Ceisteanna Parlaiminte

Home Care Packages Provision

Bríd Smith

18. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Health the increases in staffing that have been achieved to deal with the crisis under the home help scheme and the carer respite services; the number of persons who are in hospital with their discharge delayed who are waiting to access these services; the number of carers who have been unable to continue as carers, due to the lack of respite services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20910/16]

General Practitioner Services

Bríd Smith

27. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Health the actions he is taking to progress the development, staff levels and contracts of general practitioners including the provision of care free at the point of use to persons under 12 years of age; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20909/16]

Abortion Services Provision

Bríd Smith

550. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Health if he believes that the recent United Nation's condemnation of Ireland's treatment of pregnant woman in need of abortions shows that this and previous Governments' failure to legislate or to seek to repeal the eighth amendment proves that Ireland may indeed be guilty of cruelty and inhumane treatment of all female citizens. [17506/16]

Easter Rising Commemorations

Bríd Smith

59. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht how the State paid a sum of €5 million to purchase 14 to 17 Moore Street, Dublin 1, including details of the valuation process of the properties and details of recipients of said moneys; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19852/16]

Public Sector Pay

Bríd Smith

49. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he has undertaken any study or research into the effect on the Public Service of the reduction in starting salaries of newly qualified teachers, nurses and other Public Servants. [19717/16]

Public Sector Pay

Bríd Smith

52. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his plans to reverse the reductions in the starting salaries of newly qualified teachers, nurses and other public sector workers. [19716/16]

Property Tax Exemptions

Bríd Smith

127. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Social Protection the thresholds above which social protection clients will be liable for local property tax deductions; and the number of such clients who are liable for deductions in the Dublin South Central constituency. [19909/16]

National Monuments

Bríd Smith

199. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht how the State paid a sum of €5 million to purchase Nos. 14 to 17 Moore Street, Dublin 1, including details of the valuation process of the properties and of the recipients of the said moneys. [20058/16]

National Monuments

Bríd Smith

201. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the provisions she has made to protect Sceilig Mhichíl, Contae Chiarraí, from damage during the filming there; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15604/16]

Human Rights

Bríd Smith

30. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his plans to bring home a person (details supplied) from his detention in Egypt. [19410/16]

Middle East Issues

Bríd Smith

48. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he is concerned at the treatment of Palestinian academics in the West Bank and Gaza at the hands of the Israeli Defence Force; and his plans to raise this issue with the Israeli ambassador. [19411/16]

Home Help Service

Bríd Smith

556. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Health the number of applications for home help hours applied for in Dublin city by area; the number of those applications which qualified for home help hours; and the number provided to those who qualify for home help. [19536/16]

Community Childcare Subvention Programme

Bríd Smith

691. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of the 8,000 community child care subvention scheme places from budget 2016 which have become available; the level of the uptake from child care service providers; and the number of places which have become available since the scheme was launched, by area, in Dublin and nationwide. [19546/16]

Employment Support Services

Bríd Smith

18. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Social Protection his views on whether it is appropriate for his Department to insist persons who are unemployed are sent on training courses to an organisation (details supplied) that professes itself to operate with a Christian ethos; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18772/16]

Employment Support Services

Bríd Smith

20. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Social Protection if he funds in any way an organisation (details supplied); and if so, if he is monitoring the success it has in helping persons currently unemployed achieve employment. [18771/16]

Social Welfare Benefits

Bríd Smith

137. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Social Protection if he will carry out an impact assessment on the cuts to the one-parent family payment to analyse the impact of these cuts on child poverty and to ascertain if this has directly added to the high poverty levels of children living in one-parent households; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15214/16]

School Enrolments

Bríd Smith

17. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he is aware that the consequences of the policy of the patron of a school (details supplied) in refusing to enrol new children is having a detrimental effect on class sizes in adjacent schools; his plans to open a community national school in an area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18290/16]

Equality Legislation

Bríd Smith

34. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Education and Skills the advice his Department sought or received on the constitutional issues in relation to amending the Equal Status Act, to cease discrimination on school admission. [18289/16]

