Ar dtús, ba mhaith liom a rá, ar mo shon fhéin agus ar son mo pháirtí, Nollaig faoi shéan agus faoi mhaise duit féin, a Cheann Comhairle, do Bhaill an Tí agus do gach éinne atá ag obair anseo. Táimid go léir fíor-bhuíoch dóibh as ucht an méid a dhéanann siad ar ár son. Nollaig faoi shéan duit féin agus don Tánaiste. Maraon liom féin, tá an Tánaiste ag súil leis an Nollaig agus leis an bhfaoiseamh agus an sos beag atá ag teacht
Leaders' Questions
Gan dabht.
After extending season's greetings and hoping the Tánaiste will have an enjoyable, restful and peaceful Christmas, which I am sure he needs, like all of us, I wish to raise a very serious issue relating to people with disabilities. Looking back on 2012, it is fair to say we have witnessed a significant attack on services for people with disabilities, with cuts across the board. There has been much fear and anxiety developing among parents and families of people with special needs and disabilities. It has been a sustained attack, leading to fear and frustration.
For example, 700 school leavers have no guarantees of getting a place for essential services and the issue is still not satisfactorily resolved. There have been cuts to special needs assistants across the country, with a 15% cut to resource teaching hours and a very ruthless review of the domiciliary care allowance, with up to 63% of all applications rejected in the first six months of 2012 and 50% of children with autism refused a domiciliary care allowance. Last year the Government was forced into a review of cuts it had announced to disability payments. We also witnessed the debacle of the Minister for Health, Deputy James Reilly, in August, when he cut €10 million from personal assistants and people had to camp overnight to get the cut reversed.
There was a further slash and burn cut of €1 million in home help hours, which again affected people with disabilities. That was followed in this budget by a callous 20% cut in the respite care grant. On this side of the House we have noticed a terrible tightening of the screw with medical cards, particularly for children with special needs and children with life-challenging conditions. Such people are now being refused medical cards. When one considers the entire year, the picture is one of targeting people with disabilities, with a removal of any sense of guarantee or comfort.
We acknowledge the difficulty of the finances for 2013. There should be, however, a resolve to protect people with special needs and disabilities in our society. I know the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, at the time of the announcement of the Estimates was not in a position to guarantee that there would not be further cutbacks in 2013 for the disability sector. The HSE service plan is due to be published. Will the Tánaiste guarantee there will not be cuts to people with disabilities and special needs? In particular, will he guarantee there will be places in services for those who leave second level schooling in 2013?
Ba mhaith liom aontú leis an Teachta Ó Máirtín agus le gach uile Teachta sa Dáil, agus Nollaig shona a bhronnadh ort féin, a Cheann Comhairle, ar gach Ball den Teach agus ar gach uile dhuine a oibríonn anseo i dTeach Laighean. I join with Deputy Martin in wishing the Ceann Comhairle a happy Christmas.
He needs a rest.
I also wish a happy Christmas to all the party leaders, Members, the staff of the House and those who work in the press and in servicing the work of Leinster House. I also extend greetings to those who work in our political parties and in our offices. We have had a pretty intense time since the Dáil resumed in early September and everybody is agreed that a period of rest and reflection is due to everybody in the House.
There is a degree of fear and worry among people with disabilities and those who care for them or are close to them. It is a responsibility for all of us to ensure this sense of fear and worry is not added to. When we address the issue of the services provided for people with disabilities, we should do so in a reasoned way, and no Member should seek to exploit any issue relating to disabilities. We should work collectively to address those needs.
Deputy Martin raised a number of issues. The total amount budgeted for disability-related services in the Department of Health alone is approximately €1.4 billion. He also referred to medical cards.
Currently, 42% of the population have medical cards in addition to those who hold general practitioner only cards.
On places in education, I understand the 700 persons to whom Deputy Martin referred who left the education system have been accommodated. There has not been any reduction in the basic payments which are made to people with disabilities and those who care for them. I agree it should be a priority for all of us that provision is made for people with disabilities. There is a requirement that the service plan for the Health Service Executive is produced and submitted to the Minister within 21 days of the Estimates being announced. There is then a period of 21 days within which the service plan must be agreed. This process will be worked on over the next number of weeks and I assure Deputy Martin that, as far as the Government is concerned, provision for people with disabilities and those who care for them is a priority.
