A freedom of information request that I received showed that 15,000 people applied for just 75 homes in Cork city in a seven-week period. That is an average of 200 families for every home that came on choice-based letting, CBL. In just one allocation, seven two-bedroom properties received 945 applications. The Tánaiste talks about the Government turning a corner but for the 938 families that were devastated when they did not get a home, that does not sound like anything. I will offer two other examples. There are ten houses in Carrignavar that Cork County Council wants to buy but Irish Water will not connect them. There are 24 homes in Knocknaheeny that have been under construction for five years. A total of 544 families got notices to quit in Cork in the first three months of this year. Despite this, the Tánaiste is telling us that we are turning a corner. What is the Government going to do for the people of Cork who are crying out for homes?
Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation
The Deputy must know that the Government has invested hugely in Knocknaheeny in terms of the regeneration programme, house building and education and it will continue to do so. Likewise, house building in Cork is strong. CBL is the methodology by which people want to choose a particular house in a given location. We have dramatically increased social house building and the Deputy should acknowledge this. In fairness to Deputy Eoin Ó Broin, notwithstanding his propaganda and polemic on "Morning Ireland" this morning, he did acknowledge that there had been a significant improvement in house building in the past two to three years. That has happened in Cork as well, but we need to build more housing and we need fewer objections.
It was 15,000 people, Tánaiste.
Today the Residential Tenancies Board index for the last quarter of 2023 has brought yet more grim news for those locked out of home ownership. It shows that new tenants are paying hundreds of euro more in rent than existing renters. This report is just another symptom of poor political choices on housing made by the Government. The decision not to pass the Labour Party's renters' rights Bill is one such decision. The lack of action on enforcing laws against rogue landlords is another. The unjustifiable delay in raising the home building targets is another poor decision, because we all know that supply is the answer. The Tánaiste said this himself earlier. The Labour councillor Marie Moloney spoke out this week about the fact that there are two people in their 90s and a dozen people in their 80s on the housing list in Killarney alone. This is the real human consequence of a failed housing policy. I will ask the Tánaiste three questions. Will the Government introduce stronger protections for renters? We have a Bill in place for that. Will the Government beef up enforcement for landlords who break rent pressure zone laws? Will the Government expedite publication of the revised housing targets?
You can only ask one question in this slot.
They are related.
I have already answered. There are enforcements. The RTB is taking action and has sanctioned landlords in respect of breaches. Some 77% of the breaches were in respect of the rent pressure zones. Supply is the key. People can pluck figures out of anywhere but real targets have to take in a number of factors. We know that this year we should be a position to build 33,000 or 34,000 houses. It could be in that range, which will exceed the target. One cannot simply say a year in advance that we will have 50,000 next year and wave a magic wand,-----
But ambition is needed.
-----which most political parties seem to be adept at doing this right now. We need to be real and be honest with people. Yes, we need to increase supply but unfortunately, I have seen very little policy on increasing supply from anybody in the Opposition.
Another diplomatic fiasco from this Government is splashed all over the front pages of the right-wing press in the UK today. According to The Daily Telegraph, Rishi Sunak is imploring the Irish Government not to set up checkpoints at the Irish Border. He is urging the Taoiseach to maintain an open Border. You could not make this stuff up. The Government's panicked, reactive and shambolic approach to migration is not just causing chaos and division in Irish society, it is a PR boom to the Tory party in its general election campaign. To his Parliamentary Party last night, the Tánaiste spoke of the need to improve communications and engagement on migration on all fronts. That is incredible, this far into the chaos. Every couple of months, the same promise about improving communication is made. Let me ask the Tánaiste a question. I want to be fair to him because it is very hard to communicate a plan for migration that very clearly does not exist. When the Tánaiste removes the smirk from his mouth can he answer the serious question? Sorry, Tánaiste, I am addressing you.
I am listening.
I am over here.
Debate is through the Chair, Deputy.
Yes, through the Chair. When is this shambolic Government going to get its act together and get a proper plan in place for migration because it is causing chaos for communities and provoking international incidents. Get it together.
I was amused by the Deputy's commentary. I apologise if he found that a bit disconcerting. You could not make it up really; a left-wing Deputy like himself invoking the right-wing Tory press to attack the Irish Government and the Deputy is taking The Daily Telegraph seriously. There are local elections today in Britain. The Deputy talks about a PR boom-----
Ah stop, go away. Who are you codding?
