I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I want to acknowledge at the outset, because it is true, that people in this country are still finding the cost of living a very significant issue. I know that, the Deputy knows that and there is not a TD in Dáil Éireann who is not aware of that in their own community and from their own constituency work. I want to be clear the Government is taking action in the here and now in a variety of areas. It is not a question of the Government saying people have to wait until the budget for supports. The Government is taking action this month that will have an effect on people in a range of areas. I will give a few examples. This month 114,000 carers will receive the highest carer's support grant ever, and rightly so. Next month, we will see income levels for the carer's allowance increase so many more people will qualify for financial support. Over the summer months, the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance will be paid out. In September, there will be a significant increase in the number of people who qualify for the fuel allowance, allowing more people who are worried about heating bills, particularly in the run-up to winter, to qualify for that allowance for the first time ever. This month and again later this year, public sector pay will increase, including for the lowest paid workers in the public service, benefitting around 300,000 people. Anybody with a child starting secondary school in September will see the free schoolbooks scheme that has been a real success at primary school extend to secondary school. The Deputy talked about the cost of food. He will see for the first time the roll-out of the summer version of the hot school meals, what we are calling a summer meals programme. Women going into the pharmacy to access HRT see that it has been made free in the last number of weeks. Student grant payments will increase from September and childcare costs have fallen this year. When the Government came into office, we decided to extend the reduced VAT rate on gas electricity for exactly the reasons the Deputy mentioned, which is that if we had not done so, we would have had the VAT rate at 13.5%. We thought that was wrong so we took the decision to make that 9%. In recent weeks, we brought about a reduction in levy, which is called the renewable electricity public service obligation. That will give people an approximately 40% reduction in the levy and save them a few bob on their electricity bills. The Government is taking action on the cost of living and I do not think it is right or proper to get into a branding exercise about whether there will be a cost-of-living "package". There will be measures to help people in the budget with the cost of living, absolutely. Read our programme for Government and read what we want to do on childcare and for small businesses. Read what we intend to do for carers and how we intend to support farmers. Expect to see progress in this budget and the next number of budgets as we seek to fulfil that. I push back very strongly against the narrative that anyone in government is saying we should sit back and wait many months. I have given more than ten examples of where we are already helping people with the cost of living. We want to build on that. We can all say inflation is falling and that is true. We have been through a big inflationary crisis, probably the biggest since the 1970s, but I accept there is a significant time lag in many areas between inflation falling and citizens seeing any benefit in their bills. The Deputy referenced groceries. There is a commitment in the programme for Government to expand the powers of the CCPC. That should happen. We have seen recent examples of it taking action to protect consumers. We need to see how we can strengthen its powers further.
Sentiment score: 0.27
The Deputy is accusing me of saying things that I never said. Nobody suggested here that anyone is patting themselves on the back. What I did for the people watching at home was push back against the Deputy's misinformation and disinformation that the Government is not taking action on the cost of living. People know the record of this Government in helping them through the past number of years. They know how many measures we took. However, I am also making the point because I do not want fear and anxiety to be sewed in people that this Government is taking help today. We are putting measures in place to help today. Look at what we are doing relating to the carer's support grant. Look at what we are doing to make sure more people can qualify next month for the carer's allowance. Look at what we are doing to make sure more people qualify for the fuel allowance in September. Look at what we are doing to increase student grants from September. Look at what we are doing in terms of increasing public sector pay. Look at what we are doing in relation to free secondary school books. Look at what we are doing relating to free hormone replacement therapy, HRT. We will continue to do this. Does the Deputy know what else we will do? We will keep the economy safe because we are in a turbulent time as well. The Deputy comes in here and says to abolish the carbon levy, get rid of the property tax, get rid of this and then spend a load more too. People saw through that in the election.
Sentiment score: 0.22
That is why they voted to put a centrist Government back in office.