The key issue in the service plan is whether it will include a cut in resources to service providers. They believe this may be the case and they have been clear that they cannot take any more. The demographic funding that was provided for school leavers was removed in its entirety last year and not all of the school leavers were adequately dealt with. I raised a complex case in the House concerning a young child who is still awaiting adequate and proper provision by the Department of Health and Health Service Executive. Details of the case have been provided to the Ministers concerned and the Taoiseach. The removal of funding is the reason the child in question is not being properly accommodated. I have spoken to HSE officials about this matter and they are at the end of their tether. This is one example of the inadequate manner in which school leavers were dealt with last year.
The programme for Government states the Government will "ensure that the quality of life of people with disabilities will be enhanced and that resources allocated will reach the people who need them". It continues: "We will facilitate people with disabilities in achieving a greater level of participation in employment, training and education". In 2012, the opposite was the case for people with disabilities and special needs across the areas I outlined. The domiciliary care allowance, in particular, has been the subject of a ruthless review. Many parents of children with autism cannot understand the reason they have been refused domiciliary care allowance. Half of them are being refused the allowance, with 63% of overall applications being excluded under the review.
Will the Tánaiste guarantee the service plan will not include a cut to the funding provided to the service providers? Will he guarantee that the 700 children who will leave second level education in September 2013 will all have a place and funding will be provided to the service providers to ensure these children and young people are provided with appropriate placements?
The service plan has not yet been completed. As I indicated, there is a process by which the plan is developed. The first part of this is the preparation and submission to the Minister for Health of a service plan by the Health Service Executive, after which the Minister has a period in which to consider the plan. In advance of seeing the service plan, none of us can speculate about what will be in it.
The Tánaiste could try to influence it.
I agree that the needs of people with disabilities must be adequately provided for. It is the view and priority of the Minister for Health and the Minister of State with responsibility for people with disabilities, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, that this should be done. One of the ways in which this is done is to ensure planning is done. This was not the case in the past but it is now being done. It is possible to plan ahead and anticipate what will be the educational and training needs of a person with disability at the different stages at which they need to access services. This is the approach being taken by the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, who is ensuring a plan is in place and is being worked on ahead, rather than being operated on a year-to-year basis. By doing this, we provide certainty for people with disabilities and their families that their needs will be addressed.
Service providers have their plans and know what lies ahead.
I, too, wish everyone who works in the Houses of the Oireachtas, the Deputies gathered in the Chamber and their families and those viewing proceedings at home a very happy Christmas. Nollaig shona daoibh go léir.
On 26 September, Deputy Róisín Shortall resigned her junior Ministry in the Department of Health. On 25 October, almost one month later, I raised with the Tánaiste concerns about a meeting on 20 April last between the Minister for Health, Deputy James Reilly, and representatives of the National Asset Management Agency on the primary care centre in Balbriggan. On that occasion, the Tánaiste defended the Minister and informed me he could not track the diaries of every Minister, the persons Ministers met, when they met them and so forth and nor did he have any wish to do so. It now emerges from the briefing document prepared for the Minister prior to the meeting with NAMA, a copy of which my party acquired through a freedom of information request submitted by Deputy Pearse Doherty, that the specific site in Balbriggan was discussed at the meeting. The site, as the Tánaiste is aware, is owned by a Fine Gael Party supporter, Mr. Seamus Murphy and is to be developed by Fine Gael Party donor, Mr. A. J. Noonan. It was also used by the Minister as an election office. The Minister was well aware that his Fine Gael Party colleagues were concerned to develop the site as a primary health care centre. In contact between the developer and HSE it was indicated that the prospect of developing it was in jeopardy. To use the words of the relevant e-mail, which was sent on 17 April, the developer was making "a last throw of the dice". The site was then discussed on 20 April at a meeting between the Minister and representatives of the National Asset Management Agency. While the specific address is not given, it is very clear where the site is located. The document states: "A developer has identified a site in the town which is being used as a surface car park." Lo and behold, on the night before the priority list of primary care centres was to be announced, the Balbriggan location found its way on to the list of primary care centres. This decision confers considerable financial advantage on both the owner and developer.