We will see by the end of the night whether it has been a PR boon or not. There is no one at any border. There are no checkpoints at the Border. I remember when I met a former British Prime Minister in my time as Taoiseach. There were blazing headlines across the British press, saying the frigates are going to France. Does anyone remember that headline? Can the Deputies not stand back and reflect a bit? Do not get taken in by The Daily Telegraph is my advice.
More standing back and reflecting.
Yesterday, Mr. Fintan Hourihan, chief executive of the Irish Dental Association told the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health that he found it profoundly worrying that a decision was made to cancel the building of a new dental school and dental hospital in Cork. A new dental school and hospital would bring a multiplicity of benefits. Number one, it would be a big improvement on the current dilapidated, 40-year old building on the CUH campus. Number two, it would increase capacity for treatment at a time of long and growing waiting lists. Uimhir a trí, it would increase capacity for more graduates at a time when they are badly needed. Number four, it would free up space at an increasingly crowded CUH campus. There is still an existing planning permission in place at a greenfield site in nearby Curraheen but it runs out in August. This underlines the need for urgent action. My question is-----
Time is up, Deputy.
Okay.
I am familiar with the issue. A number of bodies are involved in this. The Deputy mentioned the HSE and CUH. University College Cork has priorities in respect of a range of capital investments, involving the Cork University Business School, CUBS, building, the Tyndall National Institute and others, including the dental school. It is regrettable that given the prioritisation of the dental school and the work that has been done on it to date, that there has been a pull-back from it. The Government is open to seeing what can be done but within the overall capital allocations, there are very substantial projects on the agenda. The dental school has, unfortunately, fallen down the priority list. We will see what we can do in this regard.
This is about the fifth time I have brought this issue up. I am back to the passport and ID issue of members of the Garda identifying that they sign the passport application. I am back to the parent of a first-time applicant. The Passport Office is unable to get in touch with the garda who signed the application. The office has contacted the same Garda station four times. Surely at this stage even the Tánaiste can recognise that this is a vast waste of everybody's resources. The Passport Office is involved. It is a very labour-intensive exercise for An Garda Síochána, who do not have time to go out and do the 30 minutes traffic policing. They are answering the phone unnecessarily. They are identifying twice. In the modern day, we have to identify a system that alleviates this type of incident. I have asked the Tánaiste a number of times to devise a system where members of the Garda do not have to be contacted to verify that the person to whom they are giving the application is the person. Does the Tánaiste not understand me?
Is the Deputy suggesting taking the Garda out of the process of vetting passports? Is she suggesting that we take out the security dimension that is essential to passports?
What is the security dimension? Why would they contact a garda?
In a passport?
No, we cannot have a conversation about this. If you want to have a conversation, have it outside, but not in here. There is a question and an answer. Tánaiste, do we have an answer?
The Tánaiste does not understand the question.
Through the Chair, two or three years ago there was a lot of concern in the House about backlogs and delays in getting passports. The speed at which one can get passports today online is quite dramatic. It is tremendous all round. More staff have been recruited and we continue to do this. It is a good service and it is responding well. When there are individual problems it equally responds well when people make presentations.
Not for first-time applicants.
The real issue with passports is that we work with people and we can just get the procedures correct but there is always a security dimension. We have it in other debates in the House on other issues, where people are condemning the Government for the absence of security dimensions.
Disability services in south Tipperary are falling apart at the seams. I have raised the issue of the catastrophic vacancies in the CDNT teams. There is a large number of vacancies and children are suffering. They are waiting years for the most vital basic disability services. This is the case for all services for children. Scoil Aonghusa, Cashel, is full to the brim. Two mothers in Clonmel, Sabrina and Stephanie, are so frustrated they are organising a rally tomorrow at the Main Guard in Clonmel. Countless families have been waiting four, five and six years. Many people are worried because they cannot get school places in special schools or special units for September. It will be a worry all through the summer. They have no place to go. They might have to keep their children back in preschool for an extra year. It is very frustrating and irritating. We need the vacancies filled urgently.
There is an issue with disability services and CDNT teams. My view is that the progressing disability programme has not worked. The progressing disability policy was announced in 2013 and it simply has not worked and we need to change it. I have been working with the HSE and various education and equality bodies. Parents and children cannot wait any longer. This should not impede the provision of school places and, to be fair, the NCSE with the Department of Education have expanded classrooms, special classes and special schools. We need to make sure that every child gets a place next September. I will take it on board. If there are particular children I will go back to the Department of Education and we will see what we can do urgently to get places for children with special needs in the appropriate settings for them.
