Commencement Matters

Higher Education Schemes

Senator Rónán Mullen

The Minister of State is very welcome. Much is said about the needs of young people in Irish society, but when it comes to young people returning to Ireland, either to work or further their education, having had to spend a period abroad because of economic failures, it seems there is very little sympathy for their plight. We see this when young drivers are hit with massive car insurance premiums because they have been out of the country for a period and are not able to indicate a continuous period of claims-free driving.

In the area of education it seems the problem is particularly acute. I have come across a couple of cases recently, one of which involves an Irish person who studied in Ireland, obtained her primary degree and then moved to Japan to teach English for five years. She now wishes to return and study for a master's degree, but it is proposed to hit her with the full fee, not the fee an Irish person would normally expect to pay. What is the reason for this? According to the rules, she has not been resident in Ireland for three years.

I know of another case in Galway where a carpenter had to go abroad to work for the past few years. He has, therefore, not been tax resident in Ireland for four or five years. His son is thinking of coming home from America to study in Ireland and he has to contemplate the prospect of paying a full international fee. This is simply not fair. It does not seem to be clear what arrangements operate. It seems to differ between colleges. In some places, there is the prospect of people who have been resident in Ireland for three of the past five years getting the benefit of the free fees scheme, although even then they have to pay a student service charge which has continued to increase in recent years. People who are European citizens and who have not been resident in Ireland for three of the past five years get an EU-level fee, which is higher. People who are outside the European Union, including Irish people abroad who have not been resident in Ireland or the Union for the past five years, in some cases face the prospect of a full international fee.

This is no way to treat the Irish diaspora. This is no way to attract Ireland's best and brightest home. This is no way for Ireland to develop its economic future with the assistance of its people and its young people, in particular. I need hardly remind the Government that it is not the fault of these young people that they had to go abroad either to better their experience in order that they could bring a better skillset back home or out of simple economic necessity. It is not their fault their parents had to go abroad, leaving their families, friends and homes behind them so that they could earn a living and provide for their families. It is absolutely wrong that young people, whether coming back themselves or whose families are still abroad but they wish to come back and study in Ireland, would be deprived of the same access to the free fees system that an Irish citizen resident in Ireland would enjoy.

This is not the way to treat the diaspora. There must be ways to deal with it. In many ways, third level education is seen as an income earner for Irish colleges. Bringing in students from abroad is seen as a way of bringing dollars into the country. Colleges spend increasing amounts of time and energy attracting people from abroad to study in the country because it is an income earner for Ireland. This should not be done in the case of people who are Irish citizens. They should not be exploited in that way. They should have access to the free fees system. If the argument being made is that they or their parents have not been paying tax in Ireland for the past number of years, at the very least it should be possible to address their situation through some kind of a student loan scheme, so that they are not in any way disadvantaged when they want to return to Ireland.

Acting Chairman (Senator Terry Leyden)

The Senator has made his point. His time is up.

Senator Rónán Mullen

I would be grateful to hear the Government's response. This is an urgent and pressing issue.

Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Deputy Ann Phelan)

I thank the Senator. I am taking this Commencement matter on behalf of the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, who cannot be here. Let me start by explaining the background to the current free fees scheme.

Under the terms of the Department's free fees scheme, the Exchequer meets the cost of tuition fees in respect of eligible students who are pursuing full-time undergraduate courses of study which are a minimum of two years duration in an approved institution. The main conditions of the scheme are that students must be first-time undergraduates, meet the nationality clause of the scheme in their own right and, for study at level 6, 7 and 8 in universities and level 8 in institutes of technology, have been ordinarily resident in an EU-EEA-Swiss state for at least three of the five years preceding their entry to an approved third level course.

Where students do not meet the eligibility requirements for free tuition fees, including the residency requirement, they are liable to pay the appropriate EU or non-EU tuition fee as determined by the third level institution. These institutions are autonomous bodies and the level of fee payable by students who do not meet the requirements of the free fees scheme is therefore a matter for the relevant institution.

Due to concerns about the fact that in some cases the higher non-EU fee was being charged to students who hold EU-EEA-Swiss nationality but who did not meet the residency clause for free fees, the former Minister for Education and Skills requested that the higher education institutions charge the more moderate EU fee to such students who have completed at least five academic years of study at primary or post-primary level in Ireland, EU-EEA countries or Switzerland and who commence their first undergraduate course of study in an approved institution here. This position took effect from the academic year 2014-15 onwards.