The document my party has acquired openly contradicts the Minister's claim that he had no hand, act or part in the selection of the Balbriggan site. Some months on from these events, does the Tánaiste believe the Minister's claim of innocence in this escapade? Does he still believe he is suitable to continue in office as Minister for Health? In light of the information that has since come into the public domain, does the Tánaiste still have confidence in the Minister and does he still give him the balance of credibility over and above that of Deputy Róisín Shortall?
This is trawling over material that has been discussed in the House a number of times. I told the House previously that I had discussed this issue with the Minister for Health, Deputy James Reilly, the Secretary General of his Department and chief executive officer of the Health Service Executive who assured me that there was no political involvement of any kind in any individual site.
An internal audit of primary care centres was conducted. A review of departmental files and other documents was undertaken in early October by the internal audit unit, IAU, at the request of the Secretary General. The purpose of the review was to determine whether any documentation generated from 2011 to date would connect the Minister, Deputy Reilly, any of his advisers or anyone acting on behalf of the Minister to the selection of sites for the proposed primary care centres in Balbriggan and Swords. The scope of the request did not relate to any policy decision to locate a centre in either town. The checks carried out by the internal audit unit confirmed that no documentation relevant to the request was found.
The report, which issued to the Secretary General on 9 October, referred to his request for the internal audit unit to ascertain whether any documentation generated from 2011 to date was available within the Department that would connect the Minister, Deputy Reilly, and-or his advisers or anyone acting on his behalf to the selection of sites for the proposed primary care centres in Balbriggan and Swords. The internal audit unit asked the primary care unit and the offices of the Minister and the former Minister of State, in addition to the Minister's three advisers, to undertake a search with a view to locating any relevant documentation. All parties advised the IAU that no records relevant to the request could be located.
The Tánaiste's monotonal response does not take from this scandal. I have in my hand the briefing document prepared for and used by the Minister at that meeting on 20 April. Explicitly in the document, black on white, there is a mention of a particular site, namely, 68-70 Dublin Street. This is the site in the town centre that is currently being used as a surface car park.
I am astonished on two fronts. First, the Minister, Deputy Reilly, and the Government have the brass neck to act in such an improper fashion. Second, but perhaps more astonishingly, the Tánaiste will not just stand by this Minister, but by these obvious, sharp, corrupt practices that cost the Tánaiste a junior Minister.
That is outrageous.
We said at the time, and let me repeat it-----
I am sorry, but we cannot make allegations. Be careful.
I challenge Deputy McDonald to say that outside the House.
Let me say this-----
We cannot make allegations inside the Chamber.
-----and I said it at the time-----
Deputy McDonald should withdraw her "corrupt" remark.
The wrong Minister resigned. The former Minister of State, Deputy Shortall-----
On a point of order-----
-----was punished for doing the right thing.
I am sorry, but a point of order has been requested.
She was punished for standing by proper standards in public office.
On a point of order-----
The Tánaiste rewards another senior Minister by turning away his gaze and by not tracking the Minister's activities. This is a disgrace.
(Interruptions).
I am sorry, but a point of order has been requested. Will Deputy McDonald please stop?
Is it now allowable in the House to make allegations under the cover of privilege that cannot be made outside the House without litigation? Has that become standard practice in the House and will it be practised in future? Are our Standing Orders going to be amended to remove privilege from people who use the cover of privilege-----
That is not a point of order.
On a point of order-----
-----to make allegations against the character of other people in the House?
Will Deputy Durkan please resume his seat?
Since when has this been the standard practice?
(Interruptions).
On a point of order, I was thrown out last week for doing what Deputy Durkan just did.
Exactly. The Deputy was.
The Ceann Comhairle threw me out for doing the exact same thing.
(Interruptions).
The Chair has ruled many times that allegations of a serious nature against an officeholder can only be made by way of a substantive motion in the House-----
Correct.
-----and not by way of innuendo or otherwise across the floor of the House.
It is not innuendo. I have the document in front of me.
I have made this point quite clear.
Repeat the charge outside the House.
It is unprecedented that Leaders' Questions would be interrupted by a point of order. That has never before been allowed in the House.
We are over time. If Deputy McDonald would just put her question, she has only one minute to ask a supplementary.
I am not working on the basis of innuendo or supposition.
We do not-----
I have in my hand the briefing note that came from the Department-----
The Deputy can table a motion.
-----and it states very clearly that a particular site-----
Go outside and say that.
-----was discussed with NAMA, the same site that the Minister slipped onto the list. My question to the Tánaiste is simply this - what will he do about this whole scenario from which he has deliberately turned his face?
