In her opening response the Minister of State mentioned PrEP, which could be a game-changer for HIV. The same is true for PEP and rapid testing. It can take 18 months for someone to be seen in a PrEP clinic in this country. In Dublin, over 1,000 people are waiting for an appointment at one of the PrEP clinics. It took a year and a half to replace the nurse specialist in the South Infirmary in Cork. At the same time, the UK has same-day walk-in clinics and screenings. We can talk about increased funding but the serv…

At the outset, we need to acknowledge that we still live in a very unequal society. There is lots to be done to deliver true equality for women in Ireland. From Cabinet to boards, women are still underrepresented in positions of power. This needs to change. In particular, we need to address the inequality faced by women from minority and disadvantaged communities such as Traveller, disabled, migrant, black, lesbian, trans and older women and those from other disadvantaged backgrounds. I wish to mention health-relat…

It has come to light, thanks to The Ditch , that an audit has taken place into the hip surgeries on children in three hospitals. This follows serious concerns from a whistleblower that needless surgeries were taking place. The report, published by The Ditch , shows that, in the leaked report, in Cappagh, 79% of the surgeries did not meet the required threshold, in Temple Street, it was 60%, and in Crumlin, it was 2%. Will the Taoiseach publish this report? Will he confirm the contents of the report? Will the Taoise…

I too congratulate the Ministers on their appointments. I welcome this debate on the Housing Commission report. I read through the recommendations in the report and I welcome some of them. The overview at the start of the report, in particular, jumped out at me where the Commission states: Arising from its wide-ranging enquiry, the Housing Commission has identified over several decades, there has been a range of interventions to do with housing. However, these interventions have not resolved the failures that are f…

I congratulate the Minister and Minister of State on their new roles. I will begin by flagging a general concern I have. This is the second week in a row we have had general statements on healthcare. Last week we spent two and a half hours on statements on mental health. As a new TD I found it a very frustrating experience. Not a single question posed during the session was addressed in the closing statement by the Minister of State. I asked whether the new Government would commit to providing 10% of the overall he…

It is concerning that children are currently excluded from the draft regulations of home care support services. This is despite the fact that more than 650 children with complex needs are receiving these services. In the case of baby Luke, as highlighted in a report from the Ombudsman for Children today, multiple serious issues with home care services were documented. These include routine cover being cancelled at short notice and an overnight nurse falling asleep. These children deserve a right to be cared for at …

I find it really hard to listen to the Government's rhetoric on housing. The Minister comes in here and talks about the progress the Government has made but homelessness has hit an all-time high. How is that in any sense progress? Rents and house prices are soaring, and schemes such as the help-to-buy scheme are just driving up house prices. The Government is failing people in this country every single day, yet its members come into the Dáil and state they are doing more than ever before. It is clearly not working.…

Branding the houses as affordable increases the level of hopelessness among young people. They feel the houses are just more out of reach for them. I believe we should rename the Act the Unaffordable Housing Act because unaffordable housing is genuinely what it is delivering. We need a radical reset of housing policy. The answers to this crisis are not found in the failed policies of the past. We need the State to be more involved in the direct delivery of affordable homes, and we need the Government to start liste…

We learned today that the potential cost of the national children's hospital has soared by €100 million in just a matter of months. It now stands at nearly €2.5 billion, although no one believes this will be the final cost. It is outrageous that after all this time, nobody in this House knows for sure how much this project will ultimately cost or when it will start treating patients. There is a completion date for June. We have missed many completion dates already. How confident is the Government that this hospital…

The latest estimate is that it will be at least another year. This is the biggest capital investment in the health service in the history of the State and it has been a botched project.

We need time set aside to have a discussion on this fiasco. We need an update on this from the Minister.

I too congratulate the Minister of State on her reappointment as Minister of State with responsibility for mental health and also her appointment as Government Chief Whip. I will talk about funding, policy and the law. On funding, for far too long mental health services have been the Cinderella of our health services. Decades of underinvestment have left us with understaffed and underresourced services. The system needs a major overhaul to shift the focus towards proactive and community-based services, but this kin…

Like my colleagues, I thank the Labour Party for this debate. I have spent the past couple of years listening to the debates in this House on housing. As a younger person, I find it really hard to stomach the Government's rhetoric on housing. Rarely does it acknowledge how bad the situation is, with unaffordable rents, soaring house prices and record homelessness. There is a real catastrophe for people in their daily lives because of the Government's housing policies. Instead, time and again, the Government tells u…

The chronic shortage of public health nurses needs urgent attention. Not for the first time, developmental checks for those aged under five have been suspended in some parts of the country. These checks are vital to ensure milestones are being met and to identify medical issues and developmental delays. At the moment, the best the HSE can offer to some parents is a QR code to a guidance book. This is not right and not good enough. The situation should come as no surprise. In 2018, the health service capacity review…

I am delighted to have this opportunity to speak on the new programme for Government. Having read the document from start to finish, it is my firm view that it fails to provide for transformative change. Over the 162 pages, most of the commitments are vague, notional or regurgitated. There are very few new ideas and it is completely devoid of the promised new energy. Instead, what we get is more of the same. However, more of the same will not deliver the transformative change that is deeply desired and urgently req…

I congratulate the Ceann Comhairle on her election. As I rise to make my maiden speech in the Dáil, I begin by expressing my heartfelt thanks to the thousands of people in Cork South-Central who voted for me. I am incredibly grateful for their support and I will work hard every day to uphold the trust they have placed in me. On this special occasion, I also thank my family, friends and campaign volunteers who helped me through not one but two elections this year. In particular, I thank my husband, Aaron, who succes…