It is proposed to take No. 34, statements on challenges facing the European Union (resumed), to adjourn at 2 p.m. if not previously concluded; No. 13, motion re proposal that Dáil Éireann adopts the “EU Scrutiny Work Programme 2015, Joint Committees’ Priorities”, to be moved on the adjournment or conclusion of No. 34; and No. 1, Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2014 [Seanad] - Second Stage. It is proposed, notwithstanding anything in Standing Orders, that No. 13 shall be decided without debate. Friday's fortnightly business shall be No. 64, Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2014; and No. 65, Proceeds of Crime (Amendment) Bill 2014.
Order of Business
Is the proposal for dealing with No. 13, motion re proposal that Dáil Éireann adopts the “EU Scrutiny Work Programme 2015, Joint Committees’ Priorities”, without debate, agreed to? Agreed.
Regarding the health reform Bill, some 412,000 people are waiting to see a consultant for the first time as outpatients. There is an increase in the number of people waiting on trolleys in accident and emergency units and the National Treatment Purchase Fund has announced major increases across all categories of people wanting to access appointments. In terms of the health reform Bill, we are not quite sure what reforms are being proposed. It was proposed to abolish HSE and have universal health insurance as the funding model for the health services in the years ahead. Does anyone know the kind of reform proposed? As late as yesterday, the Taoiseach told us there would be no supplementary budget even though the Minister for Health told me two weeks in advance that there would be a supplementary budget this year. Who is in charge of the health reform Bill? Does anyone know what is happening in health any more?
Regarding the Bill we spoke about on Leaders' Questions, when will it be brought before the Dáil? When will it be taken on Committee Stage? Will there be an opportunity for pre-legislative scrutiny to check this legislation and carry out broad consultation? Not everyone has welcomed the Bill. Many people have concerns about the proposed Bill and it has not been universally welcomed. The idea that the Government is being applauded for the Bill is not true. These are bully boy tactics and it offends many people. It puts people under huge pressure. The Tánaiste quoted Charles Dickens. The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, will go down not as the artful dodger but as the Bill Sykes, a bully boy when it comes to taking money from social welfare payments.
We are not discussing the details of the Bill.
I do not have a date for the health reform Bill but last year the Government gave significant extra resources to the Department of Health and the HSE and this year its budget increased significantly. Already, additional funding has been given to the Minister for Health in respect of specific areas discussed on previous occasions.
With regard to debt, the Department of Social Protection has a very well set out and well-established system in respect of the recovery of overpayments, which is protected by legislation in the consolidated Social Welfare Act. This limits the amount of money people can pay out of social welfare income, whether through the household budgeting system run through An Post or for any other purpose. The legislation is a cornerstone of how people on social welfare are protected. The legislation was worked on by the previous Government and since the current Government has been in office. It is a well-established system and I would not like the Deputy to frighten people. It is not in the best traditions of Fianna Fáil. We have a well-established system and the Department of Social Protection officials operate it up and down the country. They have done so for years and will continue to operate it.
The supplementary welfare allowance part of the social welfare system absolutely protects people's incomes where there are issues with debt. What I am saying in respect of the legislation is that we want to avoid a situation in which anyone has to get into debt, because I have seen the catastrophic consequences, particularly for working-class families, of allowing debts to build up. People are then faced with debts of hundreds of euro, which are incredibly difficult for them to meet, and a repayment system must be worked out to allow them to repay that over a long period. Without this reform, people with debts would have faced the risk of going to prison. There may be some people who do not like to see the end of that system, but the announcement has been strongly welcomed by various organisations.
The Tánaiste might address the question of timing which Deputy Kelleher raised. When can we expect to see this pickpocket legislation? Not to rehearse all that has gone before, the Tánaiste does a great disservice to those working-class families that are struggling by landing another bill on their mat and strong-arming them in this way. She knows that full well.
Just to correct the record of the Dáil, the Tánaiste mentioned poverty levels in west Belfast. Poverty levels are significant there, but actually the constituency of Foyle has the biggest difficulties with poverty in the North. As the Tánaiste knows, that has been an SDLP stronghold for 40 years-----
The Labour Party's sister party.
-----so if she is making a party political point, which is not helpful on issues of poverty, I want to put that on the record.
There are elections today in the North and across Britain. What level of priority does the Tánaiste attach to an early meeting with the incoming British Administration? The last four years have been marked by absolute disengagement by her Government in terms of the North. Once the new British Government is in situ, can we anticipate a debate in this House about developments in the North, the peace process, our obligations and our ambitions for that part of the country?
The Tánaiste may be aware that over the last week there has been a series of very serious attacks on Sinn Féin MLAs and candidates. There have been four attacks, including an attack on the home of Martin McGuinness. There have been seven bomb and death threats to MLAs and candidates. The Taoiseach, after being very quiet on this issue, has made his position clear and has condemned absolutely such activities under any circumstances, but particularly in the midst of an electoral campaign. I invite the Tánaiste to put on the record her position on that and, I hope, roundly condemn those who have targeted these individuals in this way.
Members of this Government have been very familiar with attacks being made in relation to political issues, in cyberspace, at events and so on.
There is no comparison with what I have described.
Of course I absolutely condemn any attack, anywhere, on any public representative. The fact that people's children and grandchildren were at home when some of these attacks were made, as was the case with the Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, is particularly reprehensible. I do not know whether the attacks were political or whether the attackers had other motives - that is for the police to establish - but it is deeply unpleasant, dangerous and potentially deadly in the context of the North, where so much work has been done across the spectrum to bring peace and to resolve political issues by peaceful means and through parliamentary democracy. Like the Taoiseach, I send my sympathy to the families and individuals affected and I absolutely condemn any attack such as that on any elected representative who is taking part in democracy.