Is this smoke and mirrors? Changing the facts.
There is a Sinn Féin tactic-----
Come on.
-----which is to enter the House, wave a piece of paper around, claim that it has the goods on-----
It is a departmental briefing note.
Please, Deputy.
Please, listen to the answer.
What about the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Rabbitte?
It is a Sinn Féin tactic to enter the House-----
It is called opposition.
-----wave a piece of paper around, claim that it has the goods on us and then make all kinds of allegations, including of sharp, corrupt practices and so on. Sinn Féin has a neck.
Fair play, Tánaiste.
A bit like the Tánaiste's neck.
So much illegal activity. How many bodies are buried on this island because of Sinn Féin? It has a neck.
Deputies
Hear, hear.
What about the dodgy fivers?
(Interruptions).
It enters the House-----
(Interruptions).
The Tánaiste has a brass neck.
Will the Deputies please allow the Tánaiste?
It enters the House with its orders-----
What about the Tánaiste's past?
-----from Belfast to-----
Was the Tánaiste ever in the IRA?
-----make allegations.
Deputies, please.
There is a long-established way. If a Deputy wants to make an allegation against any Member of this House, there is a way in which-----
I want the Tánaiste to answer the question. He is the Tánaiste, is he not?
No, that is the trick.
The Deputy wants to twist the facts. Repeat that charge outside this House.
Is Deputy Gilmore not the Tánaiste? Does he-----
The Minister for Health has challenged the Deputy to say outside of this House what she just said inside it. Say it outside the House and stand over it. Do not enter the House and abuse its privilege.
Deputies
Hear, hear.
It is called opposition.
(Interruptions).
If she wants to put any question to the Minister for Health in respect of any meeting he has had, I am sure that he will answer it, but this is a clever little trick.
No, the trick is on the Tánaiste's side, as he will not answer my question. What will he do about this?
Sinn Féin enters the House waving allegations about the Minister for Health and then tells me to answer, and if I do not-----
Why does the Tánaiste not ask his own former Minister of State?
The Tánaiste makes allegations as well.
Ask your question. Make your allegation outside of the House if you want to stand over it.
Is this how the Tánaiste responded to Deputy Shortall when she raised the matter with him?
He is avoiding the question.
If Deputy McDonald wants to stand over that allegation, she should make it outside of the House.
Right. We have the Tánaiste now.
If she wants to put the question to the Minister for Health, she should put it to-----
No, I put the question to the Tánaiste.
These are Leaders' Questions.
She should put any question she wants to the Minister for Health-----
I asked the Tánaiste the questions because the Minister will not answer them. The Tánaiste is a disgrace.
-----but she should not come in here swinging around political allegations. She is stooping to a new low.
It is called opposition.
Deputy McDonald is wrong about Mr. Noonan. He is not Fine Gael.
I call Deputy Boyd Barrett.
I wish a happy Christmas to all of the Deputies in the House, all of those who work here and to the public outside. I wish to ask the Tánaiste a "Christmasy" question.
Does he have his hat?
One of the aspects that I love about Christmas, and I suspect that many do, is the Christmas tree. Most families in this country will have a Christmas tree in their homes. It is like having a little piece of Ireland's woodlands in the sitting room over Christmas. When one is surrounded by family, friends and the community, it is a time around the Christmas tree when people consider those matters that are important.
A matter that might be considered important at this time of year as one looks at one's Christmas tree is the woodlands. They are a part of our heritage and our culture and are a vital resource for the State. People might also wonder whether the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, believes the fairy tale that money grows on Christmas trees. Perhaps it is money that could pay for the property charges that will be imposed on families that will not be able to pay them next year.
Is a question coming?
What is the Deputy's question?
He is nearly there.
Money does not grow on the trees that are in people's front rooms during Christmas.
A Deputy
It might in the Deputy's part of the country.
However, does the Tánaiste agree with me that money and jobs grow on those trees on Coillte lands and that, when our country is being crucified with unemployment, austerity and cuts, it is a crime against the nation that the Government is planning to sell our nation's trees to private interests when those trees could generate thousands of desperately needed jobs and revenue for the State?
