I want to raise with the Taoiseach his Government's handling of the nitrates derogation, which has caused a huge amount of anger and stress for farmers. The issue originates in the Government's decision to sign up to a flawed review mechanism in the first place. As the Taoiseach will be aware, farmers acted on and implemented measures to improve water quality but time has not been allowed to see the effect of those actions. Instead they feel the rug has been pulled from under them. The map outlining areas facing a derogation stock cut from next year was published yesterday. This has now become very real . The Taoiseach made a commitment some weeks ago to invite the Commissioner to come to Ireland to reopen this matter with them. Is this meeting going to happen? When will this meeting happen? Is the matter to be revisited? What exactly will the Taoiseach say to the Commissioner as and when they meet?
Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation
I have written to the Commissioner. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Charlie McConalogue, and I have invited him to come to Ireland to discuss this matter with us and to visit an Irish farm to see how well managed our beef and dairy sector is. He has agreed to come but I do not have a date as yet for this to happen. I look forward to that engagement. Of course, the overarching priority for the Government is to make sure that we hold on to the 220 kg per ha derogation. I believe that reducing this to 175 kg per ha would inflict serious damage on farm incomes and on our food export sector, which is important to this society and economy as a whole. The decision is made in relation to 250 kg per ha but we have got some flexibility on that. The Deputy will see in the maps that came out last night that it provides for about 250 farms to continue to use 250 kg per ha. Of course we will explore any other possible flexibility with the Commissioner when he visits and meets with me and the Minister. I do not, however, want to raise false expectations as to what is possible and what is not.
That is not the commitment the Government made to the farmers.
The Taoiseach has changed his position.
The Labour Party believes that football is one of the most effective anti-poverty, anti-racism and anti-addiction tools we have at our disposal. This morning we understand that Türkiye has withdrawn from the proposed hosting of the 2028 European Championships and that Ireland and the UK will now host this tournament in 2028. Many football people in Ireland, however, will not celebrate this decision because, as the Taoiseach may be aware, the level of facilities we have in Ireland is very poor. For example, 38% of clubs cannot even provide basic facilities for girls' teams and week in week out we have underage games being called off because of the poor facilities in the country. Does the Taoiseach not feel this is potentially a huge distraction in terms of football infrastructure in this country? Will the Taoiseach give a commitment that it is the underage game, the League of Ireland and the domestic game that needs the infrastructure and the investment, and that the hosting of a tournament should not distract Government or the Minister from that end goal?
I agree with the Deputy's sentiments but I do not believe that these two things are in conflict or should be in conflict. We learned today that Türkiye has withdrawn its bid. This means we anticipate that next week - in fact on budget day - UEFA will formally announce that the UK and Ireland will host the 2028 tournament. This is going to be great for football. It is going to be great for the country. It is a good thing for UK-Ireland relations and this is something I will discuss with the Prime Minister when we meet in Granada tomorrow.
The two stadiums we need are the Aviva stadium, which is pretty much built already and will not require a huge amount of additional work, and crucially we need Casement Park in Belfast. We are in discussions with the Ulster GAA council and also the British Government as to how we can make a contribution to the cost of building that new stadium, which I believe we should.
With regard to other facilities such as local clubs and also the League of Ireland clubs we have a sports capital programme and applications are open for that at the moment. We also have the large-scale investment in sports scheme. Both of those options are open for the clubs to apply to.
As the Taoiseach referred earlier to this with so much passion I thought I would ask more about it. I hold in my hand the North Inner City Local Community Safety Partnership document, which was released a couple of weeks ago. It has been two and a half years in the making. It was well heralded in advance that this would make a difference. This is 52 pages of what I consider constitutes someone's stream of thought. There are 51 recommendations that have no resources behind them. The glossary of recommendations at the back would be funny if it was not so serious. The risks to resource community policing being maintained in the north inner city are listed as recruitment and resources not being available. "Resources not available" is listed several times. Recruitment and retention becoming a problem is also mentioned. I would like to see an effective policing plan for the country as a whole but for the community I represent, which does happen to contain the central part of the city centre, this is far from that.
