Where is the Deputy's Green Paper?
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Where is the Deputy's plan?
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Chancer.
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No.
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I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I recognise that this is a very sensitive issue. There are a range of opinions and perspectives in this House and, indeed, among the public. The people voted to repeal the eighth amendment in 2018 and to provide free, safe and legal access to termination services. We have made a lot of progress since then on the implementation of the Act. I am aware of the arguments for and against the removal of the three-day waiting period. It is important we have a respectful debate in the House. I intend to vote for this to go through to Committee Stage. On Committee Stage, there will perhaps be a need for consequential amendments, which I think the Minister has flagged with Deputy Cullinane. That only relates to the actual issue and does not undermine - in fact, it enhances - the intent of the amendment.
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First of all, councils have not been gutted.
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That is a ridiculous statement and a stupid statement to make.
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There have been very significant investments made. There has been very significant allocation of resources to local authorities.
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There has been very significant allocation of resources to local authorities and we have increased funding on a whole range of fronts. The bottom line is we are moving to Revenue to impose a tax. A lot of work has to be done to do this properly. That work is under way and will be resourced. It is very important that we do this with good precision and we do it comprehensively. I believe that this move, because it is Revenue and is a tax, will change the psychology around this and the implementation of it. It did not happen under local authorities for a long, long time-----
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-----and the Deputy cannot use the lazy excuse of resources.
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First of all, I agree that every fatality on Irish roads is one too many. For well over a decade or two, we had seen dramatic reductions in road fatalities and injuries, but in the last number of years, post-Covid in particular, there has been an incremental increase with some moderation of that. We have a clear road safety strategy. Progress has been made to deliver on phase 2 of the action plan for the period 2025 to 2027. There have been 12 primary transformative actions and 77 support actions. Progress to date includes the following. The default speed limit was reduced from 80 km/h to 60 km/h on rural and local roads in February 2025. Local authorities are now working to lower speed limits, where appropriate, to 30 km/h in urban and built-up areas by March 2027. The first national safety camera strategy was published on 29 April. There is much more I do not have the time to go through here.
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There are three points. First, we are acutely aware of the pressures and anxieties in families in relation to a number of drugs pertaining to rare diseases. There was good news last week in terms of the HSE drug group approving givinostat and sending it forward to the senior leadership group, which will now consider it. Hopefully we can get this progressed as quickly as possible. There are other drugs. Skyclarys is on the agenda, among others. In fact, we are increasing the number of approvals on a year-by-year basis. The recent pharmaceutical agreement arrived at with the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association, IPHA, and the Government provides for better timelines in terms of getting drugs approved. The Minister has also signed off on a review, which, I think, is very important, but only made that decision following work up from her Department officials who have given considerable thought to this because what we will see now and into the future is a greater volume of what used be called orphan drugs for rare diseases. Where companies in the past never invested, now they are. That is going to come at us fairly significantly.
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The Deputy was a long time a councillor. He knows the intricacies of this more than anybody does in terms of the application and enforcement of derelict site levies. There has been very significant progress in Cork in terms of housing. There needs to be more and we need to do more but in terms of the housing schemes that have started, been developed and are continuing, particularly along the docklands and, more recently, the schemes at Creamfields, Ballyvolane and many more, there are a lot of big housing projects under way in Cork. Moving from a levy to a tax will make a difference. The other key issue is that the grants are very substantial for derelict and vacant houses, at €70,000 and €50,000, respectively. That is having a huge impact, with about 17,000 applications. Nothing like that had happened before we introduced it in 2022. It has made a big difference and will continue to make a difference in respective of this.
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I thank the Deputy for raising what is a very important issue for many people across the length and breadth of the country. We have a target for 2026 of 26.7 million home care hours. Additional hours will be delivered through a mixture of public and private provision, with a focus on addressing persistent waiting lists in certain areas of the country. Preliminary data shows that as of 31 March, 6.55 million hours were provided in the year to date, which is about 541,000 more hours than in the same period last year. A total of 61,000 people were receiving home support at the end of the month, while 66,000 had received home support since the start of the year. There had been issues previously in respect of recruitment and so forth but the Minister has made, and continues to make, significant progress in relation to that. We will continue to allocate resources to this. It is a growing issue and we will continue to look to address it.
