I thank the Minister of State for taking the opportunity and the time to listen to us. Cobh is an area in east Cork I represent and I have worked with many lobby groups and activists down there over the years. There seems to be a problem. From the emails I have, one specific question resonates most in terms of what people are feeling throughout Cork East, particularly Cobh: Please ask the Minister and the Government Department if it is the Government's policy to allow private enterprise decide whether families shou…

I thank the Minister of State for her reply. She was spot on with her figures, and while many of the names of those little towns and villages are a challenge, she was spot on with them as well. On a serious note, I welcome the news of the Cobh-Midleton deployment area and the service being completed. I reiterate that Cobh is an island. It has only the one little bridge to enter it, in Belvelly. The residents always feel they are cut off in many ways. The Naval Service is based there and high-speed broadband is esse…

I have listened to the Minister and many of the speakers this morning. There are more than 48,000 people on the PUP in Cork alone. I have heard the Government speakers talk about the living alone allowance, the exceptional needs payment - let us get it right, the exceptional needs payment is only a once-off payment - the other payments and the retrofitting scheme. These speakers are missing the point. This motion is about giving families and workers a bit of a break. We have an emergency and we are asking for emerg…

I genuinely believe the Minister wants to do the right thing and I appeal to him now as I have done before. He is the captain and manager of this team and when things change, it is time to go back and talk to the team before coming out for the second half and tell them they are taking a different approach for a better result. I spoke to many survivors and adoptees over the last week. My phone has been hopping. They are disappointed in the report. I spoke to good close friends of mine and as has been mentioned alrea…

I want to raise very briefly the national development framework. We have been speaking for months and years about housing. The local authorities must follow this framework. I am also aware Irish Water does not follow the framework and it seems to be hindering a lot of development. Is there any way we can get Irish Water to follow the exact same rules as all local authorities do? It would alleviate a lot of the complications and delays and the denial of building proper infrastructure and servicing sites in order tha…

I thank the Rural Independent Group for bringing forward this important motion. We have listened to all the praise here for student nurses, healthcare staff, services workers, childcare workers, people who work in the area of mental health, small and medium businesses and those who run the traditional pubs, yet there is very little support for them. People have contacted my office in the past couple of months, but particularly in recent weeks, who say they are getting zero services. The housing crisis is escalating…

I am sharing time with Deputies Gould, Patricia Ryan and Mythen. I welcome most of the Minister's comments. As he said, it does not matter on what side of the House we are. If we can work together for the right reasons, we can improve the Bill. I see no reason that cannot be done. The Minister also mentioned people with complex needs. I want to give an example of where, possibly, there is a failing in that regard. For people with disabilities the invalidity benefit payment is very low. As single people, even with t…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. As mentioned by the previous speaker, Sinn Féin will be supporting it. I am happy with the Minister of State's honesty in her opening speech in regard to the existing hospital not being fit for purpose. She is spot-on. It is archaic. An article I read recently states: It is sobering to think that the brand new, and long-awaited, national psychiatric hospital will be full within a few years, such is the demand. The new Central Mental Hospital, located in Portrane, in …

I thank the Regional Independent Group for tabling the motion. I will cut straight to the chase with some headlines published in the media between June and four days ago. The headlines are: "Children with mental health issues forced to wait up to 18 months for help"; "Mental health budget allocation falls by 1% - PNA"; "More than 2,000 children waiting to access mental health services"; "Tele-psychiatry delivery to plug regional staffing gaps"; "Concerns raised over plan to move HSE child mental health staff"; "HSE…

