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Seanad Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 22 Jun 2016

Vol. 246 No. 5

Commencement Matters

Garda Vetting Applications

I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality, Deputy Finian McGrath, and wish him success and luck in his new portfolio.

I join the Cathaoirleach in welcoming the Minister of State on his first appearance in the House. I also congratulate the Minister of State on his appointment and thank him for coming to the House to discuss what is becoming an increasingly frustrating issue for many voluntary schools, groups and commercial entities. This frustration is accentuated by the fact that this is a busy time of year for those who work with children, with the school holidays generating increased activity.

Vetting is a cornerstone of any child welfare strategy and essential to ensure best practice when recruiting individuals to work with children and vulnerable persons. The protection and safeguarding of the nation's children is, rightly, at the forefront of the vetting process. However, the current delays are having a major impact on those on whom we rely to work safely with children. It is almost two months since the new e-vetting system went live with much fanfare, but the feedback my office has been receiving from child care facilities, kids' sports camps, schools and clubs, is, unfortunately, that there are still inordinate delays.

The previous statistic that the turnaround time was only four weeks was grossly misleading and I wonder if the new target time of just five working days is another red herring. While it may have taken less than four weeks for gardaí under the previous system to log and enter vetting applications, delays of up to three months were still being encountered in the formal vetting stage undertaken by an outside body. One constituent who contacted me explained that in working with children for ten years the quickest time in which he had ever had an application completed was ten weeks.

While the delays are bad enough, they are compounded by the wall of silence and bureaucracy applicants and service providers meet in trying to establish what the status of their applications is, with delays of indefinite periods constantly chipping away at the viability of their operations. The lengthy timeframe is simply unsustainable, especially for commercial entities working in the sector, many of which rely on part-time or seasonal staff.

For these companies, replacing staff is an absolute nightmare, as they know that after hiring someone it can be months before he or she can actually start working. This, in turn, costs contracts, leads to disappointment and completely undermines the sector. The delays stop companies from getting off the ground, prevent people from starting work and limit the options open to parents and others in terms of the services available to children.

Will the Minister of State provide a comprehensive report on how the new vetting system is working? What are realistic and the actual waiting times? Have the delays really been eradicated? I am not convinced that they have and want to know what is causing them. Is it the due diligence process and, if so, can it be improved? Is it the number of applications which previously stood at 30,000 a month and, if so, can more resources be allocated? Is it seasonal changes to the volume of applications and, if so, can they be addressed in the months in which additional resources are needed? As in the case of the passport system, is there scope to introduce a fast-track system for companies or voluntary bodies which, for a fee, are able to have an application fully processed within ten working days in response to exceptional need?

I thank the Senator for his welcome. As he stated, this is my first time to address the House and I wish all new Senators the best of luck for the future. My approach on all issues, particularly disabilities, will be to work closely with all Senators. If they need help or support, they should not hesitate to knock on my door and I will facilitate them to the best of my ability.

I am responding on behalf of the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality who is grateful to the House for giving her the opportunity to clarify matters so far as this issue is concerned. The Senator will be pleased to note that there is no undue delay in the processing of applications for persons who require Garda vetting. The Tánaiste has been informed by the Garda authorities that the current average processing time for vetting applications is actually four weeks.

The Senator will be aware that the national vetting bureau provides employment vetting for organisations registered with the Garda for this purpose and which employ persons in a full-time, part-time, voluntary or training capacity in positions where they have substantial unsupervised access to children or vulnerable adults. Garda vetting applications are processed as they are received in the national vetting bureau and all organisations registered for Garda vetting are aware of the processing timeframes and have been advised to factor this into their recruitment and selection process. To put the scale of the operation being conducted by the national vetting bureau into some perspective, in 2015 the bureau, or the Garda central vetting unit as it was then known, processed 335,427 applications for vetting. This year, up to 31 May, it has processed 129,651 applications, of which 80% were processed within the four week timeframe to which I have alluded.

