The Order of Business is No. 1, statements on the 2020 Strategy for the Irish Language, in a change to the original schedule, to be taken at 11.45 a.m. and conclude not later than 1 p.m., with the contributions of group spokespersons not to exceed eight minutes and those of all other Senators not to exceed five minutes and the Minister of State to be called on to reply not later than 12.50 p.m.; and No. 43, Private Members' business, motion No. 9, motion re energy policy, to be taken at 2.30 p.m. and conclude not later than 4.30 p.m.
Order of Business
I will try to behave myself today. I will retable that Adjournment matter following the break.
I refer to the need for a debate on the health service plan. I have raised a few instances of what is happening in the health service, as have many other colleagues. Last week the case of a seven year old with infantile scoliosos who had lost her medical card was brought to my attention. She is not entitled to a GP card and the HSE will not even pay for the back brace that she needs. That is what is happening on the ground. I respectfully ask the Leader again to do his best to get the Minister for Health into the House to outline what is happening in the health service and how services will be delivered this year and, in particular, to discuss the effects of the decisions being made on people such as this seven year old girl. She has lost her medical card, but her family cannot afford to pay for the brace that she needs. Her father had to pay €1,500 on his credit card for her. None of us wants to see this happen and I am certain none of the Government Members wants to see it either. However, the House is not sitting tomorrow. If the Minister was willing to do so, he would have come to the House before now. I, therefore, propose an amendment to the Order of Business, "That the Minister for Health come to the House to discuss the issue of medical card provision, particularly for children and those with long-term and serious illnesses." Thousands of medical cards have been withdrawn.
Does the Leader agree that it is unhelpful for the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government to try to undermine the work of the Committee of Public Accounts? All of us agree that Mr. Frank Flannery has many questions to answer and that the committee is the forum for him to do this and put his case. It is welcome that the Taoiseach and other members of the Government support the call that Mr. Flannery appear before the committee, but the Minister has stated the Chairman of the committee is acting politically-----
That was based on a radio broadcast.
Do Government colleagues agree that Mr. Flannery has questions to answer about his role as a lobbyist while working for Fine Gael as a strategist and in lobbying Fine Gael and Labour Party Ministers?
That should be left to the Committee of Public Accounts. We do not need to discuss the issue here.
Earlier we found out that he was being paid €60,000 a year as a retainer by Philanthropy Ireland to lobby the Government while working as the main man in the main Government party. Does the Leader believe he should appear before the Committee of Public Accounts and answer questions? The Chairman of the committee simply asked again that Mr. Flannery present himself to it. He or any other Chairman of the committee would be remiss not to do this. The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government has tried to undermine the work of the committee and muddy the waters by accusing an excellent Chairman who has shown himself to be independent and impartial, like the previous Chairman, former Deputy Bernard Allen. All those who served as Chairman of the committee were beyond reproach and took their job seriously. Does the Leader agree with the Minister that the Chairman of the committee is acting politically? Will he reaffirm the view that Mr. Flannery has questions to answer at the committee and should present himself to it?
I pay tribute to Christine Buckley whose death was announced yesterday for her courage and strength in raising the difficult issue of the abuse of children in State institutions. She fought her fight with dignity until the end. Our thoughts are with her family at this difficult time.
I welcome the Garda Inspectorate's reform proposals, about which I hope we will hear more later. It is reported that the penalty points system will be centralised and subject to regular audit. Anybody seeking to terminate penalty points will have do so in a clear and transparent way, which is welcome.
I welcome Mr. Frank Flannery's decision to resign from the various posts he held, including the chairmanship of the Forum on Philanthropy. He should appear before the Committee on Public Accounts, not least to answer questions about his board membership of TBG Learning and National Learning Network. He appears to have been a member of both boards which provide substantial training, which National Learning Network provides though SOLAS, the HSE and the Department of Social Protection. He was paid by TBG Learning through his own company, Laragh Consulting. There are wheels within wheels. Well done to him for resigning from these positions, but he should appear before the Committee of Public Accounts as soon as possible.
I seek a debate on the issue of inter-country adoption, a subject that has come up again and again. Rosita Boland wrote a personal account of her difficulties in this regard in last Saturday's edition of The Irish Times. Only 11 children were adopted under the post-Hague declaration between 2011 and 2013. Clearly, there is a problem. Will the Leader ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs to come to the House to discuss this issue? I acknowledge that she was in the House recently to take an Adjournment matter, but we should address this issue and have a debate with her on a system that clearly is clearly if there have only been 11 such adoptions in three years. It is causing considerable stress and heartache for the families concerned.
I note Senator Susan O'Keeffe's comments on penalty points. Will the Minister for Justice and Equality come to the House to debate the material that is coming to light, including the report that will be published later and the work of the Comptroller and Auditor General and the Garda Inspectorate? The problem the House highlighted, with which the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport agreed, was the categorisation of penalty points attributed to no licence. That seems to have been due to people, advisedly or otherwise, not bringing their licences with them to court which resulted in the penalty points not being applied to them. In 2012 approximately 40% of motorists avoided penalty points through this loophole. Between 2010 and 2012 a total of 84,000 people claimed they had no licence to ensure penalty points would not be applied. The number of penalty point offences increased from 235,000 to 319,000 during that period. We, therefore, need to close that loophole. When the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport was in the House, he said this desperately needed to be done and that he was open to ideas. The fact that 84,000 motorists avoided penalty points in this way over two years and that almost 40% of drivers used this loophole to escape in 2012 means that all those interested in road safety should not allow it to remain for one minute longer.
