The Order of Business is No. 1, motion regarding a proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing an EU talent pool, to be taken at 3.15 p.m. and to conclude after 60 minutes, if not previously concluded, with the time allocated to the opening remarks of the Minister not to exceed five minutes, group spokespersons not to exceed five minutes, time may be shared, all other Senators not to exceed five minutes and the Minister to be given no less than five minutes to reply to debate; and No. 2, Criminal Justice (Engagement of Children in Criminal Activity) Bill 2023 - Committee and Remaining Stages, to be taken at 4.15 p.m. or on the conclusion of No. 1, whichever is the later.
An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
I will take this opportunity to wish the President a very speedy recovery. As we know, he will be in hospital until Thursday. It is fair to say that he has solidified his role at the heart of Irish public life. Many of us are looking forward to seeing him back in Áras an Uachtaráin, continuing to deliver for us as Head of State. Having a parent unwell in hospital is not an easy thing.
Many of us have had that experience. It is particularly difficult when someone is high profile. We are thinking of our colleague, Senator Higgins, at this time.
I would like to pay tribute to somebody who was a very formative influence in my life, former councillor John O'Neill, who was buried yesterday. John spent 30 years in public life as a Newbridge town commissioner. As a Kildare county councillor he was mayor on a number of occasions. He was a very decent and honourable person and someone of the highest integrity. He was a very strong community man for his town of Newbridge. He had a huge love of sport. He played on the Newbridge Sarsfields team in the 1950s which, famously, won three county championships in a row. John was utterly devoted to his late wife, Betty, his late daughter, Fiona, and his son, Kieran, Kieran's wife Maggie and their two sons, Jonathan and Dane. I express to them our deepest sympathies. Not too many have three guards of honour at their funeral, but John had that yesterday, from Sarsfields, from the local coursing club and from the Fianna Fáil Party. It was an absolute pleasure to be in the guard of honour for John. It is important to mention him here today.
I also want to mention that a meeting of the education committee was held this morning. We met Down Syndrome Ireland, AsIAm and Inclusion Ireland regarding the new special education teacher, SET, allocation. There is a lot of confusion and contradiction but there is clarity when people know they will lose hours and teachers. I visited St. Patrick's Boys National School, Rathangan, yesterday, where five hours have been lost and because of that, the school is down an important and valued teacher for special education. I believe there should be a pause on this decision. This should not be about education alone because children's disability network teams, CDNTs, and assessment of needs are important. The proposed new system would be based on STEM results for children in second class around numeracy and literacy. What happens in the four years before children get to second class, in terms of assessment, if complex needs are discovered? Many children may do well in literacy and numeracy but may have other additional needs. They will be forgotten about. I call for a pause on this proposal at this point in time.
Before I discuss an issue, with the permission of the Leas-Chathaoirleach I would like to propose an amendment to the Order of Business today. I propose that No. 14 be taken before No. 1.
Yesterday, I met Mandy Kelly in my home town of Dundalk. I am conscious that I must make sure I temper my remarks with due process. I preface my remarks my noting I am keenly aware that this is a very complex issue. Mandy is someone we are all aware of through the media because her two children, Zayn and Kareem, who are Irish citizens, have been in Egypt since 2022. They went there on a family holiday with their mother. There is a fairly substantial custody battle, for want of a better word, involving two Irish citizens in Egypt who are now aged five and three. The Departments of Foreign Affairs and Justice are very well aware of this case. The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Micheál Martin, met Mandy before Christmas. The consular assistance provided to Mandy in Egypt when this occurred was very helpful and made an extraordinarily difficult situation easier. Mandy has obtained a High Court ruling to say that her two children, who are Irish citizens, should be returned to her as soon as possible. However, the advice at this point is for Mandy to enter the Egyptian court system to have her two sons returned to Ireland. That is not a feasible legal pathway.