Approximately 18,000 organisations are in receipt of vetting services from the national vetting bureau, covering a wide range of health, educational, sports and recreational sectors. The bureau provides ongoing support and advice for the organisations concerned in managing their vetting requirements. There will, of course, always be some individual cases where additional inquiries may be necessary and this may result in processing times in excess of the average. That is one of the points raised by the Senator. The primary consideration of the bureau is to seek to ensure the safety of children and vulnerable adults. That is the key issue. Accordingly, the vetting process demands rigorous procedures to safeguard its integrity and maintain the highest level of confidence by the public and organisations availing of the service.

Any vetting process will take a certain minimum amount of time to complete and, taking into account the importance of measures to protect children and vulnerable adults, while providing an effective and efficient service, the current processing period is not considered unreasonable. An Garda Síochána is also committed to ensuring the service provided is delivered in as modern and efficient a manner as possible, which takes advantage of developments in technology. In this context, An Garda Síochána launched an e-vetting system on 29 April which will facilitate the processing of applications in an online format, thus removing the current time consuming process of manual applications. E-vetting will further streamline the vetting process and contribute to sustaining reduced processing times for vetting applications. The e-vetting system has been designed to be compatible with the requirements of the National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Acts 2012 to 2016 and, in this regard, was launched in tandem with the commencement of the Acts.

I thank the Minister of State for his reply which is slightly disappointing for obvious reasons. Part of the point I raised has been missed. I queried the all-in timeframe of the process, not just the amount of time an application rests with the Garda or the body to which the vetting process has been outsourced. It concerns the period from the time a body submits an application for vetting to when there is final clarification. All of the evidence presented to my office by Montessori schools and children's sports camps shows that it is not a four-week process, that the timeframe involved has not been reduced and that there is still an inordinate delay. From an employment point of view, when one loses a number of staff members who give two or three weeks' notice, knowing that it will take at least four weeks to have a replacement vetted is one thing, but when the delay extends from four to six, eight or ten weeks, it makes many organisations completely unviable and thus completely restricts what is open to parents and guardians in terms of the services they can provide for their children.

Of course, I take the issues raised on board and will report back to the Minister. I agree with the Senator on child services. As far as I am concerned, a delay of three months is unacceptable. The Senator mentioned delays of up to ten weeks. He also queried the all-in timeframe, which is unacceptable. We need to deal with it. The point made in the answer I gave on behalf of the Minister is that approximately 80% of applications are processed within a reasonable timeframe, but in the 20% of cases about which the Senator speaking we must ensure we make the process more efficient. We must act on this issue. The Senator mentioned commercial activities, sensitivities and the viability of operations. Of course, we must take these issues on board. I will relay all of the Senator's serious concerns back to the Minister to see whether we can make the process more efficient and progressive to help those who urgently need to get on with their jobs and employ new staff.

UN Conventions Ratification

I am delighted to join the Cathaoirleach in welcoming the Minister of State. I am particularly pleased that for the first time we have a Minister of State at the Cabinet table looking at the issue of inclusion for people with disabilities, which is a whole-of-government issue. It is a unique role and, in a sense, the Minister of State has in some way become the conscience of the Cabinet on the issue to ensure effective implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which is the linchpin. Ireland signed the convention in March 2007, which means that we have had almost ten years to prepare for its ratification and introduce the legislative measures required. At the recent European disability forum conference the Minister of State stated - it has been said over and over - that Ireland's approach had always been not to ratify international treaties until it was ready to implement them. My simple and logical response, therefore, is that once the convention is ratified, everything has to move and all the buttons must be green. However, the legislation still needs to be put in place. The other practical measures to be included in the upcoming budget and resources also need to be put in place.

I present the Minister of State with an opportunity to confirm that work is under way in Departments and public services to ensure implementation, that ratification will take place before the end of 2016 and that budget 2017 will include resources to progress implementation.

On the legislative side, I have mentioned the roadmap which has been published. In conjunction with it, however, practical measures must be put in place in the upcoming budget. There are a raft of such measures in the provision of health services, housing, personal assistants, disability services, transport and many more.

People with disabilities can characterise the recession years in two key ways. First, there were repeated commitments that services for them and other supports would be protected and prioritised. Second, as time passed, there was a gross understatement or under-acknowledgement of the depth and scope of the cuts that continued to impact on them and their families in their participation in everyday life. If a credible start is not made at this stage, people with disabilities may well draw the conclusion that they were hoodwinked during the past decade. The Oireachtas has not kept faith with them. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities is simply a methodology to give effect to the emancipation of 600,000 people. I have no doubt whatsoever that Ireland can implement the convention well in the time ahead. We have the resolve, ambition and confidence to do so. It is the right and proper thing to do for people with disabilities and, equally, for the economic, moral and social development of the country.

