I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Damien English.
Commencement Matters
Drugs Payment Scheme
I, too, welcome the Minister of State.
Sativex is a new add-on treatment option indicated for multiple sclerosis, MS, patients with moderate to severe resistant spasticity symptoms, that is, muscle rigidity spasms. Sativex contains the active substances THC and CVD, extracted from herbal cannabis cloned plants at a 1:1 ratio. Sativex was issued a licence by the Health Products Regulatory Authority in Ireland on 18 July 2014, shortly after new regulations were signed to enable authorised cannabis based medicinal products to be legally prescribed by physicians. The Irish health technology assessment was evaluated by the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics and the company which provides the product was surprised and disappointed at the subsequent decision not to recommend Sativex for reimbursement at the price submitted. There is plenty evidence to show this drug assists people with MS. Many people are looking to use it to assist them. As the Minister of State is aware, once a person has MS there is no going back. One thing we can do is try to make sure they enjoy a normal way of living by providing pharmaceuticals and medications that can assist them. Those who have MS and who would benefit from this drug are disappointed it is not included in the drugs refund scheme. It is in that context I raise the matter.
I thank the Senator for raising the issue. I am taking this Commencement matter on behalf of the Minister for Health, who regrets that he is unavailable to address the issue today. The Minister is aware that access to potentially beneficial drug treatments is an important issue for people with MS and that MS sufferers and their families face enormous day-to-day challenges in dealing with this progressive and debilitating condition.
Decisions on which medicines are licensed for use in Ireland, and which are reimbursed by the taxpayer, are made on objective, scientific and economic grounds by the HSE on the advice of the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics, NCPE. The NCPE is a team of clinicians, pharmacists, pharmacologists and statisticians who evaluate the benefits and costs of medical technologies and provide advice to the HSE.
The NCPE conducts health technology assessments of pharmaceutical products for the HSE and can make recommendations on reimbursement to assist the HSE in its decision-making process. The HSE has statutory responsibility for decisions on pricing and reimbursement of medicinal products under the community drug schemes in accordance with the provisions of the Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Act 2013. It is appropriate that these should not be political or ministerial decisions and that a scientific and evidence-based approach is taken to determine the extent to which patients would benefit from treatment with expensive new drugs and whether this represents cost-effectiveness for the health service and the taxpayer.
Sativex is indicated for the relief of symptoms of spasticity for people with MS where other conservative treatments have failed to provide adequate benefits. In July 2014, the Health Products Regulatory Authority granted a marketing authorisation for the cannabis-based medicinal product Sativex to be marketed in Ireland. In early September 2014, the HSE received an application for inclusion of Sativex under the community drugs schemes high-tech arrangements. A health technology assessment on Sativex has been completed by the NCPE, which did not recommend reimbursement of Sativex at the submitted price. The report by the NCPE is an important input to assist the HSE in its decision-making process and informed further engagement between the HSE and the supplier relating to potential pricing arrangements for this product.
The matter remains under consideration by the HSE and therefore it would not be appropriate to comment further on the matter at present. The Minister appreciates that some may take the view that the taxpayer should reimburse every licensed medicine for whatever price a drug company demands, the interests of the health service as a whole require that we only reimburse the most effective medicines and only at a fair price.
I thank the Minister of State for his response and I fully accept his comments, as pricing is an issue that must be dealt with carefully. I am one of the people who highlighted how the cost of drugs increased from €570 million in 2000 to €2 billion in 2008 or 2009. Nevertheless, this medication may assist people with multiple sclerosis. The Minister of State knows that a person must live with multiple sclerosis for the rest of his or her life; it is important, therefore, that we try to make his or her life as comfortable as possible. This drug helps in that regard.
The end of the Minister of State's response was vague. Is he indicating that if a further submission was made, it would be given serious consideration or did he say that a further submission has been made and considered?
My understanding is the matter remains under consideration by the HSE and the report from the NCPE has helped in the decision-making process and helping to inform further engagement between the HSE and the supplier on the pricing of the product. It is down to price and effectiveness, as people recognise the benefits. My reading is that this is ongoing so the issue is up for discussion. I will get clarification from the HSE.
Search and Rescue Service Provision
Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. This matter concerns the need for the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport to outline the available structures and funding sources available to support a new and emerging group called the Oranmore-Maree coastal search unit, the purpose of which is to search for missing persons who may have fallen into the water in Galway city. Sadly, many people have lost their lives this way. Bodies sometime emerge in the area where I live.