We should leave matters that are properly dealt with by the Committee of Public Accounts to the committee and anyone called to appear before it should attend. We are all agreed on that point. I have not read the reports.
I was more worried about the Senator and Senator Marie-Louise O'Donnell.
As regards the comments made by others referred to by Senator Darragh O'Brien, we should desist from playing the man and not the ball and bringing others into it.
Will the Senator say that to the Minister for Justice and Equality and the Garda Commissioner?
I was not talking about that Minister. I have not read the comments to which Senator Darragh O'Brien refers.
I welcome yesterday's announcement by the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, of a two year home building initiative, under which €68 million will be spent nationwide on new social housing. That is a most important initiative, given the demand for such housing. Increasing supply is a key priority for the Government which it intends to address. The initiative is greatly welcome. The Government is providing 5,000 new social housing units per annum through a variety of means, including leasing and securing NAMA units.
All of that work is to be greatly welcomed and I wish the Minister of State the very best with it. I am delighted to read this morning about the allocations she has made to the various local authorities throughout the country.
What about what the Fine Gael did to Mr. Flannery?
I am talking about social housing.
I second the amendment proposed to the Order of Business by my colleague, Senator Darragh O’Brien.
I am not familiar with it.
I am deeply concerned about a Dutch super trawler which is six times longer than this room which is approximately 24 m long; it is one of the biggest super trawlers ever to fish in Irish waters and concerns about it have been raised nationally and elsewhere in Europe. A former Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority, SFPA, officer is deeply concerned about the damage it can do to Irish stock. Conservation groups are also concerned about the damage it can do to whale and dolphin numbers because it can hoover everything up. I question its entitlement to fish in Irish waters. Apparently, it has a certain quota as a result of swapping a quota with Lithuania. It is grossly unfair, at a time when our fishermen have been starved of a quota, that a quota swap with Lithuania enables a super-trawler which was banished from Australian waters because of the damage it had done to fish in our waters. I sometimes preach ad nauseam about the difficulties facing Irish inshore fishermen. Will the Leader convey my deep concerns to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine and ask him to send a naval officer, with a SFPA officer to board the vessel, as such officers are entitled to do under the Sea-Fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction Act 2006, to monitor what is happening? This is critical to give some level of comfort to hard-pressed Irish fishermen who have little, if any, quota. It is a factory ship on which fish is chopped up, frozen or canned and the vessel can hoover up more fish in one week than the entire whitefish fleet in an area stretching from Rosaveel to Castletownbeare and Dunmore East and beyond. Such vessels should be banned outright. The sooner we get this vessel out of Irish waters the happier I will be.
I welcome the news that AIB has written €150,000 off the loan on a family home of €400,000 for a family of four, which enables it to stay in it. The deal was negotiated by the Irish Mortgage Holders Organisation. This is a very positive step in dealing with the issue of mortgage arrears. This type of service should, however, be available to all borrowers, not just those whose loans are with AIB or the EBS, and should be funded by the whole banking industry.
FLAC, Free Legal Aid Centres, has published a report entitled, Redressing the Imbalance, and one of its important recommendations is that the code of conduct on mortgage arrears has some serious deficiencies. The report raises very serious concerns about the Financial Services Ombudsman. It states that, although the Financial Services Ombudsman "will examine a failure by a lender to adhere to process, it feels unable to overturn the commercial decisions of lenders to declare a mortgage unsustainable or to offer what a borrower may believe is an unsuitable alternative repayment arrangement. These gaps in normal fair procedure rules leave consumers in mortgage arrears seriously exposed to the potential loss of their family homes in circumstances where such loss may not necessarily be objectively justified; hence it is a matter which requires the urgent attention not just of the Central Bank...". The Minister for Finance has said several times that it is not within his remit, but FLAC recommends that the Oireachtas objectively review the legislation establishing the Financial Services Ombudsman. Will the Leader as a matter of urgency bring this issue to the attention of the Government and arrange for the House to review the legislation which is not fit for purpose in defending mortgage holders?
It has never been my practice to call for heads because that is far too easy a political manoeuvre, but it is clear that it is time for the Garda Commissioner and the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Alan Shatter, to go, for the moral welfare and decency of political standards in this country. The Garda Commissioner described the two whistleblowers who have been completely vindicated as "disgusting" in their actions in the public forum of the Committee on Public Accounts. That was an outrageous thing for him to say. The former confidential recipient was heard on tape saying if one went against Shatter, “he will screw you.” We know that is true, as he released confidential information on “The Late Late Show”. Anybody who dared to speak the truth to power had a load of slurry dumped over him or her by that Minister. This is simply not acceptable. We cannot have this kind of corrupt government and it is particularly inappropriate for a Minister of Justice and Equality. The Minister is a clever man and, in many ways, a very good, reforming Minister and I pay tribute to these talents, but he is not an honourable man and someone who is not honourable should not be Minister for Justice. There are good people in every party, as I said when Fianna Fáil was on its knees. I say it now to my colleagues on the Government side. There is damn all difference between Fine Gael as a party and in government and Fianna Fáil at its worst.
