Skip to main content
Normal View

Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 14 Sep 2022

Vol. 1026 No. 1

An tOrd Gnó (Atógáil) - Order of Business (Resumed)

As the Taoiseach knows, the ECB has hiked mortgage interest rates by a record margin. It does so at a time when Central Statistics Office, CSO, data released today show house prices soaring above Celtic tiger levels. There are increases of 10.4% in Dublin and of more than 15% outside the capital. I would like to know what action the Government is going to take in response. In terms of the interest rate hikes, annual mortgage payments will now rise by hundreds of euro and this will prove to be the final straw for many households. We must remember that the banks were bailed out by the people when they verged on collapse. They have now returned to profitability. I put it to the Taoiseach that it is the banks that should absorb this hike and not pass it on to customers. Has the Taoiseach spoken to the Minister for Finance on this matter? Will he impress upon him the need to call in the top brass from the banks and tell them they need to protect the customer?

First of all, as the Deputy has said, the European Central Bank is independent and, because of inflation, it is taking its measures and making decisions independently to get inflation down. I know from the CSO figures released today that the number of first-time buyers is up this year as against last year. There has been quite an interesting increase in first-time buyers, and that is because of the help to buy scheme and the first-time owner's scheme the Minister has brought in. We have good measures to help young people around affordability. For those with existing mortgages, ideally the banks should be in a position to absorb these increases and we will monitor the situation. The Minister for Finance keeps in regular contact with the banks on a range of issues, but suffice it to say this will obviously create pressure for homeowners in terms of an increase in rates. As I said, in the forthcoming budget we are doing a broad range of measures to try to help people come through this current crisis.

Earlier I asked what the Government would do to protect people from the skyrocketing cost of energy and what it intends to do to address both the cost-of-living crisis and the energy crisis, and I suggested that radical and creative measures are needed. We in the Labour Party have proposed a measure that would have the dual effect of helping households struggling with bills and helping us to reach our very much-needed climate targets, and that is Labour's climate ticket. Our proposal is that the Government would introduce in the forthcoming budget a ticket for unlimited public transport journeys around Ireland for everyone for €9 per month. If the Government were to do this, even on a three-month trial basis to the end of the year, it would cost about €150 million. We believe it would have a really positive impact on so many households. We have seen it done in Germany. It was introduced there by the centre-left government to great effect in terms of addressing household bills and reducing climate emissions, encouraging more people onto public transport and out of cars. Will the Government help people in Ireland get out of their cars and get their bills out of the red by introducing a climate ticket?

As the Deputy knows, we cut public transport fares last year by 20% and we introduced a 50% cut in fares for young people. Prior to this September we decided to waive school transport fees for the public, which caused difficulties because more people applied for places than ever before, but it meant getting more people out of cars and onto public transport. The Government is not disagreeing with the principle of what Deputy Bacik is suggesting but we have to be mindful of the practicalities. In respect of the forthcoming budget and the core package of about €5.7 billion, we have to look at a variety of measures in respect of expenditure. The sum of €150 million in one year is a sizeable allocation to just one measure. We will be increasing public expenditure but will do so across a whole range of services. We have to focus on childcare, education and a variety of other areas.

FUSS Ireland was outside Leinster House again today. We are two weeks into the new school year and there are many children and young people with special needs and disabilities who do not have appropriate school places. In Cork South-West I have been working with families since this time last year who warned the Department and pleaded for the resources to ensure their children could exercise their right to education. One child with autism spectrum disorder, ASD, whose name is Charlie, has been moved between three primary schools. The special educational needs organiser, SENO, overruled the recommendation of the most recent school, and he was then placed in a special class at second level that is not suitable for his needs. Needless to say, he has regressed due to these circumstances. Even though an ASD unit is opening in the secondary school that is closest to him, it is already oversubscribed. His mum asked how it is possible that a post-primary unit is established, but even before it opens, it is oversubscribed. These children have been in primary education, in the system, for eight years. The numbers involved are surely relatively clear. Her son's case is not an isolated one but is symptomatic of an under-resourced and dysfunctional system failing children and families, a system that fails to do the most basic planning. What are we supposed to say to these parents when they come to us for help?

