The Taoiseach and his Cabinet colleagues were advised in a secret memo in 2011 that the withholding of the disabled persons maintenance allowance from people with disabilities was illegal. In the words of the memo circulated to the Taoiseach and the Government, the regulations were "plainly ultra vires and void". The State had not, as the Taoiseach said, a leg to stand on and, therefore, a strategy was pursued to keep these matters under wraps and out of court. Given that the State did not have a leg to stand on and that the withholding of this allowance was illegal and wrong, why did the Taoiseach do nothing about that? How is it that, 12 years on, he continues to deny these vulnerable citizens what is rightfully due to them?
Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation
There really is no allegation the Deputy would not just throw out there. There are members of the Opposition who at least have some sense of truth. There is nothing the Deputy would not throw out there. That memo was not a Cabinet memo. I am sure Deputy McDonald has read it at this stage. It does not say "Cabinet memo" on it.
The Taoiseach said yesterday that members of the Government were on a distribution list.
It is a memo for advice and was sent to four Cabinet members at the time.
He said they were on a distribution list.
Yet Deputy McDonald just throws out there the statement that everyone-----
The Taoiseach was briefed on it, though.
-----in the Cabinet saw this memo, which was not even a Cabinet memo. There is absolutely nothing-----
The Taoiseach was briefed on it, was he not?
-----the Deputy would not say, whether it is true or not - and there she goes again. The issue I was briefed on was the nursing homes issue. The Deputy is trying to conflate that with a different issue.
It is all in the one memo.
It is impossible to answer questions from somebody who just does not care-----
The Taoiseach does not understand-----
So Deputy McDonald does not care.
-----what is vaguely related to the truth.
The Taoiseach has been caught out.
Later today, the Dáil will debate the redress scheme for survivors of mother and baby homes. Like me, the Taoiseach, I know, will have received countless emails from those who are concerned that, despite public assurances, many will be excluded from the redress scheme. To quote from today's Irish Examiner article by Conall Ó Fátharta and Elaine Loughlin, the proposed scheme "heaps abuse upon abuse" because "it excludes 40% of survivors", in their words, "and denies healthcare [rights] to two-thirds". There were early overtures from the Government to my colleague, Deputy Sherlock, that the Department would provide redress to those who had spent fewer than six months in an institution, but those plans, it seems, have since been abandoned.
Will the Government make public the method used to devise the eligibility criteria for survivors and will the Taoiseach explain why that six-month limit has been retained? Given recent reports about a lack of transparency in Government strategies, this sort of transparency is owed to survivors of the mother and baby homes.
Picking up on something the Deputy said earlier, the Government is putting in place a scheme to compensate people who were residents of mother and baby homes, despite the fact that nobody has found any legal liability attached to the State in that regard. There was no question of court cases, legal strategies or any of those things. The Government decided it was the right thing to do to have a compensation scheme in this, regardless of any points of law. A commission of investigation was established and it recommended a redress scheme. There was also an interdepartmental group which recommended a redress scheme. The Government decided to go beyond that and set up a more generous and far-reaching scheme than was recommended by an independent body, and that should be recognised. I know the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, will comment on this later.
In the last year, 74,000 people have come to these shores in search of safety and in need of sanctuary. The responsibility for that is being felt by each of us in all of our constituencies and constituents are looking to us for answers, including people who have come here seeking answers on their safety. Too often we are operating on the basis of innuendo and rumour and too often we are firefighting. It is not fair that we continuously have to contact one Minister, who answers our calls when he can, to seek answers to questions. It is time for a cross-party committee like the former Special Committee on Covid-19 Response, with each of us having responsibility to engage with the issue and collaborate because nefarious far-right groups are stepping in to take advantage and generate fear. I want to work collaboratively on this and to show leadership. I understand the pressure on the system so I ask the Taoiseach to set up a cross-party committee where each of us can get involved in this issue and show leadership, both in this House and in our communities. In the absence of that, nefarious far-right groups are stepping in.
Hear, hear.
That is a good idea and I welcome the offer from an Opposition party to work together on this on a collaborative basis because none of us wants to see the rise of racism in our society and none of us wants to see far-right groups or political forces taking hold in our Parliament in the way that has become the norm across the European Union. A lot of work is being done on the new national ant-racism strategy and that should be ready in the near future. On the particular issue of an additional committee, that is something the Business Committee could consider. I know there are a lot of committees already and there is difficulty filling spots on some committees so we would need to take that into account as well.
