The Order of Business is No. 1, Central Bank (Individual Accountability Framework) Bill 2022 - Committee Stage, to be taken at 11.45 a.m.
An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
I welcome the Lithuanian ambassador and congratulate him on his country's national day.
I want to raise two issues. The first concerns the 9% VAT rate, which is an issue that has been debated for years. We must acknowledge the success of the reduced rate. The Government led by Enda Kenny made a brave and bold move in introducing it. However, the matter needs to be resolved now on a permanent basis, rather than having it arise every six or 12 months. The hospitality industry, in particular, needs clarity on what is proposed. I am from west Cork and this is one of the big issues there. It is a location for wedding venues and its economy is tourism-based, working on a rotation of six to eight months. We need competitive pricing to ensure our hotel circuit is competitive into the future. The VAT rate is a huge issue for us and we really need clarity in the next ten days about will happen with it. I am of the view that it must stay at 9%. The European model indicates that is where the VAT rate should be at right now. The industries concerned are under pressure and feeling the pinch. There is a Dublin bubble when it comes to hotels. In west Cork, we have a totally different circuit and mechanism. The people in the industry are major drivers and employers in our economy. We need to make sure their businesses are viable as we go forward. This does not just affect hotels but also hairdressers and all the other industries that are tied into the 9% VAT rate. These service industries are the core industries in the majority of our towns and villages. Within the next ten days, we need a strong roadmap to be put in place that will allow this issue to be dealt with on a permanent basis.
The second issue is the important one of childcare provision. I will give an example of what is happening. Kinsale Manor is a private housing development in Kinsale that includes a private childcare facility. When the builder was given planning permission for the estate, that permission included provision for a childcare facility. The building is there and the facility will open in the next few months. The local authority is now proposing to build 160 new houses in the town but is only offering a site to the childcare provider in that instance. We should have a scenario whereby if the State or a local authority is building housing, childcare provision should be part of it. It does not make sense for private developers to be required to build a crèche as part of a development and not have local authorities be required to do the same. Local authorities will offer a site but they cannot afford to build a project costing €500,000. There needs to be a real focus on childcare provision because it is the ultimate issue on the doorsteps. The Deputy Leader knows it is, as do I. There must be a coherent policy. When it comes to any new policies on housing, childcare provision must be tied into them.
I support the Order of Business as outlined by the Deputy Leader. I welcome the Lithuanian ambassador and my colleague Deputy Devlin, who is chairperson of the Ireland-Lithuania friendship group.
This morning, as I was driving into Leinster House, I listened to a discussion on the radio about the Óglaigh Náisiúnta na hÉireann, ONE, campaign for UN veterans.
ONE is all about support, comradeship, advocacy and remembrance. It was good to hear the update. Today is a special-awareness day. It is not related to the Fuchsia Appeal that we all know about. The work ONE does, in 37 branches across the country, is absolutely incredible. It also provides housing in four areas. I am really pleased that it is considering providing housing in Kildare. It is needed for the single male veterans, in particular. Since they have served the country in such a special way, with many having put themselves in the way of post-traumatic stress disorder, etc., there should be additional supports available.
I was disappointed to hear on the radio interview that ONE gets only €500,000 per year from the State. This is only about one third of its running cost. Therefore, it is important that we look for more funding for it. The St. Conleth's branch in Kildare is looking for a permanent arrangement. I have been liaising with Kildare County Council and have raised this here before. It is important, in the town with the greatest number of veterans, that we provide what is required.
I also want to raise the review of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004. The Act was really about the right to an education, which is very important, and the development of individual education plans, particularly within the mainstream school setting. It was never implemented in full, despite the fact that it is now 2023, 19 years later. There is a review of the Act and a full consultation portal on www.gov.ie/epsenreview. It is vital that students, former students, parents, staff and the public give their views and experiences through the portal. It is open until 4 March.
Last week we marked Safer Internet Day although we did not get the opportunity to discuss it here. It is so important that we safeguard all our young people. It is ironic considering what is happening in Munster Technological University but it is important to mark the occasion and the new commissioner.
I welcome H.E. Marijus Gudynas, the Lithuanian ambassador, and Deputy Devlin. I salute the people of Lithuania on their national day.
