Parliamentary questions

Social Welfare Payments

Gino Kenny

129. Deputy Gino Kenny asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will examine the possibility of ceasing her Department's current policy of removing persons from the fuel allowance qualification if their income increases marginally especially given the current energy cost crisis; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34962/22]

Social Welfare Payments

Gino Kenny

331. Deputy Gino Kenny asked the Minister for Social Protection the way in which the signature of a person can be provided in order to avail of social welfare supports in cases in which the person is unconscious and critically ill in hospital; the contingencies that are in place in these instances; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38177/22]

Cannabis for Medicinal Use

Gino Kenny

82. Deputy Gino Kenny asked the Minister for Health if he acknowledges that the medical cannabis access programme, MCAP, is not fulfilling its potential given that only 12 persons have been registered on the MCAP, the limitations to date and the programme’s upcoming clinical review. [38141/22]

Health Services Staff

Gino Kenny

88. Deputy Gino Kenny asked the Minister for Health the steps that he has taken to ensure that an organisation (details supplied) is granted the pay parity with their laboratory colleagues that they have been seeking for 21 years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37645/22]

Hospital Overcrowding

Gino Kenny

107. Deputy Gino Kenny asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the fact that an organisation (details supplied) is consulting its members on taking industrial action on overcrowding in the country’s emergency departments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37646/22]

Abortion Services

Gino Kenny

135. Deputy Gino Kenny asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the fact that Ireland’s abortion laws have been described by members of the United Nations Human Rights Committee as inhumane and discriminatory; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37648/22]

Covid-19 Pandemic

Gino Kenny

138. Deputy Gino Kenny asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the recent call by an organisation (details supplied) for ventilation in hospitals to be examined to ensure the safety of nurses and midwives in their workplaces; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37647/22]

Thalidomide Victims Compensation

Gino Kenny

139. Deputy Gino Kenny asked the Minister for Health if he has met with thalidomide survivors; the steps that he will take in relation to the serious issues affecting them; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37649/22]

Substance Misuse

Gino Kenny

967. Deputy Gino Kenny asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to a recently published report from the Health Research Board, National Drug Treatment Reporting System: 2015-2021 Drug Treatment Data, showing rapidly increasing drug use in Ireland; and if he will consider a different legal approach based on decriminalisation. [35957/22]

Anti-Racism Measures

Gino Kenny

140. Deputy Gino Kenny asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth when the national action plan against racism will be published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36738/22]

Disability Services

Gino Kenny

146. Deputy Gino Kenny asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if his attention has been drawn to a research report published on 29 June 2022 by an organisation (details supplied) which found that 52% of respondents said at least one of the persons they care for are currently on a waiting list for services; the actions that he will take to address this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36737/22]

Immigration Policy

Gino Kenny

29. Deputy Gino Kenny asked the Minister for Justice if she will amend the regularisation of the long-term undocumented migrants scheme to ensure those who are unsuccessful in their application to the scheme will not suffer targeting and deportation as a result of their attempt to get documented; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35958/22]

An Garda Síochána

Gino Kenny

47. Deputy Gino Kenny asked the Minister for Justice if her attention has been drawn to a report submitted to the United Nations by an organisation (details supplied) highlighting the case of a person who was killed by gardaí, the unacceptable delays in the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission investigation into their death and recommending that the investigation include consideration of issues of race and discrimination; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35956/22]

Traveller Community

Gino Kenny

54. Deputy Gino Kenny asked the Minister for Justice if her attention has been drawn to the Irish Travellers’ Access to Justice Launch Landmark Report published recently by the University of Limerick that found that Travellers’ trust in the Irish criminal justice system is extremely low and that fears of wrongful arrest, excessive use of force, wrongful conviction, disproportionately high sentences and wrongful imprisonment frame the way that Travellers engage with and experience the criminal justice system; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35955/22]

Public Inquiries

Gino Kenny

61. Deputy Gino Kenny asked the Minister for Justice if she will indicate her support for a public inquiry into the death of a person (details supplied) in a hit-and-run near their home in Monaghan over ten years ago; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35959/22]

Departmental Policies

Gino Kenny

73. Deputy Gino Kenny asked the Minister for Defence his vision for Ireland’s ultimate future role in European defence projects; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34164/22]

Special Educational Needs

Gino Kenny

602. Deputy Gino Kenny asked the Minister for Education if her attention has been drawn to the many schools that are required by her Department to open an ASD unit that will not have any staff members with specialised qualifications to cater for students in the unit; if her attention has been drawn to the many teachers who applied for the Graduate Diploma in Education of Pupils on the Autism Spectrum in Dublin City University for the next academic year who have not been successful in securing a place as the university could only award 18 places for which there were 80 applicants; if there are plans to increase graduate diploma places; the other educational supports and opportunities that will be provided to teachers in order that they can meet the needs of pupils on the autism spectrum in primary and post-primary schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33870/22]

Disability Services

Gino Kenny

815. Deputy Gino Kenny asked the Minister for Health the status of the disability capacity review; if the review will be published before budget 2023; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34003/22]

Foreign Policy

Gino Kenny

100. Deputy Gino Kenny asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will provide an update to the Houses of the Oireachtas on any engagement he has had with the European Union or the Polish Government on the ban on abortion in Poland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33165/22]

Human Rights

Gino Kenny

105. Deputy Gino Kenny asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if his attention has been drawn to a recent report published by Observatory of Multinationals in Latin America, SumOfUs and the Latin America Solidarity Centre that has highlighted serious socio-environmental impacts and human rights violations arising from Smurfit Kappa’s operations in Colombia; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33162/22]