I really wish I was not in the Chamber this morning raising this issue. It is a bit ridiculous at this stage. I have stood on the picket lines with schools secretaries. They are the beating heart of schools. They found it really difficult to leave their workplace and go out on the picket lines. They were delighted that they reached a pay deal with the support of Fórsa and yet here we are, a year later, and they still have not seen a penny. I spoke to a school secretary this morning who said the secretaries were watching increases for other people in their schools coming across their desks while they are getting nothing. I really want an answer this morning. When are school secretaries going to see the pay? When are they going to see the back pay? Do they have security this summer that they are not going to be left without pay for the entire summer again? It would be disgraceful if we were to come back and say that these school secretaries, who are key members of our school's staff, are going to have to wait until September with no job security over the summer months. Not only that, but pensions for school secretaries were not included in the pay deal. This morning I spoke to a school secretary who has been employed for 23 years and has no pension coming to her. When we look at the amount of money coming into the State, is it any wonder that schools are struggling when it comes to leadership and people taking up positions if we are treating the most important members of our staff in the education system in this way? It is over to the Minister at this stage. I hope that this is the end and not the start of the conversation. We were all on picket lines coming up to the last general election. It is nearly three years later and we have not seen a penny.
Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters
Schools Administration
I thank Senator O'Reilly for tabling this Commencement matter which I will be taking on behalf of the Minister for Education.
As the Senator will be aware, a very significant agreement was reached after extensive engagement between the Department of Education and Fórsa in relation to the terms and conditions of grant-funded school secretaries. The agreement provides for significant improvements in the terms and conditions of school secretaries. Fórsa recommended a package of measures to its members and a ballot resulted in 95% agreement in favour. Since then, in conjunction with Fórsa, work to implement this agreement has been ongoing in the Department. As part of the agreement, the Department is progressing the establishment of essential payroll services for school secretaries. The implementation of the agreement and the establishment of the central payroll service require data to be collected and analysed in order for each individual school secretary to be paid.
Last year, the Department issued Circular 36/2022 to schools in which it outlined how the agreement is to be implemented. This includes a requirement that as part of the first phase of implementation of the agreement, schools had to, by the end of September 2022, calculate the initial assimilation rate of pay and annual leave entitlement and offer it to each individual secretary working in the school. Entry into new pay arrangements is voluntary for existing members of staff. Where a secretary chose to move to the new terms and conditions, then the school was to pay the new rate of pay from September 2022. Following this initial process, a survey issued from the payroll division of the Department to all schools on 7 November 2022, seeking details of the offers made by the schools to their secretaries and any other information required to bring a secretary onto the payroll service. This survey closed in December and there was a high response rate. Based on the returns received, nearly 2,850 secretaries have accepted the offer made by their schools in line with the methodology set out in the circular. A small number of schools have yet to respond to the survey and the Department is following up with these.
The next phases of implementation which the Department is now progressing include the calculation of back pay to September 2021 as per the agreement; the payment of that back pay to individuals via the current grant process; the incorporation of national pay increases and increments into pay rates; and the annualisation of pay rates for secretaries who do not wish to apply for social protection benefits during school closures.
There is nothing new in this response. I still have no clarity on what will happen to the school secretaries this summer. That is really their main concern at this point. In addition, I do not want to get started on circulars and the way the Department deals with schools. The Minister of State is saying a small number of schools have not responded. It may be voluntary for school secretaries to take up this pay deal, but surely to God it cannot be voluntary for schools to send out a survey to find out what their school secretaries want out of this. I accept that the Minister of State is here on behalf of the Minister for Education, but I need to be assured that she will not allow even one school to fail to respond to this survey. Will the Minister of State voluntarily come back to the House and to me to say what will happen this summer in relation to these school secretaries? It does not make any sense to me that it would take nearly two years to get a payroll system up and running for school secretaries and yet we can have pay rises for people at a drop of a hat when it comes to politicians and other people in the public service.
I will relay Senator O'Reilly's comments to the Minister, Deputy Foley. I was a teacher and ironically, it is the school secretaries who will in most cases do the replies to the Department with respect to circulars. Everybody knows the value of the work they do and I saw it at first hand. The Senator's points are well made and I will ask the Minister to reply to her directly.
