I welcome the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Alex White, to the House.
Commencement Matters
Cyberbullying Issues
I raise this matter on the Commencement of the House today to call for the creation of a single body to lead the charge against cyberbullying, work on awareness and establish an educational campaign on the issue. Currently, eight Government bodies are involved in tackling the issue of cyberbullying, including the Department of Education and Skills, the Department of Justice and Equality, the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, the Office of Internet Safety, the Data Protection Commissioner, the Commission for Communications Regulation and the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland. Such a broad arrangement is not conducive the to type of urgent and dedicated attention required to deal effectively with the issue of cyberbullying. A cyberbullying task force would also act as an invaluable source of support, training and knowledge sharing.
As has so often been reported, teachers, parents and young people throughout the country are struggling to deal with issues related to cyberbullying and are crying out for additional supports. A cyberbullying task force would provide desperately needed tools of empowerment and education to enable citizens to navigate online environments safely and confidently without any fear. There is no doubt about the many freedoms and benefits we enjoy in the Internet age, but cyberbullying detracts from these and causes a great deal of hurt and distress that has very real effects on people and their lives. It is time for us as a Government to mobilise against such behaviour and to render cyberbullying as unacceptable as bullying in the offline world. By establishing a dedicated cyberbullying task force and implementing the kind of legislation the former Minister, Deputy Pat Rabbitte, and I have proposed, the Government would send a strong message of support to those in need and a clear message of intent to those who offend.
We have seen the wonderful work that agencies like the Road Safety Authority have done to curb road traffic accidents and fatalities. Given that cyberbullying is ageless and the biggest issue confronting generations of online users, we ought to be as proactive as possible when dealing with it. With that in mind, I ask the Minister to consider earnestly my submission.
I thank Senator Lorraine Higgins for raising this matter. The pervasive use of social media together with the rise of connected mobile devices has created a new and unique set of challenges for individuals and Government. The issues are complex. The Internet is difficult to regulate and a balance must be struck between preserving freedom of expression online and protecting all our citizens from cyberbullying and harmful and grossly offensive content, particularly, but not exclusively, children.
All governments across the world are grappling with the challenge of finding an appropriate model for the governance of online content. A cohesive Government response to this issue is necessary to achieve a safe and healthy online environment, which allows us to enjoy the many benefits of the Internet without exposure to unacceptable behaviour or risk.
Aspects of the legal and administrative system have adapted to the issues posed by electronic communications, and work has also been undertaken at European Union level. The European Digital Single Market promises to bring new standards of accountability to the online world and provide greater powers for individual citizens to respond to online wrongs. Here in Ireland, the Government established the Internet content governance advisory group in late 2013 to provide independent, expert advice on these matters. The ICGAG's comprehensive analysis and recommendations were brought to Cabinet and published last June. The ICGAG's recommendations have formed the basis of subsequent action, including the establishment of a cross-departmental group that is considering how best to implement the recommendations.
This cross-departmental group is chaired by an official from my Department, and includes representatives from the Departments of Health, Justice and Equality, Children and Youth Affairs, and Education and Skills. The group is also taking account of the issues identified by the Law Reform Commission in its issues paper on cybercrime affecting personal safety and privacy, including cyberbullying. The group will report back to Government shortly and the final report will be published in due course. I look forward to having a debate in this House on that report to see how best we can move this agenda forward at that stage.
I agree with the Senator that the issue of cyberbullying would be best addressed in this context if only because the distinction between cyberbullying and other forms of undesirable online behaviour is unclear. I understand the Senator listed eight Government bodies including a number of Departments that have an involvement in the area. While it would be desirable and essential to have a coherent response, it is inevitable that different bodies will still have some responsibility over this area. For example, for broadcasting the regulator is the BAI; the criminal dimension is the responsibility of the Department of Justice and Equality, and the Garda Síochána; the Data Protection Commissioner's responsibilities are set out in legislation and so on. That said, I have considerable sympathy with the Senator, whose work in the area is well acknowledged, in saying that the response must be coherent, pulling together all the strands of Government activity both within Government and through agencies. I look forward to discussing how best to achieve that when I bring a report to Government following the cross-departmental group's analysis of the ICGAG report.
