Wednesday, 17 Jan 2018

Written Answers Nos. 140-145

Mental Health Services

Questions (140)

James Browne

Question:

140. Deputy James Browne asked the Minister for Health when a roadmap for out-of-hours access to mental health services will be published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2356/18]

Written answers

Minister of State at the Department of Health

The 2017 Mental Health Division Operational Plan committed the Mental Health Division of the HSE to “Improving 7 day responses in Mental Health Services through increased capacity in Community Services”. The Division assigned a Service Improvement Lead to progress the initiative. The HSE has advised us that they initially mapped the entire 114 Adult Mental Teams to determine the existing level of 7/7 service provision. The results of this exercise showed that there is currently approximately 60% coverage across the 9 Community Healthcare Organisations of 7/7 cover comprising of a combination of Assertive Outreach, Home Based Treatment Teams and Nurse provided cover.

The HSE then estimated the level of resources required to provide a 7/7 service across the service. As a result of this exercise €4.5 million was granted for the recruitment of staff, facilities and non-staffing costs associated with the enhanced Service which will initially be for known service users.

A consultation process with all 9 CHOs took place to agree staffing numbers and professions and the HSE is now in the process of recruiting the additional staff indicated. The HSE are also developing a more detailed model of care and set of key performance indicators to assess the value and impact of a 7/7 Service which they expect will inform the development of 24/7 Mental Health Services including Crisis Intervention.

The recruitment process for the additional staff has commenced and given the recruitment timelines the HSE expects that the enhanced 7/7 Services will commence on a phased basis from April/May this year.

Hospital Facilities

Questions (141)

Tony McLoughlin

Question:

141. Deputy Tony McLoughlin asked the Minister for Health when the national review of the provision of catheterisation laboratories throughout the country, which was undertaken by the HSE, will be completed; when permission will be given to fund the fixed cardiac catheterisation laboratory service at Sligo University Hospital to serve the north-west region; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2358/18]

Written answers

Minister for Health

The HSE Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) programme has advised that it is preparing a report of the review of Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PPCI) and Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) centres, which looked at services and issues that need to be addressed to maintain the current services.

It might also be of interest to note that I have recently initiated a National Review of Specialist Cardiac Services, which has a much broader remit than the ACS review and will cover scheduled and unscheduled hospital-based services for the diagnosis and treatment of cardiac disease. The Steering Group for this National Review has now been established and the first meeting will occur on the 31 January 2018. It aims to report within 12-18 months. The needs of Sligo University Hospital will be considered in the context of this national review.

GLAS Payments

Questions (142)

Michael Healy-Rae

Question:

142. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the status of a GLAS payment for a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2139/18]

Written answers

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

The person named was approved into GLAS 1 with a contract commencement date of 1 October 2015. Payments in respect of 2015 and the 2016 advance payment have been made.

An inspection of the GLAS actions was carried out which found an issue with one of the actions chosen. This issue has now been resolved. This case has now passed validations and the 2016 balance payment will issue shortly.  

Aquaculture Licence Applications

Questions (143)

Tom Neville

Question:

143. Deputy Tom Neville asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if licences will be renewed for persons (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2150/18]

Written answers

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

The applications referred to by the Deputy are on behalf of Sneem Fishermen’s Cooperative Society Ltd (which includes the individuals referred to by the Deputy).

The relevant sites are located within Kenmare Bay which is designated as a Special Area of Conservation under the EU Habitats Directive (Natura 2000 site).

All applications in ‘Natura’ areas are required to be appropriately assessed for the purpose of environmental compliance with the EU Birds and/or Habitats Directives.  An Appropriate Assessment has been carried out by the Marine Institute in respect of Kenmare Bay Special Area of Conservation.  My Department has prepared an Appropriate Assessment Conclusion Statement which outlines how it is proposed to licence aquaculture in Kenmare Bay Special Area of Conservation in compliance with the Habitats Directive.  This Conclusion Statement is available on the Department’s website.

In addition to Natura requirements, under EU Environmental Impact Assessment Directives all licence applications must undergo an Environmental Impact Screening Assessment.  This requires significant input from my Department’s scientific and technical advisors.  All applications, in compliance with the requirements of the applicable legislation, are advertised in order to facilitate public consultation, and submissions or observations received must be considered as part of the licence determination process.

While the Appropriate Assessment is carried out on a bay-wide basis, each licence application within the bay must be assessed individually. 

Every effort is being made to expedite the determination of this aquaculture licence application having regard to all the complexities involved.

Forestry Data

Questions (144)

Michael Fitzmaurice

Question:

144. Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of hectares of private forestry in each county that his Department is funding (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2191/18]

Written answers

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

My Department compiles a number of different afforestation statistics annually which are made available on my Department's website including statistics on the area of land planted in each county that is or has been in receipt of the Afforestation Grant and Premium Scheme, or previous schemes. 

