The joint committee has six petitions for consideration. Petition No. 21 of 2021 entitled Taking in Charge is from Mr. Terence Coskeran and relates to a housing development. The committee recommends that Mr. Joe McGrath, chief executive of Tipperary County Council, be requested to report back to the committee on any progress made following the meeting with Uisce Éireann. I spoke to Mr. McGrath during the week and the meeting will take place shortly. It seems there will be a good outcome. The committee discussed bringing in the Department for Housing, Local Government and Heritage or Uisce Éireann but I propose we hold back on that until we receive a report from Mr. McGrath. Is that agreed?
Decisions on Public Petitions Received
That is agreed. It is nice to see progress on that petition.
To be fair, the Tipperary County Council has worked hard to get the issue resolved, as has the committee.
Petition No. 43 of 2021 on supporting to access to employment for non-European Economic Area, EEA, PhD students' spouses in Ireland is from Mr. Fernandos Ongolly. The secretariat corresponded with the Department of Justice on behalf of the petitioner. The Department replied and its response has been forwarded to the petitioner. The petitioner provided a comprehensive response which has been sent to the Department for comment. The latter replied on 6 December 2022 advising that its position remains unchanged. The petitioner corresponded with the joint committee on 4 April 2023 to seek an update to the status of his petition and highlighted concerns around the high cost of living in Ireland. The committee recommends that the reply from Mr. Ongolly be forwarded to Ms Oonagh McPhillips, Secretary General at the Department of Justice, outlining his concerns regarding the cost of living and that when the Department replies, should its position remain unchanged, the petition be deemed closed and the petitioner be informed of same. Do members have any views on the matter?
I agree with that proposal.
Petition No. 36 of 2022 on reopening Ennis, Nenagh and St. John’s hospitals' emergency departments is from Ms Noeleen Moran. This petition, which was submitted on behalf of the Mid-West Hospital Campaign Group, demands the upgrading of the three hospitals to model 3 as well as the reopening of the emergency departments. It was before the joint committee on 13 October 2022. There has been a lot of correspondence between the committee and the Mid-West Hospital Campaign Group and Ms Moran. The committee recommends that the latest correspondence from Ms Moran be forwarded to the HSE for comment within 14 days. Is that agreed?
I apologise for missing yesterday's private meeting. A change in procedure at Ennis General Hospital was introduced some weeks ago to deal with the emergency in Limerick University Hospital. The hospital was taking patients. Has that continued?
To the best of my knowledge, the agreement is still in place and patients are diverted from Limerick to Ennis and Nenagh if they are deemed suitable.
That is all I wanted to know.
That is agreed.
Petition No. 1 of 2023 seeks immediate financial relief for autistic children whose families are paying privately for assessments and therapies; proper oversight and an external complaints system for the HSE; and a full review of carer's allowance and how carers are viewed. It was submitted by Mr. Mark Darmody on behalf of Ms Cara Darmody. The petitioner advises that this petition has three aspects to it, all of which are connected. The first aspect is that more than 18,000 children are waiting long periods for autistic assessment on HSE waiting lists. It is accepted that it is the State's responsibility, through the HSE, to pay for those assessments but because the State is failing in its responsibility to assess in a timely manner, parents are forced to pay privately for critical assessments. Additionally, parents are also forced to pay privately when the State fails to provide therapy services such as speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, psychology, etc. Mr. Darmody advises that no parent should have to finance such services or assessments and that a mechanism must be immediately introduced to ensure that no parent bears the cost for the State's failure to provide services. The second part of the petition is to seek an external complaints mechanism for the HSE, as well as a health oversight authority, similar to the present Garda policing model. Parents across the country believe the HSE is not accountable for its actions as it investigates itself. Mr. Darmody contends that the Ombudsman for Children does not have the investigative powers to properly oversee the HSE. The third part is that having a disabled child leads to a parent becoming a carer. The petitioner seeks that a full review of the position of carers take place.
The petitions case manager corresponded with Mr. John McKeon, Secretary General, Department of Social Protection, on 2 March 2023 and received a reply on 9 March 2023 setting out the Department's position on this matter. This correspondence was forwarded to the petitioner and Mr. Darmody replied on 5 April 2023. The secretariat also corresponded with Mr. Leo Bollins, clerk to the Joint Committee on Autism on 20 February 2023 with regard to this petition and received a reply on 13 April 2023. The Joint Committee on Public Petitions and the Ombudsmen at its meeting of 30 March 2023 discussed a number of issues arising from this petition, namely, the cross-border directive and the Northern Ireland planned healthcare scheme. The secretariat corresponded with the HSE on 6 April 2023 and awaits a response to queries raised. The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth has advised that the issues raised in this petition do not fall within its remit. The joint committee recommends that the correspondence from the petitioner be forwarded to the Department of Social Protection for reply within 14 days and the correspondence from Mr. Leo Bollins be forwarded to the petitioner for information. Do members have any views on the matter?