On a point of order, it is totally inappropriate for a Member to cast a slur on a Minister who is not here to defend himself. Senator David Norris should have a little courage and do it when the Minister is in attendance.
The Senator should resume his seat.
Bring him in and I will be delighted to do it. I have no problem with it.
The Senator should not pontificate when the man is not here. He is absent.
The Senator should resume his seat.
I am perfectly entitled to make a political charge against a Minister who has been-----
It is a political charge-----
Will Senator Tom Sheahan, please, resume his seat? Does Senator Norris have a question for the Leader?
No; I do not have to have a question for the Leader. We discussed this issue yesterday. I have a few answers for the Leader, if the Cathaoirleach would like to hear them. We had a good example yesterday, with the clear indication that the Government did not have the slightest intention of reforming the House. It will tinker with the university panels in a most dishonest way. There will be 800,000 people electing six Members; 1,000 in the corrupt and rotten boroughs of the councils electing 43, while the Taoiseach will elect 11 on his own.
Does the Senator have a question for the Leader?
No, I do not have a question for him.
The Senator is over time.
I have a statement for the Leader and the House. This is in the tradition of the House and I have been here longer than the Cathaoirleach.
The Senator is over time.
It was perfectly clear yesterday that the Government was not going to do this, but we must insist on this House being totally reformed. It would be quite easy to do it, but it is against the selfish political interests of a corrupt Government.
On a point of order, I hope Senator David Norris did not mean to cast a slur on the integrity of the elected members of local authorities.
I second that.
Of course, I did not. The system is corrupt and one cannot blame people for operating it.
I share Senator Denis O’Donovan's concerns about fisheries and the large boat fishing off the coast. Small fishermen who have difficulty surviving and making a living contact us regularly. They are very worried when such large boats hoover up all of the fish. If there is anything we can do about this, we should.
I welcome the moneys made available by the Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brian Hayes, and the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Simon Coveney, to repair the damage done around the coast by the recent storms. I visited several farmers in north Sligo on Monday evening and saw the horrific damage done to farmland, some of which had been washed away. According to newspaper reports, 250 acres in total have been lost to the sea. There has also been serious damage caused to fences.
Would it be possible to get compensation for those farmers to help repair the fences and put the land back into productive use? It is welcome that it was clarified at an agriculture meeting last week that no penalties will arise for those farmers and they can consolidate their payments on the single farm payment and disadvantaged area payment. Much damage has been done. I visited a number of farms and would like to get compensation for those affected if that is possible.
I agree with Senator Darragh O'Brien's call for the Minister for Health to come to the House for a debate on many issues relating to the health service. We have still not had a proper debate on the national HSE service plan and the impact it will have on acute hospitals and primary care services across the State. The funding cuts which were put in place in the budget are only now being felt by hospitals and in the health service generally. One symptom of the problem concerns medical cards. Every day, Government and Opposition Members deal with the many people with discretionary medical cards who are losing them. Those concerned have very serious illnesses and they are traumatised by the fact that they may lose their medical card. In many cases they have received correspondence or were told on the telephone that their medical card was gone but they must wait weeks before they get written confirmation at which point they can appeal the decision. People are left in an awful position. The situation with medical cards is a mess and it is causing real trauma for those who have cards or those who need them. We need to have a discussion with the Minister for Health on the impact the budget cuts will have mainly on acute hospitals. The Leader might be aware that I held a public meeting last week in Waterford city on health care. A number of health care professionals, including a consultant who works in Waterford Regional Hospital and a GP who is based in Waterford, talked about their experience of the cutbacks in the health service and the impact they are having on patient care and the ability of the hospital to be able to provide the level of service the people in Waterford and the south-east region need. Health care is important to all of us. I ask the Leader to arrange for the Minister for Health to come into the House as soon as possible to have such a debate.
It is opportune in the light of the recent flooding and storm damage that the Seanad should debate insurance cover. We are all aware from interaction with people on a daily basis that significant issues remain in terms of the impossibility of insuring homes and businesses which were affected by flooding. The insurance federation estimates that 2% - 40,000 to 50,000 homes and businesses - have flood exclusion provisions in their policies. Such exclusion is often as a result of homes being built in locations where they should never have been built. The perennial issue of one-off housing or developments being built on flood plains is one of which this House should not lose sight. The Taoiseach recently stated that building on flood plains is a thing of the past and the previous Government's inaction or culpability on the issue would not recur. I wholeheartedly agree with this.
While historical issues remain, there is a multiplicity of issues with housing developed in recent years. It would seem that there is some disconnect between the Government and the insurance industry in that regard. The Government has quickly moved to provide moneys for remedial work in light of recent damage. That is to be commended. The insurance industry generally has issues with the standard of work that is carried out to rectify the problems in the short term and it is not particularly involved in investment in future proofing flood defences. I am told that in a lot of cases the remedial work carried out is not acceptable to insurers and does not allow for a level of risk insurance in affected areas.
Is the Senator seeking a debate on the issue?
The IBA put together a good document.
