Brendan Smith
Question:1. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Taoiseach for a report on the shared island dialogue on education systems and connecting communities. [30080/23]
Ceisteanna - Questions
Northern Ireland
A shared island dialogue was held on 16 June at Dublin City University on the role of education in connecting communities across the island of Ireland. Some 150 education, civil society and political representatives from North and South participated in the event. The dialogue considered achievements and shortcomings of education systems in bringing communities together over the last 25 years and what a more ambitious approach would require in the years ahead. A report and video summary will be published by the Department.
Last week, the Government made some funding announcements from the shared island fund. A further €56 million has been allocated from the shared island fund to move forward with a range of substantial cross-Border investments. The major project is the commitment of €44.5 million for construction of a new teaching building at Ulster University’s campus in Derry. This will implement our commitment under the New Decade, New Approach agreement to capital investment at the campus for expanded provision of higher education in the north west. There has rightly been a long-standing demand by the people of Derry for expansion of higher education in the city and our investment contributes significantly to that goal. It will underpin the substantial and growing teaching and research co-operation between Ulster University and Atlantic Technological University in the north-west. The Government last week also announced the establishment of a new youth forum as part of the shared island initiative. This will commence in September and hear from young people across all communities on their vision and values for the future of this island. We have also made allocations from the fund for new all-island projects on the bio-economy, respite care for children diagnosed with cancer and to complete the tender for the Narrow Water Bridge.
In total, the Government has now allocated almost €250 million from the shared island fund for all-island projects. We are keen to work with the new Executive and with the British Government to deepen our North-South and east-west relationships and to bring people across this island together in a common cause.
I will not go back over the argument that we need a citizens’ assembly or an expanded shared island dialogue. We see the Narrow Water Bridge project is moving on. It and the A5 are necessary pieces of infrastructure which we want to see progress as much as possible.
I wish to ask about shared island funding for research projects. We know what it has done in the whole education sphere, educational attainment and the comparisons North and South but we need to be more holistic about the entire society and the economies across the island. We all know the benefits of the M1 Border corridor in my own part of the world. We should be moving to modelling what a united Ireland could look like and break it down into the very specific parts whether in health, education, the economy and all those other parts that make up society. We want to see movement on the Assembly and the Executive in the near future. We all know the difficulties with the British Government at this time but I would like an update on those matters.
On the Narrow Water Bridge, €2 million has been provided for the completion of the tender process for the bridge from the shared island fund. Louth County Council commenced the tender process in April and is due to conclude in October so hopefully it will be awarded this year or early next year. The Government will be appraised of the outcome of the tender and project costs. We will decide on the approach prior to the contract being awarded.
There has been significant funding for research provided from the shared island fund, not only North-South but also east-west. It is good to see the east-west element of the shared island fund taking shape. I can provide a note to the Deputy with some more detail on that. Some of the more interesting research that has been commissioned by the shared island fund is that comparing how systems operate in Northern Ireland compared with how they operate in the Republic whether in health or other areas. It is an open question as to whether a united Ireland will be a unitary state or not but were it to be a unitary state it is useful to have that baseline analysis done to know what the differences are. We know anecdotally but teasing them out, costing them and documenting them is significant and important work.
Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements
Seán Haughey
Question:2. Deputy Seán Haughey asked the Taoiseach for a report on his recent meeting with the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Xavier Bettel. [30082/23]
Mary Lou McDonald
Question:3. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his recent meeting with the Prime Minister of Luxembourg. [30733/23]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 2 and 3 together.
I met with the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Xavier Bettel, in Government Buildings on 13 June as part of his visit to Dublin to celebrate Luxembourg’s national day.
Luxembourg and Ireland enjoy excellent bilateral relations. In my meeting with Prime Minister Bettel I thanked him for his Government’s decision to open a resident Embassy in Dublin which is a very positive expression of these relations. Within the EU, Ireland and Luxembourg are often of like-mind in different policy areas and we are both very strong supporters of the Single Market. We frequently co-operate closely and effectively together.
Our meeting afforded us an opportunity to discuss a range of issues on the EU agenda, especially those for discussion at the June meeting of the European Council. On Ukraine, we were united in our commitment to standing with its government and people for as long as it takes. We both strongly condemned the destruction of the Kahkovka Dam and the enormous suffering and environmental damage that has caused. We compared notes on hosting large numbers of Ukrainians fleeing the war, noting the significant contribution they are making in our countries. We also discussed economic issues, including the need to protect and promote the Single Market.