The particular concern related to people who for occupational or economic reasons have had to move abroad, requiring them to take their children out of the Irish education system in the process. If, after a period, they return to live in Ireland, in some cases their children may not have met the residency criteria necessary to qualify for free fees. In addition, they may then have found themselves doubly disadvantaged by being charged the higher non-EU rate of fee designed for international students rather than the more moderate EU rate. The Department was anxious to ensure that children who move out of the Irish education system in such circumstances and subsequently return would not be so doubly disadvantaged by being charged the higher non-EU rate of fee.

I thank the Senator for affording me the opportunity to respond to the House on this matter.

Senator Rónán Mullen

I thank the Minister of State for her response. As always with these matters, it is a prepared response. It is not the Minister of State's fault that this is not nearly comprehensive enough to address the nature of my query. What of the student who is an Irish citizen who has been outside the European Union? It is quite clear from the Minister of State's script that it is only in the case where they have been getting their second-level education in the European Union that they would qualify for the more moderate EU fee, as the Minister of State described it. What of people returning from abroad to do a Master's degree? If they were in the Irish system, they would proceed to free fees on the Master's programme. They are being deprived of this. The Government needs to rethink this whole area and to look at the injustice being done to Irish citizens returning from abroad who wish to study and who should be availing of that study at the same rate as an Irish person who was educated and studying at home.

Deputy Ann Phelan

I again draw the Senator's attention to the main conditions of the scheme which include the condition that students are first-time undergraduates. I stand to be corrected, but I think students who seek to do a Master's degree are not funded under the free fees scheme. I will check that out for the Senator.

Farms Data

Senator Paul Bradford

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Ann Phelan, to the House once again. I am aware that one area of her responsibilities is rural development and planning for the future of rural Ireland. In that regard, my motion is pertinent. It concerns the Government's future plans to maximise the number of farming families in this country over the long term at a time when all in the agriculture industry are very excited about the end of the milk quota regime. This is a very positive development and it should be portrayed as such. We have projected figures for future dairy production, future dairy herd numbers and future employment, both on-farm and off-farm. They are very positive. We are all very much aware of the difficulties which will arise in respect of the fluctuation in milk prices but, it is hoped that everyone working in the industry, working with the financial institutions, the dairy co-operatives and the dairy processors, will be able to plan for the rainy days as well as the sunshine in that regard. However, my question goes a little beyond that.

One of the disappointing projections in respect of the positive milk quota news is that in the next few years it is expected that the number of people in dairy farming will fall. The scale of it will be much bigger but we may well in ten or 15 years time have fewer dairy farmers in this country. In respect of not just dairy farmers but farmers right across the spectrum, in particular farm families, is it not time that we as a nation and the Minister of State and her Government colleagues tried to put a figure on the number of people we want on the land of Ireland in five, ten, 15 and 20 years time?

I accept that is a difficult thing to do, but it is something for which we should plan. It is not something which we have previously planned.

Clearly we plan for the future of agriculture, we plan for the future of production and we plan for expansion. Rural development since Ireland joined what was then known as the EEC in 1973 has been very positive from the production and agri-industry points of view. However, the number of people on the land and farms of this country have dropped quite dramatically. Much of that is understandable but some arises from choices taken by various Ministers and Departments during the years.

The Minister of Stat, and her colleagues across the agricultural portfolio must make a decision over the course of the next year. Who knows, it may be her party and others again who will be in government. In the next five or six years we must decide to set a minimum target for the number of people who will farm the lands of Ireland and farming townlands, parishes and counties. Every farming family adds to the economic infrastructure of the country and adds very significantly to the social infrastructure of rural Ireland. One could, in theory, greatly expand Irish agriculture while simultaneously see the number of farmers and farming families drop by 50%, which would not be a desirable outcome.

It has been great to see an increase in the number of students attending agricultural colleges in the past few years. It shows young people want to be farmers again. We must state to them that we are trying to maximise options, from a policy perspective, in order that they can remain in farming. The dairy industry, no matter how progressively it expands and we all wish it well, cannot employ every single interested farmer on the island. Therefore, we must look at other agricultural sectors. We must look again at pig and sheep production which have big problems and there are also problems in the beef sector. While I use the term "micro sector" I am not being dismissive. We must look at the micro and organic sectors and do more work on a REPs-type expansion, etc.

