Parliamentary questions

Beef Industry

Eugene Murphy

164. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if the 30-month age limit for beef production will be removed in a bid to help alleviate some of the difficulties and income crisis being experienced by the farming community as a result of the beef crisis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37769/19]

Beef Exports

Eugene Murphy

165. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the steps being taken by his Department and Bord Bia to establish new markets for Irish beef in non-EU countries; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37770/19]

Hospital Appointments Status

Eugene Murphy

327. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Health if an appointment for a person (details supplied) will be expedited. [36977/19]

Hospital Appointments Status

Eugene Murphy

339. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Health if a hospital appointment for a person (details supplied) will be expedited; the status of their position on the waiting list; when the person will receive an appointment date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37038/19]

Services for People with Disabilities

Eugene Murphy

420. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Health the number of children on a waiting list for the HSE Galway and Roscommon autism services to date in 2019, in tabular form; the average length of waiting periods; the numbers waiting in excess of 3, 6, 12 and 18 months respectively; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37400/19]

Services for People with Disabilities

Eugene Murphy

421. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Health the steps he is taking to address the lengthy waiting periods for children to access services through the HSE Galway and Roscommon autism services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37401/19]

Health Services Provision

Eugene Murphy

441. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Health the reason for the ongoing delays in relation to the approval of applications submitted to the health centre in Ballinasloe, County Galway under the HSE community ophthalmic services scheme for medical card patients in County Galway; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37574/19]

Health Services Data

Eugene Murphy

442. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Health the number of applications awaiting approval under the HSE community ophthalmic services scheme for medical card patients in counties Galway and Roscommon to date in 2019; the waiting period for the approval of applications under the scheme for medical card patients in the counties in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37575/19]

Turf Cutting Compensation Scheme Payments

Eugene Murphy

696. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the reason for the ongoing delays in issuing arrears to a person (details supplied) under the turf cutting compensation scheme in view of the fact they were informed the assessment was completed and successful and that payments would be backdated to 2011; if the matter will be expedited; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37009/19]

Turf Cutting Compensation Scheme Data

Eugene Murphy

697. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the number of applicants, and the amount in arrears still outstanding, by county, under the turf cutting compensation scheme in each of the years 2011 to 2018 and to date in 2019, in tabular form; the reason for the ongoing delays in issuing payments; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37032/19]

School Transport Provision

Eugene Murphy

253. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Education and Skills the reason school transport has been withdrawn from a school (details supplied) with effect from September 2019 in view of the fact it is still available for existing students; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34705/19]

School Transport Provision

Eugene Murphy

254. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Education and Skills if school transport will be provided for a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34706/19]

Orthodontic Services Provision

Eugene Murphy

1246. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Health if a person (details supplied) will be considered by the HSE for orthodontic treatment in view of the extenuating circumstances; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32341/19]

Abbey Theatre

Eugene Murphy

2206. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the reason work allocations to community-based organisations have ceased under the SEAI better energy warmer homes scheme due to an apparent funding shortage in view of the fact that CBOs have been working to the highest quality standards for many years and in further view of the fact that the Climate Action Plan 2019 includes ambitious plans to retrofit 500,000 homes by 2030; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32197/19]

Abbey Theatre

Eugene Murphy

2207. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the way in which it is planned to meet the target to retrofit 500,000 homes by 2030 if funding to the 13 community-based organisations that operate under the SEAI better energy warmer homes scheme has been reduced; his future plans for such CBOs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32201/19]

Abbey Theatre

Eugene Murphy

2210. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the level of funding allocated to the 13 CBOs nationally to retrofit and roll out the SEAI's better energy warmer homes scheme for 2018 and to date in 2019, in tabular form; the number of houses allocated to the 13 CBOS under the warmer homes scheme for 2018 and to date in 2019, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32222/19]

Abbey Theatre

Eugene Murphy

2214. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if the issue of reduced funding and lack of houses being allocated to community-based organisations which roll out the SEAI better energy warmer homes scheme will be addressed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32238/19]

