Is léir ó 2020 amach go bhfuil dul chun cinn le feiscint ó thaobh cúrsaí tithíochta. Tá an-chuid déanta againn ach is léir maraon leis sin nach bhfuil dóthain déanta againn agus go bhfuil i bhfad níos mó le déanamh sna míonna agus na blianta atá romhainn. An tuairim atá agam féin ná go bhfuil an polasaí atá ag an Rialtas seo i bhfad níos fearr agus go mbeidh sé i bhfad níos éifeachtaí ná na polasaithe atá foilsithe ag Sinn Féin. Níl aon amhras orm faoi sin. Since 2020 onwards, there has been progress on housing. We went from 20,000 a year to over 30,000 a year. We exceeded the targets that were set in Housing for All, which were realistic targets taking variable factors into account. Given, however, the rise in the Irish population and the growth of our country, it is not enough, and I acknowledge that. Housing is the number one issue facing us. The last Government introduced a range of schemes. This Government, only a number of weeks in office, has announced a further €450 million in additional funding for social, affordable and cost-rental homes. We are setting up a new strategic housing initiative office, as recommended by the Housing Commission. We are publishing the national planning framework to allow us to zone much more land and to enable the county councils and the city councils to zone additional land for more houses to be built. We are hitting the ground running as regards the housing agenda.
Sentiment score: 0.02
I will contrast that with Sinn Féin's position. I acknowledge all the challenges and the pricing and so on, but the bottom line is that our schemes have helped an enormous number of first-time buyers. The help-to-buy scheme has seen about 51,000 approvals. Sinn Féin opposed it and proposed to abolish it. As regards the first home scheme, likewise, over 3,000 homes have been bought by young couples or young individuals using that scheme. Sinn Féin proposed to abolish that. That is, I believe, why the people were not persuaded by its housing policy platform. Then it had a convoluted idea under affordable housing that people could buy the house but could not buy the land on which the house was built, and a Sinn Féin government would dictate how they would sell the house subsequently, which appealed to nobody out there in respect of young people looking to buy a house for the future.
Sentiment score: 0.10
Those are the facts, and people made decisions based on that.
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That does not get away, however, from the need to get to 50,000 houses per annum, as the ESRI indicates are required, given our population growth. The focus has to be on initiatives that make that happen. Deputy McDonald mentioned O'Devaney Gardens. I accept that those prices are high, but they are being heavily subsidised as it is by the State, so the Deputy cannot have it both ways.
Sentiment score: 0.15
The entire intervention in housing at the moment-----
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This is now repeatedly happening, a Cheann Comhairle - repeated heckling and interventions by Sinn Féin-----
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-----every time I speak on Leaders' Questions. Those sorts of intimidatory tactics and attempts to disrupt must be stopped.
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Well, I am just making a point-----
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-----and I am not going to take it without making the point. Deputy Ó Broin seems to be aspiring to be the leader of Sinn Féin or something. I do not know-----
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-----but he is constantly interrupting on these matters. As regards other initiatives we will take-----
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-----we outlined those yesterday in the aftermath of the Cabinet subcommittee-----
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-----on housing, which we held on Monday.
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First of all, the differences in our policy platforms on housing are clear. Sinn Féin would do away with supports for first-time buyers.
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We are going to double down and continue our supports for first-time buyers in particular.
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In the first weeks of this Government we have substantially increased allocations for social, affordable and cost rental by an additional €450 million.
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Now the big issue facing the country is outturn.
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We are not misleading anybody, Deputy.
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Is this going to be a constant-----
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Deputy Ó Broin, I have heard your leader speak, through the Chair-----
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This is a constant behavioural tactic of Sinn Féin to prevent the Government side of the House from at least presenting its position.
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The main point I was going to make is there are a number of options facing us. We have to get the private sector involved much more, as we know from all the lobbyists Deputy Ó Broin met. I also take the point that was made earlier-----
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-----in respect of public expenditure.
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We need to increase public expenditure-----
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-----on housing.
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We have to try to do both.
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Whether it is a tax-----
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This is not satisfactory, a Cheann Comhairle.
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It is not satisfactory.
