We are all conscious that parts of the country have been gripped with anxiety this week and last week in relation to heavy rainfall and risk of flooding. So far, east Cork has been spared this time around but what we are left with is an eerie calm because we know we may not be so fortunate next week, next month or next year. There is a commitment in the programme for Government to streamlining and delivering flood relief schemes. The large-scale project for Midleton is extremely overdue at this point but it is at l…

The cost-of-living crisis is affecting people across society but disproportionately impacting disabled people. It has been long established that disabled people already face major additional financial burdens that result from living with a disability in a society that is so poorly adapted to their needs. These costs mount up daily in areas like healthcare, transport, energy, specialist equipment and the variety of supports needed to live as independently as possible. The figures are stark. Two in every five people …

Storm Chandra has once again exposed how vulnerable our country is in the face of extreme weather events and how poorly set up we are to adapt to climate turbulence, which is intensifying with the passage of time and which we know from science will intensify more and more into the future. There was major disruption in road transport across Dublin, Wicklow and Wexford yesterday, causing chaos and leaving thousands of commuters stranded. Professor Brian Caulfield of Trinity College spoke on "Morning Ireland" earlier …

Before I call on the Minister to open the debate, I remind Members that two separate motions are being debated in this slot, namely, the motion regarding the proposed approval by Dáil Éireann of the signing of the agreement between the European Union and the Swiss Confederation on the transfer of passenger name record, PNR, data; and the motion regarding the proposed approval by Dáil Éireann of the conclusion of the agreement between the European Union and the Swiss Confederation on the transfer of PNR data. The mo…

I thank Sinn Féin for tabling this very important motion. I welcome the opportunity to speak on it because it goes to the heart of one of the most serious failings in our mental health system, namely how we treat people when they are in deepest crisis. The Mental Health Commission’s report on acute mental healthcare in hospital emergency departments painted a harrowing picture of adults and young people arriving in hospitals in terrible distress and then being left for many hours in noisy and chaotic settings that …

I am asking for the number of approved psychology posts, per population, in older adult mental health teams across each health region and for the Minister to indicate whether there are integrated health areas that currently do not have approved psychology posts for older adult mental health teams. To be clear, I am not just asking about vacancies where there has been an attempt to recruit but where a post has not actually been approved to be advertised.

I thank the Minister of State for following up that data. I do not doubt her bona fides in this area at all but it is not credible that the HSE would not have that data to hand. It is very basic. The importance of psychology as a core part of older adult mental health teams is long established Government policy. A Vision for Change in 2006 was explicit that older adult mental health services must be delivered through fully resourced multidisciplinary teams with psychology as a core part. That principle was reaffirm…

The lack of adequate psychology staffing in older adult mental health teams represents a failure to meet the complexity of mental health needs of people in later life. It is also a failure by Government to meet wider obligations including under the UNCRPD, which emphasises access to appropriate mental health supports across the lifespan and the right to live in one's community with autonomy. Psychologists play a unique role in later life services supporting people to cope with ageing, loss, disability and cognitive…

Thank you, Minister.

Thank you, Minister.

I will bring in Deputy Ó Muirí for a supplementary question.

I thank the Minister for that. We only have time for one further question. I ask that the question be asked and then there will be a two-minute reply. Unfortunately, that is all we have time for.

I want to use my time today to express my deep respect and admiration for the peaceful protesters who took to the streets in Iran in recent weeks. They are ordinary citizens who have shown remarkable courage in standing up to tyranny, repression and extreme state violence. These are people who protested knowing the cost. They protested facing a terrifyingly high risk of imprisonment, torture and death. Yet they persisted with dignity and an unyielding demand for freedom, equality and basic human rights. Their strug…

We could spend all day every day discussing the dysfunction of Uisce Éireann and the many forms it takes. In the brief time I have, I will share a vignette of that dysfunction and its impact on people with reference to Knockane, Castlemartyr, County Cork. It is a townland in east Cork in my own constituency where there was an outage over Christmas that affected just eight households. This situation is replicated throughout the country. A small number of families was involved but the impact at that time of year was …

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the home support providers Bill. It is long overdue, as my colleague Deputy Gibney said, that there is a statutory scheme for the registration and inspection of home support providers. Regulation and oversight are essential, particularly where care is delivered behind closed doors in people's private homes and to people in vulnerable circumstances. This Bill establishes a process for registration and inspection but it is largely silent on the principles, standards and obligatio…

When the staggering waiting lists for primary care services for young people were first raised by my party leader, Deputy Holly Cairns, in July 2024, the then Taoiseach, Deputy Simon Harris, suggested the crisis was confined to psychology and the Cork–Kerry area. I have looked into this in depth over the past year and it is clear that the crisis is across disciplines and affecting every health region. The longest waiting time for physiotherapy is in Laois–Offaly, at six and a half years. The longest for occupationa…

The Taoiseach will be familiar with the fact that Local Link bus services have greatly improved mobility and quality of life in many rural communities. However, I ask him to visit east Cork where a Local Link service has not been developed and where the existing bus service is nothing short of an absolute shambles. In villages such as Ballycotton, Cloyne, Aghada and Saleen, residents may as well be living on a remote island when it comes to public transport. Not only that but they face entrenched traffic gridlock a…

It is severely neglected.

It is not clear how the Department of Social Protection decided that long Covid is not worthy of classification as an occupational injury for healthcare workers who had been in receipt of special Covid leave with pay until 31 December and how the Department of Health informed that decision. A group of these workers met the Taoiseach in Cork in June. As I have said here before, they felt he gave them a lot of time, showed genuine empathy and concern for their situation and, critically, that he validated the seriousn…

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