Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 17 Oct 2023

Vol. 1044 No. 1

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

Deputy Mary Lou McDonald

I hope the proposal arising from the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, will see health and social care workers in the community and voluntary sector achieve the pay parity they have demanded for so long.

The announcement of last week's budget was the moment the Government officially walked away from fixing healthcare. Last night I met organisations that deliver services to people with disabilities and they said the budget has failed these citizens. They feel left out. There was serious concern about the lack of clarity about whether they will receive stand-alone funding to tackle soaring operating costs. Last year, this funding was vital in allowing organisations to continue to provide services to people with disabilities. However, last night the Department confirmed to me that there will be no such stand-alone funding for 2024. There is a real fear that organisations will struggle to deliver the services many people depend on. How can the Taoiseach stand over this decision?

The Taoiseach

The budget for disability for next year, which has been transferred to the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, is €2.8 billion. It has been increased from €1.7 billion in 2017 so there has been a massive increase in budget in recent years. Of the €2.8 billion, €131 million will be allocated to ensure the full-year cost of additional services provided this year will be met and a further €64 million will be provided for new developments. The capital budget is also being increased by €23.7 million. There has been a considerable increase in the budget, on top of years of increases. The Department and the HSE will now engage with individual bodies to see how the money can best be spent. It is the case every year that no matter how much is allocated to any Department or agency, they would like the allocation to be higher and I understand that.

Deputy Ivana Bacik

At 3 a.m., at the eleventh hour, plans for indefinite strike action by section 39, section 56 and section 10 workers in the community and voluntary sector were called off, following a late agreement being reached at the WRC. Why did the Government let this go to the wire? In recent weeks, we have all been contacted by care staff, traumatised at the notion that people who rely on them will be left without a service. We have been contacted by many individuals and parents of children who need these services and have been scrambling to make alternative arrangements for today. It is not good enough that resolution was reached so late.

More than a year ago, my colleague, Deputy Duncan Smith, introduced a motion to this House, calling for someone in the Government to take ownership of the issue. We understand that union membership has increased fivefold in affected workplaces in recent weeks because people who work in the community and voluntary care sector feel they cannot trust or rely on the Government to treat them fairly. Will the Taoiseach do the right thing, rather than, once again, leaving staff and service users foundering until the last minute? Will he commit to ensuring pay parity with counterparts in the HSE will be reached for these heroic workers?

The Taoiseach

I am glad it was possible to come to an agreement in the WRC last night. The pay offer was an increase of 8% spread over time, with some of it to be backdated. Some people went to bed last night not knowing whether someone would be there to help them to get up in the morning and that was distressing for many people. Sadly, it is the nature of industrial relations that sometimes things can only be agreed at the last moment, often in the dead of night.

As the Deputy pointed out herself in her remarks, this dispute brewing over a period of time resulted in a fivefold increase in membership for unions. This is the nature of industrial relations unfortunately. Often things can only be agreed at the last moment. Had that same offer been made a week ago or two weeks ago, there is no guarantee it would have been accepted.

Deputy Cian O'Callaghan

The serious financial difficulties at the Peter McVerry Trust raise questions about the way the State outsources the provision of homeless services and accommodation to charities and private companies. Research published by Dr. Mary Murphy and others found that Housing First contracts were awarded to the lowest bidder at levels well below the cost of providing the service. Awarding contracts to the lowest bidder, even if that bid does not stack up financially, shows little or no regard for the homeless people who rely on these services, or for their welfare. Might awarding Housing First contracts to the Peter McVerry Trust at levels below what it cost to provide the service have contributed to the financial crisis the organisation faces?

The Taoiseach

I honestly do not know. Different people will have different stories about how the financial problems arose in the Peter McVerry Trust and it will have to be properly and fully investigated. Only when that is known will we know exactly what did or did not happen in that body. It is important that services continue and are not disrupted while investigations take place and while a new administration is put in place.

I am not involved in the awarding of any contracts, as the Deputy knows, but it is not a requirement that the contract always be awarded to the lowest bidder. That is not the case and a number of factors are taken into account. When it is not awarded to the lowest bidder there is a high risk of legal challenge so you need to be on relatively safe ground if you give it to a higher bidder.