Sentiment score: -0.28
Admhaím go bhfuil brú ar na seirbhísí éigeandála, go háirithe ar na hospidéil. Bhí sé sin le feiscint ar Lá Fhéile Bríde agus an deireadh seachtaine sin. Níl sé sásúil agus tá sé sin ráite ag an Aire Sláinte. I acknowledge first of all the very significant challenges facing emergency departments, especially over St. Brigid's weekend, the pressure on people and the distress that causes to people waiting long hours in our emergency departments. The overcrowding on St. Brigid's weekend, however, which the Minister was right to highlight, was directly linked to low weekend discharges and subsequent high numbers on trolleys. This has been an issue for quite some time. The introduction of the public-only contract, which was a very significant development achieved last year, was very much linked to a changing roster arrangement and deployment of senior decision-makers in our hospitals to give weekend cover. Historically in the public health service, weekends are the worst times to be admitted to a hospital. The House needs to engage with that. There has been enormous investment in health in the past five years by any standard, both in recruitment and infrastructure, and there needs to be more. Parallel with that investment we need to analyse forensically the deployment of people with a view to getting the optimal outcome for patients and people who attend our hospitals. We have wonderful people working in our hospitals but we have long said it cannot be five days. There has to be rostering of senior decision-makers to enable better discharge so we do not get this issue at weekends, especially bank holiday weekends, which have been a feature.
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There have been some successes on that front.
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Some hospitals, like Waterford, Tullamore and Connolly, for example, had zero or low trolley numbers as well. There is therefore a management issue as well as one of resources.
Sentiment score: 0.32
We need an increase in resources and we have been recruiting extensively. Funding has been allocated for further recruitment of staff this year, especially medical staff, nurses and allied healthcare professionals. These are issues we need to discuss and engage on with hospital management and representative bodies. It is not just about increases and increases on their own. We have to analyse deployment and ensure we get the best outcomes for patients. That is what the Minister has been highlighting in her comments and in the data she has received, especially in relation to St. Brigid's weekend.
Sentiment score: 0.24
First of all, there is ongoing recruitment. There are now 25,000 more people working in the health service since 2020. That includes nurses and consultants. The number of consultants employed in our health service has gone up 42%. We are continuing to recruit, there is ongoing recruitment and funding was put into the Estimates for additional numbers in 2025. However, the attendances are also going up. An ageing population is putting pressure on our emergency departments. What is working best is a whole-of-hospital approach to emergency departments. It is producing results in several hospitals. There has been analysis of certain hospitals of what has been happening within them and so on. Recruitment is ongoing and we are committed to affordable recruitment of nursing staff as well as investment in capacity-----
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-----and elective facilities such as surgical hubs and elective hospitals.
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Deputy O'Callaghan is correct insofar as I identified the provision of a schools-based multidisciplinary therapy service, particularly in special schools, as a core priority and red-line issue of mine. We are pursuing it. I have already had meetings with my officials and we will be convening a meeting with all relevant Ministers and agencies in respect of delivering on that. There were attempts at a pilot initiative on that front in the past year which did not yield the outcomes both the HSE and the Department anticipated it would. That was based on a HSE model. That is one initiative we have to take but it will not solve all the issues. The CDNTs are recruiting, so it is not a funding issue. They have, however, had challenges recruiting therapists to the model established since the progressing disabilities services programme was introduced in 2013, which has not worked. That is why I passionately believe in a schools-based system, especially in special schools to begin with. We also must deal with the outcome of the 2022 High Court judgement of Ms Justice Phelan in the case of CTM and JA v. the HSE which found the preliminary team assessment approach described in the HSE's standing operating procedures for assessment did not meet the requirements of the Disability Act. We must deal with that through legislation. There has to be engagement if we want to move this on. This has had a huge impact on the assessment of need process and that must be acknowledged. There were issues around recruitment in that but that ruling has had, operationally, a significant impact on the situation. We need to admit that, and when I say "we", I mean we collectively in the House, but politically people may not want to deal with that. I believe we have to deal with that. It is just another step towards changing around the situation here. We must then significantly increase the number of training places in our universities for therapists, particularly speech and language and occupational therapists, physiotherapists, audiologists and allied healthcare professionals. The last big initiative was taken when I was Minister for Health and Children in 2003 when we created new colleges. At that point, there was only one college in Ireland training speech and language therapists, but we need to double down on that in this era and create significantly more places in our third level colleges in this area. In the interim period, the HSE has been facilitating parents with private sector services and accessing private providers. I want a national health-based system for clinical assessment and then an education system for special schools.
