Seanad Éireann debate -
Thursday, 20 Jun 2024

Before I call on the Leader to outline the business for today, I welcome H.E. Florence Ensch, Ambassador of Luxembourg, who is in the Public Gallery. It is a wonderful opportunity for us to commemorate, celebrate and congratulate the people of Luxembourg on their national day, which is being celebrated on Sunday. It is the celebration of the Grand Duke's birthday. The ambassador has been a wonderful ambassador and friend of Ireland. I had the pleasure of meeting her before she came into the Chamber and got a wonderful presentation. It is very apt that Senator Mullen is with us because every Easter, he has his Easter eggs with the chickens. The ambassador gave me a gift of a péckvillchen, a wonderful miniature hen that is a typical product of Luxembourg. It commemorates the excellent diplomatic relations between Ireland and Luxembourg for over 60 years. It was produced by a social enterprise unit. I thank the ambassador for her generosity but also for her significant engagement with us in the Oireachtas. I hope she enjoys the celebrations on Sunday.

I also welcome the ambassador to the Chamber. Ireland and Luxembourg have had a fantastic relationship for many decades and I wish the ambassador and all people from Luxembourg living in Ireland a wonderful day on Sunday. It is their national day and a day we all celebrate with them.

The Order of Business is No. 1, motion regarding arrangements for the sittings of the House on 25, 26 and 27 June 2024, without debate, to be taken on conclusion of the Order of Business; and No. 2, Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022 - Committee and Remaining Stages, to be taken at 11.45 a.m. and to adjourn at 4 p.m., if not previously concluded.

I add my voice of welcome for the ambassador. My nephew did an internship in Luxembourg last year for six months and loved it, particularly the fact that there is free travel. He could not get over that. It is something we would certainly love to have here.

A gentleman called Myles Wickham from Newbridge was in the Public Gallery yesterday. Myles was here because I had arranged a meeting with the Minister of State, Deputy Thomas Byrne, about Newbridge Volleyball Club, which has been in existence for 22 years but does not have any facilities. It only gets an hour and a half in a local school. It is very appreciative of that but coming into the summer time, it no longer has that. Newbridge is very much a growing town and has a number of clubs that do not have their own home. They include clubs like Kildare Gliders Basketball Club, Newbridge Athletic Track and Newbridge Hockey Club. For a town of its increasing size, Newbridge needs a sports campus. The Newbridge development plan will be starting very soon and it is the opportune time to rezone land but, equally, there is the issue of buying it. While the sports capital grants are really good, we need a system where local authorities are helped by national funding in terms of buying appropriate sites. We should have a debate in this House on that to be able to support the fantastic volunteers we have like Myles Wickham. I am working very closely with Councillor Noel Heavey and Councillor Robert Power on that issue in Newbridge.

The Irish Women's Parliamentary Caucus workshop on reproductive health for young girls was held last Friday. I was to chair it but, unfortunately, I had Covid so I could not do that and I thank former Deputy and former Minister of State, Marcella Corcoran Kennedy who stepped into the breach. The reason we are looking at this is because a lot of young girls can have issues with their menstrual cycle and might not realise that it might be something like endometriosis. Sometimes a missed diagnosis can lead to fertility problems at a later stage. We have chosen this as a topic of work and I am really looking forward to working with members of the caucus on developing a paper. Would you believe it that last night, I got a message from a mother I know telling me about her daughter in her very early twenties who is now wearing a stoma. This girl had sepsis in November and nearly died - all because of undiagnosed endometriosis - so the work we are doing is really important.

The interim remediation scheme to tackle serious fire safety issues in apartment blocks is really good news. A lot of money will be going into owners' management companies, OMCs, to address this shoddy building work. Most OMCs are very good but, unfortunately, some of them are not fit for purpose from a governance perspective. It is really important that we put a register in place to be able to support them.

As a matter of urgency the State needs to establish an OMC regulator on a non-statutory basis, with its operations funded by a levy on the OMCs. This would fall within the remit of the Minister, Deputy McEntee. I ask the Acting Leader to raise this issue. I would like to have a debate in this House on the establishment of such a regulator.

I join in welcoming the ambassador of Luxembourg. If she is around next Easter, I will be delighted to sell her some of those knitted chickens with eggs in support of the apostolic works of the Elphin diocese and the wonderful humanitarian work being done by various missionaries from our parishes abroad. I did not hear whether it is a Fabergé egg she is distributing, but if she has any spare, I am always ready to receive and then declare in accordance with the rules.

