I think the Deputy knows I gave that commitment in good faith after significant engagement with the HSE and it being given to me. While it did result in many more procedures being carried out and many more children getting their surgery, I think we have seen a number of very concerning developments in relation to this specialty. That is why I believe there needs to be that full inquiry. We have even seen as recently as last week significantly concerning clinical reports as well. I do not want to comment specifically on an individual case on the floor of the Dáil other than to say I know the Minister for Health is aware of the case of Roxanne Kelly. She has asked officials in her Department to communicate directly with the HSE and CHI on the case and to follow up directly with the family.
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I have answered that.
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I thank the Deputy for raising this deeply and profoundly concerning issue. I join with her and everyone in expressing my profound sympathy and thoughts to the children and young people affected, their parents and their families. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, is in Kerry as we speak and engaging directly. She briefed the Cabinet yesterday on this issue. She will leave no stone unturned in providing support and answers, and in making sure we extend the likes of the existing non-adversarial compensation scheme in place for families impacted by deficits in care. She has directed her Department to engage with the Attorney General's office and the State Claims Agency to progress this. I will say more broadly, because lots of families are interacting with CAMHS, that it is important to stress the independent national prescribing audit did not identify the fundamental care deficits in Kerry anywhere else nationally. I wanted to say that. I also want to say that a number of improvements to the service have taken place since 2022 in Kerry, including the two teams that are working there. I am also conscious, as the Deputy will be, that a lot of people working today in CAMHS in Kerry are doing a very good job in a very difficult and stressful situation. Once the Minister of State is back from her engagements in Kerry, she will provide further updates on next steps in relation to this.
Sentiment score: 0.28
What I will certainly do is accept the Deputy is quite rightly highlighting the issue of disability, as is his party. That is an important and good thing to do. No one wishes to engage in any sort of derisory view. These are important and legitimate issues. The next priority for the Government in terms of the work of the Minister for Social Protection is the development of a cost-of-disability payment. As it happens, coincidentally, the consultation on that payment is due to open tomorrow. I know the challenges people with a disability face. I met many of them in Galway and engaged with their lived experience only two weeks ago. They do not need to be on the streets protesting. We need them to be in the rooms engaging so we get this payment and structure right. I will say more broadly, about any comment, when I hear of people saying they are choosing between heating and eating, I genuinely say to everyone in this House that no one should find themselves in that situation.
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Our community welfare officers, and the Deputy will know this through his office, are there. He will know the names of the people.
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They are there to provide exceptional needs-----
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If anybody in the Deputy's constituency, or anyone in the country, is concerned about heating or eating, as he said, I genuinely encourage them to engage with our exceptional needs payments. No one should find themselves in that situation in Ireland. That is what those structures are there for. We just need to have that balance in the conversation. The cost-of-disability payment is a priority for the Government. The consultation will open tomorrow. We look forward to engaging with the Deputy and his party on it also.
Sentiment score: 0.15
I accept Deputy Murphy used Dáil privilege, as is his right, but because matters are before the courts, I am not in a position to comment further, other than to say the Government's position in general is it wants to see all reports published and to be transparent in relation to this. The legal realities as to what it is possible to publish or not are matters for the Minister for Health to work through, as she is doing. We also want to see a broader inquiry into the workings of a number of issues in relation to CHI and certain specialties. A lot of this work could be helpful to any such inquiry too, but these are matters for the courts to determine.
Sentiment score: 0.29
I thank the Deputy for a comprehensive question on St. Luke's in Kilkenny. It is a hospital I know well and have been in many times. I note a number of works have been carried out there, from a capital point of view, including the extension to radiology, the provision of a new MRI, which was completed in 2022, and the new 72-bed replacement medical ward block. I am told the replacement of the existing CT scanner was completed in 2024. An acute inpatient bed capacity expansion plan is due to be completed this year. The HSE capital plan is due very shortly, probably as soon as next week. There will then be an opportunity to update on what is next in the pipeline of projects. There are a number of projects, including mental health facilities. The new 50-bed acute mental health unit, ACHU, is at appraisal stage. I will ask the Minister for Health, once she receives the HSE capital plan, which will probably be next week, to update the Deputy on the specific projects he referenced. I will also follow up with her on the specific specialties the Deputy said are required in the hospital.
Sentiment score: 0.08
I thank the Deputy for raising this issue and for the engagement he had with the childcare sector this week. This is certainly something we intend to examine as a Government. We all know in this House that there is huge demand for childcare places. We need to support our childminders and help them to remain viable and in the sector, not making life harder for them. I am aware that there are legal issues to be worked out and there is also the matter of the Valuation Act, but the Minister for children, Deputy Foley, is engaging with the Minister for housing to seek clarity on how childminders who care for children single-handedly in their own family homes can avoid being disadvantaged. I thank the Minister for children for the work she is doing on this. She will keep the Government up to date as we make progress on it.
Sentiment score: 0.48
I thank the Deputy for raising this. My sympathy to his constituent on all she has been through and for her loss. If he wants to send the details to the Minister for Health, I will ask her to engage directly with the HSE on it. As he rightly said, there are two ways of accessing a medical card. There are the means ground but, above and beyond those, the exceptional burden that illness and loss can place on one is also supposed to be factored in. Without knowing the details, one would hope this could be examined again. I will ask the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, to engage with the Deputy if he sends on the details.
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Please do cc me on it.