Physiotherapy Provision

Eugene Murphy

180. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Health the number of children on the waiting list for physiotherapy services in County Galway in 2018 and to date in 2019, in tabular form; the average waiting time for children to access physiotherapy services in the county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28617/19]

Occupational Therapy Data

Eugene Murphy

184. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Health the number of children on the waiting list for occupational therapy in County Galway in 2018 and to date 2019, in tabular form; the average waiting time for children to access occupational therapy in the county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28625/19]

Speech and Language Therapy Data

Eugene Murphy

186. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Health the number of children on the waiting list for speech and language therapy in County Galway in 2018 and to date in 2019, in tabular form; the average waiting time for children to access speech and language therapy in the county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28627/19]

Apprenticeship Data

Eugene Murphy

131. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Education and Skills if equality of allowances for all apprenticeships in Budget 2020 will be allowed; the estimated cost in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28745/19]

Apprenticeship Data

Eugene Murphy

132. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of new apprenticeships developed since 2017 to date; the number of apprentices enrolled per apprenticeship programme developed since 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28746/19]

Apprenticeship Data

Eugene Murphy

133. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Education and Skills if all new apprenticeship programmes developed since 2017 will receive the same allowances for apprentices attending college as apprenticeships developed prior to 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28748/19]

Disability Allowance Applications

Eugene Murphy

346. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection when an application for a disability allowance by a person (details supplied) will be decided. [28323/19]

Autism Support Services

Eugene Murphy

51. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Health if a full review will be undertaken of services provided for children with Down's syndrome in County Roscommon in order to determine the number of therapists required to provide a service fit for purpose in relation to the improvement of fine motor skills, gross motor skills and speech therapy; if the recommendations of such a review will be implemented with immediate effect; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27451/19]

Hospital Services

Eugene Murphy

119. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Health the status of the plans to develop a medical rehabilitation unit at Roscommon University Hospital; the stage of the project; if the project has been included in the capital plan of the HSE for 2020; the timeframe for completion of works; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27967/19]

Trade Agreements

Eugene Murphy

16. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation if assurances will be given that she will not support imminent deals on Mercosur, which gives increased access to South American beef into Europe, in view of the fact it would seriously undermine an already vulnerable sector here; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26976/19]

Special Educational Needs Service Provision

Eugene Murphy

55. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide specialised educational facilities in mainstream secondary schools for the education of children with Down's syndrome similar to the ASD units provided for children with autism; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27205/19]

Special Educational Needs Service Provision

Eugene Murphy

56. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Education and Skills if the July provision scheme will be extended to all children with Down's syndrome in view of a recent High Court settlement (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27214/19]

Special Educational Needs Service Provision

Eugene Murphy

57. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Education and Skills the status of the work of the implementation group convened to consider the recommendations of the review by NCSE of the July provision grant scheme in particular the recommendation that an equitable national day activity scheme could be developed for all students with complex special educational needs including children with Down's syndrome; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27220/19]

Speech and Language Therapy Data

Eugene Murphy

117. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Health the number of speech therapists assigned to a service (details supplied) in County Roscommon; the number of children on the waiting list for speech therapy with the service to date; the average waiting time for children to access speech therapy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27208/19]

Health Services Data

Eugene Murphy

119. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Health the number of physiotherapists assigned to the school age services in County Roscommon; the number of children on the waiting list for physiotherapy with the school age services to date; the average waiting time for children to access physiotherapy with the services in the county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27216/19]

Health Services Data

Eugene Murphy

120. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Health the number of occupational therapists assigned to school age services in County Roscommon; the number of children on the waiting list for occupational therapy with the school age services to date; the average waiting time for children to access occupational therapy with the services in the county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27217/19]

Childcare Services

Eugene Murphy

233. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs her plans in place to address the downturn in numbers of children attending community sessional playschools in north-east County Galway in view of the fact that sustainability issues will be further exacerbated in October 2019 when the national childcare scheme launches; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27395/19]

