Mary Lou McDonald
Ceist:1. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach if he will provide an update on the proposed child poverty unit in his Department. [18063/23]
Ceisteanna - Questions
Child Poverty
Mark Ward
Ceist:2. Deputy Mark Ward asked the Taoiseach for an update on the child poverty unit to be established within his Department; and when he expects it to first meet. [18083/23]
Paul McAuliffe
Ceist:3. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Taoiseach if he will provide an update on the proposed child poverty unit in his Department. [18852/23]
Jennifer Murnane O'Connor
Ceist:4. Deputy Jennifer Murnane O'Connor asked the Taoiseach if he will provide an update on the proposed child poverty unit in his Department. [19221/23]
Ruairí Ó Murchú
Ceist:5. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Taoiseach if he will provide an update on the proposed child poverty unit in his Department. [19260/23]
Gino Kenny
Ceist:6. Deputy Gino Kenny asked the Taoiseach if he will provide an update on the proposed child poverty unit in his Department. [19380/23]
Ivana Bacik
Ceist:7. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Taoiseach if he will provide an update on the child poverty unit in his Department. [19241/23]
Gary Gannon
Ceist:8. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Taoiseach if he will provide an update on the proposed child poverty unit in his Department. [19317/23]
Richard Boyd Barrett
Ceist:9. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach if he will provide an update on the proposed child poverty unit in his Department. [19371/23]
Paul Murphy
Ceist:10. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach if he will provide an update on the proposed child poverty unit in his Department. [19374/23]
Bríd Smith
Ceist:11. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Taoiseach if he will provide an update on the proposed child poverty unit in his Department. [19377/23]
Mick Barry
Ceist:12. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Taoiseach if he will provide an update on the proposed child poverty unit in his Department. [19497/23]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 12, inclusive, together.
Our vision is to make Ireland the best country in Europe in which to be a child. The role of the Department of the Taoiseach will be to co-ordinate and focus Government action on this objective.
Poverty restricts a child's opportunity. I recently informed Cabinet colleagues that the new child poverty and well-being programme office has been established. The areas it will focus on are as follows: income supports and joblessness; early learning and childcare; reducing the cost of education; family homelessness; consolidating and integrating family and parental support, health and well-being; and enhancing participation in culture, arts and sport for children and young people affected by poverty.
The initial focus of the office will be on drawing up a sequenced work programme for these areas. There has been broad engagement with civil society organisations, Departments and statutory agencies to identify the policy areas for the new programme office.
The office will operate within the social policy and public service reform division of the Department of the Taoiseach, which has developed the work to date. Assignment to the new dedicated programme team is well under way.
Further work and engagement is ongoing to inform the scope and programme of work of the programme office. The aim is to ensure the programme office brings added value as well as strategic leadership and enhanced accountability to the child poverty and well-being agenda and makes a tangible difference to the lives of children and their families.
The 2016 programme for Government committed to tackling child poverty and preventing family and youth homelessness. Earlier this year, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child reported serious concern about the large number of children in Ireland living in poverty, food insecurity and homelessness. The hurt and trauma for homeless children and young people was documented by the Ombudsman for Children in 2012 and repeatedly in the office's annual reports before and after the children's experience of homelessness in Ireland report published more than a decade ago. Indeed, Focus Ireland has set out how children living in homelessness causes such severe trauma which can result in lifelong damage. The Government scored a D on housing in the Children's Rights Alliance report card for this year, the organisation highlighting that a key driver of family homelessness is the lack of affordable secure housing and an over-reliance on private market provision.
In its child guarantee action plan, the Government has committed to the delivery of 90,000 new social homes and 18,000 cost rentals by 2030. Not alone are these targets insufficient, we know well that under a Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil Government, these targets will never be met. Will the Taoiseach say if the new unit will prioritise child homelessness in its schedule of work and if this work will include an implementation and monitoring mechanism to ensure past failures to deliver will not be repeated?