I thank the Minister for his response. I accept that cyberbullying issues will always straddle various Departments. However, I am suggesting having one dedicated task force.
While enacting law in the area is one thing, it is essential to have awareness and education. I recently spoke to a number of teenagers at an event. They did not have a clue as to whether they were cyberbullying and it took a long time to get that point through to them. The number of gardaí, students, teachers and parents, who have contacted me since I came out and spoke publicly about my experience, proves that this is a very serious issue. At least three young people have told me they are self-harming as a consequence of the online bullying in their lives. With due respect, the issue needs to be addressed with urgency. The Department needs to act as swiftly as possible as soon as the report from the cross-departmental group becomes available.
I do not disagree with the Senator. We need to find the most appropriate instruments, which requires consideration and care as to how we proceed. I can always understand frustration over the time it can take for decisions to be made. I again draw the Senator's attention to the extensive recommendations in the ICGAG report, which is a very strong report in many respects. It requires me to pull together activity in different Departments to ensure the cohesive approach the Senator correctly advocates. I look forward to returning to the issue in this House with the Senator at some point in the not too distant future.
Mental Health Services Provision
I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Kevin Humphreys, to the House.
I thank the Cathaoirleach for taking this motion today. While I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Kevin Humphreys, I am very disappointed that the Minister of State with responsibility for this sector, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, is not here today. It would nearly encourage me to postpone the issue completely. As a former Minister of State, I took many Adjournment motions in the Dáil and Seanad and I appreciate that people can be out of the country. I hope we will get a vehicle to raise this vital matter again.
The matter is the future of services for people in Roscommon who are suffering psychiatric problems. The Rosalie unit in Castlerea which accommodates people with psychiatry of older life issues is threatened and the future of the high support hostel at Knockroe, Castlerea is unclear. Staffing levels at the acute psychiatric unit remain a concern for staff. The issue has been raised by Councillor Paschal Fitzmaurice in Castlerea and Councillor Orla Leyden. Both have campaigned very strongly on the issue and have made very coherent arguments.
Councillor Fitzmaurice has criticised particularly the HSE's plans to close the unit in Castlerea and many community mental health facilities in Counties Roscommon and Galway. The plans by the Government and the HSE to evict these voiceless and vulnerable people from the Rosalie unit are a disgrace. With many people voicing opposition to this closure including nurses and doctors the Government must listen to the people of the county. I agree totally with Councillor Fitzmaurice in that regard. He has submitted very detailed documentation outlining what is happening on the ground in Roscommon.
Councillor Orla Leyden has also issued a statement in this regard and has attended meetings with the programme directors in Roscommon, but has not got any satisfactory response. She said that over the last year, bit-by-bit psychiatric services in the area are being pulled apart. The Minister of State at the Department of Health with special responsibility for primary care, social care, disabilities and older people, and mental health, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, needs to explain why the Government is continuing to tear apart psychiatric services in County Roscommon where day-care services are being dismantled and are under threat.
The Rosalie unit in Castlerea which accommodates people with psychiatry of older life issues is threatened and the future of the high support hostel at Knockroe, Castlerea is unclear. Staffing levels at the acute psychiatric unit remain a concern for staff. That unit was opened when the Government closed the large psychiatric unit in Castlerea, which is now a prison. The service was provided in a hotel that was bought at the time. It has served very effectively since and many extensions have been added on.
The Roscommon People recently carried a report about one of the Minister of State's colleagues. It stated:
Senator John Kelly has threatened to quit the Labour Party over the crisis in mental health services in County Roscommon.
The Ballaghaderreen man's shock declaration follows a "stormy" meeting he had with Junior Health Minister Kathleen Lynch, his party colleague, last Thursday, over his concerns about local psychiatric services.
