I am sorry to inform the House, at short notice, that I must withdraw my matter on the Adjournment but I will resubmit it tomorrow. I hope that the Minister for Health or Minister of State at the Department of Health will be present then.
Adjournment Matters
Hospital Staff
I note the Senator's disappointment that there was no Minister available to answer her question. I shall ask the Cathaoirleach to allow her to table the matter on the Adjournment tomorrow. I hope that a Minister or Minister of State can be provided at that point. I call Senator Mulcahy.
Domiciliary Care Allowance Applications
I welcome the Minister of State. Last week I raised an issue on the domiciliary care allowance with the Minister for Social Protection. When I received her reply I then sought the qualifications of relevant medical assessors that work in the domiciliary care allowance section. I sought to identify which applications it dealt with and asked if it dealt with domiciliary care, disability benefit and a raft of other applications. I was told that there were a total of 27 medical assessors. This evening I want a list, in tabular format, that clearly states the qualifications of each one. I do not need to know their names but I do need to know their qualifications.
Those dealing with domiciliary care allowance are dealing with the cases of many young children with an intellectual disability. It is appropriate that people with relevant qualification deal with their applications.
The Department of Social Protection has 22 medical assessors, including the chief medical adviser and the acting deputy chief medical adviser. A further three medical assessors have been appointed recently by the Public Appointments Service and two commenced work in the first week of November and the third will commence on 21 November.
To be appointed to the role of medical assessor, candidates are required to be fully qualified and experienced medical practitioners and be on the general register of medical practitioners while holding an appointment. It is a necessary requirement that, on appointment, they have at least six years satisfactory experience in the practice of medicine since registration.
While many of the medical assessors have specialist postgraduate qualifications, including occupational medicine, psychiatry, surgery and general medicine, a specialist postgraduate qualification is not a requirement for appointment as a medical assessor. Consequently details of such postgraduate qualifications pertaining to individual medical assessors are not collated as a matter of routine and as a result, details of what postgraduate qualifications each and every individual medical assessor may have are not readily available.
All medical assessors have received special training in human disability evaluation. The medical assessors are committed to continuing medical education to ensure that standards are maintained and enhanced. Ongoing medical education is provided by national and international experts in the evaluation of disability. There are also regular meetings and seminars under the direction of the chief medical adviser where a range of medical issues and developments in the occupational medicine field are discussed.
It should be noted that medical assessors are not specifically assigned to one particular scheme. All of the medical assessors complete desk assessments of medical evidence submitted on customer claims, appeals and reviews on all of the Department's disability and illness related schemes.
Following their appointment as medical assessors for the Department, medical assessors undertake contractually to not engage in private practice or be connected with any outside business which would interfere with the performance of their official duties.
That reply answers my question. I rest my case. They are not qualified and therein lies the whole problem. They are dealing with children with severe intellectual disability on whom extensive clinical assessments have been carried out by a range of therapists, clinical psychologists, child psychologists, occupations therapists and more. We have people who are not qualified adjudicating on those applications. I see that two medical assessors have been lost since I received a reply last week stating the number was 27.
I cannot stand over the fact the State is not addressing the needs of our most needy children. I have sent in rafts of forms and supporting documentation. Today proves that doing so is not worth the paper the forms are written on. These applications have been assessed by those who are clinically qualified in the HSE and in the early intervention services in the country. We need medical staff who are clinically qualified to assess those applications. I know the Minister of State cannot answer that question but I appreciate that he came to the Seanad to reply to my question.
To be fair, there are 22 medical assessors and three new people have been appointed, bringing the number up to 25. In the first week of November a further two commenced employment bringing the figure to 27. I will relay the Senator's concerns to the Minister and I am sure the Senator will raise the issue again.
I thank the Minister of State.
Garda Transport Data
I have just sprinted over from the other side of the House. The lesson is that I am fitter than Senator Ó Clochartaigh.
I will not disagree with the Minister on that point.
We should have a jogging party in the Oireachtas.
I thank the Senator for raising this issue which I am very pleased to discuss. Arrangements have been put in place with special funding being made available to An Garda Síochána to allow the Garda authorities to purchase a significant number of new vehicles.
We anticipated the possibility of making such a purchase last spring and went to tender in regard to identifying the motor company from whom motor vehicles could be purchased. We effected saving in the justice section of my Department which effectively made available €3 million for the purchase of Garda cars. The savings were crystalised in the early autumn and as I state in my script, this funding is being made available at a time of severe budgetary constraints and it represents a substantial investment in Garda transport. It will provide for an additional 170 new Garda vehicles. This is in addition to the 42 vehicles which have already been provided this year and means that the Garda Síochána has placed total orders for some 212 new vehicles in 2012. This is very beneficial.
The Garda Commissioner is making arrangements for the provision of the additional transport and it is anticipated that it will come on stream in December and January. The first cars will be allocated during December in accordance with the Garda Commissioner's decision on operational requirements. They will be rolled out to Garda divisions throughout the country.