Illegal Dumping
I welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber. It is disappointing not one of the relevant Ministers or Minister of State can take this issue, but I appreciate that the Minister of State is here. I raise the ongoing problem of illegal dumping and littering. The Minister of State will be familiar with it in areas of west Limerick. It is the bane of local development groups, Tidy Towns associations and so on. I am frustrated because I brought in legislation on this. That was then folded into the Circular Economy and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2022. This is the third time I have raised the issue as a Commencement matter. The Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth, was before the House in October when I last raised this issue. He indicated agreement was being rolled out on the provisions regarding the use of CCTV and other technologies to help combat illegal dumping and littering that are part of the aforementioned Act. There had been discussions with the Data Protection Commission, DPC, and the Local Government Management Association, LGMA. The Minister of State, Deputy Smyth, indicated that by early this year, the agreement with the LGMA would be concluded and sent to every local authority. It would then be a matter for the elected members to adopt the scheme, as was agreed, and that from this spring and summer, local authorities could effectively use CCTV and other technologies with a framework in place that ensured the use adhered to the necessary data protection provisions.
The present Minister of State is very aware of this, as Limerick City and Country Council fell foul of some of the provisions in that regards. However, the intention behind what local authorities and others are trying to do is to catch the small number of individuals who are a scourge and are causing huge environmental damage to urban and rural areas. This sort of dumping presents a real risk to livestock and animals and must be tackled. I am frustrated because we keep being told it is a priority, yet local authorities that want to roll out this technology have not yet got the go-ahead on this. I hope the reply provided to the Minister of State by the Department will advise the Government has been making good on the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth's promise. He said this will be provided to all local authorities in early 2023. We are near the end of the first quarter and I judge that to be "early 2023". We must have the necessary framework to allow these technologies to be used alongside a major anti-littering and anti-dumping campaign. We must give local authorities, development associations and Tidy Towns groups the necessary resources to make certain this scourge finally stops.
I will not be happy if we are again told negotiations are happening on this. That is why we passed the legislation, why the framework was meant to be agreed and why negotiations were entered into with the DPC. I hope the Minister has a much clearer answer on the timeframe and, more importantly, that local authorities will be told they can get on with this work.
I beg the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach's indulgence with regard to the first point the Senator raised. I have been a Minister of State for seven years now and I must say things do not change. I am asked to come in and read out a script. To be quite honest, it is a permanent feature of how this House has unfortunately been operating that Senators are raising really important issues that deserve answers from the people who actually have policy control of the issues, but Members of this House are not getting such answers. Through the Chair, if I were a Senator, I would not believe this to be acceptable behaviour on an ongoing basis. I said it the last time I was here and will say again the House needs to reform the issue in relation to Commencement debates. It is not fair to Senators, it is not fair the public for whom Senators are raising the issues and is not fair to the Minister of State who has absolutely no knowledge, from a policy point of view, of what is being raised but is expected to respond to it. I say that in deference to my colleagues in government.
I thank the Minister of State. Of course, he is in a position of influence himself-----
-----and it is to be hoped he will be able to pursue the points he has made at a higher level within Government.
If there is an issue with the Office of Public Works, OPW, and I am not in attendance, I always make a point of asking the Senator whether he or she wishes to defer it to the next possible day.
We appreciate that.
Unfortunately, that does not seem to be the case for some of my colleagues who have an issue coming into this House. That is regrettable, because I have always found the standard of debate here is far higher. I am eating up my time now.
I thank Senator Malcolm Byrne for raising the matter. It is crucial local authorities have the necessary powers to utilise CCTV and other mobile recording devices to assist them in their efforts to tackle illegal dumping. The Senator was right with regard to Limerick City and Country Council. By way of background, the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications received correspondence in 2020 from the DPC outlining concerns over the legal basis for the use of CCTV. On foot of these concerns a commitment was given in Ireland's waste action plan for a circular economy to data-proof all waste enforcement legislation to ensure all available and emerging audiovisual recording equipment, including CCTV, can be utilised.
The Circular Economy and Miscellaneous Provisions Act enacted in July of last year advanced a number of priority provisions identified in the waste action plan, including providing for the GDPR-compliant use of a range of technologies. The Act facilitates both the use of CCTV and in more limited situations, the use of "mobile recording devices". The Act also provides for the establishment of CCTV schemes under either the Litter Pollution Act or the Waste Management Act. However, the use of other mobile recording devices, such as drones and body cameras, is provided for under another Act. Waste enforcement officers must often deal with significant levels of criminality in the course of their investigative work and can face threats to their own safety. I commend them on their ongoing efforts.