Senator Kelly did not resign when the accident and emergency unit in Roscommon closed, which the former Tánaiste, Deputy Gilmore, had pledged to retain. I would prefer Senator Kelly to continue on and do something about the issue within the Labour Party instead of taking the easy option of opting out.
The Senator should stick to the matter.
It is part of the matter under consideration. That is why I was particularly anxious for the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, to be here to respond to the questions allegedly raised with her by Senator Kelly.
It would be preferable for a member of the Labour Party to stay within the Labour Party and fight for services instead of opting out, taking the easy option and fighting from the sidelines. He or she could fight from within the parliamentary party and try to get the results the people of Roscommon want.
The Senator is making political charges that have nothing to do with the issue.
I am taking this today on behalf of my colleague the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, who sends her apologies and very much regrets she cannot attend to take the Commencement Matter.
Despite severe financial pressures we have provided significant additional funding of €125 million since 2012 to enable the HSE to implement the long overdue modernisation of our mental health services, in line with A Vision for Change. Similar to elsewhere, Galway-Roscommon mental health services are committed to full implementation of A Vision for Change. The HSE appointed an expert group to review local community mental health services. The group's report was published in June 2014 and focused on residential care settings and resources across both counties. The key goal was to make recommendations that would ensure service users can maximise their full potential and improve the quality of their lives.
The HSE in the Galway-Roscommon administrative area provides an inpatient and community mental health service for a population of 314,000. They are at an advanced stage in the implementation of A Vision for Change and have already moved into population sectors of 50,000, appointed team co-ordinators and developed an overarching clinical governance model. The area has six general adult team sectors, which are clinically led by two consultant psychiatrists, and a multi-disciplinary team as highlighted in A Vision for Change. Each sector has its own unique service needs based on identified population, age groups, culture or other factors. There are 12 consultant general adult psychiatrists across the two counties, which again is in line with A Vision for Change.
Recent initiatives include the development of a psychiatry of later life team, the provision of an intensive home treatment team for Roscommon and the opening of an adolescent day hospital for the region. Galway-Roscommon mental health services have also been successful in securing significant additional new staff posts through development funding since 2012, of which the bulk are now in place and the remaining posts well advanced through recruitment. These include additional consultants in the areas of general adult community mental health teams, psychiatry of later life teams and rehabilitation and recovery teams. Allied staff include occupational therapists, community mental health nurses and social workers.
Key to modernising services in line with current and future demand and best international practice is reorientation from a hospital and bed-based focus to developing structures and processes required for enhanced community based provision. Any decisions in respect of the individual services highlighted by the Senator can only be addressed in the context of the wider ongoing service change I have outlined. It is worth noting also, as indicated on several occasions recently by the Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, that HSE West has, overall, a higher per capita investment in mental health than the national average.
Every effort has been, and will continue to be, made to achieve change on a partnership basis, involving many different stakeholders on a national or local level and taking into account all genuine concerns relating to best operational practice. Above all, the changes being implemented, which are so essential to mental health services, are keeping to the fore the best interests of the service user, particularly in terms of improved avenues for early intervention and recovery. The Government will continue with the policy of modernising our mental health services with a view to providing the best possible service for those who need it.
The Minister has not responded to any of the questions put forward by me or Councillors Fitzmaurice and Leyden. Senator Kelly should consider his position in light of this reply but I hope we get the opportunity to have a more detailed debate with the Minister in this House in the near future. We may also rely on requests under freedom of information or other sources to get information from this Government.
The Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, is not carrying out her responsibilities to the people of the west and she is washing her hands of this particular issue. I am disgusted with the response and disappointed with the way this matter is being dealt with. The voiceless people who are being supposedly cared for are being neglected and thrown out in society without any support whatsoever. It is a blight on this Government and we are not finished with this yet.
I do not accept the Senator's last comments. I do not know whether he supports the policy of A Vision for Change but this Government does and is implementing it. It has put in over €125 million since 2012 and additional investments-----
It is not the vision for change that was envisaged.
The Senator either supports A Vision for Change or he does not.
The Government does not support it.