The Taoiseach mentioned well-being and I want to talk about the well-being of children in mental health services. When the Government came into office, 2,112 children were waiting for a first-time appointment with the child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS. Currently, there is an all-time record high of 4,434 young children waiting for a first-time appointment. That is a 110% increase on the Taoiseach's watch. What is worse, 682 children are waiting more than a year for an appointment. That is a 215% increase under this Government. They say early intervention is key. This is on top of 11,000 children who are waiting for primary care psychology and also children waiting up to 30 weeks for an appointment with Jigsaw. The statistics do not lie. The Ombudsman for Children, Dr. Niall Muldoon, called the investment into CAMHS an insult to our children. We have numerous reports into the mistreatment and overmedication of children in CAMHS. I put it to the Taoiseach that the Government has been a complete failure when it comes to children's mental health and I want to know what the Taoiseach will do about this.
I have a subsequent question on the north-east inner city project but I welcome the initiative which the Taoiseach has brought to his office on the proposed unit on child poverty. At the root of many of the issues in many disadvantaged communities is the issue of child poverty and how child poverty over the lifetime of a person impacts the different social needs both a person and a community can have. I am interested to hear the Taoiseach's views about whether he believes there is an overlap between the great work being done by Ms Liz Canavan and the team who have initiated the north-east inner city project and the programme for Government commitment to expand that in a sustainable way. This child poverty unit and the project have much in common. There are clear differences and different objectives, but I believe that they can inform the work of each other. I will reserve my questions in regard to the expansion of the north-east inner city project to my later question.
I welcome today Carlow receiving in excess of €734,000 for the free schoolbooks for primary school children. Something so important that I worked so hard on is the hot meals for all DEIS primary schools in September.
The work for non-DEIS schools will hopefully happen shortly after, within the next few years. That is part of the plan. It is so important that children are looked after but I have one concern in Carlow. There is no occupational therapy for children and the waiting list for the public service is incredibly long. Speech and language and the children's disability network team, CDNT, assessments are working from referrals given in 2019. These children's families cannot afford to pay for the private assessment. Will the Taoiseach clarify this? My understanding is that the State was meant to be providing this private service. Why is the State not stepping in when children who need these assessments are not getting them? There is no question that money is an issue. Children in Carlow are entering mainstream education in my area this September who have never seen a therapist. This is a huge concern for me. I have been working closely with the Minister of State, Deputy Anne Rabbitte, on this. There are really distressed families and children who really need to be assessed. I feel that we are hitting a crisis now. I ask that everything be done to help these families. I welcome the good news story today for all primary schools getting the free books scheme.
If we are serious about tackling child poverty, first of all, we have to deal with those necessary services that are not available to our citizens. We are talking about those in the most peripheral of places and the most disadvantaged. I have spoken to the Taoiseach before to say that what we really need are these early interventions. Those include family support interventions and also wider community interventions. We need to put a plan in place for that. On the day that AsIAm is here, when we are talking about making Leinster House autism-friendly, which is all to be welcomed, we have to deal with the fact we all know the issues that exist with child disability services, particularly for autism. There are not enough occupational therapists, speech and language therapists or psychologists. This needs to be addressed. The unfortunate thing is that those who do not have the resources and do not have the money fall further behind. This is just not good enough.
Child poverty has significantly increased as a result of the cost-of-living crisis. It has increased from 202,000 to 236,000 children facing enforced deprivation. The number at risk of poverty has jumped by about 20,000. We now have 89,000 children living in consistent poverty. All of those suggest a serious failure of this Government to protect children, who are our most vulnerable citizens. Maybe the worst aspect of the failure of this State to protect children is the number of children in homeless accommodation, with many more now facing that because of the raising of the eviction ban. What will the Taoiseach do to prioritise protecting children against the trauma that, in many cases, will damage them for life? It will certainly steal very significant parts of their childhood if they end up in emergency accommodation.
To give one example, the case I have raised on multiple occasions here is that of a mother who has been in emergency accommodation with her child for four years. Her child was eight when they went into emergency accommodation and is now 12. His mental health is on the floor. He cannot bring his friends around because he shares a room with his mother in the emergency accommodation. She, ironically, works with Tusla, looking after vulnerable children. Does the Taoiseach not think he has a responsibility to get children like that out of emergency accommodation and to prevent others from going into that terrible, unacceptable situation? What will he do for people like her and others in similar situations?
