I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, to the House and thank her for being here.
Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters
Agriculture Schemes
I welcome the Minister of State and thank the Cathaoirleach for selecting this Commencement debate on the agri-climate rural environment scheme, ACRES.
As the Minister of State will be fully aware, ACRES provides a very important injection of money for Irish farmers. It is a €1.5 billion flagship agri-environment scheme and a successor to a number of previous schemes, including REPS, GLAS and AEOS, which have been hugely successful in promoting good environmental practice among farmers. The uptake of all these schemes has been high, and ACRES is no exception. On that basis, I compliment the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, and the Government on ensuring the scheme got up and running and so many farmers have been accepted into it. I have no doubt that the results of the scheme, on its conclusion, will show it has been successful in enhancing the environment on farms and in waterways across rural Ireland and increasing habitat protection.
The one thing worse than not giving something to somebody is giving them something and taking it back. Unfortunately, advance payments were made earlier this year and in some cases farmers have had to pay back €2,000 or €3,000 of the €5,000 originally paid. That has left a bad taste in their mouths regarding the scheme. It is an administrative issue as there has been an administrative failure in relation to the scheme. Not only were cheques issued and letters sent stating that some of the money could be withdrawn but it took a long time for letters to be sent explaining why farmers had to repay money. There was some confusion.
I have dealt with one particular case - thankfully, the outcome was successful - where a farmer had the €5,000 lodged in the bank and then had their pension reviewed. A simple analysis of profit and loss based on the payment resulted in their pension being reduced by nearly €50. Subsequently, the farmer received a letter requiring that they pay back all but €1,300 of the €5,000, which meant €3,700 had to be repaid. Thankfully, their pension was restored but that was the consequence. Administratively, there have been issues with this scheme.
As I said, I compliment the Government on securing the funding, initiating the scheme, engaging with the European Commission, and having the foresight to note delays in the scheme and make advance payments. Unfortunately, the calculation of the advance payments has been way off and has resulted in farmers having to repay money. An overpayment was made to 6,975 recipients of interim payments. I would call it a miscalculation rather than an overpayment. They received advance money and when the scoring, which took time, was done they were deemed to have been overpaid. Figures show that some 62% of recipients had to repay between €100 and €2,000 and 28% had to pay back between €2,000 and €4,000.
That is a significant portion of the money they received in advance. Why was it that so much had to be repaid? Why was there such a miscalculation?
I will start by apologising for being late to the House.
There is no need, Minister.
I thank Senator Kyne for his opening contribution. I am taking this Commencement matter on behalf of the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, who wishes to thank the Senator for raising this important issue. It gives me an opportunity to update our colleagues in Seanad Éireann on the agri-climate rural environment scheme, known locally as ACRES.
As the Senator correctly said, ACRES is the flagship agri-environment scheme provided under Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan 2023-2027, with an increased environmental ambition, as required under the new Common Agricultural Policy. There are a number of new and innovative elements, such as the scaling up of results-based actions from the locally led approach under the European Innovation Partnerships to a national results-based scheme. There was significant interest from farmers in the scheme, and the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, responded to that interest by ensuring that all valid applications were accepted. The result is that we now have just under 55,000 active participants in the scheme.
The ambitious and complex nature of ACRES, with the availability of two approaches and the incorporation of results-based payments, has created opportunities for farmers to greatly improve environmental outcomes. It has also created challenges in the first year of implementation of the scheme. The Minister has endeavoured to address those challenges as they arose. While advance payments had issued to almost 20,000 participants by mid-February 2024, when it became evident that there would be delays in making further payments, the Minister arranged for the issue of interim payments to all those affected. The objective behind this unprecedented move by the Minister was to alleviate financial difficulties being experienced at all times. The outcome of this was that by the middle of March of this year, virtually all ACRES tranche 1 participants had received an advance payment or flat-rate interim payment of either €4,000 or €5,000. These interim payments represented the majority of, or in some cases exceeded, the total ACRES payments due for the year.