First, I have given priority to special education. I met representatives of FUSS Ireland last Saturday. I met a range of disability groups last Saturday, mainly involved on the health side. There was a very significant focus on the progressing disability services, PDS, programme and its implementation and application. I have had issues with that myself. There was a series of meetings involving the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Rabbitte, the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, the Minister of State at the Department of Education, Deputy Madigan, the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, and the HSE, which has resulted in the restoration of therapists to special schools over a certain timeframe.

In terms of school places themselves, we have made it clear what we want and the Department of Education, in fairness, has responded. In the past two years we have established new special schools where required. We have also brought in legislation that means schools cannot refuse children with special needs. It is the case that, over the years, post-primary did not develop to the same extent as primary level.

Thank you, Taoiseach. Your time is up.

What do we say to these parents?

One child who does not have a school place is one child too many. While I do not know the background to the individual case, as far as I am concerned, that child should be provided for. I know the Minister will agree with me it is within the capacity of the Department of Education to provide for that child. I do not have the details of the case, but if the Deputy wants to share them with me afterwards, I will see what I can do.

Outside the Dáil today were many residents of apartments and duplex complexes, including Hunterswood and Park West. These are some of the 100,000 householders facing serious defects in their homes. They were carrying placards saying "Not our fault" because it is not their fault. They did everything right when they bought their homes. The fault is with the builders responsible, with the lack of proper regulation, and with the regime of self-certification that existed at the time. It is not their fault, but at the moment it is going to be their bills, averaging €25,000, with some facing bills of €60,000-plus to make their homes safe.

There is a report on the Government's desk from the working group that talks about the scale of this issue. It says that the vast majority of Celtic tiger-era apartments or duplexes will be affected but the majority of those people do not know they are affected yet. One in 20 homes in this State is affected by this issue. The only just and workable solution is 100% redress. That is one of the options outlined in the report.

Your time is up, Deputy.

I have three quick questions. One, when will the Government decide on the report? Two, will the Government agree that anything it does will be retroactive and will the Taoiseach make that commitment now? Three, will the Government commit to 100% redress?

The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage has received that report and published it. The Government is going to consider intervention, just as we have in other areas like pyrite and mica, to which we have made very substantial and comprehensive responses. The response will be equally comprehensive on this front as well.

The Dentists Act 1985 needs to be updated as a matter of urgency. This was confirmed by the Dental Council of Ireland in its most recent submission to the Minister for Health. In October 2021, the council highlighted the fact that the Act is not fit for purpose, citing certain omissions and weaknesses. While I understand updating this legislation could be a lengthy process, I am calling on the Taoiseach to expedite, with immediate effect, a revision of sections 38 and 44 of the Dentists Act 1985. We must legislate so that specialist dental practitioners such as specialist orthodontists who are deemed unfit to practice on the grounds of incapacity are not held accountable for patient care or the transfer of patient care. In such circumstances, it should be the role and the responsibility of the Dental Council of Ireland to support member practitioners and their patients to transfer and manage continued patient care. Will the Government agree to update this legislation as a matter of urgency so that the Dental Council of Ireland will have the power to carry out this function?

I will talk to the Minister for Health about the proposal the Deputy has made regarding specific sections of the Bill. Deputy Grealish is suggesting we accelerate changes to aspects of the legislation in advance of any comprehensive overview of the Act, as I understand it. I will talk to the Minister about that.

The legislation needs to be updated and the Dental Council is calling for that to happen.

