When it comes to children with scoliosis and spina bifida, we have seen broken promise after broken promise. In 2017 the then Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, gave a clear commitment to children with spina bifida and scoliosis that they would not have to wait longer than four months for life-changing surgery. The report published today by the Ombudsman for Children is scathing and devastating. The report is a litany of failure and broken promises. After the promise was made in 2017 by the then Minister, Deputy Harris, the child named as Ivy in the report waited five years for her life-saving surgery and many more children have gone through the hurt, anguish and pain that she went through. When will the Government stop making excuses? That is what is happening. When will it stop breaking the promises it made to those children? When will we get to a point where no child with spina bifida or scoliosis has to wait longer than four months for the life-changing surgery they need?
Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation
No child should have to go through the experience Ivy went through, which has been documented. The failures in her care and the length of time it took for her to receive the necessary operation was documented in the report of the Ombudsman for Children that was published earlier. The Government is working hard to address the issue in order that other children will not have the same experience. Last year, an additional €19 million in capital and current funding was committed to a plan to address the issue, which led to a 34% increase in the number of operations carried out. Some 509 operations were carried out last year for people with scoliosis or who needed other spinal interventions. The Government is focusing on it as we want to ensure others do not have the traumatic and unacceptable experience Ivy had.
Boliden Tara Mines plans to lay off 650 workers on 14 July. I raised this with the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Coveney, during Question Time earlier. I express my gratitude to him for his understanding of the issues of concern and his continued engagement. It is understood and appreciated.
SIPTU, Connect Trade Union and Unite the Union put cost-saving measures to the company last week. Tara Mines management has decided to carry on regardless. Yesterday, it pressed the button in respect of the nuclear option of 650 layoffs. As the Minister has acknowledged, the unions have done their bit. They put substantial cost-saving measures to the company last week. The missing piece of the jigsaw is a scheme of Government supports, especially of energy subventions. As Adrian Kane of SIPTU stated on "Morning Ireland" earlier, a political intervention is required. Why are we waiting for the development of the proposition of a German-style short-time working scheme to make interventions like this that would make a difference in supporting workers during difficult trading periods?
The Deputy and I had an opportunity to discuss this earlier. I recognise the constructive role the union leadership has played in what has been a difficult few weeks for people employed at Tara Mines. They made a genuine, pragmatic intervention by proposing cost reductions to try to improve the viability of the plant. I have spoken to the management and to workers' representatives. We spoke again yesterday to senior management to get an update. The financial pressures on the company and the predicted losses this year, if it stays open, are significant, as the Deputy is aware. We will continue to work with the company to ensure that we do everything we possibly can to support workers. We are also working to ensure that if the plant goes into care and maintenance, the period between when that happens and when the plant reopens will be as short as possible
Today, the European Court of Justice found Ireland guilty of failing to protect nature, failing to provide legal protection for 217 of 423 sites identified as special areas of conservation, failing to define detailed site-specific conservation objectives for 140 of 423 sites and failing to provide adequate conservation measures. This is an absolute disgrace. It has been ongoing for 20 years. These sites were identified 19 years ago and the Government has had six years to write it into law. The determination today shows that the green credentials of this Government are in tatters. Will the Minister tell me what the Government will do to address these issues and deal with the fact that we are in breach of EU legislation when it comes to protecting nature here?
I have not seen the detail of today's report yet. However, I assure the Deputy that the Government puts massive stock in and prioritises the need to restore nature and the need to protect our environment. In terms of our actions, we have taken the historic step of putting in place targets for emissions reductions in legislation. We have also set targets that show how the country can lead on reducing emissions and taken a coherent, progressive approach to the nature restoration laws which are currently coming through the EU. We have a real and clear focus on this. I assure the Deputy that we will look to work our way towards addressing any judgments or outstanding issues, because we put real value on ensuring that the undoubted regression we have seen over the past generation or two in the context of biodiversity and the environment around us is reversed.
The European Court of Justice says differently.
At present there are two occupations by Iceland workers, namely, in the stores in Talbot Street and Coolock. These workers are owed money for work they did. We saw something similar happen with unscrupulous employers such as Debenhams and Clerys. What is going on is what is called in the business "a strategic insolvency". When will the Government - it has been in office for the past three and a half years - bring forward legislation to stop this happening and stop workers being screwed?