Regarding the timing of the legislation to which the Deputy referred, it will be this session, but I do not have an exact timetable. As soon as this is available, it will be published by the Government. On the subject of debt, the Department of Social Protection has very well established mechanisms under legislation to protect people's social welfare payments where they are paying, as many people do on a voluntary basis, using the household budgeting scheme, which we run in conjunction with An Post. This a very popular service and it is of enormous assistance to people in managing bills such as rent and so on if they have a local authority house. We have a long tradition of doing that. It is embedded in legislation and carried out in a very careful and supportive way by thousands of social welfare staff who work very hard to give the best service possible to people who are in difficulty, and in particular, although Deputy McDonald may not agree, to help people who unfortunately have lost their jobs due to the collapse in the economy in returning to work, going back to education or starting their own businesses.
As Chairman of the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, I also condemn any such attacks. I am very proud to be Chairman of this committee. We work together very closely across party lines. This Government will continue to act impartially to try to implement all aspects of the Good Friday Agreement.
On the issue of fishing around lakes, rivers and canals, we must modernise existing legislation. When will the inland fisheries modernisation and consolidation Bill come before the House?
I do not have an exact date for that. In response to Deputy McDonald's query about when the first meetings with the new British Administration would take place, I do not want to anticipate outcomes, but from everything I read, the results will be very tight, so I do not know when that administration, of whatever political colour, will come into being. However, we have a very close relationship with the British Government, as Britain is our nearest neighbour, and I anticipate that we will be having meetings with the new administration very shortly after it is formed.
The water services Bill has been promised by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, the Tánaiste's colleague and deputy party leader, Deputy Alan Kelly. We were supposed to have this soon after Christmas. In the last day or two, the Minister has been reported as spearheading the debt collection aspect of Irish Water's campaign to collect unpaid water bills. Will this Bill, as the Minister has led us to believe, include measures to take the money out of people's pockets - out of the wages of the low-paid, who are workers such as those in Dunnes Stores, Tesco and Aldi and hotels up and down the country? Will it facilitate the taking of money out of those people's wages and from the payments of those who are on social welfare and who want to get off social welfare, or has this now been completely separated? What is the issue? What will it include with respect to local authority tenants and tenants in private rental accommodation? Will it give the Government and Irish Water the power to take payment from deposits? When will we see the Bill?
We cannot go too much into the detail.
I do not want the detail. I just wish to know whether the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government is holding good on his promise.
The civil debt procedures Bill, which I think is the legislation to which Deputy Stanley probably refers-----
No, it is the water services Bill. We were told it would be in the water services Bill.
No, the civil debt procedures Bill-----
The Minister said it would be in the water services Bill.
If Deputy Stanley wants the answer he should please allow the Tánaiste to conclude.
That is what he told me in the Chamber several times.
Does Deputy Stanley want the answer?
Yes.
Perhaps the Deputy is better off addressing that specific question to the Minister. Deputy Stanley asked about debt. What I said is the same as I outlined to his deputy leader, Deputy McDonald, which is that in particular, the Department of Social Protection has a very long record in helping families who have debt issues, especially through the household budgeting scheme with An Post, to meet their debts and to pay their bills on a regular basis. That system has been employed and been working very well in this country for a long period. A total of 1.2 million people have registered with Irish Water.
How many have paid?
In regard to households who wish to pay-----
How many have paid?
Please.
-----in small amounts, the household budgeting service discussions are ongoing between the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government and An Post to have the service extended to include those particular bills if people so wish. Many people use the scheme, in particular for paying bills such as ESB and gas and local authority rents.
I wish to ask the Tánaiste about the expected publication date for two Bills. The first is the criminal justice (victims rights) Bill, to strengthen the rights of victims of crime and their families and to give effect to a proposed EU directive. The second Bill is No. 123, the prisons Bill, the purpose of which is to consolidate and restate prison law in modern terms. I note today that new measures have been introduced to escort high-risk prisoners. In recent times serious attacks have been made on prison officers. In light of that we do need new prison laws and supports.
I understand legislation on victims' rights will be introduced later this year. On the second matter, I do not have a date for the publication of the prisons Bill or any further information on the Bill.
With regard to the need to strengthen patients' rights in terms of private health information, and also the need to underpin the effective information governance structure of the health system, when can we expect the health information Bill to be brought before the House for debate?
I expect the Bill to come before the House later this year.
One very positive thing that could be said about the Government is that there are far more women involved at the heart of government than ever in the history of the State. That is what makes it a little odd that very little is being done about domestic violence and violence against women. Some months ago we were told in the House that moves were afoot to do something about the Government becoming a signatory to the Istanbul Convention. Could the Tánaiste indicate whether there has been any progress in that regard?
We have been promised a family courts Bill, which is something we need to put in place urgently. We have also been promised a family law Bill. Could the Tánaiste indicate whether progress has been made in respect of those matters?
First, as the Deputy is aware, domestic violence affects men as well.
It does.
We must be conscious of that point because it is terrible when it happens in any family. Discussions are ongoing on domestic violence and the Istanbul declaration. I do not have a date for when the discussions will conclude. Neither do I have dates on the other matters.
When can we expect publication of the data sharing Bill, which is to underpin better risk-based enforcement, efficiencies and co-operation in business regulations by allowing specified public bodies to share specified data relating to business?
I understand the Bill will be published later in the year.