Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 22 Feb 2024

Vol. 1050 No. 2

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation

Deputy Pearse Doherty

Since 2021, telecom providers have been hitting households with unfair and punitive inflation-linked price increases in the middle of their contracts. Providers such as Eir and Vodafone are hitting customers with co-ordinated price hikes at the rate of inflation, plus a further percentage increase on top of that. This is going to see Eir and Vodafone hiking their prices by 8% in April.

When people sign up to a phone, broadband or TV contract, they should be certain of what they are going to pay. This practice not only hits households with punishing price hikes but means they have no certainty about the money they will pay for these services. This practice should be banned. Telecom and broadband operators should not be allowed to punish households with harmful price hikes linked to inflation. I have written, on behalf of Sinn Féin, to the regulator calling for it to ban this harmful and unfair practice. Will the Tánaiste back Sinn Féin's call to ban in-contract inflation-linked price hikes, which are hitting customers, will hit them again in April and have been hitting them substantially over recent years?

The Tánaiste

I would be generally in agreement with the Deputy. He used the word "co-ordinated", which suggests this is a matter that should be referred to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission. Any co-ordinated increase in price rises by such providers raises significant alarm bells in terms of whether competition is in place in the market. Perhaps further correspondence to the CCPC is called for. I will certainly raise the matter with the Minister.

Deputy Pearse Doherty

To clarify, does the Tánaiste support the ban? I did not hear that.

The Tánaiste

I have given my reply.

Deputy Pearse Doherty

Sorry?

An Ceann Comhairle

Deputy Bacik.

Deputy Ivana Bacik

So far in 2024, more than 30 people have died on our roads, each death an utter human tragedy and devastating for families and friends. Roughly one life has been lost every other day since the new year. This is a shocking figure. We see that fewer than 5% of people told to hand over their learner permit following conviction for a road traffic offence comply with the law. Will the Government take on a stronger role in ensuring road safety measures are put in place?

Will it act also on the safety of transport workers? This week, SIPTU revealed that a staggering 80% of transport workers had reported having suffered abuse at work. Last year, I sought plans from the Ministers for Transport and Justice to ensure measures on road safety would be put in place and to ensure safety for transport workers, but I heard then that no specific data was collected on assaults on transport workers and that safety measures were matters for individual operators, not for the Government. Can we see a change in policy for transport workers' safety, and particularly for road safety for all of us?

The Tánaiste

First, we are all shocked by the terrible loss of life on our roads. There were about 188 road fatalities in 2023, the highest since 2014, when the figure was 192. As of 21 February, 32 people had lost their lives, in 29 collisions on Irish roads, an increase of two deaths on this time last year. A lot of young people are losing their lives. I get a sense that post-Covid, something has happened on our roads and I cannot quite put my finger on it. We need to do deeper analysis, because the figures are going up, not down. A ministerial committee on road safety, attended by the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, and the Minister of State with responsibility for justice, Deputy James Browne, has been established and meets quarterly. It met recently, in the past week or so, to identify priority actions and there are a whole range of those.

An Ceann Comhairle

I thank the Tánaiste.

The Tánaiste

We are on this in terms of legislative changes.

Deputy Catherine Murphy

Last week, we had the head of the Prison Service in before the public accounts committee and were told a very large number of inmates had autism, personality disorders and mental health issues, but they said the one thing about prison is they can access all the services in one place for the first time. It now costs €84,000 a year to keep a prisoner in prison. I am comparing that with what is happening with the children's disability network teams. I have met the most extreme cases where the Garda has had to be called multiple times and where parents are so anxious to make sure their child does not end up in prison. These are the most dedicated of parents. They are being told it will take a year before they can even be seen. The children's disability network teams are a brass plate, or the one in my area certainly is. This should not be about funding. What is the Government going to do about bringing down those waiting times?

The Tánaiste

My understanding is that about 500 posts have been advertised for CDNTs with a view improving them, which is necessary. There has been an issue with the recruitment and retention of staff on the paediatric side and the childcare side.

