The programme for Government contains a commitment to "establish an independent patient advocacy service", clarifies that the Government considers "Open Disclosure as an essential component of patient safety" and refers to "the recommendations of the Madden Commission on Patient Safety". The Minister may have seen the reports about a whistleblower in Limerick who has made serious allegations about superbug infections that have caused deaths, but without this being reflected on death certificates. The whistleblower in question, who has spoken to Deputy Niall Collins, alerted HIQA about this matter as long ago as 2014. Unfortunately, she feels she has been isolated, bullied and harassed by hospital management since these issues were raised and these serious allegations were made. If patients have died as a result of infections and this information has been withheld from the coroner, there needs to be an independent investigation. Will the Minister indicate to me when the patient advocacy service will be established? Can he confirm that the whistleblower's allegations will be independently investigated and that the whistleblower will get the supports required under the relevant legislation in this area?
Questions on Promised Legislation
I understand that the disclosure mentioned by the Deputy is being investigated by the Minister for Health. As Deputy Howlin will confirm, very serious obligations arise when people are informed about matters of this nature. It would be totally unlawful if someone were "isolated, bullied and harassed" in the manner indicated by Deputy Martin. It would be in breach of the law. I am not in a position to comment on the case in question. I will have to come back to the Deputy on the establishment of the patient advocacy service because I do not have those details to hand.
There is a long paragraph on the establishment of the service in the programme for Government, but that might not mean anything.
Ba mhaith liom ceist a chur ar an Aire faoin Bhille um fhoréigean baile. I would like to ask the Minister about the consolidated domestic violence Bill. The report of the Femicide Watch project, Behind Closed Doors, revealed last week that 209 women and 16 children were killed by men, most of whom were either the current or former partners of the women or the fathers of the children, between 1996 and 2016. As we know, domestic violence is a life and death issue for those who suffer it every day of every week. As many as 4,000 women and children are being accommodated on a yearly basis in emergency refuge accommodation. Like other Members of the Dáil, I have raised this issue consistently. Frankly, we are fed up of listening to platitudes about supporting the victims of domestic violence. The consolidated domestic violence Bill has still not been published. The absence of any firm Government commitment to increase funding for domestic violence refuges, step-down accommodation and other support services is extremely worrying. The Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government does not include the number of adults and children in Tusla domestic violence refuges in its monthly homeless reports. Will the Minister give the House a commitment that all relevant data will be collected and included in the departmental monthly homeless figures? When will the consolidated domestic violence Bill be published?
I understand it is hoped that the Bill will be published before Christmas. It is on the priority list. I will refer the wider issue of how people who are in emergency accommodation as a result of domestic violence are accounted for in data collection to the Ministers responsible because I do not have an answer.
What is the status of the promised legislation to combat online bullying and harassment? The Minister will be aware of the report of the Law Reform Commission on harmful communications and digital safety. As Minister for Education and Skills, he is in a particular position to understand how damaging this whole issue is for young people in particular. The Law Reform Commission recommended the establishment of an online regulator - a digital safety commissioner. When will we see draft legislation in this regard? Is it a priority to deal with the whole area of harassment and online bullying?
I am not aware that specific promised legislation has been committed to on that, although I will get back to the Deputy. On the wider issue, I am acutely aware of online bullying as a source of particular distress. In the Department, we are reviewing our well-being programmes and our anti-bullying guidelines to make sure we properly use the resources available to maximum effect and that we have robust anti-bullying strategies in place.
I want to ask about the Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2016. We will be debating another aspect of planning and development tomorrow but this Bill relates to the recommendations from the Mahon tribunal. In recommendation No. 9, Mahon recommends that there is a requirement to identify relevant political donations when making planning applications. This is a very urgent issue. We spent €150 million from the coffers of this State on the Mahon tribunal. All of the other amendments to this Bill facilitate developers but this one gives effect to the outcome of the Mahon tribunal, which led to very serious accusations against many politicians.
