At the outset, I also extend my deepest sympathies on the floor of the House to the family, friends and colleagues of Garda Kevin Flatley. Our thoughts and prayers are particularly with his wife Una and his daughters Aoife and Erin. He died in the line of duty, which is a reminder to us of the dangers that members of An Garda Síochána go through day after day as part of their mission to keep us all safe and prevent crime. He was an outstanding community person, as many gardaí are. They not only give duty in the line of service but, outside of their duties as members of An Garda Síochána, they are pillars within our communities, helping sporting organisations, in this case with Kevin helping O'Dwyer's GAA club. We extend our sympathies to the broader force and to all members of An Garda Síochána at what it is a very difficult and traumatic time for them, and a huge blow to the force. Regarding the clinical audit that is being conducted in respect of developmental dysplasia, in the first instance, it has to be said that there is a lot of anxiety and concern. A lot of parents would be worried because for a child to go through an operation or surgery is very traumatic for a child and very traumatic for the parents. Anything we do here must be done with that in mind, so we are very conscious of the anxiety that can be added to or created by anything we say or by piecemeal information or a drip-feed in respect of this issue. The Minister has taken the correct decision in terms of establishing a clinical audit by an external international expert on surgery for children with developmental dysplasia of the hip across the CHI and the National Orthopaedic Hospital in Cappagh. As the Deputy knows, that audit was carried out after concerns were raised that different standards and surgical practices were being used for DDH at CHI Temple Street and Cappagh. The purpose was to assess whether the standards and surgical practice used in CHI and Cappagh were in keeping with international standards of practice. Concerns had initially been raised under a protected disclosure in September 2023 and the Department was notified on 9 May 2024. There was some delay to the starting of the audit as the surgeon who had originally agreed to carry out the audit was no longer able to do so. Therefore, it was necessary to secure the expertise of another paediatric surgeon. The clinical audit was conducted on a random anonymised sample of patients aged one to seven years of age who had these procedures between 2021 and 2023 in CHI and Cappagh. The audit process is now at a very advanced stage. It is understood the audit author has received final feedback and fact checking from the clinicians to whom the draft report was circulated. We all know this is standard procedure in respect of audits of this kind. We do not have a final timeline from the HSE or CHI for when the report will be fully complete and provided to the Minister. Pending completion of the audit report, and as a patient safety precaution, all DDH cases are now being reviewed by a single team of clinicians from CHI and Cappagh before any decision for surgery is made. This process has been in place since March 2025. Deputy McDonald is correct that an action plan is currently being drafted in advance of the final audit report. This plan includes the identification of groups of patients not included in the audit sample but who may be affected by any finding of the audit. Plans are being put in place for patient follow-up in line with good practice and will, of course, consider any recommendation with regard to clinical follow-up from the final report. CHI and Cappagh have issued letters in recent weeks to families and patients who have had a hip dysplasia procedure since 2010 to provide reassurance and information about the audit and to ensure all potential cases. Those letters went out after media reporting of a draft audit report. It was found necessary after that to communicate to parents as a result of reports of a draft report. The Minister cannot comment on it because she has not received a report. It is critical that the Minister would get a report.
Sentiment score: 0.10
We can come back on it later. The fundamental point is that no one is ducking, diving or dodging anything, and it is unfair to suggest that. We want completion. It is far better for everybody if a complete report is issued and published, and then we can act on it.
Sentiment score: -0.04
If Deputy McDonald does not mind me saying so, she is being somewhat disingenuous. Nobody is stonewalling and no one is refusing to give information.
Sentiment score: -0.30
I thought the obvious thing to do, and we may have this sooner than Deputy McDonald might think, is to wait for the audit report to be published and given to the Minister. That is logical. Otherwise, all Deputy McDonald is asking for is drip-drip and bits of information here and there-----
Sentiment score: 0.00
-----which would only add to the anxiety and concern of parents.
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Yes.
Sentiment score: 0.40
If I may, I did not interrupt. Experience tells me that when we ask someone to do an external audit independent of politicians and Government, we should just let them finish their work and have the totality of their work available for us to assess, and then take action based on that. Of course, that audit has to be shared with the public, the parents, in the first instance, and the patients. There is always follow-up of children who have surgery for this particular condition and that follow-up would take place right into their teenage years, the ages of 14, 15 and 16.
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The Deputy clearly then understands the context-----
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-----of why they will be written to.
