I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. One of the appalling features of the war on Gaza has been the indiscriminate slaughter of innocent children. The serial killing of children as a result of indiscriminate bombing, attacks and shootings has shocked the world. The scale of injuries suffered by so many children is truly appalling. As a country, we have a strong tradition of providing humanitarian assistance. In September last year, following an appeal from the World Health Organization, the Government approved our participation in an initiative to evacuate a number of sick children from Gaza for treatment and care in Ireland. Four flights were agreed. Two have been successfully carried out. Approximately 12 children in total have arrived safely so far to receive medical treatment facilitated through those two evacuations, one in December last year and another in May this year. The children were accompanied by 12 mother-carers and 21 accompanying family members, so approximately 45 people, between adults and children, were facilitated. Ensuring the appropriate supports are in place to facilitate paediatric patients and their families is obviously key to the success of the overall operation. Planning is ongoing for the next medical evacuation operation. There is no delay. Nothing has been stopped. There is no bureaucratic wrangling. This is not subject to any Government memo. A Government memo will emerge that will, in many respects, adopt an even more generous response in terms of the number of family members, or siblings of an injured child, who can come. The presentation of a memo is not material to the next flight. It will regularise what has been happening already. The original Government decision allowed for one child and one person but, in practice, we have actually been doing much more than that. The amendment in the next memo the Minister will bring will regularise all that. It is as simple as that. It is not stopping anything. No one is saying the next flight cannot happen. There are obviously huge logistical issues in getting children out of Gaza. The WHO, medevac and others are working with us in co-ordinating that. There have been no delays in the processing of Irish-entry visas in this regard. No current applications under this scheme are awaiting processing. The Minister is here and can confirm all of that. I would respectfully say that before making allegations and assertions, we should get the facts rights. As far as I am concerned, we will do everything we can to honour and fulfil what we have committed to, and do what we can to help children who desperately need treatment, care and wider supports because of the extraordinary trauma that has been visited on so many of them as a result of a horrific war that has no moral justification whatsoever any more in its assault on children. We want all the hostages released and an end to the war in Gaza. As a country, we will continue to provide humanitarian assistance to Gaza, the West Bank and the various agencies that support Palestinians in Jordan and Lebanon. We work with Jordan on a continuing basis wherever the children are. There is no issue for us in terms of the particular border crossing, the mechanism or the route out of Gaza. That is not an issue for us at all.
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Is oth liom a rá nach bhfuil an Teachta McDonald cruinn leis an eolas atá aici agus leis an méid a dúirt sí ar maidin faoin gceist seo. Táim dearfach go mbeidh an Rialtas ag déanamh gach aon iarracht na leanaí seo a thabhairt isteach chomh tapa agus is féidir linn. Tá-----
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----- roinnt déanta againn ach tá níos mó le déanamh againn. In respect of the Deputy's case, she has moved on now because the earlier assertions were wrong.
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They were fundamentally wrong. While there is no issue with raising questions and so on, the absolute motivation on the Deputy's side all the time seems to be to seek to sow doubt over the bona fides of-----
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-----Government on a fundamental humanitarian question. That is not acceptable. From the very beginning of this war we did everything to get Irish citizens out of Gaza. Our embassies and our diplomats did everything possible to do it. Why does the Deputy think we would try to delay children coming out of Gaza? How dare you make that assertion.
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That is not on my agenda and it is not on the Government's agenda. A Government memo is immaterial. We discussed this on Monday evening - the Tánaiste, the Taoiseach with the Minister for justice. There is no delay in this respect.
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I thank the Deputy for raising what is a very serious issue. I agree with her about the work of the Ryan brothers, in particular, as a catalyst for the decision by the Minister, Deputy Norma Foley, to set up the scoping inquiry which led to the Minister, Deputy Helen McEntee, yesterday bringing to Government proposals for the establishment of a commission of investigation into the handling of historical child sexual abuse in schools. Yesterday the Government agreed to the appointment of Mr. Justice Michael McGrath, a judge at the Court of Appeal, as chair of the commission. The principal recommendation of the scoping inquiry was to establish such a commission. There will be a period of consultation prior to formal commencement. When the commission is ready to hear from those who wish to contribute to its work, it will be widely advertised. We have also accepted further recommendations of the scoping inquiry with regard to the remit of the commission, child protection issues, the legal system and memorialisation. It is clear from the scoping inquiry that many survivors view financial redress as an important measure of accountability for those who ran schools where sexual abuse happened. The Government is pursuing a very detailed examination to ensure that those responsible, including religious orders, are held accountable and make redress. The Office of the Attorney General with the Department of education and other relevant bodies is examining legal options that may be available to the State. We are examining changes to the Statute of Limitations on civil claims and changes to the status of unincorporated associations, as well as looking at the assets that religious orders have. An examination of how to ensure compensation from religious orders will run in parallel with the commission of investigation. It is complex work, will require detailed consideration and may take some time to complete. We will be open to engaging with the Deputy on any constructive proposals she has on this. Back in the late 1990s we amended the Statute of Limitations but it is acknowledged that more is needed. Some of the survivors' accounts in the scoping inquiry were quite horrific. Many of them were very clear that they want those who were responsible to be accountable and to contribute - more than contribute.
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That is the Government's intention, commitment and determination to do. The specific issues the Deputy has raised are being examined in considerable detail with a view to enabling Government to have the powers, ultimately, to deal with those particular mechanisms that have been used. We want to make sure that the financial capacity is retained in the country and made available to provide compensation.