I want to raise today an issue that deserves consideration by this House in a calm, reflective way. The issue concerns gender dysphoria, the treatment of prepubertal, peripubertal and postpubertal children, the services that are, or are not, available in Ireland, and what appears to be a dispute between different factions, if I may use that phrase, over how this issue should be dealt with in Ireland. In the context of the forthcoming closure of the Tavistock clinic in the United Kingdom, to which more than 200 Irish children have been referred, it is important that, here in Ireland, we develop policy to deal with this difficult area. It does not have to be a single policy but could be a suite of policies. Children of the age in question need protection and guidance, not merely from their parents but also from psychiatrists, psychologists and educationalists. I have a feeling - I hope I am not going to rub anybody up the wrong way on this - that the LGBTQ+ alliance is approaching this in a way that is somewhat ideological. It is a bit dismissive of people who raise questions as to the wisdom of some of the things that are happening at the moment. On the other hand, there is an equally ideological conservative backlash movement that regards dysphoria as something that is effectively not even to be talked about and swept under the carpet. Between those two poles, the great majority of people recognise that dysphoria is a condition which deserves a sympathetic approach from all services and interest groups in the country.
Most people would wish for an informed debate on the subject. I organised a session in the audiovisual room at which four experts from the National Gender Service attended. I note that there seems to be a rift between that institution and some people in the HSE. All I am saying is that, without getting emotional about the subject, this House is the perfect place to devote four or five hours to a considered discussion of the issues that arise, allowing Members to express their views without fear of recrimination for being phobic, anti-phobic or otherwise, and to facilitate a really mature discussion on the question of how we deal with gender dysphoria and protect young people from ideologies of both extremes.
I extend a warm welcome to the ambassador of Lithuania not only on my own behalf but also on behalf of my colleagues in Sinn Féin.
I want to start with an issue concerning University Hospital Limerick, UHL. I understand the Taoiseach is to visit it tomorrow. I very much welcome that he is going to take the time to visit a hospital that continues to be in crisis. Another 72 patients were on trolleys again this morning. As per my request last week, I need to insist that the record of this House be corrected. The Minister for Health, during the debate on UHL on 1 February, stated the following:
There were eight patients on trolleys in UHL this morning. In the past week the average has been about six. The team has responded well and we need to acknowledge that.
It is patently untrue. According to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, there were over 70 patients on trolleys every day that week. The Minister is certainly entitled to his own opinions but not to his own facts, so what he stated needs to be corrected. In this regard, I wrote to him this morning. It is important that we place everything on the record correctly, particularly when the hospital continues to be in such crisis.
There are two important photocalls this morning - one at 11.30 a.m. for the Ireland for All protest march that will take place on Saturday, which I am looking forward to taking part in, and another at 11.45 a.m. for Together for Safety. As the Leader will know, we are still waiting for the safe access Bill that the Government has promised. Indeed, the Minister for Health promised that it would be before us before March of last year, yet we are still waiting a year later.
I want to highlight what will happen from next week. I am not a particularly religious person - I do not believe that comes as a surprise to anybody – but next week is the beginning of Lent. To echo some of my comrades in Together for Safety, Lent starts next week. With it, we are facing another six weeks of daily anti-abortion protests outside hospitals, GP surgeries, and family planning and health clinics around the country by the 40 Days for Life protesters. We were promised that last year would see the last Lent during which Irish people, including pregnant people and their families, would have to run this gauntlet daily, but here we are again in 2023. I am looking for a debate on this topic and a firm commitment from the Minister that he will follow through on his promises. I do believe he is engaged on this issue, to be fair to him, but we need to see this legislation in front of the House, certainly before the summer, and passed this year so we can finally put an end to these obnoxious protests invading women's privacy and dignity as they are attending hospital clinics. We all agree on that, but I ask the Leader and Cathaoirleach to up the ante with the Minister to determine when we can get the legislation in front of the Seanad so we can finally do what the Government has promised to do for the past six years.
I want to speak about the protest I attended yesterday outside the gates of Leinster House. It was organised by adult education tutors. They were highlighting the fact that almost three years after the Labour Court recommended in March 2020 that they be given proper employment contracts, it has yet to happen, unfortunately. Three years is a long time. In July 2022, the adult education tutors were told they would receive an offer by September, but they did not receive one. The delay seems to be coming from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. I do not know whether people understand the amazing work tutors do. They are public servants and are employed by education and training boards across the country. Despite this, they are paid hourly and get absolutely no holiday pay.
