Iarraim ar gach taobh na srianta ama a choinneáil, más é bhur dtoil é.
Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Ava Cahill is 11. She is from Tallaght in Dublin and she has spina bifida. She has been waiting for more than a year and a half for corrective surgery. As a result of this wait, Ava lives in considerable and daily pain because her feet have turned in on themselves and her condition is worsening. Her mother says that it is increasingly difficult for Ava to hold her splint in place. She needs this to keep her feet straight. Ava says it is increasingly difficult for her to do everyday things. Her feet keep getting caught in her pants when she tries to dress herself and she does not want anyone to see her feet. Ava, like every child, simply wants to do the things that her friends do. She so badly needs this operation. She said, "It would make my feet straight and I can tell everybody that my feet are normal." Ava's story is not unique. Some 90,000 children are on some form of waiting list. Hundreds of children wait for years for urgent, life-changing orthopaedic surgery for conditions like spina bifida and scoliosis. Many children with spina bifida wait for between one and four years.
Úna Keightley of the Spina Bifida Paediatric Advocacy Group outlined what this means for these children, stating, "They are having open sores and wounds. They are having skin breakdown and infection. There is extreme mental distress to their families and to the children themselves and some of them have actually become inoperable," because they have waited for so long. They are inoperable, having waited for a procedure to which they are entitled, but now it is too late for them. Orthopaedic consultant Dr. Connor Green told the Joint Committee on Health in November that children's potential is being destroyed, physically and psychologically, because of all of this. Due to the wait, children who once walked independently are now in wheelchairs. This is a failure of vulnerable children.
Time is of the essence. The longer these children wait for surgical intervention, the more complex the procedures they eventually need. The wait is ruining their chance and right to a normal life, free of pain. It is not good enough for them to be simply let be. Ní mór don Rialtas gníomh a dhéanamh i gcomhair na bpáistí atá ag fanacht ar obráidí spina bifida agus scoliosis. Ciallaíonn sé sin páistí a bhaint as na liostaí feithimh. Chinnteodh infheistíocht de €5 milliún go bhfaigheadh na páistí seo na hobráidí atá ag teastáil go géar uathu.
The Government could act today to end the agonising wait for these children, to get them off the waiting lists and ensure that they have the life-changing procedures they desperately need. For a relatively modest investment of €5 million, the additional capacity necessary could be delivered to clear these lists. This funding request has been with the Government and Minister for Health for two years. I want to know why this money has not been allocated. It is the best €5 million the Government could spend. It would make a huge difference to children's lives, free them from serious pain, improve their long-term outcomes, and relieve their families of the most immense stress and worry. Children should not have to display their agony, shed their tears on national television, or protest outside the Dáil to get the healthcare they need and which they are fully entitled to.
I thank the Deputy for raising the issue.
Tá a fhios agam go mbeidh Teachtaí tríd an Teach ag déanamh ómóis inniu do mo chara agus iar-chomhghleacaí Noel Treacy, atá imithe ar shlí na fírinne. I express my deepest sympathies to Mary and to the family on the death of Noel Treacy, who had a long and distinguished public life. He came into Dáil Éireann in 1982. He served as Minister in many portfolios, including at the Department of the Taoiseach and in roles with responsibility for European affairs and education and science. Aire tiomanta agus fíor-scrupallach a bhí ann. He performed a great public service throughout his life. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam. Again, I express my deepest sympathies to Mary and the family.
I saw the piece on RTÉ at the weekend about children waiting for surgery and orthopaedic surgery. Additional funding has been made available to the health service and the HSE to address waiting times and waiting lists, for Crumlin, Temple Street and Cappagh. Children's Health Ireland, CHI, has the capacity to free up space so that complex orthopaedic procedures, including scoliosis and spinal fusion, can be carried out at CHI sites. It is not and should not be an issue of funding. It is unacceptable that children have to wait for so long for urgent surgery. Covid impacted on it. Hospitals received instructions prior to Christmas relating to public health advice to prioritise, for public health reasons, the capacity within hospitals for Covid and issues relating to the Omicron variant and during earlier surges. In 2022, €350 million has been made available to improve waiting times. That includes €150 million for the National Treatment Purchase Fund. Whatever immediate capacity measures can be developed should be developed, because the funding is there to do it.
I listened to Dr. Connor Green on the radio during the week. He stated that it is a priority that they be treated on CHI sites to facilitate follow-up on treatment for the child who has had surgery. I have sought a meeting with Children's Health Ireland about this, as well as with the HSE. Anything that can be done to reduce these waiting times for those who need urgent surgery has to and should be done. I want to get a proper assessment of waiting times for children on the list, how long individual children are waiting, and the reasons for that.
