I commend the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, on her speech, for her allyship and for speaking out. I know it is not easy. She has our full support. We hope to work together to progress trans healthcare and the Minister of State has the support of many of us across the House. I look forward to working with her to progress that. I thank her for her allyship and her words. They matter to many people. I am delighted to be contributing to statements on Pride. I am proud to be a member of the LGBT community. Being a p…

I, too, thank Sinn Féin for this motion and for putting a spotlight on this important issue. I also commend the campaigners in the Gallery. They should not have to be here, they should not have to share their stories and they should not have to email their TDs and lay out their pain, but I commend them on their work and their advocacy in respect of this matter. I urge the Minister to take action and ensure we are not back here again. It is estimated, as we know, that one in ten women and girls may suffer from endom…

Today, the HSE made an unequivocal statement that alcohol consumption causes cancer. That is why it is ramping up efforts to inform people of the link between alcohol and cancer. However, at the same time, this Government is rowing back on its commitment to alcohol health labelling, or at least Fine Gael is. I will read a quote to the Taoiseach: "Alcohol causes cancer, and we would be negligent not to tell people that." Who said that? It was deputy leader of the Taoiseach's party, Deputy Jack Chambers, during a deb…

Will the Government introduce labelling?

Will the Taoiseach answer the question? Will the Government introduce labelling?

There is no answer.

The Minister has gotten this badly wrong. He has created huge levels of uncertainty and huge levels of stress for students, parents and families right across the country. The students of Ireland deserve better. They deserve clarity. Fees in this country are already far too high. Students are paying too much money to access what is a human right: basic education at third level. A recent report from the European Commission found that Ireland has the third highest university fees in the European Union when the maximum…

My question today is about the new Cork city library. Four years ago, the Taoiseach, Deputy Martin, announced €50 million would be spent transforming Grand Parade and providing a new public library, a new central plaza and a boardwalk. The vision was big. We were promised a new 7,700 sq. m library with capacity for 1 million visitors per year, but like so many other key capital projects for Cork, the Government has failed to deliver. The promised new library is nowhere to be seen. In the four years since, inflation…

My question relates to the insourcing and outsourcing of public healthcare. Yesterday, the Minister for Health published the HSE review of insourcing and outsourcing, which I welcome. The report confirms that the health service is over-reliant on these arrangements to reduce waiting lists. Despite the huge sums of public money involved, proper oversight has been severely lacking, leading to alarming and shocking abuses of the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF, and clear conflicts of interest. While it is welco…

I thank Deputy Ó Snodaigh and the members of the LGBT+ Restorative Justice Campaign, Kieran Rose, Brian Sheehan, Karl Hayden and others, for their work. I am delighted to co-sign this Bill on behalf of the Social Democrats. It is now 32 years since homosexuality was decriminalised, but some men are still living with the negative impact of criminalisation. Let us be clear: the prosecutions and convictions of gay and bi men for consensual sex was a gross violation of their human rights and did immeasurable damage. Th…

Access to symptomatic breast disease clinics has become a postcode lottery. Following an urgent GP referral, a person should be seen by a clinic within two weeks. However, timely access to these clinics varies widely. Last year, only four out of nine hospitals met the target of seeing 95% of urgent referrals within two weeks. The other five failed. The Mater Hospital only reached 29%, St. James's Hospital 51% and Letterkenny 58%. Some of these are shocking failures. It should not matter where one lives; no person s…

One report states that one in four people waited longer than recommended for an appointment at these urgent clinics. I would like to share with the Minister the experiences of two women from north Dublin. They had to wait for in excess of the two-week period to be seen by the Mater's symptomatic breast clinic. In February, one woman was referred by GP due to the presence of two lumps in her breast. However, when the Mater Hospital received the referral, she was told the waiting time to be seen had risen to three mo…

We absolutely need better planning here. A lot of this comes back to staffing. Greater resources must be allocated specifically to breast clinics to ensure adequate staffing throughout the country, regardless of where people live. To secure cancer care pathways greater workforce planning is required but this cannot be siloed in the Department of Health. We need joined-up thinking. The Departments of Health and higher education must work together to ensure people are able to access places on various healthcare cours…

A number of patient advocacy groups and parents have for a long time been calling for this report to be published. I urge the Minister to consider that and to consider publishing that report along with the others. What we have seen time and again from CHI are issues around transparency, accountability and a reluctance to release information, and we have had to drag that information from the organisation, which is deeply concerning. It indicates to me that the culture in the organisation is not changing. This is ano…

I thank the Minister. There are ways of publishing these reports that anonymise the individuals and redact information that is key but then provide full transparency and accountability because trust in this organisation is now at an all-time low. Families are deeply concerned. We need more information released and more publications. Sunlight is a good disinfectant and CHI has been at every stage reluctant to release information to us. I also raise concerns about some of the answers to parliamentary questions we are…

Tens of thousands of people will march through the streets of Dublin this weekend for Dublin Pride, a celebration of love, diversity and liberation. However, Pride is more than a party. It is a protest. Ten years on from marriage equality, progress has slowed. Hate crimes are rising and there is no plan to bring down the numbers. The gaps in family law have not been closed, conversion therapy has not been banned and Ireland has the worst trans healthcare in the EU. The Government's sexual health strategy, published…

They are €400,000 in our own constituency.

I have just come in from the protest outside the gates of the House. There is a huge crowd of people outside protesting about the Government's failed policies. We have nurses, students, young people, renters and representatives from all the political parties. They have one really clear message: it is that the Government's housing policies are failing. Things are getting worse and not better, yet the Government is doubling down. What we hear constantly from the Government is that we have turned a corner. Honestly, i…

The special long-Covid scheme for healthcare workers is due to end in two weeks' time creating huge financial uncertainty for healthcare workers still suffering from long Covid. These workers were exposed to Covid in healthcare settings at the height of the pandemic when many others were told to remain at home. Some of these got Covid before PPE and vaccines were in place. They made a huge sacrifice and we owe them a debt of gratitude but it seems like the State is going to turn its back on them. These workers shou…

The "RTÉ Investigates" programme was shocking, disturbing and difficult viewing. Nobody in this country should be treated in that way. It is clear that the nursing homes in question were understaffed and under-resourced and patients were treated in an appalling manner. What concerns me and many of us is that this is a repeat of the scandals of the past. What we are seeing is history repeating itself. We saw Leas Cross 20 years ago. Deputies have set out previous scandals. Time and time again we have had failure aft…