I move: That Dáil Éireann shall take note of the Report of the Joint Committee on Autism entitled "Report on the Summer Programme 2023", copies of which were laid before Dáil Éireann on 28th November, 2022. I will be brief because I am sharing time with Senator Carrigy. This is a motion on the Joint Committee on Autism's report on the summer programme for 2023. There were a number of recommendations in the report. I will speak specifically to one and I suppose some Members will take others. The report recommends: T…

I will make a very quick comment. I thank everybody across the House. I enjoyed listening to their contributions and I welcome the comments of the Ministers of State. I will put on the record, and the committee is very proud of this - Senator Carrigy was the driving force behind it - that Leinster House is now in the process of becoming autism friendly. I thank everybody in the Houses, including staff, management and so on, for that. I hope the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, takes on the report's recommendation…

They say that they always save the best for last, so we will see. I have raised this issue in the Chamber numerous times. It is the boil water notices in east Cork, specifically in Whitegate. I want to give the Minister of State a synopsis of what is going on. It started on 14 February 2016, so we are coming up to the seventh anniversary of these boil water notices. The following is a synopsis of press headlines on this over the years and in recent months and weeks. One headline states "East Cork residents face yea…

I spent 22 years in sewerage and water so I know the craic on it. My area has Whitegate oil refinery, the power station and the gas station. There are alternative water sources and I am wondering why Uisce Éireann did not look at those as an alternative or short-term fix. One line could be tapped into the other. The area where the problem is could be blanked off and flushed and another water supply could be tapped into. That is just a suggestion. I thank the Minister of State for the answer and I know where it is c…

There was a lot of anger from many people from various sections of society outside Leinster House today. I will cut straight to the chase. Investment funds or vulture funds, whatever they are called, are again making profit from taxpayers' money. It is as simple as that. Here we go again. Our natural resources for use by the Irish people are being given away or are being chipped away by privatisation for profit. This will affect a number of rural community groups and farmers. The Minister of State referenced depopu…

I will go straight to the punch. The following quotes appeared in a media report, and I thank Dr. Susan Finnerty of the Mental Health Commission for her contribution to that. The report states: A deep dive into mental health services for children and young people in Ireland has shown several regions in the south - including Cork - to be facing very serious issues that could be placing kids at risk. … A failure of management and governance was leading to what the report called "inefficient and unsafe” CAMHS services…

I will raise an issue about first responders. In Cobh in east Cork, which has a population of approximately 14,000 people, there is a retained fire service but there are no first responders. The fire service is trained in first aid and first response. There was a case over Christmas where someone suffered a cardiac arrest. I spoke to members of the fire service. They were frustrated that they were sitting at home. They were well aware that something had happened but they could not go out to assist that person. In C…

I thank the Minister of State for his response. I will raise a few points in the short time I have. The retained fire services are well placed to assist the HSE with responses to such life-threatening emergency calls. There does not seem to be any obstacle to that. The National Ambulance Service is simply protecting its patch. I have not heard of any engagement between it and the fire services. The Minister of State noted "it is critical that local authority and fire services' resources are not inappropriately dive…

It has been said here tonight that there are 73 patients on trolleys in CUH, with 13 waiting for beds in the Mercy Hospital. What we are facing at the moment is not surprising but it is unprecedented. I am glad the Minister and the Ministers of State are present. The Government is closing a 22-bed mental health respite centre in Midleton, the Owenacurra centre, in the middle of a health crisis. As I raised with one of the Ministers of State in a Topical Issue debate before Christmas, we have excessive deaths in nur…

I am here to speak on behalf of family members regarding the CareChoice nursing home in Ballynoe in County Cork. I wish to refer to some of the correspondence I have received and then the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, will know exactly where I am coming from and how frustrated the families are. I was told that the following are some of the concerns families have regarding the CareChoice nursing home in Ballynoe in County Cork. During the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, it was stated that this home was well managed…