Participants were also advised that if their final overall ACRES payment in respect of 2024 was calculated to be greater than the value of the interim payment, the balance would issue to them. They were also advised that if the value of the interim payment was higher than the final ACRES payment, the overpayment would be recouped by the Department. Balancing payments commenced in mid-June and to date, 40,973 participants have had their claims fully processed for the 2023 scheme year, with the processing of payments for the remaining contracts continuing.
In terms of overpayments or what the Senator rightly called miscalculating, the current position is that 8,673 participants are in an overpayment situation. This represents 40% of all of those participants who received an interim payment and whose balancing payments have been fully processed. Letters have issued to those in an overpayment situation. The Minister has ensured, in the interests of providing as much flexibility as possible, that a range of options is available to the affected participants to facilitate making the repayment in a way that best suits them, including deferring their next ACRES payment.
I thank the Minister of State. That is an increase now, in fact, in the numbers that are required to repay. The number of those in an overpayment situation is now up to 8,673. There would obviously be a number of those in Galway within significant areas of commonage, special areas of conservation, SACs, and natural heritage areas, NHAs. Therefore, we would have been under the co-operation programme. It has left a bad taste in the mouth alongside what is a very good news story in terms of the injection of cash.
There were delays first. The Minister meant well in providing advance payments, which I know were welcome at the time, but people then had to repay money without back-up information as to why. They did not have the scoring. They received a cheque, and then they were told they had been overpaid and received letters to say this is why. An administrative issue has caused problems. I certainly hope we can get to the bottom of it and get this situation sorted, and that every flexibility is provided to farmers to repay the moneys that were provided by the Department based on its miscalculation.
I thank the Senator for providing the opportunity to discuss this important topic. I reiterate the environmental ambition of ACRES, with Ireland leading the way among other member states in rolling out a national results-based scheme. The first year of such ambitious schemes brings with it complexities and challenges. The Government regrets delays that have been experienced by many participants in receiving their payments. As I outlined, however, the Minister has put a measure in place for those challenges for the second year.
I take on board exactly what the Senator is saying. As much flexibility as possible is needed. We must understand that, at the end of the day, farming is a challenging career and flexibility with repayment is important. This level of ambition also brings significant long-term opportunities. For example, there is an opportunity for ACRES co-operation programme, CP, participants to increase their level of payment over the course of the scheme through the deployment of non-productive investment and landscape actions. The Minister encourages participants in the ACRES co-operation programme to engage with their ACRES advisers to explore opportunities to increase the environmental status of their lands, raise their scores and in turn potentially increase their core ACRES payment. Over 91% of tranche 1 participants have now had their first year payment fully processed.
Health Services Staff
Last night at 5.20 p.m. I received a telephone call confirming that the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, would not be taking this Commencement matter. I am not surprised by that, but I want to express my appreciation that the Minister of State has come into the House to deal with the matter this morning.
Last week, I listened to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, general secretary, Ms Phil Ní Sheaghdha, on "Morning Ireland". She was speaking after attending the Joint Committee on Health the previous day when she outlined significant nursing staff shortages across our health service. Among the stark facts she revealed at that committee meeting were that 120 cancer patients per day are not getting the treatment they need because four cancer treatment machines are not being used due to staff shortages. She also referred to one maternity hospital that was staffed for 5,000 births but was actually dealing with 8,000 births per year. She was at pains to point out that this does not constitute safe staffing.
On 31 December 2023, there were 2,000 outstanding nursing vacancies on the HSE system. In July of this year, those vacancies were wiped from the system, effectively cancelled. The HSE decided that all outstanding posts that had not being physically filled were cancelled. Ms Ní Sheaghdha also maintained that the staff moratorium has not been lifted in practice. Instead of a moratorium, the HSE has imposed ceilings and caps on recruitment that do not take account of the need for safe staffing or patient demand. Crucially, she also highlighted that directors of nursing have been stripped of their authority to actually make recruitment decisions. The INMO, at the health committee last week, called for a commitment to develop a multi-annual workforce plan and immediately grow the nursing and midwife workforce by a minimum of 2,000 whole-time equivalents annually for the next three years. In the short term, it called for the HSE to end the recruitment moratorium for safety critical nurses and midwives and fill all funded posts, including those not filled but vacant in December 2023.