In March, the High Court struck down returns to the UK. The judgment states that in October 2021:
the UK authorities advised that the Applicant had been convicted on an offence [...] in the UK and was in consequence registered as a sex offender. It appears that this information had been redacted by reason of data protection concerns before being placed on [his] immigration file.
It also states:
an "alert" was subsequently created on the 14th of January, 2022 on Applicant A's file [...] on the Minister’s database. It seems that it was only on the 14th of December, 2023, that an official in the [...] Department noticed the "alert".
The judgment also stated:
it cannot be overlooked that information relating to Applicant A's conviction for a sexual offence was in the possession of the Minister's agents since October, 2021 without steps being taken to raise with Applicant A his obligations under Irish law to register as a sex offender[...]. I am troubled that this fact has not come to light sooner given the purpose of maintaining a sex offenders register as a safety and control measure in the public interest.
Does the Tánaiste have confidence in the Department of Justice and the stewardship of that Department?
I cannot talk about an individual case but from what I understand, the position in this particular case is that the person in question sought international protection in Ireland and inquiries identified he had previously been an applicant in the United Kingdom. Under the arrangement in place since 2020 the United Kingdom agreed to accept his return and also advised that he had been convicted of sexual assault in the United Kingdom and was subject to sex offender reporting requirements there.
Ireland initiated the inadmissibility provisions under the International Protection Act and this resulted in his being made the subject of a return order. At that point his lawyer challenged the determination in his case and this is what the High Court recently ruled on. It is now subject to appeal. As Deputy McNamara knows, the Government has published proposals to amend the underpinning legislation to address the issues identified by the court. These issues related to the underlying legislation and not the particulars of any individual's personal circumstances. Under Irish law a person convicted of certain offences in another jurisdiction is required to comply with Ireland's sex offender reporting requirements and the Garda has enforcement powers where they are breached. The case is being reviewed.
Do you have confidence in the Department?
The Minister for Justice has asked for a review of the case to be carried out.
Do you have confidence in the Department?
From what I have been presented with, it seems there has been a very serious lapse in regard to this case.
This is Harry Whelehan territory.
Thank you both. We cannot have further discussion.
I want to bring to the Tánaiste's attention the plight of 26 families who have purchased homes in Johnstown Demesne, Enfield, County Meath. It is a development by Westin Homes. In some cases deposits were paid in April 2023 and people were told the houses would be ready in August. Then they were told October, then December and then January. It is now more than one year since people paid deposits. Many of these families gave up their tenancies in private rental homes and have ended up with nowhere to live. These people are being treated very badly by the developer and Uisce Éireann.
The development is being held up by issues with the developer and Uisce Éireann regarding a road opening licence. I spoke to a senior engineer in Meath County Council last Monday week who told me the council was waiting on three things to issue the road opening licences. These were a risk assessment, a traffic management plan and a method statement from Uisce Éireann, and Meath County Council was hoping to have all of them by the end of that day. Almost two weeks later, Uisce Éireann has not sorted this out with Meath County Council. I have to say it is one of the most incompetent organisations I have ever dealt with. To be honest, it is a joke in a housing crisis. I ask that the Department intervenes to sort out this mess with Uisce Éireann as soon as possible and let it know the effect its incompetence is having on these families. It is a pure joke.
What the Deputy is presenting is ridiculous. It should be resolved between the two State agencies. The Deputy has said the county council and Uisce Éireann have an issue. They should sort it. With the greatest respect to everybody, there are people on the ground working with the two agencies. For God's sake would they go away and get it done. That is all I would say. I am not disagreeing with the Deputy.
Uisce Éireann is a joke in a housing crisis.
While the Deputy cannot be calling everyone a joke, this needs to be resolved.
We have a housing crisis.
I agree that it should be resolved. We need to be clear also that those responsible on the ground should do their job.
Yes.
I want to express concern about what was raised by Deputy McNamara. It is very serious and I hope it can be clarified at the earliest stage possible.
I want to raise the issue of buses. Hardly a week goes by without my office being contacted by several people for whom buses have disappeared. The buses never show up or they are extremely late.
Is there a Bermuda triangle down there in Cork?
At the minute it certainly does seem like that. I want to make very clear that it is not the responsibility of the drivers. What is happening fundamentally is that there is a shortage of drivers in Cork city. I would be very surprised if the Tánaiste's office is not getting the same calls.
