It is a little bit disappointing for myself and Senators Kyne and Conway, who all have health related topics, that despite the fact there are four Ministers in the Department of Health, none of is here today. However, I do not doubt the Minister of State and his extensive knowledge of the health portfolio. We were joint rather than fellow councillors on the south Dublin-mid Leinster regional forum of the HSE a long time ago. We will do our best. I know he will have a response for me and will relay back my points.
Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters
Vaccination Programme
I thought the Senator was going to say "joined at the hip".
We were on the same local authority but that is about as far as it goes.
I do not want to cut into the Senator's time.
I am sure the Acting Chair will give me extra time if I need it.
"Cutting" being the operative word.
This is shingles awareness week. Shingles is a painful condition that is estimated to affect one in three people during their lifetime. It generally presents as a painful rash on one side of the body, a kind of a belt across the torso, but it can also be on the face and sometimes affect the eyes. Up to 30% of people who experience shingles develop nerve pain known as post-herpetic neuralgia that can last for months or, in rare cases, longer, which needs treatment with pharmaceutical drugs and so on. Around 10% to 25% of those have symptoms that affect the area around the eye, potentially leading to scarring and vision problems. Shingles is also associated with an increased risk of stroke and neurological conditions. It is important to diagnose and treat shingles early to reduce the risk of complications.
Anyone who has ever had chickenpox, which is many of us, can get shingles. It is basically caused by the successful reactivation of the VZV, or varicella zoster virus, that causes chickenpox. Some 90% of people are infected with that during the first three decades of life as chickenpox and already have the virus lying dormant, if you like. It generally reactivates itself primarily due to age-related decline in immunity or because an individual has a weakened immune system. Generally speaking, those who have it are over the age of 50. However, there are other factors associated with an increased risk, including Covid-19 infections, comorbidities such as COPD, asthma, diabetes, chronic renal disease, immunosuppression associated with an underlying disease such as cancer or arthritis or use of an immunosuppressive treatment. It can be prevented by vaccination.
The reason I bring this up is that it is shingles awareness week but, equally, because I got shingles in the Bank Holiday weekend of August 2020, right in the middle of lockdown and Covid. I think I may have had Covid very early on when we did not realise Covid was there and that may have helped. It is quite vicious in that it affects people mostly who are already immunosuppressed and not very well. I ask the Minister of State and obviously the Minister for Health, particularly, if we can bring in shingles vaccines, which are very successful. That will vastly reduce the number of people who might get shingles. I had to log on for the drug payment scheme and first pay €140 and then get the drugs. The drugs the State is paying for to treat shingles are expensive. I was also on, which is quite topical, pregabalin, or Lyrica, which is being talked about now as very dangerous drug, to deal with the post-herpetic neuralgia. I took it for a number of months and tried to get off it as fast as I could. I found it a horrible drug to use.
There is a real value in providing the vaccine. I am not saying to make it compulsory, but for people who are vulnerable and for people who would like to take it, it would be useful to give them that immunity and keep them safe, healthy and in the workforce. It would keep them from being sick, being off work, getting sick benefit and so on. Equally, they would not need to take the drugs for shingles and post-herpetic neuralgia. It is an important topic. I am glad to raise it and I hope I will get a positive response from the Minister of State on behalf of the Minister.
I thank the Senator Horkan for raising this important issue. I too know people close to me who have suffered from shingles. It can have a debilitating impact. As is outlined in the response I have, which I will deliver on behalf of the Minister for Health who is unable to make it today, it can have serious implications, particularly for older people.
Varicella is a common, highly infectious disease caused by the varicella zoster virus. This virus is associated with two distinct clinical syndromes: varicella, commonly known as chickenpox, and herpes zoster, commonly known as shingles. Primary infection with the varicella zoster virus results in varicella, after which the virus becomes latent in the body’s nervous system. The virus may reactivate after a period, sometimes several decades later, resulting in herpes zoster or shingles. Approximately one third of people who have had a varicella infection will develop a shingles infection at some point during their lifetime due to reactivation of the virus. Morbidity associated with herpes zoster increases with age. The most common complication is post-herpetic neuralgia, which is a persistent pain in the area around the rash. This has the potential to cause significant reductions in quality of life, activity, mood and sleep.
Two thirds of cases occur in those aged 50 years and older. The risk of developing the disease in those aged 85 years and over is 50%.
Older adults are most likely to have post-herpetic neuralgia and to have longer lasting and more severe pain.
There are two shingles vaccines currently available in Ireland. One is a recombinant vaccine called Shingrix, which is given as a two-dose vaccine. The other is a live vaccine called Zostavax, which is given as single dose. The national immunisation advisory committee, NIAC, guidelines state that the Shingrix vaccine may be considered for those aged 50 years and older due to the greater burden and severity of disease and post-herpetic neuralgia in this age group and for those aged 18 years and older who are at increased risk of contracting shingles. The NIAC guidelines also state that the Zostavax vaccine may be considered for those aged 50 years and older as a result of the greater burden and severity of disease in this age group. The shingles vaccine is not currently provided as part of the national immunisation programme. It is open to those aged 50 years and older who wish to receive the vaccine to consult with their GP or pharmacist in order to arrange to receive the vaccine privately for a fee.
Following a request from the Minister for Health, HIQA is carrying out a health technology assessment on the herpes zoster vaccine, which protects against shingles. This assessment will examine the evidence on the clinical effectiveness and safety of shingles vaccines. The cost-effectiveness and budgetary impact will also be reviewed, along with the ethical, social and organisational implications of including the vaccine in the adult immunisation schedule. It is anticipated that this assessment will be completed by July 2024. The outcome will inform future decision-making in the context of whether any amendments are required to the national immunisation programme. I again thank Senator Horkan for raising this timely issue, particularly this week.