Departmental Staff Remuneration

Bríd Smith

135. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Education and Skills the amount saved by having a lower level of pay for new recruits to the public service in his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13012/16]

Climate Change Policy

Bríd Smith

238. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he is aware of the recent confirmation from scientists in the southern hemisphere that global levels of carbon dioxide have passed 400 parts per million; if he is concerned that such levels pose a threat to the earth's biodiversity and to human civilisation, given that the last time levels reached this stage humans did not exist; the radical steps he proposes to cut emissions of carbon dioxide; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16175/16]

Climate Change Policy

Bríd Smith

239. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he is concerned that the new structures introduced into the various Ministries and their respective responsibilities mean a downgrading of climate change as an issue, and to outline which Minister is responsible for answering questions relating to climate change. [17120/16]

Family Income Supplement Data

Bríd Smith

270. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Social Protection the details of legislation which changed family income supplement, FIS, to be means tested for rent allowance by local authorities and social housing bodies (details supplied). [18166/16]

Direct Provision System

Bríd Smith

13. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if she will bring forth proposals to end the inhuman conditions attached to the direct provision model operating under her control; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17151/16]

Refugee Resettlement Programme

Bríd Smith

58. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if Ireland has met its moral obligations to act in the refugee crisis in the Middle East and elsewhere, given that the figures for the number of refugees that Ireland has accepted are below the targets that the Government has set and that her Department has stated that it has not as yet decided on a mechanism to increase the numbers of refugees admitted; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17150/16]

Public Sector Pay

Bríd Smith

89. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the amount saved by having a lower level of pay for new recruits in her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13012/16]

Industrial Disputes

Bríd Smith

558. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he is aware of the actions of management at an organisation (details supplied). [16977/16]

Industrial Disputes

Bríd Smith

559. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he will intervene in the ongoing strike at an organisation (details supplied) to make clear that this Government is opposed to employers forcibly making staff redundant in the selective manner that management has tried to do here and that Government funding will not be dispensed to employers who treat their workers in this manner. [16978/16]

Industrial Disputes

Bríd Smith

560. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if she aware of the actions of an organisation (details supplied). [17167/16]

Defence Forces Operations

Bríd Smith

570. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence if he shares the sentiments of his counterpart in Finland, the Finnish Defence Minister, Jussi Niinistö, who recently stated that he supports reform of Finnish law to provide a legal mandate to expand the Finnish Defence Forces ability to participate in European wide international crisis management; and if those who opposed Ireland's participation in the United Kingdom led battle group which also had Finnish participation would be concerned with this statement in view of general concerns regarding the use and purpose of such battle groups. [16782/16]

Defence Forces Operations

Bríd Smith

571. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence if he shares the views of his predecessor, who stated he wanted Ireland to become a testing zone for advanced military and weapons guidance systems (details supplied); and if he will assure Dáil Éireann that he does not wish Ireland to become a haven for firms trading or researching such weapons of mass destruction. [16783/16]

Energy Policy

Bríd Smith

18. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources his proposals to swiftly situate Ireland as a carbon dioxide-free energy user; the steps he will take to ensure Ireland no longer relies on imports of fossil fuels, on the future extraction of energy sources or on hydraulic fracturing in Ireland that would contribute to carbon dioxide levels rising, given that carbon dioxide levels have surpassed 400 parts per million and that the rate of increase is greater than at any previous time; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16179/16]

Low Pay

Bríd Smith

55. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if she is concerned at a recent report that shows that young persons and women are hardest hit by the growth of low wages; and if the phenomenal increase in the low wage sector undermines any claim this or the previous Government made regarding economic success. [15832/16]

Joint Labour Committees

Bríd Smith

57. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the action she proposes to take to encourage the joint labour committees to sit, formulate and impose employment regulation orders where the JLCs have not met; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15831/16]

Cabinet Committee Meetings

Bríd Smith

5. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Taoiseach when the next meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Construction 2020, Housing, Planning and Mortgage Arrears will take place. [14506/16]