I take the point in respect of prisons. I think there should be a general attitudinal change to people with disabilities, particularly people with autism, in terms of how schools deal with a child or young person who has certain manifestations of, say, physical or other activities that are difficult to control because of their condition. As a basic principle, in my view, no child with a disability or with autism should be expelled from any school, and that is beginning to happen. Although I cannot interfere with the judicial system, I do not think any young person should be sent to prison because of autism. We should have a different response.

Deputy Gino Kenny

A crisis is looming in respect of service users, families and staff at St. John of God. We were here a number of years ago in the context of huge deficits in the service. In six months' time, those seeking community services will have to go to either the HSE or a voluntary body. As a former employee of St. John of God who has a lot of friends who work there, I know they are extremely concerned about what is going on. They were only told when it was reported online last week. This is no way to do business. What measures is the Government putting in place in case the eventuality happens on 15 August whereby St. John of God has to hand over the community services to the HSE?

Minister of State at the Department of Health (Deputy Anne Rabbitte)

I thank the Deputy for raising the question. As he can appreciate, it is a very sensitive issue at this time. The CEO of the HSE met the chair of the board last Sunday and sent a very strong letter on Monday confirming his offer to encourage the organisation to sign its service level agreement, SLA, while also addressing the deficit, which is the real issue. My understanding is the board of St. John of God met yesterday. I do not have an update on that but I am hopeful, as we all are, that a positive resolution can be found.

Deputy Michael Lowry

The ongoing shortage of some 300 prescription-only medications is causing significant stress for many people. This is compounded by news articles stating that pharmacists are being left with no alternative but to dispense substitute medications that have not been authorised or registered for use in Ireland. This has happened despite the fact these medications, known as exempt medicinal products, can be legally supplied to patients by qualified pharmacists to meet their health needs in the absence of their regular product. Many patients across Tipperary and the wider country feel confused and unsettled. Elderly people and the parents of young children are particularly concerned when a medication they have been familiar with for years is replaced by one they do not recognise. This threatens to undermine plans to expand the role of pharmacists in healthcare. Does the Department of Health have plans to stage an information campaign to inform people of the need for this substitute medication and to give them a reassurance that they are proper and safe?

The Tánaiste

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. An information campaign is a very good idea and is one I would welcome, and I will talk to the Minister in respect of that.

Medicine shortages are, unfortunately, a feature of modern health systems worldwide and are a global health problem now. However the medicines regulator here, the HPRA, has said that while individual brands or strengths of a medication may be temporarily unavailable, for the vast majority of medicines there are appropriate substitutions such as different strengths, brands or similar classes of medicines available. For example, while one strength of a particular medicine may be in short supply, there can be dozens of other strengths of the exact same medicine available. Some of these products may be generically interchanged, often without the need for the involvement of a GP or prescriber. In most cases patients can still access the medicines they need. We have a medicines shortage framework in place which is operated by the HPRA. I will come back to the Deputy on the matter of a public information campaign.

Deputy Mattie McGrath

I wish to raise the urgent need for reform of the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, CAMHS. Serious concerns about CAMHS have been repeatedly raised here by me and many other Deputies over the last number of years. A review of CAMHS was conducted by the Mental Health Commission and the Maskey report on CAMHS in Kerry was published recently but we have seen no action to improve the situation. Around 22,000 children who were referred to CAMHS are languishing on waiting lists in what is a failed system.

The Government has been abysmal with regard to fulfilling promises made before the election and in the programme for Government. The latest report from the Children's Rights Alliance assigned an E grade to the Government because of the continuing inhumane practice of admitting children to adult psychiatric units. This is disgraceful. We have had report after report and broken promise after broken promise. The Tánaiste will no doubt refer to recruitment issues and so on but it is simply not good enough. We saw what happened in Kerry and it has to be sorted out.