Unfortunately, the Minister of State has told me much that I already knew. I asked him to indicate the likely funding that would be required to do this on an annual basis, and to make a statement in that regard. The vaccine is available for free from the NHS in the UK, so it is free in Northern Ireland. It is free on part of this island, but not down here. The assessment is due to be completed by July. I ask that it not be delayed in any way. The sooner it happens, the better. Cost-effectiveness obviously needs to be taken into account, but a person cannot know the unbelievable level of pain that goes with shingles until he or she contracts it. Three and a half years later, I still get twinges and pains in places where I had shingles. I got off the medication. Sometimes, people cannot come off the medication. I found my experience with the pain medication almost worse than the pain. I got off it as fast as I could. I was still on it probably from August until November. We should do anything we can to stop people getting it. We are talking about how morbidity is a potential outcome of shingles too. Anything we can do to reduce the number of people getting shingles and experiencing the pain involved is important. I ask the Minister of State to really impress on the Minister for Health how useful it would be to make the vaccine available, in particular to vulnerable over-50s and so on. I got the vaccine before I turned 50, so it is not only the over-50s who can get it.
I thank the Senator. As already stated, I am responding on behalf of the Minister for Health. Unfortunately, the funding details Senator Horkan requested have not been provided. However, I am led to believe that funding is not the key consideration here. We obviously have a national immunisation programme that is well funded. If the strong opinion NIAC comes to at the end of its review comes to that point, I do not expect that funding to be a key element of that decision-making process.
There are other elements, as outlined in the response, which show the importance of the vaccine and of making sure that it is fit for purpose. It is important that this issue has been raised today because vaccination is recognised as one of the most cost-effective and successful public interventions that exists. Vaccines save many lives every year, so there is always a strong financial case to why a vaccine would work if it is proven not to have negative impacts. This vaccine should be subject to the same rigorous process we use when analysing all other vaccines.
The Senator will be aware that the immunisation programme is operated on the basis of advice from NIAC. The committee's recommendations are based on the prevalence of the relevant disease in Ireland and international best practice in the context of immunisation. As already stated, the Minister has requested that HIQA carry out a health technology assessment to review the case. We look forward to seeing the result of that assessment as soon as possible.
Hospital Facilities
I welcome the Minister of State, but I join Senator Horkan in expressing disappointment that neither the Minister nor one of the Ministers of State at the Department of Health are here to take these matters. The Minister of State, Deputy Heydon, is on duty in both Houses. Unfortunately, it seems to be the new trend that Ministers come in to speak on behalf of all Departments on a certain day.
Bernard Gloster, the CEO of the HSE, is on record as saying that Galway is far behind the capital curve in comparison with other places. In Galway and the wider region need a new emergency department, improved paediatric and maternity services, new laboratories -- the existing laboratories are more than 50 years old - a cancer care centre and additional beds. I know there are also plans for a surgical hub at Merlin Park University Hospital. Last October, I raised the HSE's capital investment plans with Bernard Gloster at a meeting of the Joint Committee on Health. This was following the opening of the radiation and oncology centre at University Hospital Galway. The people of Galway are frustrated. As Mr. Gloster said on the day, nobody should try to persuade the people of Galway from their frustration because it is justified. He stated:
There is a group of internal and external experts in a project group, supporting the CEO of Saolta and me nationally, to bring together all the previous work that was done into one tight, comprehensive plan with a list of priorities ... Government will be in a position to be fully confident in investing in the scale of that plan.
He also stated that he would "expect to see a definitive, total project site plan in no more than three months." I told him I would hold him to that. That was more than three months ago. Has progress been made? Is a definitive date likely to be set with regard to the plans for University Hospital Galway?
When I was out and about at the weekend, I met a lady who was evidently unwell but who was in relative good humour in spite of that. She told me she is undergoing cancer treatment. I expressed my sympathy and wished her well in her course of treatment. She then went on to say that she had spent seven days on a trolley in Galway. Another individual who was present stated that they spent nine days on a trolley. The lady to whom I refer was not giving out, but, to be honest, she would have every right to do so. She had every right to eat me if she wanted. She did not. She thanked me for other things, but that was her journey as someone undergoing cancer treatment.
Cancer patients still have to go through emergency departments. There is no separation in Galway, hence the need for the comprehensive plans. We need additional beds, the cancer centre, a new emergency department and paediatric and maternity services. Bernard Gloster is on record as saying too much time has been lost on debates back and forth between Merlin Park and University Hospital Galway and on options and appraisals. That was the greatest waste of money and, more importantly, time. There was a debate about a new €4 billion hospital to be built at Merlin Park. That was never feasible. All this has done for Galway is caused delays. It has caused delays and frustration in respect of the delivery of projects we all know we need. It is back and forth. What are we going to do? Will we build it in one place or the other? Ultimately, we are building very little. We have the state-of-the-art radiation and oncology building that was opened last November. We have the 75-bed ward from a number of years ago that some people also opposed. We have a massive need for capital investment in Galway. In that context, I want to see the plans progressing.
I thank Senator Kyne for raising this important issue. It is important to put the first-hand story of his constituent's experience on the record of House. What he outlined is not good enough. I am giving this response on behalf of the Minister for Health, who, unfortunately, cannot be here.