As the Deputy will be aware, a court-appointed examiner is working through the examinership process at the moment. Workers have rights in that process and we need to ensure they are respected. A complaints procedure under the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, can also be activated. I am limited in what I can say due to the ongoing court process.
However, I am obviously concerned about how the Iceland workers have been treated. We are following that closely, as is the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, who has been the person involved from my Department.
I wish to ask about the residential zoned land tax. On 9 May 2023, the Taoiseach told me that he had spoken to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, Deputy Donohoe, about anomalies that had arisen in the context of the Finance Act whereby people in R2 zoned land would be taxed even though the land could not be built on. It also emerged that functional farmers who wanted to continue to farm would be penalised as well. I have been contacted by a considerable number of farmers, especially around the Tuam and Athenry areas, where local area plans are being developed at the moment. They are concerned that they will be unable to meet the payment of these taxes from their farming income when they want to dezone their land to ensure that their farms remain functional farms. Have the anomalies to which I refer been sorted out? Will the Finance Act be amended and, if so, when? I am looking for some comfort for these farmers.
I thank the Deputy for raising this pressing issue. It is an issue that the Department of Finance is currently working its way through. The objective of the Government is to ensure that those who are actively farming their land are not put in a situation whereby because the zoned land tax will apply to them, they cannot continue to farm or must sell the land. They need to be able to apply to have the land dezoned if they do not want it categorised in that way.
Overall, the Government's objective is to ensure that any land that is zoned is actively available in order that there is not lots of land zoned in principle but unavailable because those who own it do not wish it to become available. We want an accurate reflection of zoned land. This means that those people who are actively farming need the opportunity to dezone it. A number have already done that. Issues have arisen of which the Department of Finance is aware and which it is working its way through to ensure that principle can be applied and those people are not made liable.
Last week, while we were all distracted by the farce at RTÉ, Dr. Mary Canning and Ruth Breslin of UCD published their report, Protecting Against Predators: A Scoping Study on the Sexual Exploitation of Children and Young People in Ireland. As the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, outlined to me in response to a parliamentary question, the findings in the report are alarming. I would go so far as to say they are terrifying, deeply disturbing and sickening. Clearly, the procedures against child sexual exploitation introduced by Tusla in recent years have failed miserably. They have failed at a catastrophic level for these children who are being groomed and exploited by gangs of predatory men. Will the Government commit to providing every resource necessary to further the research that is being carried out? Will it stand ready to demand accountability from Tusla or any other agency that has failed these children in the worst possible way?
I thank the Deputy. The findings of the research undertaken in the scoping study on the sexual exploitation of children and young people in Ireland are deeply troubling. The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth is working closely with the senior management of Tusla on the matter and will prioritise a review of the findings of the scoping study and its recommendations in the immediate period ahead.
The study offers an alarming account of the sexual exploitation of children by potentially organised groups in our society. Therefore, a close examination of the study's findings will be undertaken by Tusla and An Garda Síochána. The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth will also work with the Department of Justice to review the findings and the recommendations of the report.
The Minister spoke earlier of the Government's environmental credentials. In that regard, there has been a lot of discussion about forestry and the solution that it offers to Ireland's environmental problems, in particular in respect of carbon sequestration, etc. However, the figures demonstrate a very different story. To date this year, seven afforestation licences have been approved. There have been 21 approvals under the ash dieback scheme. That is shambolic. This weekend, we are halfway through the year. The longest day of the year has come and gone. Planting season is coming and going. When challenged up to now, the Government has offered the classic response of British Tory Governments over the years, which is to blame the European Commission.
It looks like this year is going to see the lowest plantation levels in the history of the State while the Government talks great talk about the need to afforest this country. What is going on? What will be done to bring afforestation levels up to the Government's own targets?
I thank the Deputy. As he knows, I have provided numerous briefings to outline the position and the challenges we have had over the past six months. The factual position is that we are between forestry programmes. We are currently waiting for state aid approval of our new forestry programme. That means we have not been in a position to issue new licences in recent months and will be unable to do so until we get that new programme in place. We have, however, put an interim programme in place in order that trees can be planted under outgoing and existing licences. The really significant step we have taken is to introduce new premium rates, which increase the premium grants available to those who plant forestry by between 40% and 60%. For family farms, we have increased the number of years it is possible to get premium grants from 15 to 20. This means that someone who plants native broadleaf trees will receive €1,100 per year per hectare tax-free for 20 years. That means that over the next 20 years, €22,000 will be available tax-free. We also need a new forestry programme to enable those premiums to show their benefits and to see forestry numbers increase.