During breaks in the educational calendar, like this week, they receive nothing and have to rely on social welfare payments. If classes are cancelled for some reason, they are paid for a single hour, despite the work they have put into preparing for them. Their income is precarious, which means they are constantly worried about money and are unable to plan financially. It is an anxious time for them. Yesterday, we met a lovely woman who had to leave her job because she could not afford to live on the salary she was being paid. It is her vocation and she loves it, but she had to leave. She wants to return to her job.
Those to whom I refer are fighting for a public service contract that reflects their valuable contribution to society. This includes an incremental pay scheme that rewards the years of service that these dedicated educators provide. The years they spend working in the ad hoc and precarious status quo must be included when tutors finally get contracts. Ignoring years of committed work is completely and utterly unfair. They are seeking pay parity for tutors recruited since 2011. These are reasonable requests from the population of workers that I believe has been undervalued and disrespected.
I call for a debate on the issue. I would like the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Donohoe, to address the House on the reasons behind the delays and missed deadlines in the Government's offer to adult education. The workers are concerned and worried. All they want is an answer and some kind of communication from the Department as to what the delay is. The woman we met yesterday is pregnant. She devastated that she had to leave her job. I would like a debate on the matter.
I wish to follow up on a matter that was in the news yesterday, namely, the great success of the Garda in disrupting the flow of cocaine, a class-A drug, into the country. That has to be welcomed, and the resources the Minister for Justice has been putting into this area must be welcomed.
I am concerned about another issue. Perhaps the relevant Minister could come to the House to address it. I have had some alarming conversations recently with developers and builders. They are being heavily intimidated into paying protection money in respect of many of the sites they are working on. This activity is widespread. It has happened to a well known builder who has had State contracts. A head worker on a site contacted me about this, and I spoke to the guys further up the chain. Just by chance, I was working with a guy who is developing a site who told me how he was dealing with people who were intimidating him and looking for money. He fears that his machinery will be burned and his workers intimidated. In this day and age, that is not good enough. It seems to be wholesale across the industry. It would be worthwhile having a debate on this. We have spoken about a couple of different matters with the Minister for Justice recently, including the Garda handling of different issues. It might be quite helpful if we the Minister for Justice could come to the House to discuss these issues.
The pandemic special recognition payment was agreed by Cabinet in January 2022 in recognition of the front-line workers across our State who did such valiant work during Covid. The Finance Act ensured that the €1,000 payment was tax-free. There was also a recognition of a special bank holiday on 18 March last year. For a long number of months, there have been concerns that people have not been paid the €1,000, which is the case. The list of people entitled to the payment includes healthcare assistants, support and ambulance staff, consultants, midwives, medical laboratory staff, health and social professionals, non-consultant hospital doctors, swabbers, vaccinators and home help and care staff. This list is not exhaustive.
I have come across a number of people affected by this, in particular those who worked through Aramark, a company based in England that has offices in Dublin. It provides food service and uniform facilities in hospitals, universities and schools. The HSE has identified Aramark as a possible employer of front-line workers who may be eligible for the payment. Those workers, including those working in University Hospital Galway who are employed through Aramark, have not yet been paid. Home care staff in nursing homes have not been paid.
What is happening is not good enough. Those to whom I refer are entitled to this money. In many cases, they need the money but it has not been paid. Aramark has, belatedly, sent on forms to staff in University Hospital Galway in the past week or so who worked to provide food for patients every morning, lunchtime and evening. I ask the Leader to contact the Minister for Health and ask him to encourage companies such as Aramark to expedite payment of this money to all eligible staff. This is going on too long. Staff are entitled to this money and, as I said, the majority of them need this money. It is an issue I have come across in Galway and I am sure it is relevant in other parts of the country as well.
I again raise the issue of Inland Fisheries Ireland, IFI. I acknowledge the enormous work Senator Kyne has done on this issue. He is exceptionally exercised about it, and rightly so. I take this opportunity to renew our call to the Minister to come before the House. I do not think there is any division in the House regarding this request. It is important that we unify in this House, look at all options and send a very clear message to the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, that we want him to come to the House to talk about IFI. We do not have to be left, right, centre or divided in the House; let us work together.