The Minister and his officials have visited the University Hospital Galway campus on a number of occasions over the past year. The Minister recognises the need for additional capital investment in the facilities at University Hospital Galway and wants to reassure Senator Kyne and others that there is a clear pathway forward to achieve this. There are a number of significant capital investment projects proposed for the campus, which include an emergency department, a women and children’s block, a regional cancer centre and replacement laboratories. These proposals are of significant scale. An integrated approach is required to ensure that any works do not adversely impact the ongoing delivery of healthcare on the congested campus. To progress this as effectively and as efficiently as possible, the Department of Health agreed to the establishment of the University Hospital Galway programme oversight board. The oversight board is chaired by the CEO of the Saolta Hospital Group.
Its initial focus is on the development of an integrated strategic master plan for UHG to support the phased delivery of capital investment there. To support the oversight board, a dedicated programme manager has been sanctioned by the HSE's CEO. This role is currently being advertised and the closing date for interested parties is next week. The work of the oversight board will leverage the work carried out to date on the three separate significant proposals for the campus.
While originally a new emergency department was proposed for Galway due to service-led demands it now incorporates new maternity and pediatric departments. An interim ED was developed and opened in October 2022, as Senator Kyne will be aware. It includes additional resuscitation spaces, support accommodation and improved infection prevention and control measures. This work will also serve as enabling works for the larger new ED, women and children's departments proposals. The project team and oversight board have been tasked with enhancing the strategic assessment report-preliminary business case, SAR-PBC - there are an awful lot of acronyms in my response - for the ED and women and children's block to ensure it meets the standards required for the external reviews required under the infrastructural guidelines which have replaced the public spending code. It will also ensure it appropriately captures the important work of the oversight board to ensure the successful delivery of the new investment at the UHG campus.
With regard to the proposals for the replacement laboratories and the regional cancer centre, the Department of Health has provided comprehensive feedback on what the project team and oversight board need to do to advance these proposals. Incorporation of this feedback will ensure that robust business cases are developed to support the important capital investment in the Galway campus. Much investment is needed in the facilities of University Hospital Galway to support the staff there to continue to deliver the high standard of care patients and their families expect and deserve. A clear process is under way to deliver that much-needed investment in Galway. Again, I thank Senator Kyne for raising these important points today.
I thank the Minister of State for the response from the Department of Health. He is right that there are a lot of acronyms in his response but there are not any timelines - any dates for delivery, for when planning permission might be lodged, for when the design might be complete or for when the oversight board might report. There is not any date for meaningful progress that could help constituents in the medium term, because there is no short term here. As I said on numerous occasions, when the former Minister, Deputy Harris, was in Galway in September 2018 he was told by Saolta that the planning permission for a new ED would lodged before Christmas. That was 2018 and here we are in spring 2024. The project specification has changed somewhat but we are still waiting.
Yes, we have the temporary ED and we have planning permission to demolish the old ED. That is slight progress but we still do not have a firm date for when a planning application for emergency, paediatrics and maternity will be provided or indeed for the new laboratories and cancer care centre. There is a lot of work needed in Galway and all we have is talk and plans. We need delivery.
I again thank the Senator for raising this. The response I was given by the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, does not have clear timelines in it. It does have a process. In fairness, it can be hard to predict specific timelines in each stage of the process. That has potential for delays. I will outline further in the supplementary reply I have that the proposals are significant in scale and complexity for a busy and congested hospital. When complete they will provide state-of-the-art facilities at Galway University Hospital. The approach of the capital programme oversight board will ensure the much-needed capital investment in Galway will be based on current and future population demand and reflect integrated service capacity needs. It will also ensure the practical delivery of investment in Galway is achievable, affordable and represents value for money. There are important principles for the delivery of the capital infrastructure funded under the national development plan. The proposals for the ED, women and children's block and the cancer centre are in excess of €200 million and must meet the requirements of new infrastructural guidelines put in place under the public spending code in December 2023.
The work that is under way by the project team oversight board will ensure that robust business cases are developed to support proposals and enable the project to progress to the next stages of the development process. It must be subject to independent external review and validation before Government consent can be sought to proceed to developing the final business case and advancing the design and statutory planning process for the proposals involved. Again, I thank Senator Kyne for raising this and I will bring back the points he raised specifically to the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly.
Health Services
The Minister of State is very welcome to the House. I know he is taking this Commencement matter on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly. Clearly we would have preferred to have him here to deal with it but the Minister of State is an able replacement, to be fair. I raised this matter in February 2023. There are hundreds of people in County Clare, from Loop Head to east Clare to north Clare and in Ennis and Shannon. Some travel from east Clare to Galway for dialysis while some travel from north Clare travel to Limerick. Dialysis is three to four days per week. If someone is going from Carran in County Clare to Limerick, we are talking about an hour and a half to two hours travelling, then four or five hours dialysis, and then another two hours to get home three or four days per week. The HSE provides taxis and transport to bring these people for their dialysis, either in Limerick or Galway. It makes absolute sense that a dialysis unit should be based in Ennis. It would transform the quality of life of hundreds of people in County Clare.
When I raised this before, it got some media coverage. I was struck by the number of people who contacted me to say they were on dialysis. Even for people in Ennis, who are using private transport to go to Limerick, if there was a unit in Ennis, it would make such a difference. When I raised this Commencement matter previously I was told a tender process was taking place but nothing has been heard since. We need the location and the date as to when this unit will open because for people on dialysis, every day they travel they think about how their lives can improve. It is not just them but their families are thinking about how their lives can improve. If you had a mother or father travelling for long journeys like that three or four days per week, of course you would be concerned and worried about them and would want to see more localised services.