I call for a debate about how stronger diplomatic relations can be fostered with countries, which are outside the EU, where there are instances of children staying in a country in which they do not belong or with which they do not have a connection and to which they have been taken on a family holiday with return flights booked. I will not get into the details of the terminology as I am conscientious with regard to the words I use in this House but, to be very blunt about it, these are two Irish children and citizens. They have no connection to Egypt. They were born in Ireland and went to school in Ireland and have been in Egypt since 2022. Their mother has had no contact with them whatsoever. I implore the Irish Government, and especially the Minister, Deputy Micheál Martin, to continue doing the important work he is doing diplomatically and behind the scenes to try to put as much pressure as possible on the Egyptian Government to get these two Irish citizens home as soon as possible.
I want to mention a matter today of considerable importance. The European Commission has imposed a lump sum fine of €2.5 million and a daily fine of €10,000 on Ireland for failure to transpose the Audiovisual Media Services directive. This House established a committee, after grave difficulty and resistance from some quarters in the permanent government of Ireland, the function of which was to oversee the implementation of directives. We have had a number of meetings of that committee and we have been almost constantly faced with a foot-dragging approach to giving us the details of those directives which are or are not properly transposed.
In this particular case, the primary legislation to transpose the directive was enacted by the Oireachtas and the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, who is the responsible Minister, pushed that through. The Commission has now found that failure to follow that up with guidelines and implementation procedures has amounted, in effect, to a failure by the Irish State to implement a European directive. The consequence of that is as follows. We have to pay €2.5 million to the EU and to pay a daily fine of €10,000. That is being forfeited by the Irish State because of the failure of that Department to implement the follow-up procedures which are required. In this context, the committee believed what it was being told about all of the difficulties which arose with regard to non-implementation but at no time were we alerted to this difficulty or impending fine which has now been imposed on Ireland.
Two consequences flow from that. One is that we should include in the terms of reference of the committee follow-on arrangements, which are necessary to ensure implementation of a directive. Second, we should do that by changing the Standing Orders of the committee to make it clear that we cannot have a situation where these types of situations are concealed from us.
I am proposing that tomorrow's meeting of the Committee on Parliamentary Privileges and Oversight, CPPO, should consider as a matter of urgency changing the Standing Orders of our committee and that this House, at the earliest available opportunity - I would even suggest Thursday - makes this Chamber available for a meeting of the committee so that the relevant officials who are responsible for this non-transposition are brought in, asked to deal with the matter and to explain what has happened.
I am asking for those things to be done. I know the CPPO agenda is not set by this House but by the committee itself. However, the urgency of this matter is demonstrated by the fact that by Thursday morning, €20,000 more will have been lost due to non-action by the Irish State. I am asking the Leader to ensure that when this House sets up a committee, we are not playing blind man's buff and being deceived by the Executive as to what is really happening behind the scenes with the failure of the Irish Government to implement directives, with the financial consequences for the Irish taxpayer.
I thank Senator McDowell for that contribution and for all the work he has done on the establishment of the Seanad Select Committee on Scrutiny of Draft EU-related Statutory Instruments. As a member and Vice-Chair of that committee, the proposals the Senator has made are important but the fact is this is costing the taxpayer money every hour.
The purpose of that committee was to save the taxpayer money, to catch legislation and directives that were not being transposed on time or, as we now find out, correctly. Broadening the remit of that committee serves the taxpayer and the citizens of this State better. That is a proposal worthy of the CPPO tomorrow.
Today, yet again I raise the issue of trolley numbers in UHL. It is not the first time for me, Senator Dooley and many other colleagues to raise this issue. I do not know if it is because we are so far from Dublin or what is going on, but we have the worst trolley numbers in the country by far. It is an old news story yet it is making the news again today. The hospital can take no more patients with more than 140 of them on trolleys. I have been on those trolleys a couple of times for nights on end. People are losing their lives because they are on trolleys. People are getting stressed out to the point that their ailments are becoming even worse.
I do not know what the Minister proposes to do, but we need to use our time here in the Seanad to call for an improvement in this. Ninety new beds are coming online, but we need more staff. He knows better than I do what is needed. I know we are the only region without a model 3 hospital, which definitely plays its part.
