In the most recent budget, we gave the largest ever single year increase in disability services. It went up 20%, which was €628 million. That is what happened with disability services in that budget. In addition to that, there have been significant increases to core payments and domiciliary care increases,. One-off payments for all were removed because they could not continue forever. We cannot do €3 billion in one-off payments on a continuing basis.
Sentiment score: 0.16
Work is ongoing on the cost-of-disability payment. There was a good summit recently. We have to engage with the sector before it is designed. The Deputy should not pretend it can be done at the stroke of a pen. It cannot, and she knows that well.
Sentiment score: 0.23
I heard about that last week, and I am making inquiries on that and organising a series of meetings.
Sentiment score: 0.00
I am not clear as to why the cafe has to close for six months, to be frank. I will pursue that with security and so on. I will do that. On the hospitality sector more generally, thousands of people work in the hospitality sector. A lot of young people and students work in the sector and so on. It is a cynical Opposition play to talk about McDonald's. They are all owned by franchisees. The Deputy knows that.
Sentiment score: -0.00
Why does she keep on talking about the big boys? It is individual franchisees in any of these chains. She knows that. The bottom line is we have to sustain employment in domestic services sectors as well.
Sentiment score: 0.07
Fianna Fáil has not abandoned ordinary people. The highest number of social houses built on record was built last year - 9,000 new social houses. That is the way to deal with the housing crisis which has led to the rent increases.
Sentiment score: -0.06
We are about building more homes but you are not. You are just thinking about savings schemes.
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You are not.
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You have a challenge. It is not good enough to come in and attack the Government all the time and come up with nothing yourself.
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And that has been the subject-----
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I have looked online and looked at your proposals. They are empty.
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Empty.
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That is not my view. Anybody could go and look at it.
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We will do our housing construction agency when we get around to it. For God's sake, come on.
Sentiment score: 0.00
Rents are too high overall. No-one is arguing about that. There is a lot of pressure on people. Supply is the only way to deal with it. What I would say on the reforms that came in is that the six-year tenancy rule is a very significant enhanced protection for existing tenants. Nothing like it was in place before. We are dealing with new tenancies here in terms of the Daft.ie index, but the vast majority of existing tenancies are not impacted in the same way at all. We need a long-term certain landscape in respect of the rental market. With housing, we are not leaving it to the market. The State is involved in every aspect of housing. Some €9 billion is being invested by the Government - taxpayers' money - to try to get housing going. We are at 36,000 houses and that is not enough. We are going to invest. You also need some degree of private sector money in as well-----
Sentiment score: -0.01
-----to get to the €20 billion the Central Bank says is required to deal with the demand that is out there in respect of housing supply.
Sentiment score: 0.38
I thank the Deputy for raising this. I will talk to the Minister for housing in respect of this. We should be trying to streamline the whole system, which we are doing. People are waiting for OT reports and so on and the idea of paying in instalments pending the receipt of the report is a valid option. We would like to see greater simplification of the requirements overall to speed up the whole application process. I will talk to the Minister about that.
Sentiment score: 0.24
In the last budget we increased the level of State investment in early learning by about 12%. We cannot do everything in one budget. This is a five-budget Government. Childcare is a key issue; it is in the programme for Government. All three parties in the Government are committed to it. Decisions were taken on the last occasion about disability, for example, which went up dramatically. The income thresholds are increasing from September 2026, which will allow more low- and middle-income families to qualify. We will have the budget in October to see how much further we can progress the commitment in the programme for Government to reduce the costs of childcare to people in line with the objective of the programme for Government.
Sentiment score: 0.17
I will keep him in mind for the courthouse.
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First of all, it is as the Deputy has outlined in terms of the Ballybrack-Loughlinstown primary care centre, which was through the operational lease model. Then the preferred operator encountered difficulties with the economic viability of the proposed project. A service-led review is being conducted. The Department of Health is awaiting an update from HSE primary care in Dublin south on the status of this review. In parallel to this, HSE capital and estates is trying to identify the best location for this primary care centre and the most appropriate of method of delivery for expedience and value for money. The Department is continuing to engage with the HSE on this one in particular and I will come back to the Deputy on it.
Sentiment score: 0.32
To be fair to the Minister, Deputy Browne, I think he has been very responsive to these issues. The fact is that the Minister and the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, and the Minister of State, Deputy O’Sullivan, went to visit and saw the situation at first hand. I will talk to the Minister and the Ministers of State in respect of the progression of such a scheme, if that has been committed to, to see what the up-to-date position is.
Sentiment score: 0.58
That is very worrying indeed. I will talk to the Minister for Health in respect of this issue in terms of whether interim measures can be introduced to provide a service to the parents and children involved, and then on what the longer term solution will be in terms of recruitment.
Sentiment score: 0.13
I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. The Minister of State has been down there, so he is very well aware of the situation. I cannot get into the specifics of the engineering resolution of the problem, but I will talk to the Minister of State and ask him what can be done in the interim.
Sentiment score: 0.16
I thank the Deputy for raising this case and I commend the people for rallying behind Eímear Byrne, a young teacher, and her family. I will talk to the Minister for Health in respect of this case. I am aware of the treatment abroad scheme being confined to the European area. There is some talk of engaging with the European reference network on rare multisystemic vascular diseases, ERN, and similar conditions. I am not clear as to whether this treatment can be done in Europe, but, equally, I take the Deputy’s point. We have had a good relationship with the Johns Hopkins clinic over the decades in respect of other matters. I will talk to the Minister in respect of this case to see if we can get an opportunity here to be of help and assistance to young Eímear and her family.
Sentiment score: 0.41
I am sorry, Deputy, but the ballot was last year and not 18 years ago. There were a lot of discussions and a lot of negotiations and a proposal came to the Government. I have spoken to both Ministers, and my understanding is that NewERA was examining, as a final step, the entirety of the scheme and that the board was going to give it consideration. I hope we can get this issue resolved very quickly now. I have, though, been talking to the Ministers about it.
Sentiment score: 0.10
I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. He has been a strong advocate for reform of the reimbursement scheme, particularly insofar as it applies to what we might term orphan drugs. There is a growing issue here in terms of how some of these drugs are coming onto the market, the level of engagement between some companies and the State and, yes, our own system as well. Some companies are more accessible in terms of engaging with than others, but that is of no value to those who need the medicines quickly. I am aware of the cases the Deputy mentioned and the urgency attached to them. I have spoken to the Minister for Health about this issue. There is engagement with the company involved in the case of Friedreich’s ataxia. The Department had been awaiting responses, but that engagement is vital to trying to get this resolved for Friedreich's ataxia cases.
Sentiment score: 0.41
I accept the need for a review.
Sentiment score: 0.38
Again, I do not have the specifics of that. The Deputy said it is going to the Mater Private. Can she send me a note on the case so that I can see the different stages? It seems unusual and I do not know what the relationship with Temple Street is, with the system there or with CHI more generally.
Sentiment score: 0.00
First, I welcome the fact that talks are in progress right now through the labour relations machinery. I do not want to prejudice the outcome of those talks or say anything that might harm them. Dialogue is key to resolving this. We have modernised the service very significantly over the years. Everybody has been involved in that, including workers and all concerned. It is important that these discussions can get a resolution to this.
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Is the Deputy referring to when I was at the site of the National Concert Hall?
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That was for the concert hall.
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Why is the Deputy saying it will not go ahead?
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That is a separate matter completely.
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The Deputy knows there are huge issues with that. Come on.
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