Yesterday, I indicated that I intended to bring a motion before House today. On reflection - I thank the Office of the Leader and Senator Kyne in this regard - we will hold off on the motion in the hope that we will get can consensus and agreement from the Minister. I want to flag that a motion will come before the House next week. I hope we can unite on it. It is all very well to highlight and talk about issues, but we have the power in the House to send a strong and clear message.
I want to deal with responsibility, accountability, the allocation of budgets and resources and personnel, the importance of integrity, transparency and public concern and the loss of confidence. Even the Minister has lost confidence. Through no fault of his own, he has stood down the remainder of the board. I am not attributing any claim to the remaining members of the board, but there are clearly issues in the organisation. It is to be hoped we can work together and have the Minister in the House to address this.
To suggest the Minister cannot come to the House for a few weeks is not really good enough. Let us work together and show unity in the House, and get the Minister here and put rigorous questions to him. We should subject him to a question-and-answer session on his involvement and the fact he failed to appoint other members to the board.
I support Senator Boyhan with regard to asking the Minister with responsibility for inland fisheries to come to the Chamber. I compliment Senator Kyne on the battle he has fought, going back to last May, in respect of IFI. I see a huge change in what is happening in IFI. I was nominated by IFI to stand for the Seanad on a number of occasions. It is very sad to see what is going on in our inland fisheries as it is a national resource. In the west we have five of the best fishing lakes the country, if not in Europe. The River Moy is one of the best salmon rivers in Europe. There is a lot at stake and, as a matter of urgency, the Minister should come to the House.
I would also like to support Senator Lombard in regard to maintaining the 9% VAT for small restaurants, bars, barbers and other such small businesses. The VAT rate affects small businesses because they cannot increase their costs. They face significant costs which have increased drastically over the past number of months. Keeping the VAT rate at 9% would be a great boost for those people. These businesses are major employers in the country and do not look for anything from the State, in the main. Even if we had to decouple the VAT rate from accommodation, that should be done. I do not see any problem with doing that because there are different VAT rates within the service industry.
There is a different VAT rate for drink than there is for food which is 23% against 9% or 13.5%. So there are different VAT rates within the industry as it is and I do not go along with Revenue when it says it is a problem to charge different VAT rates and that there would be a rush from one type of food to drink or vice versa. I do not agree with that. I support Senator Lombard on that and ask the Government, even if we have to bring the Minister to the House, to do whatever we can to maintain that VAT rate at 9%.
It is time to have a debate or discussion on the homeless crisis and on the temporary accommodation we provide for single parents and children. I spoke in the House at the beginning of the week around people being evicted from hotels, from hubs and from bed and breakfast accommodation. This is a serious matter. I see it happening with people in the Traveller community, people from other ethnic minorities and with people from the general population as well, if my language is correct in saying it like that. We have not touched on how it is that people are being evicted from hotels and from hubs. I understand and I know of a case where a child of 14 was smoking in a room and a person gave a loan of €20 to another resident and that led to her eviction, along with four children. In my opinion that is very wrong. I am working with Dublin City Council to get places for people who I know have been evicted and again, it is not just happening to the Traveller community it is happening to a lot of people who are homeless. I am looking for a way of protecting people who are in bed and breakfast accommodation and hotels and it is really important we are able to do that.
A second point which is similar, is also around accommodation. What has been spent from the Traveller accommodation budget in the past year and how was it spent? Hopefully, the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, could come to the House because it is not a four-minute conversation; it is a conversation that needs to have at least two hours.
I am aware of 400 to 600 families in the Traveller community who still have not received the electricity credit. I tabled a Commencement matter for the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, or the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth, but unfortunately it did not get selected. I will try again next week but a lot of issues are impacting the Traveller community and wider society around homelessness and staying in hotels and hubs and it really needs to be discussed.