This Government has provided a huge amount of resources for primary care. We have a beautiful primary centre in Ennis, which opened late last year. We have identified primary care centres for other parts of the county. This is a service that should be in primary care. There should be a dialysis unit in every county in the country because thousands of people require it. I am interested in finding out when the people of County Clare will see their dialysis unit opened in Ennis.
I thank the Senator for raising this important issue, no more so for those who are in need of dialysis in County Clare. I am giving this response on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, who unfortunately cannot be here, for what continues to be a very important issue for the people of Clare and the mid-west.
First, I would like to reassure the Senator that the Government remains fully committed to improving patient services and ensuring patient-centred care across the country. That commitment can be seen through the unprecedented level of new resources that we have provided to the HSE over the last three years. This has involved significant investment in the mid-west region. That includes Ennis Hospital and University Hospital Limerick, the annual budget for which has increased by more than 45% since 2019. This investment is benefiting a huge number of patients accessing care and will ensure hospitals can continue to develop the services they provide.
With regard to haemodialysis services in the region, the University of Limerick Hospital Group has advised that patients from County Clare currently receive care either in University Hospital Limerick or in the hospital’s satellite centre, which is located on the Dock Road in Limerick city. This additional, externally contracted satellite haemodialysis service in Ennis has been proposed by the hospital group. The National Renal Office confirmed a 66% increase in demand for this service in the region between 2010 and 2020. It is proposed that this externally contracted unit will serve patients from County Clare closer to home, addressing the issue raised by the Senator. There is no doubt that it is a quality of life issue. It is estimated that this unit will treat 30 patients per year for the first five years. This proposal aligns with the national strategy for the provision of renal services. Provision of care in the community is also consistent with the goals of Sláintecare.
The HSE initiated the process to tender for the provision of this unit last year. I know the Minister continues to work closely with the HSE to ensure the University of Limerick Hospital Group is fully supported in the delivery of health care services for the region. Again, I thank Senator Conway for raising this really important matter.
The reply is positive but lacks one very important thing and that is timelines. What I need is dates.
I am aware the role has been advertised externally and that there is interest in it. I am also aware there is a facility where the unit can be housed but we need dates. When can we expect this to happen?
I am a little concerned the unit will support only 30 people. Many more than 30 in County Clare must travel long distances for dialysis. Perhaps the Minister of State will relay that to the Minister also. Perhaps there is a misprint in the reply. I realise the Minister of State is just reading it on the Minister's behalf. I assume that many more than 30 will be accommodated in the facility.
That was the information in the reply given to me. Unfortunately, the response does not contain clear timelines. With any matters such as these, there is the potential, through statutory processes, for delays. It can be hard to earmark exact timelines but I reiterate that the Government remains fully committed to improving health services. We have demonstrated that commitment with strong investment in the mid-west and, indeed, throughout the entire country.
As I noted in my opening remarks, UL Hospitals Group has made progress recently in seeking to develop its dialysis services and expand them to Ennis. This would be a welcome development. It is vital we provide services closer to people's homes. Community-based services can and do have a significant impact on patients' experiences.
This is a project that has been led by the HSE to drive improvements to the services that are already being provided. The procurement process is being managed in line with HSE guidelines. I have advised the House of the updates the HSE has provided on the process so far. The Minister and Department will continue to seek updates on progress. We continue to work closely with the HSE to ensure it is providing a quality service for all the people of the mid-west.
Inshore Fisheries
With the agreement of the House, we will now take Senator Ahearn's Commencement matter. We will take Senator Chambers's matter when she arrives.
The Minister of State is very welcome to the Chamber. I thank him for taking this very important question, which relates to inland fisheries, particularly fishermen and clubs in Tipperary. The River Suir is regarded as one of the best rivers in the country for salmon fishing. About a third of the salmon are in the rivers Suir, Nore and Barrow. The stock has been depleting over many years, but since 1995 there has been a catch-and-release policy. Essentially, this is to protect the fish, which is very important. There are a significant number of clubs in Tipperary. The angling club in Clonmel has been going since the 1950s and has more than 150 members. The club in Carrick-on-Suir has been going since the 1920s, which is more than 100 years, and has well in excess of 100 members. There are also clubs in Ardfinnan and Golden. Therefore, there is a strong fishing community that loves fishing. It loves the river and wants to protect it. It is genuinely feared that it is not being protected and that it is essentially being left to the clubs to do so. Particularly from the fishing clubs' perspective, it seems Inland Fisheries Ireland is not patrolling the river to the extent it should. Many people are poaching fish from the river and essentially getting away with it. The fishermen who fish in it every week, who catch and release, feel like they have to manage the river themselves. They ask that Inland Fisheries Ireland do its job and patrol the rivers.
With this in mind, I have several questions I would like the Minister of State to answer on the River Suir and fishing in the area. How often does Inland Fisheries Ireland patrol the River Suir? Why does it not engage with the fishing clubs? How many calls does the Inland Fisheries Ireland's helpline receive? How much money does the organisation raise each year in the conservation fund? What is the breakdown of expenditure through that fund per region? What projects are funded through it? Most important, how many prosecutions for illegal fishing on the River Suir have there been in each of the past ten years, and how many nets have been seized? There is certainly a feeling within the community that protection is not happening to the extent it should. I realise people will start talking about the Covid years, but that is why I am asking for figures on what has been done in the past ten years, especially the past two.
Inland Fisheries Ireland is based in Clonmel. There should be, and I would have thought there would have been, a good relationship between the fishermen and the organisation because they should all have the same goal. However, this does not seem to be the case. These questions need to be asked to ensure the organisation is doing the job it is required to do.