I acknowledge the efforts of the Minister for Justice and her success to date in bringing forward modernising legislation in the area of family law. In particular, I draw to her attention the urgency of cases whereby children, their mothers and some fathers have been deprived of access to one another for considerable periods, and sometimes for a lifetime, on the basis of evidence provided by so-called or self-appointed experts in family law situations. The issue remains to deal with the situation as and from now. We need to bring legislation before the House quickly and deal with the residue in respect of cases that have already been cleared because children are being condemned forever. We need to consider how to repeal or appeal such cases.
I know this is an issue about which the Deputy is very passionate, as am I. That is why I have brought forward the Family Courts Bill, which is being worked on at the moment. I have also introduced the family justice strategy. The Family Courts Bill will ensure that we have specific courts that deal only with family law, thereby ensuring we have the right structure, system and setting in place to support families and also to allow us to work through the enormous numbers of people who need to access the courts.
The family justice strategy has quite a number of recommendations, one of which calls for a review of expert reports and those who provide them to the courts. There are no restrictions in place at the moment, so we need to ensure we understand how these reports are provided and who provides them. We need guidance for that so I have asked for that to be done as a matter of urgency.
Disability-proofing is a strategy that ensures the needs of people with a disability are considered and that their needs are included in the development, as well as the delivery, of policies and practices at the earliest possible stage. In the upcoming budget, will the Government ensure that a mechanism is in place to ensure that the Government will disability-proof its budgetary proposals and ensure those proposals are in line with the principles of the UN Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities?
I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. I assure him that as part of the discussions on the next budget, progressing the services available to those with disabilities will be a key priority. It is something on which the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, has focused and done very strong work. The Government has taken the significant step, as part of its programme for Government commitments, to move responsibility for disability from the Department of Health to the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. We have provided that Department with a budget to significantly improve services in the country. I assure the Deputy that in the context of the upcoming budget, it will remain very much to the forefront of our considerations and planning.
I recently met a group of people affected by long Covid. It affects many people across the State, as does post-acute Covid syndrome, although they should not be treated as the same condition. The roll-out of units to support people with long Covid has been quite slow.
There is a budget line for Cork but I understand that the unit is not yet open. It is also very much focused on the respiratory without taking into account some of the other disciplines needed to support people. What is the update on the operation of the Cork Covid clinic? Will there also be access to neurologists for those access long Covid clinics in Cork?
I thank the Deputy for his question. We are hearing more and more about people suffering from long Covid and the effects of Covid. There are many learnings to be had from this. On the Deputy's specific question, I will go back to the Department in the afternoon and get a written response for the Deputy because I do not have that particular detail.
The Minister, Deputy McConalogue, was in the Chamber yesterday when we discussed the culling of the herd under a motion brought before the House. On a few occasions, I mentioned the name of Larry Goodman in relation to agricultural policy and how it is impacting on our environment, particularly on our rivers. His name appears again today, like the proverbial bad penny. Lansdowne Oil and Gas corporation is suing the State for at least €100 million because of the denial of a licence to develop Barryroe, of which Mr. Goodman is a major shareholder. I brought a Bill to this House in 2018, and for the past two years I have been waiting for a money message on it. It is called the Petroleum and Other Minerals Development (Amendment) (Climate Emergency Measures) Bill 2018. Had the Government passed that Bill, we would not be facing these fines today. It would have been impossible for any company under that EU charter of energy, which we should not be in. We should pull out of that. It is a bit late now that we are facing fines from a company connected with Goodman for €100 million. What does the Minister have to say about that? When will we get the money message on the Petroleum and Other Minerals Development (Amendment) (Climate Emergency Measures) Bill 2018? We have been waiting two years for it.
The Deputy was the only one to mention anyone's name in the two-hour debate yesterday. My contribution was about how we, as a Government, are working to support family farms across the country and to ensure that farmers and the families that depend on them and the rural economies that depend on them are strongly supported by the Government. That is our focus from an agricultural point of view. On that particular Bill, I will ask the Whip to revert to the Deputy with an update as to when a money message may be provided.