We both want to see a competitive Europe, with an open and ambitious approach to trade and a level-playing field for business operators from all member states.
We also want to see the EU leading the world in new technologies including in shaping global standards and in making the green transition to a more sustainable future.
On irregular and illegal migration, we both agreed that this is a challenge that we need to work on collectively. No one country can deal with it on its own. We also agreed on the need for any approach to have regard for human rights and respect international law. I also took the opportunity to thank the Prime Minister for Luxembourg’s solidarity throughout Brexit. Following our meeting, I joined the Prime Minister at a reception, hosted by its ambassador to Ireland, to mark Luxembourg’s national day.
It is great the Taoiseach was able to welcome the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Xavier Bettel, to Dublin recently. The Prime Minister is a great friend of Ireland ever since he studied here as a student learning English in Malahide in north Dublin. I heard him speak at a conference of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, ALDE, Renew Europe group in the convention centre last year and confirmed that he was really popular among the delegates who attended.
It is clear from the Taoiseach's meeting that Ireland and Luxembourg share many common values at EU level, as the Taoiseach has just outlined. Indeed, both lead three-party coalitions which include the Green Party, so they have a lot in common. It should also be noted that Luxemburg stood solidly with Ireland during the prolonged Brexit negotiations.
According to press reports, the Taoiseach briefed the Prime Minister on the consultative forum on international security policy which no doubt included Ireland’s traditional policy of military neutrality. Did the Taoiseach discuss the future of the EU’s common security and defence policy with Mr. Bettel and how he sees the security and defence of the EU evolving? I understand a number of embassies have contacted the Department of Foreign Affairs on the consultative forum to seek more information about it and on the Government’s position on security and defence. Perhaps it is a matter for the Tánaiste but is the Taoiseach aware of interest internationally and at EU level in the consultative forum?
Over the last nine months, Luxembourg has taken different positions to Ireland on how to address the impact of energy hikes on domestic users and businesses. Recent figures published by EUROSTAT show that Ireland is the most expensive state in the EU with the highest energy costs and the highest health costs in the Union. CSO data tells us household energy prices have risen by 60%. Since the first quarter this year wholesale prices have fallen by 64% in the same period. Why do Irish electricity prices remain so high when prices in Europe have fallen sharply in recent months? My colleague, Deputy Doherty, wrote to the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities last week calling on it to undertake an intensive and intrusive supervision of retail pricing. EUROSTAT figures also showed a slide in Irish living standards compared with our European partners for the last year. The social and economic consequences of the protracted housing and cost-of-living crises are intolerable to too many. Full employment means little to the hundreds of thousands of young people, working families and vulnerable communities for whom the social contract has been well and truly broken by Fine Gael Governments over the last decade. Does the Taoiseach accept his Government's failure to curb the cost of living and the housing crisis? Will we see a ramping up of measures in budget 2024 to address both once and for all?
The Taoiseach mentioned his discussions with the Prime Minister of Luxembourg on the issue of migration. One of the challenges that has raised its head in Ireland just recently is the issue of nursing homes. The Taoiseach may not be aware of this, but currently there is a funding crisis in respect of nursing homes, which is leading to nursing homes being closed, which in turn is leading to older people being evicted from their nursing homes. That is heartbreaking because these are the people who went through the disaster of the Covid crisis and who built the country during the course of their lives, and now, in their old age, in dementia, in Alzheimer's, they are forced to leave locations with which they are familiar, where they have friends and great support, etc.
One of the significant changes that has happened within the Department of Health is to the rules as to whether nursing homes can become locations to house refugees and asylum seekers. That change has been made just in recent times. Given that the ESRI states that we need 40,000 nursing home places, that we have only half that, that we are losing nursing homes places at a significant rate at the moment, that is, we are in reverse in respect of provision of nursing home places, is it not a serious mistake to lift the prohibition on the provision of nursing homes for accommodation for asylum seekers? Many of these homes are private. The provision of accommodation for asylum seekers is far less costly, far fewer staff are needed, etc. The business model may be more attractive for those nursing home owners to provide that accommodation and, therefore, we may lose valuable nursing home accommodation.