I thank the Senator for his best wishes and congratulate him on being elected to the Seanad. I have known him for many years and I am aware of the magnificent work he has done with the Disability Federation of Ireland. It is very important that people with disabilities have a voice in the Seanad. I wish the Senator well. I thank him for raising this very important topic which is also of importance to me. I am delighted to have the opportunity to address Ireland's ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities and provide an update on the work under way to meet our ratification targets. The roadmap to ratification published by the previous Government last October detailed all of the remaining legislative barriers to ratification and the work that would be undertaken to overcome them. It also set out a clear timeframe for ratification. I can confirm that we are on track to achieve our target of ratification of both the convention and the optional protocol by the end of the year, something I am working very hard to achieve. Much has been achieved already in overcoming the obstacles to ratification outlined in the roadmap, with the enactment of the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Bill 2015 and the implementation of the amendments to the Mental Health Act 2001 which removed the authority to administer electroconvulsive therapy or medicine after a three-month period to an involuntary patient with capacity who was unwilling to consent to the treatment.

The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015 was passed by the Seanad on 26 January this year. When enacted, the Bill will reform section 5 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 1993 to facilitate the full participation in family life of persons with intellectual disabilities and the full expression of their human rights. Achieving the necessary balance between these rights and ensuring appropriate protection is crucial.

Work is also under way on the drawing up of a disability/equality (miscellaneous provisions) Bill to progress the outstanding miscellaneous legislative amendments necessary to proceed to ratification. The Bill will address issues such as meeting the convention's requirements in the provision of reasonable accommodation and deprivation of liberty, as well as removing archaic references in existing legislation to mental health. We recently presented the general scheme of the Bill to the Oireachtas for pre-legislative scrutiny.

To address the Senator's point about resources for implementation, let me be clear: we need more resources for disability services which have taken a hit in the past seven or eight years. The Government and I will do our best to deliver on this commitment. My priorities are clear. Underlining the Government's commitment to supporting the disability sector, last week I announced the provision of an additional €31 million for disability services in 2016. This includes €3 million for new initiatives, including an additional provision for services to meet the needs of school leavers with disabilities and the anticipated cost of a number of emergency residential placements this year. These were the priority issues that had to be dealt with immediately when I took office. Ratification of the convention is a separate issue that is not contingent on the provision of resources and does not require additional funding. When we ratify the convention by the end of the year, we will be making a solemn commitment to the international community that our body of domestic legislation is fully in line with the convention and fully meets the standards required under it. Issues related to the allocation of resources will always be the subject of debate and matters for the individual Departments involved. Service standards and the provision of funding are subject to what is described in the convention as "progressive realisation" and the budgetary decisions of the Government of the day. It is my job to push for these budgetary decisions to be made and services to be provided.

The programme for Government sets out a range of commitments to improve the lives of people with disabilities. The Government supports - I will be monitoring the position on the 2017 Estimates, on which I have already started work - an increase in disability benefit, disability allowance, carer's benefit, carer's allowance and blind person's pension. I am committed to implementing these policies. Legislation is being drafted to introduce a new mobility scheme which I will have ready in the next couple of weeks. The Government also supports further increases in housing adaption grants.

Work will continue to move people with disabilities living in congregated settings to appropriate accommodation where they can live independently. I take the opportunity to announce that additional funding of €20 million will be made available to facilitate their removal from congregated settings. I will supply later a list of the institutions that will benefit from the allocation of €20 million which will enable people with intellectual or physical disabilities living in institutions to move to appropriate accommodation. In other words, we will take them out of institutions and place them in smaller community homes with a maximum of four people and the necessary support staff and services. The €20 million will be spent in the coming weeks.

I thank the Senator for raising this issue. I would like to change the mindset. When we talk about people with disabilities we are talking about our daughters, brothers, sisters or neighbours. We are talking about citizens of the State and protecting their rights. I am determined to ensure the UN convention will be ratified by Christmas.