I note with interest and with very grave trepidation that we may see the return of Bertie Ahern. We need to shore up legislation quickly to ensure, before these benches are filled with Bertie Ahern, Ray Burke and possibly even P. Flynn-----
He might come back.
-----that we have the relevant legislation in place that will curtail the brown envelope brigade of both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, and their historical legacy.
Bertie Ahern brought peace to this country. The Deputy might remember that.
Order. Deputy Smith's time is up.
Mahon makes that one recommendation. We need to act on it because €150 million of the State's money was spent on getting this recommendation from Mahon and it has not seen the light of day.
We are talking about a former Taoiseach.
Deputy Smith should resume her seat. The time is up.
Can we please have it see the light of day before the others return to these Chambers?
The time is up. I call the Minister.
I find myself now, for the second week in a row, having to ask the AAA-PBP to withdraw the statements it has just made about Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, and also to remember there is a time-honoured tradition in this House that we do not talk about people who are not here to defend themselves. The Deputy might do it in her neck of the woods but we do not do it around here.
It is a political charge. I call the Minister.
I will not be withdrawing that statement. It is a statement of fact.
That legislation is already in the Seanad.
It is only because of the trepidation that we feel.
Order, please. I call Deputy Mattie McGrath.
I am very anxious. I am just expressing my anxiety.
I will try not to make Deputy Smith anxious. I wish to raise concerns around the Courts Bill 2016, which proposes to have eviction and repossession cases returned to the Circuit Court, where we know they have failed. The Circuit Court is not fit for purpose and many cases are dealt with by county registrars with no experience in the Judiciary.
The nonsense has been put around by many barristers in the Law Library and, indeed, by some of them in this House, that this will save families extra money. It is total nonsense and is not true. We have to be very careful. Some 8,000 cases have now been held up or have collapsed. The Courts Bill, which intends to change that, cannot be backdated in order to prosecute all of those people. There are 200,000 empty properties due to the banks and evictions. We are looking in the wrong place with the housing crisis. We need to look at what is happening with the banks and the courts. This new Bill needs to be amended.
That Bill is already on Committee Stage so there will be an opportunity for the Deputy to contribute.
I want to ask about the progression of the legislative and other measures in the national sexual health strategy which was introduced by the Minister, Deputy Varadkar. Tomorrow is world AIDS day. We are now in the middle of a HIV crisis in this country, and the HIV rate is higher than at any time in the 1980s or 1990s.
Among men who have sex with men, the rate is 10.6 per 100,000 whereas the EU average is only 6.3 per 100,000. Does the Government want to advance the recommendations from the community and other groups that pre-exposure prophylaxis be made available generally to halt the rate of increase in infection? This has been done in other jurisdictions. Will the Government be able to fund the Know Now rapid HIV testing system which the gay community wants to use to help address this crisis? Why is there a delay in implementing the health strategy in the face of the HIV crisis?
This year we have provided for an increase of €900 million in the health budget. That will be devoted to implementing the national health strategy. Everyone is aware of the serious increase in HIV incidence. I have no doubt that will be one of the areas to which that money is devoted. This is a strategy for several years and funding for it will be provided in the future as it has been this year. It does not require specific legislation.
I understand that a memorandum went to Cabinet yesterday about an Opposition Bill, the thirty-fifth amendment of the Constitution (Irish Water to be retained in public ownership) Bill, which relates to our water supply. Given that we are supposed to have new politics, will the Minister send that memorandum to me, as the proposer of the Bill, and to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, which will be discussing it?
Is this an Opposition Bill on a referendum in respect of-----
It is the thirty-fifth amendment of the constitution (Irish Water to be retained in public ownership) Bill.
We have just established a committee to evaluate that. The matter is coming forward for the committee to consider. I am sure the Bill will be considered in the context of the committee’s work.
Will the memorandum be sent to the proposer of the Bill? This is supposed to be new politics.