Childcare Services

Eugene Murphy

236. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs her plans to create a pilot partnership between full daycare and playschools by which children who use their ECCE place in one service could be transported to another service for afternoon care, which would require public funding to purchase a vehicle or hire a local transport service in a bid to address sustainability issues for rural community playschools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27443/19]

Childcare Services Funding

Eugene Murphy

237. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if capital build funding will be provided for baby, toddler and school aged childcare places in rural areas (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27445/19]

Credit Unions

Eugene Murphy

127. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Finance if the policy that is set to increase the industry funding levy on credit unions from approximately €1.5 million per annum to approximately €7.8 million by the end of 2022 will be reversed to take into account the societal impact of credit unions when calculating the regulation activity levy in view of the fact that credit unions are not for profit, community based and volunteer led; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26735/19]

Medical Aids and Appliances Provision

Eugene Murphy

422. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Health if the FreeStyle Libre flash glucose monitoring technology will be made available for all persons with type 1 diabetes; his plans to ensure survey findings by an organisation (details supplied) are considered as part of a HSE review in view of the quality of life improvement for the individual and cost savings resulting from the reduction in blood glucose strip usage by users of the device; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26401/19]

Beef Data and Genomics Programme

Eugene Murphy

569. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason an average of 21 participants per week have dropped out of the beef data genomics programme during the first four months of 2019 with unclaimed funding rising to €9 million per year; his views on whether the strict conditions are proving prohibitive and unattractive for farmers that are leaving the scheme in such large numbers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26887/19]

Trade Agreements

Eugene Murphy

570. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if beef from the United States of America (details supplied) will be hormone free; the terms of the new agreement between Europe and the United States of America; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26917/19]

Home Help Service

Eugene Murphy

328. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Health the number of persons approved but still on a waiting list for home support services in counties Galway and Roscommon to date; the number of applications received for home support services in the counties to date; the number of applications in both counties which will now be restricted due to the freeze on receiving new applications in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24936/19]

Hospital Waiting Lists Data

Eugene Murphy

440. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Health the number of persons on the ENT outpatient waiting list at Roscommon County Hospital in each of the years 2016 to 2018 and to date in 2019, in tabular form; the average waiting period by triage category; the steps being taken to address the waiting periods; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25358/19]

Primary Medical Certificates Data

Eugene Murphy

441. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Health the number of applications for primary medical certificates in counties Roscommon and Galway to date; the number of applications awaiting assessment in both counties to date; the waiting period in both counties for primary medical certificate applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25360/19]

Occupational Therapy Waiting Lists

Eugene Murphy

448. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Health the number of persons waiting to access occupational therapy adult services in County Roscommon to date; the number on waiting lists for priority one, two and three cases, respectively; the number of children waiting to access occupational therapy children’s services in the county; the average waiting periods; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25373/19]

Electoral Reform

Eugene Murphy

658. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government if he will consider putting plans in place to ensure that no other referendum is held on the same date as local elections in the future in view of the confusion and significant level of spoilt votes in the 2019 elections; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25038/19]

Electoral Reform

Eugene Murphy

659. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the steps that will be taken to address the significant number of blank and spoilt ballot papers in the local and European elections 2019; if he will consider introducing an information programme to explain the format to the voting public; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25039/19]

Civil Defence

Eugene Murphy

16. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence if the decision which will prevent the Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council from issuing medical certificates to Civil Defence personnel from August 2019 will be reversed in view of the fact that this will have a detrimental effect on local community and social events particularly in rural Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24360/19]

Postal Voting

Eugene Murphy

100. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence if his attention has been drawn to the fact that a number of Army personnel did not receive their postal votes for the most recent elections and referendum. [23752/19]

Postal Voting

Eugene Murphy

113. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the number of Army personnel who may have lost their right to vote due to the fact their ballot papers did not arrive in time for the recent local and European elections and the divorce referendum. [23750/19]

Postal Voting

Eugene Murphy

114. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the number of Army personnel who did not receive ballot papers in time to cast their votes in the recent local and European elections and the divorce referendum. [23751/19]