Sentiment score: 0.21
We are not prepared to allow the current situation to continue. All focus will be on improving access to therapies, for children in particular, and turning around the entire approach from the earliest days of a child coming out of paediatric services. There is not a sufficient link between coming out of paediatric services and follow-on services. In some cases, however, the needs of children will not be immediately apparent. Some manifest later in a child's life, but there needs to be far greater synergy between the world of paediatrics and the follow-up and early childcare services. We also need to increase significantly the capacity, context and environment for therapists to work. There have been challenges within the CDNTs. In many cases, the workload has been particularly onerous and many therapists have left the service. There is now a difficulty recruiting therapists to the service, notwithstanding the funding we made available to enable them to do so.
Sentiment score: 0.07
Ar dtús báire, tá mé buíoch den Teachta as ucht an cheist seo a ardú. B’fhéidir nach bhfuil a fhios ag cách ach tá leabhar foilsithe ag Mark Henry a bhaineann le stair na tíre ó 1922 go dtí 2020 agus an méid dul chun cinn atá le feiscint in áiteanna éagsúla. Is é ceann de na figiúirí a léiríonn sé ná go bhfuil i bhfad níos mó daoine sa lá atá inniu ann ag labhairt agus ag foghlaim na Gaeilge, agus le cumas na Gaeilge acu, ná mar a bhí sa tír seo in 1922. Tá an ceart ag an Teachta nuair a deir sé go bhfuil tionchar faoi leith, nó go raibh tionchar faoi leith, ag fás agus forbairt na nGaelscolaíochta ar na figiúirí sin. Sa Dáil seo, tá i bhfad níos mó Gaeilgeoirí tar éis a bheith tofa ná mar a bhí cheana féin. I bhFianna Fáil, tá an-chuid daoine anois againn a bhfuil cumas na Gaeilge acu. B’fhéidir go bhfuil glúin nua ag teacht ar an bhfód agus an Ghaeilge go nádúrtha acu de bharr na béime ar níos mó Gaelscoileanna agus coláistí lán-Ghaeilge ag an dara leibhéal. Caithfidh muid a chur san áireamh chomh maith go bhfuil dualgas ar an ngnáthbhunscoil an Ghaeilge a chothú agus béim a chur ar an nGaeilge. Maidir leis na hÉireannaigh nua, caithfidh an meon a bheith ceart. Caithfidh muid gach aon iarracht a dhéanamh an Ghaeilge a chur ar fáil do na hÉireannaigh nua chun iad a mhealladh agus tacaíocht is áiseanna a thabhairt dóibh. Mar a dúirt an Teachta, ba cheart dúinn deiseanna a thabhairt dóibh an Ghaeilge a labhairt go nádúrtha gan mórán béime ar an ngramadach nó ar chruinneas na teanga agus mar sin de. Tá an dealramh ar an scéal go bhfuil roinnt de na hÉireannaigh nua báúil don Ghaeilge. Tá fonn orthu an Ghaeilge a labhairt. Tá a fhios agam féin nuair a bhí mé ag dul timpeall na tíre ag bualadh le grúpaí áirithe go ndearna na hÉireannaigh nua iarracht an Ghaeilge a labhairt. Bhí sé sin soiléir. Aontaím leis an Teachta go bhfuil níos mó le déanamh againn. Caithfidh muid níos mó tacaíochta a thabhairt, ní hamháin do na Gaelscoileanna ach freisin do na bunscoileanna ó thaobh áiseanna agus teicneolaíocht a chur ar fáil chun feabhas a chur ar an scéal, go háirithe sna bunscoileanna.
Sentiment score: -0.10
Is suimiúil go raibh an taithí sin ag an Teachta nuair a bhí sé ina mhéara. B’fhéidir go léiríonn sé go bhfuil orainn i bhfad níos mó a dhéanamh ó thaobh tacaíochta a thabhairt do na grúpaí áirithe ar fud na tíre agus i measc an phobail i gcoitinne. Tá mé sásta bualadh leis na hAirí Gaeltachta agus Oideachais agus leis an Rialtas i gcoitinne faoi conas is féidir níos mó tacaíochta a thabhairt do ghrúpaí den saghas sin a luaigh an Teachta chun an Ghaeilge a labhairt. B’fhéidir go gcaithfear áiseanna a chur ar fáil dóibh chun a bheith níos compordaí agus níos muiníní as an nGaeilge a úsáid go rialta mar tá fonn orthu. Tuigeann siad go bhfuil nasc idir cumas na Gaeilge agus a bheith mar Éireannach nua, mar a dúirt an Teachta é féin.
Sentiment score: -0.28