I do not have a solution for the Minister of State and do not think anybody does. However, I seek to learn her thinking and that of her colleagues in government on this issue. It would be helpful if we could ensure there is a strong long-term future for the maximum number of farming families which would be good for farming. It would also be good for rural Ireland and the community life which is the social fabric of the country and the economy. I seek her initial observations. I appreciate that this is a medium to long-term issue, but it is one we need to work towards.

Deputy Ann Phelan

I thank the Senator for raising this important issue and understand his proposal. To be fair to the Minister, I do not think he would necessarily disagree with him in any way. Forward planning is always desirable, whether it is in agriculture or any other sector of the economy. Anticipating what is going to happen in the coming years is desirable.

Yesterday marked one of the biggest changes in the history of Irish agriculture. With the Senator's permission, perhaps I might skip to the policy part of my answer. It is quite detailed and I am conscious that I shall use up my time with same.

The CSO census of agriculture data shows that the number of farm families has remained reasonably stable between 2000 and 2010 which was when the last census took place, accounting for around 141,500 family farms in 2000, to almost 140,000 in 2010. I shall skip party of my reply because the Senator is interested in hearing about policy.

During the period 2009 to 2013, the Department operated an annual scheme for new entrants to dairying whereby successful applicants were allocated a milk quota of up to 200,000 litres at no charge. The scheme was aimed at introducing the best and brightest into the sector and allocated some 70 million litres of quota to over 400 new entrants. Last year, the Department built on the scheme by operating an Exchequer-funded knowledge transfer programme referred to as cash plan 2014. Over 600 recent entrants participated in this programme which was designed to emphasise the importance of farm planning, cashflow and the true cost of producing a litre of milk, and how to manage the factors that influence this cost.

The next item is agri-taxation measures. One of the policy objectives behind many of the recently introduced agri-taxation measures, in budgets 2012 to 2015, was to encourage farming as a career for young people. Measures were introduced to increase land mobility, assist succession and the transfer of farms to younger farmers. They included new stock relief incentive for farm partnerships; reduced stamp duty on agricultural land transactions; 100% stock relief on income tax for certain young trained farmers; a stamp duty exemption on transfers of land to young trained farmers; and establishing a new register of farm partnerships to address land mobility and smooth intergenerational succession.

The new €4 billion rural development programme 2014 to 2020 will be a key support in enhancing the competitiveness of the agrifood sector. One of the issues which strongly emerged from the consultation process was the need to support young farmers and intergenerational renewal in the sector. Accordingly, there are a number of measures within the RDP that directly address this issue. For example, the substantial new agri-environment scheme, which is commonly known as GLAS, gives continued strong support for farmers in areas of natural constraint, support for knowledge transfer, and targeted support for the beef sector via the highly innovative beef data and genomics programme. Also, €395 million has been allocated to provide support for a wide range of capital investments on Irish farms across various sectors. A general rate of 40% aid is available to farmers under TAMS II, with an increased rate of 60% aid available for farmers under 40 years of age.

A further RDP measure that incorporates a targeting of the age profile of Irish farmers is the support for set-up costs of farm partnerships. Supporting farm partnerships in this way will provide a further channel of entry for young farmers. Under Pillar 1, young farmers will benefit from the both the young farmer scheme and the national reserve. Relevant young farmers will also be eligible to apply under the second phase of the national reserve to be given new entitlements or be given a top-up on the value of existing entitlements. Applications will be made available in early April 2015.

The Government has had a continuous focus on the strategic development of the agriculture and food sector. This strategic focus has borne fruit as, through the implementation of Food Harvest 2020, the value of primary production has almost met its 33% target, agrifood exports have grown by 27% and gross value added or GVA has risen by 29%. These figures have been taken from the 2012 data which is the latest available. Notwithstanding the substantive progress achieved on the smart green growth vision of Food Harvest 2020, the continually changing and challenging global environment means that the sector must be kept under continuous review if we are to sustainably expand production and gain maximum value from the new and existing opportunities. To this end, a new 2025 agrifood strategy committee has been appointed which will report back to the Government by the end of June with its key strategic recommendations and actions for the sector up to 2025.