Earlier this year the Government announced, to another fanfare, that it would give free school transport to everyone. That has caused untold trouble, unease and anguish for everybody. The Government must have known that the system was not fit for purpose in any case and has not been for a long number of years and now it is chaos. The fact is that 15,000 children are now being shut out completely, some of whom had places or concessionary tickets. This has caused absolute bedlam but the Government wanted to announce it and praise it. No thought went into it at all and it has had an adverse effect on school transport. Things are far worse now than they were any other year and they were bad enough previously. What is the Government going to do to correct the unholy mess it has created for pupils who cannot get places on school buses?

First of all, as part of our response to the cost-of-living issue, we waived all fees for the school transport scheme. The measure is saving families up to €650 and the Deputy calls that a mess.

It is saving families €650 and the Deputy's response is that it is a mess.

The Government has made a mess of it.

Some €280 million is being provided. More than 124,000 tickets have issued-----

Where are the buses? Where are the drivers?

That is an increase of 21,000 over last year. That is good news. There have been challenges with the scheme but the bottom line is that we did not hang around here. There was a cost-of-living crisis and we said we will move to reduce it for families and get rid of the fee, and we did. Of course, this created issues this September-----

Where are the bus drivers and buses?

The Department is working and Bus Éireann is doing everything it can to process applications and issue tickets as soon as extra buses and drivers are sourced.

The Government could not do a thing for them.

The alternative would have been to do nothing.

The Government does nothing most of the time.

I met with families from Donegal town, Inver and Ramelton in my constituency outside the Dáil today. Families from all across the country were at the gates of Leinster House as part of Cystic Fibrosis Ireland's support the Kaftrio 35 campaign. Some 35 young children with cystic fibrosis are currently deprived of a groundbreaking new drug due to a pricing dispute between the HSE and the provider, Vertex. It is wrong that these children should continue to be deprived. The Taoiseach should act to ensure that the Minister for Health and the HSE respond to make sure this drug is provided to these young people. It can alter their lives significantly and save the State money in the long run, which seems to be the only thing the State understands.

I am familiar with the issue. I thank the Deputy for raising it. I am acutely aware of the anguish of parents of children with cystic fibrosis and their eagerness to see this drug made available for their children. There is ongoing dialogue between the HSE and Vertex, the drug manufacturer. Efforts are ongoing to ensure that this drug can be made available to those 35 children currently being excluded from it. We were involved in earlier campaigns and got it through, and we are anxious to get this sorted as well. I will talk again to the Minister and raise this issue with him.

We have ten remaining Deputies and only 11 minutes. Deputies might ask 30-second questions, please. I call Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan.

I wish to ask the Taoiseach about the mental health care and recovery centre in Bantry. The Mental Health Commission has recommended reducing the bed capacity at this facility from 18 beds to 11. I ask Government to reject absolutely this recommendation. The report and request are fundamentally flawed. It does not take into account the geographic nature of west Cork and fails to mention one of the biggest settlements in the area, which is Castletownbere. At this time, we should be investing more in mental health. We should be increasing bed capacity in our mental health facilities, not decreasing it. I ask the Government to do whatever it takes to reject the suggestion by the Mental Health Commission to reduce beds.

The Deputy has raised an important issue. The Mental Health Commission is there to make sure proper standards are applied across the mental health arena. On the registration of the mental health care and recovery approved centre in Bantry, the commission made a recommendation or decision that should be reduced from a total number of registered beds from 18 to 11 due to its concerns over the size of residents' bedrooms in the centre. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, has requested a detailed report from the HSE on the matter. The HSE is currently examining all options available to it. It is in dialogue with the commission as part of the regulatory process and, again, we have to work with the best interests of the residents in mind from a health and safety viewpoint but also for the provision of appropriate treatments. I will ask that there be further engagement and talk to the Minister in that regard.

Up until December 2017, tenants who paid rent on private property were entitled to a tax rebate. This tax credit was available to all tenants of flats, apartments and houses. I personally remember and welcomed receiving this rebate. I believe it is important that we consider reintroducing it to assist in alleviating the financial stress experienced by our renters. By reintroducing the tax rebate, tenants will receive extra cash in their pockets. I hope this can be considered in the forthcoming budget.

