Written Answers Nos. 220-237
221. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Justice the number of 999 calls processed by the Dublin Metropolitan Region dispatch centre in 2021 and to date in 2022; and the breakdown of 999 calls for the timeframe requested by division headquarters in the region. [23582/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraI have contacted the Garda authorities to provide the information sought by the Deputy, unfortunately this was not to hand in time. I will write to the Deputy once the information is received.
|
Division |
Totals calls (1/2/21 - 12/5/22) |
|
DMR-Eastern Division |
12,784 |
|
DMR-North Central Division |
54,035 |
|
DMR-Northern Division |
50,061 |
|
DMR-South Central Division |
46,270 |
|
DMR-Southern Division |
27,199 |
|
DMR-Western Division |
55,995 |
|
Dublin Total |
246,344 |
|
Garda - Kildare |
17,406 |
|
Garda - Laois/Offaly |
12,549 |
|
Garda - Wicklow |
9,521 |
|
Garda - Silent |
70,027 |
|
Grand Total incl. Eastern and silent calls |
355,847 |
222. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Justice the status of the implantation of a new CAD system for the processing of 999 calls. [23583/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraI have contacted the Garda authorities to provide the information sought by the Deputy, unfortunately this was not to hand in time. I will write to the Deputy once the information is received.
223. Deputy Patricia Ryan asked the Minister for Justice the addiction supports available to prisoners in each prison; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23629/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraI can advise the Deputy that the Irish Prison Service have a range of programmes, support services and through-care options for prisoners who wish to address their substance misuse.
The Prison Service advise me that approximately 70% of prisoners who are committed to custody have addiction issues. It is the policy of the Service that, where a person committed to prison gives a history of opiate use and tests positive for opioids, they are offered a medically assisted, symptomatic detoxification, if clinically indicated.
Patients can, as part of the assessment process, discuss other treatment options with healthcare staff; those treatment options may include stabilisation on methadone maintenance for persons who wish to continue on maintenance while in prison, and when they return to the community on release. I am further advised that while drug treatment services are provided in all closed prisons, the same type of programmes are not offered in open prisons as a condition of transfer to an open prison is that the prisoner is drug free.
I am further informed that the Irish Prison Service engages Merchants Quay Ireland (MQI) to provide a prison-based addiction counselling service. This service includes structured assessments and evidence-based counselling interventions, with clearly-defined treatment plans and goals.
The MQI service provides a range of counselling and intervention skills related to substance misuse and dependency. These skills include, motivational interviewing and enhancement therapy, a twelve step facilitation programme, cognitive behavioural therapy and harm reduction approaches. Prisoners are offered one to one counselling and group work interventions.
MQI counsellors work to address presenting issues and to explore the underlying reasons for drug use and how this impacts on the prisoner and wider community.
In addition the Prison Service previously operated a National Drug Treatment Programme, which was located within the Medical Unit of Mountjoy Prison. This was an eight week programme that allowed prisoners to complete a methadone detoxification and engage in structured group work interventions which were provided by Coolmine, Ballymun Youth Action Project, Ana Liffey Drug Project and MQI. There were nine places available on this programme and any prisoner who wished to detoxify and address issues with addiction could seek admission to the programme. The programme included daily group work along with educational and fitness activities and prisoners were seen by an addiction counsellor for a weekly session.
While the Programme was suspended on foot of the pandemic, it has been comprehensively reviewed and updated and it is expected that a new programme will be put in place in the near future.
In line with the National Drug Strategy, the Prison Service has an agreed protocol with the HSE for the seamless transition of prisoners engaging in drug treatment while in custody to community drug treatment settings.
While drug treatment services are provided in all closed prisons, the same type of programmes are not offered in open prisons as a condition of transfer to an open prison is that the prisoner is drug free. However, counselling sessions provided by Merchants Quay Ireland (MQI) are available in open prisons as is Narcotics Anonymous which is prisoner lead and community linked.
The Prison Service advise me that approximately 70% of prisoners who are committed to custody have addiction issues. It is the policy of the Service that, where a person committed to prison gives a history of opiate use and tests positive for opioids, they are offered a medically assisted, symptomatic detoxification, if clinically indicated.
Patients can, as part of the assessment process, discuss other treatment options with healthcare staff; those treatment options may include stabilisation on methadone maintenance for persons who wish to continue on maintenance while in prison, and when they return to the community on release.
I am further informed that the Prison Service engages Merchants Quay Ireland (MQI) to provide a prison-based addiction counselling service. This service includes structured assessments and evidence-based counselling interventions, with clearly-defined treatment plans and goals.