I want to ask the Taoiseach about the crisis facing many children who are in Tusla's care. I spoke to an impressive young man a couple of weeks ago. He is a 16-year-old who is in care. He has been in care for about ten years. He lived with his mother for the first five or six years of his life and then he was taken into care. He is currently 16 and lives with his grandmother. He said that up until he was about 15 and a half, the service he had from Tusla was amazing. He always had a social worker who was very supportive and so on. About a year ago, his social worker left him. He was told that it would only take a couple of weeks for the social worker to be replaced, but the social worker has still not been replaced. Instead, he has got a part-time social care worker who is not a qualified social worker and is not able to give the same support that a social worker is able to give and the support that he is supposed to get. It is even affecting his ability to have visits with his mother. They have to be supervised visits but the absence of staff has meant that it has been difficult to get visits.
This is apparently not an isolated case. The children in care team is operating at about 30% capacity. The same issues we have seen with nurses and teachers are now affecting social workers, particularly in Dublin. There is another issue, which is accommodation. Some 500 children a year turn 18, come out of care, and a big number go straight into homeless services because there is no or very little proper, appropriate accommodation for people who are emerging from care in that way.
I thank the Deputies for their questions. We have seen a huge increase in the budget for mental health services for children and young people and an increase in staff. There is of course also an increase in demand. We have challenges getting staff and some deficiencies in the system regarding how the services are deployed and best used. I know the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, and Minister, Deputy Donnelly, will want to talk about this more on another occasion.
Deputy McAuliffe asked about the north-east inner city project. There is an overlap, without doubt. Both programmes will answer to assistant secretary general Liz Canavan, so she will have a certain degree of oversight of both. We thought of combining them but I took the decision that they are best kept separate because the north-east inner city project is about more than children and child poverty. We thought one might dilute the other if we put them in the same office, so we are not doing that, but they will answer to the same assistant secretary general.
Deputy Murnane O'Connor welcomed the allocation of free schoolbooks to all primary schools in Carlow. I welcome that too. It is a major step forward. It was an issue proposed by Barnardos a long time ago. I remember meeting with Barnardos. It was piloted under the former Minister, Deputy Joe McHugh, in the last Government. I am pleased that the Minister, Deputy Foley, is taking it forward under this Government and extending it to all primary schools. We will see how it goes. If it goes well, I would like to see it being extended to secondary schools at some point in the future. Let us see how it works in primary schools first. I hear what Deputy Murnane O'Connor has to say about the occupational therapy service and the deficiencies that exist in Carlow. I know that must be causing a lot of distress for parents in the county. I know the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, is aware of the issue already. I will take it up with her too and see if there is something we can do to improve the situation.
Regarding children experiencing homelessness, the most recent figures, as Deputies will know, show that approximately 1,600 families are in emergency accommodation. About half of those are one-parent families, with just over 3,000 child dependents. In the vast majority of cases, it is for a matter of months but in some cases it is for longer than that. The Government recognises that helping families and children experiencing homelessness involves a multi-agency approach. Housing for All, the Government's housing plan, is committed to the enhancement of early intervention services for children and their families through a multi-agency, co-ordinated response. That includes prioritising exiting families from homelessness, preventing families from going into homelessness in the first place and providing sufficient help for families experiencing homelessness.
It is important to say that €215 million, a 10% increase in budget, has been allocated for this year. That has been allocated to local authorities and NGOs. That is to provide homelessness prevention services because the most cost-effective way of dealing with this issue is preventing homelessness in the first place. The plan also provides emergency accommodation and other services for families experiencing homelessness. Our target is to create 1,300 new Housing First tenancies. The programme office will also provide a focus on how other assistance can help to prevent homelessness and help those in homeless services to transition out of them.
National Economic and Social Council
Mary Lou McDonald
Ceist:13. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the National Economic and Social Council. [18129/23]
Christopher O'Sullivan
Ceist:14. Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan asked the Taoiseach his response to the recent National Economic and Social Council report, Understanding the Irish Economy in a Time of Turbulence. [19384/23]
I understand Deputy McAuliffe is asking a question on behalf of Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 13 and 14 together. The National Economic and Social Council advises me on strategic policy issues relating to sustainable economic, social and environmental development in Ireland.
NESC is currently working in six main areas. The council published a report on the Irish economy in April, Understanding the Irish Economy in a Time of Turbulence. It outlines the main forces causing turbulence for Ireland’s economy, notes the main features of our economic performance and highlights the continuing importance of three issues: fiscal sustainability and investment; actions to realise net zero; and good jobs and making work attractive.