Sentiment score: 0.00
I disagree with the Deputy's analysis of the Government's response to vacancy and dereliction. The vacant homes action plan progress report 2025 highlighted the breadth of action the Government is taking to support bringing vacant properties back into use as homes. Key areas of progress include the successful delivery of the vacant property refurbishment grant, with over 11,300 applications received, 7,700 approvals and over 1,400 grants issued as refurbishment works are completed. That amounts to €77 million paid out to support people bringing empty dwellings back into use as homes. I have seen this all over the country. I have seen villages that had three or four derelict properties now without any derelict properties because people have availed of the derelict grants. This is a very innovative approach that was taken by the last Government. It was introduced by the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien. I was a strong supporter of it. It is a game-changer in respect of many derelict properties the length and breadth of the country. The vacant house grant is also quite significant. It facilitates the return of vacant houses as viable homes for people. The latest available vacancy data from GeoDirectory comes from quarter 4 of 2024 and notes a decrease in the national vacancy rate to 3.8%. That is the lowest recorded since 2013. I take the point that there are different data sources but the overall trend is downwards and vacancy levels are reducing. The standard answer today is more and more funding for everything but, in 2021 and 2022, we gave substantial funding to local authorities to deal with voids in their own local authority housing stock. Local authorities take too long to release homes that have been vacated. When homes are vacated because families have left or moved on for different reasons, it can sometimes take months or a year for the local authorities to fill those houses. They cite all sorts of reasons but it is not good enough. They are now looking for more grants to fill those houses. Voids should be filled fairly quickly. It should happen within a week or two of the house being vacated unless there is some structural issue. In the majority of cases, there are no structural issues because families have been living in them already. We need to keep pressure on where it matters. By all means, resources will be released. The resources being released for social housing, including voids, new builds and acquisitions, are way above anything that has been allocated in the last decade. There is no argument about that. However, there equally should be no argument about local authorities also having a razor-like focus on dereliction within their own domains. Local authorities should use and enforce the Derelict Sites Act. They should also make sure that voids under their remit are filled quickly.
Sentiment score: 0.07
Ní aontaím leis an Teachta in aon chor. Níl an ceart aici. Ní raibh na deontais atá ann anois maidir le tithe atá folamh agus mar sin de ann riamh. Is léir sin ón méid daoine atá ag fáil deontas sa lá atá inniu ann. I do not agree with the Deputy. The refurbishment grant for derelict buildings was not there four years ago. It has had a very significant impact and the Deputy should be good enough to acknowledge that.
Sentiment score: -0.06
The only criticism I remember was that a TV programme gave details of the grants. It was considered politically wrong to let the public know they could avail of a grant if they wanted to buy and refurbish a derelict building or vacant house. These grants have been spectacularly successful and we need more of them. Some local authorities have been good on social housing but others have not been. We need to call that out.
Sentiment score: 0.11
It is not always about handouts. You can go around certain local authority estates and see six vacant houses. Millions are not needed to put those houses back into use. They should never be vacant for beyond a month. I am not just saying this now; I have said this to local authorities time and again. We have taken void initiative after void initiative. The dependency culture kicks, that they will fill a void if given €50,000 or €60,000. No. If a house is idle because someone left it a month ago, it should be allocated again. We are in a housing crisis.
Sentiment score: -0.06
First of all, every child is entitled and has a constitutional right to an education. It is our job as the Government to vindicate that right. I do not accept the Deputy's presentation that the Government does not care. The Government does care. There is evidence of that. I do not want to go through all the statistics as that does not console a particular parent or family who are having difficulty in getting confirmation of a school place for next September. Expenditure has increased exponentially in the special education area, and rightly so. It is now about 28% of the education budget, with a 48% increase since 2020. We now have about 124 special schools, with 11 opened since 2020. There had been a lapse before 2020 but since 2020 we have opened new special schools and built 11 of them. Five more are opening in 2025-26. The number of children attending special classes in mainstream schools has doubled over the past five years from just over 9,000 in 2019 to almost 19,000 in 2024, with 3,335 special classes now in place to support them. We are planning a substantial number of school places for this year. Some 3,900 places will be available for 3,275 students known to the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, who are seeking special classes and special school places, through additional capacity. There is a challenge and intensive work is ongoing. I have been in touch with the Minister of State with responsibility for special education and inclusion, Deputy Michael Moynihan, and with the Minister, Deputy Helen McEntee, on this issue and particularly in the Dublin area in endeavouring to get specific confirmation around students who have yet to get a place confirmed. Some of the issues relate to getting the sanctioned special classes ready before September. They will definitely be provided, as they have been sanctioned, but I am referring to the logistics of it. In some cases it could be Portakabins and in others it may be a matter of getting new facilities in place. No effort will be spared to make sure everyone gets a place rather than having people seeking to vindicate their rights through the courts. I do not want that. There has been a significant increase in terms of children presenting with special and additional needs. Work is also ongoing in terms of the NCSE and the Department getting far better at predicting and having databases for the future through the former whereby the application dates will come forward earlier in the year and we will have a common application system nationally for children with additional needs. This issue is being given intense attention by the Government right now to give that assurance to parents.