I anticipate that the Minister of State is going to tell me about the number of additional nurses who have been hired, and that is fine. However, saying that we are increasing the workforce without outlining the actual staffing numbers that are needed does not solve the shortage. This is a shortage that is creating dangerous working conditions for both staff and patients on the ground.
I noticed a comment yesterday from the INMO representative in Cork. The assistant director of industrial relations for the southern region stated: "Despite their best efforts to ensure safe care, our members are facing overwhelming patient numbers in the Emergency Department, further compounded by a staffing shortage worsened by the HSE’s ongoing recruitment freeze." Mr. Kevin Figgis of SIPTU, which also represents large numbers of nursing staff, last week asked the following with regard to those 2,000 posts: "were the posts that went unfilled in 2023 fully funded? And, if they were, where was that money spent?" The Minister of State might be able to answer that question for me. Mr Figgis went on to say:
We believe the failure to fill these posts will continue to place severe pressure on healthcare workers to provide a safe service. The provision of timely and safe care is now an afterthought.
I come from Limerick. As the Minister of State knows, we have had an ongoing health crisis there for a number of years. One of the key aspects is again the shortage of staffing, which was confirmed to me by the INMO. We know the consequences of those shortages of staffing all too well in Limerick.
Just last week a lady was told she was 165th in the queue to get bloods taken and that she would be waiting some considerable time. There is evidence of staff shortages, right there. The INMO has taken industrial action not for more money but because of the staff shortage crisis. Will the Minister of State give commitments on how the staff shortage crisis will be tackled by the Government? When will this moratorium be lifted in practice?
I thank the Senator for raising this important matter. It is important for me to say I have been given my script by the Department of Health on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, who apologises for not being able to be here.
The Government is hugely committed to supporting the nursing and midwifery workforce and has provided for an unprecedented level of investment throughout its term, which has enabled the delivery of a record expansion of the HSE workforce. Growth in the number of staff in our health service has never been so high, with recruitment in 2023 being the highest since the foundation of the HSE. As of August 2024, there were 27,901 more staff working in the HSE than there were at the beginning of 2020, an increase of 23%. This expansion includes 9,375 additional nurses and midwives. There is now a total of 47,584 nurses working in our public health service. The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland, NMBI, reports that there are more nurses and midwives on the register than ever before, an increase of 4% on the previous year. In fact, OECD data show that Ireland has more practising nurses per 1,000 population than nearly all other countries in Europe, second only to Finland.
In terms of supply, we have increased the number of undergraduate nursing and midwifery places by 32% since 2019, with plans to increase places further to support workforce sustainability in line with our projections. While it is the case that there was a recruitment pause for a number of months, it was a necessary step in ensuring appropriate control measures were in place, due to recruitment that had exceeded what was budgeted for. Throughout the pause, derogations were in place that allowed for continued recruitment in the nursing workforce in key areas. The pause ended this summer after the Minister for Health reached an historic agreement with the Minister for public expenditure, which delivered an unprecedented €1.5 billion additional funding for the HSE in 2024, part of which allowed for the funding and regularisation of the previously unfunded roles recruited in excess of budget 2023, and those recruited during Covid, equating to 4,000 jobs. In addition, the Minister for Health secured funding for the recruitment of an additional 4,210 staff for the HSE in 2024, which includes another significant expansion of the nursing workforce.
The INMO claims there are nursing shortages. However, the Government has provided €56 million to implement the framework for safe nurse staffing and skill mix in our acute hospitals based on patient requirements. The framework details optimal nurse numbers that apply in medical and surgical wards, as well as emergency departments. More than 1,500 additional nurses have been hired to support the framework and an additional 500 hires are in train for 2024. Once these 500 staff members are in place, the estimated baseline numbers will be reached. While the Department fully accepts there are areas where more staff may be required, the mechanisms exist whereby this need can be met. The Government has consistently evidenced its commitment to supporting nurses and midwives. It has presided over the largest increase in workforce in the history of our health service and has invested record sums in its development.