This week saw a further 1,000 acres sold. Private interests will make money from the sale of Christmas trees and logs, while industry and jobs that could have been created in the forestry sector will be lost. Will the Tánaiste grant the nation a Christmas wish by undertaking not to give away our woodlands and forests to people who see them only as an opportunity for profit? Will he give a commitment that our forests and woodlands will be retained for the benefit of the citizens of this State?
I am glad that Deputy Boyd Barrett has learnt that money does not grow on trees-----
One could just inherit it.
-----and, second, that we cannot solve our economic problems with fairy tales. I offer him another lesson, which is about distinguishing the wood from the trees or, more particularly, the woodlands from the trees. As the Deputy says, the trees have the potential to generate income for the State. That is why we intend to sell them; otherwise, one does not get money for them. The decision the Government has made is about selling the harvesting rights of trees - we are not selling the trees, woodlands or forests. However, if we want to generate income from the trees which grow in the forest, we have to sell them.
That is why we grow them in the first place.
Yes, that is why we grow them in the first place.
This sounds like an episode from Snow White.
It is called separating the trees from the wood.
The problem is that the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, does believe that money grows on trees. Otherwise, he would not expect people who are in mortgage distress, on social welfare or whose incomes have been slashed to pay property charges and endure other cuts to their income. My point is that while money does not grow on the Christmas trees that are in people's front rooms this Christmas, money does grow on the trees on Coillte lands and so do jobs.
Only if the trees are sold.
Leaving aside private interests, even Coillte itself, as it prepares for privatisation, does not actually generate jobs or revenue for the State. What it does is asset-strip our woodlands and sell them off for a song. One need only look to Switzerland, a country half the size of Ireland, to see what can be done.
Will the Deputy put a question to the Tánaiste?
Some 100,000 people are employed on its woodlands compared with 11,000 in Ireland. Those numbers will be further reduced when the Government sells off the trees to private interests which see them only as a cash crop that will make a quick buck. They have no interest in maintaining them as woodlands or developing the woodland industry to create jobs. That is the point I am making.
The Deputy is over time. Will he put a question to the Tánaiste?
It is interesting that one of the companies that is in the bidding to buy our forests is a Swiss bank, a subsidiary of which is headed up by Bertie Ahern.
I ask the Deputy not to make allegations.
Deputy Boyd Barrett is embarrassing his colleagues in the benches in front.
That company understands the value of our forests because it knows how to manage them properly. Why does the Government not keep them in public ownership, to generate the jobs that could put our people back to work, instead of selling them off to asset strippers who want only to cash in and have no intention of creating jobs or revenue for the State?
The main reason, normally, that anybody would grow a crop is to sell it and generate income. That applies to growing trees in the same way it applies to growing corn. The Deputy seems to be having some difficulty in understanding this. Since he is on the subject of public money, I note that he, together with all his Independent colleagues, is in receipt of a payment from the State for research. Given that the Deputy is almost two years in the House, he should have received some €80,000 tax free at this stage. Perhaps he might use that money to do some research on the subject.
(Interruptions).
It is the same payment the Tánaiste and his colleagues receive under the party allowance.
I do not see much output for that payment. The Deputy is nearly two years in the House and I have not seen a single Private Members' Bill from him anywhere on the Order Paper. I do not know what he is doing with the €80,000 of tax-free money he has received from taxpayers.
That is factually incorrect.
I will make a seasonal suggestion. For the Christmas, he might buy a copy of Little Red Riding Hood. He will learn all he needs to know there about the economics of woodlands.
That concludes Leaders' Questions.
(Interruptions).
A Cheann Comhairle, it is unacceptable that the Deputy Leader of the Government treats serious questions from Members on this side of the House with disdain.
(Interruptions).
I would appreciate Deputies' co-operation. I take this opportunity to wish all Members, their families and friends a very happy Christmas and a prosperous 2013.
Hear, hear.
I extend similar good wishes to all staff members in whatever capacity they serve and thank them for the courtesy extended to all of us during 2012.
Deputies
Hear, hear.
I also extend good wishes to our friends in the media, who sometimes give me a bit of a rough time. They will be pleased to hear that I do not hold any grudges against people. I wish everybody working in the media a very happy Christmas and a prosperous new year. Finally, I thank Members for their co-operation during 2012. To those with whom I might have had a misunderstanding during the year - if I was in the wrong, I apologise; if I was in the right, I hold no grudge. I look forward to working with all of them in 2013.