National Transport Authority Administration

Bríd Smith

69. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if the tendering process for public bus routes will take account of the record of a company in upholding labour law, in its obligations to its workforce and in conducting negotiations with its workforce on pay and conditions, prior to the awarding of any contracts (details supplied); and if he will ensure that the National Transport Authority or any other agency responsible for awarding these contracts is seen to acknowledge the importance of any company tendering for State contracts upholding labour law and the standards of the State. [15605/16]

After-School Support Services

Bríd Smith

4. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if her plan in the programme for Government to tender school facilities to community groups and private providers is to use public schools for private child care; if she will offer publicly provided and funded after-school care in schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14719/16]

Programme for Government Initiatives

Bríd Smith

9. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Taoiseach his plans for implementing the programme for Government and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14505/16]

Fishing Industry

Bríd Smith

68. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he has seen the new documentary, Atlantic, and his views on the conclusions it draws for the fishing industry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14496/16]

Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund

Bríd Smith

83. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality when she will announce funding calls for and the duration of the new grant round under the new asylum migration and integration fund which the European Commission signed in 2015. [14269/16]

School Enrolments

Bríd Smith

190. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he is aware that enrolments in a school (details supplied) are being blocked by the school; if he is complicit in the campaign to close the biggest school in the area at a time when number of primary school age children is predicted by the CSO to rise by 20%; and his plans for a new school in the area to cope with the increasing numbers. [14553/16]

Rent Supplement Scheme Eligibility

Bríd Smith

290. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Social Protection why a person (details supplied) has lost entitlement to rent allowance upon being placed on a low paid temporary work scheme by a local Intreo office; why it is not possible for the person to receive support from the local community welfare officer, given that this loss has resulted in an accumulation of rent arrears; and why, if the person and the person's partner were 26 years of age plus, and both in receipt of social protection payments and rent allowance, they would have a greater income than what they have been left with, following the person's placement on this temporary work incentive scheme. [14267/16]

Environmental Policy

Bríd Smith

589. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources his views that climate change is the single most pressing issue for humanity, which will impact on every single aspect of our society and economy; that it is a major mis-step at this time to have effectively abolished the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government in the new Administration and that, notwithstanding recent reassurances, this suggests to the public that environmental issues will be downgraded; that if he is genuine about joined-up thinking he must reorganise Departments with a view to setting up a Department of environment, climate change and natural heritage, which would have a remit to deal effectively with pressing environmental issues, such as loss of biodiversity and with water quality and supply; and if he will give a commitment that the correct urgency will be attached to the priorities of his Ministers concerned with environmental matters, and that they will not be seen as an add on or be relegated in the pursuit of corporate or business interests. [14525/16]

Emergency Departments

Bríd Smith

76. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Health the number of patients per month who register at emergency departments for treatment but who leave before being discharged; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13768/16]

Pharmacy Services

Bríd Smith

104. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Health the potential cost savings and benefits to health of introducing a national pharmaceuticals policy which ensures that persons receive quality drugs at the lowest possible price and that doctors prescribe the minimum of required drugs to treat the patient's illness; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13767/16]

Public Sector Pay

Bríd Smith

113. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Health the amount saved by having a lower level of pay for new recruits to the public service in his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13012/16]

Citizens Assembly

Bríd Smith

3. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Taoiseach when the citizens' assembly will report to Dáil Éireann on the eighth amendment of the Constitution; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13014/16]

Public Sector Staff Remuneration

Bríd Smith

43. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the cost of repealing the financial emergency measures in the public interest legislation and public service pay reverting to 2009 levels; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13013/16]

Public Sector Reform Implementation

Bríd Smith

68. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the amount saved by having a lower level of pay for new recruits to the Civil Service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13012/16]

Third Level Charges

Bríd Smith

343. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Education and Skills his views on correspondence (details supplied) regarding university fees. [13511/16]

International Agreements

Bríd Smith

22. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he examined the agreement on refugees between the European Union and Turkey prior to signing up to it; if it infringes the European Union Convention on Human Rights with regard to the forced movement of persons in any way; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12129/16]