All joking aside, nobody quite knows when the next general election is going to take place but of course we know there will be a budget. It will be an important pre-election budget. Many of us attended a comprehensive briefing by the Irish National Teachers Organisation, INTO, in recent days. I thank Eoin Fenton from Killimor National School in County Galway and, indeed, the president of the INTO, Carmel Browne, and its general secretary, John Boyle. Their asks are reasonable. They rightly highlight the importance of primary school education and the need to invest in it and the continuing inequities. Their asks come down to three issues. They want us to invest in smaller classes. They point out that if we could bring down the class size by an average of two or so per class, we would get to the EU average of 20. That reduction of two would align us closely with our European neighbours. That would be timely when we consider that the projections for school enrolments suggest a decrease in primary school enrolments over the next few years. It would, therefore, be a very manageable cost and investment. They also point out quite rightly the need to strengthen school leadership. It is good that 500 assistant principal positions were restored in the 2024 budget but a significant shortfall remains of about 1,700 middle management roles yet to be reinstated to bring schools to the level that they were at 15 years ago. We have to remember the role that middle management leadership plays in our primary schools, indeed in all schools. It ranges from enhancing teaching and learning to supporting pupil well-being, literacy, numeracy, digital STEM initiatives, the Cineáltas action plan on bullying and so on. We must also remember that when we want to encourage people into school leadership, it is vital they get the experience that middle management positions offer. The issue of career progression is so important. The third issue the INTO has been pressing is the need for a 20% increase in the two core grants paid annually to primary and special schools, the capitation and minor works grants and the higher ancillary services grant. It points out that there is still a pronounced discrepancy of €145 per student in the capitation grant between primary school pupils in comparison with post-primary school students.

All those important concerns were echoed at another briefing from school principals we met yesterday, led by Ms Angela Dunne of Loughmore National School in Tipperary. They stressed the importance of extra administration time for teaching principals and also the chronic under-resourcing of special education needs supports and provision. We often talk about this in the House and it needs to be addressed, considering the number of children with special needs in primary schools increased by 56% between 2017 and 2021. This is a very important issue that needs to be addressed on a continuing basis in the budget. I thank the education professionals for briefing us on their needs.

It is great to see the Acting Leader, Senator Conway, in the chair. I wish to raise the issue of the care sector. It came up at the enterprise committee yesterday. We had an IBEC presentation which was quite good. It has a good report out entitled Better Care, Better Business. It talks about the need to address supports for those in need of care and for carers and indeed the need to address recruitment and retention in the care sector. However, when I started speaking to the witnesses in the committee, they were loath to admit that low pay is a key issue in terms of the problems throughout the care sector. They did acknowledge, however, that if you are going to hire private home help from one of the for-profit agencies, the rate of pay currently is around €13.10 an hour. I ask Members to think about that for a moment. Any of us who have been involved in getting home help for our loved ones knows it is a really challenging role. It is hard and demanding work and requires a really good skill set to get the job done, yet the rate of pay right now for those workers is €13.10 an hour. I imagine no one here thinks that is an adequate rate of pay. I would certainly hope that is the case.

I then pointed out to IBEC that one of the problems is its members refuse to negotiate with trade unions. This is at the heart of the problem. How does a home help worker or a person working in a nursing home get a pay rise? Their employers will not recognise the fact they are in a trade union and will not negotiate with a trade union. That is why these workers are left on an appallingly low rate of pay. Those low rates of pay exist throughout the private care sector.

The issue stemming from that, and this is the issue on which I am calling for a debate, is the EU adequate minimum wages directive. One of the key calls in that directive is to increase collective bargaining coverage. The aim is to get that up to about 80%. We are nowhere near that at the minute. We are somewhere around 15% in the private sector, frankly, and that leaves us far behind the rest of Europe. The problem is that this Government is doing nothing in respect of that EU minimum wage directive. It is due to be in place this year. It is certainly not going to be in place this year. A report from the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, which is on its website this week, tells us there is little or no progress in terms of talks or negotiations on the issue.

As we head into, most likely, a general election in the autumn, we are still one of the countries with no right to collective bargaining, which puts us completely out of kilter with the rest of Europe. It is a huge failing, not just of this Government, but of successive governments. The implication of that failing is that the workers I am talking about in the care sector, workers on €13.10 an hour, have no means of getting a pay rise. Surely none of us should be willing to stand for that. I am calling for an urgent debate on the issue of collective bargaining and tackling low pay throughout our economy.