We closed the accident and emergency department in Ennis and we were promised we would get everything else instead. We have only one new primary healthcare unit in Ennis. I am constantly asking the Department when we will get the one in Ennistymon, east Clare and west Clare. No timelines have been given on any of them. What are we going to do? People are dying on trolleys every day in Limerick as a result of the Government's failing to sort this crisis out once and for all. It has been solved in other regions and why it cannot be solved in Limerick is beyond me.
We need to do more for the people. People are afraid of getting sick and having to go into the accident and emergency department in Limerick. We now have much better services in Ennis, but it is only 12 hours a day. After that people have no choice but to go to Limerick. Old people, especially, are very nervous about it. I spent a night on a trolley in UHL. I spent the whole night going around giving blankets and water to old people because they were not even getting those basic things. It is absolute chaos down there. I have been to hospitals in India where the situation is not as bad. This is a rich first-world country. Why do we have more than 140 people on trolleys in Limerick? What will the Minister do about it? We have to call this out.
I urge people in the other surrounding counties, Limerick and Tipperary, to make this call as well. Nenagh has also suffered but not to the extent of Clare because we have no choice but to go to UHL. In Tipperary there are other places where people can go. We need a model 3 hospital or we need the accident and emergency department reopened and we need our primary healthcare centres prioritised. I know we are far from Dublin, but we are a very proud people and we deserve the same services as everyone else in Ireland.
I ask for a debate in this House to allow the Minister for children to set out what he is doing regarding the expansion of early years places and what he is doing to look after the viability of existing services. Over the past three years, I and other colleagues have repeatedly highlighted in this House the dire shortage of early years places in this country, not only for those aged under one, but also for those aged between one and three. There are similar issues with preschool places. Even in Dublin's north inner city, one in four children cannot access a preschool place. We pleaded for the Minister to fund the establishment of new services. I am really glad to see that the Department has finally got around to publishing its plan. It has finally changed its tune. Where previously we were told there was no issue with supply, it has now belatedly acknowledged that there are shortages.
When I consider the €45 million building blocks programme the Minister announced before Christmas and has given more detail over recent weeks, we have to ask whom it is designed for. When I look at the detail, I see it is for expanding capacity through internal renovations and large-scale extensions to existing premises. Those are very specific commitments. I do not see any mention of the purchase or construction of new buildings. For whom is this scheme intended? What size of expansion of places is envisaged? I am really worried that the Department does not understand the shortage of early years spaces in many parts of Dublin or in many other urban centres where realistically many of those early years facilities, crèches and preschools do not have capacity to expand. We need the purchase or development of new buildings. Only new crèches on greenfield sites have that space to expand.
The context for these questions is the double whammy of an existing shortage in early years places in the main urban areas, as well as in rural areas, but also the potential closure of many preschools and small settings that is coming down the tracks in the next ten years. Women in particular who are in their 40s and going into their 50s and have been running preschools and early years places in recent years are now looking at their existing working conditions and wondering whether it is worth continuing. I have spent recent months speaking to ECCE providers. They are fed up because they have not seen a pay increase since 2010 and now face increasing pressures with regard to the change to the accounting year and the need to have certified accountants submit their accounts. There is no flexibility as to what they can charge and they are coming to an age when their kids are grown up. They are doing this for the love of the service rather than because they are making money, and they are wondering for how many more years they will keep going. We have to ask whether we value small settings. Do we want those small settings to continue within communities? Crucially, the current system rewards capacity. That plays into the hands of the much bigger operations and chains. We need to hear from the Minister as to who exactly he wants operating early years services. To my mind, it needs to be a mix. It needs to be those very small operations as well as the bigger operations. The design of the current schemes, however, rewards capacity and that will push those smaller places out of business.