Many routes are particularly badly affected, including the 14, the 203, which was the Tánaiste's father's route I believe, the 220 and the 208. Bus services had been improving for several years but over the past 12 months, things have gone significantly backwards. Will the Tánaiste work with the NTA and Bus Éireann to ensure the extra drivers are taken on and people are not left stranded waiting for 40 minutes or an hour for a bus that should arrive every 20 minutes. This is happening every morning and every night at present. It is no fault of the drivers but there are not enough of them.
I support absolutely the recruitment of further bus drivers. I believe the NTA is before the Committee of Public Accounts today and as much pressure as possible should be brought to bear. We are in a full employment era, which means many agencies have challenges with recruitment. Certainly we will be very supportive of this.
Last week, I was contacted by the parents of a girl with autism who lives in Skerries. They were one of 32 families in my area to receive the devastating news that their child will not have a place in the ASD unit in the Educate Together primary school in September. This morning, I spoke to the girl's mother and to say she is devastated is an understatement. She is heartbroken, the same as any parent, the same as me and the same as the Tánaiste. All she wants is for her child to be able to live her best life and to thrive. In order to be able to do this she needs a place in the ASD unit.
There is an urgent need to build the long-promised four additional ASD classes. Grant approval was given in 2019. Last October, the Minister for Education said that plans would be signed off shortly but we are still waiting. I need an update. Last week, 32 families were told there was no place for their child in the ASD unit in Skerries. What are they supposed to do now? Where are kids going to go in September? Will the Minister for Education look at what options are there for these devastated families? September will not be long coming and the kids really do need support. Their parents are absolutely devastated. I know this is the same as in many areas but 32 families got the news last week and to say they are devastated is an understatement.
The Deputy is saying there are four additional classes required in the school.
I will follow that up with the Minister for Education. It is very devastating news for parents. It creates a lot of anxiety when parents cannot be clear or certain that their child will get a place next September. We have worked hard to try to deal with that in the first two years of Government. We dealt with the backlog and got new schools and new classes. The NCSE has approved more classes. We have approved substantial funding for education build this year, so these situations should not be manifesting. I will talk to the Minister in respect of it.
Again I raise the issue of the continued use of the concept of parental alienation in family law, which has no basis in Irish law whatsoever, is in violation of the Constitution and the rights of the child and is continually abusing the rights of parents - mothers and fathers - and children, who are being psychologically damaged by the continued use of this. I ask that every effort be made. The Minister has promised this but it needs to be done now.
The Deputy is nothing if not relentless, anyway.
I commend the Deputy for raising this issue. We need to try to find a way now to resolve it and deal with it. It is a very serious issue. I have had presentations from people who have been victims of what the Deputy has outlined, which resulted in the loss of a child for a period by one of the parents. It is quite frightening that it happened. It needs perhaps the relevant Oireachtas committee, the Minister for Justice and the Minister for children collectively to examine it and see what can be done within the framework of the separation of powers. It is a very serious issue and I commend the Deputy's persistence in raising it.
This week, I met some Carlow fire and rescue members. Two of them are nearly 60 so they are going to have to retire. We have good news that there is legislation coming in to allow our firefighters to stay on until the age of 62, which is really welcome. If the legislation is enacted prior to 16 May 2024, Carlow County Council will abide by it but, if not, the firefighters will have to retire on 16 May. What can we do? Can there be a pause put in to allow our firefighters to stay on? They want to stay on. They are experienced firefighters who are winning awards and have mortgages and bills to pay. If we do not enact this legislation before 16 May 2024, our firefighters will have to retire at 60.
While we did announce our intention to do it, and legislation is being prepared and has been approved by Government, I cannot give the Deputy a guarantee that this is all going to be through both Houses between now and-----
It is two weeks.
They are due to retire on 16 May.
That is a tall order. Inevitably in situations like this, when we announce new departures and new legislation, there will always be those who will be outside of the enactment of that legislation.
I would say Deputy Murnane O'Connor would accept a dispensation for Carlow.
Absolutely.
It could be called the Carlow caveat or the Carlow clause.
Recently the Policing Authority produced its report, Oversight of Policing Response to Child Sexual Abuse 2023. To quote the report, "The area of interagency working is a key area where continuing challenges present." The report highlights the need for enhancing multi-agency collaboration at a strategic level and at an operational level. The most straightforward way of doing this is co-locating duty social workers from Tusla into Garda divisional protective services units, DPSUs. These units are rolled out across every Garda division and are working excellently. The secondment of duty social workers from Tusla to those units and that co-location will ensure that multi-agency collaboration is happening from the ground up in an organic way. The roll-out of the Barnahus model is welcome but it is not enough as it is limited to Dublin, Cork and Galway. This is an issue right across the country and we need to see a piloting of co-location of duty social workers in DPSUs.