Sentiment score: 0.00
I thank the Deputy for highlighting what is the biggest domestic emergency we face in this country - the issue of housing. It is nowhere more acute than when it comes to children. We are united on that. I have huge respect for the Ombudsman of Children, Dr. Niall Muldoon, for the work of his office and his independence. Both of the parties in government established this structure because it is good to have somebody to hold the feet of Government to the coals and keep us under pressure. The points he made this week remind us of the real acuity of this situation. He made a number of constructive suggestions, including asking the Oireachtas joint committee on housing to play a role in this. I am quite sure that across parties, Members will want to see happen. I say respectfully to the ombudsman and to the Deputy that it is actually because we are so aware of the issues relating to children that we are taking some of the measures that we have taken. I said this yesterday. The no-fault eviction ban that we are legislating for will help keep children in their homes. I think the Deputy will agree with that. On cost rental, I was out in Tallaght yesterday where we have the first cost-rental scheme by a council, opposed to the Land Development Agency, LDA. It is a good development in Tallaght. There are 133 homes, playgrounds and a school to go in. This will help children in knowing where they are going to be living for their childhood. That is good. That needs to become a template for the rest of the country. I take the Deputy's point, though I disagree with it, but I understand why he said there is no point telling a child that this is the greatest number of social homes being allocated since the 1970s. I will gently push back because these homes are being allocated to families with children. These are real people moving into these homes. We have a social house building programme back up and running. I agree with the Deputy on one point, although I will not share the language of the "dead hand". I take the point he made in relation to too many gates and barriers in the context of local authorities getting on with social housing. As recently as this week, we discussed this with the housing Minister. The Minister, Deputy Browne, intends to bring forward proposals to rectify that and to empower councils to move much more quickly on this. That cannot come soon enough. We have tried to take a number of big and bold decisions since this Government came into office, including providing clarity relating to rent pressure zones, RPZ; plans relating to the no-fault evictions; reforming our planning laws; and providing more money for the delivery of social and affordable homes. The Deputy will see us take more actions in the national development plan next month to help house building, including the infrastructure that is necessary around water, wastewater and energy. During the election, the Labour Party made a constructive suggestion on the role of the LDA. The party wishes to reform it. We have different views on it, but we have agreed with this much, which is that certainly the mandate of the LDA needs to be expanded. We have taken decisions in recent weeks to give the LDA more power to do more and to deliver more homes. I do not want to misquote the Deputy but he said something about private investment and public investment. There is a need for both. When I read the Housing Commission report, it is very clear. We need to invest more publicly but we cannot just do it with public money. We also need to get private investment to get a functioning housing market in place too.
Sentiment score: 0.20
I wish the assure the Deputy that it is. I also assure him that I am aware of the mountain that needs to be climbed to where we need to get to. We will give consideration very much to how we take forward the views of the Ombudsman for Children, whether that is through bespoke strategies or reflected in specific actions in the new housing plan. He is not wrong regarding the need for a renewed focus for children and family homelessness. I will ask the Minister to revert to the Deputy on the Labour Party Bill. It not just about words from the Government. We have taken approximately nine actions since this Government came into office. We have reformed the planning laws relating in relation to permissions. We are increasing the amount of land available for housing by directing local authorities to revisit their development plans to zone more land for homes. We have provided more money already for the delivery of social and affordable homes. We are providing more housing options for younger and older people by exempting developments in people's gardens and on their own land. We are expanding the role of the Land Development Agency, meaning the State developer will be active in many more parts of the country, which is important. We are trying to stimulate the construction of new apartments. We have provided clarity and certainty on rent pressure zones. We are regulating short-term lets and in the coming weeks we will provide more funding for housing directly and for enabling infrastructure, such as water and wastewater.
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They are not going to Gaza.
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That was quite an extraordinary attempt to suggest that the country in the European Union, which has done more for and in standing by the people of Palestine is somehow or other complicit in an illegal, despicable genocide that is taking place.
Sentiment score: -0.56
There you go. You said it now. The mask slips very quickly with you, Deputy.