The Tánaiste

A nationwide audit of CAMHS was carried out and while there are clearly huge challenges and deficiencies in some parts of the country, in other parts of the country many of the centres are providing a good service. That said, it is not where we want it to be. No child should be admitted to an adult psychiatric facility. The numbers of such children are way down on what they were previously but one child being admitted to an adult psychiatry ward is one child too many. It is a priority area. There is a new mental health lead in the HSE now, appointed by the Minister of State, Deputy Butler. She had sought that from the HSE for quite some time. That has been agreed and is now in place.

Deputy Catherine Connolly

I want to raise the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017 and in particular, section 4, which places a statutory obligation on the Government to carry out a review within three years. Three years after enactment the Government did its job in the sense that it appointed an independent person, Ms Maura Butler, in July 2020. She was to conclude her review and to report within three months but that is almost four years ago now. That has not happened for various reasons, one being that Ms Butler had been appointed to something else, but she had been appointed to conduct the review a month before that. Here we are, nearly four years later and the Government has failed to comply with its statutory obligation. I was told in October and again in December last year that expressions of interest had been sought, a panel was in place and the Government was about to appoint somebody. Today I learned that the Government is doing none of what it promised and is now going to get the Department of Justice to carry out a review. This is unacceptable, shocking and not independent and is particularly concerning as we are dealing here with a very vulnerable cohort of women.

The Tánaiste

The Deputy has obviously received information from the Department of Justice today. She probably has more information on this than I do.

Deputy Catherine Connolly

I have learned that the Government is not carrying out an independent review.

The Tánaiste

I will speak to the Minister in respect of this. There may also be a role for the Oireachtas committee to interrogate the issue. I will talk to the Minister and come back to the Deputy.

Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan

I want to raise an issue on behalf of the people of Shannonvale, a small village near my home town of Clonakilty, who have been campaigning for years to get back their children's playground. The playground is located beside a wastewater treatment plant and at the moment there is raw sewage and excrement coming up through the surface. When I first came into this Dáil in 2020 I raised this issue but I have gotten absolutely nowhere since. I plead with the Tánaiste to use the powers of his office to intervene to ensure that Uisce Éireann builds a proper, functioning wastewater treatment plant for the people of Shannonvale so that the families and children there can get their playground and park back. The people of Shannonvale would be very grateful if the Tánaiste could assist them.

The Tánaiste

The Deputy has raised the broader issue of wastewater treatment capacity within the Clonakilty area. There were issues with regard to a more long-term proposal linking Bandon to Clonakilty. I will talk to Uisce Éireann in respect of Shannonvale to ascertain what measures can be taken to facilitate the restoration of the children's playground.

Deputy Martin Browne

I want to raise the issue of the 60-bed community nursing unit that was to be built in St. Patrick's Hospital in Cashel. In 2022 I raised this issue in the Dáil and was told that the site was not going to be used. The project has dragged on and on, even though the money has been approved for it because the site is not suitable. I was then told that there are two fields in Palmer's Hill owned by the HSE. I warned the Minister that this site is not suitable because of access issues and the site itself. Now I have been told that the HSE is going to waste money purchasing another plot of land beside that site. I can assure the Tánaiste that site will never be used. Our Lady's Hospital in Cashel already has 40 patients who are due to go into the new unit. I ask the Tánaiste or the Minister for Health to intervene and stop the HSE from wasting money. Money should be invested in Our Lady's Hospital. The HSE should reconfigure rooms in that hospital for the other 20 patients who are due to go into the new unit. There should be no more wasting of public money by the HSE on a field that is never going to be used.

The Tánaiste

The Deputy has not explained why it would never be used. The HSE-----

Deputy Martin Browne

There are issues with road access.

The Tánaiste

The HSE is committed to this and the Deputy is correct to say it has been seeking a site. Is he saying the HSE should stay on the existing site?

Deputy Martin Browne

The HSE owns two fields on Palmer's Hill but has told the Minister that site is not accessible by road and it will not be built on. The HSE is about to purchase another field adjoining that, which is a waste of money.