In order to address data protection concerns, the Act also sets a number of conditions which must be complied with prior to the introduction and use of CCTV and other mobile recording devices by local authorities. In particular, the LGMA is required to prepare and submit draft codes of practice to the Minister for approval. These codes will set certain standards for the operation of CCTV schemes and the use of mobile recording devices in deterring environmental pollution and other offences. The LGMA continues to work on the preparation of these codes, which are expected to be finalised this year, and it is continuing to engage with the Data Protection Commission. Following completion of the drafting process, these codes of practice will be submitted to the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, for approval. Once approved, local authorities will be advised of the appropriate procedures to be followed and then they will then be in a position to initiate GDPR-compliant measures.
The Minister of State may have another minute to finish if he needs it.
I apologise, I thought my time was up.
It is important to note the use of these technologies will be restricted to appropriate authorised personnel and will require ongoing justification for installation and usage. The combination of legislation and guidance will help to ensure the processing of personal data can be carried out by local authorities. This will provide an important deterrent to those who brazenly flout our litter and waste legislation.
I thank the Minister of State. Is Senator Byrne any wiser? He has a minute to respond.
I thank the Minister of State, but there was no need for him to read the reply, because it is a cut-and-paste of the response I received in October 2022.
It is the circular economy.
Indeed. It is almost the same response I received then, word for word. I am comparing the response I received in October with the one provided to the Minister of State. I do not direct this at him, but very clearly and in spite of all the talk, there is no commitment by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications to move on this. There has been no movement in six months on this issue, which I was told was a priority. I beg the Acting Chairperson's indulgence on this to ask how we can get an answer. I respect the Minister of State communicating the problem that is there, but the circulated reply is literally a cut-and-paste of the one I received six months ago. It therefore very clear the Department has done nothing on this. I ask the Minister of State to take that back to it. There has been no progress whatsoever in spite of the commitments. I will look to raise it later on the Order of Business, but frankly this is disgraceful. There was not even an effort to try to jig up or restructure the answer. Paragraphs have literally been lifted from the answer I received last October. As far as this House is concerned, that is not acceptable.
I will certainly relay the Senator's concerns, but there is a bigger issue here-----
We will just deal with the topic now.
I will relay the Senator's concerns to the Minister. He mentioned the particular issue in my own constituency, where we have been left in a situation where our local authority was not in compliance with the DPC. The Office of Public Works, for which I am responsible, is in a similar situation.
I was in both Houses not too long ago, when the OPW was asked to install CCTV on sites where there is vandalism, littering and other things. That is the very same situation. The sooner this is finalised, from many perspectives, the better.
However, there is a bigger issue. I acknowledge the presence of my colleague, the Minister for Justice, Deputy Harris, in the Gallery. The bigger issue is that Senators who raise important issues of policy deserve to get answers from the relevant Departments. I am not in a position to give that to the Senator but I will try to make sure those who are in a position to do so communicate directly with him.
The Minister of State highlighted some important issues. Of course, he is in high office. He is in a position to at least articulate the concerns to the Government that he articulated to us. They are on the record of the House. I look forward to engaging him and others to progress the matter. I thank the Minister of State.
I am sure my colleague, the Minister for Justice, will concur with me.
Coroners Service
Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire, an Teachta Harris, as ucht teacht isteach chun an cheist seo a fhreagairt. This is a question about coroners. As the Minister knows, the coronial service falls under his Department. It is an important service that provides answers to families and friends regarding a particular death. It also provides important measures for people to prevent similar deaths occurring. Many people do not know about the Coroner Service because, thank God, they have not had to deal with it. It is hoped that as few people as possible have to deal with it but when unexpected deaths occur, it falls to the coroner to step in. That could be a death in hospital or in custody, be it a mental health institution, prison or Garda station, a death from an accident or a death at home in unexplained circumstances. It is great we have a service that is independent and inquisitorial rather than adversarial, which helps to bring answers to us.
I work a lot with the Coroner Service in my other role. I know Dr. Myra Cullinane and many other coroners throughout the country who do excellent work in the circumstances they have to deal with. They are always dealing with somebody who is grieving in those cases, so it is a difficult job to do. Coroners are also under enormous and increasing pressure, especially in the aftermath of Covid, as we continue, including after long Covid, to have a slight increase in the number of deaths. As regards Dublin in particular, we recently passed legislation in this House that dealt with deputy coroners and provided for a greater spread of coronial capacity in the Dublin area. That is welcome.