I want to raise an issue I have spoken about before. It is the national primary route, the N5, and the Dublin to Westport route and particularly the bypass between Ballaghaderreen and Scramoge, which has been a danger to the public for many years. Industry also has been complaining that when transporting goods from the west to the east to the ports, a lot of material in trucks gets damaged. We got the go-ahead a year and a half ago for that €200 million project. Unfortunately, because of the war the company that got the project ran into difficulties and could not proceed. Thankfully a new process was opened up and I understand that we have made good progress on the tendering process. We really need to get that project up and running as quickly as possible. I do not know whether we should write to Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, or to the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, or maybe both but whatever the Deputy Leader sees fit, we need to ask where we are with that tender because it is extremely important. While the Government is totally committed financially to it, it is important that we get the tender up and running and get that work under way as quickly as possible. It is ready to go. All of the paperwork had been done and if we could get this up and running as quickly as possible, it would be great.
Finally, I will mention another issue, which I come across more and more, very quickly. The HSE cannot provide home help hours to families in desperate need of help hours. I do not know whether there is some other procedure we could look at. Maybe we could ask the relevant Ministers whether we could ask people to source it themselves and then financially support them, were they able to get that help. I do not know if it is possible to do something like that but some families would be willing to source it and probably could get people to do it if they could then get the financial support. The Deputy Leader could take up this issue for me as well.
I have two matters to raise today. The first is the fact that Castleconnell post office is due to open on 20 February and this is good news for the people of Castleconnell because they have had to travel to Newport and other areas around from the village which is quite a distance. For older people who did not have cars or access it is good news that the new post office will open on 20 February.
Second, I welcome the Taoiseach's visit to University Hospital Limerick, UHL, tomorrow. This is good news both for the hospital and for the people of the mid-west because over the past number of months, not only has the Minister taken an interest in UHL but also the Taoiseach and it is welcome news that he will visit tomorrow. He is going to Limerick tomorrow to turn the sod on the new private hospital, the Bons Secours hospital, but also to visit UHL to meet the management, some of the staff and some of the support groups to try to resolve the issues going forward. I would like to welcome that.
I also welcome the fact that €9 million out of the roads allocation announced over the last couple of days was for the Coonagh to Knockalisheen Road. This is a road that has been raised here many times. It is important to the people of Moyross and the Coonagh area and it is good that the road is now listed on the roads programme at last.
At this point, I welcome Minister of State, Deputy Richmond's wife Babs and their two children Luke and Beth to the House. I am glad their childminder in chief, Senator McGahon, is also present. Maybe Luke might call him uncle John or whatever but I sometimes wonder who is the bigger juvenile, Luke or Senator McGahon. They are most welcome to the House.
I would like to call upon the Government to undertake initiatives to politicians from surveillance by foreign Governments and private tech companies. The rather lax approach to security, along with the nature of our data protection laws, means that the Ministers, Deputies, Senators, city and county councillors along with the people who work with them are all vulnerable. Within the past week, major concern was expressed about the use of Hikvision CCTV in the Houses of the Oireachtas. The manufacturer of security equipment, Hikvision, which has links to the Chinese Communist Party, was banned in several jurisdictions over security concerns. In Italy, there were concerns the devices that sent data back to China. The company was also implicated in human rights abuses of the Uyghur people. The Irish Council for Civil Liberties said that in addition to the risk that cameras inside the Oireachtas may report back to China, security researchers regularly find new security vulnerabilities that allow hackers to seize full control of various types of Hikvision cameras.
I will not comment on the work being done by the National Cyber Security Centre and the Office of Public Works but I urge that some consideration be given to how vulnerable politicians are being compromised. I am mindful that many politicians and their staff often have one phone that they use for both personal and private use. WhatsApp which is owned by Meta, Facebook's parent company, is used widely for political activity. While WhatsApp end-to-end encryption does provide more security than other forms of digital communication it is still not appropriate for parliamentarian communication. We need to consider how we can counter-balance concerns regarding cybersecurity with what is practical and reasonable. Due to the lack of resources provided if a councillor were to find themselves subject to a freedom of information, FOI, general data protection regulation, GDPR, or court proceedings there is a risk their personal data could be compromised. Many local and national politicians need training on how they can best protect themselves. While the Government is now looking at banning telecommunication companies from using high-risk vendors which could potentially include Chinese companies, I note the US government banned TikTok on all federal government devices. We should consider something similar. The Chinese Government is not exceptional in conducting espionage and global surveillance. Disclosures leaked by Edward Snowden revealed that the US National Security Agency monitored calls from 35 world leaders. I think this issue warrants consideration and debate.