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The way this place works is that the Deputy asks a question and then I have the right to answer. It is a democracy, so I ask that my mandate be respected too because I would like to answer the question. Surely to God, it does not need to be the case in everything that the Deputy is morally superior than everyone over here. Surely to God, sometimes we can actually recognise that it does not matter what our politics are or where we are on the political spectrum. We are all sickened by the genocide and we are not divided on that. Perhaps every now and then we could pull together and be clear about that. The Deputy is again using language that the sponsor of the Bill, Senator Black, the woman who actually did all the work on the legislation, does not use. I have met Senator Black. She did a great job by the way. She is a good person who is trying to do the right thing. I said clearly to her that we would get that Bill to pre-legislative scrutiny, that we would not dilly-dally and wait for clarity on whether it was possible to include services. We will get the Bill in on goods and do the pre-legislative scrutiny. I have made it clear that, from a policy perspective, we have no issue with adding services. I want to do everything possible to make it clear we stand with the ICJ. We are the only Government in the entire European Union that has published any legislation - ever - to ban trade with the occupied Palestinian territories. We are the only one. I had a good conversation with Deputy Bacik on this and I thank her, but I have not had anyone else in the Opposition ring me about this. I would be very grateful if every member of the Opposition in a leadership position would do one thing today and that is to pick up the telephone and contact their political counterparts in the European Union and ask them where is their occupied Palestinian territories Bill and when will it be published.
Sentiment score: 0.25
I would like to know because it is by all of us coming together that we will create the momentum that Netanyahu's genocide cannot be tolerated. What the Deputy said about Shannon Airport is an attempt to conflate a number of issues. It is an attempt to suggest somehow or other that Shannon Airport is being used to assist with the horrific activity in Gaza. There is no evidence of that at all. I ask the Deputy to clarify that is not what she is saying. She is right about, and my Department publishes every month on our website, exactly what happens in terms of flights that land. It is quite transparent. I want to make it quite clear that there is no evidence of any flight stopping at Shannon Airport to transport any weapons or any military personnel participating in any genocidal activity in Gaza or the Middle East. I would appreciate if the Deputy would agree with me on that. She certainly has no evidence of that either. We will pass a Bill that shows solidarity with the people of Palestine and the ICJ. What we are also going to do is what the Taoiseach is trying to do today, that is build an alliance to try to get other countries involved. The Deputy is right on this point, that we cannot wait for EU unanimity. We waited far too long and we have to move on. I am asking like-minded countries today to move with us and I would appreciate the Deputy's support on that.
Sentiment score: 0.06
Thank you for explaining it.
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The people of Palestine know we are standing up for them. Deputy Coppinger might not want to acknowledge or appreciate that. The Palestinian ambassador wrote to Sligo County Council in the past week and said Ireland's commitment to international law and human rights will always be seen and commended by the Palestinian people. Every effort by the Government of Ireland to stop Israel's genocide and war crimes on the Palestinian people is highly valued. The person who is in our country representing the people of Palestine wrote to Sligo County-----
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Hang on a second. It is hard to keep up with the Deputy.
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I would like to use the 32 seconds available to me. It is hard to keep up with the Deputy's logic. The Palestinian ambassador has written-----
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-----to thank the people and Government of Ireland. Funnily enough, I attach a greater value to her view, as the representative of the people of Palestine, than I do to the Deputy's view on behalf of the people of Palestine.
Sentiment score: 0.57
She represents them. That is how it works. She is their representative in this country. We made her an ambassador by recognising the State of Palestine. On the occupied territories Bill, let me be clear. There are legal issues about services. We will tease through them and, if we can make progress on them that is what we intend to do, but we need other countries to move. If this is not about performative politics and actually about helping to save lives in Gaza, today we need to call on other EU member states to join us and bring forward their own legislation and stop waiting for EU unanimity. Let us get on with the job. I must give her credit for that. Specifically in respect of early access schemes as a focus in the programme for Government, I need to emphasise how important it is that any early access scheme needs to be decoupled from the existing reimbursement process. If we are going to put drugs through a process that essentially has to run through the same hoops as the system that is currently in place, it will be doomed to failure. That is my concern. Typically you are looking at 600, 700 or 800 days for reimbursement for a rare drug. As I said, any system that provides for early access will have to radically overhaul that. The second point in the programme for Government is a commitment to a review of the reimbursement system as a whole. Again, that is something I have sought for a number of years. Any review we undertake cannot be a carbon copy of the Mazars report. The Mazars report, from inception to its actual publication, took the best part of four or five years. We have committed to this in the programme for Government as a provision. We need to actually start the process of reviewing the current reimbursement system now. If we wait a further two years, we are not going to see the full published review by the end of this Government's term. Today I ask for two things. Will the Tánaiste give me the direction of any thinking in respect of an early access scheme? How quickly can that come on stream? With regard to the overall review of the reimbursement system, will the Tánaiste give a commitment that it will start urgently so that we can at least have it published in the next couple of years?