I thank the Senator for raising what is a really important issue. I am responding on behalf of the Minster, who is unable to be here.
As the Senator will be aware, Inland Fisheries Ireland, IFI, is the State body with responsibility for the protection, management, conservation, promotion, marketing and development of the inland fisheries resource. Officials in the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications have liaised with IFl on the matters the Senator has raised relating to the River Suir. I am happy to update him accordingly.
Currently, four permanent IFI staff are operating in the west Waterford district, protecting the River Suir catchment, the Nore catchment, the Waterford coastline, including the Tay, Colligan and Mahon rivers, and the Waterford Estuary. With specific reference to the River Suir catchment, I can advise the Senator that in excess of 40 tributaries must be policed along with the main channel as far as the estuary in Cheekpoint, County Waterford. A broad range of vehicles and watercraft are used for patrolling the River Suir catchment, including all-terrain vehicles, kayaks, bicycles and boats. Patrol boats are deployed on the Suir Estuary more than 30 times per annum, and in excess of 20 sea patrols are carried out on the Waterford coast and Waterford Estuary per annum. In carrying out protection work in the region, IFl protection teams review the previous week's activities in catchments, take account of meteorological and tidal data, and examine fishery risks identified in the annual protection plan as well as pressures in the area, such as water levels, fish movements, intelligence or reports received, known hotspots and relevant hotline reports.
Vehicle, bike, and mobile patrols, including at night and on weekends, are carried out weekly. Patrols may be overt – they include high-visibility, daytime patrols using logoed apparel and vehicles to engage stakeholders or deter illegal activity – or covert, utilising either unlogoed or plain-clothes and unmarked vehicles. IFl conducts these patrols using various modern technologies, including drones, binocular long-range spotting scopes, covert cameras, night sights and thermal imagers. You would expect these more in the Defence Forces than the IFI. Obviously, it indicates the scale of the work the team is doing in the area. In addition to its receiving the 24-hour hotline reports, the local IFI office receives calls weekly, and the officers receive calls and messages from concerned members of the public with regard to fishing activity. All reports are examined and responded to in a timely manner.
In the time available, IFl was not in a position to provide me with the requested information on the number of calls but I will ask it to follow up with the Senator in providing it. IFl maintains a presence every week on the 20 km Suir Blueway between Carrick-on-Suir and Clonmel, along with other hotspot areas in the catchment, through bike, foot and vehicle mobile patrols.
Since 2016, the salmon and sea trout rehabilitation, conservation and protection fund, formerly the salmon conservation fund, has awarded more than €4.4 million to 113 projects in Ireland. The projects are distributed among the IFI river basin districts. I will share relevant tabular information with a breakdown of the expenditure across regions with the Senator separately in written form. Moreover, IFl has also provided me with a breakdown of the number of prosecutions, fixed-charge penalty notices and seizures that were made in relation to the River Suir over the ten-year year period 2014 to 2023. Again, I will share this information with the Senator in written form for ease of reference. In summary, over the period, 143 nets, one cage, four boats and 22 rods were seized on the Suir catchment. Forty-three fixed-charge penalty notices were issued and seven prosecutions were taken.
It is important to emphasise that the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications and IFI take most seriously the matter of illegal fishing in Ireland's inland fisheries, including the River Suir. Dedicated efforts and resources continue to be concentrated on combating such illegal fishing. Patrol boats, covert cameras, drone patrols and other forms of surveillance continue to be used by IFI to tackle illegal fishing. IFI encourages the public to report illegal fishing incidents or those related to water pollution or fish kills using its 24-7 confidential phone number.
I thank the Minister of State for his reply, which was appreciated. It is the detail I am looking for. I acknowledge that the response states IFI will provide the detail.
I am referring to the simple things. The IFI says it gets weekly calls to the hotline and that it responds to them in a timely manner, but there is no information about how many calls it gets per week. It would be good to get detailed information on the number of nets that have been seized per year for the last ten years. That would be extremely helpful, as would information on the fixed charging. If it reviews each week's activities, surely it will have detailed information about that review. Could it provide that detailed information as well?
At the end of the day, poaching is happening on a weekly basis. There are safety and intimidation concerns for fishermen. Their fear is that they have to manage it. People are giving up fishing in Tipperary because of what is happening with poaching by people who are coming from outside our county and taking the fish. That is not acceptable. The last thing I will say is that there is a concern - and I hope this is not the case - that members of the upper management are too busy firefighting issues at a higher level to deal with the bread-and-butter issues of day-to-day work that effects people in my county.
I thank Senator Ahearn again for raising this really important issue. I regret IFI was not in a position, from the time that elapsed since the Senator tabled this important topic, to provide that requested information on the number of calls. However, we will follow up on that and get back to the Senator.
Also, I have a detailed breakdown of the number of prosecutions, penalty notices and seizures that were made on the River Suir over the ten-year period and expenditure across regions. We have that in tabular form and we will share it with the Senator.
The River Suir is patrolled intensively by the IFI with an operational four-person unit in the west Waterford district. It strikes me as a lot of strain on that four-person unit, given the area it has to cover, as well as the covert and overt elements of that. The catchment is policed during daylight, at night and weekend hours. There are irregular instances of successful protection work in this catchment. As recently as 30 January, the IFI secured a conviction for illegal angling on the river, resulting in a fine of €1,000 and €500 towards legal costs.