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It is intriguing how the Deputy presents the case. In one sentence he says that the Government is going to jack up insurance awards and in another sentence he says that we are dithering. He is apparently urging us to bring clarity but I do not think he is urging us to bring clarity. I think he is urging us to fulfil maybe entirely the implications of the Act so that he can then start attacking the Government for political reasons. The reality is that the Oireachtas has created this situation. The Oireachtas provided the Judicial Council with the powers to propose amendments to the personal injuries guidelines in 2019. Those provisions were introduced by the then Minister for Justice, Charlie Flanagan, and were supported by all parties at the time, including Sinn Féin, the Deputy's party and the Labour Party. It had a torturous progression and then, as the Deputy may recall, the Supreme Court became involved through the Delaney v. The Personal Injuries Board and Ors case. The court essentially said, in the context of the separation of powers, that it had to come back to the Oireachtas. If the guidelines recommended by the Judicial Council were to have effect, they would have to be affirmatively passed by the Dáil. Again, for the interests of the public watching in, this is not something that the Government is bringing to the Dáil to jack up prices. It is unusual to frame it that way, to say it lightly, because the Supreme Court took a decision. It was a four to three majority ruling, which was tight, by the Supreme Court. I observe the separation of powers absolutely and believe in it. Let us have a bit of realism and clarity about the debate. For me, there is a need for a review of the Judicial Council Act 2019 and the Minister for justice has committed to reviewing that Act. The Minister will also bring a memo to Government which will lay the guidelines before the Houses but he will not be bringing a resolution seeking their approval. The Deputy should not believe everything he reads in the newspapers.
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I have just said it to the Deputy. It will be laid before the House but there will be no accompanying motion to the House to approve. However, this is something that the Oireachtas in its entirety has to reflect on. There will be implications in that decision for the Personal Injuries Assessment Board because essentially now we have a vacuum here in terms of personal injury awards. There is a legislative framework there which had to be amended because of a Supreme Court decision. This has led to a situation where the Dáil has to approve whatever the Judicial Council recommendations are if they are to take effect. If the Dáil does not do the approval, they do not take effect but that could lead to consequences within the courts and within cases. It could ultimately have the impact of undermining the Personal Injuries Assessment Board. We need to reflect on this. I get the short-term politics. The Deputy would probably have loved it if we came in and had an approval motion. Then he would have, from the comfort of Opposition, attacked us day in, day out for, as he put it, jacking up insurance premiums.
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That was the agenda. I know it.
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We need, as an Oireachtas, to deal with this more soberly.
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Balance and perspective are required in discussing this issue, which is very serious. The Government is very committed to continuing investment in cancer care. It has invested very hugely in cancer care in recent years. It invested up to €645 million between 2021 and 2024 alone. New treatments such as CAR T-cell therapy, radio-labelled therapy and specialised radiotherapy are now available in Ireland for the first time. We now have top-class radiation and oncology equipment that we did not have five, six, seven or eight years ago. Let us not brand the entire cancer treatment system as antique. That is not fair. Cancer survival rates are improving. More people are living after cancer than ever before. Today more than 220,000 people in Ireland who are living with cancer or after cancer. I appreciate the Deputy's own personal experiences and how he has properly articulated them to highlight issues because cancer diagnoses put enormous pressure on individuals and families. However, that 220,000 is 50% higher than the equivalent figure a decade ago. That is a huge transformation. Survival rates have increase progressively over recent years because of the development of national cancer strategies, which have improved screening services. Over the past two decades, our screening has expanded enormously. I refer particularly to BreastCheck, cervical screening and bowel screening. We have hugely increased staffing and there is greater access to diagnostics and survivorship programmes. The funding will continue. I will not go through all the figures in terms of those who have been recruited. On capital funding, approximately €140 million has been used over the past eight years. We now have state-of-the-art radio-oncology facilities in Galway and Cork. They are not antique but state of the art. We have a new national cervical screening laboratories and various cancer infrastructure, including chemotherapy wards and lab facilities, across the country. That will continue this year with the oncology units at Cavan General Hospital, Tallaght, Kerry University Hospital and the Midland Regional Hospital in Tullamore. There is further chemotherapy infrastructure in Kerry, Cork University Hospital, Letterkenny University Hospital and so on. We will continue to invest. On the county-by-county breakdown, one of the better developments of the past two decades was the development of proper cancer centres in the major tertiary hospitals, where the bulk of treatment should occur. I am aginm concerned about the proliferation of treatment in private hospitals-----
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-----because all the experts told us that centres of excellence were the way to go. I would appreciate greater clarity from the Deputy in respect of his assertion that 93% of patients attending private hospitals had a better outcome as against those attending public hospitals-----
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----because the view was - and we have done this at St. James's Hospital, the Mater and Cork University Hospital-----
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We have put centres of excellence there. That is where people should go.
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We have more work to do. That is acknowledged. In his commentary, the Deputy has acknowledged that there have been improvements but he gives no credence to the fact that there has been very significant investment in cancer services. The number of staff in our health service has expanded dramatically.
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The Deputy has just created an image of thousands fleeing the country.
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He should concentrate on the increases in numbers in the health service. He cannot and should not ignore that because to do so reduces his credibility. He is making good points on one level but he is also using language like "antique" and suggesting that everyone is feeling the hospitals when there are increases in the number of staff year after year. We have invested hugely in increasing the number of people. Close to 30,000 extra people have been employed in our health services over the past four or five years. That is additional people coming in. With regard to the west, we had issues in Galway, where infrastructure and further investment are required. There is no question about that.
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On Letterkenny, we did work on Altnagelvin, which helps people in the north west both in cardiology and cancer care, which we invested in.
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