As Lá Fhéile Bríde is being recognised for the first time by the State today and with the bank holiday next weekend, I can think of no better day to amplify the urgency for action on violence against women and girls. Unfortunately, this is a pandemic of violence and last year was one of the worst years we have seen for the numbers of people affected. Some 15 women were killed nationally and the vast majority of them, about 87% it is estimated, will have known their killers, either through being a partner, a former partner or a family member. They are not refugees or unvetted men; they are people known to those whom they kill. We still have nine counties without a single refuge space and we still have less than one third of what the Istanbul Convention tells us is required for refuge spaces. We still need reform of the family courts and we still have an inadequate sex and consent training education service for national schools. We need to deal with all of these issues urgently. They cannot wait until laws are passed and the strategy is rolled out. There are things that can be done now and in particular we should provide those extra refuge spaces.
I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. We are experiencing an epidemic of domestic violence and violence against women in particular. We have a zero tolerance strategy in place to make improvements and change things in this area. I do not want to go into all the details of it here because there is too much to go through but on the particular issue of the number of refuge spaces, we have a plan to double the number up to 280, and that plan is being implemented.
On 10 November last I raised the case of Una, who is a 66-year-old pensioner. Despite working all her life she is in receipt of a non-contributory State pension and she has been refused a medical card because she receives a net income of €1 per week on top of her pension for the rent of a field. Her next-door neighbour gets €11 per week extra because the neighbour is in receipt of a contributory State pension and qualifies for the medical card. This anomaly arises because the income limits for the medical card have not increased since 2005. The basic rate of social welfare in that period has gone up by €71.20 and Una has been denied a medical card because of an additional income of €1. At the time I asked the Taoiseach when the medical card income limits would be revised and he gave a commitment to take it up with the Minister for Health. I would like the Taoiseach to update the House on when we will see modern and updated income thresholds for the medical card.
The nature of any means test is that there will always be people who are just a few euro above the threshold. No matter where the threshold is set that will unfortunately always be the case. I acknowledge the point the Deputy makes, that the income limits have not increased in a very long time and have not taken account of inflation or rising incomes. However, the number of people who qualify for a full medical card is 2.095 million and an additional 535,000 people qualify for GP visit cards. Money was provided in the budget to increase the income limit with respect to GP visit cards and the person the Deputy mentioned would qualify once they are implemented, at least for a GP visit card, but that is under discussion with the Irish Medical Organisation.
We have debates going on about what went on in Cabinet, who knew what and what was in who's brief. These are historic debates but I am asking about a current issue, the sale by Coillte to Gresham House. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, says it is not the Government's preferred option. Will the Taoiseach take the opportunity on Thursday to talk to President Metsola about the rules of engagement on grants paid down to Coillte? Will he also deal with Coillte and the way it is mistreating farmers? There is unfairness in the licensing situation such that Coillte got 90% of the felling licences last year and the farmers who we are expecting to grow this timber have been locked out of it completely. This is a rotten deal and it should be reversed. No rule has ever been made that could not be changed or broken. It might cost money and I am not saying we should dishonour something but we must change our ways because there is huge anxiety and anger building over this sale of our land. We are celebrating our forefathers who fought to free this country and we are doing this kind of deal and we will have Cabinet investigations later on. We should deal with it now and back out of this disgraceful, shady and pro-British deal.
The Deputy knows as well as I do that Coillte is not being sold. That is not the case. No public land is being sold and nor will any public land fall into private ownership. The State is an investor in the Irish Strategic Forestry Fund but I am sure we will have a chance to debate this and go through the facts at another stage.
When he was Tánaiste Deputy Varadkar acknowledged the importance of advancing the takeover of the Shannon Heritage sites by Clare County Council. The sites are currently with Shannon Airport, which appears to wish to divest itself of them. Following due diligence, Clare County Council sought €15 million to fund the takeover and the Government offered €2.5 million, which is one-sixth of that. Before Christmas, expectations were raised, particularly among the workforce who have lived with uncertainty for a number of years, but still nothing is happening or at least nothing is publicly happening. Where is that at? Will certainty be brought to the matter before the tourism season kicks off?
I thank the Deputy for reminding me about this issue. As I am sure he will know, Deputy Carey is also onto me about this regularly. I do not have an update on it. I thought some money was allocated last year but maybe that is not the case.
Some €2.5 million was offered.