Pension Provisions
I would like to welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Heydon, to the House. He is a very active Minister of State in the area of agriculture. I heard him on the TV and the radio over last couple of days where he explained very well the angst that is being experienced by farmers. He has a great understanding of it. However, this is extremely unfair. In my time, and I have been here as long as the Acting Chairperson, Senator Victor Boyhan, I have rarely seen so many Ministers coming to the Chamber to field so many different topics. This is absolutely no reflection on the Minister of State, Deputy Heydon, who is present and is doing the job. However, we need Ministers from the other Departments. We have dealt with vaccines, transplants, fisheries and now we are dealing with pensions. It is not good enough and I hope the Acting Chairperson will take it up with the Cathaoirleach, because this is showing a disregard to this House.
I will get back to the matter at hand, namely, the issue of pensions. I am sorry for that intrusion. As the Minister of State will know, there has recently been a shift in the pensions. It seems that the recent introduction of the auto-enrolment scheme is being pushed hard. The Minister of State will be aware of this because he is dealing with small businesses. This is something small businesses have had to take on while there has been a whole plethora of other issues, such as the warehousing of debts and the increase to the minimum wage. A whole slew of different paperwork has been forced on them at the same time.
From what I can see from the defined contribution and the defined benefit, there seems to be a push towards employers rolling out the defined contribution scheme. From that, they will evidently end up making quite a large contribution. That is the way I can see things going. That happened with the universal social charge, USC. Most people think that only employees pay universal social charge, but employers are paying up to 8% on it. This is separate from what they are paying on their PRSI contributions for their employees. These are hidden things.
Britain has gone down the road of changing from defined benefit to defined contribution. That has been to the detriment of the British economy, and notably so. Heretofore, they were guaranteed large amounts of money, which were invested in different projects. They got a return from it and it was better for their whole economy. I am curious about where we are going with this whole pension issue. I know it is fairly defined, because the Department came back to me on a couple of occasions on a defined, specific query. However, this is a general query about pensions and where we see ourselves going. I await the Minister of State’s response.
I thank Senator Davitt for raising this issue. I understand the question relates to the standard fund threshold regime and how it applies to different types of pensions and, in particular, the defined benefit and defined contribution pension schemes.
As Senator Davitt is aware, Ireland operates an exempt tax system for the taxation of pension funds. This means the contributions to pensions are exempted from income tax, subject to age, related percentage and income limitations. Pension fund gains are exempted from income tax, but income from pension drawdown is liable for tax. In addition, there is a limit on the maximum pension that benefits from tax relief, the standard fund threshold, SFT.
The SFT regime, as set out in chapter 2C of Part 30 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997, sets a lifetime maximum for tax relieved pension funds. Where the value of pension and retirement or other events which crystallised the value of the pension is higher than the SFT, the excess is subject to additional tax. This additional tax is known as chargeable excess tax, CET, and is charged at a rate of 40%. The CET is paid on top of the normal income taxes paid at the marginal rate upon drawdown of the pension funds. The SFT was set at €5 million when it was introduced in 2004 but was subsequently reduced by €2.3 million in 2010. It was reduced further to €2 million in 2014 and remains at that level today. The SFT is part of the tax system that applies generally to everyone, all pension products or schemes and both the public and private sectors. Therefore, all pension funds are subject to the same €2 million limit.
However, due to differences between pension schemes, and in particular, the integral difference between defined benefit and defined contribution schemes, the method by which pensions are valued for the purposes of SFT is different for different schemes. The following contribution schemes provide retirement benefits based on the accumulated value of the contributions paid to a pension scheme by or on behalf of a member, including the investment returns earned on those contributions. For the defined contribution scheme, the value for the purposes of the SFT is simply the value of the assets in the fund at the time of crystallisation. This is also the case for personal retirement saving funds, known as PRSAs.
It is more complex to value a defined benefit scheme. Defined benefit schemes provide members with retirement benefits based on pre-defined formula that are set out in the rules of the scheme. Benefits are often based on a member’s salary close to retirement and the length of time they have been a member of the scheme. However, there is generally no individual fund that can be valued at the time the benefits are being taken. Instead, the pension is valued by multiplying the individual's annual pension by a valuation factor.
Up to 2014, there was a single valuation factor of 20, but in 2014, a more complex set of age-related valuation factors was introduced, which range from 37 at the age of 55 to 22 at the age of 70. These age-related factors were introduced to seek to reduce inequity in the valuation process between defined benefit and defined contribution schemes. Defined benefit schemes are more prevalent in the public sector, while defined contribution schemes are seen more often in the private sector.
There are other differences between the public and private sectors. For private individuals, it may be open to them to cease contributions to their pension when they are nearing the SFT. For public servants, this is not possible. However, public servants benefit from options available to spread the payment of any SFT over 20 years after retirement through the deduction of their pension.
In the last ten years, while the SFT has remained the same, there have been significant changes across a range of economic factors, such as consumer price, inflation and wage inflation. Therefore, the Minister of Finance has instigated an examination of the SFT regime which is currently under way. A public consultation on the issue was recently closed and the responses are being reviewed. The terms of reference of the examination note the importance of equity in treatment across taxpayer groups between public and private sector workers. The examination will report to the Minister for Finance in the summer.
Before I call Senator Davitt, I would like to welcome the students, teachers and accompanying adults from Moyle Park School, Clondalkin. You are very welcome to the House. We are now dealing with Commencement matters, which are topics Members of the Seanad have tabled. A Minister comes into the House to respond to them.
They are very welcome. I hope they enjoy their stay here in Leinster House.
I call Senator Davitt.