Deputy Mick Barry

Indian healthcare assistants who work in the private nursing home sector travelled this morning from all over Ireland to gather at the gates of the Dáil to protest in support of the right to family reunification. In New Zealand, Australia and the UK, Indian healthcare workers have a right to bring their families with them but not here. The Government recruited 1,000 qualified Indian nurses as healthcare assistants to perform vital and stressful work in our health service. However they are paid at rates so low that they are not at the minimum level needed to apply for the right for their partners to be here, let alone their kids. It is a policy of organised cruelty, given the stress that they are under. It is not even possible to make a phone call home, given the time difference, to talk your kids at the end of a shift. The policy is being reviewed by the Departments of Justice and Enterprise, Trade and Employment. The workers' organisation has made a submission seeking: pay parity with the HSE; that they be covered by the critical skills permit; and that their spouse has the right to live and work here. Can the Taoiseach give us an update on those policy reviews?

The Taoiseach

I cannot do that but I will ask the line Minister to do so. We have provision for family reunification and it happens all of the time. However, it depends on the visa status, the time somebody has been in the State and his or her capacity to support any dependants he or she would bring over.

Deputy Peadar Tóibín

Five people have died on the roads just over the last weekend and 150 people have died on the roads this year. That is 35 more than this time last year and driver behaviour is radically disimproving. Information that Aontú has received from the Courts Service today shows that the number of people before the courts for dangerous driving has increased significantly, the number of people before the courts for drug driving has increased significantly and speeding is on the increase. However, this is of no surprise because we have also received information from the Department of Justice, which shows that the number of gardaí policing our roads has collapsed. The number of gardaí policing the roads is lower now than at any time in the past 14 years. It has decreased by 36% in the term of this Government. There is a direct correlation between the number of gardaí on the roads and driver behaviour. Does the Taoiseach agree that there is a direct correlation between the number of people being killed on the roads and the collapse in the number of gardaí?

The Taoiseach

I want to join with the Deputy in expressing my horror and devastation at the fact that so many people lost their lives on the roads this weekend. We have to turn the tide on the increase in road traffic accidents and collisions we have seen this year.

We have made so much progress for so long that it is terrible to see it going back in the wrong direction. The Deputy is right to say it is principally about driver behaviour but there are other factors at play as well. I am, strangely, a little encouraged to hear that more cases are coming through the courts and there are more prosecutions. I would have thought that with enforcement falling, fewer cases would be going to court. However, I agree that enforcement has fallen off and that needs to be improved. The number of gardaí dedicated to the road traffic corps is down on 2022 but is up on 2017. We have more gardaí dedicated to road safety than we had in 2017. We have extended the use of speed camera technology. I will be meeting the Garda Commissioner soon and this is one of the issues about which we will be talking.

Deputy Mattie McGrath

The Burncourt regional water scheme services almost 4,000 houses and businesses in Cahir town, Ballylooby, Clogheen, Burncourt and Ballyporeen. There was a great announcement six years ago when that scheme was opened at a cost of €15.3 million for it and the Fethard scheme. The two schemes were designed and built to operate. A boil water notice has been in place since July. It is a spanking new state-of-the-art scheme. Irish Water will be taking over the scheme from the operators who will hand it back in the next year. Irish Water is unable to provide clean water to households without a requirement to boil it. This has been going on since July. I was promised meetings with the regional manager in September. It is now after mid-October and that meeting has not taken place. Irish Water is utterly incompetent in managing these schemes and providing clean water. The people of those areas were trying to get that new scheme for 50 years before 2016. We thought then we would be trouble free. To think that boil water notices have been ongoing since July. That is happening in many other areas across the country. There is no accountability for Irish Water. It is a shocking situation.

The Taoiseach

I thank the Deputy. I am afraid I do not have details of those schemes to hand. I will ask the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, to come back directly to the Deputy.