The second area NESC is working on is climate action, just transition and agriculture. This work is exploring in practical terms how climate targets and the transition they entail for Irish agriculture can be achieved in a manner that encompasses social equity and inclusion, environmental sustainability and economic well-being. The report is being finalised and is expected to be published in June 2023.
NESC continues to engage with the shared island unit. A report on social enterprise was discussed at the March NESC meeting. This report will include an overview of the state of social enterprise in Ireland and Northern Ireland on a shared island basis. It is expected the report will be submitted to the Government in the coming weeks.
Other areas NESC is working on include well-being and inequality, good jobs, which I mentioned, and natural capital accounting.
We extend a warm welcome to Shauna and Eve from Ardee Community School. They are in transition year and doing work experience, unfortunately for them, with Deputy Ó Murchú. I am sure they will be well able for him.
The coalition parties present themselves as champions of homeownership. However, as NESC has documented, there has been a major shift towards rental and away from homeownership on their watch. Homeownership has fallen significantly and private rental has more than doubled over the past three decades. This has not happened by accident. It is the result of deliberate Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael policy over the past 30 years to, in effect, transfer the responsibility of public housing delivery from the State to private landlords. Lower income working families who should have been provided with permanent social or affordable homes were left in what are, in effect, temporary tenancies, at a massive cost to the State, let it be said, and now at a cost to families' sense of security and well-being. To this day, Government policy refuses to come clean on this failed approach. Again, both parties are responsible for this.
In 2016, the number of social housing applicants living in the private rented sector on short two-year leases subsidised by housing assistance payment, HAP, nearly quadrupled. The same year, a Fine Gael Minister removed this cohort of renters from the social housing list as well as those renters in receipt of rental accommodation scheme, RAS, payments, and then claimed the social housing list had fallen. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, continues to stand over this massaging of housing data.
The NESC report into private rental in Ireland also sets out the Government parties' failure to incorporate into their national housing plans Ireland's significant and expected population increases.
I am sorry. The Deputy is over time.
Every sector in the State is calling on the Government to ramp up social and affordable housing targets-----
I am sorry. The Deputy is well over time.
-----to protect and future-proof our society. Will the Taoiseach finally listen to them?
I have to allow other Members in.
There are only two questioners on this item.
I am the Cathaoirleach.
I can read.
I will manage the House, thank you.
The NESC report deals with the issue of homeownership. It is why I am pleased this Government has brought forward so many proposals which will seek to increase the level of homeownership and provide an increase in social and cost-rental housing. These are all measures that essentially provide more housing for more people. That is what is at the heart of Housing for All.
You only have to look at the measures that have been taken forward. There are 20 public housing sites in my constituency, all of which comprise public housing on public land and all of which are being driven by approved housing bodies, AHBs, and being done by local authorities. They are part of a State affordable purchase scheme being developed by organisations such as Ó Cualann and Dublin City Council. They are cost-rental and social housing schemes. We have increased the income limits making more people eligible for those social homes. We have brought in new income limits, effectively for cost-rental or council housing, for those people earning above the income limits, albeit not a differential rent, which provides secure tenancies for the entirety of their lives.
It is continuously championed in the House that this Government relies on the private market to deliver housing, but that belies the very fact that Housing for All is based on an incredibly strong public housing programme.
Following neatly on from Deputy McAuliffe’s intervention regarding the cost rental the Government trumpets, I will highlight something important for the Taoiseach and the Government. If someone is over the social housing income thresholds, that individual is not entitled to HAP or social housing, obviously, so the Government, under pressure, developed cost rental. What are the criteria for cost rental? You have to have a net income of under €53,000 but, critically, you can only pay a rent that is 35% of your net income. A teacher contacted me to say he is currently on a salary of €47,518, which is €2,850 a month net. That means, under the criteria for cost rental, he cannot pay a rent that is more than €997 a month. He is not eligible for cost rental or social housing. The new houses that will be built by the Land Development Agency, LDA, for its first development will be cost rental. How much are the rents likely to be, according to the Government, and in response to this teacher, in this first LDA development? They will be €1,500 on average. A teacher is not eligible for social housing or cost rental because the Government has not aligned people's incomes with cost rental. It needs to get that sorted.