Today, news has broken that Terence O'Rourke is set to be named as the new chair of the RTÉ board. I rise to express my frustration that there is still no chairperson of the Arts Council. On Friday, 1 December 2023, it was reported that the former chairperson, Kevin Rafter, would step down as chair of the Arts Council. He was a very good chair of the council over the past four years. His final meeting was on 14 December. I am sure the Department was aware of his departure well in advance of the public announcement. It is now March 2024 and there is no chairperson of the Arts Council, a State agency with a budget of €130 million. Members are aware that the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, has repeatedly stated that her relationship is with the chair. That begs the question as to whether there is a threat to the corporate governance of the bodies, organisations or agencies under her remit that are without a chair. Are those organisations experiencing the same level of poor communication we have seen in the relationship between RTÉ and the Department? Why has the Arts Council been without a chairperson for so long? Why are there so many vacancies on the boards of the national cultural institutions? According to a response issued on 31 January to my colleague, Deputy Ó Snodaigh, there are 31 board vacancies. Three other chairperson positions are vacant on boards that fall under the remit of the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin. I hope that does not point to indecision or organisational paralysis in the Department or by the Minister. I ask the Leader to invite the Minister for culture to the House to make a statement on appointments to State boards in order to avoid a situation of corporate governance in free fall.
I join with Senator Warfield in expressing my dissatisfaction at the failure of many Departments to appoint people to boards. We are all talking about corporate governance and ensuring that issues such as those that happened in RTÉ never happen again. The Shannon Foynes Port Company has been without a chair for several months. There are other institutions in a similar position. I ask the Leader to ask the Departments in question for a list of the bodies under their remit that have for far longer than appropriate been awaiting appointments to their board. Shannon Foynes Port Company is one such body to which a chair has not been appointed. That is an important decision.
The main point I wish to raise is to support colleagues who have called for a significant investigation into the operation of the acute hospital in Limerick. Notwithstanding what the Minister has done since coming into office, in increasing funding, bed capacity and staffing, the crisis continues. In fact, it has worsened.
I recall a time in the other House when the Minister of the day would be pilloried for having 35 people on trolleys. We now have 135 and it is rising. I do not think it is all political or all about money. I think there is something in the culture in the hospital that sees the situation worsen and deteriorate, which is having an enormous impact on patients and their families at a time when there has been an unprecedented level of investment. I know more is needed. This winter, it is worth noting that the trolley crisis, which we talk about every year, has not really been an issue in any other hospital to the extent that it has been in Limerick. Something is working everywhere else but the problem seems to continue to deteriorate, notwithstanding the significant investment. I think the only option is an entirely independent investigation into the operation of the hospital. Let it be direct and frank. Let it set out an identification of what the problems are. If there is a political dimension to it, let us stand and accept that. If there are other issues with culture, governance and certain staffing across the hospital, those need to be targeted too. I would welcome a debate with the Minister at the earliest opportunity in order that we can thrash out the framework, terms of reference and independent structure of that investigation.
I second the amendment by my colleague, Senator McGahon.
I too want to raise University Hospital Limerick. I concur with comments made by Senator Dooley about management of the hospital. At some point last year, Fine Gael had Private Members' business here with my other colleagues from the region, Senators Maria Byrne and Conway. Since then, nothing has got better. The Minister has put in extra funding but nothing has changed. It has actually got worse. There are more than 140 people on trolleys today, which is the second highest number in the history of the hospital. More beds have been put in place. Even if the 96-bed modular unit which is being talked about is put in, there would still be 50 people on trolleys. It is outrageous. In Clonmel, in Tipperary University Hospital, we built a 40-bed modular unit just two years ago and the trolley crisis in the hospital has dramatically reduced. Waterford is able to have very few people on trolleys.
As has been said, this is one of the first winters where we have not seen the yearly crisis of numbers on trolleys at a national level. There is something seriously wrong in University Hospital Limerick where more than 140 people have to be put on trolleys. People have died while on trolleys. It has got to the point, in my view, where the Minister has to personally intervene and, as has been suggested, set up an independent investigation into what is happening. We are at a point in Tipperary where people just do not go to University Hospital Limerick because there is no point. They are almost safer being at home than going to the hospital. While other hospitals seem to have been able to solve this problem over the winter period, University Hospital Limerick has not been able to do that. It certainly has not been able to give sufficient answers to us when we ask questions about why it has not been able to do it.