I thank the Minister of State. I appreciate why she said it was a script she had been handed. I will repeat what she said a few moments ago. She said the INMO claims there are nursing shortages. Any Minister should accept there are nursing shortages and, further on in the statement, the Minister of State effectively did so. The INMO has been trying to make progress through the HSE. It has asked for a Workplace Relations Commission meeting. The HSE has been offered four dates and has refused all of them. The INMO is now taking industrial action because of the extent of the crisis. Quoting figures on the number of additional nurses is not addressing the issue. The issue is that safe staffing arrangements are not in place in our hospital network. The issue is that 2,000 nursing vacancies were wiped off the system by the Minister. It was not a recruitment pause, it was a moratorium. Patients' lives are at risk. The INMO is taking industrial action not for self-gain but to defend our hospital system. Frankly, the response handed to the Minister for State is entirely inadequate and unacceptable.
Again, I thank the Senator. It is important to reiterate the Government's commitment to nursing and midwifery. Through the Government's record investment, our health service workforce has expanded exponentially since the beginning of 2020. There are 27,901 more staff in total, with the largest portion of this figure made up of nurses and midwives, amounting to 9,375. Despite this incredible increase, we continue to expand our nursing and midwifery workforce this year and next year, with an increase of 500 posts for this year to allow us to achieve the estimated baseline figures outlined by the safe staffing framework. The INMO has claimed the workforce ceiling is a recruitment pause by another name. This simply is not the case. As I have outlined, there is funding for a further 4,210 staff to be recruited this year. It is normal and correct that publicly funded organisations operate with appropriate control.
Legislative Measures
I thank the Minister of State for taking the time to deal with this Commencement matter this morning. I was very disappointed to learn the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, has decided to drop the incitement, or hate speech, sections of the Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022. We can all agree that our legislation is not fit for purpose and we are seeing a dangerous and disturbing rise in intolerance, intimidation and violence against minority communities. The Garda reported a 12% increase in the number of hate crime and hate-related incidents between 2022 and 2023. It seems that now is the time to put robust hate crime legislation in place. This means amending the legislation where amendments are needed and not scrapping the hate speech section of the Bill.
There has been time to bring forward amendments, yet progress on the Bill has been stalled. The Coalition Against Hate Crime has also expressed its disappointment that, after years of hard work, the Minister has decided not to bring hate speech legislation forward. The coalition is made up of 23 civil engagement groups representing the people who are most likely to be targeted by hatred. The coalition calls on the Government to move quickly to ensure this long overdue legislation is debated and passed urgently and to resist any attempt to weaken the protections.
When I look for consultation and consensus on hate crime legislation, I look at the people who are most affected by hate crime legislation. These are the brave people who are people of colour, Traveller people, disabled people and LGBTQI+ people who get up every morning, now more than ever, in this country and go about their daily lives with no protections in place. They are the people I am looking to for consensus. They are the people I think the Minister for Justice should look to for consensus. No disrespect to any politician in any House, but she should not look to the white upper-class politicians who are not impacted by incitement to hatred, racism, discrimination or being attacked on the street just because of their identity. I am well aware there have been numerous attacks on politicians in the past year. Of course, I am totally against this. I am speaking about hate crime and people being attacked because of their identity.
The hate speech part of the legislation is very important. What are the Minister's thoughts on consensus? I understand it is coming from politicians but Dr. Ebun Joseph said that leaving out hate speech from the legislation sends out a message that words that harm and divide are not taken seriously.
I can tell the Minister of State, as I said earlier, that people from the Traveller community, people of colour and disabled people take these words extremely seriously. As she knows, verbal abuse can lead to physical abuse. I will not go into the nuts and bolts of it. When we talk about consensus, we cannot wait for good, robust hate crime legislation. We have seen it in the streets every single day in the past year or year and a half with the rise of the far right. We must protect everybody. I understand it is about the violence of hate or attacking somebody but hate speech is equally important.