An Ceann Comhairle

We are not in the Members' Bar now, so we cannot have a conversation across the Chamber about this.

Deputy Martin Browne

I only answered the question I was asked.

An Ceann Comhairle

Please Deputy. Tánaiste, will you deal with the question?

The Tánaiste

I would simply say that generally speaking, acquiring new sites is a good thing for the health service because it allows us to build modern, custom-built facilities. Normally, the HSE deals with the local authority to work out the planning and zoning context. That is what normally happens and what normally should happen. If, from the HSE's perspective, the purchasing of the new site is the key to unlocking the building of a new facility, then it should go ahead with that but I will talk to the HSE about the Deputy's misgivings.

Deputy Darren O'Rourke

This week the Climate Change Advisory Council said it is unlikely that the first carbon budget will be met. Nowhere is this Government's failure clearer than in its national retrofitting plan. That plan is unfair and regressive. This week Irish Rural Link joined a long list of organisations, including St. Vincent de Paul, Social Justice Ireland, Friends of the Earth, the Irish Heart Foundation, and Sinn Féin, that have highlighted the need for a fundamental reorientation of the national retrofit plan to ensure those in greatest need are prioritised. For its part, Sinn Féin has set out a fairer retrofit plan. Importantly, the Government is way off its own targets. A total of 500,000 homes are to be retrofitted to BER B2 by 2030 but just 35,000 or 7% are completed at this stage. Approximately 400,000 heat pumps are to be installed by 2030 but just 9,643 or 2.4% have been installed to date. The national retrofit plan is unfair and it is not working. Will the Government accept this and overhaul it?

The Tánaiste

First of all, the retrofitting plan is being paid for by the carbon tax which Sinn Féin has opposed on successive occasions.

Deputy Darren O'Rourke

We have a plan here.

The Tánaiste

I am sorry but no retrofitting plan will work if it does not have revenue that is sustainable over a ten-year period.

Deputy Darren O'Rourke

It is in our plan.

The Tánaiste

What we did, in line with previous recommendations from Oireachtas committees, was to put in place sustainable, ring-fenced funding for retrofitting. It was the first time that was ever done and I would appeal to the Deputy to be very clear as to whether he supports that revenue stream for retrofitting. If he does not support it, then all of the rest is hot air.

Deputy Darren O'Rourke

Tax wealth; the Government should tax wealth.

The Tánaiste

It is all hot air.

Deputy Darren O'Rourke

That is not hot air.

The Tánaiste

On our targets, by the way, the retrofit numbers are up 80% in one year. We beat the target by 10,000, with more homes than ever availing of support. Our fuel use for heating fell considerably in 2023 as a result. That happened because, as I said, the Government ring-fenced the majority of our carbon taxes to support people to retrofit their homes.

Use of coal for electricity fell by half last year. Oil is down 80% and gas is down 7%. Farmers are responding as well.

An Ceann Comhairle

I thank the Tánaiste. Deputy Flaherty is substituting for Deputy Cahill.

Deputy Joe Flaherty

The Tánaiste will be aware that a verdict of medical misadventure was recorded at the inquest into the death of young Bryonny Sainsbury who suffered a catalogue of failures while being treated at Mullingar hospital. At the two-day inquest the family heard harrowing details of how their daughter died. A combination of failures and shortcomings in her care led to a death that was treatable and avoidable. In January 2023, the family was told it would take 125 days to complete an independent review and that the findings would be available to the family in or around 24 June. Yet, eight months on and despite multiple requests, the family still has not been issued with the findings of this review.

Many times in this House I have heard assurances that the HSE was no longer wedded to a policy of frustrating delays and confrontation with families in cases such as Bryonny's. I ask the Tánaiste to contact Ireland East Hospital Group and direct it to release the draft report to the grieving Sainsbury family.