I wish to follow up on migration on the basis that we are all aware of the huge openings there are and the lack of positions we have right across the health service, whether we are talking about those who work in nursing homes, those who work in home care, our speech and language therapists, SLTs, or our occupational therapists, OTs, and we know the issue we have in the building sector. Across Europe, but particularly here, given the crises we have, we need to look in a proper, holistic way at our system in respect of visa permits and whatever facilitates those people we need to keep our system going.
I assume the Taoiseach and the Prime Minister of Luxembourg dealt the energy price crisis across the board. We really need to make sure we have further movement not only at a domestic level but also at a European level. We know that that is where climate change touches the issues of security and so on.
I wish to follow up on what Deputy Haughey said. Any conversation with anybody as to where the Irish people are as regards security and defence will show that we still are utterly committed to non-alignment and military neutrality, which have served us very well.
In response to Deputy Haughey's question, Xavier Bettel, the Luxembourgish Prime Minister, is a very good friend to Ireland and has very good connections to Ireland. As the Deputy mentioned, he learned his English in Malahide as a student. I am not sure if the Deputy would have met him back then. Perhaps he did in Gibney's or somewhere else. Of course, Mr. Bettel has made previous political and personal visits to this country and is one of the leaders of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, ALDE, which is the liberal group at European level, of which Fianna Fáil is a member. The fact that we are active in those groups - Fianna Fáil in ALDE-Renew, Fine Gael in the European People's Party, EPP, and the Green Party in its group - really helps in framing European decisions. Before any significant meeting, the political groups meet. The Tánaiste will attend the liberal group meeting on Thursday morning while I am attending the EPP meeting, and I know Senator Dooley does a lot as vice president in that space. It is very valuable and probably does not get the recognition it deserves sometimes.
The consultative forum took place on 22 June in UCC, on 23 June in University of Galway and on 26 and 27 June at Dublin Castle. I was pleased to attend and speak at the forum on Monday. We saw over the last few days that an open and evidence-based discussion took place, with a focus on Ireland's work to protect the rules-based international order through engagement in peacekeeping, conflict prevention and peacebuilding. As well as the current threat landscape as regards cyber, hybrid and critical infrastructure, the forum examined Ireland's current and future engagement in EU common security and defence policy and our existing relationship with NATO through the Partnership for Peace. The forum was not a binary discussion on neutrality and was never intended as such. There is no intention to change Ireland's policy of not joining a military alliance. It is, however, a fundamental duty of government to consider the changing and challenging global situation as it is today. There were more than 80 panellists from a wide range of backgrounds and with a variety of expertise and experience, including peacekeeping, arms control and disarmament, conflict resolution, cybersecurity, disinformation, maritime security and the protection of critical infrastructure. The consultation remains open for submissions online until Friday, 7 July. There is no predetermined outcome, and the Tánaiste will consider the report of the chairperson of the forum once it has been produced and will make a decision on what to do with the recommendations thereafter. There certainly has been contact from embassies and other governments about the forum, which Deputy Haughey mentioned, but they would have been to Iveagh House and the Tánaiste, so I am not really across the details of them.
I was asked about energy prices. Energy prices in Ireland are high by European standards. There are some structural reasons for that. We are at the end of the supply chain when it comes to gas, oil and coal, for example, and we have a very dispersed population so we need a lot more grid infrastructure per population than do other smaller countries that are more densely populated. That is not the only reason, however. Prices should come down. There is not a direct link between wholesale prices and retail prices but there is an indirect one. We expect to see prices for gas and electricity come down for consumers over the next few months. We have not yet decided what we will do to help families with the cost of energy in the winter coming but we will have the windfall tax coming through the Houses quite soon. That will give us ring-fenced funding that we could use to help families and small businesses with energy costs, but that is a decision yet to be taken by the Government.
As regards nursing homes, I wish to be very clear that the Government will not close any nursing homes to accommodate refugees or people seeking international protection. However, where they have been closed anyway for two years or more, it does not make sense to leave them vacant. While nursing homes are closing, there are new ones opening all the time. Very often the ones that are closing are small and would need a lot of investment to bring them up to standard and make them viable again. Often it makes sense to build a new nursing home as a new build off-site and does not make sense to leave the old nursing home vacant for more than two years when we face an accommodation crisis.