I am aware of the document the Deputy has. I have not read it and, therefore, it is difficult for me to comment on it. I can say that community safety partnerships are a big part of the reforms that we are making at the moment. They are a particular priority of the Minister, Deputy McEntee. They acknowledge that policing and public safety is about a lot more than policing. A comprehensive approach has to be taken with all stakeholders and agencies involved. We are determined to make sure that they will be resourced in the years ahead.
Over the weekend, the Citizens' Assembly on Drug Use met for the penultimate time. All indications from the assembly point to a liberalisation of our drugs policy. We have had six decades of this and it has been largely a failure. If the recommendations are for decriminalisation and forms of regulation, will the Government implement those recommendations? According to the chair, Mr. Paul Reid, there is a "mood for change". Is there a mood for change in relation to six decades of a failed policy around drug use?
Out of respect to the citizens' assembly, we should allow it to complete its work. The citizens have not voted yet and they have not made any recommendations yet. That will happen in the next couple of weeks. We should allow them to complete their work without pre-empting what their recommendations may be.
The general procedure that we have taken in politics and in our political system since we established citizens' assemblies is to refer the report for detailed consideration by the relevant committee. I imagine that will be the next step but I do not want to pre-empt the outcome of a citizens' assembly that is still meeting.
In an alarming report, we learned that staff working for child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, in community healthcare organisation, CHO, 3, which includes County Tipperary, stated they believed the service was unsafe due to lack of staff and consultant cover. In a lengthy report, issues were identified with staffing capacity of the CAMHS team to provide a safe service to vulnerable children. The report contained instances where children were left without renewal of prescriptions until a consultant psychiatrist returned to duty. A case was highlighted where two children waited for four and six days, respectively, in UHL's emergency department before being assessed. Separately, an internal review by CAMHS identified 140 children across the CHO region who were not receiving follow-up appointments. It also found that the CAMHS service was staffed at less than two thirds of the national recommendations. Staffing is the kernel of this issue. Could the Taoiseach tell me, or follow up to see what steps can be taken to upskill mental health staff to include training in intellectual disabilities?
We have a real difficulty finding staff for our CAMHS service in large parts of the country. It varies from one CHO to another. It seems that where there are good promotional and career progression opportunities, it is easier to find staff. That is the case in one CHO. I would not be doing the Deputy's question justice if I were to merely rattle off an answer now. and, therefore, I will ask the Minister for Health to write to him and set out in detail the actions that are being taken.
I stand up this afternoon on behalf of the Rural Independents to ask again to extend the slurry-spreading deadline at least to the end of October. I have already asked for this and we got a week last week. We acknowledged that from the Minister, Deputy McConalogue. We have another week today. Look at the weather we have had this year. I do not want to stand up here week in, week out asking about this. Farmers have had a very difficult time with costs over the past two years but the weather this year has been so unsuitable. Land is saturated in the Golden Vale, not to mind other parts of the country. This is very serious. Why can we not give it to the end of October at least and let the farmers empty the tanks before all the animals go in? Some have gone in already because of the bad weather. This is a serious issue. It looks pathetic to be extending it a week and a week. It should never have been on the basis of calendar dates from the outset; it should have been on the basis of climatic conditions. All farmers do that. They will not spread slurry if the weather is not suitable. We need to be practical here, get that calendar issue off the table and allow people to spread their manure when it is safe to do and when it is best for land.
Today, the decision has been made by Government, through the interdepartmental group involving the Departments of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and Housing, Local Government and Heritage to extend the slurry-spreading season for an extra week to 15 October. That international departmental group makes its decisions based on science, based on grass growth-----
Not science, the ground is wet.
-----based on soil and based on rain fall. We know the pressure the farmers are under but we also know that very good weather is coming this weekend and that most farmers were working on the basis of 1 October. This extra time was needed because of the bad weather in September and 15 October is the latest we can extend it to.
The last week.
It will dry overnight.