There are other areas, however, where the Department needs to make provision. One of those relates to the city morgue and the number of pathologists available to conduct post-mortem examinations. Such examinations can be ordered by the coroner under section 33 of the relevant Act. The point is that in many cases, a post-mortem is required to establish the medical cause of death or the medical circumstances that actually led to the death, quite apart from the circumstances that may have caused the person to be deceased. Where there are not enough pathologists, there is a delay in the post-mortems that occur. Within the city morgue, I am aware of delays in that regard that are impactful both on the coronial service and, perhaps more importantly, the families of deceased people.
In Ireland, we generally deal with death quite well. We have a healthy attitude to it and we celebrate the life of the person who has died. Funerals in Ireland are important gatherings for communities, families and friends to say goodbye to a loved one. Sometimes, however, if there is a delay in the coronial process because of a lack of a pathologist and it takes longer for a post mortem take place, there is a huge delay in getting the remains of that person back to the family and the undertaker. I am aware, for example, that the representative bodies for funeral directors in Ireland are at their wits' end regarding some of the delays they have to face in getting mortal remains back so families can have that celebration. As I said, it is an important opportunity for families to say goodbye, celebrate the life of the person and allow them all to have some kind of closure in respect of it. It is desperately unfair if there is a situation where that process is so delayed that it takes away from it. We are not talking about days but weeks and, in some cases, longer because of delays relating to post-mortem examinations etc.
The reason I raise this issue is to ask the Minister to make greater provision, especially for the city morgue in Dublin and pathology services for post-mortem examinations, to ensure that we do not have delays and that bodies are returned to families and funeral directors in good time. This is necessary to allow undertakers to do the job they do and to allow families to have the celebration they need to have in order to gather closure and move on to deal with the loss they have suffered.
I thank the Senator for raising this important matter and for the opportunity it provides me to supply what I hope are some useful updates to the House on the issues he raised.
The Coroner Service is a network of coroners in districts throughout our country. As the Senator reminded us, coroners are independent, quasi-judicial officials whose function is to investigate sudden and unexplained deaths so that a death certificate can issue. This is an important public service to the living and, in particular, to the next of kin and friends of the deceased. I am very conscious of the point made by the Senator that it is often a function that needs to be carried out to enable the grieving process to advance, and enable the family and funeral gathering to take place. It is, therefore, important we thank our coroners for the work they do and support them. Coroners not only provide closure for those bereaved but also perform a wider public service because they can identify through their work matters of public health and safety concerns.
The Dublin district mortuary, DDM, is the responsibility of the Dublin senior coroner. This person is obviously an independent statutory officer. Neither I nor my Department have any role in that quasi-judicial coronial function. However, my Department has been responsible, as the Senator reminded us, for supporting the work of the Dublin district coroner’s office, including the DDM, in finance, staffing, administration and so on since 1 January 2018. Three additional temporary coroners have recently been appointed to facilitate what is a significant workload in the Dublin district. My Department has also facilitated the opening of two new Coroner's Courts in the Richmond Education and Event Centre, Dublin 7. This move is intended to increase the number of inquests that can be held annually and will support the Coroner Service in Dublin by continuing to provide independent and compassionate death investigation for families and the wider community.
I acknowledge that timeframes for the release of remains to families can vary. They are dependent on a number of factors, including the number of deceased persons who are cared for at the mortuary at any given time. This is somewhat unpredictable and can peak on occasion. It is certainly my intention, and that of my Department and the team in the DDM, to ensure that waiting times for post mortems are kept to a minimum. We are extremely conscious of the extraordinarily sensitive and vulnerable time at which these issues arise. If someone has already lost a loved one, they will desperately want the remains back so they can grieve the person with dignity and, as the Senator said, in the Irish traditions we practise relatively well in this country.
Waiting times for post mortems are influenced by a number of factors, including the following. In the Dublin district, a number of hospitals have withdrawn provision of pathology services for coroners' post mortems. This has put an increased pressure on the DDM in respect of body storage and post mortems. It is increasingly challenging to secure the services of histopathologists to carry out coroner-directed post mortems. In response to this challenge, my Department has now established a standing committee on the provision of coroner-directed post mortems. The DDM is staffed by a team of professional, committed and dedicated anatomical pathology technicians, APTs. The recruitment environment for APTs is challenging at present. In order to ensure the DDM is adequately resourced, officials in my Department have secured the services of two locums and are in the process of securing another. In an attempt to address the challenges in recruiting APTs, a trainee programme was launched in 2021 with two trainees now appointed. My officials are currently seeking to appoint new trainee APTs to generate a pipeline of staff into the future. I will also inform the Senator that officials are currently engaged in a process of recruiting a full-time mortuary manager this year.