It has obviously not been fully agreed for this year and future years but I am keen to make sure that it is agreed.
In recent parliamentary questions I highlighted a situation where recently approved recipients of stamp 4 status under the regularisation of the long-term undocumented persons scheme are being precluded from Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, on the basis that many are unable to prove that they have been in the country lawfully for three of the five preceding years. It is an anomaly in what is otherwise a laudable scheme.
I hope the Taoiseach can look at addressing this issue as it is casting a shadow over what is otherwise an excellent scheme that reflects positively on this country. We have many young people. In particular, I am dealing with a family with three children of university age who are anxious to further their education and will make a valuable contribution to society. However, a quirk in the SUSI rules is precluding them from advancing. I am hopeful it is something the Taoiseach will take on board and try and address for us.
I thank the Deputy. We will certainly be happy to check out that. If the Deputy wants to send some details to me or to the office of the Minister, Deputy Foley, we will check it out. It happens sometimes in government that different schemes under different Departments are not quite aligned. Where anomalies exist, we try to fix them.
When the Taoiseach was Minister for Health in January 2015, he said he was sick to death of the overcrowding problems in our hospitals. That month there were 631 people treated on trolleys in University Hospital Limerick, UHL. Last month, January 2023, there were 1,080 people in need of a bed while they remained on trolleys in UHL. I wonder if the Taoiseach is still sick of it. Under the watch of the Governments of which he has been a member since 2011, the numbers in UHL have got worse and worse. There has been much inactivity and many statements of intent but when the chips are counted, there has been no improvement in these metrics. They have got much worse. I ask the Taoiseach to take hold of the situation and push for the speeding up of the two new 90-bed units which it is hoped will address part of the problems at University Hospital Limerick for patients and the hard-working healthcare professionals who work there. Two weeks ago, as the Taoiseach will be aware, 11,000 people marched through the streets of Limerick looking for changes. What can they expect from the Taoiseach today?
I thank the Deputy. On the issue of emergency department overcrowding in general, we have made a lot of progress since the early part of this year when we saw record numbers of people being forced to wait on a trolley for a hospital bed. We see now, and have seen for the past couple of days, that the number waiting for a bed is running at a lower level than was the case this time last year. That is in part due to the extra beds, the extra staff and the extra investment that has been put in.
As the Deputy will be aware, a 96-bed unit is under construction in Limerick. I am keen to get that done and open as soon as possible. Increased use is being made of Ennis and we would like the same to be the case in Nenagh and St. John's as well. Plans are being advanced for a further additional block in University Hospital Limerick, which I accept is needed.
I want to bring awareness to the campaign by hairdressers throughout the length and breadth of Ireland to keep the VAT rate for their services at 9%. It is an issue nationally. If one looks at west Cork, one sees a perfect example of how a change in the VAT rate will negatively impact the industry. There is a healthy number of excellent hairdressers throughout west Cork and they play such an important role. As the Taoiseach may well know, west Cork is the wedding capital of Ireland and hairdressers play such an important part in that whole package. Unfortunately, an increase in VAT will impact the viability of these hairdressers. It is also safe to say we all want more affordable haircuts. It is something that should be revisited.
It does not worry all of us.
Some people need it more often.
I was not going to say that.
I thank the Deputy. I was not aware that west Cork was the wedding capital of Ireland but if that is the case, I am willing to accept it.
It is actually Kerry.
I imagine Deputies from Kerry, Dublin and other areas might have a different view on that. As the Deputy will be aware, the Government has decided that the concessional VAT rate of 9% will go back up to 13.5% at the end of February. That was a cost-of-living measure. However, we will have to make some decisions at Government level in the next week or two on what measures we might be able to extend. We cannot extend them all but we will try to extend some of them.
The programme for Government includes a commitment to introduce a statutory scheme to support people to live in their own homes by providing them with access to high-quality regulated home care. The lack of home help support is adding to the chaos in some hospitals in rural areas. The chronic shortage of millions of home help hours means that doctors are delaying the discharge of vulnerable elderly patients. The issue here seems to be the lack of enticements for people to work in the area of home help. The people who currently work in the sector do not have pensionable occupations or proper rates of wages and regulation. It is now time for the Government to put home help on a statutory footing so that it is enshrined in legislation as a sector.
