Deputy Ó Laoghaire advises that he is on his way.
Sentiment score: 0.00
13. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Health when the HSE will allow the home support service in Donegal to resume recruitment for healthcare assistants to address the growing waiting list for the service in the county.; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17182/26]
Sentiment score: 0.17
This question relates to the waiting lists of 324 for home support services in Donegal. I am very clear from speaking to staff in the service that the HSE recruitment policies are preventing it from recruiting the necessary assistants to get those waiting lists down. That also has a knock-on impact on Letterkenny University Hospital. I wish to get a sense of what is happening and why it is happening.
Sentiment score: 0.31
We are very proud in Donegal that we have the strongest level of home care assistance delivered directly by the State through the HSE and that is the way we want to keep it. My concern is that there is an agenda to privatise the service in Donegal, that is, to hold back recruitment in the public system and secure the services of private providers. I am aware of incidents in Donegal where the HSE has had to step in after a poor service by private providers. There are real concerns around this. The facts do not lie. The waiting lists are growing. There are 324 people waiting. That is not just about those families and, of course, the people themselves not having that level of support; it also impacts, as I said, on Letterkenny University Hospital. It means more people in the emergency department because we cannot release patients back into the community. I want to get a sense and assurance from the Minister of State that this is not about a privatisation agenda.
Sentiment score: 0.13
I will continue to monitor this closely because it is clear that in recent years there has been an agenda at senior level in the HSE for a sneaking privatisation of the service in Donegal. In a response to a parliamentary question, it was confirmed that the use of private providers increased from 13% to 19% in one year. I am clear that recruitment through the HSE for home care assistants is being held back by policies there. By its own admission, it is looking to bring in private providers to fill the gap. That is wrong. There is a culture of community focus in Donegal and trying to keep people in their homes as much as we can and not have them in institutions. That helps the hospital. I ask the Minister of State speak to the managers to get an absolute assurance to stop playing games with privatisation. Whatever about the response they have given him, it is not borne out by the facts on ground I am seeing.
Sentiment score: 0.17
159. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage when he will request that the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland, SCSI, draft a follow-up report on construction costs for the defective concrete blocks grant scheme, considering that the last one was almost two years ago and costs have considerably increased in that period. [17183/26]
Sentiment score: 0.01
The Minister will know that his predecessor, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, asked the SCSI for the costs of building a typical home in the areas affected by defective concrete blocks. That was two years ago and the costs have increased substantially. That means the gap between what the State will pay families through the grant scheme and the actual costs is getting ever wider. Will the Minister ask the SCSI to get this done?
Sentiment score: -0.03
The Minister and his Department officials continue to insist the people of Donegal, Mayo, Sligo, Leitrim, Clare and Limerick are receiving 100% redress based on SCSI costings. It should be remembered that does not include the foundations and other matters. This has to be based on real-world prices. The prices he is working off are at least two years out of date. Indeed, the data used in the March 2024 SCSI report are from 2023. I am going by his standards. He tells me he is giving people 100% redress based on SCSI costings, but those costings are at least two years out of date. It is very simple. The SCSI is a tremendous organisation and has always been professional and co-operative. The Minister should ask the society to do an up-to-date report so people are not tens of thousands of euro short. It is a simple request. Can he do it?
Sentiment score: 0.02
Please just accept our testimony. I can only speak with authority about Donegal but I listened to families in Mayo and Clare recently when they were before the Oireachtas housing committee. It is crystal clear we do not have anything near 100% redress in the west. That means the scheme currently benefits those of a certain age who can project-manage or can access €40,000, €50,000 or €100,000. The Minister heard me give an example and I could give many more of people having to find almost €200,000 and being locked into mortgages for another 15, 16 or 17 years. That is the reality and it is cruel. The last time SCSI reported, it took a year and a half for legislation to be brought forward for people going through the scheme. I ask the Minister right now to send a letter to the SCSI. It is a tremendous organisation. It will carry out the work, which is to the benefit of the people, once he asks it. Will he do it now? What would delay him any longer?
Sentiment score: 0.10
163. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage when he will advance the plans to relocate the families at a location (details supplied), living in defective concrete block homes, away from the dangerous flood plain they were built on. [17184/26]
Sentiment score: -0.28
This issue relates to Elm Park in Buncrana. I thank the Minister for his engagement to date on the issue. He met with the families in Donegal. I thank the Minister of State with responsibility for the OPW, Deputy Moran, and the Minister of State, Deputy O'Sullivan. I welcome the announcement before Christmas that the Minister is agreeing to relocate the families. They have been waiting a long time, first, for co-operation of all families in agreeing to relocation and then they had to get all their houses tested. Every house is affected by defective blocks. They are just pressing for a time frame.
Sentiment score: 0.17
The Minister of State, Deputy O'Sullivan, worked with the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, who was in Donegal in recent weeks, where he met with residents and saw the condition of these houses. There is an urgency in that some of the houses are in appalling conditions, are clearly unsafe and families are still living in them. At the same time, they live on a dangerous flood plain. Of course, those houses should never have been granted planning permission. We inherit the legacy of what came before us. I appreciate the Minister has agreed to the principle of relocation but there is anxiety that this could drag on for a long period. This is urgent. The residents need a solution. They have worked in partnership with the Minister and demonstrated that all the homes are affected and have to be demolished. It is a common-sense proposal. The flood defences will not have to be built and the area will return to a flood plain. It ticks every box in relation to common sense but we need urgency. I appreciate the Minister's forbearance and work on this to date but getting this over the line would be a huge relief for everybody.
Sentiment score: 0.02