The actual arrangements for the deployment of Garda transport are, of course, a matter in the first instance for the Commissioner in the context of his identified operational requirements. In turn, at Garda divisional level, the allocation of Garda vehicles is a matter for the chief superintendent who may make and revise arrangements for the deployment of vehicles throughout a division in response to policing demands. This flexibility in allocating and re-allocating vehicles among stations, so as to best match resources with policing priorities is crucial to the efficient management of the Garda fleet.
As a consequence, I am sure the Senator will appreciate that it is not possible to provide a breakdown of the locations to which these vehicles will be allocated. It would be wrong for the Minister for Justice and Equality to decide on where to allocate individual vehicles. This must be very much an operational decision for the Commissioner and those working under him based on perceived priorities. The deployment of Garda vehicles is subject to ongoing analysis and review. This process allows Garda management to allocate available resources within the force in the most appropriate manner to meet existing and emerging operational requirements.
I am certain that the delivery and commissioning of these 170 new vehicles will serve to enhance the capacity of An Garda Síochána to continue to provide an effective and efficient policing service to communities. I was anxious that this be progressed as rapidly as possible. Had we not gone through the tendering process last spring, this would have taken a great deal longer. If we had waited until we identified what resources we have and then started the tendering process, effectively, we would not have been in a position to acquire the vehicles until next March or April. We readied ourselves and were in position to do it and when it became clear in mid-October that funding was available, we were then able to give the go-ahead. This is probably the most rapid purchase of cars that has been authorised in the period from the announcement in October to our having a reasonable number of them in December and the remaining number in January.
The Estimates process must be completed during November as we approach the budget and there will be details in this respect announced in the budget. Without giving away any secrets, I advise the Senator that I am optimistic we will have funding to buy additional Garda vehicles in 2013. It is not the case that this is the purchase of the cars and that is the end of it. Even though some of these vehicles will not be on the road until January, I anticipate that in 2013 we will be in a position to acquire additional vehicles.
That is very welcome news. It is an issue that has been raised at a number of meetings I have attended. I appreciate the Minister cannot tell us where the cars will be deployed but he would know from his dealings with the Garda Commissioner the blackspots where the Garda cars are needed most. Can he clarify that those areas and divisions that have lost Garda vehicles will have those vehicles replaced or are the new vehicles to be deployed differently? If a certain rural area has lost a number of vehicles, will they be replaced with a number of vehicles adequate to cover the number lost?
The deployment of vehicles will be based on decisions made by the Garda Commissioner and those working at divisional level regarding the operational requirements in particular areas. I want to leave it to those who are expert in policing to make those decisions and to do it with the flexibility necessary because the world changes in a policing context. We go through periods when particular communities have identifiable difficulties and then when they are addressed, there are difficulties in other communities. That is a matter for the Garda Commissioner.
I noted with some interest earlier in the year that dire predictions were being made as to what the position would be regarding the fleet in An Garda Síochána and concerns were expressed that we would not be acquiring additional vehicles that were required. It was always intended that when we effected savings, we would purchase additional vehicles. We are in a different resource environment than in the early 2000s when the then Government was flathúlach in throwing money at everything. We have to do this carefully and in a financially wise way but I am anxious to ensure that the Garda maintains its operational effectiveness, that it has the flexibility it needs to deal with local, petty, organised and subversive crime - the whole range - and that it co-ordinates, interacts and interfaces, especially in rural Ireland with Community Alert schemes that do so much fantastic work.
Modernising the fleet and acquiring additional vehicles to replace those that are going out of service and getting better vehicles and a greater diversity of vehicles is important. These are all issues being addressed in the context of the purchase of these 170 vehicles. I have got the greatest faith in the Garda Commissioner and those working with him to make the appropriate decisions as to where they are deployed.
It is appropriate to use this opportunity to congratulate the Garda Commissioner and wish him well. I made an announcement a few hours ago to confirm a Government decision made in Cabinet this morning. The Commissioner would have completed his term in the Garda force at the end of July or early August next, having been appointed Commissioner in December 2010. The Cabinet agreed this decision because of the very effective job he is doing, the great insights he brings to it and because of his commitment to reform and to the appropriate and careful use of resources.
I also point to the great effectiveness of the Garda force in substantially reducing crime levels across a broad range of areas in the past 18 months and to the special operations in which it has been engaged, particularly in tackling burglary which has become an increasing difficulty across parts of the country. Operation Fiacla has produced an extraordinary result. Since the beginning of February last there have been 2,500 arrests and more than 1,400 charges taken against individuals engaged in burglaries, some individuals having been engaged in multiple burglaries across the country. The Garda Commissioner has been asked to stay on for an additional two years from August when he would have otherwise retired. He will remain heading up the force and I wish him well in continuing to do that. I thank him for his service and patriotism and look forward to continuing to work with him. I publicly apologise for giving him an additional two years before he has the opportunity to have a somewhat more relaxed life-----
No time off for good behaviour.
-----than he will have in his current position. He has not even been granted temporary release.
We join the Minister in wishing him well.
The Seanad adjourned at 6.30 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 14 November 2012.