The Tánaiste

I thank the Deputy for raising the case of Bryonny Sainsbury. Again I offer sincere sympathies to the family although words are no consolation when such a dreadful death happens and particularly a death through medical misadventure. I will talk to the Minister for Health and ask him to ask the authority to release the report. The report should be released to the family, given all the trauma it has gone through.

Deputy Bernard J. Durkan

Initially I had proposed to raise the St. John of God services. I acknowledge the reply and may raise that again. Today, I praise the Minister for Finance for his efforts to ensure the continuity of cash services throughout the country by use of ATM machines. I ask whether he is aware of the number of such machines that are out of order on a fairly regular basis when one goes to use them. Is this a surreptitious way of introducing their phasing out? As gesture of goodwill on the part of the lending institutions, I ask them to restore to this House the cash dispensing machine-----

Deputies

Hear, hear.

Deputy Bernard J. Durkan

-----that was there for the convenience of the many people within the House, staff and Members of the House, as a safe means of accessing cash.

An Ceann Comhairle

I thank the Deputy for raising that.

Minister for Finance (Deputy Michael McGrath)

I thank Deputy Durkan for raising the issue and for his support. I also point out that within the legislation there will be the power for the Central Bank to set customer service standards. Therefore, the issue he raises about having to go to two, three or perhaps four ATMs in order to find one that is working will be dealt with, because for the first time they will be registered and regulated. I will not have the power as Minister to say that there must be an ATM in a particular location-----

An Ceann Comhairle

You will not put money into it.

Deputy Michael McGrath

-----but the Deputy will be glad to know that there is a local deficiency test within the legislation which he can raise with the Central Bank.

Deputy Dessie Ellis

The funding model for play and language support, PALS, preschools needs urgent reform. In its current form payments are delayed, often up to two months, putting many of these preschools in jeopardy with regard to their ability to offer a valuable service to the community. The Minister for Education and her Department need to look at the way the current service agreements are implemented, with a view to overhauling them and making them fit for purpose. Will the Tánaiste ensure that these concerns, raised by parents, are relayed to the Department of Education and to the Minister for Education?

The Tánaiste

The play and language support programme is an essential and very good programme and it is very effective. I would have been involved a number of decades ago in introducing the first kind of those language classes in primary schools and the impacts were dramatic in terms of progress for children.

An Ceann Comhairle

We could use them around here.

The Tánaiste

I am sure the Minister is aware of it.

Deputy Dessie Ellis

The issue is the delays.

The Tánaiste

There was a problem in the delay in actioning. There should not be a delay in these matters because there should be regular systemic issuing. It is issued now in the case to which the Deputy refers, but there should not be issues.

Deputy James O'Connor

Following this morning's farcical meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts in regard to the Football Association of Ireland, FAI, there are huge concerns around misappropriation of funds from Government - grant funding for sports organisations. Money was used that clearly defied the regulations set down and guidance by Sport Ireland to pay off approximately €1 million of legacy loans of the FAI to its creditors. Will the Government look at this as an immediate issue and look into some form of investigation or review in order to establish urgent answers to questions that were raised in this morning's Committee of Public Accounts meeting?

The Tánaiste

I thank the Deputy for raising this. Obviously, I was not in a position to watch the deliberations of the Committee of Public Accounts in respect of the Football Association of Ireland. I will have a look at them after. In the first instance, we will look at how the money was allocated. If funding is allocated, we want it to be spent for the purposes of the allocation.

It is becoming somewhat challenging though that increasingly the Oireachtas and the Government seem almost to have as their responsibility the micromanagement or the management of organisations of sport and, dare I say, broadcasting and other areas. This is a matter we should reflect on. We set up bodies, in this case a sporting body, that seek Government support. We provide the support at a substantial level. It is very high now. There should be adherence to it.

An Ceann Comhairle

The Tánaiste is over time.

The Tánaiste

I have made my point.