I hope the Senator will take from my answer that a number of actions are under way to try to ensure we can keep waiting times to a minimum. I accept much more work needs to be done in this area. I will certainly ensure it continues to receive a focus.
I thank the Minister. I take it from his answer that a number of matters are in train, which is very welcome. I also noted what he said about new coroners acting in Dublin to relieve the burden on the senior coroner. In fact, in many respects, it is astonishing we waited until the past few years to put them in place. I attended some of the inquests in the Richmond centre, which are absolutely welcome. Of course, as the Minister acknowledged, there is no point in having extra coroners if there is a delay earlier in the process. If we are not getting through the pathological services associated with post-mortem examinations and that is not being done, the inquest cannot take place if we do not have that medical report.
I acknowledge what the Minister said. I also acknowledge that fewer pathologists are available than we would like. If hospital services are not available, so be it, but I hope the Minister will take on board that, especially in Dublin, there is a particular pressure. With the number of deaths that occur in Dublin in hospitals etc., it is important we ensure families and people who work in this area are equipped with what they need to arrive at a point where they can gather closure in respect of a death.
I fully acknowledge that. It is very important that the Senator has highlighted and raised this issue.
It is a sensitive and important matter which requires constant focus and attention. He is right that for this process to work seamlessly and efficiently requires all parts of the pipeline to work effectively. This is not in any way a criticism of the health service or hospitals. As the Senator highlighted, it may well be down to a lack of pathologists. However, the issue of hospitals withdrawing provision of pathology services has increased the challenges in terms of the pipeline working efficiently from examination to inquest. We are acutely aware of the impact delays in conducting post mortems can have on bereaved people and the team in the DDM engages with families of loved ones daily. They are at the front line talking to people in real time and trying to work through these situations in what can be quite a difficult environment. Officials in my Department will continue to do everything possible to ensure post mortems are performed in the Dublin district mortuary in as timely a matter as possible. I will continue to keep Senator Ward updated.
Departmental Funding
I welcome the students in the Visitors Gallery. At this point in the Senate or Seanad, we are discussing Commencement matters. Senators put forward topical issues for Commencement matters and we are completing a series of four this morning. I hope the students enjoy their visit to Leinster House. The Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, is also welcome and I thank him for coming to the House.
The Minister is welcome. I thought this Commencement matter would be a good opportunity for him to clear the air. The issue on the table is the allocation of €1.1 million to LGBTQ+ projects, having been diverted from schemes for the Traveller and Roma communities, migrant integration and Magdalen laundries redress. This was revealed by Deputy Tóibín through documents uncovered by a freedom of information request. The Minister’s personal request in 2021 to reallocate funding of €750,000 to the LGBT community service funding call, thereby doubling its Exchequer funding, was characterised as a "once-off exceptional measure". However, such was not to be the case as November 2022 saw another request to transfer €350,000 out of a fund for Travellers and Roma to LGBT projects. We are aware the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform informed the Minister’s Department this amounted to 6% of the Traveller and Roma budget and that it should not lead to future spending commitments.
Additionally, these moneys were funnelled into projects which were originally not selected to receive funding. Almost €100,000 was gifted to the Transgender Equality Network Ireland, TENI, which has had its HSE funding repeatedly suspended in recent years due to poor accounting governance. A memorandum noted the TENI proposal was among five projects the Department sought to have reviewed by an external examiner due to different views internally on its application. It seems not all in the Department are happy to continue unquestioningly funnelling taxpayers' resources into organisations which cannot meet minimum accounting requirements.
While it is desirable that public moneys be used for public good and unspent moneys serve no one, the question many people have about these revelations is why only LGBT organisations received the funding. How was this decision made? What was the process by which recipients of the funding were selected over other community projects? The Minister’s Department has an extraordinarily wide remit. Were there no other initiatives that would have benefitted from the funding? What about the disability sector under his remit? What about children in care, childcare or immigration integration? These funding decisions have led to accusations of the Minister engaging in ideological parochialism, prioritising pet projects which fall under his Government remit over others. I am sure he can see how some might receive that impression. I thought he might like to address the matter and put it to rest.