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I thank the Deputy for raising this very important issue. I will raise the points he made regarding Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore with the Minister for Health as to whether there are specific issues there. There is a lot of work under way in terms of development of surgical hubs, the National Treatment Purchase Fund expanding its programme in regard to particular specialties - the public-only contract should help in that regard - and continued investment in capacity. We acknowledge that more needs to be done in terms of getting the waiting times down. The sooner people can have intervention and surgery, the better the outcomes. We will continue to address the issue the Deputy raised.
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I will raise this issue with the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, and the Minister for education, Deputy Naughton, in respect of that new school for Balbriggan. I do not have the specific details here, but we are working flat out to get as many places available through classes and new schools as quickly as possible to make sure pupils have places in September.
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There were about 15 questions there but I think the Deputy started with the 199 Bray to Glendalough route, which I understand is a significant issue; other Deputies from Wicklow have also made that point to me. Obviously, there has been a significant expansion in transport services in recent years, with considerable public expenditure allocated to it. We are continuing to look at other services that need to be expanded and the Minister will be working with the NTA and TII on a range of issues in that respect.
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Aontaím leis an Teachta. Tá géarghá go dtuigeann na daoine a bhíonn ag obair Domhnach is dálach go mbeidh faoiseamh le teacht. I am confident that in the forthcoming budget we will have a comprehensive framework to try to programme decisions on tax and other areas to help middle-income and low-paid workers with their tax burden. We have significantly reduced the tax burden for the low-paid. In particular, the number who are not paying tax has increased significantly in recent years. Without question, there is a need to provide tax relief to workers. We will take the opportunity in the next budget. Obviously, a lot of work and discussions have to continue with the three parties in government before the finalisation of proposals in respect of the budget. That is one of the issues that is certainly under active discussion.
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We need to be careful on all fronts in the sense that the Minister fully recognises the critical role played by the legal profession in the effective administration of criminal justice. There is no intention here to reduce the cost to the State of providing criminal legal aid. I will just point out that expenditure on criminal legal aid in the District Court has nearly doubled, from €19 million in 2015 to €37 million in 2024. The reform here is primarily aimed at improving efficiencies, speeding up case resolution - there is an issue if there are 29 appearances - and reducing unnecessary adjournments, while ensuring fair and sustainable remuneration for legal practitioners. There is a lot of merit in what the Minister is proposing. He met with the Bar Council on 27 May and the Law Society on 29 May, last week. The Department will continue to engage with all relevant stakeholders, including the Law Society and Bar Council, in advance of the reforms being introduced.
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I will raise the issue with the Minister. Garda vetting is an important mechanism but, from my understanding, the legislation provides for or obliges repeated securing of vetting for different functions or roles. There is a case to be made for some streamlining of that. If a teacher or escort, for example, receives Garda vetting, then I take the point that there is a need to look at whether they should need a second Garda vetting for another activity a month later.
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Is it that the existing service has been closed?
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I will raise the matter with the Minister to see if any intervention can occur there.
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I welcome the raising of the issue. There has been work done and the review is under way, as the Deputy has said. The Minister for energy has engaged with the Minister for housing on this. One Department has the responsibility for the planning statement under the Planning and Development Act but the energy Department has significant responsibilities here as well. A further public consultation process will take place on the draft NPS and accompanying SEA environmental report. Communities, organisations and individuals will have the opportunity - we are hoping in the latter part of the year, perhaps late autumn. I will not have a specific date until the engagement between the two Departments is finalised and we are in a position to bring forward a draft statement.
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I appreciate the Deputy’s raising the issue. It is a very serious issue and it has dragged on for a number of years between different Departments and Government agencies. I have intervened. I spoke with the National Park and Wildlife Service to see if it could take a stronger role in terms of the Curragh because it is an important landmass in itself. The Department of Defence has obviously had a key role there historically. Part of our discussions centre on whether we can develop a national park as part of this but there is still some work to be done. I am engaged on it with the relevant agencies and Departments and I will continue to do that until I get a resolution.
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