I thank the Senator for raising this matter. I am responding on behalf of the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee. Ireland is, in general, a diverse and welcoming country but there are people living here who live in fear simply because of who they are - their identity. The Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill had been due to repeal and replace the hate speech provisions in the Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act 1989 and legislate for hate crimes for the first time by creating new, aggravated forms of certain existing criminal offences, where those offences are motivated by prejudice against a protected characteristic. As the Senator will be aware, the Minister will propose a series of Committee Stage amendments in the Seanad to remove the parts of the Bill that deal with incitement to violence or hatred and proceed only with the elements that deal with hate crime. The Minister is removing the incitement to violence or hatred elements on which there is a lack of consensus in the Houses so that the Bill can progress with the hate crime elements. Drafting of amendments will be undertaken by the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel. Under the revised proposal, the Bill will still provide for increased prison sentences for certain crimes where proven to be motivated by the hatred or where hatred is demonstrated. For example, the legislation will ensure that assault or damage to property aggravated by hatred will attract higher prison sentences. Where hatred is not proven, a person can still be charged with assault or damage to property. The most recent statistics from An Garda Síochána show that reported hate crimes increased last year by 7.5% to 548 incidents, with the most prevalent discriminatory motive being race 36%, followed by anti-nationality 18%. In 2022, reported hate crimes increased by 29% over the previous year. These figures show legislation for hate crime is needed.
It is unacceptable that people are targeted and live in fear simply because of who they are. When this happens, it has a more detrimental impact on the person than on victims of non-hate-motivated crimes. We want to tell victims we are determined to stamp out hate-motivated crimes and that, as a nation, we are determined to protect vulnerable communities. The 1989 Act will remain in force and incitement to hatred will not be dealt with in the amended Bill. While there was strong consensus in the Dáil on incitement to violence or hatred provisions, including proposals from the Opposition to expand these further, that was lost. The Minister said previously that some degree of consensus is needed and the justice committee could usefully look at this issue again. The Minister intends to bring the amended Bill through the Houses in due course.
The Minister sat in that seat back when we discussed the Bill in 2023. Her words were, "You can still be offensive". Along with the amendments in the Bill as it stands now, without the Minister scrapping the incitement of hate speech, it was still okay to be offensive. People could still be racist or offensive but targeting and calling somebody names, running after them on the street or what we see on social media is hate speech. It is disappointing for me and for the Coalition Against Hate Crime to see a complete U-turn by the Government all out of fear of the far right. If we want to protect people, politicians and our streets, we need hate crime legislation that works for everybody. The Minister sat there and told us in this House that the 1989 hate crime legislation was not fit for purpose and that this legislation, which she put in front of us in 2023, was more up to date and fit today's society. It is regrettable for people from communities like mine, people of colour and disabled people, who are still verbally attacked on our streets today. I know it is not the Minister of State's fault. I thank her for coming in today. An answer is better than not having one. It is something we can work on.
I appreciate the Senator's interest and contribution. The Minister for Justice wants to be clear; Ireland must update its incitement to hatred legislation. If this requires further discussion and debate to reach consensus on how we do this effectively, she is prepared to examine the issues with a view to finding a way forward. While that is happening, we cannot ignore the fact that we need hate crime laws. Ireland is one of the last countries in the EU to legislate for hate crimes. The most recent figures from An Garda Síochána confirm the need for legislation. All-Ireland research by the University of Limerick and Queen's University published in December last year found that more than two thirds of those surveyed were in favour of hate crime legislation. The Minister will bring the Bill back to the Seanad in due course. She will work with her colleagues across both Houses to legislate for hate crimes and to bring much-needed protection to vulnerable communities, as the Senator clearly outlined. That said, the Minister is on the record saying our current incitement of hatred legislation is not strong enough and this is a matter that will need to be revisited. There are quite entrenched views in this area. She is not naive enough to think that there will full consensus but some consensus is required. There is work to be done before we can progress these elements.