I welcome the opportunity to speak to the House on funding to LGBT+ groups. Ireland has become a proud, progressive and modern State that supports and cherishes all people equally. We have made great strides in recent decades to promote equality and respond to the changing needs of a diverse population.
I am here today to discuss the funding provided to LGBT+ groups in 2021 and 2022. The LGBTI+ community service fund supports groups working to promote inclusion, protect rights and improve quality of life and well-being for members of the LGBTI+ community, enabling them to participate fully in Ireland's social, economic, cultural and political life.
Each year, there is a competitive open call for funding. All applications are independently evaluated by an assessment team to determine eligibility for funding in strict adherence with assessment criteria contained within the published guidelines, and are subject to review by an external reviewer. Each year, the Department receives a significant number of applications of a high standard for consideration. In the past two years, the LGBTI+ community services fund has been oversubscribed.
I will address the disappointing inference made here that what is a standard and commonplace feature of departmental financial procedures is somehow in this case an attempt by me to divert funding away from vulnerable groups. A standard procedure exists under Government financial procedures to allow funds allocated under any subhead that are not going to be used before the year end to be reallocated for use under another subhead. This process is known as virement. It occurs in every Department and has taken place in my Department 26 times over the past three years. I stress that moneys that are uncommitted and cannot be spent by the year end are returned to the Central Fund, returned to the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform or must be reallocated within a departmental Vote.
As part of the normal monitoring of ongoing expenditure, budget holders and the Department’s central finance unit are required to be alert as to whether there are uncommitted funds in any area that could be reallocated under virement. Any decision to seek sanction for virement must be approved at senior level before being submitted to the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform.
It is disappointing in the extreme that Members in both Houses, charged with financial oversight of government, would seek to engage in outright misinformation and yet again, in doing so, although always implied and unspoken, the charge rests that I, as a gay politician, must be up to no good in an effort to benefit my community and would go so far as to take funding away from other vulnerable people to do so. This is an easy villain trope to peddle, and how shamelessly it is being done.
I repeat that the virement process has been undertaken 26 times in my Department over the past three years, and yet this instance has been singled out. That is not by accident and it has an impact. The Senator may have heard me recently talk about the level of abuse that I and other LGBT+ politicians and activists are receiving. Central to much of the recent tranche of messages I have received, which are full of disgusting accusations such as “paedophile”, “groomer”, and “not safe to be around children”, is the accusation that I have done something untoward as regards funding.
Whatever about me, this has an impact on other people - vulnerable people - and that can be immense. Last year saw the highest level of violence towards LGBTI+ people in Europe. Yet here I find myself summoned by the Senator to account to this Chamber on the premise of an absolute lie. It is beneath the Senator and it is beneath this Chamber. There is no possible genuine concern here. The Senator knows how the budgetary process works and she should know better.
I thank the Minister for that very comprehensive response. The Senator has one minute to respond.
I thank the Acting Chair. I condemn anybody who makes personal remarks about the Minister because of his sexuality. That is not why I am here this morning. I understand we do not want money sitting unused and virements are an important part of ensuring the continued efficiency of Government spending. However, many found it unusual that all of these unspent moneys from disparate funds ended up being siphoned off and spent on the same issue. The Minister's Department has the widest remit of any Department. Its full title does not fit on one line of an A4 page in greater than 16-point type. Are we to believe that across the multitude of areas for which the Minister is responsible, none could have done with the extra injection of funds more than TENI or other LGBT-----
There were 25 other virements.
We would not have time here today to talk about the plight of children and their families across the country if it took up all the Commencement slots. Would they not have benefitted from the €1.1 million in funding?
The Senator speaks of the importance of the virement process. It is great to see she has a good knowledge of its importance. Of the 26 virements my Department has undertaken in the past three years, the 26 times when we took money from one place where it was unspent and moved it to the others, why is this the only one she is asking me about?
I will investigate the other 25.
Perhaps the Senator will do so but she and I both know the reason and it is the unspoken assertion that I have done something dodgy here and looked to channel money into LGBT+ groups. The Senator spoke very eloquently on International Women's Day about the fact she has a voice here to raise issues that maybe others do not want to hear spoken about. I, too, have a voice too and I will not allow an assertion like this to be put against me.