There is a need for joined-up thinking in this area and there is also a need for a forum where present needs, future works and insurance risks could be discussed and matters resolved to benefit the population as a whole. I hope the Leader will facilitate such a debate.
I hope the Seanad will join me in wishing the Irish diaspora a very happy St. Patrick's Day. I am delighted that Ministers are travelling abroad, as I did in the past, to visit countries and spread the good word about Ireland. I hope they enjoy themselves as well. It is tough work.
The Senator was a trail-blazer in his day.
There is no doubt it is a tough job. St. Patrick's Day is very important and it is building up to being an extremely important day from a sales and marketing point of view for this country, which is why it is important that we send our wishes from the Seanad. I hope the Leader will add to this when he speaks. The new revitalised Seanad Éireann, having survived its abolition by the Taoiseach last year, sends its best wishes to the diaspora throughout the world and wishes it well. I hope that in time people who are abroad will be appointed by the Taoiseach to sit in this House to represent those abroad who have been forced out of this country through emigration.
It is also very disappointing that the United States of America has not appointed an ambassador as yet. I hope an appointment will be made by next Monday. Quite frankly, it is very insulting. We need an ambassador in the United States of America. There is no point in withdrawing our ambassador but it is a shame.
I compliment the work of Senators Mark Daly, Paschal Mooney and others who have been working with the 40 million Diaspora in the United States of America. Next Monday is a very important day. It is a day for celebration, enjoyment and fun. I hope you, a Chathaoirligh, will have a nice time in Castlebar.
I will be in Croke Park with Castlebar Mitchels.
Excellent. I wish you success and hope you pull it off.
Do not hold out much hope.
I have a mini-vested interest in this particular regard. There is so much red tape. Ireland is renowned for dancing - dancing at the crossroads, the comely maidens and athletic young men. Senator David Norris probably gave the details of Éamon De Valera's famous speech. The reality is that one cannot dance at the crossroads unless one has a licence. One has to apply for a licence to the courts in order to hold a dance. Give me a break in this day and age. If one is in contravention one will be fined £5 and one's licence might be revoked. The Army and An Garda Síochána - the Minister, Deputy Alan Shatter's people - are exempt from having a licence. The Minister can dance all night when he wants.
The Senator could go to the Dáil bar instead.
The law does not apply to public dancing in the recreation room managed or conducted under the authority of the Minister for Defence or the Commissioner of An Garda Síochána.
Is the Senator seeking a debate on the issue?
The Commissioner can have a dance up in the Phoenix Park-----
Is it in Rossport?
-----and he does not require a licence, but if we have a little dance in a public house in the west or at a crossroads, we have to have one.
Is the Senator seeking an exemption?
No. The Minister of State, Deputy Michael Ring, is the most practical person in the Government. He has been responsible for The Gathering.
The Senator is way over time.
I hope the Minister of State will bring about a situation where he will get rid of this rubbish. This is Ireland. In Spain or elsewhere one can dance where one wants to dance in any pub or anywhere else without having a stupid licence.
I sense a Michael Flatley moment coming on.
It is ridiculous one has to go to a District Court and advertise for dancing in Ireland. This country is renowned throughout the world as a country where we welcome dancing. I hope I have got the message across. Good luck to everybody on St. Patrick's Day.
I ask the Leader to arrange to have the Minister for Social Protection come to the House if that is possible. A case was highlighted to me recently about those who are unemployed who had worked in the construction industry. They have a safe pass certificate and if it is due to expire the Department does not pay for it to be renewed. People are being told by the social welfare office that if they get work then the Department will pay for the renewal of the safe pass certificate. I met several people who told me they are registered with agencies in order to get employment, but the first thing employers want is someone with a safe pass certificate. It is a case of the cart coming before the horse. The approach I suggest is more practical. I call on the Minister to resolve the difficulty. The situation is dependent on whom one meets in a social welfare office. I urge that the safe pass certificate would be made available to people who were in the construction industry who are now looking for work and that the cost would be covered by the Department because when one is on social welfare the cost of the certificate makes it unfeasible to renew it.
I ask the Leader to inquire about the workings of a new European health directive called the cross-border health care directive. It appears that Irish citizens will be eligible under new terms and conditions to access health care abroad and to have such health care paid for by the HSE.
Will the Leader raise this issue with the HSE and the Minister for Health? This is in the context of a young gentleman from Dublin who is currently in Germany accessing health care. I do not know the young man myself or his family, but the case was brought to my attention by a staff colleague in the Oireachtas, Mr. Noel Rock. The young man suffers with a severe brain injury and the treatment required is only available for three patients in Ireland, in Dún Laoghaire. The young man is now in Germany and undergoing treatment there, but he and his family are very disappointed that he cannot get treatment in Dublin due to a lack of resources. Will the Leader check whether it is possible he can get some assistance under the cross-border health care directive? This is not the treatment abroad scheme, but a new scheme that has been debated and approved by the European Commission recently.
I agree with all those who spoke in regard to the future work of the Committee of Public Accounts and hope and expect Mr. Flannery will come before and co-operate with the committee. Notwithstanding the harsh political climate in which we all now operate, it would be remiss of us not to acknowledge that during the years of service Mr. Flannery gave to Rehab, thousands of people benefited from the services provided by that group. It is appropriate and important to acknowledge this.