I call on the Minister for children in respect of Tusla's use of unregulated accommodation for vulnerable children and its handling of children entering Ireland from Ukraine and other war zones. It was reported by The Irish Times on 4 March that last year, over €70 million was paid to run unregulated accommodation for children in care in this country and €58 million of this amount went to ten private companies. These special emergency arrangements host more than 180 vulnerable minors at bed and breakfast accommodation or rented properties. One of the largest special emergency arrangement providers, Ideal Care Services, had stopped receiving child placements from Tusla after Garda vetting records had been altered and prospective employees' checks had been fabricated.
Another concern surrounds children entering Ireland from war zones. The Irish Times, on 10 May 2022, reported on children brought to Mayo by a charity that flew 91 Ukrainian children to Dublin from Poland, and while the parents of some of the children made the journey, 59 were unaccompanied minors. Lily Luzan, founder of the Castlebar-based charity, Candle of Grace, which facilitated this journey, acknowledged that the charity had not notified Tusla of the arrival of the unaccompanied minors. It is of paramount importance that charities or organisations, however well-meaning, are held to the standards of Irish law. Children fleeing war are particularly vulnerable. Candle of Grace should be further investigated by Tusla, especially given the organiser of the trip expressly stated in the article published by The Irish Times that she would continue to do this into the future. In 2022, five children were identified as suspected victims of trafficking, most for sexual exploitation, according to the recent IHREC evaluation report published in 2023.
Ireland must step up when it comes to the welfare and protection of children. I would like the Minister to come to the House to answer these very important questions. To my mind, he is letting down the children of this nation who are in State care and, actually, he should resign.
I am sure the Leader will join me in noting the fact this is a golden period for Irish athletics and, in particular, she might extend our congratulations to all of those athletes who performed so well at the World Athletics Indoor Championships, particularly our female athletes, who are doing this country very proud.
I echo the remarks of Senator O'Loughlin concerning the question of the reinstatement of pupils’ complex needs in the allocation of special education teaching hours. I am somewhat concerned by the changes the Department has made with regard to the removal of what are referred to as complex needs for the allocation of some of these hours, which can impact children with autism, ADHD and Down’s syndrome. While I appreciate this is only going to be in a minority of cases, it may have a specific impact on quite a number of schools and, in turn, on students. The Leader might ask the Minister to specifically clarify that issue.
We are facing a referendum this Friday and very serious issues are being debated. However, there is a lot of misinformation and disinformation being spread out there. I welcome the decision of the Electoral Commission today to call out the disinformation on certain posters. The one I have a bigger concern with is not the one that the Electoral Commission picked out, but people trying to introduce the issue of immigration into this referendum. I am voting “Yes” in both referendums. Nonetheless, I acknowledge that people have valid concerns, particularly on the care referendum, and Senator Tom Clonan has raised very legitimate concerns. However, he is being done a disservice by those who are trying to spread red herrings. I welcome the fact the Electoral Commission is calling out those red herrings.
It is a pity you would not-----
Order, Senator.
In terms of freedom of expression, there is a Senator here who regularly talks about misinformation. She is finally being called out and she should apologise.
I will address that later.
The time is up. I call Senator Boyhan.
I welcome the plans unveiled by the Minister, Deputy Simon Harris, with regard to encouraging Irish construction workers back to Ireland from abroad. The Minister, as part of his St. Patrick's Day visit to the UK next week, will meet Irish workers in the construction industry to discuss their concerns and the reasons they went in the first place to find alternative work. While we know many of the reasons are economic, we need to know the reasons they went away to get work in the construction industry and, more importantly, the reasons they may not return or what are the impediments to them returning to use their construction skills and experience in the construction of homes in this country.
Last week, I raised the issue of the many thousands of houses that are sitting on the drawing boards, tables and desks of An Bord Pleanála as part of the SHD process and, again, we still have not seen those numbers change.
Between the thousands of homes before the appeals board, the thousands in the pipeline and the many that are stuck at various stages of construction, there is great demand for Irish people who have skills in the construction sector to come back and bring them here.