Deputy Michael McNamara

Last week and during the weekend, there was a lot of talk about a certain Minister being thrown under a bus. I think that is misconceived. Ministers do not go near buses. They are driven around. People get thrown under buses, in particular the people of the mid-west. One in five of the people on trolleys across the country are in the mid-west. There are 104 today. The Taoiseach visited the mid-west and the hospital in Dooradoyle after becoming Taoiseach and I commended him on that. This House passed a motion calling for the expansion of the local injuries units in Nenagh, Ennis and St. John's Hospital to 24 hours per day, seven days per week. That has not happened. In fact, there has been no increase at all in the times they are open. I am aware of a constituent who got a small cut on his head at football training the other night. It had to be stitched. He had to go down to Limerick and join those queuing. What is going to be different for people in the mid-west this winter compared with last winter with regard to overcrowding? It is dangerous for patients and the staff who work there. What is going to be different?

The Taoiseach

I thank the Deputy. The health budget is always difficult and no matter how much is allocated, there are almost always overruns. That is the reality of the health budget. We will have to work on it across government in the coming months, in co-operation with the HSE. Let us be clear that the budget allocated to health next year is the biggest ever at €22.5 billion, which is over €4,000 for every man, woman and child in the State. The resources are there to hire an additional 2,000 staff on top of the staff who are there already. The emergency department action plan is fully funded, as is the waiting list action plan. I hope that will mean an improvement in conditions for people in the mid-west. There are roughly 100 fewer people on trolleys in the State today than was the case this day last year.

Deputy Jackie Cahill

Shannondoc has been revitalised in my constituency. It now has very little involvement from local GPs. We have two main centres in north Tipperary, in Thurles and Nenagh, and we have an excellent new primary care centre in Thurles. However, there seems to be an onus on reducing the hours in the Thurles centre. I urge the Taoiseach to use his influence with the HSE to ensure that Thurles and Nenagh have the same working hours for Shannondoc.

The Taoiseach

I thank the Deputy for raising the important issue of Shannondoc. I will make inquiries with the Minister for Health and the HSE and come back to the Deputy with a more detailed reply.

Deputy Steven Matthews

In last year's budget, we announced the roll out of solar panels on our schools. The growth in solar energy in this country is one of the renewable energy successes of this Government. We removed VAT and put in substantial grants. We have a good feed-in tariff and have removed the requirement for planning permission. In the budget, we expanded the tax disregard to €400 for that feed-in tariff. That really promotes the use of solar energy. I was delighted to hear that announcement last year but I am disappointed at the rate at which we have put solar panels on schools. I hope the House can be provided with an update on what progress we might see in the forthcoming year.

Minister for Education (Deputy Norma Foley)

I appreciate the Deputy raising this issue, which will be raised by others during oral questions. The Deputy is correct that the announcement was made for the 2023-24 school year. I am pleased to confirm that we will be launching the first phase of the programme in the coming weeks. A significant amount of work had to be undertaken and not just by our own Department. The scheme is being supported by the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications. A considerable body of work had to be done between the two Departments as to how best to roll out the scheme. I am pleased to be able to confirm to the Deputy that in the coming weeks, the first phase of the scheme will be launched.

Deputy Martin Kenny

I also raise the issue of road safety. We have had many tragedies on our roads in recent weeks, and particularly last weekend. It seems the Government's main effort is around reducing speed limits, which is something that certainly needs to be looked at. However, as a colleague raised earlier, enforcement is the problem. We have seen road policing numbers cut by one third. When I look at the Estimates the Government published last week and look at programme C, which is for road networks and road safety, I see a 10% cut. The budget is €150 million less than that provided for road safety last year. Many of these accidents are happening on minor roads where local authorities are looking for money to do work, remove bad bends and deal with dangerous junctions etc. They can never get enough money to do those things and yet, despite what the Taoiseach has said about the commitment of the Government to making roads safer, the budget has been cut by 10%. This needs to be examined again and that funding needs to be put in place to ensure we can keep the road safe for people to travel.