After months of repeated reports of systematic non-payment of wages, sick pay and holiday pay, Iceland workers are now facing mass redundancy, as we have seen that company loaded with debt and run into the ground by the boss, Mr. Naeem Maniar. The Government stood by and let this wage theft happen, despite multiple appeals by the union representing workers, that is, the Independent Workers' Union, for intervention to protect workers. We saw this happen with the Debenhams workers. We have seen this happen with other groups of workers previously and we will continue to see it until the law is changed. The Debenhams Bill is sitting in committee facing the usual delaying tactics. Irish workers continue to be some of the most exposed workers in the EU when their employer enters bankruptcy. Will the Government make this a priority by supporting the Debenhams Bill or bring through its own legislation to make sure workers get their unpaid wages, sick pay, holiday pay and agreed redundancy payments when their employer files for bankruptcy or uses tactical insolvency?
I will take that. The Government plans to introduce a new collective redundancies legislation in the next few weeks. It will not deal with all of the issues the Deputy raised but it will certainly deal with some of them. We will have an opportunity to work through both committee and debate in this House to try and get that legislation as right as we can.
I want to speak on behalf of the foster carers right across Ireland less than a week out from the budget to make a case for improved weekly rates for foster carers. The rate has remained the same since 2009, despite the incredible level of care that they give to young people under their care. They clothe them, they feed them and they bring them to sports activities. They give them such a high level of care, it is about time that we improved the conditions for these foster carers. They do not even have access to back-to-school allowances, which is not good enough. In many instances, these people look after the most vulnerable young people in our society. It is about time that we realised that. It is about time that we improved their conditions and improved their weekly rates.
I thank the Deputy for raising the important issue of foster carers. The truth is we need more of them given the number of children whose parents are not able to look after them anymore, which has increased quite a lot in recent years. I had a chance to meet some foster carers over the summer break and hear from them their lived experience. I agree that we need a better deal for them. The Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, has developed proposals in that regard and is currently in discussions with the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, on funding for them. Hopefully, we will be able to make a positive announcement in the next few weeks.
The Irish tillage sector has faced devastation with the terrible weather conditions, earlier on in sowing and now in harvesting. In County Wexford alone, there are more than 2,500 acres still left to be harvested. With reduced yields and reduced grain prices, the sector is facing devastation. In all honesty, I cannot welcome the Minister, Deputy McConalogue's announcement yesterday where €28 per hectare or €11.33 per acre will be given as an aid package. Tillage farmers are struggling with a significant increase in input costs from fertiliser and sprays and fuel costs, leaving aside land costs that we are going through. I visited a tillage farm earlier this week to see the devastation that is there with barley just being on the ground, not being able to be harvested or, at best, being salvaged. I ask the Taoiseach and the Minister to look at this sector and to give an increased aid package. Tillage farmers are looking seriously to Government and more is needed.
I thank the Deputy for raising what is a really important issue here. Tillage farmers have had an unprecedented year because they suffered high input costs at the start of the year when sowing and growing crops, they had really poor weather conditions throughout the year and now they are faced with a declining price for their product as well as poor yields. In many respects, it is a perfect storm.
The crisis reserve that the Deputy referred to from yesterday was the best we could do within what was available to us but we are acutely aware of the challenges in the tillage sector. We also have direct aid for protein crops.
We also have strong corporation measures there. Ultimately, we want to work with tillage farmers because we want to see the area grow. We know how challenging this year is. We will continue to work with them into the future.
I raise the atypical working scheme. Recently, I met Migrant Nurses Ireland, which is a support group. There are 20,000 migrant nurses and social care workers here and I am sure the Taoiseach will agree that this is a significant issue for them. Processing has improved in recent weeks but there are still difficulties. I was chasing a huge number of applications during the summer. They go through various stages and if there is any difficulty in the application, it creates massive problems. For instance, if someone has worked in the UAE or the Middle East, they have 90 days to leave their existing job. If the system falls down in some way, they have to leave that country because they are not allowed to stay there if they do not have a job. They do not have to come here to us. We are looking for their skills and for them to come here to help us out in our healthcare system.
Thank you, Deputy.
I would suggest one solution. If, when their initial application was submitted, someone was there at the very beginning to do a checklist and identify any difficulties that could be dealt with, that could help.