That was a full response.

I am relieved and delighted that work is under way, not just in the Department of Justice and Equality, in particular, but also in other Departments, on the legal aspects to ensure ratification will take place by the end of the year. The Minister of State mentioned extra funding for congregated settings. That is important and should be noted, but I did not hear a response to the third question I asked about an assurance that resources would be made available in the budget for next year. The reply is shy in referencing the coming year. It is critical once we get over the hurdle of ratifying the convention that there not be another delay that would mean we would have to start thinking about resources. It must be done now.

On ratification, I do not accept the Minister of State's point that there are no implications for the provision of resources. A huge job of work must be done to improve the ordinary lives of people with disabilities. Getting them out of institutions is one thing but making sure the community is fit for them to live good lives and participate is another.

We are well over the time limit. Does the Minister of State want to respond briefly?

I take Senator John Dolan's point about not having to wait for ten years. During the talks on the programme for Government this was something I inserted and we must act on it. Having to hang around for ten years is not acceptable. Let us try to act now.

Reference was made to providing assurances that the issue would be dealt with in the forthcoming budget. I am giving assurances to the Senator that we will seek the resources we need to fund new services. Moreover, it is my position that we will have to have resources to repair the damage done in the past nine or ten years. I accept that point and I am giving a commitment to deal with the issue. I have sat down with my staff and in the coming two or three weeks will be demanding extra resources to implement many of the measures to which the Senator referred. The answer to his question is "Yes", but I am not going to make any big false promise in the House. However, I can give a strong commitment that I will do my best to ensure the provision of and a focus on services for people with disabilities.

I put it to my colleagues that it is not only a question for me as the Minister of State who deals with people with disabilities. I am keen to broaden the debate. Every Minister should have a role in dealing with the issue to support the rights of people with disabilities to access services. For example, I have set myself a target. The employment target for people with disabilities is 3%, but I have set myself a target of reaching a figure of 6% in the next three years. There are thousands of young people with a physical or an intellectual disability. I met a group of them yesterday at the Irish Wheelchair Association. I met another three weeks ago in the Central Remedial Clinic. They are hugely talented young people who are looking for a real job. I am putting it to every Minister that it is not simply a question for me as the person responsible for dealing with people with disabilities. We all have a responsibility in that regard. I would also appreciate the support of my Seanad colleagues for that vision. We need to change the mindset in Irish society.

Neuro-Rehabilitation Services

I welcome the Minister of State and congratulate him on his appointment.

I refer to the National Rehabilitation Hospital on Rochestown Avenue in Dún Laoghaire. I do not intend to give a history lesson, but the people involved and those with a knowledge of the hospital will know of the numerous fancy and elaborate schemes to rebuild it which all fell and came to nothing. Eventually Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council was asked, in conjunction with the property owners, to rezone a substantial amount of land for medical use and a new scheme was drafted. We now have An Bord Pleanála fast-tracking the plan and it has finally granted permission for a substantial redevelopment of the site, which is to be welcomed.

Before I go any further, I acknowledge the extraordinary work done by the hospital board of management, staff and practitioners. The hospital deals with patients with brain injuries, who have suffered a stroke, have neurological conditions and other serious health issues. It should be an absolute priority for the Department of Health to have a state-of-the-art, fit-for-purpose, design and build national rehabilitation hospital on the island of Ireland. I am calling on the Minister of State to keep the pressure on and reassure us that the project is on-track, despite the setbacks. That is important for the staff, patients and families who are tapping into the services provided, which are excellent. The staff are working in very difficult circumstances and conditions.

My principal concern is the ownership of the site. The Minister of State may not be aware that the lands became subject to an agreement with the religious order in question under the redress scheme. There is concern that this process has not been completed, affecting the full transfer of the lands to meet the conditions of the agreement entered into by the HSE and the landowners. While the project is progressing, contracts are being drawn up and tendering processes pursued, we want to avoid a situation where there will be an issue about the ownership of the site. Clearly, the State cannot fund a facility on lands the title to which and ownership of which are not clear. I call on the Minister of State to use his good offices to expedite the matter and take up the issue with and obtain assurances from the religious order in question. Ultimately, State money is going into the project. It would at the last minute be a terrible shame if there as to be an obstacle. I am not privy to the finer details, although I have an idea of what was going on. Whatever commitments were given and whatever conditions were made, let them be carried out to the letter of the agreement in order that we can get the project under way.