With regard to the Deputy's budget recommendation, I know the Minister with responsibility for housing is working on all these issues. The Government must consider a whole range of measures. I will certainly present the Deputy's perspective. It is one that others have put forward as well.

I want to return to the issue of the debacle of school transport. The Taoiseach said 124,000 tickets have been allocated. The scheme carried 121,000 people last year. The fact is-----

(Interruptions).

It did. The fact is that fewer concessionary tickets will be available this year than ever before. Why was priority not given to those people who applied on time? It has significantly reduced the number of concessionary tickets that are available. Very many of those people have been using the service for years. The Government needs to find a solution for those children.

First of all, I disagree with the Deputy's figures.

They are the Taoiseach's figures

Leaving out special transport, an extra 21,000 tickets have been issued over last year. That is significant. There are pluses to what has happened. If we did nothing, we could have managed the existing numbers and left everything alone but we were anxious to reduce costs for families, which are significant. A figure of €650 for many families is a significant reduction in the cost.

It is added cost for those families.

The Western Care Association has a service level agreement with the HSE on whose behalf it provides support and services to people with intellectual disabilities across County Mayo. It employs more than 1,400 staff. It is an amazing organisation. However, most care and community sector workers have not received a pay rise in the last 14 years. The Government and the Department of Health control the funding of this organisation and, therefore, have ultimate control over whether the wages increase or not. I ask the Taoiseach and the Government to respond to the core funding issue around section 39 organisations and the underfunding of wages of workers in these organisations.

Again, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform is very much aware of this issue, which has been longstanding over the years but is now gaining particular importance because of the new public service pay agreement that is being concluded by the Minister, which is welcome, and also with the Building Momentum agreement. There had been an agreement prior to Building Momentum with regard to the larger section 39 organisations. Again, just like every pay issue, there has to be a process to work out the issues. The Minister is examining the issue right now.

On 17 May, Leonard O'Brien, a two-year-old Irish child, was taken forcibly from his mother's arms in the French city of Antibes by French gendarmes who arrived at the door unannounced and armed. The genesis of this is an action taken by Ms Sarah Jane O'Brien, who hails from County Clare. Her ex-boyfriend took an action under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. The child was taken from its mother. We cannot cast this aside as a civil custody case or a civil matter. This is state-led abduction of a child. The Government and French Embassy are aware. We want the Taoiseach to have oversight. Just like the Government had oversight of the Ibrahim Halawa case in 2017, I ask the Taoiseach and the Government to have oversight of this. I am a dad to three smallies. I cannot even begin to comprehend what Sarah Jane is going through. This child is still being bottle-fed and in nappies and did not deserve to be taken by armed gendarmes.

I thank the Deputy. It might be a matter for a Topical Issue if the Deputy wishes to table it.

I appreciate the Deputy's consistent raising of the situation in the public domain. It is a very difficult and tragic situation when a child is forcibly removed from its mother in that context. I do not know the full background of the case in its entirety. Normally, we would not perhaps discuss it in a public arena but the Deputy has to raise it and I appreciate that. Normally, our consular officials work with families overseas who have challenging issues and difficulties and so on and represent them. We have a degree of oversight in that manner. Of course, the Hague convention is in place and legal issues would have to be navigated to see if we can get a resolution to this issue.

I invite the Deputy to table it as a Topical Issue matter if he thinks it would be helpful. I call Deputy Bruton.

The Ceann Comhairle knows we are facing a climate crisis as well as the energy crisis. Does the Taoiseach agree that we now need a national energy resilience campaign to reduce our reliance on imported energy? The Taoiseach will know that other member states are proposing such a campaign to cut 10% of their energy use and up to 25% at peak times.

I would suggest seven S's: shallow retrofits; smart controls and meters; switching providers and modes; sharing platforms; storage capacity; solar; and saving on waste. We could build a campaign around these with relatively little money but a large impact, but a plan would be needed in each of these areas to deliver the campaign for homes and businesses, which are willing to adopt it.