Finally, we have a well-functioning work permit system. We issued about 40,000 work permits last year. Roughly 20,000 were for people who are not from Europe and another 20,000 were for people who are not from Europe but are already in Ireland for one reason or another. The system works very well and helps us to bring in the skills we need, ranging from technology to construction and now home care and agricultural workers. That is one of the reasons I do not think it is an acceptable excuse for anyone to use the international protection system to seek to come here as an economic migrant. That is not what it is for, and that is why we need to make sure we speed up decisions in order that people who are refugees get that status quickly and that those who are not are served with deportation orders and required to leave the State.
Child Poverty
Mary Lou McDonald
Question:4. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach if he will provide an update on the proposed child poverty unit in his Department. [30731/23]
In spring 2023 a child poverty and well-being programme office was established in the Department of the Taoiseach. The programme office will focus on six areas: income assistance and joblessness; early learning and childcare; reducing the cost of education; family homelessness; consolidating and integrating public health, family and parental assistance, and well-being services; and enhancing participation in culture, arts and sport for children and young people affected by poverty. These areas were selected because they are areas of interventions that have the potential to bring about significant change for children and families living in poverty.
The Government's vision is to make Ireland the best country in Europe in which to be a child. That is important not only because we want every child to be happy and well cared for but also because happy childhoods are the foundation of realising broader economic, environmental and social goals.
The role of the Department of the Taoiseach is to co-ordinate and focus Government action. In line with this, the purpose of the child poverty and well-being programme office is twofold: monitor specified policy commitments by Departments and their agencies and drive focused action; and undertake a number of strategic cross-Government initiatives that have the potential to increase the effectiveness of current and emerging measures to fight child poverty and promote child well-being. The programme office is now fully staffed and is currently working on a multi-annual programme plan.
One of the glaring shortfalls in the child poverty and well-being programme office is the absence of a clear commitment to incorporate mental health in its stated remit. The number of children waiting on first-time appointments with child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, has increased by 112% under this Government's watch. Nationally, there is a record high of 4,513 children waiting for appointments with CAMHS. It is the first time the number has broken the 4,500 barrier. Of these young people, 747 have been waiting for more than a year. There are 72 beds in four inpatient CAMHS facilities, but only 51 of them are open. More than 15,000 children are waiting on primary care psychology appointments, with almost 6,000 waiting longer than a year. Jigsaw has 30-week waiting lists in some areas. No new resources were allocated in last year’s budget for early intervention in psychosis. Early intervention in psychosis is proven to reduce hospital admissions, relapses and crisis presentations. More than 700 children in mental health crisis presented to accident and emergency units last year.
At every stage, children are being failed by mental health services under the Government’s watch. We can all get bogged down in statistics, but behind each statistic I have set out is a young child with hopes, ambitions, dreams and a family. Under this Government, that child is being denied the opportunity to reach his or her full potential.
The impact of these delays on some children in poverty with intersectional needs can be catastrophic. People are understandably cynical about the new child poverty unit. Its work will be meaningless if it does not deliver for children measurably. How will the unit measure and monitor its targets and when will those targets be published?
When the Taoiseach and I discussed this matter previously, he spoke about the engagement he would have with the Joint Committee on Autism’s report. We all know the issues that exist for parents and children who cannot get assessments and necessary therapies. The report makes 109 recommendations on creating a framework for autistic people to live in society, including the necessary cradle-to-the-grave supports. We are far from being at that point, though.
It is a question of trying to introduce the idea that, when services are needed, there is no wrong door. A number of officials from Scotland engaged with the committee. Scotland has a variation on CAMHS, with everything seemingly piped through it. It acted as a single place for parents, children and adults to go to. There is no wrong door. How do we bring that idea about? Will the Taoiseach update the House on what engagements he has had on this matter?
Today, Sr. Eilís Coe came to Leinster House to discuss with me and others the issue of child trafficking. It is a serious problem in Ireland. During the Taoiseach’s last trip to the USA, he said that human trafficking was not a particular issue in Ireland because our seas were so vast that people could not get here by small boats, but human trafficking is a significant problem in this State. It is happening in plain sight throughout the State. Indeed, Ireland is so bad that it is on a human trafficking watch list. Answers to our parliamentary questions show incredible figures. The number of unaccompanied minors coming to the State is extraordinarily high and approximately 60 of them are missing. They are incredibly vulnerable. Recent newspaper reports show that children who are in the State's care are being targeted by sexual predators. These children are suffering considerable damage. We are a great country for looking back at the damage that was done to people 30, 40 or 50 years ago, and we are right to be so, but here is a section of society – vulnerable children in the main – that is exploited significantly, mostly through sexual abuse. It is happening on the streets of towns and cities throughout the country.
