It is proposed to take No. 4a, Electoral (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2014 - Second Stage (resumed). Tomorrow's fortnightly Friday business shall be No. 46, Broadcasting (Amendment) Bill 2014 - Second Stage; and No. 47, Land and Conveyancing Law Reform (Amendment) Bill 2013 - Second Stage.
Order of Business
There are no proposals to be put to the House.
In response to frequent questions from this side of the House on the housing (miscellaneous provisions) Bill, Government Members have assured us that it will be forthcoming this session. Given that the session will end in July, will the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform be more specific than those who have responded on this issue? The Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, has indicated that she is committed to addressing the crisis for local authorities. It is necessary for the Minister to be more specific in order that we can prepare our amendments to the Bill.
I am informed by the Minister of State, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, that the Bill will be published in the next couple of weeks and debated in the House before the summer recess.
The programme for Government commits to early intervention for people with mental illness problems and to the detection and treatment of people at risk of suicide. According to figures published by Pieta House yesterday, ten people take their own lives every week in the State.
It calls for suicide to be given the same attention as road deaths. Will the Government now resource and prioritise this issue as it has committed to do in the programme for Government?
Suicide is one of the most challenging and real social problems we face and suicide prevention and mental health are priorities for the Government since coming to office. Not only have we provided and protected the funding allocated to the mental health sector, we have provided an additional €90 million to date and an additional 1,150 posts in both adult and child mental health services over the past few years. I am minded of the views of the Deputy. It is an issue for which we must have careful regard and even when other areas are under pressure, it is an area that we are determined to protect.
There is chaos out there in the accident and emergency departments.
Will Deputy Ellis settle down?
People are getting turned away in the mental health.
That is not true.
Settle down, please.
That is a ridiculous answer.
Will Deputy Ellis settle down?
There is chaos in mental health.
That is not true.
Would Deputy Ellis mind? One does not shout across the floor.
They are being turned away.
I call Deputy Ó Fearghaíl.
That is not true.
It is true. I was in the hospital myself. It is true.
It is not true.
Will Deputy Ellis resume his seat and not behave like that in the Chamber?
Yesterday I raised the question of the planning Bill, listed 86 on the Government legislation programme, in the context of a dilemma that exists whereby the Planning and Development Act 2000 states that local authorities, when taking estates in charge, must take all services in charge whereas the Act establishing Irish Water gives Irish Water responsibility for the water services. The result of the dilemma currently is that local authorities, such as that in County Kildare, are not taking estates in charge at all. Will that lacuna in the law be addressed via the planning Bill or will there be a protocol brought forward by Government as a matter of urgency to address the difficulty?
One cannot discuss the content of a Bill. Can the Minister tell me when the planning Bill is due?
There is not yet a date, as Deputy Ó Fearghaíl was informed, for its publication but I will ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government to communicate directly with him on the other matter he raised.
It may be that the Member for Laois-Offaly has already raised this; I am not quite sure. I wanted to ask the Minister about the housing (miscellaneous provisions) Bill. I now gather it was what Deputy Cowen raised and we got an answer. It is something that my constituents in Meath are concerned about.
Before the summer.
I look forward to its publication in July.
It will be published within two weeks.
That is great. I thank the Minister.
When will the health (transport supports) Bill will come before the House to provide for the restoration of the mobility grants to the disability sector?
The heads have not yet come to Cabinet. I will ask the Minister to update the Deputy directly.
What is the progress in preparing the personal injuries assessment board (amendment) Bill to come before the House? Have the heads been approved by Cabinet and when is it expected the Second Reading will take place?
Similarly, have the heads of the teaching council (vetting and protection of children and vulnerable persons) Bill been approved by Cabinet and when is it likely to come before the House?
Deputy Durkan was lucky in the lotto for questions today, but not so lucky, unfortunately, in the Bills he has selected. Neither of those Bills, the PIAB Bill or the teaching council Bill, has yet come to Government and there is no set date when the Bills might be published.
Deputy Durkan is a man of great patience.
Tá ceist agat faoi Bille na dteangacha oifigiúla (leasú), the official language (amendment) Bill. One of the recommendations of this Bill was to merge the functions of the Language Commissioner and the Ombudsman's office, among other issues. It was also going to abolish the Placenames Commission. I understand the merging of the Coimisinéir Teanga and the Ombudsman's office is not going ahead, and I welcome that. I do not know why the Government ever decided to try to merge those two bodies.
It was recommended by a committee that you set up.
Me personally.
No, Deputy Kitt's party in government.
I ask the Minister whether, now that the Government has decided not to merge the Coimisinéir Teanga and the Ombudsman's office, this will further delay the taking of this Bill.
The heads were cleared by Government on 4 April and we had a debate on that issue. I did not resist much in taking responsibility for answering to the Dáil for the Coimisinéir Teanga and it is appropriately left with an tAire Ealaíon, Oidhreachta agus Gaeltachta, where it will stay. That amendment will not delay the presentation of the Bill to the House.
When will it be taken?
Hopefully, before the summer session.