daughter's school one day.