I welcome the initiative of the Minister, Deputy Harris. I understand he was to brief the Cabinet earlier. I do not know how that went or whether he managed to get it done, given the busy schedule the Cabinet has, but he has clearly indicated his commitment to developing apprenticeships, which we must commend. It is important we look at on-site job training, craft apprenticeships and upskilling capacity, especially in the areas of alternative clean energies for construction, but it is even more important to build homes. I commend the Minister on his efforts. Will the Leader invite him to come before the House to elaborate on his plans and have a debate on the need to encourage Irish construction workers all over the world to consider the option of coming back to Ireland to support addressing the housing crisis in the construction sector?
I pay tribute to the students from Elphin Community College, County Roscommon, who recently went to the Junk Kouture world final. Up against 60 finalists from throughout the world, they came away with a major prize sponsored by Microsoft. The ladies, Vanessa Kielty, Mary McNulty and Martha Nugent, and their teacher, Susan Prendergast, should be highly commended. This small post-primary school in the west claimed one of those prizes on the world stage. It is extraordinary. The award they got was the Microsoft STEAM award for science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics. The company introduced the award to encourage more women in education to get involved in those subjects. It has been a great celebration, and while they have not yet got their award, they are getting an interview with Microsoft as well. I would like this House to send its good wishes to them. It was great for them to go Monaco and lift that award.
Continuing with education, we should all acknowledge the announcement by the Minister, Deputy Foley, of a new scheme to eliminate the cost of schoolbooks for junior cycle students in post-primary schools. The Minister has to be congratulated, irrespective of people’s different political views. She has been revolutionary in understanding the costs that are involved with schoolbooks. She first did this for primary schools and she is now delivering her promise to do it for post-primary schools. This is very important because the costs for parents are huge. In respect of the primary school initiative, many parents raised with me the fact that they no longer had this cost, and so many people with children in post-primary schools have been saying the same thing. We now see the start of this at post-primary level. I welcome the announcement from the Minister for Education.
I thank all the Senators who contributed to the Order of Business. Senator O'Loughlin wished President Michael D. Higgins a speedy recovery as he remains in hospital and spoke of our colleague Senator Higgins, who is a family member. We wish the President well in his recovery. Senator O'Loughlin also paid tribute to Councillor John O'Neill, who was buried yesterday having spent 30 years involved in local politics in Kildare. He was instrumental in Senator O'Loughlin's political journey. We extend our sympathies to John's family and friends and the community in Kildare.
Senator O'Loughlin also raised the issue of the SET allocation and the loss of hours in schools, as did Senator Malcolm Byrne. It is an ongoing challenge and the loss of even a handful of hours can have a huge impact on a school. We hope that will be reviewed by the Minister of State, with, as Senator O'Loughlin suggested, a pause perhaps put in place in respect of any further loss of hours until we can assess how we might best handle that situation.
Senator McGahon proposed an amendment to the Order of Business, namely, that No. 14 be taken before No. 1, which I am happy to accept. He also raised the issue of Mandy Kelly, whose plight was also raised in the Chamber last week by the Senator’s colleague in Louth. My heart goes out to Mandy, who has not seen her children since 2022.
It is a shocking situation for her and for her children, who are without their mother. I will certainly appeal to the Tánaiste to do everything he can to facilitate some sort of communication between Mandy and her children. Ultimately, we would like them to be returned to their mom and some co-parenting arrangement put in place between both parents for the benefit of their children.
Senators McDowell and Mark Daly raised the very important issue of the European Commission's fine of €2.5 million, and an ongoing fine of €10,000 per day, for the State's failure to adequately implement the audiovisual media services directive. As Senator McDowell pointed out, the legislation has passed through the Oireachtas but elements that were required to give effect to its operation have not been put in place, which is quite concerning. I commend the Seanad EU scrutiny committee on doing its job and proving its worth. It was a significant challenge to get that committee up and running. There was huge pushback from certain elements but notwithstanding that, the committee is up and running. I will certainly support the proposals to change Standing Orders at the CPPO. It is not within my remit to set the agenda of the CPPO but if correspondence is sent to that committee, it will be dealt with by the members. I am happy to make this Chamber available, through scheduling, to facilitate the committee's work. There is no difficulty with that from the perspective of my office. There would be space first thing tomorrow morning before Commencement Matters are taken or on Thursday afternoon. I will work with committee members and make sure that their work is facilitated at the earliest opportunity given the fact that the State is continuing to incur fines on a daily basis.
