Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 15 Nov 2023

Last week, I raised with the Taoiseach the 800 vacant posts across primary schools. Today, the TUI has sounded a warning in regard to the recruitment and retention of teachers in secondary schools across the State. The union's survey shows that 89% of schools experienced recruitment problems in the past six months, 61% of schools are having difficulty holding on to staff and students are being forced to drop subjects as a result. The cuts imposed during the austerity era are now compounded by the housing and cost of living crises, in particular the housing crisis.

Teachers cannot afford to rent or buy a home close to where they work. Many are responding to this reality by opting to work overseas, but we need them in our education system.

I asked the Taoiseach about primary school teachers last week. This week, I am asking about secondary school teachers. What will the Government do that is different and additional to address the housing needs of these teachers?

The starting salary for a teacher in Ireland is now over €41,000 and is significantly higher than the equivalent figure in Northern Ireland or Britain, for example. An extra 3,700 newly qualified teachers have registered with the Teaching Council this year and there are now more than 120,000 teachers registered to work in Ireland.

Budget 2024 contains a range of targeted teacher supply measures. These include a professional master of education incentive scheme, which will be introduced for teachers graduating in 2024. Subject to some conditions, there will be an incentive payment of €2,000, which will be paid to eligible primary and secondary teachers. There will also be an expansion in upskilling programmes for subjects where it has been difficult to recruit teachers, like Irish, French, politics and society, and computer science.

We heard today the testimony of 76-year-old Liz, who was supported by Threshold when she was handed a notice of termination. She stated: "Every hour I’d be wondering ... whether I’d be locked out. I’m too old and too sick for the streets." This is just one story out of more than 12,000 households that accessed Threshold’s services in 2022, as we saw from its annual report, which was launched this morning. Threshold saw a 12% increase in just one year. This shows just how weak renters’ rights and protections are. As the Government has not passed laws to protect tenants, the situation is getting worse. At 1 p.m., the Irish Council for International Students, the Union of Students in Ireland, USI, and Threshold will brief Members in the audiovisual room on a new survey on the harrowing experiences of international students who are renting in Ireland. The report tells a sorry tale of poor conditions, including dampness and overcrowding, and exorbitant rents, with 5% of respondents being asked for sex for rent. Will the Government pass the Labour Party’s renters’ rights Bill, which we introduced two years ago and would see greater protections for renters?

First of all, I want to acknowledge the really excellent work that Threshold does. It receives significant Government funding and, as a consequence of that, is able to do a lot of its work. As it often points out, very many notices to quit, far from being eviction notices as the Deputy claims, are invalid. It is really important that people seek advice from bodies like Threshold if they receive a notice to quit and do not have anywhere else to go.

We have passed lots of legislation in this House in the past ten years to improve the rights of renters, including tenancies of indefinite duration, the rent tax credit, rent pressure zones, under which most rents have seen increases of between 2% and 4% per year for the past seven years, and longer notice-to-quit periods. We continue to have this situation under review. A rent review is being done at the moment. That may result in further legislation and protections for renters. However, we always need to bear in mind supply because we need to make sure there are more properties available.

I wish to raise the EU's approach to the use of the controversial pesticide, glyphosate. As the Taoiseach knows, a qualified majority was not achieved to renew the licence last month and the issue will be before the appeals committee tomorrow. A qualified majority was not achieved because there was widespread concern about the impact of that pesticide on the environment, biodiversity and, in particular, public health. A number of organisations campaigning on neurodegenerative conditions, particularly the Parkinson’s Association of Ireland and Parkinson’s Europe, have been campaigning strongly, including with the Government, for the renewal of the licence not to be supported. Will the Government reconsider its position when this matter arises tomorrow for consideration?

It is not unusual in rural areas for people to live 15 minutes away from a fire station, but it is practically unheard of in built-up urban areas. That is, unless they live in Ballincollig in Cork city, one of the State’s 25 largest population centres. Ballincollig fire station was closed two years ago in November 2021. Since then, Cork city has had its fourth fire pump reinstated, but it is not based in Ballincollig, even during the daytime, which was indicated as a possibility, or even a likelihood, when the pump was put back in place. I would not like to be a resident of Ballincollig trapped in a burning house 15 minutes away from the nearest fire truck. The more than 16,000 residents in the town deserve better. What action does the Government intend to take or will consider taking if Cork City Council continues to refuse to act on this issue?

That is probably a matter for Cork City Council rather than central government, but I will let the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O’Brien, and the Minister of State, Deputy O’Donnell, know it was raised and ask them to revert to Deputy Barry with a further reply.

At this time of year annually, we go through the process of deciding exactly what funding will be allocated to each hospital based on hospitals’ expected activity levels. An issue that keeps being raised with my constituency office is that of home care support. If an older person goes back to his or her own home after being discharged from hospital, he or she will need help from the public health nurse. The nurse provides the older person with care, dressings and injections and makes referrals to respite and day care services. The nurse does a great deal of work for the older person. However, over-65s must have a medical card to be eligible for public health nurse visits. A 76-year-old man who visits my constituency office is €76 over the limit. He has to pay a private nurse to call to his home twice per week, costing him €120. Will the Taoiseach review the medical card situation? Cases like this one should not be addressed in isolation. The Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, recently stated that he would discharge people from hospital. When people come home, they should be looked after by public health nurses.