Deputy Sorca Clarke

Yesterday, Inclusion Ireland and AsIAm outlined their profound concern following a survey reporting that 35% of disabled children experience seclusion and 27% of disabled children suffer restraint at school. These are children who have been locked in rooms alone, dragged across floors or have been held or lifted against their will. Parents spoke of feeling powerless, in fear of retribution and the removal of vital supports for which they fought long and hard. There is little doubt that the lack of robust guidance and regulation is having a detrimental impact on children with a disability. The National Council for Special Education, NCSE, called for guidelines as far back as 2012, again in 2016 and again in 2018. Draft guidelines are currently with the Ombudsman for Children and Tusla for review, for input. Will the Government ensure these guidelines are child-centred, rights based, robust and enforceable? Children have a right to feel safe in school.

The Tánaiste

I was alarmed at the conclusions of the survey by AsIAm and Inclusion Ireland in respect of children in seclusion. Because of certain behaviours that are consequent on a particular condition that a child might have, the child is restrained in some shape or form, or the child is isolated. That speaks to a lack of multidisciplinary supports within the system-----

Deputy Sorca Clarke

It speaks to a lack of guidelines.

The Tánaiste

Let me speak, please. You can have guidelines all you like. You can do all sorts of things but what it speaks to is that we have set systems of allocation of special education assistants, SNAs, and special education teachers, and they have expanded exponentially. I am not arguing politically. They just have expanded exponentially but in certain cases the schools involved may need additional multidisciplinary supports. In many cases these behaviours are challenging and difficult. In my view, the last resort should be seclusion side or the expulsion. I have come across children who have been expelled by a school, which is beyond comprehension for me.

An Ceann Comhairle

Tánaiste, time is up.

The Tánaiste

However, the school will say it has huge challenges, etc., so what we need then is to analyse each case.

An Ceann Comhairle

Time is up.

The Tánaiste

The NCSE should look at this.

Deputy Sorca Clarke

It has been 14 years-----

The Tánaiste

I am trying to be helpful here.

Deputy Sorca Clarke

-----and current guidelines-----

An Ceann Comhairle

Please, Deputy. I thank the Tánaiste. Deputy Pringle is not with us. Deputy McNamara is next.

Deputy Marian Harkin

I am before Deputy Pringle.

An Ceann Comhairle

We were not notified of that I am afraid, but go on.

Deputy Marian Harkin

Yesterday, I raised the issue of cuts to the provision of post-mastectomy bras and prosthesis to breast cancer patients. I am pleased to say those cuts have been reversed. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, for her intervention on this. However, there is still the outstanding issue of wigs and other hair loss solutions for cancer and other patients, for example, those who are suffering from alopecia. I have a memo from the HSE dated 25 January which states that the new procedure considers that hair loss solutions, including wigs, etc., are cosmetic rather than medical devices and that such items would not normally be provided by the health service.

While there is some recognition for short-term supports for cancer patients, there is nothing for those experiencing longer-term hair loss due to cancer or alopecia. Women are very sensitive and embarrassed about this issue. I ask the Tánaiste to try to intervene. This is for medical card holders only.

The Tánaiste

I introduced the breast cancer provision in 2001 in which we made allocations so I was a bit taken aback yesterday. I am glad the situation has been sorted and clarified. There is no loss of service in that respect. That is the way it should be. There are Department of Social Protection grants, I understand, for wigs and other hairpieces for specific issues. For the first time this year, we provided an extra €3 million for cancer support centres and various organisations, such as ARC, which were traditionally funded primarily through fundraising. We have created dedicated funding for them. We need to do more in the years to come but we have at least established that. A lot of cancer patients get good support at such centres. We will continue to examine the issue. On the issue of care versus-----

Deputy Marian Harkin

Alopecia.

The Tánaiste

-----material, the argument the HSE gave back has been a long-running thread of debate within the health services for a long time.