A good indication for the successful operation of future family farms lies in the tremendous increase in the numbers attending agricultural colleges. The numbers involved have almost doubled since 2008. Teagasc, typically, enrols around 3,500 new learners annually in its education programmes with about 5,000 participating in its shorter continuous professional development courses. Teagasc expects that the demand for full-time courses will be sustained at current levels for the sustainable future. This is concrete proof that the Government's focus on supporting farm families, through its strategic vision and a range of measures, schemes and development programmes, is the best way of sustaining the numbers of traditional family farms.

Garda Deployment

Senator Thomas Byrne

I am glad that my Commencement matter has been selected for today. I understand the Minister for Justice and Equality and the Minister of State are unavailable but at least I was told in advance. It is a pity they are not here because in the village of Duleek, County Meath, there is considerable fear and apprehension about the surge in the number of burglaries of premises and robberies that have taken place.

This year alone,15 burglaries of houses and offices have been reported to An Garda Síochána and I am certain the number is higher. One was reported in January, one in February and 13 reported in March. This week alone there was a particular surge. The local youth café which was recently opened and only through the voluntary efforts of many in the local community, was burgled of its televisions and other equipment which had been generously donated and paid for by the local community through fund raising. Local businesses, including hairdressers, barber shops and pubs - there was a burglary last night in a local licensed premises - have been burgled and there is considerable fear and anxiety in the community. Gardaí do their best and we all have a good relationship with the local superintendent who does his best. However, we do not have a full-time Garda station. I have been asking for a full-time Garda station for a long time. The number of gardaí tend to vary between three and four for this village and clearly this is not sufficient. The village is earmarked by criminals as somewhere gardaí are not present. The simple solution is to assign more gardaí to this area. Since the population boom and more people came to live in areas like Duleek and in east Meath in general, Garda management has not recognised that fact. The number of gardaí has been static for many years. People will recall when there was a full-time Garda station there. Now there are easy pickings provided to these criminals by the motorway network and new houses where the residents are out all day.

I wish An Garda Síochána the best of luck but we are demanding more gardaí for Duleek. The people are demanding a full-time Garda station because that is the only thing that will put the people in question off doing their terrible acts.

Deputy Ann Phelan

I am replying to this matter on behalf of the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald.

The House will be aware that the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the detailed allocation of resources, including personnel, transport and other facilities throughout the organisation. The Minister has no function in the matter. This allocation of resources is constantly monitored by the Garda Commissioner and her senior management in the context of demographics, crime trends, policing needs and other operational strategies in place on a district,divisional and regional level, to ensure optimum use is made of Garda resources.

Duleek Garda station is in the Meath Garda division. The Minister is aware of concerns about incidents of burglary in rural Ireland and in particular its effects on the most vulnerable in society, in particular, the elderly. The Minister finds it difficult to fathom how anyone could perpetrate such cowardly crimes against elderly citizens. Operation Fiacla was set up to combat instances of burglary and related criminality. This operation has proven to be successful nationally, with several thousand arrests and prosecutions for burglary offences.

An Garda Síochána continues to work closely with communities through Community Alert, Neighbourhood Watch and other organisations, to provide expert crime prevention advice and support for communities. The Garda commitment to this approach was underlined in the new guidelines for communities wishing to set up community crime prevention schemes which were launched by the Commissioner and the then Minister for Justice and Equality in 2013. That work is ongoing with respect to the establishment and revitalisation, where appropriate, of a number of community alert schemes as part of overall crime prevention strategies. As I have stated, decisions relating to the provision and allocation of Garda resources, including personnel and vehicles, are a matter for the Garda Commissioner in light of her identified operational demands.

The Minister has been informed by the Commissioner's office that 278 gardaí are assigned to the Meath division, of whom four are assigned to Duleek Garda station which is a sub-district within the district of Ashbourne. When members attached to Duleek Garda station are not on duty, the sub-district is patrolled by gardaí from Laytown Garda station and assisted, as required by the district headquarters station at Ashbourne. Local Garda resources are augmented by the divisional traffic unit, community policing units, detective unit and the regional support unit, where necessary, to meet the service demand. Residents in Duleek are assured of a 24-hour response to calls for assistance. All non-999 or 112 calls are diverted to Ashbourne Garda station, which is open and manned on a 24-hour basis. All 999 or 112 calls are received at the divisional control room at Navan Garda station and passed to the appropriate patrols on duty.