I raise the issue of planning and strategic planning, in particular, by the Department of Education and by the Government. In Dublin West, every school has been developed following huge campaigns by parents followed by hollow promises and timelines. We have schools needing either demolition, replacement or massive upgrades because they were built decades ago. We have new developments right across the constituency, in Hollystown, Ongar, Carpenterstown and Diswellstown, where new schools need to be developed. Can the Minister find out if there is a plan or if these decisions are made on the hoof? In other developments, apartment owners must provide a sinking fund. Buildings last only 30 or 40 years before major upgrades are necessary. In terms of future planning, it seems the Department of Education is only reactive, not proactive.
It seems clear from the Deputy's contribution that there is lots of investment happening in new schools in his constituency. That certainly is my experience in Donegal, where we have had unprecedented investment in new schools and school facilities. The Minister, Deputy Foley, with the backing of the Government, has made capital spending a priority to ensure young people are studying, and teachers are working, in the type of facilities they deserve and that best aids education. It is something that the Department, through the buildings unit, assesses in relation to the various requests they receive. The Government will continue to prioritise funding to ensure that it can make a real impact on the ground, as is happening in the Deputy's constituency, in my one and in others.
I ask the Minister for Justice what efforts are being made to improve Garda recruitment. In my constituency, for example, the number of gardaí has reduced from 351 in June 2021 to 339 last month. This is a worrying trend. I understand there are pressures throughout the country. Meanwhile the population, as the Minister will be aware, is growing rapidly. I ask for an update on what is being done to recruit new gardaí and to address the fall in numbers in counties such as Kerry.
I thank the Deputy. When it comes to my engagement with An Garda Síochána, Garda recruitment is my number one priority. I could probably say it is the Commissioner's priority. We have had challenges over the years, not least the closure of Templemore and, more recently, Covid-19, which has slowed down the number of new recruits coming out. Couple that with an increased population and we are seeing the challenges we have now where members of An Garda Síochána are retiring and we are trying to increase numbers at the same time.
We have had two successful recruitment campaigns in the past year and what we are now seeing coming from those is a steady flow of new members going into and, most importantly, coming out of Templemore. It is, obviously, a matter for the Garda Commissioner as to where those members go but I can assure the Deputy that where issues arise and where numbers are dropping, it is something the Commissioner takes into consideration. I want us not only to get to that figure of 15,000 but to go beyond it and to make sure we modernise our service because it is about numbers of gardaí and the way in which they work.
At any one time, there are more than 500 people in our hospitals who could be discharged. What level of engagement has taken place with the private nursing home sector with a view to expediting the discharge of people from hospitals to free up hospital beds? What further engagement has occurred as regards reconciling the difference between what is paid for a public nursing home bed and a private nursing home bed?
We had a debate during the week on nursing homes. If memory serves me correctly, there are 670 beds currently on a legal footing between the HSE and nursing homes where we have a service level agreement in relation to people accessing those beds. Approximately 500 of the beds are done on a national level and 170 to 180 of the beds are done on a local level.
This year the Government will provide €1.5 billion to support 22,700 residents in nursing homes. To date, 120 nursing homes have renegotiated their deal through the fair deal and by the end of this year, up to 60% of nursing homes will do that.
We continue to provide free personal protective equipment, PPE, and oxygen to nursing homes at a cost to the State to date of €75 million. This started in Covid. I have extended the temporary inflation payment scheme, TIPS, supports for nursing homes in relation to excess energy costs up to the end of June of this year.
There was another high-profile assault in the capital last week where a visiting actor was bottled, slashed and bitten by three youths, both female and male. One public commentator described them as feral youths running wild on our streets. It is an assault that mirrors so many others occurring across the country every weekend and week. The Garda force now numbers fewer that 14,000, 1,000 short of the Government recruitment campaign. There are only 300 gardaí in Templemore - 25% of the Government's target - and there is a large dropout rate occurring. Why are people refusing to join An Garda Síochána? Might I offer that the pension entitlements are not enough for people after 25 or 30 years of public service? Or maybe it is that there are three oversight bodies zealously monitoring Garda activities and causing endless paperwork and bureaucracy. Or perhaps it is the statute of limitations, with a six-month limit for a common assault, yet it takes 18 months for the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC, to investigate frivolous complaints against gardaí, with video testimony of gardaí being refused while the public are able to publicly record. I ask the Minister to look at the resources we are giving to gardaí, which are favouring criminals more than those in the force.