Will the Taoiseach join us in calling for Murphy International to reinstate the so-called Murphy 4. These are four workers with a combined 50 years' experience in the construction company Murphy International who were sacked in what was a very clear and blatant attempt at union busting. Murphy International is a massive company generating more than £1.27 billion in revenues last year. That is revenue generated by the workforce, including the four Unite members who have been dismissed. It is vital that companies are not able to get away with union busting or targeting those engaged in union activities and dismissing them. They were victimised and targeted for what was legitimate trade union activity. A major campaign is being waged by Unite, very impressively, which we are in full support of, to reinstate the Murphy 4. I ask the Taoiseach to join the call to reinstate these workers.
I will take those questions in reverse. I am not familiar with that dispute and it would not be appropriate for me to join or not join any call without knowing all the facts. There are procedures to deal with industrial relations disputes of that nature.
I agree we need to continue to review the income thresholds for both social housing and cost rental. We have already increased them for social housing and may increase them further. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, is also considering doing that with cost rental. I take the point that, when it comes to thresholds, we have to take rising incomes into account, in addition to house prices as they go up and down, and adjust accordingly. That work has been done and is under way.
On homeownership, 65% to 70% of people in Ireland own their own home. We should not forget that. Approximately 30% rent, whether it is from the Government or through the private sector. As we know from the NESC report, the percentage of people who are in the private rented sector has been level at about 20% for the past ten years or so. You would have the impression from some people that it was going up and up; far from it. It has been pretty stable for the past ten years or so now.
We are making real progress when it comes to social housing. More new social housing has been provided in the past year than any year since the 1970s. There were 7,000 or 8,000 new builds last year alone. We will do better again this year. When Sinn Féin was in government in the North, with Sinn Féin housing and finance ministers, it built approximately 1,500 social homes.
Even if we adjust for population, it is a lot less than what Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Green Party are doing together here. There can be no doubt, if we compare the North with the Republic, that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are better at building social housing than Sinn Féin and that, at least in this century, everyone is better than the Labour Party. That is what the numbers show, and people should be honest about it.
Regeneration Projects
Paul McAuliffe
Ceist:15. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the role of his Department in the north east inner city initiative; and indicate if his Department has any proposals for further similar initiatives in other parts of the city, such as Ballymun and Finglas. [18902/23]
The Mulvey report, Dublin North East Inner City: Creating a Brighter Future, which was published in February 2017, contains recommendations for the social and economic regeneration of Dublin's north-east inner city. The report has been further supplemented by the north-east inner city strategic plan for the period 2020 to 2022. Implementation of the Mulvey report and the strategic plan is being overseen and progressed by the programme implementation board. The board meets on a monthly basis and its members include representatives from relevant Departments and State agencies, business and the local community. The board is assisted in its work by six subgroups comprised of officials from Departments and State agencies and community representatives. The subgroups look at enhanced policing; educational, training and employment opportunities; family well-being; enhancing community well-being and the physical landscape; substance use, misuse and inclusion health; and the alignment of services.
Officials from the Department of the Taoiseach work closely with the board, the subgroups and the dedicated programme office based in Sean McDermott Street. The chairperson of the programme implementation board reports to an oversight group, chaired by the Secretary General of the Department of the Taoiseach. Membership of the oversight group comprises senior civil servants from various Departments and State agencies who are actively engaged with the work of the initiative. This group ensures strong and active participation by all relevant Departments and State agencies and deals with any barriers or issues highlighted by the board. Following the recent resignation of the chairperson of the board, arrangements will be made for the appointment of a new chairperson and I will advise the Government of a nominee as soon as possible. In the interim, the work of the board is continuing with the support of my Department.
The Government has recognised that disadvantaged areas require new forms of assistance in order to help them prosper. In line with the programme for Government, we are continuing to examine how the model of intervention in the north-east inner city could be extended to other comparative areas experiencing disadvantage.
I thank the Taoiseach. In 2016, I wrote to him eager to ensure that we might expand the north-east inner city model to the Ballymun area, which was experiencing a significant rise in the use of crack cocaine at the time. He indicated that the solution was at local authority level. When I was Lord Mayor of Dublin City Council, I commissioned Mr. Andrew Montague to write what is a fantastic report, Ballymun: A Brighter Future. The previous Taoiseach engaged strongly with our joint policing committee and committed to funding.