We are constantly trying to improve the response times and the efficiency of the system in bringing workers from outside the EU into Ireland and if there are constructive suggestions that we can take on board to improve the system, I am all ears. If the Deputy wants to send them to me, we will happily respond.
I raise the issue of home care hours being granted but not fulfilled in south Kildare. A constituent contacted my office to say she was granted a home care package four weeks ago but it has still not been fulfilled. The lady is relying on her husband who is over 70 years to care for her and her personal needs. This man has been diagnosed with cancer and is simply unable to continue. My office team and I are contacted regularly by older people who have been granted care that has not been fulfilled or where if a carer is out sick, the family must step up at short notice. When my office contacted the HSE and the Minister, the silence was palpable. Older people are struggling with many issues. It is time the Government stepped up and addressed the serious issues affecting them around care. Last week, I also raised an issue last week relating to the care for an elderly man. What is the Government going to do to tackle waiting lists for home care and provide the care these people deserve?
I want to acknowledge that we have a real problem finding home carers across the country at the moment. It is not a matter of money; it is a matter of finding staff and finding people willing to do the work. We have expanded the number of hours very considerably in recent years. We are taking two actions. One is a package of improvements to pay terms and conditions to encourage more people to become home carers and work in that field. The second is the issuing of work permits. In the past we did not issue work permits to people to come to Ireland from outside the EU to provide home care. That is now being done.
The Aperee nursing home group has more than 500 residents in ten homes around the country. There is a serious crisis in the management of finances of residents in these homes. The HSE and HIQA are acting on that. It appears money is being taken from residents and being demanded by entities outside the structure of the home, or companies outside of the home, which are getting their hands on these funds and using them. It is an appalling and unacceptable abuse. I appreciate that HIQA and An Garda Síochána are well aware of the issue.
There is also a serious issue with fire safety in a number of these homes. Since November 2021, there have been serious red-risk rated issues with some of these homes and this has not been dealt with. I ask that the Taoiseach and Minister for Health to have a meeting to get a resolution of the legal, financial and fire problems that relate to this group of homes.
I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue and I acknowledge once again his advocacy of older people in our society and his interest, in particular, in elder abuse. Deputy Michael Collins raised the matter of Aperee Living in Belgooly specifically earlier and I gave a comprehensive reply to him. As Deputy O’Dowd rightly pointed out, the company has a number of facilities around the country. The chief inspector of HIQA is very concerned about a number of issues, including governance and potential financial abuse, which is very serious and is being taken seriously.
HIQA has uncovered financial irregularities relating to residents' incomes in six of the nursing homes, so it is not just one and it is not sporadic. That is a matter of real concern. The Minister is very much across this issue. The chief inspector will use all the powers available to her to perform the necessary functions to investigate this and make sure it is stopped and any refunds that should take place do take place.
Educational assessments for children with learning difficulties is an area of concern. Many parents are forced to pay €1,200 to have their child assessed because the average school can only get one or two assessments through the National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS. It often falls on a school principal, and I was one myself and know all about it, who has to make the very difficult decision about which child in the school is top priority for an assessment. It does force parents to pay privately for assessments.
The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte raised this in May. I understand she said that parents would not have to pay for children’s assessments privately. I seek clarity on that. What is in place for those parents? Can parents be reimbursed and if so, how?
I know the Minister of State is prioritising this issue. In the context of her budget for next year, she is developing proposals for how we can reimburse parents who have no other option but to go privately. However, we need to get that right. We need to make sure there is adequate capacity in the private sector. We do not really have a clear read on that at the moment. There is some capacity but we do not know quite how much. We would have to make sure that any therapists were properly registered and supervised. It is something the Minister of State is pursuing at the moment and we hope we will have something in the service plan for next year.
Last month, I attended the 30th anniversary of Gaelscoil na Canóige in Clondalkin. It is a school I know very well. I was fortunate to have at least one of my children in the school for more than 20 years. For 30 years, the school has been operating in prefabs that are unsuitable. There has been a long campaign by parents, teachers and board members to get a new school building. Recently, there has been some movement on this but the school has had many false dawns in the past. I received a response to a parliamentary question that the Department is waiting on a tender report. Will the Taoiseach ask the Minister for Education when it will receive the tender report? Not knowing means it cannot make plans for the future. It is impossible to plan without a timeline. Thirty years in prefabs is 30 years too long.