The higher education access route, HEAR, is a fund that has been put in place by the Government to help people from disadvantaged backgrounds. Six criteria are applied that relate to income, in addition to family size and where people come from etc. It is a very important resource that allows people from certain backgrounds to get into college. Each of the third-level institutions throughout the country reserves places for people from the HEAR programme to make sure we have equality of access to third-level education. It is not perfect and does not do everything it needs to do, but it is an important step.
Can we bring the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science to the House to have a debate on what the criteria are for inclusion in the HEAR programme? What are the things we could include in order to expand it? One matter that has been brought to my attention is that when a student doing the leaving certificate suffers a close family bereavement, for example, a parent, that obviously has a very significant impact on that person's ability to prepare for examinations. If that parent has been sick for a long time, it could massively impact on the person's study, focus, mental health etc. That is something that impacts a student and inhibits his or her ability to get into college. There may be other factors. I ask that the Minister comes to the House to have a debate on whether we should expand the criteria for HEAR to include those people who suffer disadvantage of one sort or another in their leaving certificate year or close to their exams.
I will raise two matters. One is very close to the Deputy Leader's heart and relates to the motion she tabled. It concerns the publication of the St. John Ambulance report regarding sexual abuse in that organisation. I pay tribute to Mr. Mick Finnegan who today is on day 11 of his protest outside the St. John Ambulance headquarters. I intend to go there shortly to support him. He is a fantastic advocate. It is very brave of him to speak, to do so publicly, and to stand firm in the face of absolutely appalling intransigence.
I am preaching to the converted in addressing the Deputy Leader on this matter but it is quite appalling that we still do not have that report so many months on; she would be more accurate on that. I again call on St. John Ambulance to publish the report. There is no excuse for not doing so. The Deputy Leader talked about funding and looking at other creative ways of dealing with this. It is very important that we do that.
Over the past couple of days, a leaflet has been handed out telling young women to stay at home after 6 p.m. The leaflet purports to be published by some centre for diversity, which it has not been and has been denied by that centre. The leaflet has misspelled Rialtas na hÉireann, even though it purports to be from the Government. This level of misinformation is an absolute and utter hate crime. It is incitement to hatred to allege that suddenly in Ireland it is unsafe for girls to go out after dark and there is some pervasive activity from newcomers to Ireland. The fact that this is handed out is in itself appalling but someone is funding this.
Hear, hear.
We need to have a debate on how we deal with that. A former journalist is putting out a newspaper on a regular basis that is full of lies and misinformation. We seem powerless to stop that. This is having an effect on people who do not enter into such information with critical thinking asking what the agenda is, how this is truthful, and what it actually means. It is infecting communities where there are fears. I want us to have a debate on how we deal with that.
Well said.
Hear, hear.
I will speak about the importance of family businesses in small towns. I welcome Pádraig Fahy and Úna Ní Bhroin, and their children Teegan and Tomás. They run a family farm and are neighbours of mine. They started Beechlawn Organic Farm more than 20 years ago. This is a small family farm. They came together and put a focus on organic, high-quality vegetables and fruit. The farm now sells to many retailers throughout the country. It has provided world-class food in our stores, such as SuperValu. Úna Ní Bhroin, who is inspirational to women entrepreneurs, works with her husband and family to develop and deliver this.
We need more supports for family businesses in rural areas. So much innovation is happening on the ground. The likes of Bord Bia and Teagasc are supporting good, high-quality, top-class food in rural areas. I wanted to acknowledge Pádraig, Úna and their children; I hope they will enjoy their day. They have been great friends and neighbours, and have been great in giving employment. At a very basic level, they give jobs to young people throughout our town. It gives a sense of community. There is something to be said for businesses that bring a sense of community, employ locally and invest back into our towns. We need to see more of that happening in our rural, regional towns as well as our city centres. I hope Pádraig, Úna and their children have a great day.
I ask for a debate with the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, on Irish Water on a couple of fronts. The staffing of Irish Water and the moving of staff to it from local authorities is not going quite well, to say the very least. It could have been predicted a number of years ago that this would not go quite well because of differing terms and conditions for staff who move from local authorities to Irish Water.