Senators Garvey, Dooley and Ahearn all raised the issue of University Hospital Limerick. UHL is probably the most consistently raised issue in this Chamber by members from right across the House. It is an ongoing challenge. I am not sure what is happening on the ground in hospital. There has been significant investment in increasing capacity and investment in terms of finances. The Minister has attended on site himself. While there is clearly something amiss there, it is not for the want of trying on the part of the Minister or of Members raising the issue consistently and keeping a light on it. I will certainly support all efforts to get that situation under control. If we compare the situation in UHL with the situation in Waterford, where things have really turned around, we can see what can be done when resources are made available and those resources are used properly. The situation can be turned around but questions need to be asked as to what is amiss in Limerick or what is different between the two sites. We must look at best practice elsewhere to try to address that particular issue.
Senator Sherlock raised the issue of childcare places and I completely share her concern with the direction of childcare policy. We are pushing and funding capacity through larger providers to the detriment of small providers. I have consistently raised this matter with the Minister. The Government set about trying to do three things in this area at the start of its term. The first was to reduce the costs for parents, the second was to increase capacity, and the third was to increase the level of service across the board, all of which it has done. However, an unintended consequence is that smaller providers are not surviving under the current policy. That is regrettable and needs to change. We need a mix. Parents need to have a choice. Not every parent wants to put their child into a large childcare service. Some do, and that is great but to remove choice from parents to accelerate the delivery of capacity is the wrong call, on balance. A lot has been done on childcare in the term of this Government and a huge amount has gone into the area. Parents say that they can really see the difference in their monthly bills - I certainly can - and that is great and to be commended. However, we will regret the day that we close the smaller providers. Lots of parents do not need full-time childcare. They just want somewhere for their children to go for early years education. Many parents will choose three hours per day and that is perfectly sufficient for their needs because one of them might be a stay-at-home parent or there may be a grandparent who is helping out. That should be facilitated and not penalised. We also have a job to do in respect of unregistered childcare providers who are providing an essential service. I refer to people minding children in their own homes, for example, and doing so on a word-of-mouth basis, without whom many parents would not have access to childcare. We have a lot done in this space and that is to be commended but we have to look at the long-term consequences of the policy that is being implemented to see if we can make improvements to it. It is essential that we do so in good time to make sure that the small providers continue to exist. I certainly share the Senator's concerns in that regard.
Senator Warfield raised the issue of the RTÉ board and I take on board his comments.
There was a particular impetus to get a chair in place at RTÉ. That issue needs to get sorted. It has gone on for far too long and leadership is required. We have a new board, with a new director general and a new chair. I hope that will put to bed the issues at RTÉ and start to restore public confidence in the national broadcaster. There are vacant board member positions in other organisations that need to be filled. There is probably not the same urgency with those because they have not dominated the political and public discussion for so long. The issue may be worthy of a Commencement matter, specifically on why the vacancy at the Arts Council persists.
I take on board what Senator Dooley said about the Shannon Foynes Port Company, which does not have a chair either. Leadership is essential in these organisations if they are to do the work they are supposed to do. Long gaps without having somebody in the chair's position is not good and the matter should not be left on the long finger. Even if Departments are busy with essential projects, appointing a chair should be prioritised. Senator Dooley, in raising Shannon Foynes Port, asked for a broader body of work to be done. He asked that we contact Departments to identify where the deadline for filling vacancies on different boards has been missed.
Senator Ahearn raised the issue of UHL and made some valid points. We would all concur with his remarks.