I thank the Deputy. As he will be aware, we are putting record amounts of money into home care at present. The problem is no longer the money; it is finding staff who are willing to work in the area. We have plans for a statutory home care scheme. We have opened up the work permit system for home carers to come in from abroad and work in home care in Ireland. We have not yet seen the impact of that because it is relatively new. I will ask the Ministers of State, Deputies Richmond and Butler, to examine whether we should have an employment regulation order for home carers. When we did it in child care, it created a salary scale, terms and conditions and benefits that have made child care more attractive as a profession. Perhaps the same principle might apply in home care as well.
There have been 84 independent reviews and investigations carried out by the HSE into acute and community operations since January 2019. The HSE took over the running of Dealgan House during the Covid outbreak where 23 people died. Will the Taoiseach support them and insist and ensure that they get closure by having an independent investigation into why these deaths occurred and why the HSE took over the running of that home? It is essential that it happens. On the question of costs being too high, which has been repeatedly put forward here by the Minister, if we can do 84 independent reviews for €622,000, the families believe we can do one into the deaths in Dealgan House.
I thank the Deputy for raising this matter again. I know he feels strongly about it and has raised it on many occasions. I support an independent inquiry into the State's handling of the pandemic, not with a view to pointing fingers but with a view to getting to the truth, understanding what happened and learning lessons for the future. We are scoping that out at present. It will go beyond any particular nursing home or beyond health. It has to cover the economic response and other things too. We will have to see, as part of that inquiry, if we can look at particular sites, not only Dealgan nursing home but others too, and how that can work out.
Guím beannachtaí na féile Bríde ar an Taoiseach. This is similar to the issue raised by the previous speaker. On Saturday, I attended the Care Champions event in DCU. It was clear from listening to the moving and, at times, harrowing testimonies from families, nursing home residents and staff that there is an overwhelming need for a human rights-based inquiry into what happened in nursing homes during the pandemic. Families, including those from Dealgan House, want the truth about how and why their loved ones died. When will the Government announce a timeline for such inquiries?
I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. It is similar to the issue that Deputy O'Dowd raised earlier. I would hope to have a public inquiry into the response to Covid up and running this year, ideally by the middle of the year, but it needs to be scoped out. It will be extensive. It could go on for quite some time. We are keen to get it right. I extend my profound sympathy to the families of people who died in nursing homes. Covid was a difficult time for all of us, but particularly hard for those who could not mourn their loved ones properly or be by their side during their last days. We need to recognise that in the vast majority of cases, if not all cases, people working in and managing nursing homes did their best in what was an unprecedented scenario. There was no handbook as to how one manages a pandemic. I believe that in almost all cases, people did the best they could.
Last night Sinn Féin had a successful motion aiming at reforming and resourcing child and adolescent mental health services. The Government did not oppose the motion. The Government chooses not to oppose Opposition motions as a tactic when it does not want the political fallout from having to vote against them. Our motion included a raft of solutions to improve children's access to mental health supports and to reduce waiting lists. It was also about transparency and accountability within the HSE. Can the Taoiseach guarantee that the Government will implement the motion completely as we do not want to see our children being used as a political football?
I thank the Deputy. I am not sure if it is fair to characterise it as a tactic. As a Government, we do not want to divide the House on an issue on which we should all be united precisely so that nobody tries to use children as a political football. That is why we decided not to oppose the Deputy's motion.
Will the Government support it?
Of course, the Minister will respond to that in his remarks. Many of the suggestions the Deputy's party put forward are good ones. We will try to implement them but, unfortunately, there are always constraints to these things.
I will raise the issue of the 9% VAT rate. It is important that the Government makes a decision on this as soon as possible. I emphasise how important it is to so many small businesses, especially in my constituency where tourism and hospitality make up a significant part of the economy. Many other services such as hairdressers also depend on this appropriate rate of VAT. I would no longer refer to it as a concession. It brings us in line with competing countries in Europe in the area of tourism and hospitality. I ask that a decision be made on this soon and that the decision be to retain the rate at 9%.
We plan to make a decision on this before the middle of this month in order for people in business to know where they stand for March and the spring. Two measures are in place for businesses at the moment that are valuable to them, namely the temporary business energy support scheme, TBESS, to help with energy costs and the 9% VAT rate. We need to work out what we can continue and what we cannot. The Deputy must bear in mind that none of that was budgeted for. There will be costs for anything we extend beyond the end of February. However, we acknowledge that businesses need ongoing support with their bills.