The rate can be unbelievable and, on average, eight to nine bodies are found every year along the coastal area of Oranmore, Maree and Renville. It is the scientific nature of tides that this is the area where the bodies tend to come up. The Minister of State will know from media reports that we have all been touched recently by the sad death of young Michael Bugler from Ennis, who after approximately 21 days was found in our local area. This event touched everybody and in our area we had, on average, 300 volunteers per day looking for the man. These included people from Galway and Ennis, where he was from, who came together to congregate in Calasanctious College and Oranmore community centre. We were lucky to have that facility because this happened over the Christmas period. We would not always have that type of space but we did because it was Christmas. Sadly, another young man from my own local parish, Donal Greene, passed away tragically earlier last year. He was from our area but he died in Cavan. Our community moved to Cavan and we saw how the local community there came out.
What emerges from this is that although there is a strong volunteer spirit, we need to be better organised. The Garda and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution have let us know they are often searching for people on their own. A very clear wish has emerged that we need at least 60 trained volunteers who will be able to cope, for example, with finding a body. They should have the appropriate training and clothing. So many people come along with goodwill, and we could never stop them, but we need trained leaders in each of the search zones. We have worked out that there are 16 search zones from Galway city down to north Clare along the coast. We are giving leadership and, locally, we can cover at least eight of those. We have met representatives of the Garda and RNLI and they are delighted with this offer of help but they have said they need greater support.
We are seeking very basic funding to get started, which will probably be up to €10,000. The training of 60 volunteers is estimated at approximately €100 each. Proper clothing is also required, along with high-visibility vests, boots and prototype information sheets to allow distribution of the right information to all search volunteers before they come into any daily search. It is unbelievable that we are talking about this. Prevention is the best cure and it is another element. It is a sad reality that many of our young people fall into the water, accidentally or otherwise, around Galway city and the Claddagh or docks area in particular.
This is the voice of the public reaching out to the Minister. I am deeply moved by the work of this group, of which I am a part. This may be our last sitting in Seanad Éireann in this session and it would be great to end it by getting the goodwill of the Minister. Will the Minister of State indicate where we can find funding and make a commitment to this?
I am taking this matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, as he could not be here. He sends his apologies. I thank the Senator for raising this matter on the issue of missing persons, which is obviously of importance to us all and to the country but also, acutely, to those who have lost loved ones in this way. The Senator has correctly referred to the great work done by many groups involved with search and rescue. I am familiar with my own group, Meath river rescue, which is based in Navan and does great work offering support and hope to families trying to find a loved one. It is important that we support that as best we can both in a voluntary capacity and through our work in various Departments. It can be a difficult time for families and it is important that we do everything we can to help.
Maritime search and rescue is the responsibility of the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport. Primary responsibility for this has been delegated to the Irish Coast Guard, which is a division within the Department. The Irish Coast Guard co-ordinates maritime search and rescue services at sea and leads and co-ordinates national participation in search and rescue and safety-related initiatives of the International Maritime Organisation. An Garda Síochána is responsible for missing persons and for land-based search and rescue. As Galway city and Oranmore are inland areas, the matters raised by the Senator are essentially matters for An Garda Síochána and the Department of Justice and Equality.
In the event that the Irish Coast Guard is requested to provide assistance in the adjacent coastal area, such as Galway Bay, the immediately available resources are Costello Bay Coast Guard unit, the Doolin and the Aran Island Coast Guard units and the Shannon-based Coast Guard helicopter. The area is also served by the RNLI, which has a lifeboat in Galway and would also respond to incidents as tasked by the Irish Coast Guard in such an event.
As I have indicated, missing persons matters come within the remit of the Garda. An Garda Síochána is also responsible for mountain search and rescue co-ordination in Ireland. The Defence Forces, in aid to the civil authority or power, may also engage in search and rescue activities on land, mountains, inland lakes or rivers.
My Department pays annual grants to designated mountain rescue teams and designated community operated rescue services which are known as Community Rescue Boats Ireland. The role of paying annual grants to the mountain rescue teams was assigned to the Irish Coast Guard from the Department of Justice and Equality some years back in the interests of certain administrative efficiencies. Community rescue boat teams have a formal relationship with the Irish Coast Guard, on foot of which they are designated as declared resources. The CRBIs are primarily self-funded groups that are equipped with rescue boats and associated facilities.