Senator Dolan talked about small businesses in rural areas. Good quality water is important for small businesses in towns such as Clonmel, where I live. We have a situation where Irish Water plans to close a perfectly good plant that services half of Clonmel with top-quality water that comes from the Comeragh Mountains into the town. It comes freely down the hill. People do not have to pay for any pumps; it just comes in.
Irish Water has decided to close that plant rather than upgrade it and, while closing it, use another plant at Monroe, which is just outside the town on the Fethard side of Clonmel, to service the area that will need to be serviced. The problem is that it will use hard water. That is bad enough when it comes into residential houses, although people can get things to sort it out. However, for businesses, especially coffee shops and restaurants, hard water is an absolute disaster. All the businesses in Clonmel that will end up being put on this scheme, in a number of years, will have to constantly upgrade and service the water coming into their businesses because of a decision made by Irish Water, which is being made because it is cheaper to do it that way. Perfectly good water is coming from a mountain downhill. It does not cost anything to bring it down. All the current plant needs is to be upgraded. It has perfect water but we are closing that plant to bring not-perfect water, but hard water, which will be a cost for all the businesses in Clonmel.
It is impossible to think this is not happening in other towns but it is utter madness from a long-term perspective. People want to have a mountain such as we have in Clonmel, from where we can get perfectly good water that comes down it, yet we are deciding to get rid of that water.
I looked for a debate on Irish Water. I will ask the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, to come to the House at his earliest convenience.
Senator Dolan spoke about the importance, as we all appreciate, of family businesses throughout the country. Apart from the products or services they produce, they are the backbone of industry in Ireland.
Senator Seery Kearney spoke about leaflets, which are an example of the factory of disinformation and the organisations behind its production. It is an issue we need to be careful about. In addition, as I have been responding to and shouting for in the past week, in the absence of information from the Government or any of our agencies, it is not a surprise that disinformation is landing and people are believing it. We need a public awareness or public information campaign on what the State is doing and what the State expects in the context of crises or difficulties in the provision of services in the next year, particularly around our immigrants that are coming to the country and will continue to do so.
I thank Senator Seery Kearney for bringing up Mick Finnegan's protest. I am in contact with him not just once a day but on numerous occasions every day. I am blue in the face, as he is, asking people of importance to call for the publication of the St. John Ambulance report, most recently, the Taoiseach. The Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, went so far as to write to the chair of St. John Ambulance. He got the most banal, insulting response that everybody, including Mick, all the survivors and even Dr. Geoffrey Shannon have been getting, which is that St. John Ambulance has a body of work to do and will publish the report when that work is complete.
It has had the report since the beginning of November. I put in requests for information as to how many board meetings have occurred since it received the report. I am told that only standard board meetings, which happen once every two months, have taken place. It is no wonder the body of work is not complete, in order to have the report published.
The way the victims are being treated is absolutely disgusting. That is the only way I can describe it. The trustees of this charity do not take seriously the impact that their continuing work is having on the hundreds of people who met with Dr. Geoffrey Shannon in the past year to 18 months. I do not believe that they are unaware of the impact they are having. I am left to think that there must be something else going on with the report that maybe reflects on the actions of St. John Ambulance today as opposed to its historical actions. Either way, we have a group of men who have been sexually abused at the hands of individuals who St. John Ambulance was aware at the time and did nothing about for around 20 years. It continues to procrastinate and is not dealing with the matter. That is absolutely disgusting.
I call on all Senators to use their offices in any way possible in order to try to support the victims. By this time next week, if we do not have the report, I am going to name every one of the trustees and start calling them out for the lack of responsibility they have shown towards this report and, indeed, the victims who were brave enough to come forward in such numbers to Dr. Geoffrey Shannon. I will do so in the interests of supporting him.
Great leadership.
Well done.
Hear, hear.
Senator Ward asked for a debate with the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science on expanding the criteria used for the HEAR programme. We could probably use a debate on the HEAR and DARE programmes. Both are valuable but they have not been reviewed for a long time. They probably need to be updated, so I will try to organise that.