Senator Keogan raised the issue of children in care, as she has done on many occasions. She raised very important issues. We are dropping the ball in many circumstances. We have improved an awful lot. There is a lot more transparency than what there used to be. There is no doubt that the level of demand is not being met because there is so much demand and not enough resources to meet it. That is not to criticise Tusla because I think it is doing everything it can. Tusla has been plagued by legacy issues, even though it is doing some fantastically positive work now. Its social care team and social care workers work around the clock to provide a service to the children and families they look after. More staff are needed. There were difficulties with recruiting social care workers because we were not getting enough of them through the system. Tusla is trying to address that issue as well.
I am aware of the situation in Mayo mentioned by the Senator. When the children in question were brought into the county it put considerable pressure on the local Tusla organisation to respond and react because it was not informed in advance. It was made very clear to the organisation that that was not good. While the intentions may have been good, the way the issue was handled put serious pressure on local services. Tusla had to work hard to deal with that but it did so and it was very mindful of the vulnerability of the children coming in. That occurred in the early stages of the Ukraine war when we were all scrambling to do what we could but it is not the way to do it. State services need to be kept informed.
Senator Malcolm Byrne congratulated all the Irish athletes who took part in the World Athletics Indoor Championships. The Irish women's relay team did fantastically well. To come fifth on the world stage is an incredible achievement. It is onwards and upwards for all of the Irish athletes who competed and put Ireland on the map at the games. It was fantastic to watch our people in action.
I take the Senator's point on SET hours, which I addressed. He welcomed that the Electoral Commission has been calling out red herrings. The Electoral Commission does an important job. Its representatives appeared before the Joint Committee on European Union Affairs a fortnight ago. The Electoral Commission has a role to play in the area of misinformation and disinformation. Concerns have been raised around its ability to deal with issues and whether it teeth and powers. There is an important balance to be struck, however. People in public life, whether they are in government or not, should not mislead the public in any way by putting out misinformation or information that is not correct, even if there was no intention to deliberately mislead. There is an extra layer of responsibility on public representatives to be informed before they speak, and that goes for the Government as well as the Opposition. That is important because the two referendums are complicated in nature. Given the legal implications of passing them, there appears at times to be a lack of properly informed debate on both sides as to what the implications are. That is an important aspect to bear in mind because we have an audience that we speak to and who rely on us for accurate information, which is not always provided.
Senator Boyhan welcomed the work the Minister, Deputy Harris, has done to encourage Irish construction workers to come back to Ireland. We need anybody with a trade who is from Ireland but working abroad to come back because we have a big job of work to do to continue delivering homes for people in this country. We are really turning that around. The number of commencements and homes delivered is increasing every year but we need people in the construction industry to come back and work in Ireland. I, too, commend the Minister on his work and thank the Senator for raising this issue.
Finally, Senator Murphy mentioned a school in County Roscommon. It is fantastic for the students to get an accolade in a world final. Well done to the students, teachers and principal. The Senator said it was a small school in the west of Ireland. We have the best of schools, the same as anywhere else. It is a credit to the students to have been recognised for their work.
It is lovely to have them put on the record here today by Senator Murphy. I also concur with the remarks on the announcement today by the Minister for Education, Deputy Norma Foley, again tackling a very key issue for parents in reducing the cost of books. The cost of books is colossal, particularly at second level. If a family has more than one child in school, it is a big expense and a big pressure for parents. The Minister is tackling that now at junior cycle level and the aim ultimately is that books will be free across primary and second level. She has delivered free books at primary level and she is now making her way through second level as well. The Minister, and the Government overall, are to be commended on that work and on financing and supporting that. It is a positive news story on which to conclude the Order of Business.
Before I call Senator John McGahon, I welcome Na Déise men's shed from Waterford. You are most welcome and thank you all for coming to Seanad Éireann. I hope you enjoy your day here. Normally if we have a school tour we give them no homework for the rest of the week so I do not know what I will give you as a reward for coming to Seanad Éireann - more tea and a double allocation of cake and biscuits for everyone at your next meeting. I thank you all for coming here from Na Déise.
Senator John McGahon has proposed an amendment to the Order of Business, "That No. 14 be taken before No. 1." Is that agreed? Agreed.
Order of Business, as amended, agreed to.