We have a massive school building programme under way across the country. It is evident in my constituency and in Deputy Ward's but there is a lot more we need to do, especially in rapidly growing parts of the city and country, including Dublin West and Dublin Mid-West. I will make inquiries with the Minister on that project and get back to the Deputy with a more detailed reply.
We have a problem. There are 71,554 people waiting for a driving test nationally and 4,853 are waiting in County Kerry alone. The average waiting time for a test is 30 weeks. Killarney has the second highest in the State at 43 weeks and it is 32 weeks in Tralee. I am absolutely inundated with emails and phone calls from students, young people starting out, their parents, grandparents, aunties and uncles. These are people who want to work, to go to school or college and they need a licence. They need to get on the road. We need to give them a chance. It seems impossible to get on top of this list. Some Members might not be old enough to remember but there was a time, which I remember my late mother talking about, when there was an amnesty for drivers licences and people were literally given a driver's licence.
I am sure you were around yourself at the time.
No, I was not. I have been around a while but not that long.
Time is up anyway, Deputy. Thank you.
On a serious note, it is not just me. Each Member of the House has been inundated with this.
I am pleading with the Taoiseach. A Cheann Comhairle, you know it yourself. You have it in your constituency.
Time is up.
We need to get to the bottom of this and we need to get young people on the road with their drivers' licences.
We will get the Deputy an answer.
There has been a big increase in demand for driving tests. Some of that is related to a snap-back in demand since Covid but most of it is down to a rising population, more people working and more people driving to college and education as the Deputy pointed out in his contribution. I know from the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, that more driver testers have been hired. It is expected that once they are all up and running we will start to see that waiting list come down as it did for passports and work permits in the past. It is something we are actively working on. For reasons of road safety we do not have any plans to have an amnesty.
There is a lot of discussion of dysfunction in the housing system. There is also a certain dysfunction in the rental sector. I do not agree with an eviction ban. Obviously people should be helped, but if somebody is refusing to pay their rent or gaming the system a landlord should be able to remove them. There is a huge problem in people intentionally gaming the system. They go to the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB. There is a big delay in that. They appeal that to the board and then wait for court enforcement. It goes on for well over a year. Meanwhile someone is trying to pay a mortgage on a property and there is no summary procedure to remove somebody. On the other hand, landlords should be renting out properties that are fit for purpose and there should be inspections. It goes back to 2013 when I stood here and called for a proper inspection procedure. Things have improved in recent years. Threshold is calling for a mandatory system whereby a landlord is required to obtain a certificate from a local authority every four years. Will the Taoiseach cure either of those problems? They are both important matters.
I thank the Deputy. I definitely think the system needs to be more efficient. The RTB is very slow to deal with complaints, whether for a renter or a landlord. Of course decisions can only be enforced by the courts and that creates a further delay. We definitely need to improve the efficiency and resourcing of the RTB and that is happening. Then of course there is the appointment of more judges. We have been appointing a lot of judges in the last few months, which should hopefully speed up the courts process.
I think I have read that proposal from Threshold, that it would be like a national car test, NCT, for rental property with an inspection every three or four years. It is worthy of consideration. As is often the case with a good idea, there could be unintended consequences but it is definitely something I will speak to the Minister about.
I want to raise the very dangerous waiting lists under primary care for children in Roscommon and Galway, particularly those children waiting for psychology services. At the moment there are 769 children in Galway waiting for psychology services. Children on the high priority list, and I would imagine they are the most urgent of cases, are waiting for over one year to be seen. Those under a generic referral are waiting up to four years. We all know when a referral is made that the child needs to be seen now, not in four years' time. We can have all the surpluses, all of the money and a good economy. However, every child on these lists is being failed. What is the Government going to do in respect of the crisis in primary care? The Taoiseach has mentioned reimbursing parents who are forced to go private for assessments and access to therapies. Is that something that will be done?