I sit on the Joint Committee on Autism. The petitioners appeared before the committee and we discussed this matter. The committee will lay a final report before both Houses by May of this year created time constraints but there was general agreement, very similar to the recommendations of this committee, that the Joint Committee on Public Petitions and the Ombudsmen and the Joint Committee for Autism support the provision of these supports and services. I will be interested in seeing the responses of the relevant Departments. I understand where the family is coming from and I hope we will get a proper and timely resolution to this matter.
As I have said previously, this is a crazy situation. The Department recognises it is responsible for speech and language therapy and it pays for assessments that it organises.
If, however, a family is concerned and they go, source it and pay for themselves, they are not reimbursed. That is a crazy situation that needs to change.
The situation of carers has been raised. The mother of this family, Ms Darmody, had to give up work - a paid job of €860 a week - to receive €200 in carer's allowance. Anybody who has children with autism or any sick child will know that it is a 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year job and that families taking a hit like that is not on. Something needs to be done. The carer's allowance needs to be looked at so that does not continue for this family or for any of the other 18,000 families that are caught up in the same situation.
We will forward the correspondence to the petition and ask for a reply. The Joint Committee on Autism has responded to us. We will see what happens there.
To make people aware, Family Carers Ireland is also asking for the means test to be abolished on the carer's allowance in cases such as this. They keep saying it drives families into poverty by reducing someone's income from in excess of €800 down to €200. It is a crazy situation. It does not allow for where you have to buy something for a sick child.
These are issues that we as a committee will keep following. We will keep fighting for some sort of consistency right across the board. I am aware the Darmody family has been up here in Leinster House on a regular basis fighting their case but also fighting on behalf of the other 18,000 families that are affected. It will come up again. We will keep an eye on it. We will keep doing as much as we can in that regard.
The next petition is No. 4 of 2023, "Remove third-language requirement for undergraduate courses in Irish universities, unless relevant to the course." This is from Mr. Daniel Culkin. The committee recommends that the correspondence from Mr. Jim Breslin, Secretary General, Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science be forwarded to the petitioner for reply within 14 days. Do members have any views or is that agreed?
Agreed. It is comprehensive.
Agreed.
Next is petition No. 5 of 2023, "Create a Turkish family scheme visa for people who have been affected by or become homeless due to the earthquake", from Mr. Mahsun Aydogan. This petition relates to a request that Ireland create a new temporary visa scheme for the affected families of Turkish residents in Ireland to join them for a period. The petitions case manager corresponded with Ms Oonagh McPhillips, Secretary General at the Department of Justice, on 2 March 2023 on behalf of the petitioner and received a reply on 12 April 2023.
The committee recommends that the correspondence from the Department of Justice be forwarded to the petitioner for comment within 14 days. Do members have any views?
Is that agreed? Agreed. That concludes our consideration of public petitions this afternoon.
I would like to invite members of the public to submit petitions via our online portal, which is available at: petitions.oireachtas.ie. A petition may be addressed to the Houses of the Oireachtas on a matter of general public concern or interest or an issue of public policy.
Next on the agenda is any other business. Would members like to make any final comments?
On my own behalf and on behalf of the committee, this is one of the last meetings at which Ms Susan Moran will be with us. Susan has been a massive help to us since she came on board. The amount of work she, Maggie, Barbara and all the team have done here for us and the committee members has been huge. We wish Susan all the best in the new position she is taking up and I welcome Alex as the replacement for Susan. If Alex does not listen to the Corkmen, it will be fairly good for him on this committee. As for Susan, our loss is someone else's gain. I hope we can work with Alex every bit as well as we have with Susan.
Hear, hear.
I echo what the Chair said. It has been excellent. I was going to embarrass Susan and get her to go on the television in the committee. She would not be up for that.
I echo what the Chair said. People outside do not realise the amount of work that goes in here by the secretariat and the case workers, and the volume of paperwork, phone calls, emails - you name it - and sometimes, let us be honest about it, abuse. It should not go unmarked.
On a personal basis, they are exemplary ladies to work with. It is a big loss. As for Alex, I can tell him he has big shoes to fill. I am looking forward to it.
It is a great committee. It has been going well. We always say anyway - maybe we are biased - we have the best workers on the committee here and the best secretariat of the whole lot. Long may it continue. I wish Susan the best in whatever she does next.
I endorse the Chair's comments. When I see the secretariat there and other committees, I think of the work they put in behind the scenes. They are so committed to their work. They are lovely people to work with, and very helpful.
All I can say is, I wish Susan the best of luck as she moves forward. Yes, they are big shoes for that man to fill.
The joint committee adjourned at 3.07 p.m. until 11 a.m. on Wednesday, 3 May 2023.