The success of the north-east inner city model is that it provides access to senior officials. The co-ordinating role of agencies in an area is one of the key discoveries of the north-east inner city model. It is not always necessarily about additional funding; it can sometimes be about ensuring that funding is concentrated in areas where there is most need. It is also about structural changes such as the recruitment of senior social workers or issues around the number of gardaí being deployed. I urge the Taoiseach to put in place a measure that will extend access to a senior officials group to the Ballymun area in order that the money being allocated will be spent in the best possible way with the agencies working on the ground. Such a group would give us that framework. I understand it should be Dublin City Council that triggers it and I urge the Taoiseach to encourage it to do so. Cherry Orchard jumped the queue a little for an understandable reason. However, while Ballymun is being patient to make sure this is a sustainable model across all areas, we want to move ahead and get that group established.
I agree with the broad principle of what Deputy McAuliffe said. We should have this approach in every area where there are concentrated pockets of significant disadvantage. We need a much more proactive and on-the-ground approach in order to address some of the persistent, often intergenerational problems that can be concentrated in areas of particular disadvantage. Despite what some people think about Dún Laoghaire, we certainly have significant areas of concentrated deprivation and poverty where there are real and significant problems. In response to people going on about antisocial behaviour, criminality and so on, I must say that the number of people who come to my clinic who have been caught up in drug addiction or crime at some point in their lives, and who went through the industrial schools or who were abused in residential care of one kind or another is highly disproportionate. What are the modern versions of that? We must bear in mind the impact that had and how devastating it was. The modern versions of that are children who spend years in homeless accommodation or direct provision and people living in appalling housing conditions. Imagine the resentment that creates and the trauma and damage it does to someone's psyche, and how that will impact on a community. We need a targeted, intensive, proactive approach to dealing with those situations.
Before rolling out this approach, the first thing that needs to happen is a review of the north-east inner city initiative. I raised this with the Taoiseach's predecessor. I have been asking for a long time that progress be measured to establish what works and what does not work. The approaches that are established to have worked should be extended as other Deputies have suggested. We must bear in mind that the initiative in the inner city does not deal with housing or the deplorable living circumstances of many of our citizens. It has not successfully addressed the fact we have a real gap in addiction services. We have a diverse population but have not got the intercultural model right. An investigation into how the initiative engages with the community is needed, and especially whether and how it fosters the necessary community development model. The boundaries of the initiative need to be examined as we have a perverse situation where part of the north-east inner city is covered by this initiative and the other part is not. That never made any sense and has caused significant local difficulties. I have raised this many times. The north-east inner city still does not have a drug and alcohol task force. It is extraordinary that in the very place where the heroin epidemic sadly first took root, it has now almost been two years that no drug and alcohol task force is operating. It is disgraceful.
I support Deputy McDonald in her point that it does not make much sense to look at this initiative unless we have a review of it. The same goes for the Drogheda implementation board and its plan. Many things are happening that I definitely support. Some of this is about streamlining the communication between agencies, but I do not think there are sufficient resources to do the business we need to do. In the past few days, parents have come to me because they are worried about their children who are in the throes of addiction and cannot access addiction services. I am constantly dealing with drug intimidation scenarios, including this week, where people who do not see themselves as having a lot of choice fall into what they think is easy money. Then usually a bigger shark runs them over. That is what we are dealing with. Turas in Dundalk has a dual diagnosis pilot it has to finish through self-funding. The Family Addiction Support Network which is used by An Garda Síochána does not have sustainable funding. The Red Door Project has had some successes in getting funding but again, it does not have the multi-annual funding that is absolutely necessary. We need to get real about this. Will we have the resources in the community safety partnerships to deliver what really needs to be delivered across the board? The sooner the better.
I thank the Deputies for their contributions. The Deputies opposite make a valid point as regards the need to review what has been done to date. It is important that we measure progress. It is not always straightforward to measure progress in such areas, but it is important that we try to do so because what we do not measure we cannot really improve.
By doing so, we can try to figure out what works and what does not. To be honest, more resources and staff and greater Government intervention do not always work. When they do not, we should be frank about it and decide whether it needs to be discontinued or changed in some way and if it is working, whether it needs to be enhanced and increased. Regarding the drugs and alcohol and task force, I hear what Deputy McDonald said and will come back to her about that matter.