I thank the Senator for his warm welcome and congratulate him on his election to Seanad Éireann. Like me, he was around for a number of years trying to get in. It took me ten years to get here. I wish him well and the best of luck.

I thank the Senator for raising the issue of the development of the National Rehabilitation Hospital and welcome the opportunity to outline the current position on this major capital investment development. The National Rehabilitation Hospital provides a comprehensive range of specialist services for adult and paediatric patients who, as a result of an accident or an injury, have acquired a physical disability and require specialist medical attention. Effective rehabilitation draws on a broad range of disciplines to meet the particular needs of individuals. I agree with the comments of the Senator on the excellent staff working in the hospital. The objective is to assist patients in returning to life in the community with confidence. Approximately 1,000 people are treated on an inpatient basis at the hospital each year. Approximately 5,000 are treated on an outpatient basis. Many patients have a lifelong association with the hospital. Therefore, the completion of the new National Rehabilitation Hospital is the priority project in the rehabilitation medicine sector.

An Bord Pleanála has awarded planning permission for a 120 replacement bed ward block which will include support therapies for paediatrics and acquired brain injury units, as well as a hydrotherapy unit and a sports hall. The design has been finalised and the preparation of tender documentation is under way. Procurement of construction contractors has commenced and within the next week a notice will be advertised in the Official Journal of the European Union requesting expressions of interest from suitable contractors. The National Rehabilitation Hospital should be in a position to appoint a contractor at year end, with construction proper commencing in early 2017. On this basis, the new facility could be completed in 2018. A small enabling works contract will commence in the third quarter of this year and be completed by the end of the year. The hospital is accredited externally by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities. The commission sets standards of quality by which an organisation providing rehabilitation services is assessed and measured in the delivery and development of medical rehabilitation services. The Government is committed to the development of the facilities at the National Rehabilitation Hospital. I look forward to the work commencing in the near future and the completion of the new National Rehabilitation Hospital.

I take the point made by the Senator about the ownership of the site and the conditions of the agreement. That is something about which we have to be careful. The Senator also referred to lack of clarity on the title to the lands. I give him a commitment that I will follow up on the aspects of the question he has raised because we cannot have anything that will block the development of this major project.

I thank the Minister of State for his comprehensive response. I reiterate the importance of having clarity on the title to the lands. It is important that the details of any agreement entered into on the site or block of land be examined in great detail.

There is little detail available of the financing of the project which the Government is co-funding. I intend to come back to the Minister of State on this issue. We need reassurance that we are on target. That is a matter for another day when I can raise it with the Minister of State. Of critical importance is what was agreed to under the redress scheme.

I will follow up on the issue of the title to the land. The Senator might come back to me on the financial aspects. I presume everything is on target in that regard, especially given the extra health allocation provided this year. Furthermore, there will be increased resources for health and disability services in 2017. Again, we will keep an eye on the matter. I agree with the Senator in that regard.

Primary Care Centres

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Seán Canney. I believe this is the first time he has been in the House. I wish him every success in his portfolio.

I, too, welcome the Minister of State and congratulate him on his appointment. In his first term as a Member of Dáil Éireann he is also a Minister of State, which is a fair achievement, with a fellow Tuam man, the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath. Tuam has certainly been put on the map.

There has been speculation that the primary care centre in Monksland in south County Roscommon could be moved from the Galway, Mayo and Roscommon community health organisation, CHO, area 2 to area 8 which covers Laois, Offaly, Longford, Westmeath, Louth and Meath, which counties are in a different province. There is no political mandate for the HSE for County Roscommon in CHO area 8. Roscommon councillors Paddy Kilduff, Tony Ward and Laurence Fallon are involved in HSE West. A decision to include County Roscommon in CHO area 8 would cause a democratic deficit and take away the voice of the people of County Roscommon in dealing with their health affairs.