The MQI service provides a range of counselling and intervention skills related to substance misuse and dependency. These skills include, motivational interviewing and enhancement therapy, a twelve step facilitation programme, cognitive behavioural therapy and harm reduction approaches. Prisoners are offered one to one counselling and group work interventions.
MQI counsellors work to address presenting issues and to explore the underlying reasons for drug use and how this impacts on the prisoner and wider community.
In addition the Prison Service previously operated a National Drug Treatment Programme, which was located within the Medical Unit of Mountjoy Prison. This was an eight week programme that allowed prisoners to complete a methadone detoxification and engage in structured group work interventions which were provided by Coolmine, Ballymun Youth Action Project, Ana Liffey Drug Project and MQI. There were nine places available on this programme and any prisoner who wished to detoxify and address issues with addiction could seek admission to the programme. The programme included daily group work along with educational and fitness activities and prisoners were seen by an addiction counsellor for a weekly session.
While the Programme was suspended on foot of the pandemic, it has been comprehensively reviewed and updated and it is expected that a new programme will be put in place in the near future.
In line with the National Drug Strategy, the Prison Service has an agreed protocol with the HSE for the seamless transition of prisoners engaging in drug treatment while in custody to community drug treatment settings.
224. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Justice if her Department, and the public bodies and agencies that operate under her remit, have policies in place to install artificial structures that provide shelter and habitat space for wild species such as, but not limited to, insect hotels, bat boxes, nesting towers and beehives; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23860/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraI am pleased to inform the Deputy that my Department is committed to fostering biodiversity and currently is in the process of providing for beehives on one of its Dublin buildings while the offices in Killarney have set aside a large area of managed wild garden to provide habitats for insects, butterflies and birds. The progress of this will be kept under review and the next logical extension is to develop appropriate shelters as referenced by the Deputy.
In terms of agencies, the Courts Service has a nationwide footprint and published its first Environmental Sustainability Strategy last November. I understand the goal over the next three years is to manage the courts estate in a way that supports biodiversity and is pollinator friendly.
The five actions listed to realise that goal are:
Action 4.1: Partner with external biodiversity initiatives including the National Pollinator Plan and other biodiversity networks;
Action 4.2: Introduce pilot rewilding initiatives and review;
Action 4.3: Map all green areas within the Courts Estate to identify rewilding opportunities;
Action 4.4: Complete colleague and public perceptions survey of pilot rewilding initiatives; and
Action 4.5: Develop a project pipeline of biodiversity initiatives throughout our estate.
Further details on these actions can be found in the Environmental Sustainability Strategy published on the courts website.
Based on the output from a pilot project, venue mapping and surveys, a multi-year project pipeline will be developed. The aim is to introduce one or more biodiversity initiatives in 80% of all suitable venues within five years.
Current projects include:
Insect hotels installed in Carrick-on-Shannon Courthouse in County Leitrim and Nenagh Courthouse in County Tipperary;
Swift nesting boxes in Mullingar Courthouse and Ennis Courthouse;
An attic bat room in Mullingar Courthouse, and Kilrush Courthouse in Co. Clare; and
Pollinator-friendly rewilding pilot projects have been established at Courthouses in Carrick-on-Shannon Courthouse, Roscommon and Anglesea Street in Co. Cork.
I can assure the Deputy that my Department will continue to encourage such projects across the agencies in the sector.
225. Deputy Cormac Devlin asked the Minister for Justice the legal aid funds paid to date in the Stardust inquests that commenced pursuant to a direction by the Attorney General in December 2019; the instruction fees to all solicitors, the brief fees to all barristers and all the other legal aid payments in the Stardust inquests since December 2019; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23869/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs the Deputy will be aware, in May of last year, the Civil Legal Aid Regulations 2021 (SI No 248 of 2021) were made. These Regulations facilitated the granting of legal aid to the family members of the victims of the Stardust fire, without reference to their financial resources, in respect of the new Stardust Inquests.
On foot of a request received from the Dublin City Coroner pursuant to section 60 of the Coroners Act 1962 (as amended), the Legal Aid Board has subsequently granted legal aid to each of the family members of the victims who applied to the coroner for a request to be made.
By long-standing arrangement between my Department and the Legal Aid Board, legal fees and other expenses in connection with the grant of legal aid at inquests are directly discharged by my Department and not from the Legal Aid Fund administered by the Board. The new Stardust Inquests are no different in this regard. However, the Legal Aid Board does have a role in certifying to my Department that each claim for payment received from a solicitor, barrister, expert, or other witnesses, has been properly incurred on foot of a legal aid certificate or other authority granted by the Board.