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How do I know Fingal is the youngest and fastest-growing area in Ireland? It is because the Deputy keeps telling me so it must be true. I know it to be true. I thank the Deputy for raising this issue and acknowledge that she and our colleague Councillor Luke Corkery are working closely on it. It is something I genuinely care deeply about. The population of Swords is huge, bigger than that of a number of cities. It is one of the ten locations the Government has chosen with SOLAS and the education and training boards to develop a college of the future. The idea that Swords would be without college opportunities is unfathomable at this stage. It has to change and this is the project that is going to change it. We said when we announced the project that such projects take a number of years. They genuinely do. We are trying to develop a campus that will serve 1,000 full-time students and up to 5,000 part-time learners so 6,000 people could benefit. The relevant Minister, Deputy James Lawless, is very committed to this and has given approval for the relevant site. I believe legal due diligence requirements need to be dealt with now. The acquisition of the site is the next aim. I will ask the Minister to provide the Deputy with a specific update. I look forward to visiting Swords with her shortly.
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I thank the Deputy for raising this and for her considered contribution on it. The first thing I want to say, which the relevant Minister of State, Deputy Butler, would also want me to say, is that the independent national prescribing audit did not identify the fundamental care deficits elsewhere nationally, but that is not the point the Deputy is making. I just wanted to say that because it is important. The Deputy is making a broader point, namely that we need to review the standards more generally. That is certainly worth considering. We are very fortunate that the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, is passionate about and committed to this area. I will ask her to reflect on what the Deputy said and revert to her directly.
Sentiment score: 0.32
I thank the Deputy. I say very respectfully that he will understand that I am not familiar with the details of the specific project, roundabouts or safety concerns. However, it is important that he has raised the broader issue of the need for consultation and engagement with communities, which is a fair one. It is a serious point. I hear, more than from time to time across the country, that there are many projects that the majority of residents support in the main but that have certain elements that residents have concerns about and in respect of which they feel they are not heard. What I will do, on foot of my not being familiar with the details, is ask the Minister for Transport specifically to examine the issues the Deputy has raised and revert to him directly.
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I will be very happy to do that.
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I certainly would not want to contradict or disagree with the Taoiseach on views he has given on this project in Cork but what I will do is speak to him directly about the issue. I hope this is a matter of common sense prevailing in terms of engagement. I say this respectfully, but even the idea of mediation having to take place sounds to me like a process that did not go well in terms of proper engagement. That is based purely on what the Deputy has told me here today. I do not have the details of the project. I will talk to the Taoiseach about it and we will engage with the Minister for Transport. I know the Deputy will send me on the details.
Sentiment score: 0.27
I hope Wicklow is there too. I fully agree with the Deputy. We live in a county that is both young and fast growing. We know that through our own work not only on school capacity and the likes but also on childcare capacity. While I fully accept that childcare costs are too high, and we all have a similar view on the direction of travel that needs to take place on reducing childcare costs, one of the big issues we face in Greystones, Delgany, Bray and right across County Wicklow is access to places. I was pleased that the Minister, Deputy Foley, announced a fund to start intervening directly. I believe we must do that. We cannot just leave this to the market. The Department is going through a mapping exercise as to where the need is most acute. I will ask that Wicklow be considered as part of that and revert to the Deputy directly on it.
Sentiment score: 0.22
I thank the Deputy for raising an issue that has not come to my attention before and for bringing it to our attention. A broader point I will make, while not taking away from the seriousness of the issue, is that people generally view a house before buying or renting it, obviously. That is not the point the Deputy is making, though. It is misleading to people, it can waste their time and so on. I ask that I be allowed give some consideration to the matter with colleagues on foot of the Deputy raising it. I take the point that there are meant to be labels about material being AI generated and so on, but we should not all have to squint to find those things. It is also very bad practice. Just showing us what the actual house looks like is a much more decent way of engaging with people. I will engage with both the Minister of State with responsibility for AI and the Minister for housing on the issue.
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This is an area I really want to get right. We have a very strong culture of saving in Ireland but not a strong culture of investment. That is not a criticism of anyone; that is just a reflection of the reality. We have €169 billion or €170 billion on deposit today in Ireland. Lots of people, despite the challenges families face, are trying to put a few bob away for their future, for a rainy day, for their kids or for whatever they are trying to do in their own lives. At the moment, not only are they not making money on this but sometimes they are losing money on it. We therefore need to look at how we can set up savings and investment accounts. I am absolutely committed to this. It is a priority for me in the two budgets I will deliver as finance Minister. As part of that, there are tax rates, tax sequencing and financial literacy. The issue of deemed disposal is valid and important. We just need to consider all of these in the round and how to move forward. The next step is to bring a roadmap to the Government before Easter and to set up a savings and investment forum to engage directly with stakeholders with a view to being able to move forward later this year.
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There is indeed a commitment in the programme for Government to look at this. In that context, we will look at it, and I thank the Deputy for raising it with me. It is a fine balance and we have to consider all these things in the round, in terms of the quantum that may be available for a tax package in the budget and how we wish to deploy that while also making sure that we do not cause undue inflationary pressures on housing or the like. We need to think of all this in the round. There is the question of how the first home scheme operates too. I too am proud of the help to buy scheme. It has helped over 60,000 people. I am pleased that we have confirmed that it will continue for the lifetime of this Government, and there is a commitment in the programme for Government to review that scheme. We will undertake that review and I will revert to the Deputy then.
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I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I know how serious these issues are. The context in which I mentioned not being on the streets was not to suggest that people with a disability do not feel extraordinarily strongly on these issues or want to ventilate that. The point was that the consultation for the new cost-of-disability payment will open tomorrow and I want people to be in rooms and engaging in that and given the opportunity to do so. The Government is committed to developing a cost-of-disability payment. The Minister, Deputy Calleary, is working on that and will engage closely with people with disabilities and their representative organisations with a view to getting this right.
Sentiment score: 0.24