Sentiment score: 0.27
The Deputy is correct. As I said, 399 new special classes for the next year have already been sanctioned in the past month. This has been done much earlier than in previous years. I do not have a detailed report in terms of each particular class. There are many with which there are no difficulties, but there are some in respect of which there are difficulties in terms of the logistics of getting them built, getting modular buildings in place or in terms of planning. Again, I am working with the Minister, Deputy McEntee, and the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Moynihan. They are working extremely hard on this issue with the NCSE. Níl aon amhras faoi sin. Tuigimid go bhfuil brú ar thuismitheoirí. Tuigimid go bhfuil géarghá do roinnt ranganna agus níl sé cruinn fós an mbeadh áiteanna ag roinnt acu i Mí Mheán Fómhair, ach táimid ag déanamh ár ndíchill chun go mbeimis sásta go mbeadh na háiteanna ann Meán Fómhair seo chugainn. We will do everything we possibly can to make sure that every child has a place next September, and certainly has visibility in respect of a place in the next school year. We will work flat out to make sure that becomes a reality.
Sentiment score: 0.07
I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I join Deputy Bacik - I omitted to do so earlier - in expressing my deepest sympathies to the families of Emmanuel Familola and Matt Sibanda and the community in Donegal on the sad and shocking drownings at the weekend of the two young teenagers who were enjoying themselves with their friends. What happened made for a very sad weekend altogether. In respect of the issue raised by Deputy Tóibín, the audit will not look back 15 years. The audit that is currently being conducted relates to a random, anonymised sample of patients aged between one and seven years for the period 2021 to 2023. Letters have issued from CHI and Cappagh hospital to parents. That is not an audit, however. The clinical audit by the external author is as I have just described. We need to await the completion of that audit. I accept the concerns and appreciate that the absence of completion or information can compound anxiety for parents. That is why it is important that we get the complete audit and that we are in a position to share it with the parents and families, the Oireachtas and the public at large. An action plan will then be implemented and published to deal with that and to work with parents and patients. I cannot draw conclusions until the Minister and I see the final report. The implications are disturbing, particularly if some of the assertions that were made prove accurate. In other words, if it emerges that they are truthful. There are issues. As I outlined in an earlier reply, changes to practices and protocols have already occurred in the context of a multidisciplinary approach and preoperative assessment. It seems that the latter clearly were not there in advance of this. Cases are being reviewed by a single team of clinicians from CHI and Cappagh hospital before decisions relating to surgery are made. That process has been in place since early March. As stated, in many cases if a child was operated on as far back as 2010, that child would still be getting check-ups through the teenage years. One would routinely have follow-up until 14 and 15 years of age in respect of such surgeries, and indeed other surgeries as well. That is not uncommon. I favour the completion approach - in other words, getting the full audit out, getting it published and shared and then acting on it.
Sentiment score: 0.15
In relation to the Deputy's general comments, a lot of huge advances have been made in our health service as well. In fact, through the various layers of management on hospital sites now, we know a great deal of data is being collected in respect of individual patients once they enter a hospital and go in for particular treatment. A lot of information is garnered in respect of every individual patient nowadays. There is a need for further investment in digital health and electronic patient records. In the upcoming national development plan, we are going to allocate substantial funding in addition to that already spent in relation to this issue. This is necessary. The health Vote in 2025 is €25.8 billion.
Sentiment score: 0.29
It is getting to the front line.
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We cannot be that superficial about it. Of course it is going to the front line.
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Sorry, we need-----
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Some €25.8 billion has been allocated to health in 2025. That is six or seven times ahead of the figures from four or five years ago. The value-for-money thing needs to happen as well, and on another fine day the Deputy will be in here rightly raising those issues. He cannot have it both ways though. It is always a question-----
Sentiment score: 0.09
We will be allocating more to health. We do need to analyse it as well. Separate from the normal funding going into acute and tertiary services, we accept we need investment in the digital health area and we-----
Sentiment score: 0.22