The Taoiseach should not play the Covid card. As far back as 2014, Temple Street hospital issued a damning report, setting out the failures in service for children with spina bifida. To this day, these children are still failed. I am afraid that it is an issue of funding. A request for €5 million of funding has been with the Minister-----
From?
-----for two years for Cappagh hospital.
The money is there.
Current funding of €5 million is needed. The Government has known about this for many years. It is a matter of funding. We can deal with this quite simply. I want a commitment from the Taoiseach that the moneys required to give these children the procedures they need will be released as a matter of urgency. Deputy Cullinane and I have met with CHI. By all means, the Taoiseach should meet with whoever he wishes, but he does not need a long round of meetings to understand what has happened here. Would it surprise the Taoiseach to hear that operating theatres are idle in Cappagh? We have the surgeons and the capacity. They need funding. It is €5 million. The Minister, Deputy Donnelly, knows about it. I ask the Taoiseach to make it happen and ensure this funding is released urgently.
I think the Deputy is asking the wrong question. The €5 million is not an issue in solving this.
Well then, release it.
It is not an issue. Deputy McDonald should ask herself the question, why has the Cappagh request not been facilitated?
Pardon me?
Why has it not been facilitated?
She is asking the Taoiseach that.
That is the question she should ask herself.
Why has it not what?
Why has it not been facilitated? Why have the authorities not facilitated it? The funding has been given to the HSE. We have said to the HSE and to everybody who listens, in terms of hospital capacity-----
The Taoiseach needs to tell them again-----
-----to deliver any additional beds or capacity that they can-----
They have not done it.
-----in the shortest time possible. There was €600 million given last year for the winter initiative and 800 extra beds were provided last year. Funding is not an excuse any longer. Record sums of money have been given to the HSE and to CHI. They should get on with it and get it done.
Tell them that.
I have told them that.
Does he want me to go and tell them?
No, I do not.
Does he want me to do his job?
What you are doing-----
I am happy to. I will do your job any day.
No, no. Again, I have noticed that this is-----
No, Taoiseach, sorry, excuse me.
On a point of order, if I may. This is a recurring feature of Leaders' Questions.
No, at this point there is no point of order. I am sorry to interrupt but the time is up.
What about the barracking?
There is an open mic with the Deputy. I do not have that facility when other Deputies are speaking and I do not interrupt. This is a regular occurrence and I have to bring it to the Leas-Cheann Comhairle's attention.
(Interruptions).
It is disrupting. It is deliberately premeditated recently.
Well then, do not ask me questions.
The bottom line and what I am saying to the Deputy is-----
No, no-----
I answer questions, you see.
I have given the answers.
Please. I am now standing up. We are not going through this. We do it through the Chair. The Taoiseach should not be interrupted and neither should the Deputies. If we do it through the Chair, it might be easier. I will keep a close eye on everything from now on. We are going to move on.
A Leas-Cheann Comhairle, there is a regular open mic every day now-----
No, at this point-----
This is every day.
At this point, it is Leaders' Questions. The time is now up for Sinn Féin and yourself.
I just want to make-----
I am moving on to Páirtí an Lucht Oibre anois agus an Teachta Howlin. Is féidir linn teacht ar ais chuig an gclár oibre agus chuig an gcaoi go bhfuil mise nó an Ceann Comhairle ag déileáil le rudaí.
Caithfear é-----
Ag an bpointe seo tá mé ag bogadh ar aghaidh.
As the Taoiseach will recall, a rise in the pension age was a major issue in the last general election. Immediately after the election the Government set up a Commission on Pensions which published its report last October. The trade union-led campaign, STOP67, was successful in the interim and the proposed increase was stopped. The commission report proposed to freeze the pension age until 2028 and then to begin phased increases by increments of three months to reach 67 by 2031 and then to rise by three months every two years to hit 68 by 2039. As part of the next steps, the Government also sought the views of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection. The commission's report was referred to the Cabinet committee on economic recovery and investment which is to bring recommendations for implementation by the end of March.
Today the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection, in its response to the report of the Commission on Pensions, made a series of landmark recommendations which are clearly at odds with the recommendations of the Commission on Pensions last October. Today's report proposes that the State pension age should not rise beyond the age of 66. It makes the very important point that this cross-party committee of the House which looked at the facts is unconvinced that the gradual increase in the pension age would have any meaningful impact on the fiscal position of the Social Insurance Fund. It proposes to boost funding for the Social Insurance Fund with a series of PRSI increases. It also calls for a ban on the use of mandatory retirement ages. One of the most important recommendations is that we should now build flexibility into our pension system to allow those with 40 years of contributions to access a State pension at the age of 65. Many people now approaching retirement age started working in their teens and in some cases, have worked for 40 or 50 years since then, paying their taxes and social contributions.