I am informed by the Legal Aid Board that it has, to date, certified to my Department claims in connection with the new Stardust Inquests totalling €142,168 in solicitors fees, €893,407 in barrister fees and £200 (GBP) for expert reports. These arise primarily in connection with the preliminary hearings that have been conducted by the coroner to date. As the Deputy will be aware, a date for commencement of the inquest proper has not yet been set by the coroner.
226. Deputy Brendan Howlin asked the Minister for Justice when an Irish residency permit renewal application by a person (details supplied) will be processed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23876/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraI can confirm that an application for a Stamp 4 immigration permission from the person referred to by the Deputy has been approved. They can expect to receive their new Irish Residence Permit (IRP) card within the next 10 working days.
Queries in relation to the status of individual immigration cases may be made directly to my Department by e-mail using the Oireachtas Mail facility at INISOireachtasMail@justice.ie, which has been specifically established for this purpose. This service enables up to date information on such cases to be obtained without the need to seek information by way of the Parliamentary Question process. The Deputy may consider using the e-mail service except in the cases where the response is, in the Deputy's view, inadequate or too long awaited.
227. Deputy Patricia Ryan asked the Minister for Health if he will extend the policy of personalisation for budgets and services to older people; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23631/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Home Support Service is funded by Government to deliver a volume of service each year as approved in the HSE National Service Plan. It is a non-statutory service and access to the current service is based on assessment of the person's needs by the HSE and having regard to the available resources and competing demands for the services from those people with assessed needs.
NSP 2022 provides for the following:
- Rollover of the 2021 target levels of service into 2022, inclusive of the additional 5m hours funded in 2021 to 23.67m hours nationally;
- 360,000 hours provided via Intensive Home Care Packages; and
- 170,400 hours associated with the roll-out of the pilot Statutory Home Support Scheme, which commenced in late 2021.
Despite the significant level of service provision, the demand for Home Support, and its importance as an alternative service to long stay care, has grown considerably over the past number of years. Similarly, the type of Home Support that is now required to meet the needs of the population is a more person-centred personal care model.
The HSE has commenced scoping out the use of personalised budgets as an alternative to the current model of home support service delivery. However, considerations such as governance, adherence to standards, employee/employer relationship, financial oversight, potential legislative impact, etc. will need to be need to be addressed prior to the introduction of any formal policy on the use of personalised home support budgets.
Another option which is available to Home Support clients is that of Consumer Directed Home Support (CDHS). It is an option for persons who apply for Home Support and who wish to have more control and choice over their care delivery in keeping with the principles of empowerment and autonomy inherent in person-centred care. When a client is approved for a Home Support Service and HSE staff are not available to deliver the service, then an external provider, who has been approved by the HSE under Tender 2018 Arrangements, will deliver the service on their behalf. The CDHS approach facilitates clients to deal directly with HSE Approved Provider(s) of their choice and to arrange days and times of service delivery.
Further information on Consumer Directed Home Support can be found at the following link:
www.hse.ie/eng/services/list/4/olderpeople/national-guidelines-and-procedures-for-the-standardised-implementation-of-the-home-support-service-hss-guidelines.pdf
Notwithstanding the above, it is important to note, that when a client is approved for Home Support, commencement of the service is dependent on carer capacity and funding being available for that service. Clients who are approved for a Home Support service, and where carers and/or funding is not readily available at that time, are placed on a waiting list until such time as either a carer or funding becomes available.
The Department is currently engaged in a detailed process to develop a new stand-alone, statutory scheme for the financing and regulation of home support services. Developing a new statutory scheme will be an important step in ensuring that the system operates in a consistent and fair manner for all those who need home support services.
228. Deputy Patricia Ryan asked the Minister for Health when the citizens' assembly on drug use will be convened [23637/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Government has establish two concurrent citizens' assemblies; one dealing with biodiversity loss and the other with the type of directly elected mayor and local government structures best suited for Dublin. It is proposed that a Citizens’ Assembly on Drug Use will directly follow these two assemblies, with the intention of running it concurrently with the Citizens’ Assembly on the Future of Education, if learnings from the concurrent running of assemblies suggest that this operational model is the best way forward.
In line with this decision, the Department of Health has commenced preparations for the Citizens’ Assembly on Drug Use. This is being done to ensure that there will be no delay in establishing this citizens’ assembly when the two assemblies which are currently operating complete their work before the end of this year or in quarter 1, 2023 at the latest. This will allow a period of over one year for the Government to consider its recommendations.
The Government is pursuing a health-led approach to drug use through the health diversion programme, which offers compassion, not punishment to people who are in possession drugs for personal use. The programme will connect participants with health services and provide a pathway to recovery. It will also allow participants to avoid a criminal conviction, which can have far-reaching consequences, particularly for younger people.