We have a wonderful workforce in An Garda Síochána. As I said, my priority is to make sure we increase that workforce. The gardaí I meet are committed to their job. Many of them love the work they do. That work is not without its challenges and that is why we provided an unprecedented budget of €2 billion for the Garda alone last year. Obviously, I will be doing what I can to increase that.
It is not only about the terms and conditions, which are important. Obviously, I work with the Garda to make sure the terms and conditions are the same for all the various different public sector workers and are as good as they can be and that the gardaí have the resources they need, whether it is introducing body-worn cameras, whether it is introducing the handheld devices to allow them do their job in a more efficient and effective way or whether it is the huge capital investments that are happening right across the country.
A huge amount of work is happening to make sure that the Garda is supported in its work. Of course, the more gardaí we have, the more that will take pressures off the system. That is why recruitment is my number one priority.
Last week, the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement called on the British Government to withdraw the legacy Bill because of the grave concerns all members of that committee had regarding the implications of that Bill. The committee will ask the Irish Government to consider inter-state litigation in the European Court of Human Rights in order to demonstrate tangible support and solidarity for victims and campaigners by sparing them the costly and arduous task of bringing individual cases to challenge the Bill. The last time such a case was taken related to the hooded men in 1971.
Will the Minister again assure the House that he will use every mechanism available to the State to ensure that the rights of victims are upheld and the rights enshrined in the Good Friday Agreement are protected, by again requesting immediate withdrawal of this reckless legislation and communicating to the British Government that failure to act will result in the Irish Government having no option but to take an inter-state case to the European Court of Human Rights?
As the Deputy pointed out, families bereaved during the Troubles continue to feel the pain and the loss, and continue to seek the truth, accountability and justice. Existing mechanisms for dealing with the legacy of the past, while not perfect, deliver important outcomes for those families, such as the vindication of a murdered loved one's innocence. In its legacy Bill, the UK Government intends to permanently close off access to these mechanisms, such as inquests, police ombudsman investigations, civil cases and police investigations, which are working for families and, importantly, demonstrating a vindication of the State's obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights to investigate killings effectively. During his recent engagements with the UK Secretary of State, the Tánaiste made clear the Government's opposition to this Bill and outlined his specific and serious concerns about its provision, and will continue to do so.
I will direct my question to the Minister of State with responsibility for mental health and older people. As she knows, I have for a long time implored the Government to deliver on more services for young people around mental health issues. The reason I say that is I am very sadly confident that Cavan-Monaghan is a black spot when it comes to suicide among our very young population. I really want us to look at prevention, ways of reaching out to young people, and ways of allowing them the space and time to relieve themselves of the mental health issues they have. I am a firm believer in such services. We just have to look around the country to see what the likes of Jigsaw have achieved.
While there are services, and I acknowledge the Minister of State has put a huge amount of work and resources into our suicide crisis assessment nurse, SCAN, services and all those types of services within the HSE, Jigsaw is a recognisable entity. I again implore her to please deliver that for Cavan-Monaghan.
I thank the Deputy for her constant advocacy for enhanced mental health services in Cavan-Monaghan. She is quite right; two SCAN nurses have gone into that area and are making a significant difference. I also want to change the narrative in really pushing youth mental health. It is a key priority of mine. I met with the new HSE CEO recently. Some 2% of the 1 million children in Ireland may need the support of child and adolescent mental health services but the remaining 98% also need supports. Jigsaw does an invaluable job. I met with Dr. Joseph Duffy and his team only two weeks ago to discuss future plans. I pointed out three specific areas where we do not have Jigsaw coverage: Cavan-Monaghan, Kildare and community healthcare organisation 5, which is the area where I live. Jigsaw has 67% physical coverage throughout the country but over the past few years, due to Covid, many of its supports moved online. I will work with Jigsaw and do my best to fund it. I will ask all the various Deputies to work with local authorities in their areas to see whether we can identify premises. We will move to providing more Jigsaw services in specific areas.