I thank the Deputy for raising the issue in a constructive way with a proposal to deal with the issue. I could not agree more that multi-agency working is essential. One of the great problems and challenges in public services is the silo mentality and the absence of a genuine cross-agency and multiple agency co-operation approach. I will refer the matter to the Minister for Justice and the Minister for children to see if the Deputy's ideas can be activated.
I raise the fact that staff working in Citizens Information offices across the country have not had an improvement in pay and conditions since 2008, I think, and are not covered by any of the agreements in respect of section 38 and section 39 workers. The Department of Social Protection allocated annual Exchequer funding for Citizens Information Services last year. As part of the 2023 Estimates process, the Citizens Information Board made a submission in respect of 2024, which included a proposal to allocate additional funding of approximately 11% towards a future pay deal. That is with the Department of public expenditure, I believe. Will the Tánaiste give me an update on that process?
I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. It is important. Citizens Information offices are essential in terms of providing information to our citizens and have performed wonderfully over the years. The Deputy mentioned that an additional allocation was made to cover a pay deal this year. I will have to check with the Department of public expenditure and the Department of Social Protection, but I presume talks are on the way or there is a process in terms of arriving at a settlement. I will check that.
I raise the case of an 11-year-old constituent of mine who has been three years waiting for a psychologist appointment. That is over a quarter of her young life waiting for an essential service while she struggles every day at home and at school. The HSE ignored her parents' complaints so I escalated it to the regional manager. They wrote saying they will schedule an appointment for May. I asked for the day and time and received no reply, nothing. Now a parents' appointment has been offered, which the family did not want but will take because they are desperate. What is going on with the HSE? What planning is being done to address leave and professionals who are leaving? How much more suffering can this child be expected to endure?
If the child is being referred for primary care psychology, that falls under my remit. If the case is more severe, it might fall under the remit of the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, in terms of the children's disability networks.
It is primary care.
If it is in my remit - it is mild to moderate and a primary care referral - will the Deputy send me on the details? I will look into it and revert to the Deputy with a note.
Drogheda is the largest town in Ireland with 40,000 people living in the town and at least 40,000 more living in the surrounding area. We have no driving test centre. We need the Minister to get onto the Road Safety Authority to do its job because so far it is neglecting our town. There are 41 driving test centres around the country. Some are in GAA clubs and hotels. There is even one in Mallow race course, I think. Why can we not have one in Drogheda? It is not good enough. The RSA has looked at ten sites and turned them all down. I have sent it additional sites which it did not list in a reply to a parliamentary question. The RSA is not doing its job. People are angry. I presume the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, is the line Minister. It is time he visited Drogheda. We have an election on as we all know, and the people are angry. We have lost our hotel. We cannot get a driving test centre. What are you going to do for us? You will not get votes if you do not. It is as simple as that.
The Deputy is getting more bellicose as the elections are getting closer. Deputy Chambers is a fine Minister of State.
He is of course.
The Deputy seemed to indicate to me that there is a commitment to do it, if various sites have been looked at.
There is reluctance.
I am surmising that what the Deputy is saying is that sites are being rejected because there is no commitment to provide.
Exactly.
I will revert to the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers. Drogheda is a large town of 40,000 people. It is a fine town with great history and great heritage. It is an important resource for people.
I also raise the issue of ASD classes. In our area, thanks to principals and a really good SENO, we have managed to open 19 ASD classes at primary school level over the last number of years. We need to do more to predict what will happen at second level as well. There is one school that has been waiting for nearly two years to open two ASD classes. It wants to do that. It is Sacred Heart Boys' National School on St. Canice's Road, roll No. 04992R. I have had very unsatisfactory responses to parliamentary questions and I ask the Tánaiste if he could intervene to do what he can. The school is willing to open ASD classes. We know there is a need in the area. If we could give the go-ahead, the school would be very willing to provide the type of service we are asking for. Many schools in the area are not accepting that responsibility.
I appreciate the constructive approach the Deputy has taken in terms of working with school principals and schools in the area to bring about an increase - 19, he said - in the number of classes. In the context of Sacred Heart, I will certainly intervene with the Minister to see if the needs of that school in terms of two ASD classes can be provided for.