I agree it is not about money or surpluses. It is not about money at all. It is about the ability to recruit and retain the skilled staff that we need and, second, making sure that referrals are appropriate. Often waiting lists are longest where waiting lists are not triaged properly. Appropriate referrals are very important too, and then also the use of new technologies and new systems. I know that some parents have no option but to go private. The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, has made a commitment to develop proposals on that. I do not know exactly what point they are at but it is something she is working on, to have criteria in place to refund or at least partially refund the cost of going privately if parents have no option but to do so. I know that is the case for some.
The N22 Farranfore to Killarney project is long awaited and long overdue. It is a vital project, not just for the alleviation of traffic within the Killarney town area but also for regional connectivity, connecting our county town of Tralee safely to County Cork. There has been great progress made on the N22 between Ballyvourney-Macroom and on to Cork city but that section of connection from Tralee to Killarney is badly in need of upgrade. There seems to be an ideological allergy to tarmacadam in certain parts of the Department of Transport at present. We need to see these vital projects built. We know they are needed for the future. Can we please get on with it and stop the messing around where these projects are being delayed? It is costing lives as well. These are dangerous roads at present.
We need to continue to invest in road access to and from County Kerry not just because it is such an important tourism county but also because it is increasingly attracting investment from overseas. There has been a lot of investment in recent years. I look forward to formally opening the Macroom Ballyvourney bypass in a few weeks' time which will improve access to Kerry considerably, and also we are keen to get progress on the Adare bypass very soon, which will be of benefit to people in Kerry as well. In terms of Farranfore, I think some additional funding is required to move that project along, which is important. That will form part of the capital ceilings. They are not in negotiation for the budget but they are ones we will have to look at in the next few weeks.
Bítear ag maíomh go minic maidir le tacaíocht an Rialtais agus tacaíocht an Stáit don Ghaeilge ach duine ar bith a dhéanann iarracht gnó a dhéanamh leis an Stát trí Ghaeilge, bíonn fadhbanna ollmhóire acu, go mór mór má tá siad ag iarraidh rud a dhéanamh ar líne. Tháinig sé chun solais inniu, mar shampla, nach féidir le múinteoirí clárú leis an gComhairle Mhúinteoireachta trí Ghaeilge i láthair na huaire nó le dhá bhliain anuas. Mar sainchuid den Straitéis 20 Bliain don Ghaeilge, 2010-2030, bhí soláthar ann go mbeadh fochoiste Comhaireachta agus an Taoiseach mar chathaoirleach air a stiúrfadh cúrsaí na Gaeilge sa tír seo agus a dhéanfadh cinnte go gcuirfí an straitéis i bhfeidhm agus go mbeadh cothrom na Féinne agus a gcearta ar fáil do Ghaeilgeoirí. An bhféadfadh an Taoiseach a rá liom an bhfuil sé i gceist fochoiste Comhaireachta a bhunú ar a mbeidh an Taoiseach mar chathaoirleach, mar a bhí geallta sa Straitéis 20 Bliain don Ghaeilge, 2010-2030?
Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as a cheist. Níl mé cinnte faoin bhfreagra ach cuirfidh mé ceist ar an Aire agus tiocfaidh mé ar ais chuig an Teachta.
I am sorry. I do not expect people to understand me in Irish but I do think they could do the courtesy they do in the European Parliament, and wear the earphones. What I asked was-----
The Deputy asked me about support for the Irish language and the Irish language strategy.
---- if it is the Taoiseach's intention to set up a Cabinet sub-committee on the Irish language as was promised in the 20-year strategy for the Irish language. That would not be a matter for the Minister, it would be a matter for the Taoiseach.
Tá sé soléir ón méad a bhí le rá ag an Taoiseach go mbeidh sé i dteagmháil leis an Teachta arís.
I am happy to come back. I am sorry, I did miss that part of the Deputy's question. We do not have a proposal at the moment to have any additional Cabinet sub-committees. The Cabinet sub-committees that we have tend to take groups of Departments rather than a sub-division of a Department. It is something we will give some thought to.