Before the ambassador of Luxembourg leaves, I acknowledge her presence in the Chamber. It is wonderful to have her here. I know the national day of Luxembourg is next Sunday and it is great to have the ambassador here in the Chamber this morning.

I will follow on the theme raised by another Senator regarding presentations made yesterday in the audiovisual room by principals on the issues they face. Primary school principals are a really important part of our society. As a father of schoolgoing kids, I know there is a huge difference in the 1980s school model compared with where we are today. Today's model is really inclusive and friendly. Kids get up in the morning and want to go to school. They are not worried about getting a belt from their teacher anymore. They are worried about who they are going to meet and how are they going to evolve and interact with the school itself.

There is an issue on core funding that needs to be looked at. The issue is about trying to make sure this inclusive model, of which we are all supportive, gets enough funding to make sure the school can work. Assessments are very important, as is data collection. It was great to see teachers from all over Ireland at the briefing. It was great to see Mr. McCarthy, a teacher from Kilmeen in west Cork. His school is another that leads by example in west Cork. It is important that we look at the budget regarding core funding, particularly access to assessments.

Another issue I wish to raise is that of where we are going with our housing policy. There is significant news out there on how our housing policy has really moved forward in the past few months. In the past five months in particular we have seen a huge increase in commencement notices. The data I received is quite amazing. In Cork city and county there were 3,589 commencements in 2023, but in the first five months of this year we are up to 5,246. That is an increase of more than 1,600 commencements in the first five months of this year compared with the entire of last year. This shows we are on a really good trajectory to reach our 50,000 target that has been talked about and was dismissed by some commentators. We all know housing is a really important issue. It is an issue for grandparents and for society. Everyone wants to get on the housing ladder. We need to make sure we have the ability to make sure everyone in society is housed.

This is a really positive story. It shows the progression of the housing policy, how it is delivering and how the figures have absolutely exploded, in particular in the last five months.

I thank the Acting Leader for outlining the business. The ambassador has gone at this stage but equally, I wish her and all the people from Luxembourg a very happy national day. Senator Mullen was making a pitch for a gift from the ambassador. I am actually wearing a gift from the ambassador. It is the tie of the Luxembourg European Presidency from a number of years ago. I will not, therefore, make a pitch for any other gifts today.

In the week that is in it, I want to pay tribute to Deputy Eamon Ryan, who is stepping down as leader of the Green Party. Before he became the TD for Dublin Bay South, he was actually the TD for the old constituency of Dublin South where I lived for the period of 2002 to 2011. Therefore, I have the unusual status, like all the people in Dublin Rathdown, of the current leader and current deputy leader both having been TDs from my area. I wish both of them well because I understand that Deputy Catherine Martin is stepping down as deputy leader in the next term.

I am very conscious of the fact that the Acting Leader is from County Clare, which has the wonderful Shannon Airport. Indeed, the Cathaoirleach is from County Cork with the wonderful Cork Airport. However, we might schedule a debate about the Dublin Airport cap and where it is going. We are going to get very close to the 32 million cap. It is hindering the growth of Dublin and Irish aviation generally. While some traffic certainly can be moved and should be directed to go to Shannon and Cork, lots of airlines want to fly into Dublin and they are being precluded, effectively, by this cap. I would, therefore, like the Acting Leader to arrange a debate on that with the Minister for Transport.

Finally, I urge all sides to engage in the debate on Aer Lingus because a strike is good for nobody. It is not good for the staff or the airline. Most importantly, however, it is not good for the passengers and the travelling public, both inbound tourists coming to Ireland and, indeed, Irish people going on business trips and holidays having perhaps paid out lots of money on accommodation and so on. It is important that we try to urge every side to come to a resolution that does not involve the need for strike action.

Before I call Senator Seery Kearney, I welcome to the Public Gallery her goddaughter, Amy Kearney. You are very welcome. I hope you have been treated royally this morning in Leinster House. I thank you for being here. You can be very proud of your godmother. She is doing a wonderful job. I hope she treats you well today, as I am sure she does every day.

I think I am in line for a Louis Vuitton for her 21st birthday or something like that. I am saving; I have saved for 21 years.