Last September the Government oversaw the first recruitment of new gardaí since 2009. The Garda College was reopened for new recruitments and the Government is committed to not letting it close again. To date, 300 new recruits have entered the Garda College, with the first of these to join the force as sworn members in May. The Minister is happy to confirm that she has received sanction from the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, for the recruitment of a further 250 new gardaí in the coming months. She promised seamless ongoing recruitment and she is delivering on this promise. The additional recruitment will bring to 550 the total number of gardaí that will have been recruited by the Government between September 2014 and October 2015. It signifies the determination of the Government and the Minister to deliver an effective, responsive police service to protect communities.

Responsibility for the efficient deployment of Garda vehicles in each division is assigned to the divisional officer, who may allocate vehicles between stations, as required by operational circumstances. The Senator will appreciate that a degree of flexibility in allocating and reallocating vehicles among stations is essential to the efficient management of the Garda fleet. The Minister recently secured a further €10 million for investment in the Garda fleet of which €7 million was made available in 2014. This funding brings the total investment in the Garda fleet in 2014 to €11 million. The remaining €3 million is being made available for the purchase and fit-out of additional Garda vehicles in 2015. In October 2014 an order was placed for 370 new vehicles. These vehicles were delivered towards the end of 2014 and following fit-out are being deployed in accordance with the Garda Commissioner's operational requirements. The Minister has been advised that the needs of the area referred to will be fully considered when new Garda vehicles are being allocated.

The Government, the Minister and the Garda Commissioner are committed to putting in place the necessary resources, systems and operations to support the effective delivery of the best possible policing and security services not just for Duleek and the Meath division but for all communities across the country.

Senator Thomas Byrne

I ask the Minister of State to inform the Minister of the details of the situation in County Meath. The Garda division based in Ashbourne covers the area from the Kilcock bridge on the Meath-Kildare border up to the outskirts of Drogheda, across to Laytown, including Stamullen and Duleek and almost over to Navan and including the Rathfeigh area. It also includes the busy N2 road which is also the scene of much crime. If there is a burglary or an incident down in Dunboyne, the gardaí from Laytown are driving down there to try to catch the criminals. The other night a shop was robbed in Dunshaughlin. The same people then drove up to Duleek. It seems that gardaí are chasing around the place looking for these criminals. They are doing their very best and I fully support them but they need more support. It is not acceptable that a garda from Laytown must drive to Dunboyne. One would not ask a garda from Blanchardstown to drive to Drogheda, but it is exactly the same distance. This needs to change. There was a separate Garda division for east Meath to cover just Laytown, Duleek and Stamullen but this division was abolished under Commissioner Callinan when the Government took office. This has left us in a hole because the east Meath area and in particular, Duleek, has not been able to fight for its own resources within the Garda Síochána. The inclusion of Ashbourne, Dunshaughlin, Dunboyne and Laytown, in one area, is a disaster and this is being proved by the crime figures.

Senator John Whelan

I welcome the Minister of State who is representing the Minister for Health, Deputy Leo Varadkar. My request is to ask the Minister for Health to sit down with the parents of the narcolepsy victims, the parents of the children who have contracted this terrible affliction and lifelong disease as a result of a State-sponsored vaccination programme. I cannot understand why the Minister cannot meet them at the earliest opportunity as this issue has been ongoing for five years. It is incumbent on the Minister to sit down with the parents. The support group, SOUND, represents sufferers of unique narcolepsy disorder.

They contracted this lifelong affliction and disease which will damage their health and hamper their quality of life for the rest of their lives. It is bad enough that has happened. It is a terrible tragedy. However, it compounds the problem and adds insult to injury to refuse to meet the parents and to live up to our responsibilities and obligations to the children affected, to support them now and for the rest of their lives. I am appalled to report to the House that families have been threatened by elements within the Department and the HSE that if they countenance legal action the meagre supports available to them will be withdrawn. Who is representing that position? It is certainly not our position. Who would dare to do that to a child?

I predict that the State is sleepwalking itself into the nightmare of a queue of protracted High Court legal cases. The parents and children to whom I refer do not want to go to the High Court but the HSE and the Department of Health are now washing their hands of the matter and they have referred it to the State Claims Agency. The latter body never seems to want to discuss a matter and to settle it, it favours litigation. Time and again we have seen children wheeled out on "Six One News" after four or five and up to ten years in court. Instead of supporting children and spending the money to help them and support them in their lives with medical care, education and quality of life, the State would rather pay millions to barristers to drag things out for a decade. Very often by the time the help and compensation comes it is useless and pointless and more damage has been done.