I join Senator Terry Leyden in extending our good wishes to the Irish throughout the world on St. Patrick's Day weekend. This is the last sitting of the House before St. Patrick's Day and it is appropriate that we wish Ministers embarking on the promotion of our country abroad all the best. Some 88 high level political meetings will take place, there will be 180 public diplomacy events and 70 focused industry events during the course of the next number of days.
I am also pleased that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Department of the Taoiseach issued an instruction that there will be no first class flights taken, no use of limousines by people abroad on business and that Ministers will use embassy accommodation where available. It is appropriate during these difficult economic times that everybody consciously watches the cost of their visits abroad. At the same time, this is the one real opportunity we have in the year to showcase Ireland, promote business and, I hope, attract tourists to the country.
I join Senator Paul Coghlan in welcoming the announcement made yesterday by the Minister of State, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, of the €68 million investment in local authority housing. I welcome in particular that €15 million of this will be made available to bring 500 local authority houses back into service. I have always been very critical of local authorities that have left houses idle for far too long, depriving people of a home. Those houses are often vandalised and are a source of antisocial behaviour. I very much welcome the announcement and hope local authorities take up their allocation quickly and bring these houses back into use as a matter of urgency, given the huge number of people on local authority waiting lists throughout the country.
I was not in the Chamber yesterday, but I commend Senator Terry Leyden for the trenchant manner in which he raised the issue of the now infamous Trichet letter to Brian Lenihan on the eve of the bailout, which clearly precipitated that bailout, no matter which Government was in office at the time. The Ombudsman made it quite clear she saw no valid reason for continuing to keep this letter secret from the public. I believe there can be no bank inquiry of any sort without this letter coming into the public domain. I would also like to hear from the Governor of the Central Bank, Mr. Honohan, in regard to this matter. I would like to know what level of involvement he had with the original letter. Did he see it and was he part of it and did it in any way inform the statement he made regarding the troika coming into the country? That statement was greatly welcomed at the time by the media, but it is now being looked at differently. I wonder now how helpful his intervention was at the time.
I have raised the matter of the procedures for assessing those claiming social welfare benefits on medical grounds, such as invalidity pension, previously. A response to a question raised in the Dáil recently revealed that over 70% of refusals are successfully appealed. This is a very high success rate on appeal and one can only imagine that the original examination codes must be very stringent. What instructions do medical personnel receive from the Department regarding these examinations? I do not cast aspersions on their professionalism, but what are the criteria under which they operate when there is such a high level of refusal, yet such a high level of successful appeals? Recently, a constituent of mine had been two and a half years waiting before being successfully awarded a pension on appeal. He was a self-employed man who worked hard all his life and never took a shilling from the State. Anybody would know he was entitled to an invalidity pension, but for two and a half years he was dragged through every sort of delaying procedure imaginable, until finally, after what was described to me by a professional appeals agents two years of anguish, he was successful. This is not good enough. This delay was a false saving for the Government, because this individual and many like him will receive their full entitlement, backdated to the original application date. I call for the Minister to come to the House to outline exactly what is going on.
Deputy Paul Bradford raised the issue of cross-border health care. As someone who was involved in this area at European level, I believe it is important the directive is transposed into Irish law. The directive has been passed for some time and the deadline for transposition into Irish law was October 2013. It is important the cross-border health care directive is transposed and I ask the Leader to urge the Minister to bring it forward. In the meantime, the treatment abroad fund should cover anyone who is unable to get a particular type of treatment here. That fund should provide the necessary support to someone who requires medical treatment. As someone who has benefited from cross-border health care, I am very much aware ofits importance. When people cannot get the health care they need here and it is available in another country, we should give them the financial support they require.
I also wish to the raise the issue of the HPAT exam for admission into medical schools. This is a disaster and there is significant controversy in regard to it in the press. There are serious issues with it and it is seen as another unnecessary expense imposed on parents and students. On the one hand, we have people sitting their leaving certificate exams, and on the other we now have them sitting the HPAT exam to get into medical school. If they do not pass the HPAT exam this year but pass it next year, does this mean they will be a better doctor? They will have studied the technique of passing the test rather than devoted themselves to studying medicine. I call on the Leader to invite the Minister for Education and Skills for a debate in the House on this issue. The HPAT exam was imposed unnecessarily. We already have criteria established based on the leaving certificate results. Why, then do we need this additional exam? People are paying money to study the technique of getting through it. This is a cost and expense that has been imposed on them and I have serious concerns about it. It is time to review the issue and the reason for it. There is no such exam for any other degree course and it should be re-examined.
To add to what Senator Colm Burke has said, it was also designed with the intention of reducing the number of women entering medical school - another shameful aspect.
I join my colleagues in wishing the various Ministers and delegations travelling all over the world for St. Patrick's Day the best of luck. I hope their trips will prove successful for the country.