On the wider issue of local areas initiatives pursued by the Government, it is intended that the initiative will take in other local areas to establish the best way to consolidate the numerous interventions under way in these areas and make sure they are responsive to the real needs of local communities. It is also intended that the approach will be progressed in different settings to ensure it is sensitive to and learns from different challenges and issues experienced in local areas and communities. With this in mind, it is envisioned that the initiative will be located in urban, rural and suburban settings, all of which have distinct populations and problems. Every area is different. Discussions are ongoing with several local authorities and the Central Statistics Office about how best to identify local areas with available data sets that can be analysed. I expect that this work will be completed in the near future and the local area programme board will then be in a position to judge the alignment of intervention with local issues.
Deputies will be aware of what is already happening in Drogheda and Cherry Orchard. Other areas being examined are Finglas and Ballymun, which Deputy McAuliffe raised. Other areas, for example, Mulhuddart, Corduff and Ladyswell, which people will understand I have an interest in, and places outside of Dublin, for example, Mahon in County Cork and Rathkeale in County Limerick are also being looked at. The list I have given is not exhaustive.
As the first group of questions was quite extensive, I propose to facilitate Deputy Aindrias Moynihan, with the agreement of the House, with a one-minute response to his question from the Taoiseach followed by comments from the Deputy. I call the Taoiseach to answer Question No. 16, briefly.
Programme for Government
Aindrias Moynihan
Ceist:16. Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Taoiseach if he will provide an update on the programme for Government. [19258/23]
The Government has been working to implement commitments in the programme for Government. These are advanced through the co-ordinating mechanism of the Cabinet committee structure. The ten Cabinet committees established by Government reflect the core policy areas set out in the programme for Government. Cabinet committees meet regularly to accomplish their work. Strategy statements currently being prepared by all Government Departments will reflect national priorities outlined in the programme for Government.
The Department of the Taoiseach continues to help to advance the programme for Government commitments in the following priority policy areas: implementation of Housing for All; the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021, which covers the climate action plan and other matters relating to climate; advances in Sláintecare, which operates under the support and oversight of my Department; the ongoing oversight and implementation of the third national strategy on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, DSGBV; driving delivery of our commitments on the shared island initiative; ensuring the implementation of New Decade, New Approach commitments with regard to North-South issues; promoting and strengthening British-Irish relations; ongoing engagement with EU leaders; other international commitments; ongoing oversight and implementation of A Policing Service for the Future following on from the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland; the development of a well-being framework for Ireland; publication of Harnessing Digital and the progress report on that; and the work of the citizens' assemblies.
The programme for Government set out a mission to build safer, secure communities. Part of that is implementing the report of the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland, which the Taoiseach referred to, and supporting the Garda with the resources it needs to do its work. A new policing model has already been rolled out in many parts of the country. This is now being rolled out in County Cork, one of the larger areas. An obvious part of that model appears to be missing in County Cork, in that while a headquarters has been identified in Macroom, with planning permission obtained and the site ready, the matter is not being advanced. It is bundled with projects relating to Clonmel and a courthouse. To operate a policing model effectively in an area as large as County Cork, the project relating to those headquarters needs to be advanced. I ask the Taoiseach if there is a way of advancing the project relating to Macroom, even if it were to be decoupled from the bundle. The programme for Government specifically refers to the courthouse. It is strange that this was included in a bundle with a Garda station. Is there a way of decoupling them in order that there can be headquarters for that large area of Cork, as the new policing model is rolled out?
I was mistaken; I rushed Deputy Moynihan unnecessarily. We have until 1.58 p.m., so the Taoiseach can respond. I apologise.
Deputy Moynihan's colleague, Deputy Creed, has raised this issue of a Garda station in Macroom with me many times. We are working on the issue. I met the Minister for Justice, the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform and the Office of Public Works recently about it. A new station is needed in Macroom quite urgently, as well as one in Clonmel.
The Deputy is correct to say the difficulty is that it has been rolled into a wider public private partnership, PPP, project involving two Garda stations, one in Macroom and the other in Clonmel, and the Hammond Lane court complex in Dublin. It may have been a good idea at the time but it clearly has not worked out. Officials are working on decoupling those projects, which would allow us to proceed to construction in Macroom and Clonmel within months. Hammond Lane would then be a stand-alone PPP, which may take a bit longer. We are working on that. It is heading in the right direction, but I am not in a position to confirm that we can do it just yet. We are working on it.
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