The Taoiseach

I thank the Deputy. It is important to say that the road safety budget comes largely from the Road Safety Authority, which is self-funding, so that money is not seen in the budget line. The fees charged by the Road Safety Authority covers its costs and funds the education campaigns and so on. The budget line to which the Deputy referred is principally for road maintenance and new roads and that funding is lower than it was last year. That funding depends on what projects are in the pipeline. When it comes to new projects, we are doing a national development plan, NDP, review at the moment and there is potential for an increase in that regard.

Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan

I raise once again the issue of rare diseases. I am fully aware of the budgetary pressures involving the Department of Health in recent weeks. However, I feel this is an issue that warrants raising again. I raised with the Taoiseach earlier this year that there was an underspend for 2022, particularly in the area of new drugs. I received a response to a parliamentary question to the effect that approximately €10 million was drawn down of the €30 million allocated for 2022. I am concerned that with this budget, we are now looking at no allocation for new drugs. There will be no new medicines budget, no implementation of the recommendations for newborn screening and no resourcing of the European reference networks, which are already understaffed. I would appreciate the Taoiseach's input.

The Taoiseach

I appreciate the Deputy's ongoing interest in this important matter. In most years, we allocate approximately €20 million or €30 million as part of a dedicated fund for new medicines. I am confident that we will be able to provide dedicated funding for new medicines in the service plan for 2024. The budget for medicines is €3.2 billion per year. Even savings of 1% would free up €32 million for new medicines. Listening to Professor Barry and others speaking about this matter in recent days, I believe they can be found. That is the work that now needs to be done in order that we can have a dedicated fund for new medicines, which we all agree we need.

Deputy Ciarán Cannon

This week, the Western Rail Trail campaign will present a petition of 26,000 signatures of voters in the western region to the Committee on Public Petitions and the Ombudsmen, advocating for the development of a greenway on the currently disused railway line between Athenry and Sligo. The serious fear among the members of that campaign and among the 26,000 who signed the petition, 9,000 of whom are in County Galway, is that the line on which we are advocating for the development of a greenway will remain decaying and will be bringing no benefit whatsoever to the western region as a whole.

We saw the recent publication of the all-island rail review, which sets out the development of some rail infrastructure on that line. We are saying that until that happens, it could and should be developed as a greenway. I ask the Taoiseach to engage with his colleague, the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, in particular, to advocate for exactly that to happen to safeguard this public infrastructure in public ownership until such time as it can be developed for a rail service.

The Taoiseach

Like Deputy Cannon, I am a big fan of greenways. They have been a huge success in the past couple of years, starting in County Mayo and then moving on to County Waterford and other places too. Most of them follow the route of old railway lines. I will certainly take that up with the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan. The Minister is very keen to see the western rail corridor extended northwards again. I am supportive of that too, but we know how long these projects take. I do not see that a greenway and new railway necessarily have to be mutually exclusive. It is important to preserve what is there.

Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh

I ask the Taoiseach to do the direct opposite with regard to the western rail corridor and the line from Claremorris to Collooney. I am a very big advocate of greenways, absolutely 100%, but there are many places we can have greenways. It is not everywhere we can have railways. The infrastructure of a railway both from Athenry to Claremorris and Claremorris to Collooney is absolutely vital to the Atlantic economic corridor and the development of the western seaboard. I ask that this line be protected and not used as a greenway but reopened and prepared for the western rail corridor to be developed up to Sligo and Collooney.

The Taoiseach

I will certainly take that on board. I know there are different views in the region as to what should be done. We will have to work out how long it will take to do these projects as well. Obviously, the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, is going to take the lead on this. I will certainly convey the remarks of both Deputies to him.

Deputy Catherine Murphy

Well in excess of €25 million has been spent on Castletown House and demesne in Celbridge since 2006. It attracted 957,000 people last year. The Office of Public Works, OPW, has assembled 227 acres over the years but recently, 235 acres was purchased at an auction in which the OPW was outbid. This included the M4 vehicular access and car park, which was leased by the OPW from 2007. The OPW was unable to negotiate a new lease. The only remaining vehicular access is through the historic gates, which can only accommodate one car at a time and then along the Lime Avenue, which has been pedestrianised since 2007. There has been huge negative reaction to this. I am seeking an update on what the Government is doing on this at the moment and how this might be overcome.