On Monday I attended a public meeting organised by Monaghan Integrated Development Limited which was attended by over 250 people who were concerned about the future of independent local development companies and the Leader programme as a result of the passing of the Local Government Reform Bill, under which the Leader programme will be subsumed into the local community development committees of local authorities. The independent local development companies have been operating very successfully throughout the country and I am very familiar with the work they do in my county. A superb presentation was made by Monaghan Integrated Development Limited at the aforementioned meeting which showed the excellent work being carried out. In Cavan Breffni Integrated Development Limited does similar work. There is genuine concern that the work in which these companies are involved will be taken over by the local authorities and that, in many cases, it will be contracted out to for-profit organisations, thus depriving local communities of excellent services and programmes. We are all aware that the development committees are made up of volunteers from the community and voluntary sectors, representatives of various statutory agencies, as well as local elected representatives who have worked very well together. The system is working very well and I do not see a need to tinker with it. In that context, I ask the Leader to invite the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government to come to the House to discuss the issue before his proposals under the legislation come into effect. We must tease out all of these matters before a decision is taken. I know that the Minister is not a great man for engaging in consultation, but I plead with him to give this issue some time and tease it out fully before the sledgehammer falls.
I understand the Minister for Education and Science will be announcing details of the new schools building programme in the next few hours, if he has not done so already. I ask the Leader to determine whether the proposals for Dún Uí Neill Army barracks which were closed by the Government almost two years ago will be included in the Minister's plans.
I acknowledge the announcement this morning by the Minister of State at the Department of Finance with responsibility for the OPW, Deputy Brian Hayes, that an initial allocation of €19 million would be made available through his offices for flood defence works, following the damage caused in January and February this year. I am delighted that €8.7 million of the total will be made available to the people of County Clare, the shoreline of which was ravaged in the recent inclement weather. The money will go a significant way towards ensuring proper flood defence mechanisms are put in place on a long-term basis to ensure what we witnessed at the beginning of 2014 will not be seen again. The provision of this €8.7 million is a very important incremental step in protecting the coastline of County Clare. I welcome the allocation of this money, on top of the €17 million made available through the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government a couple of weeks ago. In total, we are looking at an investment of €25 million, about which the people of County Clare will be happy.
I concur with the comments of other speakers regarding St. Patrick's Day and those who will travel around the world to promote Ireland. This is also a good time to reflect on the plight of the 50,000 undocumented Irish living and working illegally in the United States of America. There have been many false dawns for them, with various representatives in the United States making significant strides forward only to take a number of steps back. The Taoiseach is travelling to Washington and I have no doubt that he will avail of the opportunity during his meeting with President Obama to speak about the need for a solution to the problem of the undocumented Irish in the United States. I call on all public representatives travelling to the United States, whether in a private or an official capacity, to use the unique opportunity afforded by the St. Patrick's Day celebrations to highlight the plight of the 50,000 undocumented Irish who cannot come home for funerals, weddings, christenings and so forth for fear of being deported. A family from my area who had been living and working in the Boston area for many years where they were well established were deported last year. I do not want to see any other Irish family who have made a home in the United States suffer the same fate. It is incumbent on us all to make an effort to support the 50,000 undocumented Irish in the United States and I hope we will soon see a pathway to their legalisation.
I support the comments of my colleague, Senator Diarmuid Wilson, on the alignment process and the restructuring of Leader companies under the provisions of the recently passed Local Government Reform Bill which will have a negative effect and create more, not less, bureaucracy. I tabled a motion on the issue on the Adjournment last night and during the debate the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government suggested it would reduce red tape and bureaucracy, but nothing could be further from the truth. There is a total lack of clarity. Funding is not available under the current Leader programme because it has all been spent. The Minister needs to roll up his sleeves to have this issue sorted out and allow projects that have applied for funding to receive it.
I refer to the proposed amendment to the Order of Business to discuss the HSE service plan. Before the last general election, Deputy James Reilly promised that if he became Minister for Health, he would roll out the BreastCheck programme to all women aged between 50 and 69 years. He has reneged on this promise for those women aged between 65 and 69 years. Under the HSE service plan for 2014, the BreastCheck service is not available to the women in question. It has been proved beyond doubt that the BreastCheck service saves lives, but the Government, in an attempt to save euros, has rolled back on its promise. We must have a debate on this issue. I, therefore, support Senator Daragh O'Brien's proposed amendment to the Order of Business in that regard.
The national parks play an important role in promoting our cultural heritage, history and tourist industry, but there is something very striking about the funding which goes to them. Of €1.184 million available this year 80% is going to Killarney National Park. I have nothing against that park, but-----
It is bigger than all of the others put together.
I am sure the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Jimmy Deenihan, knows Killarney National Park better than I do, but-----
That would have nothing to do with it.
The volume of traffic through the other national parks is equal to that in Killarney, but they are only receiving 20% of the allocation.
There are much smaller staff numbers in Glenveagh National Park.
Perhaps the Leader might invite the Minister to come to the House to give us an explanation for why Killarney National Park is receiving €913,000 this year-----
It is still not enough.
-----while Glenveagh National Park in my area is only receiving €142,000 and Connemara National Park, €13,000.
The Senator is way over time.
That is a disgrace. The Minister should spread the money around.
The Senator is not comparing like with like.
The House might be aware that I am rapporteur for the Joint Committee on Health and Children on the issue of suicide prevention. For the last year I have been undertaking a series of public consultation meetings with members of the general public who have been affected by or are interested in the issue of suicide. Tomorrow morning I will be submitting a discussion paper to the joint committee and a further round of consultations will include discussions with the National Suicide Research Foundation, the Central Statistics Office, the Coroners Society of Ireland and some of the voluntary organisations working in the area of suicide prevention.