I agree 100% with the Deputy. We do need such a campaign. The Minister is going to launch a communications campaign in relation to energy demand reduction, but I think the Deputy has outlined a very good list, one that we should work on as a country. Irrespective of the crisis, we need to move much more quickly in terms of reducing our dependency on fossil fuels in particular and move as fast as we can on the-----

I thank the Taoiseach, but I am trying to move as fast as I can as well.

I will speak as quickly as I can.

I wish to highlight the childcare pressures in my constituency. I know of a 41-year-old professional woman who has a four-and-a-half-month-old baby. If she gets a childcare place for her baby in order for her to return to work, it will cost her between €1,200 and €1,300 per month. She is a single mother who gets the one-parent family payment, but that is offset by tax on maternity benefit. The cost of childcare in my constituency is 60% higher than it is in Carlow and 30% higher than the national average, and that is if someone can even get it.

I do not doubt what the Deputy is saying in terms of the cost of childcare, particularly how it is higher in certain locations than others, but it is high across the country generally.

Caring for a baby is the same no matter where one does it.

Yes, but I am just saying generally. There are a number of mechanisms by which we can intervene depending on the type of care involved in looking after a child in whatever context. In the last budget, we focused primarily on trying to get better working conditions for those working in the childcare arena. Thankfully, in the past two weeks, an employment regulation order has been agreed, which will lead to an increase in pay and conditions. The next phase will be the upcoming budget, where we will have to look at affordability for parents in terms of the cost of childcare. That is something that we are examining.

I wish to raise with the Taoiseach the unacceptable and ongoing delays in the payment of the pandemic bonus to healthcare workers. So far, only 1,867 healthcare workers have received the payment and there is now talk of the bonus's provision being outsourced in order to identify who else is entitled to it, for example, home care workers, nursing home workers, paramedics and section 38 or 39 workers. Will the Taoiseach please provide an update on when these many thousands of front-line workers will get this long-overdue payment, which is especially needed now because of the cost-of-living crisis?

We will take the remaining two questioners because we are out of time.

I will ask the same question. The pandemic recognition payment was broadly welcomed, but it is ludicrous that workers who do not work directly for the HSE have still not received their payments. The goodwill that greeted the bonus has largely diminished because of the delay. Workers want to know when they will get their payments.

For the sixth time since last October, I am raising the issue of the number of people waiting at Sligo University Hospital. There are 56 today. Sligo University Hospital is always in the top four or five hospitals in terms of the number of patients waiting. It has a capacity of 359 beds. Compare that with Limerick hospital, which is always the worst in class. The number of patients waiting on beds as a percentage of bed capacity in Limerick is 13%. In Sligo, it is 16%. This is consistently the case. While some progress has been made around a community hub, I am calling for urgent intervention this winter.

On the pandemic payment, which was the subject matter of the first two questions, 122,000 staff have now received the payment, representing the vast majority of those who are eligible and employed by the HSE. The HSE's figures reported for the week ending 9 September 2022 show that 85,078 eligible HSE staff and 37,589 eligible section 38 staff in voluntary hospitals have received the payment. I am told that the total at the moment is 122,667. That is the figure I have been given via the Department from the HSE. However, there are eligible workers in other sectors that have not yet received the payment. I will engage with the Minister in relation to that.

In terms of Sligo University Hospital, there are broader issues across a number of hospitals. There are a number of factors that can lead to overcrowding, for example, the flow through the hospital and irregular discharges. In some cases, governance frameworks have been a factor. Where the HSE has intervened on the governance front, dividends have emerged. I just want to put that into the mix. I am not saying that is the issue in Sligo. There are capacity issues and, unfortunately, Covid continues to have a long and lingering effect on health. That is a big challenge for us in the winter. I appreciate the point the Deputy has raised.

That concludes questions on policy or legislation and a great deal more besides.

Top
Share