I regret to say the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport has no basis or financial resources to provide funding to groups other than the mountain rescue and the CRBI. I believe the mechanisms we have in place, which encompass the Garda, the Irish Coast Guard and the Defence Forces, are in good shape to deal with the horror of missing person cases when they occur and, hopefully, they will bring them to a positive conclusion. That said, we are interested in hearing further about what the Senator thinks and there is no doubt that we will engage further on this important topic. I suggest, from my own involvement with Leader, that perhaps the Senator's group would be successful if it applied for Leader funding. The Senator should find out whether a Leader or partnership group operates in the Galway area and, if so, whether it will work with the Senator's team to finance some of this project. I know that such initiatives have been successful in the past.
I am grateful for the Minister of State's reply. I neglected to say at the outset that when a person falls in the water there is a golden hour within which a person can be saved. Therefore, the more prepared we are and the more supports that are available to the Garda and others, the better. My motion is about saving lives. I wish to check what the Minister of State said in his reply. I heard him mention Leader funding and thank him for his prompt response. Is he saying mountain rescue teams and CRBI would qualify for funding? I do not know how my initiative would qualify under mountain rescue. By the way, Oranmore-Maree is a coastal region and is located right on the edge of water. I heard the way that the Minister of State outlined his measures. Under those measures, within his Department, are we likely to qualify for funding?
I have outlined the resources that are available in the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and the main category is mountain rescue and CRBI. It may be worthwhile for the Senator's group to consult CRBI to see whether it would come within the remit of CRBI. As a Deputy operating in the Meath region, I can confirm that I have worked very closely with Leader and Meath Partnership to secure funding for the Meath River Rescue organisation, an inland service that does similar and important work as done by the group mentioned by the Senator. I did not promise or guarantee funding. I simply suggested another mechanism that the Senator could explore, one where she could see if there is an opportunity for development.
I thank the Minister of State for his time.
Commercial Rates Impact
I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Damien English. This morning he seems to be Minister of State for all trades.
I have tabled a motion on commercial rates on child care. It is not the first time that I have raised this matter and it was one of the first issues I raised when I became a Senator. The climate has changed since then because educational preschool services have been put to the forefront by this Government. I hope I will get a better response to my query this time. There has been a good response to the Seanad's motion to exempt community child care facilities from rates. Today, I am referring to the impact rates have on educational establishments.
Preschool education is an educational and social facility that is now available to all children in Ireland and the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs has announced the introduction of a second year of free preschool education. This is the first year that the Department of Education and Skills has become involved in the inspection of preschools as, heretofore, such work was done by the HSE and Tusla. That shows how much we value preschool education and it is now available to every child for two years. Preschool education has been deemed more important than all of the other stages of education because 80% of a child's intelligence develops between the ages of zero and three years. Why is preschool education looked on as a commercial entity and used as an opportunity to charge rates? If commercial rates for such places were fairly treated throughout the country it would be something but, unfortunately, rates differ from county to county. Let us discuss the type of space that attracts rates. Ms Teresa Heeney, from Early Childhood Ireland, has conducted a very good survey of its members on the subject of commercial rates. Early Childhood Ireland has a lot of members but not every provider of preschool education is a member. There was a very good response to the survey. It shows that 40% of participants stated that rates are applied to the amount of space inside but rates are also charged on outside space. As much as 37% of rates charged includes all space; 5% rate the classroom size only; and 7% rate other things also. Some counties impose rates on storage space, including cupboards. The survey shows that there is no standard approach to commercial rates.
The survey also shows the number of crèches, which now must all be registered with the HSE, versus the number of places that pay rates. Some counties are very good and County Carlow is the best as 62% of its HSE registered crèches pay rates. What is different about County Carlow? It has a very low base rate as the average charged is €1,900. In County Leitrim only 11% of its crèches are registered with the HSE. Obviously a lot of them may be community crèches or there may not be as many commercial crèches or whatever. We simply do not know. Let us take two parents who earn exactly the same salary and say one lives in County Leitrim while the other lives in County Carlow. In that case totally different rules and regulations apply to the rates that must be paid. County Longford is very good as 71% of its HSE registered crèches pay rates. I think that county has as many community crèches as other counties or at least it deserves to have as many community crèches which would not be rated.
I will outline the reasons I tabled my Commencement matter. First, preschool educational establishments should not be charged commercial rates. Second, on foot of the survey conducted by Early Childhood Ireland, I wish to point out that the way commercial rates are charged around the country is unfair. For example, only 15% of HSE registered crèches in Sligo pay rates. I am not saying that more of them should pay rates. Indeed, that 15% of enterprises should not pay rates at all.