On the same issue, MWB Two Limited is proposing the construction of 246 units. I have been talking to survivors and supporters who are very concerned there will be no proper investigation and that nothing will commence now. They are not against the development but it is a fact they have not been given a spare chance on this. They are asking whether An Bord Pleanála can defer the application. I welcome that the Minister has committed to publishing the sixth and final report on the week of 11 January next year. Could…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion. I have to put it on the record that when this rainy day fund was first announced and we were on the opposite side of the House, we were not in agreement with it because it was more of a rainy day fund for the banks rather than health, infrastructure or housing. However, it is amazing how matters have changed in less than 12 months. I listened to many Deputies who spoke in the debate. In terms of the Minister's contribution, I commend him on how this time, he has ta…

I also stand in solidarity with the section 39 organisations. We cannot afford to lose SouthDoc services in Fermoy and Mitchelstown. We have discussed the lack of rural transport many times in this House. If we lose these services, people will have to go to Mallow, Cork city or all the way to Midleton and we do not have very much public transport. It is impossible for those without public transport or private cars. I also wish to raise how the HSE and the board have worked on the AGM. My correspondents said a text …

I also welcome the Minister of State's response. It referred to out-of-hours services and concluded by saying, "Any changes to the current service provision in any treatment centre would be subject to discussion with and approval by the HSE Cork-Kerry community healthcare chief officer." That is what I was trying to say - that the communication between the HSE and GPs in SouthDoc does not seem to be there. One person wrote to me to say that if, for example, the other out-of-hours services providers and the HSE adop…

This is an issue I have been trying to raise for the past three weeks on the Topical Issues debate. Since August 2016, I have raised the lack of secondary school places in east Cork. Unfortunately, this arises every year. In March 2020, I raised the issue of 200 children in east Cork who could not get to school because of transport problems. In June 2019, I raised the problems with planning for a three-school campus in Carrigtwohill. Now I am being contacted by parents who are very stressed and anxious, as are the …

It is great to have an opportunity to speak on this Bill. I congratulate Deputy Ward. I also wish the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, the very best of luck in her role. I will be very brief and try to explain to people what parity of esteem means when it comes to mental health. It is defined as valuing mental health equally with physical health, which would result in those with mental health problems benefitting from equal access to the most effective and safest care and treatment. It is about equal efforts to im…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill and I commend the Labour Party on bringing it forward. The fact that the Government will not oppose it is welcome. I read the explanatory note on the Bill and in the crisis we are in, this is probably one of the times where we could use the common-sense approach. Many speakers referred to the stress of working, whether at home, in the office or travelling to and from work. There is a saying that a happy worker is a productive worker. There are many advantages in this l…

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate on the Bill. This is a comprehensive Bill and, as previous speakers stated, it is about working together for the goodness of this island as a while. To be honest, it is probably inevitable that we are heading for a united Ireland at some stage, despite what has been touted in the media at times. I agree with many of the speakers who indicated that protection of the Good Friday Agreement is paramount. Going through some of the issues in the Bill, many speakers ha…

I raise the issue of Covid and the NPHET restrictions on school transport. NPHET announced a 50% cut in capacity. Since last night, I have been contacted by more than 50 pupils from Cobh who are with a private bus operator and the operator will be cutting capacity by 50%, which means 50% of pupils cannot get to school. The operator has offered the alternative of doubling the bus route but also doubling the fare. Are there any options for private operators to be brought under the same rules as the Bus Éireann school…

Since 1995 my town of Midleton has been flooded 11 times. In 2015 and in 2016 the Main Street was destroyed with more than 400 houses and 180 businesses affected. I have listened to a number of speakers here and I believe it is down to resources, local staffing and local knowledge. The lad with the shovel and the JCB for the rural road is gone. I also have an issue that we do not really know who is responsible for cleaning gullies anymore. Is it Irish Water or the county councils? Who is it? On flooding, planning a…

I will try to be brief as I had an opportunity to speak last night. I listened to the Minister's contribution and I commend the colleagues who have spoken. I refer again to the matter of the sixth interim report and why it has not been published. The former Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Katherine Zappone, asked on a number of occasions for it to be published and several speakers have already spoken about it. Why has it not been published? The Minister spoke about splitting the report and sending some of …