Will the Government accept the recommendation of the cross-party committee that the pension age should stay at its current age of 66? Will the Taoiseach confirm that legislation will be brought forward to ban the use of mandatory retirement clauses? Will the Government act to allow those with 40 years of contributions to access their pension at 65, as recommended by the all-party committee?
First, I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. As a former member of Government, Deputy Howlin realises the enormous issue facing society because we are living longer, which is a good thing. In the last 50 years, the transformation of health has been extraordinary. In the last 100 years the average life span has increased by 25 years in this country, which is quite a dramatic transformation from when the State was founded. In the last 20 years in particular, survival rates from heart disease, cancer and stroke have been dramatically transformed. It is a good story that we are living longer but it clearly has implications for pensions and for how we sustain society in the context of longer lives, thanks be to God, and greater access to healthcare, interventions and so on. That was the work of the Commission on Pensions which was established and the Cabinet committee referred its report to the Oireachtas, which is what was agreed. The Oireachtas has now considered it and made its report.
The Commission on Taxation and Welfare is also relevant. The findings of the Commission on Pensions will also be examined by the Commission on Taxation and Welfare because it is all interrelated in terms of how we sustain the system. I have not read the cross-party committee's report in detail but look forward to doing so. I think Deputy Howlin said that it is suggesting PRSI increases. That is interesting.
Yes, or tax changes.
Well, increases, basically, let us be honest here.
Oh yes.
That is what all the parties in the House have signed up for, it seems, if that is what is in the report. I understand, by the way, why that would be a recommendation. The Cabinet committee will look at this after the publication of the report of the Commission on Taxation and Welfare. We said we would look at the pensions issue six months after we got the Commission on Pensions report, which will be the end of March. We intend to come back to the House on that.
We support the banning of mandatory retirement clauses. People should be allowed to continue to work if that is their wish and their choice. That makes sense relative to the fact that we are living longer. There will not be any easy choices here. Politicians tend to reach for the easy choices, if we are all honest. Not every Oireachtas committee goes for the pain option. I have been there.
I try to avoid masochism myself.
Yes, I know. When I was in opposition the last time, the only committee that did its work honourably, or at least the majority did, was the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Climate Action. It made recommendations that were not palatable electorally but Oireachtas committees are not often disposed to making recommendations that are electorally unpalatable. That said, I will read the report and I accept the points made regarding the core principles. We need to engage further.
I meant to take the opportunity on my first contribution to sympathise with the family of the late Mr. Noel Treacy, with whom I had the privilege of working in this House.
The Taoiseach is right. I have served in government in the past and this is a difficult decision. It is not an easy decision but the fact that an all-party committee looked at this and came up with solutions that are fiscally sound is something that must carry weight in this House.
Covid has changed the way we look at work and our attitudes to work location, flexibility and the nature of work itself. It should also change our attitude to and fixed policies on pensions, pension age and so on. A very coherent argument was made by the Chairman of the Oireachtas committee, Deputy Naughten, this morning and I ask the Government to approach this with a very open mind and not to focus on what was done in the past or on people's position in the past. Instead, it should say that in the post-Covid era, everything is up for review. Hopefully we can agree that we can have the recommendations of the all-party committee accepted.
I have not read the report of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Social Protection in detail. I thought Deputy Howlin said it had recommended increases in PRSI but I am not so sure that it has done so.
It recommends tax increases and some increases in PRSI. It recommends, for example, reducing the tax threshold for high earners and their very large pension pots.
I have an open mind, genuinely. The Government will approach this with an open mind. The Commission on Pensions did very detailed work, under Ms Josephine Feehily's chairmanship. It did genuine, bona fide work.
It is work that will feed in. The joint committee has examined that. The Deputy made the point that it is fiscally sound. That will be examined. It has to be fiscally sound. There is no point pretending to future generations or leaving them short because this generation has not devised policy responses that guarantee and sustain pensions well into the future and decades ahead. That has to be a core objective of the entire House. We will approach this with an open mind in terms of the sustainability of the pension environment because it is key to a quality life.
This Friday, in the District Court beside the Four Courts, five households - families and individuals - will taste the very bitter fruits of this Government's failure to protect tenants from ruthless vulture funds and against no-fault evictions and to offer them alternatives when they are faced with homelessness, either in terms of social housing or private rental accommodation that they could afford and is within HAP limits. The families and individuals living in St. Helen's Court will face an application by a vulture fund, Mill Street Projects, to evict them into homelessness this Friday. These are decent, ordinary working people who have done absolutely nothing wrong. They have always paid their rent. They are still paying their rent. They have never been guilty of any antisocial behaviour. They had a community, one that has been wrecked. There used to be 20 tenants in it but others have been bullied out by two successive vulture funds. The tenants have been tortured by these vulture funds over four years and now face homelessness. This is because of the Government's refusal to ban no-fault evictions. There is no justification that should allow the law to facilitate a vulture fund, for no other reason than profit, to put people on the street but our law allows it.