The survey also shows that most of the rates are generated in the County Dublin area. A sum of €14 million has been collected in total. As much as €11 million of that sum has come from Dublin and the rest of the money comes from the rest of the country. Even though the rates of pay in Dublin are generally higher there is something radically wrong with the system and it must be corrected. It is impossible to ensure financial sustainability. Some schools have huge arrears which they cannot afford to pay. I acknowledge what has been done for community child care but I want the same done for crèches, which are educational establishments.
On behalf of the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, I thank the Senator for raising this important issue. I should point out that the ministerial responsibility for the Valuation Office has been transferred to the Minister for Justice and Equality, with effect from 1 January 2016. I might also explain that the issue of local authority commercial rates comes within the remit of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, who has responsibility for fiscal policy, and the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, who has responsibility for the local government system.
The Valuation Office which now comes within the remit of the Minister for Justice and Equality is responsible for the implementation and interpretation of the Valuation Act 2001, as amended, under which commercial rates are levied by the local authorities. The Valuation Office prepares valuation lists of commercial properties, as required by the Valuation Act, and local authorities are obliged to collect rates on properties which are listed. The Commissioner of Valuation is independent in the exercise of his functions under the Valuation Act 2001 and the making of valuations for rating purposes is his sole prerogative. The statute does not accord the Minister any function in this regard.
The Valuation Act 2001, as amended by the Valuation (Amendment) Act 2015, provides that all buildings used or developed for any purpose are rateable unless expressly exempted under Schedule 4 of the Act. Such exempt buildings would principally include those used for public worship, education and healthcare provided on a not-for-profit basis and charitable purposes. In general, the Act maintains the long-standing position that all commercial properties, including all commercial child care facilities such as playschools, preschools, crèches and Montessori schools, are liable for rates.
Inconsistency in the approach to the exemption from rates for child care and educational facilities and calls to exempt all such providers were among the issues raised at a number of stages during the passage of the Valuation (Amendment) Act 2015. As a result, the Government approved a Seanad Report Stage amendment to the Bill to insert into Schedule 4 to the Valuation Act 2001 an exemption from rates for properties occupied by parties that provided early childhood care and education on a not-for-profit basis. This is for community purposes, a matter to which the Senator referred. The amendment was proposed and passed on Report Stage in the Seanad on 20 November 2014. This extension of the child care and education exemption removed an anomaly by which facilities that provided child care and education on a charitable basis were exempt, while those that did so on a not-for-profit basis were not. Since the legislation was commenced on 8 June 2015, the Valuation Office has been updating the valuation list to give effect to this provision and the vast majority of such occupiers will qualify for this relief from 2016 onwards.
I thank the Senator for raising this important issue. The decision taken by the Government to extend the rates exemption to early childhood care and education provided on a not-for-profit basis was taken having considered the views of stakeholders in the sector and Members of this House. In addition to the exemption of those that provide child care and early education on a not-for-profit basis, the Valuation Office's interpretation of paragraph 10 of Schedule 4 to the Valuation Act 2001 means that those that provide only the early childhood care and education scheme are also exempt from rates.
The Minister of State could have left out three pages of his reply because I know exactly what it means: it is the system as it is, as everybody who works in the early childhood care and education sector knows. One of the Minister of State's final statements was: "Since the legislation was commenced on 8 June 2015, the Valuation Office has been updating the valuation list to give effect to this provision and the vast majority of such occupiers will qualify for this relief from 2016 onwards." Is he telling me that the vast majority of early childhood care and education premises, those which provide the two-year child care preschool programme, will qualify for relief? If that is what he is saying, that indicates a change, as it would include for-profit as well as not-for-profit bodies. The Government is providing for free preschool education as long as providers can supply the setting for two years. That is a preschool without a child care service. That is what the Government is providing and nothing else. Will early childhood care and education providers qualify for a rates exemption as education service providers?
I will go through it again. In addition to the exemption of those that provide child care and early education on a not-for-profit basis, the Valuation Office's interpretation of paragraph 10 of Schedule 4 to the Valuation Act 2001 means that those that only provide the early childhood care and education scheme are also exempt from rates. The vast majority of occupiers will qualify for the updated relief from 2016 onwards.
Sitting suspended at 11.05 a.m. and resumed at 11.35 a.m.