The latest estimate is that it will be at least another year. This is the biggest capital investment in the health service in the history of the State and it has been a botched project.

We need time set aside to have a discussion on this fiasco. We need an update on this from the Minister.

I too congratulate the Minister of State on her reappointment as Minister of State with responsibility for mental health and also her appointment as Government Chief Whip. I will talk about funding, policy and the law. On funding, for far too long mental health services have been the Cinderella of our health services. Decades of underinvestment have left us with understaffed and underresourced services. The system needs a major overhaul to shift the focus towards proactive and community-based services, but this kin…

Like my colleagues, I thank the Labour Party for this debate. I have spent the past couple of years listening to the debates in this House on housing. As a younger person, I find it really hard to stomach the Government's rhetoric on housing. Rarely does it acknowledge how bad the situation is, with unaffordable rents, soaring house prices and record homelessness. There is a real catastrophe for people in their daily lives because of the Government's housing policies. Instead, time and again, the Government tells u…

The chronic shortage of public health nurses needs urgent attention. Not for the first time, developmental checks for those aged under five have been suspended in some parts of the country. These checks are vital to ensure milestones are being met and to identify medical issues and developmental delays. At the moment, the best the HSE can offer to some parents is a QR code to a guidance book. This is not right and not good enough. The situation should come as no surprise. In 2018, the health service capacity review…

I am delighted to have this opportunity to speak on the new programme for Government. Having read the document from start to finish, it is my firm view that it fails to provide for transformative change. Over the 162 pages, most of the commitments are vague, notional or regurgitated. There are very few new ideas and it is completely devoid of the promised new energy. Instead, what we get is more of the same. However, more of the same will not deliver the transformative change that is deeply desired and urgently req…

I congratulate the Ceann Comhairle on her election. As I rise to make my maiden speech in the Dáil, I begin by expressing my heartfelt thanks to the thousands of people in Cork South-Central who voted for me. I am incredibly grateful for their support and I will work hard every day to uphold the trust they have placed in me. On this special occasion, I also thank my family, friends and campaign volunteers who helped me through not one but two elections this year. In particular, I thank my husband, Aaron, who succes…