I raise the issue of the TBESS. I understand it is constantly under review. Recently released figures show that approximately €20 million has been drawn down from a fund of almost €600 million that was allocated to support businesses. That shows that the current system is inaccessible or the criteria are too stringent. I have examples and many Deputies across the Dáil also have them. One business had a bill of €15,000 for November-December 2021 and it increased to €56,000 for the same period in 2022. Unfortunately €5,000 or €10,000 towards that kind of rise helps but does not go a long way. I understand the scheme is under review but we need a dramatic overhaul of the TBESS and how we roll it out.
As the Deputy is aware, the scheme is currently being reviewed by the Ministers, Deputies Michael McGrath and Coveney. The Deputy is correct to say that the take-up is much lower than we anticipated. The current plan is to end the scheme at the end of February but we are now looking at the possibility of extending it because energy prices are still very high for businesses. We are also looking at changing the terms and conditions. We still have not quite figured out why the take-up is not what we thought it would be. It may be because people simply have not applied for it, because it is too hard to qualify or because the limits are too low. That is all being examined at the moment.
The Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, has formed what he has called an expert firearms committee to review the current licensing of firearms in the State and make recommendations for future legislation. Why were the members of the firearms expert committee, FEC, not interviewed? Why has there been not been any meaningful consultation with national organisations representing those who take part in sports involving firearms? Do the Minister of State and the Taoiseach believe it right and fair that law-abiding citizens who apply for firearms licences must do so under criminal justice legislation? Given that we are part of the EU, will the FEC review the firearms licensing systems and legislation in place in other European countries prior to making recommendations to the Minister? It would make more sense than constantly referring to the US system which cannot be compared to the Irish one, except to say that they are polar opposites. It is an unfair comparison to use and depicts a negative image of those who hold licensed firearms in Ireland.
I am afraid I do not have an up-to-date note on that, but I will let the Minister of State, Deputy Browne, know the matter was raised in the House and ask him to contact the Deputy.
I have just received the figures for the active travel funding that was announced today and they are absolutely shocking. I raised this issue last year. I will give some detail. Last year in Cork 31 active travel projects worth €16 million were funded on the south side of the city, and on the north side of the city 12 projects worth €6 million were funded. That is €10 million less and 19 fewer projects. It was announced today that 42 projects worth €14 million will be funded on the south side of the city and 22 projects worth €6 million will be funded on the north side. The average cost is €336,000 for projects on the south side but only €282,000 on the north side. I will ask a question on behalf of the people of Cork North-Central. Why are we being treated like second class citizens when it comes to funding on the north side? It is the same every year. The figures are there. They stand for themselves. Deputy Varadkar is the Taoiseach. Will he explain this to me so that I can go back to my constituents and tell them why the north side is being neglected and why the Government is doing it?
I appreciate the disparity the Deputy has outlined. The short answer is that I do not know. I will need to ask the Minister for Transport to revert to the Deputy on it. Sometimes the reason is the projects that are put forward. I am not saying that is the reason. It is the responsibility of the local authority to put forward the projects. They cannot be funded unless they are put forward. It might be the case that the projects put forward were not strong enough or that there were not enough projects put forward for the north side of the city. I honestly do not know if that is the case. I will ask the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, to come back to the Deputy.
The Taoiseach should come to Cork with me. He will see the difference between the two sides.
I raise with the Taoiseach what appears to be an increase in the number of people who have died this winter and last winter compared to previous years. In its analysis, the Irish Examiner indicated that there is an increase of up to 20%. From my conversations with people in the medical professions, undertakers, priests and others, I know that they concur that there is an increase in the number of people dying. Has the Taoiseach's attention been drawn to this? Has analysis been conducted on what might be causing it or have any explanations been identified?
Yes, my attention has been drawn to it and I have seen the analysis in the Irish Examiner. It seems there has been an increase in excess deaths this winter relative to other winters. It seems it is a phenomenon that is not unique to Ireland. It is an international one. I have asked the chief medical officer, CMO, for her opinion and advice on it. The likelihood is that it is related to a number of factors such as influenza, respiratory syncytial virus and Covid-19 all circulating in the community. People's immunity is not what it was due to social distancing throughout the pandemic. People's immunity is not as strong as it would have been if they had been out and about picking up viruses. There is also the issue of unmet health needs - as large parts of our health service were effectively closed down during the pandemic restrictions, people did not get the healthcare they would otherwise have received. That is all only opinions at the moment. We do not have any data to back it up and I have asked the CMO for her thoughts on it.