As I stand here today, 54,000 people are receiving home care. Last year, 75,000 people in total received home care. It supported them to be able to live well at home, which is important.

I take on board the Deputy’s point about the public health nurse and the medical card. People not having medical cards is an issue that we encounter at times. Working with the medical card unit, though, many are able to avail of medical cards because of their medical conditions. If the Deputy wishes to send me the details, I will examine them.

Ambulance and paramedic staffing levels in south Tipperary are posing difficulties. There are eight vacancies in south Tipperary’s paramedic service. Two of those are temporary posts, but the remaining are long-term positions. This is causing the remaining staff considerable trauma and stress. I salute the ambulance service in south Tipperary and elsewhere in the country. I also salute the first responders in my village of An Caisleán Nua for the way they assist the National Ambulance Service.

This situation is complicated because of the 45 km rule for paramedics even though they are going to bigger areas. No recruitment is taking place in south Tipperary, so we are not getting any replacements. We need replacements desperately. The ambulance bases in the towns of Clonmel, Cashel and Tipperary serve the whole of south Tipperary and parts of west Waterford. Will the Taoiseach give a commitment that the ambulance service in Tipperary will be brought up to its full staff complement?

The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act was enacted in 2017, ostensibly to give better protection to sex workers and victims of human trafficking. To ensure that protection became a reality, a statutory obligation to carry out a review was included in the Act. That obligation came into effect in March 2020, three years after the Act’s enactment, yet here we are in 2023 some three and a half years later and there is no sign of the review. I understand there were difficulties, but the independent expert was appointed in July 2020. We are three and a half years on. Actually, it is almost that.

There is no need to exaggerate because the facts are so damning in themselves. Where is the review? Has the person been appointed? When will the review be completed, given that we are seriously interested in protecting women?

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue, which I know is of importance to her. I previously outlined complications whereby we had to take on a new person to conduct the review. That person is now not finishing the review. A body of work has been done. The competition has closed now and I hope to appoint a new person to finalise the review in the coming weeks. A body of work has been done already and the new person will not be starting from scratch. The competition has closed, meaning I will be in a position to appoint the new person quite soon.

I welcome the housing figures announced yesterday. It is really encouraging to see that there has been a 34% increase in commencements in the past seven months, that there have been strong completions and that 30,000 first-time mortgages were approved in the past 12 months. I request that the Land Development Agency, LDA, acquire more sites with full planning permission. It has acquired 2,500 in my constituency, which is a very strong and encouraging sign. Could there be more innovation in using the cities fund to ensure that more affordable LDA homes are available for purchase? Virtually all of them are available only for cost rental but there is very strong interest in affordable purchase. The LDA needs to bring about more of that.

I thank the Deputy very much for his question. I have the Housing for All action plan update to hand. The graph on page 3 tells a great story. We went from building fewer than 7,000 new homes in 2011 to building just under 30,000 last year. We will build well over 30,000 next year, meaning more than a quadrupling of the number of new homes built in the past ten years. We need to do even more than that over the next couple of years to reduce the housing deficit. Of course, the LDA is part of that.

On the Deputy's suggestion on acquiring more sites, I will certainly raise it with the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, to determine whether it is possible. I agree with Deputy Bruton on affordable purchase. We are doing really well in providing new social housing units and want to continue with that. Cost rental is now a reality but I would like to see more on the affordable purchase side in our cities. People are saying to me that it is great to see so much new social housing in their areas but that they are not seeing enough affordable purchase housing. I agree we need more of that.

I wish to raise the issue of rare diseases. I have a number of questions and would appreciate it if the Taoiseach's office could come back to me on them. The first concerns the current rare disease liaison officer. Could the Taoiseach clarify whether he or she is on leave from the Department of Health and is likely to be replaced? Has there been an appointment or even an interim arrangement or other arrangement? Could the Taoiseach please clarify that by way of a supplementary response? Could he provide the contact details for the person in question and his or her office?

The current rare disease plan has expired, as the Taoiseach knows, and there is a successor plan. To be fair, it has been announced by the Minister for Health, which I welcome; however, at the same time, the vast majority of the recommendations made under the previous plan have not been implemented. I ask for urgency in implementing as many of those recommendations as possible before the successor plan is implemented. Could the Taoiseach provide people with the timeline and meet the targets?

I commend the Deputy on his ongoing and consistent interest in rare diseases and orphan drugs. He always makes sure these matters do not slip off the agenda. He asked some very specific questions to which I do not have answers but I will make sure he gets the information he needs in the coming days.