I thank the Minister of State. I appreciate the response. As I said from the outset, there are many other elements in this that would be nice to thrash out with the Minister for public expenditure but we are where we are. I appreciate the Minister of State's response and thank him.
I thank Senator Davitt for the opportunity to speak to the House on the issue. Unfortunately, the Minister was unable to be here.
As I outlined, the SFT limit applies to all types of pensions in both the private and public sectors. However, it is the case that the valuation methodology for applying SFT varies between defined contribution and defined benefit schemes, as I have already outlined, due to differences between the schemes. An examination of SFT is under way and will consider, inter alia, the valuation methodologies for the SFT as well as options for simplifying the SFT regime. As always, equity across taxpayers and sectors remains an important consideration.
Tourist Accommodation
This morning, I want to raise again the issue of the use of hotel accommodation in response to the humanitarian issue of refugees fleeing Ukraine and other conflict zones and the impact that is having on the tourism sector, in rural areas where a lot of tourist accommodation is currently being contracted to the State.
I raised this issue with the Minister, Deputy Martin, probably almost a year ago and have been consistently raising the matter. The Minister is well briefed on the issue and Fáilte Ireland keeps her briefed on the issue in terms of the impact on the sector. Recently, Mr. Paul Kelly, the chief executive of Fáilte Ireland, raised concern over the continued use of hotel accommodation to house refugees.
While acknowledging there is a humanitarian response needed, that it is a deeply challenging situation for the State, and people need to be housed and have a roof over their head, for somebody from a rural area in County Mayo in the west, tourism is a major employer. Sometimes this is not appreciated. It puts food on the table, it pays the bills and it is a significant part of the local economy in rural areas. Having tourist accommodation available is hugely important, not only for the accommodation providers but for all of those knock-on industries - the pub, the coffee shop, the restaurant, recreational facilities, places where people go to do activities, etc. There is a whole industry built up around tourists coming to the region.
Our tourism is seasonal. It is not 12 months of the year, but from the St. Patrick's weekend right up until the October bank holiday weekend. That is when we get most of our tourists coming in. As I said, many smaller industries and businesses rely on that tourism and those people coming into the area.
We also rely on repeat business, and that is a really important element of this. We rely on new people coming to visit but, because they have such a good time in the likes of Mayo, in particular, in Westport, Achill and north Mayo, they come back year after year. If they do not get to come this year or next year, we are losing out on that potential repeat business as well.
According to Fáilte Ireland, 12% of registered tourist accommodation has been withdrawn for humanitarian purposes. That is the registered accommodation with Fáilte Ireland. There is much unregistered tourist accommodation that does not come under the remit of Fáilte Ireland. That figure will probably be higher in terms of what has been taken out of the available stock.
Fáilte Ireland estimates that between €750 million and €1.1 billion has been lost to the Irish economy because of the loss experienced by the tourism sector. It should be borne in mind that this is a sector that is still recovering from losses because of the Covid pandemic. While they are experiencing a surge in demand, things are going well and there is huge demand for accommodation, with people coming to visit from the UK, the US and across mainland Europe, nonetheless those businesses are still recovering from the recent Covid pandemic as well.
Acknowledging that this is a difficult situation and people have to go somewhere, what Fáilte Ireland is pushing for and what I am pushing for are alternative solutions, that the State put in place a properly funded specific provision for refugee accommodation and that we stop contracting with hotels. That needs to be the long-term plan: that we stop contracting with hotels and tourism business and that we get those beds back into the tourism sector because we need them back. The Minister committed to doing this a year ago. I have yet to see a detailed plan from the Department of tourism as to how the Minister, Deputy Martin, plans to achieve that. There has been a little bit of football going on back and forth. That is not the Minister's problem. That is the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman's problem. That is somebody else's problem.
That is why my Commencement matter was specifically relating to the tourism industry, the loss to that industry and the plans from that Department to get that accommodation back and to make sure that we have enough capacity to meet the demand that is there. I would like to see a plan from this Minister. There is an acceptance that we lost last year. We are heading into 2024 now. What is the plan for 2024? I asked this nearly a year ago. I still have not got that plan. What are we doing for the medium to long term to get that bed capacity back into the tourism sector?
I thank Senator Chambers for raising what is an important issue and I offer this response on behalf of the Minister for tourism, Deputy Martin, who is unable to be here today.
I will, first, attest to the many fine qualities of Mayo as a tourism destination, having holidayed there myself with my family on a number of occasions and always found it a brilliant place to holiday in.
The importance of the tourism sector, not only to Mayo but to the Irish economy and to communities in every corner of Ireland, is well understood by Government. The responsibility of the Minister for tourism is for the development of overall tourism policy and the sustainable development of the tourism sector. A key part of this is ensuring there is a balanced regional supply and an overall development of a broad mix of accommodation on offer.
The tourism sector continues to play a significant role in supporting the State's humanitarian effort in response to the unjust Russian war against Ukraine. Fáilte Ireland's analysis of the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth data shows that, in November 2023, as the Senator outlined, 12% of all registered tourist accommodation stock was under contract to the State, down from 13% in June 2023. An additional quantum of tourism-type accommodation that is not registered with Fáilte Ireland is also contracted to the State. On foot of this information, the Department of tourism has, at the senior officials group on Ukraine, which is led by the Department of the Taoiseach, communicated the potential challenges arising for the tourism ecosystem, especially in those parts of the country where high proportions of the tourist accommodation stock are directed to humanitarian purposes.