Sentiment score: 0.14
When I heard the Deputy would be asking a question today I did not have to ask what topic it was likely to be about. I want to acknowledge that, probably more than any other Member, he raises this issue on a very consistent basis. I acknowledge he is a passionate advocate for those with rare diseases. I thank him for the focus he is keeping on that. I know he has had good engagement with the Minister for Health on this matter and I am very pleased with the work she is doing and her determination to make more progress on the issue of rare diseases and early access to medication for people with rare diseases. I will say that, at a high level, we have over the past four years delivered access to 194 new medicines, 74 of which were for cancer, but 49 of which were for rare diseases. While accepting we have a lot more to do, we are beginning to make progress in relation to access for rare diseases. The last budget allocation was €30 million for new medicines, to come from within the HSE. We have doubled the capacity of the HSE pricing and reimbursement system. Some of this is about the quantum of funding but, in terms of speeding up the process, it is also about making sure there are enough people working in the system. I am very pleased that we have almost doubled the capacity of those now working on the reimbursement system for new medication. We now have a medicines application tracker to try to increase the transparency because we want this country to do even better in these matters. The programme for Government commits to an early access scheme. It will be for the Minister to outline how she intends to take that forward, with Government colleagues, in the time ahead, but the points the Deputy made here today are very fair. If it is to be an early access scheme that is to make a difference, that is to be somewhat of a disruptor in terms of making sure people can get access to those medicines much more quickly, it will have to be not just a carbon copy of the existing structures or a parallel process with the same likely outcome. Let us take that away and make sure that is a factor. Another commitment in the programme for Government that is worth commenting on is the commitment around the heel prick test. We have two population-based newborn screening programmes now and the programme for Government is committing to continually reviewing the number of conditions babies are screened for. Of course, that will help in terms of the early detection of rare diseases as well. Since May 2022, babies have been screened for nine conditions. The previous Minister for Health endorsed the recommendations from the screening advisory committee to add two new conditions. Once implemented, this will bring the number of conditions screened for as part of what is commonly known as the heel prick test in Ireland to 11. Last year, work also began on a complex and detailed process of introducing screening for spinal muscular atrophy, SMA, and for SCID to the national newborn heel prick test. In terms of the rare disease action plan we have made a number of commitments in the programme for Government and the Minister for Health will bring the new rare diseases strategy to Government for endorsement in the coming weeks. I expect it will be published shortly thereafter. We will look at how we can advance some of the points made through that structure. In terms of a timeline for the talks on the reimbursement framework beginning, we are eager for that to happen as quickly as possible. We are currently working to identify how quickly that can happen.
Sentiment score: 0.24
I thank the Deputy for referencing Les Martin, a person I know well from County Wicklow and somebody who has done incredible advocacy work in relation to this based on the lived experience of his two sons. I thank Les for that work too. The points Deputy O'Sullivan makes are fair. The Minister has rightly reminded me that she is committed to a root-and-branch reform and examination of all the various processes in place in relation to rare diseases. The opportunity to bring forward the new rare diseases plan will be a chance to turbocharge our focus on some of these issues. However, we are already beginning to look at how we can do this in new ways. For example, the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, had engagement with her Italian counterpart in recent days on how we can co-operate and collaborate more across the European Union. Deputy O'Sullivan raised the issue of DMD in the House last week and we went to the North-South Ministerial Council. In fairness, it was also raised by Deputy Crowe. At the North-South Ministerial Council we immediately started a conversation about how our two departments of health can work together. On part of the island you might have the medication, while on another part of the island you might have the professionals. Particularly given that we live in a small country, collaboration at European level, across the island of Ireland and across Ireland and the UK are going to be important steps. The Minister is committed to continuing close engagement with the Deputy on it. On the reimbursement piece, we have significantly increased the staff to try to speed up the timelines. We will keep in close contact.
Sentiment score: 0.24