I am asking the Taoiseach for a systemic response so that our teachers, nurses, doctors and gardaí are educated on what to look for in terms of child trafficking and exploitation.
I thank the Deputies for their questions. Regarding the report of the Joint Committee on Autism, I thank its members, including its Chair, Senator Carrigy. I intend to meet him one to one in the next couple of weeks to sit down, go through all of the recommendations and identify which ones we can make progress on quickly.
The “no wrong door” principle is a good one. How we achieve that, though, is not straightforward. When meeting families in Barnardo’s in Blanchardstown recently, there was a common thread to a lot of what they said to me - they got great help and great support in the end, but it was a tortuous road to find the right place and the right people to give them the support they needed. That stuck with me.
In terms of the targets for success of the new child poverty and well-being unit, we have identified a number of priority areas. We want, and I will ensure, that there is a strong child poverty and well-being theme in the budget in October. The areas we are going to prioritise are income supports, joblessness, early learning and childcare, further reducing the cost of education, family homelessness, consolidating and integrating family and parental support, health and well-being, and enhancing participation in culture, arts and sport for all children and young people, including those affected by poverty. We believe that investment in these areas will reduce child poverty and raise well-being. Increasing income supports and helping to reduce joblessness will boost incomes for poorer families. Support for early learning and childcare will facilitate parental employment by reducing the cost of such care. Reducing the cost of education will play a role in reducing outgoings for families with children. I am very pleased that free schoolbooks in primary schools will be a reality in September. That is just one example, as is the extension of the hot school meals programme.
Work has already been carried out in the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to identify the amount of its expenditure that is dedicated to children. The methodology developed through this work is now being extended to six other Departments with a high level of expenditure benefiting children. These are the Departments of Education, Health, Social Protection, Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Justice, and Rural and Community Development. That work will represent a solid basis for further progress when it comes to establishing the total amount of expenditure dedicated to children and its positive effects. As I said earlier, I intend that budget 2024 will have child poverty and well-being as one of its major themes.
Regarding human trafficking, which was raised by Deputy Tóibín, I want to acknowledge that human trafficking happens in Ireland. We have specific legislation around it. We do not have the boats arriving in the way they do in Britain, southern Europe and other places, but one does not need a boat to engage in human trafficking in Ireland. It is done in other ways. It is very hard to measure, of course, because it largely involves criminal activity and, therefore, has to be detected.
I do want to comment, though, on the recent study by UCD, which makes for disturbing reading, on sexual predators targeting children in care. I want to say very clearly that no child should be at risk of exploitation. The work to raise awareness and tackle child exploitation is a priority for the Government. It is a very valuable study, which, as the authors point out, is not a prevalence study, but a qualitative study drawing on 21 interviews with practitioners as well as consultations with staff in the Garda and Tusla. It does not seek to quantify the extent to which this occurs in Ireland.
The authors suggest that the research should be understood as a scoping study that takes an initial and important first step that is hoped will provide awareness of sexual exploitation of children and young people in Ireland. Their aim is for the study to inform future research as well as policy and practice recommendations.
The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth is working closely with senior management in Tusla on the subject of child sexual exploitation and will prioritise a review of the findings of this scoping study and its recommendations for further action. A close liaison into the study's findings will also take place by Tusla with An Garda Síochána.
Significant advances have been made in recent times to crack down on child sexual exploitation. In 2021, for example, Tusla implemented its new child exploitation procedure in partnership with An Garda Síochána to assist Tusla staff in recognising and reporting cases where there may well be a risk of child exploitation for sexual purposes. The joint working protocol between Tusla and An Garda Síochána forms a critical part of the responses to child abuse and neglect, particularly in relation to child sexual exploitation. In addition to this, Tusla has a full-time seconded principal social worker assigned and based in the Garda National Protective Services Bureau, GNPSB, and has established an anti-trafficking working group in readiness for the Department of Justice's national action plan to prevent and combat trafficking of human beings, which includes the area of child exploitation.
At all times, training and practices in relation to tackling child sexual exploitation are under review, and as part of this, the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth will prioritise a review of the findings of this scoping study and its recommendations in the immediate period ahead.
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