Deputy Michael McNamara

The hen harrier project in Slieve Aughty is now winding down, as is Burren Life. Farmers farming in designated areas are now receiving less money than they did before. Initially, the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, said they would receive as much under ACRES. It is now abundantly clear to everybody that they are getting less money. When I pointed this out to the Tánaiste towards the end of his tenure as Taoiseach, he said it was not good enough. I have raised it consistently since. The last I heard from the Minister was that he would ask his officials to look into it, which is kind of the political equivalent of saying, "Ask your mother". I have not heard back since. When you ask one parent and they say ask the other parent, it goes over and back until you stop asking. They are now winding down. This is the last opportunity. It is good enough or is it not good enough? If it is not, will the Government provide funding for farmers in designated areas who are farming environmentally sensitive lands to a high standard and getting less money for it than they did previously?

The Tánaiste

My late mother, God rest her, always responded.

Deputy Michael McNamara

Did she? The Tánaiste must have gotten his forthrightness from his father then, I suggest.

The Tánaiste

If it was not approved by the mother, you were in deep difficulty in getting any subsequent approval. I am a great admirer of the hen harrier project. It was outstanding, as was the Burren Life project. We achieved meaningful gains. The challenges with ACRES and new schemes is that these schemes became somewhat of a victim of them in the levels of support available. I spoke to the Minister. I will speak to him again. The Department of agriculture needs to be more innovative in these matters. The farmers like them. They were co-operative and helpful and enjoyed the outcomes. It was a win-win. In agriculture and farming, we need a strong agrifood industry. We need to work and co-operate with farmers, which was manifested in these schemes.

Deputy Brendan Griffin

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for his discretion. I acknowledge the Tánaiste's leadership on the issue of Ukraine as Taoiseach and now as Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs. As he knows, Saturday will mark two years since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. What more can Ireland do? There has been an excellent political, humanitarian, practical and diplomatic response. What more can we do at this stage? It is at a critical juncture. Ukraine needs more support, militarily, in particular. We are tied, to a degree, in what we can do in that regard but our voice can be heard and we are influential around the world. I ask the Tánaiste to use his voice in whatever way he can to continue to support Ukraine. I acknowledge the work of the Ceann Comhairle in the address by President Zelenskyy to the Houses almost two years ago. It would be opportune for a follow-up invitation to President Zelenskyy, should he wish to take it up, to address the Houses again. We cannot allow the Ukraine issue to slip off the international agenda or our agenda. The Tánaiste has kept it high on the agenda and has been doing excellent work. We need to keep this issue on the agenda.

The Tánaiste

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. It is commendable that he has done so. We are at a difficult period in the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the war on Ukraine. It is a good idea. I defer to the Ceann Comhairle but I heard President Zelenskyy last Saturday at the Munich Security Conference. He was appreciative of the supports he has gotten across Europe and elsewhere but spelled out to us, as did foreign minister Kuleba at the Foreign Affairs Council, the huge challenges facing Ukraine. There is an offensive on five fronts by Russia. On the number of people that Russia is putting into the war, it is estimated that for every one Ukrainian killed, seven Russian soldiers are killed. Avdiivka was savage in terms of the number of young people who lost their lives. This is a terrible war. We all get war-weary and tend to take our eye off it and wonder if the war will ever end. We took in many Ukrainians which will stand to us in the fullness of time. I understand people are under pressure as a result of that but we did it at the time because we saw the scenes in train stations with people getting on the trains and saying goodbye to their loved ones. My worry is that after the fall of Avdiivka, Ukraine is short of weapons to defend itself. There could be a worsening of the situation in the short term in terms of the fortunes of Ukraine. We have to do everything we possibly can. At EU level, Ireland has pushed hard for the passage of the fifth EPF package, which has been held up. We hope it will be cleared by early March. We facilitated a €50 million macroeconomic support. Accession to the European Union is the other key agenda item which we are pushing strongly.

Cuireadh an Dáil ar fionraí ar 1.17 p.m. agus cuireadh tús leis arís ar 1.57 p.m.

Sitting suspended at 1.17 p.m. and resumed at 1.57 p.m.