I very much welcome the opportunity to speak on this very important motion and thank the Independent Group for bringing it forward. The motion is very wide ranging, from nursing homes to electronic health records, and it reflects the scale of the challenges we face in relation to serious problems within the health service. At present, our health service is disjointed and operating in silos. We have nine CHOs and six hospital groups, all with their own separate boundaries, management teams and budgets. This disconne…

What we are seeing is the widespread monetisation of the care of older people. Is the Minister of State going to do anything about this? Her colleagues in government have been promoting this privatised, outsourced model, for many years but when we were in the throes of Covid-19, we saw all of the difficulties that arose as a result of the large-scale nursing homes that so many of our elder people are forced to enter because of the absence of other models of care. Even at that stage, in 2020, the then Taoiseach said…

The issue I raise concerns home care and staffing in nursing homes. We can only describe this as a crisis that exists in particular in regard to home care, where there are very long waiting lists and it is largely due to very poor terms and conditions for staff working in this important area. The funding of the package to improve conditions seems to be lying with the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform. There is a delay in making the necessary funding available and I want…

I do not think the Minister of State can absolve the Department of all responsibility in this regard. There is a funding requirement involved in this. While I am not sure if the Minister of State is aware of it, at the moment there are 6,500 older people on waiting lists for home care. They have been approved for it, and it is difficult enough to get approval for it, but they are on a waiting list because there are no carers available. Equally, there are many people in hospital who are ready to be discharged but th…

I reiterate that there is a real crisis in relation to getting sufficient staff to provide what is a critical social care service. Those difficulties were recognised in the strategic workforce plan. There were 16 recommendations made, principally on pay and conditions. The plan recommended a living wage and paying people for their travel time, which, incredibly, is not in place at the moment. The recommendation is for a payment of €34.44 per hour, and the cost of implementing that would be approximately €90 million…

I move amendment No. 1: In page 8, between lines 21 and 22, to insert the following: “Report into the future of regulating health and social care professionals 6. The Minister shall, within 6 months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay a report before both Houses of the Oireachtas, and the relevant committee, setting out the implications of introducing an established criteria for determining which health and social care professions to regulate into the future under the Act of 2005.”. I spoke about this at so…

Athletic therapists.

I appreciate the Minister's collaborative approach on this and the movement he has made on the general principles of what I was trying to achieve. I am not aware of that list of the 20-plus additional professions having been published anywhere. I have looked for it. I would appreciate it if I could get a copy of it from the Minister. One of his officials might take note of that. I am also very keen to know whether the two professions to which I referred are on that list. The Minister also made the point that it is …

It would create a lot of additional capacity in the system.

The Minister had not actually mentioned the physiologists, many of whom are working within the health service at the moment. However, it is specifically about how we can achieve a situation where athletic therapists are recognised - I am not saying regulated - as an important profession within the health service and how provision can be made for the employment of people in that category. I would appreciate if the Minister could send me a note on that because there seems to be some concern on the part of the univers…

I move amendment No. 2: In page 8, between lines 21 and 22, to insert the following: “PART 3 AMENDMENT OF DENTISTS ACT 1985 Definition (Part 3) 6. In this Part, “Act of 1985” means the Dentists Act 1985. Amendment of Act of 1985 7. The Act of 1985 is amended by the insertion of the following Part after Part IV: “PART IVA MAINTENANCE OF PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE Duty of registered dentists and registered dental auxiliary workers to maintain professional competence 38A. (1) A registered dentist and a registered dental …

Why would the Minister think that?

I am sorry for interrupting, but I remind the Chair there is very little time left. The debate is time limited.

We are up against the clock.

Respectfully, we are all operating to the time limits.

I did not want to divide the House on this issue because it is such a reasonable request from the Irish Dental Association. It is a no-brainer. This is an appeal for mandatory continuous professional development, which will raise standards and ensure enhanced patient safety. It would come at no cost to the State. I thought the Minister would accept the amendment because it is so reasonable. He asked for more time, which is a bit rich when we have been waiting 17 years for additional professions to be regulated unde…

I will make one brief point. This proposal has been with the Department since October 2021. We have had plenty of time to consider it and the Minister has had plenty of time to bring forward his own amendment. I am pressing the amendment because it is a very important issue.

I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this motion at a time when so many families are struggling to survive. They are trying to cope with the high cost of housing, the ongoing situation regarding inflation and pressures on family budgets at a time when interest rates continue to rise. All of this combines to place a heavy burden on many mortgage holders and first-time buyers. Unfortunately, the situation has only gotten worse since we last debated this proposal in February. Squeezed workers and families are strugg…

No, the Tánaiste did not.

You are not.