I intend to circulate a copy of the paper to Members because I value their opinions. However, I will hold off in doing so until I receive the responses of the voluntary organisations at tomorrow's meeting. Will the Leader consider arranging a debate in the next few weeks on suicide prevention in the light of this paper? Every Member has a keen interest in the topic and I hope the Leader can organise at least a two hour debate on it in the coming weeks.
It is my pleasure to be associated with the good wishes to the Irish Diaspora. It is a tragedy for Ireland that so many young people are still emigrating every week. As my party’s spokesperson on employment, it is my pleasure that the company I co-founded and on the board of which I still sit, Lir Chocolates, won first prize for its Tesco Finest Easter egg and second prize for its Marks & Spencer Easter egg, beating 200 companies in Ireland and the United Kingdom.
Bravo; eggstraordinary.
The reason I started Lir Chocolates was to create employment, which is still my passion. I congratulate the company on creating more jobs in Navan, County Meath.
A Chathaoirligh, I am very appreciative of your patience in the past 12 months. This is only the third day since November 2012 on which my health has been restored.
My chocolates for Christmas were delicious.
There is one for everyone in the audience.
Obviously, the Cathaoirleach got chocolates that many of us did not get.
The Leader deserves them, too.
I assume there will be an Easter egg for everyone in the audience.
Senators Darragh O’Brien and David Cullinane called for a debate on the health service plan. I will try to get the Minister for Health, Deputy James Reilly, to attend the House to discuss that matter. The number of people with access to free medical care is the highest in the history of the State. Up to 43% of the people have access to care.
There is a difference between medical care and medical cards.
If the Senator allows me to finish, I will give him the information.
I know what it is like on the ground.
The Senator tends not to let other Members finish their points. Up to 43% of the population, 1,988,321, had access to free GP care at the end of 2013. A total of 1,863,984 people had full medical cards, while a further 124,337 had GP visit cards. In 2013 the Health Service Executive awarded an extra 100,000 medical cards, of which over 23,000 were on a discretionary basis. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Senator Darragh O’Brien.
We are not allowed to smoke in the House.
We cannot smoke here.
Let them eat chocolate.
Of course, smoking is not allowed in the House.
I have no intention on commenting on the spats between the two Deputies in Carlow and Kilkenny. The Taoiseach has stated Mr. Frank Flannery should give evidence before the Committee of Public Accounts, with which I agree.
Senator Susan O’Keeffe raised the matter of inter-country adoptions. The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs introduced emergency legislation before Christmas to deal with Russian adoptions. I will ask her to address again the problem raised by the Senator.
Senator Sean D. Barrett referred to the anomalies in the penalty points system, an issue which he also raised with the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Leo Varadkar, in the House. On 14 May last the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Alan Shatter, referred to the Garda Inspectorate the O’Mahony report and the Garda professional standards unit's report on the fixed charge notice issue. He provided for the inspectorate seven principles which he believed should inform the operation of the fixed charge processing system: there should be no question mark hanging over the integrity of the system and the application of penalty points; no individual should receive preferential treatment because of his or her perceived status, relationship or celebrity status; the law and any discretionary application must be administered fairly with compassion and common sense; no member of the Garda force should feel compelled by a person’s position, relationship or celebrity status to treat that person any more or less favourably than any other; there must be proper oversight of and transparency in the discretionary decision-making process and the applicable rules and procedures must be fully complied with; all statutory provisions, regulations, rules, protocols and procedures applicable to the termination of fixed charge notices must be readily available to all members of the Garda force and the circumstances, factors and procedures applicable to the termination of fixed charge notices should be detailed clearly on the Garda website for the information of members of the public; where application is made to terminate a fixed charge ticket, where possible and appropriate, material to support any application made should be sought, while understanding in some circumstances there may be no such material or such material may not be obtainable. That is how above board the Minister for Justice and Equality has been on the issue of the penalty points system. Everyone will support the seven points he raised with the Garda Inspectorate.
I totally reject Senator David Norris’s assertion that the Government is corrupt in any way, or that the Minister for Justice and Equality is corrupt. He is one of the best justice Ministers we have had in the past 30 years.
As good as Mr. Haughey and I mean that.
What about Deputies Clare Daly and Mick Wallace and the other people involved?
The Leader to continue, without interruption.
Senator Michael Mullins raised the issue of the €68 million allocation for new social housing announced by the Minister of State, Deputy Jan O’Sullivan. This is to be welcomed, in addition to the €15 million allocated for the refurbishment of local authority houses that are boarded up.
Senators Michael Comiskey and Denis O’Donovan raised the issue of a Dutch super trawler fishing in Irish waters. I agree that the conservation organisations are correct in outlining their concerns in this regard. Such ships should be banned from our waters, if at all possible. I will bring the matter to the attention of the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Simon Coveney.
Senator Aideen Hayden noted the write-off by AIB of €150,000 in one mortgage arrears case and that there were anomalies in the code of conduct that should be reviewed. I will bring this matter to the attention of the Minister for Finance.