On a point of order, my understanding was that the order from the Oireachtas did not include that the committee consider the prospect of holding a referendum as part of its work. It is exclusively to consider the financing arrangements. Will the Minister check that out, particularly as I think this should be included in the work of the committee?
The points have been made and the Minister will come back to both Deputies on that matter.
He should come back to all of us.
Can I have a copy of the memorandum that went to Cabinet yesterday?
The Minister will communicate with the Deputies.
People are waiting for up to two years for cataract procedures at Cork University Hospital. Can the Minister for Health operate the Sligo model in Cork University Hospital because the people of Kerry are disenfranchised and have to wait much too long? They will be blind for Christmas and for the next two years if these procedures are not rolled out.
It is for the hospitals to develop models and to draw on examples of successful practice. The Minister is providing €900 million extra in the health service funding. Under the confidence-and-supply agreement with Fianna Fáil, the National Treatment Purchase Fund approach will be reintroduced. This will allow patients who are waiting considerable periods to get access to treatment on a private basis.
The national maternity strategy - one of the various commitments relating to improving our health service in the programme for Government - launched earlier this year. This was followed by a report on midwifery numbers which suggested that in order to implement the report, we have to move to a midwife-to-birth ratio of 1:29.5. The latter would require the appointment of an additional 450 midwives. Next Monday, strike action will be initiated at Mayo University Hospital. The midwives there will be going on strike for an hour to begin with, followed by a work-to-rule because of the severe shortage of midwives, ongoing clinical risk to mothers and babies and what they say are unworkable working conditions. Given that strike action is pending within the week and that it will continue, when is the Minister for Health going to hire the additional midwives required under the strategy, which the Government launched, and in the report following that? A total of 450 midwives are required.
It is very clear that the Government is committed to increasing the number of midwives in the service and has already been doing so steadily. The level is the highest ever, even though the birthrate is now falling. There is a recognition that the ratio of midwives to new births needs to be increased.
Of course, there are issues in the context of rolling it out, recruitment and so on. There is a trajectory regarding increasing recruitment in that area. There have been some difficulties in recruitment but there is a clear commitment to expand.
Will the Minister update the Dáil on the progress of the geothermal energy Bill?
It is hotting up.
The drafting is under way and I am sure that we can get a full report for the Deputy.
I bhfianaise go bhfuil i gceist ag an bhfarantóir atá ag soláthar seirbhíse go dtí na hoileáin Árann an tseirbhís a stopadh tráthnóna, an bhfuil i gceist ag an Rialtas reachtaíocht éigeandála a thabhairt isteach le déanamh cinnte go mbeidh seirbhís agus bealach isteach agus amach as na hoileáin ag pobal Árann ó mhaidin amárach ar aghaidh?
I will have to get the Minister of State, Deputy Kyne, to respond to the Deputy because I do not know what is involved in dealing with that issue, which I know has come up in terms of getting service. I will ask the Minister of State to respond to the Deputy.
In the context of health Bills, I welcome that the issue of Orkambi was raised in the House. I want to know why, when I raised the matter in the House last Thursday, information that was seemingly available to a journalist at the time was not conveyed to the Dáil. It is quite a serious matter that Department officials would not see fit to inform a Minister of the situation as it was at the time. This is far too serious a matter on which to keep the Dáil in the dark. Surely the primacy of the Dáil should be recognised. It is a gross offence to this Dáil if information exists but is not passed to Deputies when they raise matters of importance, such as the issue of Orkambi. It is something that I would not like to see repeated.
If the Deputy raises that matter with me arising out of a response to a Topical Issue, we will have the matter investigated for him. Does the Minister wish to say anything?
Obviously, in any deliberative process, information will not be released until a decision is taken by a Minister. I do not know what the precise circumstances were and, therefore, I would not like to try to comment on it.
What is the status of the family court Bill?
The heads are expected at the end of this year.