An Ceann Comhairle

I have three remaining questioners with 30 seconds each after which I will go to the Taoiseach if that is okay. I call Deputy Costello.

Deputy Patrick Costello

President von der Leyen has shown that her support for international law is less about the rule of law and more about whether she supports the victims or not. Uachtarán na hÉireann has been very strong on this in saying she does not speak for Ireland. Does the Taoiseach agree with the President? Will he raise at the extraordinary European Council meeting with President von der Leyen her blindness to the rights in international law of the Palestinians in Gaza?

An Ceann Comhairle

I thank the Deputy. Deputy Danny Healy-Rae has 30 seconds.

Deputy Danny Healy-Rae

Among other embargoes, Mr. Bernard Gloster is saying there will be an embargo on home help workers. We already have a shortage of home help workers in County Kerry. Many people qualify and get approved for home help, but the home help never arrives for whatever reason. We have a real shortage already.

The other point I wish to make concerns an 86-year-old woman who was not approved the other day for the fair deal scheme. She was told she was fit enough to live in her own home. She cannot get home help.

An Ceann Comhairle

I thank the Deputy.

Deputy Danny Healy-Rae

She is in and out of the hospital every second day-----

An Ceann Comhairle

Alright, Deputy, the time is up.

Deputy Danny Healy-Rae

And they will not approve her for the fair deal.

An Ceann Comhairle

I suggest that the Deputy table a parliamentary question on that.

Deputy Violet-Anne Wynne

A tax cut is no good to people when they live as far away as Loop Head and suffer a heart attack. They can only hope they will stay alive long enough for the ambulance to reach them. A wealth fund is little consolation to a cancer patient who has spent an entire weekend on a trolley in a corridor in the most overcrowded hospital in the country, the figure of which stands at 104 this morning. The Taoiseach said there has been a reduction of 100 nationally. That has had no impact on University Hospital Limerick, UHL. A tax credit is also no good to a suicidal person who has just been discharged from an accident and emergency department with no aftercare and who feels like they have absolutely no hope.

An Ceann Comhairle

I thank the Deputy.

Deputy Violet-Anne Wynne

Shame on this Government for failing-----

An Ceann Comhairle

I thank the Deputy.

Deputy Violet-Anne Wynne

-----to adequately provide access to healthcare for my constituents in County Clare, more than 2,200 of whom------

An Ceann Comhairle

Time is up, Deputy, please.

Deputy Violet-Anne Wynne

-----reported poor or very poor health in the recent census. More than 20% of my constituents have a disability. Shame on the Government for failing my constituents-----

An Ceann Comhairle

Deputy, please, the time is up.

Deputy Violet-Anne Wynne

-----and failing on the urgent emergency care plan. This is no country for young people, old people or rural people. What does the Taoiseach have to say to my constituents in County Clare?

The Taoiseach

With regard to the first question on Castletown House and grounds, I am aware of the situation and I have spoken to the Minister of State, Deputy Donovan, about it. Conversations are ongoing with the landowner. We are keen to resolve that if we can, but it is a negotiation.

I will say once again that I think President von der Leyen's remarks in more recent days have been more balanced and nuanced and have recognised the humanitarian crisis that is under way. The trebling of EU aid for Gaza is significant. The decision by one commissioner to suspend it did not last for long. She is also working very hard on trying to secure a humanitarian corridor into Gaza. We will talk about all those things this afternoon.

On home help, I will clarify that the HSE still has authorisation to hire more home help workers. It has not reached its number of home help workers yet. It is still free to recruit up to the approved number, but finding people has been the real problem.

To Deputy Wynne's questions, I set out earlier the really phenomenal increase in investment in healthcare that has occurred in recent years. That will continue with the biggest ever budget for next year and 2,000 extra staff-----

Deputy Mattie McGrath

It is wasted.

The Taoiseach

-----on top of the ones we already have.

Deputy Danny Healy-Rae

There needs to be an investigation into where it is going.