The Minister, Deputy Martin, is making up to €10 million available for a programme of supports targeted at tourism businesses experiencing particular challenges linked to the reduction in footfall in regions most impacted by tourism bed-stock displacement. This programme of supports includes investment in sustainable tourism development and promotion, industry digitalisation, promotion of domestic tourism and festivals, and recruitment and retention initiatives. The Minister recently approved Fáilte Ireland's proposal for a specific business support scheme for tourism activity and attraction businesses that have experienced particular trading challenges related to tourism bed-stock displacement. Fáilte Ireland is now working on the operational details of this scheme which it will explain to the sector at a webinar on 4 March.
As of January 2024, Mayo county has seen a substantial investment in tourism development and enhancement, with a range of projects and funding initiatives spanning various aspects of the industry. These initiatives include the development of state-of-the-art facilities for water-based activities at Keel Beach and Carrowmore, alongside an immersive heritage and cultural attraction at Westport Estate. Funding from Fáilte Ireland has also supported enhancements in destination towns such as Belmullet, outdoor dining schemes in Claremorris and Castlebar, as well as substantial investments in outdoor recreation infrastructure across the county. Moreover, Mayo's tourism businesses are benefiting from the Digital that Delivers programme, which aims to facilitate digital transformation within the industry, showcasing a comprehensive approach to bolstering Mayo's tourism appeal and infrastructure.
Furthermore, the Department of tourism hopes to publish in the next couple of months a new national tourism policy framework that will mainstream sustainability - environmental, economic and societal - across the entire tourism sector. The framework will shape how our tourism industry develops in the period to 2030. In this regard, while we want to see the sector grow, we want it to do so in a manner that is consistent with our broader sustainability targets and ensure Ireland will be a brand leader in sustainable tourism. Issues around accommodation stock will be considered as part of that new policy framework and subsequent action plan because you cannot have the environmental sustainability if the providers do not have the economic sustainability, which is the very point the Senator is raising.
When we look at the wider economy and the particular set of challenges facing the tourism industry, it is clear that a collective and concerted multi-stakeholder approach to tackling these challenges is required, and that is the approach the Department of tourism and the Government will continue to pursue.
I thank the Minister of State. I appreciate him delivering the response on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Martin, who seems quite reluctant at times to come into this Chamber despite numerous requests to do so.
I will pick up on a couple of points. I take the Minister of State's point about sustainability, but that is not really what I am talking about today. We are on a completely different topic but it is always nice to point out the positives happening in the Department as well and we, of course, support that work.
I am glad to hear that in the Minister's reply, she acknowledged the need for balanced regional supply. That is the crux of my problem here.
When we look at the areas that are most affected in terms of the levels of accommodation being taken out of the system, it is the part of the country where I live in the west of Ireland. It has more than shouldered its fair share. We want to respond to this issue. Last week, we stood in this Chamber and marked the second anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine and the illegal war perpetrated on those people and we, of course, continue to stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine. That is not in question but there needs to be fairness in our approach to how we deal with that response collectively as a country. We have spent decades building up our tourism sector and our offering in the west of Ireland. In the past couple of years, because of Government policy, it has been severely damaged and we are taking steps backwards. This is not acceptable. It is not fair and it is not just. Businesses are asking for a proper response from the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media as to how she is going to advocate for businesses in the west of Ireland and support the tourism sector.
What Fáilte Ireland has asked for are alternatives for accommodation as quickly as possible. It has been asking for this for the past two years but we will only see the details of some sort of plan next month. Regarding suggesting that a €10 million business support scheme is an appropriate response, it is derisory and miserable. It will do a little bit for some of the recreational businesses but it will not help the coffee shops, restaurants and pubs because they are not included, and this point has been made to the Minister going back months.
Regarding the lovely list of projects detailed by the Minister of State that have been delivered in County Mayo, I very much welcome those projects in Keel, Belmullet and Castlebar. They were not delivered by the Minister. They were delivered by the Government across multiple Departments and they are, of course, very welcome but we want tourists to come and visit and have somewhere to stay when they come to enjoy those recreational facilities. That is the point I am making. The Minister of State's response is wholly unacceptable. It does not meet the requirements of the industry, does not respond to any of the questions I have raised and leaves me with very little reassurance that there will be any real solution to the shortage of tourist accommodation in the west of Ireland for 2024. I would even question where we are going with regard to 2025.
The importance of the tourism sector to the Irish economy and communities across Ireland is understood well by Government. The role of the Minister, her Department and Fáilte Ireland is to support the tourism industry and work for the sustainable development of Ireland as a high-quality and competitive tourism destination. Fáilte Ireland provides a range of practical business supports to help tourism businesses better manage and market their products and services.
The Minister and the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment co-chair a hospitality and tourism forum that on a regular basis brings these important inter-related sectors together. The forum provides a platform for structured engagement between the tourism and hospitality sectors and relevant Government Departments where key issues can be discussed with a view to identifying practical solutions, which were raised by the Senator today. The forum met most recently on 24 January 2024. The impact of tourism accommodation displacement on the two sectors was among the items discussed.
While the increased cost of business scheme is not administered by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, it is still an overall Government support and both it and the announcement by the Minister for Finance of a reduction in the interest rate applying to warehoused tax debt to 0% are both of direct relevance and benefit to a wide range of businesses across the hospitality sector. I take on board the Senator's point about the limitations of that €10 million fund. It is better than not having it but that alone will not be a panacea for everything. I undertake to bring back the concerns expressed by the Senator relating to the tourism industry in Mayo to the Minister. We want to see that supported and developed into the future.
Sitting suspended at 11.34 a.m. and resumed at 12 noon.