I welcome these statements on the 20th anniversary of the smoking ban. There is no doubt that the Tánaiste, Deputy Micheál Martin, deserves great credit for introducing this ban in 2004. He did so, as many of us will recall, in the face of heavy opposition and lobbying from the tobacco industry, publicans and even some members of his own party. There is no doubt that many people are alive in this country today as a result of his political courage. Many more are enjoying a much better standard of living and health s…

I very much welcome the opportunity to speak on the proposed future Ireland fund. I will be sharing my time with Deputy Whitmore, who will focus on the infrastructure, climate and nature fund. In principle, the Social Democrats support the creation of a fund to address the future costs associated with an ageing population. However, I think we would have to question the wisdom of setting aside such a significant amount of public funds for the future without adequately addressing the country's current service and inf…

Last week, along with other Members of the House, including Deputy Naughten, I had the pleasure of attending the "I Am Number 17" exhibition launch in St. Stephen's Green. The exhibition features 17 people living with rare diseases, reflecting the fact that one in 17 people will be affected by a rare disease at some point in their lives. Putting their stories on display in the heart of our capital city, just a stone's throw from the Oireachtas and Government Buildings, is certainly a powerful statement and I encour…

I welcome these statements on youth mental health and the renewed focus on the need to improve services in that area, but after Tuesday's debate, I am still unclear about the Government’s position on CAMHS regulation. The Minister still has not committed to acting on the Inspector of Mental Health Services' primary recommendation out of 49 recommendations in total that CAMHS should be regulated by the Mental Health Commission. This is a measure the Government could take that would be transformative. How long will t…

Can we have a debate?

Can we have a debate?

I will start by thanking Deputies Ward and Cullinane for their work in producing this legislation. The Social Democrats are very happy to support it. Yesterday marked seven months since the damning report by the inspector of mental health services into CAMHS was published. That report revealed a level of dysfunction that went very far beyond what was first feared and spelt out in the starkest terms the most serious shortcomings in service provision but these revelations came as no surprise to the many families who …

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill, which the Social Democrats will be supporting. However, I have some concerns about the approach being taken in Part 2 in terms of both health and housing. I will go into detail on those matters in a few moments. In the context of Part 3, I very much welcome the provisions to enhance the role of community pharmacists. I will begin by commenting on this matter. In November, the expert task force published its initial recommendations. I commend Minister on the speedy way…

I join with others in asking for a special debate this week on the Children’s Rights Alliance report card in respect of children’s mental health services. For three years in a row, the Government has received an E grade. This is based on the fact that children are still being moved into adult mental health units and the number of beds relating to children’s mental health services has decreased from 70 to 50. It is also based on the Government’s hopeless performance in relation to CAMHS whereby more than 4,000 child…

We very often hear reference made to the fact that seven years ago the then Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, gave a commitment that no child would wait more than four months for spinal surgery. It is worth reminding ourselves of that fact and the empty promise that was made. The same commitment was given by the current Minister for Health two years ago, as I am sure he will recall, but the commitment has never been honoured. In fact, the situation has only got worse. We now have 327 children on the waiting list …

I wish to begin by thanking LGBT Ireland and Equality for Children for their work on this Bill and the Labour Party for sponsoring it. The Social Democrats are happy to support this legislation. While the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 represented a significant step in the right direction for LGBTQ+ families, it was undoubtedly rife with inequalities and inconsistencies, so much so that 53% of children born to LGBTQ+ families did not benefit from it, according to research carried out by Dr. Lydia Bracke…

Last week, we heard from Families for Reform of CAMHS about the predominantly problematic experience of the 850 families it represents. The Taoiseach will also be aware of the review of CAMHS carried out by the Mental Health Commission, which produced a fairly damning report that made 49 recommendations. The overriding recommendation and requirement of its report was for the independent regulation of CAMHS. We cannot continue with the kind of dysfunction we have seen in CAMHS over recent years. Has the Government c…

And the city apparently.

I am raising the issue of the recent ESRI report that made fairly damning findings about what is happening in the area of residential care for older people. We have seen the rapid closure of small, community-based nursing homes and a trend towards much bigger and much more commercial nursing homes, which is certainly not in the interests of older people. What is the Minister of State's response to that?

With all due respect to the Minister of State, I asked for her response and she described the report. She said we have often have had conversations across the floor. That is the problem. All we have is talk from her. There has been no action. Residential care is not the first choice of many older people. What we should be doing, of course, is expanding other options. In May 2020, at the height of Covid, the Taoiseach spoke about the work done by the previous Government to develop alternatives such as supported hous…

In 2020, the then Minister for Health also made the point that the current model was not fit for purpose. We had two senior people in the middle of Covid saying we had to move away from the model of big nursing homes. I cannot see that the Minister of State has done anything of substance on that. I point to the fact that she continues to allow a situation where nursing home care is incentivised over home care. The promise made six years ago to introduce a statutory right to home care has not yet materialised. What …

The Minister of State is kicking the can down the road again.

We need action on this.

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate and to highlight the Social Democrats concerns about the Government's funding of key public services. While I will refer to some of the amounts provided for in the Bill, I begin my contribution by raising the most pressing spending issue of the day, which is what would appear to be the deliberate decision by the Minister for public expenditure to underfund the health service. A €2 billion shortfall in the health budget is indefensible. It seems the Government i…

Successive governments have undervalued and under-recognised care and unfortunately, very little has changed in the last three and a half to four years of this Government. It seems that care is increasingly viewed as a commodity, with private providers operating almost 80% of nursing homes, while only 39% of home care hours are provided directly by the State. However, this rampant outsourcing is a more recent phenomenon, particularly in the home care sector. In 2006, funding to private home care providers stood at …