I tabled a parliamentary question on this as well. It states, "Separately, the Minister for Health has stated that he believes that a review of the management and impact of COVID-19 in nursing homes is warranted". The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, mentioned in her response the €145 million provided under the temporary assistance payment scheme. Some €145 million is spent and 27 families in this nursing home still have not got a response to any of their questions. Having the HSE investigate itself is like the …

I read the Minister of State’s opening speech. It beggars belief that we are in this Chamber talking about our own energy capabilities versus profit. The Minister of State noted that €118 million has been allocated to fuel poverty this year. I think it will increase next year, so we know that it is happening. Yet we have the capability to be the Dubai of Europe when it comes to producing our own energy. The most important thing here is this country has the capability to be self-sustaining and we could have the adva…

I suppose the Minister is black and blue from listening to it, but I will cut straight to the chase. The duty of candour has to be put on a statutory footing. In the short few years I have been here, we have scandals including CervicalCheck, vaginal mesh, mother and baby homes, the mental health system and the disability system. It comes down to oversight, accountability and responsibility. We are all working on this Bill together. That is the agreed basis. The Minister has heard most of us talk about it. If we can…

I, too, welcome this debate. It was not too long ago we were arguing about the duty of candour. I recognise that the Minister will look at the Part 5 review and strengthen that. What this House is about is debating it. We are all trying to sing from the same hymn sheet here. I was a little surprised when the Minister was on about the 50:50 for yea and nay on the audits. That is something, I suppose, that can be tweaked. One of the other speakers mentioned going back to the health committee with some of this. The Mi…

I thank the Minister of State for attending. This is the fourth time I have raised a Topical Issue matter on boil water notices in east Cork. Many Deputies are lucky to be able to raise four Topical Issue matters in one year. I want to paint a picture by referring to recent newspaper headlines, including in the Irish Examiner : "Urgent boil water notice issued for Whitegate area of Cork after 'inadequate disinfection' at plant" is a headline from February 2020. The headline, "Numbers affected by long-term by boilwa…

The public water supply is a matter for Irish Water. If it will not work with us or facilitate people, who do we go to? That is the problem. The response mentioned 2025. We are in 2022 so that is another three years of people buying water, drawing water and enduring frustration. I appeal to Irish Water to get its finger out and start forward planning to help these people. It is extremely important. I was amused by the mention of filters in the response. When I raised this before - I think it was in May - the proble…

It is good to see the Ceann Comhairle back - fair play to him. I have listened to what the Members have said, and I will read from a number of papers. An article in the Irish Examiner recently stated, "Low wages, long hours, and insecure working conditions are pushing the largely female workforce out of the caring industry". People who spoke to the paper said there was nothing complex about the crisis with one saying, "Change would have to mean the agencies paying more to the carers, and better conditions for the h…

I thank the Minister of State for being here. This Topical Issue matter is practically self-explanatory. For the past number of weeks I have been making representations on behalf of some constituents of mine on the matter of home help hours and so on. In fairness the Department has come back and sanctioned hours and stuff but the issue is that we do not have staff to fill those hours. This takes me on to particular incidents and I spent two and a half hours being bounced around Departments yesterday while trying to…

I know where the Minister of State is coming from. While I was listening to her I was thinking we should not be bringing these cases up because people have responsibilities and they are in jobs to provide these services. In her response the Minister of State mentioned the DPS. While there is no limit set a valid prescription is a cost to people, which is a separate issue. I refer to the idea of there being "too much or too little product". When it is causing that much stress to a family and they have to go to their…

The motion we are considering proposes that "Dáil Éireann shall take note of the Report of the Joint Committee on Justice entitled "Report on meeting on 27th April 2021 on the topic of GDPR", copies of which were laid before Dáil Éireann on 22nd July, 2021". I will start by paying tribute to the members and staff of the committee for their work on the report. It is typical of the unglamorous but important work that committees are set up to tackle. I understand from my Sinn Féin colleagues that Deputy Lawless has do…