I want to begin by paying enormous tribute to the Acting Leader. I am thrilled to see him as Acting Leader today. I missed the last day he was here. I am about to speak about the Oireachtas disability group, but I actually want to pay tribute to the fact that Senator Conway is an extraordinary example of what can be done and how an individual can overcome any of the impediments that are put before him or her. I am very proud to be his colleague and to support the amazing advocacy he does.

On that subject, I had a meeting this morning with the members of the Oireachtas disability group who are seeking meetings with all of us in advance of the budget to make sure they get heard on their pre-budget submissions. The group is a combination of Inclusion Ireland, the National Federation of Voluntary Bodies, Independent Living Movement Ireland, the Disability Federation of Ireland's Mental Health Reform and the National Disability Authority. They are a fantastic group of advocates who work passionately to advance everybody's right to live their best lives and the lives of their choosing. They have three particular asks, however, one of which is that we tackle poverty among disabled constituents. The second is improving access to supports and housing provision for our disabled constituents and the third is to ensure support for disabled persons organisations and disability organisations providing vital services across our constituencies.

Let us come back to the poverty piece, though. The fact is that if a person has a disability, he or she is much more likely to be in poverty and impoverished for the rest of his or her life, whether that is around access to education or work or otherwise. The sheer cost of disability was outlined in a recent report. We need a situation where a minimum of €50 is given per week in the budget. All of us need to make sure we advocate passionately, especially those of us in Government parties, on people's behalf.

There are particular disabilities, though, for which people have to apply and prove they are disabled on an annual basis. People with Down's syndrome have to annually prove that they still have Down's syndrome. That is an outrage. I have started a campaign within my own parliamentary party to discuss it and speak with the Taoiseach about it. However, it is time for this to end and for us to move to that place very urgently. I thank and congratulate the Acting Leader.

Like Senator Seery Kearney, I am delighted to see Senator Conway in the chair today. I wish him well.

I hope he or the Cathaoirleach do not mind if I stay very local, because today I want to pay tribute to one of the best known Rossie fans and a character who is retiring from business, a man called Paddy Joe Burke, nationally known for his barber shop in Roscommon town. Many well-known dignitaries through the years have been there. It is an unusual place because it was like a rambling house rather than a barber shop. The main reason I mention him, apart from congratulating him on his retirement from business, is because he has also been appointed the age-friendly ambassador for the county as part of the age-friendly programme delivered on behalf of the Older People's Council network. His role will be to promote the need to be age friendly and support the local age-friendly programme to raise awareness for age-friendly initiatives. He will also be tasked with celebrating and empowering the lives of older people in the county. He is a wonderful character, and he will be fantastic in this job.

I also want to raise this in the context of loneliness. The fact is that loneliness for so many people out there, old and not so old, is an everyday fact of life. I would like us to invite our wonderful Minister of State with responsibility for older people and mental health, Deputy Butler, to come in and have a discussion with us on this. Perhaps we could look at retitling the role relating to older people to bring loneliness into the title as well. I did not realise it was such an issue until a conference was held in Roscommon recently. The interest in that conference was huge from those young and not so young. We should realise that it is a big issue out there. People may be in their houses on their own and they may not be able to get out or whatever. They may have mental health issues and be feeling lonely. It must be a terrible place to be. We could do an awful lot more by having that discussion. I am sure the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, would be more than willing to come in and have that discussion with us.

I call the Acting Leader to reply. I join with Senator Seery Kearney and others in congratulating Senator Conway today on taking the Order of Business. He is a champion of inclusion and advocacy on behalf of the visually impaired community. He has shown how people can overcome all obstacles to lead a full life. It is great to have him in the chair today.

I thank the Cathaoirleach and all colleagues very much. My job becomes an awful lot easier because of the wonderful people in this House across all parties.

Back in 2012 or 2013 when the people voted to retain the Seanad, they were actually very inspired in terms of their decision because that is how people like me can achieve and be in the position I am in today. I thank our great Deputy Leader, Senator Doherty, for asking me to be Acting Leader today. Seven Senators raised very important issues on the Order of Business.

Senator O'Loughlin raised the issue of sports facilities and volleyball and minority sports in general not having a permanent facility. There is a lot of logic in a proposal that there should be some sort of grant scheme done through the local authority to establish a sports campus, if you like. It is something that certainly could be replicated in other communities. In County Clare, we have a number of minority sports that do not have a permanent base and that are constantly relying on the goodwill of other bigger sporting organisations. It does cause a certain number of challenges. In terms of women's health, this Government and the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, have done a huge amount to advance the whole issue of healthcare for women. Certainly, there is an awful lot more that can be done. In terms of the third issue the Senator raised, it is very important that there would be a register of owners and management companies of apartment complexes.