As we prepare for the Citizens Assembly on Drug Use, work continues to implement the health diversion programme and the strategic priorities for the remaining four years of the national drugs strategy. One of these priorities is to promote alternatives to coercive sanctions for drug-related offences. This priority aligns with the EU Drugs Strategy and Action Plan, 2021-2025, which actively encourages Member States to scale up alternatives to coercive sanctions and to monitor and evaluate their effectiveness for drug using offenders and for people arrested, charged with or convicted for drug-related offences or people found in possession of drugs for personal use.
I am very positive about the potential contribution of the citizens assembly to the government's health-led response to drug use. Drug use affects all members of society, whether directly or indirectly, and imposes very significant social and financial costs. Involving citizens in decision-making on drugs policy is therefore appropriate.
229. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Health the number of Irish and European Union, and the number of non-European Union doctors, who were awarded intern posts in each of the years 2016 to 2022, in tabular form; the number of intern posts available in each year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23511/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraIn relation to the particular query raised, as this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
230. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Health the number of assaults recorded against medical, nursing, midwifery and other health and social care professionals across HSE hospitals and community healthcare facilities to date for each month in 2022 and for October, November and December 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23512/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraI have asked the HSE to respond directly to the Deputy on this matter.
231. Deputy Alan Farrell asked the Minister for Health his views on the provision of the FreeStyle Libre flash glucose monitoring system to persons with diabetes based on clinical need of any age; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23513/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs the Health Service Executive (HSE) has statutory responsibility for decisions on pricing and reimbursement of medicines and medical items, in accordance with the Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Act 2013, I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
232. Deputy Alan Farrell asked the Minister for Health the reason the health technology assessment of the FreeStyle Libre device is being prevented from being offered to patients over the age of 21 years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23514/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs the Health Service Executive (HSE) has statutory responsibility for decisions on pricing and reimbursement of medicines and medical items, in accordance with the Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Act 2013, I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
233. Deputy Alan Farrell asked the Minister for Health if his Department is considering expanding the fair deal scheme to allow patients access private to home care packages as opposed to only nursing or residential care; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23515/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Programme for Government agreed in 2020 commits the government to ‘Introduce a statutory scheme to support people to live in their own homes, which will provide equitable access to high-quality, regulated home care’. This is an entirely new scheme and separate to the "fair deal" scheme.
Consequently, work is on-going within the Department of Health to progress the development of the new statutory scheme for the financing and regulation of home-support services. Taking place within the broader context of the Sláintecare reforms, this work encompasses the development of the regulatory framework for the new scheme; the examination of the options for the financing model for the scheme; and the development of a reformed model of service-delivery.
In April 2021, Government gave approval to draft a General Scheme and Heads of a Bill to establish a licensing framework for home-support providers. This is being progressed by the Department with a view to bringing it through the Houses of the Oireachtas at the earliest opportunity. It is expected that the primary legislation will give the Minister for Health the power to make regulations in respect of minimum requirements which will form the criteria against which a provider’s eligibility to hold a licence will be determined. A regulatory impact analysis will be undertaken by the Department in 2022 to ensure effectiveness and mitigate risks.
On 24th February, the ESRI published a report on the demand for and cost of home support. This is the final output from a programme of research that the ESRI has undertaken to support the Department of Health to progress the development of the new home support scheme. This research will form an important part of the evidence base for the development of a sustainable funding model for home support services in the context of our ageing population. Government approval will be sought in due course on any proposed legislation to provide for a financial support scheme, taking into consideration the cost associated with the various options.
In addition, work is ongoing in relation to the development of a reformed model of service delivery for the new scheme. The Pilot for testing of a reformed model of service for the delivery for home-support is fully operational.
234. Deputy Alan Farrell asked the Minister for Health the number of children in the Dublin Fingal area awaiting appointments with the children's disability network team; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23516/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
235. Deputy Alan Farrell asked the Minister for Health if there are clinical psychologists working in the private sector from whom the HSE will accept a report confirming a diagnosis of autism; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23517/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
236. Deputy Brendan Howlin asked the Minister for Health when the vacant occupational therapist posts and speech and language therapist posts that are allocated to the four children's disability network teams in County Wexford will be filled; his plans to ensure that an adequate service for children in County Wexford is provided; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23525/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
237. Deputy Mark Ward asked the Minister for Health if the proposed inpatient perinatal mental health service will be part of the planned national maternity hospital located at St. Vincent's University Hospital; if so, the reason for same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23527/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this is a service matter I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond directly to the Deputy as soon as possible.