The HSE has advised that it is reviewing how community services can best be delivered locally in an integrated way to communities. The people of south County Roscommon have their primary care needs looked after in the purpose-build HSE West primary care centre. Including it in another administrative district may make sense to faceless bureaucrats who want to tear County Roscommon apart at every opportunity, but it would not be in the best interests of the people of south County Roscommon. The save Roscommon campaign continues to seek to stop the changes proposed by the boundary review commission. This does not make sense to the people of south County Roscommon who want a health service to be provided in their locality.

I also seek the Minister of State's support in ensuring County Roscommon is not divided. It is a form of apartheid to take a progressive region away from Roscommon and include it in County Westmeath. It is an outrageous proposal and I hope the Minister of State, through his involvement in government, will ensure it will not happen. The ethos of the primary care system is that health care be provided locally. The primary care system comprises all health and social services delivered in the community outside hospitals. It includes GPs, public health nurses and a range of other services provided at a single point of contact with the health system. There has been significant investment in the centre at Monksland where services from throughout County Roscommon have been centralised. While it may be speculation, sometimes it becomes reality. With all other Oireachtas Members from the Roscommon-Galway constituency, I was approached about the issue and it is only right that I should raise it in the House and seek a response from the Government.

I thank the Senator for his kind words and welcome to the Chamber. I also thank him for raising this issue. I am taking the debate on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Simon Harris, who is elsewhere on Government business.

The development of an enhanced primary care system and guaranteeing the future sustainability of GP practices in rural and disadvantaged urban areas are priorities under the programme for Government and an important element of the health reform process. Our ultimate goal is to ensure people receive the care they need as close to home as possible and that they have access to a greater range of health and social care services in their communities.

Following the decision in 2013 to organise the country’s acute hospitals in a number of hospital groups, the HSE was requested to review the structures then in place for the delivery of non-acute services. A thorough review was commenced in 2013 and completed in 2014. It examined international experience in the implementation of integrated health and social care services, with a particular focus on achieving successful integration. It also involved consultation with providers and users of health services, as well as public services, including the local authority, education and justice systems. It rigorously evaluated options, taking into account the requirement for appropriate care pathways between primary care and acute services, the planned hospital groups and local authority boundaries. It also focused on what would benefit the provision of integrated care for the general population and support the implementation of Government policy on the care of older people, people with disabilities and those in need of mental health services. It has concluded that achieving integrated care means that services must be planned and delivered with patients' needs and wishes as the organising principle and that integrated care can make a real difference to the quality of care and hence patient outcomes. After a careful evaluation of options, the recommended approach was to restructure the 17 integrated service areas into nine community health care organisations, CHOs.

Since 2014, the HSE has been proceeding with a detailed implementation plan which positions primary care at the centre of delivering services and will see the establishment of around 90 primary care networks of health and social care professionals, each serving a common population of approximately 50,000 people. It is very important to stress that, from the point of view of people using the wide range of services provided by the HSE at community level, the management structures which overlay them should be of little or no consequence. The objective is to ensure services are responsive to people’s needs and enable them to receive a joined-up service that results in the most favourable health outcomes for patients.

The HSE has indicated that the Monksland primary care centre is currently located in CHO area 2 which covers counties Mayo, Galway and Roscommon and that no decision has been made to transfer the centre to CHO area 8. I understand four GPs are based in the centre and that other services based there include public health nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, social work, psychology and mental health services. Other services use the centre for clinics. This is very much in line with the policy of the Government whereby we want people to be able to access services to meet the majority of their health care needs in the community, as far as possible in one location. I trust this clarifies the matter for the Senator.

I welcome the Minister of State's statement that the HSE has indicated that the Monksland primary care centre is currently located in CHO area 2 and that no decision has been made to transfer it to CHO area 8. The Government should take more control. Ministers should decide on major transfers. I would have much more faith in dealing with the Minister of State, the Minister, Deputy Simon Harris, the Taoiseach or any member of the Government than in dealing with the HSE. I hope the Government will take back control of health services from the HSE and become more hands-on in all decisions made.

The west is awakening. The Senator is happy enough.

I thank the Senator for his question and will convey his comments to the Minister, Deputy Simon Harris.

Sitting suspended at 11.20 a.m. and resumed at 11.30 a.m.
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