While the statistics for a number of years are available on the website, a synopsis (in hectares) of the years 2007 to 2016 is outlined in the following table.

County	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Carlow	42.54	49.38	47.37	100.31	20.99	72.50	44.32	15.44	82.35	45.72
Cavan	299.86	197.23	260.28	242.66	204.22	171.16	210.06	240.93	276.77	425.07
Clare	668.56	695.41	563.53	521.22	484.08	480.31	347.38	419.67	567.90	552.00
Cork	1,024.44	1,006.06	798.51	1,157.34	1,035.41	1,040.88	672.05	690.45	662.95	608.08
Donegal	320.78	197.43	172.38	147.16	59.37	96.40	39.63	27.96	72.09	36.15
Dublin	17.72	10.90	0.00	0.00	1.28	19.96	0.00	12.10	8.42	2.75
Galway	403.31	234.76	318.39	561.29	299.53	336.31	418.54	386.69	431.73	331.14
Kerry	548.71	478.37	555.52	735.52	641.14	366.32	489.80	574.48	430.38	404.98
Kildare	78.51	17.09	111.09	86.23	101.34	185.75	47.79	89.51	28.62	13.49
Kilkenny	229.11	196.66	203.40	523.12	291.77	294.15	217.63	230.92	264.41	181.34
Laois	144.12	177.76	93.08	178.49	94.82	193.23	112.11	167.90	198.24	163.35
Leitrim	190.64	167.22	179.27	176.21	324.98	277.77	356.02	271.91	512.90	433.78
Limerick	372.58	440.74	329.44	410.75	380.89	281.43	242.57	122.05	176.81	328.80
Longford	123.55	85.83	87.11	242.59	173.78	177.86	255.32	225.13	286.15	272.01
Louth	55.23	65.27	65.13	46.30	19.39	51.05	26.21	0.00	22.39	39.84
Mayo	401.55	344.33	474.29	543.81	288.78	293.43	343.38	453.22	454.99	428.55
Meath	42.07	88.90	130.18	251.58	90.03	203.00	191.81	66.58	73.34	104.73
Monaghan	69.75	56.44	87.91	139.99	70.19	106.52	92.67	136.86	37.92	88.83
Offaly	135.15	242.04	323.68	279.13	268.43	263.07	174.35	127.51	156.26	135.76
Roscommon	309.03	315.23	370.10	360.16	288.00	251.73	431.17	448.78	334.35	435.04
Sligo	204.85	132.20	232.85	81.57	86.87	180.41	354.20	382.16	268.13	301.73
Tipperary	546.46	464.65	455.09	531.54	493.85	459.64	409.72	329.80	340.77	305.14
Waterford	310.01	155.72	245.21	264.36	203.98	128.19	137.85	121.64	125.29	240.13
Westmeath	140.92	145.11	199.61	202.80	250.81	271.37	241.36	236.40	204.14	281.48
Wexford	177.70	102.40	181.80	426.39	307.70	201.43	228.72	159.75	128.17	89.29
Wicklow	89.44	114.71	127.89	99.67	109.09	187.86	164.35	218.57	138.81	250.62
Total	6,946.59	6,181.84	6,613.11	8,310.19	6,590.72	6,591.73	6,249.01	6,156.41	6,284.28	6,499.80

 

Forestry Data

Questions (145)

Michael Fitzmaurice

Question:

145. Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of hectares of forestry owned by Coillte in each county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2192/18]

Written answers

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Coillte is the State forestry company, which was established in 1989, pursuant to the Forestry Act 1988, at which time the bulk of the State’s forest properties were vested in the company.

Coillte has provided the following table which shows lands owned or managed by Coillte, whether forested or not, by county:

County	Total Area(Hectares)
Carlow	3,781
Cavan	8,702
Clare	25,895
Cork	49,916
Donegal	42,165
Dublin	1,980
Galway	43,885
Kerry	21,549
Kildare	3,884
Kilkenny	10,847
Laois	16,402
Leitrim	14,518
Limerick	13,592
Longford	3,386
Louth	1,705
Mayo	39,669
Meath	1,674
Monaghan	3,314
Offaly	9,715
Roscommon	10,436
Sligo	14,646
Tipperary	33,033
Waterford	19,477
Westmeath	5,344
Wexford	8,963
Wicklow	30,220
Total	438,698

I understand that Coillte’s forest estate is divided into 321 different forest properties which are organised into six Business Area Units (BAUs), a map of which, showing the component counties, may be found on the company’s website at http://www.coillte.ie/our-forests/public-goods/forest-plans/