Civil Registration Service
I thank the Minister of State for taking the Commencement matter. She will agree that the work civil registration offices do daily to register births, deaths and marriages is invaluable. The staff in all of these offices are to be commended on the work they do. She will also agree with the importance of this essential service being located in areas that are easily accessible to the public and do not place an undue burden on the public when seeking to access such services, especially given the sensitivities around registering deaths and the importance of timely registration of births to access support payments. Two locations are designated for civil registrations in County Waterford: Dungarvan and Waterford city. However, it has come to my attention that the Dungarvan office is temporarily closed and the Waterford city office has had its opening hours reduced to three days a week due to staffing constraints. This is having a serious impact on the public in Waterford. It is not an acceptable situating to me as a public representative. If I was to close my constituency office in Dungarvan and restrict the opening hours of my constituency office in Waterford city to three days a week, I would not be providing a sufficient service to the public. That is the case at the moment with regards to civil registration.
For the purpose of this Commencement matter, I went online to book an appointment to register a birth in counties Wexford, Kilkenny and Tipperary. I was able to get an appointment this week or early next week in all of those locations. However, in Waterford, the earliest appointment I could get was 26 November, seven weeks away. That is not a tenable situation. The same goes for registering a death, which is even more sensitive. If I did this in Wexford, Kilkenny or Tipperary, I could get an appointment tomorrow whereas in Waterford, the earliest appointment is 19 November, six weeks away. Again, this is an untenable situation. It does not take a genius to figure out that an office in Dungarvan is going to be closed temporarily, there will be an additional strain on the office in the Waterford city. To have that reduced in tandem to three days a week is not working.
It is not acceptable that the temporary redeployment of staff to ensure a sufficient service has not happened. It should not take me raising it in Seanad Éireann for human resources to effect this change. When I raised the matter with the office for the general register, the response I received was that in line with HSE recruitment policy, it has sought to backfill its vacant positions in both Dungarvan and Waterford but that with the current HSE recruitment restrictions, this is still in progress. The response continued that if the office receives approval to do so, it will proceed with recruitment, training and reinstatement of services. It noted that while the office had explored all options to provide cross-cover regionally, with current staffing levels it was not possible to provide previous levels of service.
I do not believe that sufficient effort has been made to provide that cross-cover regionally because if I can access an appointment in Kilkenny, Wexford or Tipperary tomorrow, and I cannot do so for six or seven weeks in Waterford, that is not providing cross-cover regionally. It also seems bizarre that the HSE is responsible for staffing this service, whereas the Department of Social Protection is in charge of civil registrations on the whole. This has to be addressed urgently. While I understand there have been some developments in registering births online literally in recent weeks, that is not the case for deaths. It is not acceptable that people in Waterford have to wait so long. This staffing issue needs to be addressed. If it means taking staff from other locations to fill the void in the short term while recruitment is ongoing, that needs to happen and it needs to start today.
I see the matter was addressed to the Minister for Social Protection-----
It is actually health.
I do not know on whose behalf I am answering but I will answer it as it has been scripted for me. I thank the Senator for raising this matter. The civil registration service is an important service. There is a legal requirement on every person to notify the service of births, marriages and deaths that occur in the State and to do this in a timely manner. When a birth is registered, it automatically results in the allocation of a PPS number. This number is unique to each person and becomes the basis for identity and all other services delivered by the Department of Social Protection and other public bodies.
Registration data collected and recorded by the service allows for the compilation of vital statistics and the making of population and related projections by the Central Statistics Office. Data is used for economic, social and infrastructural planning, as well as providing a reliable and consistent data source for other Departments, public bodies, and institutions engaged in the provision of services, the management of public health and research. The civil registration service operates under the aegis of the Department of Social Protection. The General Register Office holds records of life events: births, deaths, marriages, civil partnerships, stillbirths and adoptions in Ireland. It also holds several sets of records relating to life events that are historic in nature.