He does not accept the additional €125 million that has been invested in the mental health sector since 2012. I support A Vision for Change. There has been a large investment in mental health services in the west, as indicated in the Minister of State's statement today, and I look forward to the implementation of A Vision for Change.
School Transport Provision
I welcome the Minister to the House. My topic relates to school transport and the situation facing one particular family in County Cavan. The family had applied online for school transport and were told they were eligible for it. They got their school tickets and the children were initially picked up by a bus. However, they then received notification that although they were eligible for school transport no school transport service was currently available to take them to school. They were then told that they would be able to receive the remote area grant towards the cost of private school transport arrangements.
The reason I raise this matter is to try to find a way around this problem, particularly in view of the fact that the contractor who had initially picked up the children does not see a problem in diverting the route to pick them up. Given that the family were eligible for school transport when a bus service was available, is there some flexibility over this matter? It is an issue that has come up in a number of rural areas.
Parents are calling for the route to be changed to allow some type of pick-up to take place. They say the pick-up options that were given to them were not feasible but the rerouting of the bus could be a positive thing. It is very hard to contemplate how the rules can dictate that a bus travel down one road when the need for the service is along another. This is particularly relevant when one considers that the contractor does not believe there is a material difference in changing the route to collect these children. It seems that the only barrier is an administrative one. Minor changes should be able to be made to the system at local level and a flexible approach and a bit of common sense will go a long way in meeting the needs of children - not just these children but others in other areas. A detour is all that is required and it would benefit this family in gaining access to education for the children. I ask that the Minister request the school transport office to look again at the bus service in question and see how these children may be accommodated. Considering the financial pressure parents are under when it comes to funding children's education, whether in the form of contributions, the cost of uniforms or other such costs, it is not a big ask to review the scheme for these children.
The second part of this commencement matter relates to the remote area grant. As no service is available the family have been told they may be able to receive a remote area grant towards the cost of private transport arrangements. How will this be administered? Will they get it towards the end of the year? In many families one car is used for work so they would have to get a taxi to get the children to school and having to meet the costs of these upfront would be very difficult. If the family gets the remote area grant to get their children to school can it be provided as soon as possible so that there are no barriers to getting the children to school?
Is there any possibility of introducing flexibility into the route to facilitate this family? Can the school transport office show flexibility in this regard given that the contractor does not see a material difference and would have no problem collecting those children, as was done when the tickets were initially sent out?
I apologise on behalf of the Minister for Education and Skills for her inability to take this Commencement matter in person. School transport is a very significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education and Skills. This school year, for example, some 113,000 children, including almost 10,000 children with special educational needs, are being transported daily to schools throughout the country. The purpose of the primary school transport scheme is, having regard to available resources, to support the transport to and from school of children who reside in an location that is remote from their nearest school. Children are eligible for transport if they reside not less than 3.2 km from and are attending their nearest national school as determined by the Department and Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language. Bus Éireann, which operates the school transport scheme on behalf of the Department of Education and Skills, is responsible for determining eligibility for school transport and for the planning and timetabling of school transport routes.
The closing date for receipt of applications for school transport for this school year was the 25 April 2014. Bus Éireann has advised that the application for school transport for the family in question was not received until March 2015. Although the children are eligible for school transport, I understand there is no school transport service operating from the area in which these children reside. However, Bus Éireann has also confirmed that tickets were issued in error because a service was not available to the family. In accordance with terms of the scheme, families of eligible children for whom no school transport service is available may, following an application for transport within the prescribed time limits, receive a remote area grant towards the cost of private transport arrangements. If it is not possible to accommodate these children for the 2015-16 school year, the family will be eligible for a remote area grant from the commencement of that school year. This grant is calculated at a fixed daily rate and is payable annually at the end of the school year, based on the distance a family resides from their school of eligibility and on the level of school attendance. The full details of the remote area grant are available on the Department's website. It is important to emphasise that the terms of the primary school transport scheme are applied equitably on a national basis.
Sitting suspended at 11.05 a.m. and resumed at 11.30 a.m.