The powers that be must intervene because we cannot have children dragged through the courts unnecessarily. There is no need for this. We administered the vaccine, which was a blanket one rather than a targeted one. We made a second strategic error when the HSE indemnified GlaxoSmithKline from any responsibility, which landed the full burden on taxpayers and the State. The liability has been established beyond dispute. We have a responsibility and a moral obligation to the families affected, instead of dragging children through the courts and running up a bill of tens of millions for taxpayers over years. More than 70 cases have now been filed and the number could reach 100. I am ashamed to say the State has any hand, act or part in this approach and strategy. Why are we going to the State Claims Agency with the matter? There is nothing in dispute. In some instances all the parents and children want is, for example, a medical card in order that they do not have to worry about the cost of medical card; education supports and lifelong assistance. This is a lifelong affliction, a burden from which they will never be free. Had they contracted swine flu they would have recovered by now. This was a terrible mistake. We should learn from our mistakes. This is the hepatitis C scandal ready to play out all over again. We should not add to the trauma and distress of the families and children. We all know the terrible burden it would be if it was any of our children. I implore the Minister for Health to meet the parents support group, SOUND, at the earliest juncture to nip this in the bud and to bring common sense to the situation instead of resorting to the courts.

Deputy Ann Phelan

I thank the Senator for raising this very important issue. I have constituents who suffer from this condition. The Senator will understand that I am responding on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Leo Varadkar, and I will undertake to pass on the Senator's concerns about meeting the support group. He provides me with an opportunity to update the House on the matter.

The Minister has consistently acknowledged the impact narcolepsy has, both physically and emotionally, on the lives of those affected and on their families. He is aware of 73 people with narcolepsy who received the Pandemrix vaccine. They can experience excessive daytime sleepiness; sudden and temporary loss of muscle tone, intense, vivid and sometimes terrifying hallucinations, and sleep paralysis. Dealing day-to-day with this illness affects not just their lives but also those of their entire family.

Immunisation is a simple, safe and effective way of protecting people against certain diseases. Immunisation against infectious disease has saved more lives than any other public health intervention. In spite of the obvious benefits that come from vaccination there can be serious adverse outcomes for some people. The priority for the Minister and the priority of the HSE is that individuals and families affected in an adverse way by vaccinations receive appropriate health care and supports. The Department of Health, the HSE and the Department of Education and Skills have worked together to provide a range of services and supports for people who were diagnosed with narcolepsy after receiving the pandemic vaccine on an ex gratia basis. These services and supports, which are co-ordinated by the HSE national advocacy unit, are intended to provide tailored assistance to address their individual requirements. The HSE regional co-ordinators for narcolepsy liaise with primary care services and hospitals to help narcolepsy patients access the health services they require. Where services are not available in the community, the regional co-ordinators assist narcolepsy patients and their families to identify private service providers. They also liaise with schools and the special education section in the Department of Education and Skills regarding educational assessments and supports.

I understand the HSE continues to meet SOUND and recently updated it on the development of a centre of excellence at St. James's Hospital. The centre will include a nurse specialist and dietary service and will facilitate the transition from child to adult services. Legal action has been initiated by 26 families alleging personal injury in which they are claiming the development of narcolepsy resulted from the administration of the Pandemrix vaccine. I am sure the Senator understands it would be inappropriate for me to comment further on the cases. I again acknowledge the impact on the lives of the people affected and families affected by narcolepsy and reiterate the Minister's commitment to the ongoing provision of appropriate services and supports.

Senator John Whelan

I accept that the Minister of State is here on behalf of the Minister for Health, whom I also believe to be a sound and fair man. However, the reply is not satisfactory because there is no indication in it whatsoever that the Minister will meet the support group, SOUND. He should do so and his intervention could be very fruitful for the parents and children, their siblings and extended family but also for the State as it could save it the shame and humiliation that would surely be visited upon it for dragging those families through the courts. I read into what was outlined that the HSE is going to earth on the basis that cases have been filed, but there is still an opportunity to stop the cases going to court. They do not need to go to court. The 26 cases are only the tip of the iceberg. There will be more. There is no need for the matter to proceed to court if common sense and fairness prevail. What is going on should be stopped now. The only people who will benefit from the legal process are barristers instead of the State looking after the children affected.

Seanad Éireann díospóireacht - Thursday, 2 Apr 2015