Under the Act, local registration services are provided by the HSE through the civil registration service with offices situated locally delivering registration services directly to the public. I would like to take this opportunity to advise the House about the development of a new online birth registration service put in place by the Department of Social Protection as a consequence of the enactment of the Civil Registration (Electronic Registration) Act 2024 earlier this year. The new online service makes use of technology to provide a more flexible civil registration process and will be of value to parents of newborn children who may find it more convenient to use an online service to register the birth of their child.
This online service builds and expands on the temporary measures introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic, which permitted births and deaths to be registered without a person having to attend at a civil registration office. The new online birth registration service will be available to persons who have an authenticated standard authentication framework environment, SAFE, identity following verification of their identity through the Department of Social Protection’s SAFE registration process and who have a verified MyGovID account.
Once the parent has completed the online birth registration he or she will be provided with a link to the HSE website, certificates.ie, in order to order a paper certificate. The Department of Social Protection estimates that the number of births registered online could be in the order of 26,000 per year. This is a provisional figure based on demographics and the average annual birth rate of approximately 58,000. In time, the online service, following further development work, will be available to register marriages online and to enable the next-of-kin of a deceased person to register a death online. These reforms are also about giving people greater flexibility when it comes to registering major life events and are designed to bring Ireland in line with practices in place in other countries.
The existing process of in-person registration for births and deaths will remain in place for those persons who wish to avail of it and as I mentioned at the outset, the local civil registration service is responsible for providing an in-person registration service to the public at a network of nationwide local offices that is provided and maintained by the HSE. These offices are operated by registrars, who are appointed by the HSE and overseen by a superintendent registrar who is appointed by the HSE to manage each registration area. We are just getting to the crux of it, Chair, with his flexibility. The superintendent registrar has control over the opening hours and staffing levels for each local office in their area. The Department of Social Protection does not have any role in the staffing arrangements of the local registration service as this is a matter for the HSE. However, the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, will bring the matter raised by the Senator about the staffing of these offices in Dungarvan and Waterford to the attention of our ministerial colleague with responsibility for the HSE, Deputy Donnelly.
I thank the Minister of State for her response but unfortunately it does not address the matter sufficiently. This is a staffing issue, yes. For some bizarre reason, the HSE is responsible for the staffing in these offices even though civil registration is actually under the remit of the Department of Social Protection. In the first line of her response, the Minister of State mentioned registration in a timely manner. That cannot happen in the Waterford offices at present.
First, it cannot happen it in Dungarvan and west Waterford because the office is closed temporarily and second, it cannot happen in Waterford city because it has been restricted to three days a week. What has to happen here, and it does not take a rocket scientist to figure it out, is that some staff need to be redeployed into the Waterford area to manage it while the recruitment process is ongoing. That is the responsibility of human resources and it should not take me raising it on the floor of the Seanad for that to happen. I ask the Minister of State who, given her role, has a leg in a couple of Departments, to take this up for me with the Minister, Deputy Donnelly.
Absolutely. The Senator saw me trying to figure out which Minister I was answering for at the beginning. The answer I received from the Department of Social Protection clearly tells me the process involved in it. It also clearly tells us how they are trying to move to that digital space to make it more flexible, timely and everything else. It is also important to have that choice. I will, of course, bring it back to the Minister, Deputy Donnelly.
I note the Senator's suggestions on an interim solution while recruitment is taking place in the Waterford office and while whatever matters are happening in Dungarvan are being prioritised. When people lose a loved one, trying to find mygov.ie and to do things online is an approach that lacks compassion. A person-centred approach is paramount. The people who work in those office are amazing people and they have great expertise in dealing with people with trauma. I will certainly bring it back to the Minister.
Cuireadh an Seanad ar fionraí ar 11.19 a.m. agus cuireadh tús leis arís ar 11.34 a.m.
Sitting suspended at 11.19 a.m. and resumed at 11.34 a.m.