Senator Keogan spoke at length about the worrying information that has come to light in the past couple of weeks, not just with regard to the cameras that might be on these premises - I believe the Ceann Comhairle is going to report to us through the commission on that, hopefully in the context of reassuring everybody - but also the growing rise of behaviour on the part of organisations in respect of politicians in particular and also a wider group of individuals who may seem to have influence. In the context of what countries throughout the EU have done in the past number of years, they did not take their respective actions without good reason. I will try to organise a debate with the Minister. I assume it will be the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications. I will come back to Senators with a date in that regard.
Senator Maria Byrne welcomed the reopening of Castleconnell post office, which is great to see. Senator Gavan raised this issue last year when the office was closed. It is nice to see that when we raise an issue, people actually listen and respond to communities. I welcome that.
Senators Maria Byrne and Gavan referred to the Taoiseach's visit to UHL tomorrow. For all the people in that area, I hope his visit will elicit a response. We are all aware that there were high-level management meetings and that the Minister visited the hospital. As Senator Gavan stated, however, we still have an average of 77 people on trolleys every day. I asked the Minister to correct the record last week. I will contact him again today in order to bring to his attention the points the Senators made.
I will certainly send a letter regarding the status of the tender to which Senator Murphy referred. As we all know, these matters take far too long. I will send the Senator a copy of the letter to the Minister.
The Senator raised another important matter. Between them, the Department of Health and the HSE have an enormous budget in respect of home help, which is something many people have championed for long period. However, even though we have the money, there is a roadblock in that there are not enough people to provide services. Senator Murphy suggested that home help hours could be in lieu of financial support to families if they can find services and staff themselves. I will certainly bring that suggestion to the attention of the Minister.
Senator Flynn is seeking a debate on the homelessness crisis, especially in the context of the temporary accommodation people are living in, the insecurity in that regard and the lack of tenure that exists until they eventually get what will hopefully be permanent homes. The Senator is also seeking a breakdown on the spending with regard to Traveller accommodation. I will get that and send it to the Senator by email. I will submit the request for a debate on the homelessness crisis to the relevant Minister.
Senators Burke and Lombard, who opened proceedings this morning, referred to the retention of the 9% VAT rate relating to the hospitality industry.
Senators Burke and Boyhan spoke about the serious issues that Senator Kyne and others have been raising here, week in and week out, since last May or June. The board of the IFI, which was exonerated and cleared by the Bradley report, has been stood down. In addition, there is an internal investigation into some of the most serious allegations that are being made against personnel in the IFI. There have been numerous requests for the Minister to come before the House. I was informed last night that he will, as he is compelled to do under section 18 of the relevant Act, go before the joint committee to answer questions. Even so, I will make the request on behalf of Senator Boyhan again today. If it does not happen in this forum, it will certainly happen elsewhere in the next number of weeks. At that point, people will hopefully get answers.
Senator Kyne spoke about the fact that the special recognition payment. This was introduced by the Government more than a year ago to recognise people who went over and above the call of duty in looking after us during the pandemic. As the Senator indicated, many people, particularly staff in University Hospital Galway, have not yet been paid. I will raise the matter with the relevant Minister.
Senator Davitt asked for a debate with the Minister for Justice about the growth of a certain type of insidious behaviour and of protection rackets that are being operated on building sites. I will certainly ask for that.
Senator Black asked for a debate in respect of the delay in implementing the Labour Court's ruling on adult literacy tutors. I will certainly ask for such a debate. I will write a letter to the Minister in the meantime. We might get a written response more quickly than we would a debate. We will ask for both.
Senator Gavan raised the lack of a date for the safe access Bill. I will put in for a debate today but I ask when we will get the legislation in order that we can get to the nub of the issue and hopefully protect people. I have not heard before about what Senator Gavan called the 40 Days of Life protest. I accept his bona fides in this regard. I will certainly pursue the matter with him.
Senator McDowell asked for a debate on gender dysphoria and the future of services in Ireland, particularly for our young people. Such a debate would be timely. I will ask the Minister to do that for us.
Senator O'Loughlin referred to the review of the EPSEN Act and encouraged as many people as possible, particularly parents and children who have experienced the special education route through school, to get their views known. In that context, the Senator talked about the ONE campaign.
Order of Business agreed to.