There is absolutely no justification for the fact that in the same block there are 12 and now maybe 15 empty apartments beside the apartments from which these tenants are now to be evicted which the landlord claimed at the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, it wanted to rent but, strangely enough, it will not rent to the tenants it is about to evict. Those apartments have been allowed to sit there for two years. I have flagged this again and again. Why are compulsory purchase powers not used to get hold of these empty apartments that could not only prevent people going on the street but could house 12 to 15 other families? What alternatives are available to these tenants?
Under the HAP limits, the individuals in St. Helen's Court can seek a maximum rent of €990 for a one-bedroom apartment. In Dún Laoghaire today, the cheapest one-bedroom apartment is €1,300. The next one is €1,600 and the next one after that is €1,900. The maximum the families can look for is €1,900 for a three-bedroom apartment. The cheapest available in Dún Laoghaire at the moment is €2,400. All of these tenants are goosed and will be forced into homelessness because we have failed to protect not just these tenants but any other tenants faced with this situation.
We are running over time. The Taoiseach is to respond uninterrupted.
About six Bills have already been passed to protect tenants' rights generally. In particular, the Tyrrelstown amendment provides that where a landlord proposes to sell ten or more units in a single development at the same time, that sale is subject to the existing tenants remaining in situ, other than in exceptional circumstances.
The Deputy, to be fair to him, has raised the situation in St. Helen's Court involving five tenants or families, which is unacceptable. Under existing constitutional frameworks, there is a balance to be struck in terms of how far we can go in legislation. Any proposals that would just remove a landlord's right to terminate a tenancy could be subject to and would carry the risk of constitutional challenge. We have asked the housing commission to prioritise consideration of a constitutional amendment regarding a referendum on housing in respect of these issues. Fundamentally, that is where we have to go to ensure that situations like this one do not happen in the manner that it is happening.
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council has told the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage that it will do everything it possibly can to ensure the five families do not fall into homelessness as a result of what is transpiring with the landlord in this case. The commission on housing is looking at issues around tenure, standards, sustainability and quality of life. As the Deputy will know, the Government has provided for tenancies of unlimited duration through the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2021, which means that all new tenancies created on or after 11 June 2022 would become tenancies of unlimited duration after six consecutive months of occupation under the tenancy without a valid notice of termination having been served.
Anything that can possibly be done, we are doing within the legal constraints to protect tenants as much as we possibly can. We have committed in the programme for Government to a referendum on housing. That work is being prioritised by the housing commission. It is fundamental to the core issue the Deputy raised.
On behalf of the tenants, I invite the Taoiseach, members of Sinn Féin, the Social Democrats, the Labour Party and anyone else who can to get down to the courts to support those tenants. There will be a solidarity rally on Friday.
None of the things the Taoiseach has just mentioned would protect these tenants. The tenancies of indefinite duration still allow a vulture fund to evict tenants under these circumstances. I do not buy the constitutional obstacles to protecting tenants. During Covid the Government brought in an eviction ban under pressure. What happened? The number of people going into homelessness fell from over 10,000 to 7,000 and would have kept falling except for the fact the Government lifted that ban. It was able to do it during Covid; it can do it now. Why does it not do it?
The Tyrrelstown amendment provides that if there are more than ten tenants in a multi-unit complex, they cannot be evicted. This vulture fund tried to evict ten, did not get away with it, came back and evicted fewer than ten and then bullied the rest out. If it can be done for ten tenants, it can be done for anybody. The Government must protect them from unfair evictions. It should not allow vulture funds to evict people for profit and it must control rents so that the landlords cannot charge these extortionate rents.
The constitutional framework does restrict. It was possible during Covid because of lockdown and the 5 km rule. The legal advice was that in that context, in a lockdown scenario, one could do it but one could not do it outside of that where people could move to get alternative accommodation. When people were restricted to the 5 km rule the legal judgment was made that we could freeze evictions. That was the legal advice presented to us in that regard.
On ten houses versus five, again it was a question of balance in terms of how at risk would one be constitutionally and open to challenge if one did anything less because there are competing rights here in terms of the Constitution and the law.
That is poor comfort for decent tenants being evicted.
I know that. I am trying to give an honest answer.
It is poor comfort.
The Taoiseach without interruption.
There are always constraints on the Legislature because we have a written Constitution. That is why we live in the kind of democracy that we do. We are one of the few countries that have a written Constitution, which is a limitation on the Executive and the Oireachtas.
Thank you, Taoiseach.
We have the power through constitutional amendment if we so wish.
The Constitution includes the common good.
The only power I have is in relation to time. If we could watch that just a little bit.