I will ask the Leader's office to write to the Minister for Justice to see when that can be put together. If it does require legislation, we will be very happy to do it here in the House.

Senator Mullen raised the issue of the INTO. We were all at the briefing last week, where the INTO raised the issue of class sizes. We all want to see a reduction in class size. The last budget did not facilitate a reduction in class sizes but the three previous budgets did. I remember going to INTO briefings four years ago when class sizes were 24 or 25. Now they are down to 22. Obviously we all want to see it reduced to 20. On the increase in capitation grants, absolutely, with the way inflation is at the moment and the increased cost of doing everything, we would certainly like to see an increase in the capitation grant.

Senator Gavan spoke about home carers and the minimum wage that most of them are on. It is a major issue. Pay of €13.10 an hour is not good enough for the type of work they do. As Chair of the Seanad Select Committee on Scrutiny of Draft EU-related Statutory Instruments, I will certainly look at the minimum wage directive. I will put in a request as Chair of the committee to see where we are in terms of implementation. If it is a directive, we have a responsibility to transpose it into law. Let us just get on with it. I give the Senator a commitment that I will ask the secretariat of my committee to follow up on that as soon as possible.

Senator Lombard referred to the school principals' briefing in the AV room yesterday. There are issues, absolutely. Some school principals are good, but some are very good and some are extraordinary. The difference they make in the lives of their students and also their communities can be phenomenal. We need to support them in the work they do. We need to make them feel wanted and appreciated. I fully agree with that.

I am delighted there are 3,500 commencements in Cork. It is great news. That is 3,500 families in Cork who are going to benefit from a home in the next year to 18 months. Nationally at the moment, in the first six months of the year we are at over 30,000 commencements. This means 30,000 citizens are going to have a home. That is great news. I absolutely support the Taoiseach's commitment that we should be building 50,000 houses a year. I would go further. If we can build more than 50,000, that is what we need to be doing.

Senator Horkan paid tribute to the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan. He has been an extraordinary politician over many decades in difficult circumstances. I remember he was in government between 2007 and 2011. He lost his seat in 2011 but he did not give up on politics. He believed in the decency and humanity of politics. I join with the Senator and every other Member of this House in acknowledging the huge contribution he has made. On Tuesday evening he was appearing in public session at the EU scrutiny committee and I had an opportunity then to pay tribute to him. His contribution has been extraordinary.

On Dublin Airport and the cap, I think it is a load of nonsense to have a cap on passengers in any airport. For Ireland to work, Dublin has to work. For tourism to work in Ireland, Dublin Airport has to work. Would we not love to see 50 million passengers a year coming through Dublin Airport? I will certainly ask for a debate on the issue of the cap as soon as possible. On Aer Lingus, I fully agree that they all need to sit down, engage and talk about their issues. I would also like to remind the pilots that a salary of €250,000 a year is more than what the Taoiseach is on. Looking for a 24% increase is totally unrealistic, in my view. They do a good job and a very important job, but they also need to realise that they are extremely well paid. A reset button needs to be pressed in terms of the Aer Lingus pilots.

Moving on to Senator Seery Kearney's contribution, I welcome Amy, if she is still in the Gallery. I absolutely support what the Senator said about the Oireachtas disability group. It does phenomenal work. Particularly in this term, we have seen what has happened in terms of advocating for people with disabilities. The fact that we are now an autism-friendly Parliament says an awful lot about our attitude and the Parliament's attitude to disability. I pay tribute to Roisin Deery - I am not sure what her title is but everyone knows who she is - and her team for the enormous work they do here in the Oireachtas.

Senator Murphy referred to Paddy the barber. I do not know him. Paddy Joe Burke is obviously a great character and a very important character in the Roscommon community. I wish him well in his retirement and in his new role as the age-friendly ambassador. It is going to be very challenging but, based on what Senator Murphy has told us about Paddy Joe, he will relish the opportunity and will do a wonderful job. I will also ask the Leader to facilitate a debate and an engagement with the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, who is doing extraordinary work in her role. Certainly there is a logic for extending her portfolio and changing the name of it to include loneliness as well.

I thank Senators for their very good wishes. It is my first time responding to the Order of Business and I hope I did okay.