Senator Michael Comiskey asked about moneys being made available to repair storm damage to farms in his area. Senator Hildegarde Naughton also raised the issue of insurance cover and storm damage, a matter also raised on the Adjournment by Senator Deirdre Clune. It is a valid point for businesses and properties damaged by storms and floods.
Senator Terry Leyden raised the issue of the appointment of the US ambassador to Ireland. It is regrettable that an ambassador has not been put in place to date, but that is a matter for the US President, Mr. Obama, to address. I hope it will be addressed in early course.
Senator Tom Sheahan raised the issue of people seeking work in the construction sector. I will bring the anomaly to which he referred to the attention of the relevant Minister.
Senators Paul Bradford and Colm Burke addressed the question of the cross-border health care directive. Senator Colm Burke says the directive has not yet been transposed into Irish law and that there is a treatment abroad fund. I will bring the matter to the attention of the relevant Minister, as requested by Senator Paul Bradford who also acknowledged the work of Mr. Flannery in building up Rehab and providing much-needed services in that organisation.
Senator Michael Mullins referred to the instructions issued to Ministers regarding travel. It is prudent for such instructions to be issued to Ministers when travelling abroad.
Senator Ned O'Sullivan raised a matter that had been mentioned by Senator Terry Leyden yesterday - the Trichet letter and its location - and said the letter should be published and made available in the public domain.
The Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, knows where it is. He has it.
I addressed that issue yesterday.
The Leader did not address it.
I queried why the previous Government had not put it in the public domain for people to examine.
Why is the Government not doing it?
The Leader is right; it should have been.
I agree with the Leader, but why will the Government not publish it?
I will share the concerns of the Minister for Finance with Senators-----
I do not think the Minister has the letter.
The Leader to continue, without interruption.
Will Senator Terry Leyden, please, let me respond? He had a very good innings. As he was dancing for a long time, will he let someone else respond?
I am sorry; I was trying to assist the Leader.
The Senator is out of step.
In the case of some 70% of appeals in respect of invalidity and disability payments the decisions have been overturned. I agree that the number is far too great and that the matter should be examined.
Good man.
I will ask the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Joan Burton, to come to the House to discuss it.
Senators Diarmuid Wilson and Brian Ó Domhnaill mentioned local development companies. I have the utmost confidence that local authorities will provide the best possible service. A one-stop shop is required in every local authority. If the local authorities are given the opportunity, they will do an excellent job. The matter was raised on the Adjournment yesterday and the Minister spoke about it. I cannot understand Senator Brian Ó Domhnaill raising a question on the Order of Business that he raised on the Adjournment yesterday.
He wants to have it answered.
I cannot understand that at all.
We have loads of time to talk about it because there is nothing else happening.
Senator Martin Conway referred to the initial allocation of €19 million in response to the recent flooding and mentioned that €8.7 million had been allocated to County Clare. That county was very badly hit and it is right that such an amount of money be allocated, in addition to the €17 million from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government.
I also note the Senator's point on the undocumented Irish, a point also made by other Senators. I am sure the Taoiseach will use the events of St. Patrick's Day, as he did last year, to highlight the plight of the undocumented Irish in the United States.
Senator Brian Ó Domhnaill spoke about the funding of national parks. We can have the Minister for Arts, Heritage and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Jimmy Deenihan, in the House to address the issues of heritage and national parks in early course.
Senator John Gilroy raised the very important issue of suicide prevention and referred to the paper he would present. We look forward to having a further debate on the issue.
We are all glad that Senator Mary White has been fully restored to good health and outlined the success of Lir Chocolates. I am sure the company will have a very successful Easter.
Will we be given two boxes this year?
Senator Darragh O'Brien has proposed an amendment to the Order of Business: "That a debate with the Minister for Health on the issue of medical cards for children, those with a long-term illness and the elderly be taken today." Is the amendment being pressed?
Amendment put:
The Seanad divided: Tá, 14; Níl, 23.
Tá
- Barrett, Sean D.
- Cullinane, David.
- Leyden, Terry.
- Mac Conghail, Fiach.
- Mooney, Paschal.
- Norris, David.
- Ó Domhnaill, Brian.
- Ó Murchú, Labhrás.
- O'Brien, Darragh.
- O'Donovan, Denis.
- O'Sullivan, Ned.
- Reilly, Kathryn.
- White, Mary M.
- Wilson, Diarmuid.
Níl
- Bacik, Ivana.
- Brennan, Terry.
- Burke, Colm.
- Clune, Deirdre.
- Coghlan, Eamonn.
- Coghlan, Paul.
- Comiskey, Michael.
- Conway, Martin.
- Cummins, Maurice.
- D'Arcy, Jim.
- D'Arcy, Michael.
- Gilroy, John.
- Hayden, Aideen.
- Henry, Imelda.
- Higgins, Lorraine.
- Keane, Cáit.
- Kelly, John.
- Mulcahy, Tony.
- Mullins, Michael.
- Naughton, Hildegarde.
- O'Keeffe, Susan.
- O'Neill, Pat.
- Sheahan, Tom.
Tellers: Tá, Senators Ned O'Sullivan and Diarmuid Wilson; Níl, Senators Paul Coghlan and Aideen Hayden.
Amendment declared lost.
Question, "That the Order of Business be agreed to," put and declared carried.
Sitting suspended at 11.45 a.m. and resumed at noon.