I want to raise with the Taoiseach support for the LGBT community. Funding under the community services fund, which is very important, is supposed to have a rural dimension. The Midlands LGBT+ Project, which runs a dedicated service for four counties in the midlands - Laois, Offaly, Westmeath and Kildare - is the only service for the LGBT community in those counties. It provides services to 15 groups, along with numerous individuals. I do not expect the Taoiseach to answer the question specific to the group. I am just giving him a flavour of the problem. The group applied for €98,000 but the midlands did not receive any funding whatsoever. Despite the fact that the fund is supposed to have a rural dimension, the midlands seems to be left out. Could the Government consider the fund to ascertain whether there is a problem with its criteria? Could the Taoiseach get the relevant Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, and his Department to review how the funds are allocated and the scoring criteria? The whole middle of the country is left out regarding funding. It is very important.

I thank Deputy Stanley for raising this important issue. Many members of the LGBT community living in rural areas or outside the big cities can often feel very isolated and therefore need support from the Government. The Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Fleming, who is sitting beside me, has advised me he is on the case, as is Deputy Stanley. The Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, is examining the matter. I hope we will get some good news in the next few weeks.

Each year, we witness the graduation of numerous young farmers through the "green cert" programme. Not only are these individuals environmentally conscious but they also possess the essential knowledge and skills needed to transition the practices on their farms towards more eco-friendly ones. However, significant barriers exist. Once such obstacle is the failure of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to grant concessions for farmers under the age of 40 who possess their own herd number. Regrettably, these young farmers are ineligible to participate in environmental schemes such as the agri-climate rural environment scheme 2024, ACRES 2024. A consequence of this is that young farmers, particularly those in their 20s and 30s, remain excluded from such programmes for extended periods, without any clear timeline for their inclusion in initiatives such as ACRES. It is crucial that we recognise that farmers are wholeheartedly dedicated to improving their farms environmentally, as is evident from the overwhelming demand for ACRES. How can we continue to reduce our emissions if we do not allow young farmers, who represent the future of the agriculture sector, to participate in vital environmental schemes such as ACRES?

I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter. It is important that we as a Government encourage young farmers, so I am not sure why the restrictions are in place. I will make inquiries today with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, and revert to Deputy Dillon with a more detailed reply.

Many parents and staff from Ennistymon Community School have been in touch with my office regarding the withdrawal of funding for school meals as a result of the amalgamation of three schools. Of the three, only the former vocational school had DEIS status and, as a consequence, school meals in place. The school meals were to be temporarily extended to all pupils until the DEIS issue was ironed out but the service has been gone since the Hallowe'en mid-term break. I met the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, the other day. I also contacted the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys, who issued a letter yesterday evening that clarifies that she will continue with the free school meals all the way up to the end of the school year. This is really welcome but officials from the Department of Social Protection, along with officials from the Department of Education, now need to engage with the school. We have circumstances in which one school had DEIS status while the other two did not. Where there is an amalgamation, surely there should be a little common sense. The altruistic policy of the Government to extend free school meals to all primary schools could surely be tweaked to allow for anomalies such as this one to be dealt with.

I thank Deputy Cathal Crowe for raising this important issue. I have a note from the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys, advising me that in light of the circumstances of Ennistymon Community School, she has asked her officials, on an exceptional basis, to continue funding the school meals programme for all students until the end of the current academic year, which will run until next summer. This will allow time for her to engage with the principal and board of management at Ennistymon Community School on these matters. I do not want to make a commitment on behalf of the Minister that she might not be able to keep but I believe the fact that she is extending the scheme until the end of the academic year is very welcome. She is very committed to expanding the school meals programme, not just for children who face disadvantage and disadvantaged schools but for all children. I know she will do her best to work with the Deputy on this.

I want to raise with the Taoiseach the issue of remote working. Last week, I met representatives of Dublin Chamber. They are becoming increasingly concerned about the delay in publishing the code of practice. It is not an inordinate delay but there is something of a delay nevertheless. As it stands, work patterns are being established by people who are concerned that when the code of practice is published, they may have to change them. Equally, workers who want to work remotely are being told by their employers to wait. I am conscious that there are many people working remotely and availing of hybrid arrangements at present but they need these arrangements to be put on a firmer footing. Can the Taoiseach advise me when the statutory code of practice will be published?

I do not have a date for the Deputy. I will make inquiries of the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, as to when that is being done. I am familiar with the legislation; I remember us working together on it. I am not as up to date on it as I would have been then. I will certainly make inquiries with the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, and ask him to come back to the Deputy directly.

A number of medical card holders have complained to me and have expressed concern about medicines, which they will be taking for life, being unavailable in their chemist. I understand there is an issue around that. I ask the Taoiseach to clarify that for me. There is evidence that some medicines dealing with HRT right up through to asthma are being shared on social media or people are trying to source them on social media. I also ask the Taoiseach to clarify the funding for high-tech drugs. Where people are on these drugs, will the funding for these drugs continue to be provided?

I will need to double-check on the high-tech drugs. My understanding is that anybody who is receiving them will continue to do so. I will double-check on that. We have a serious issue with medicine shortages across the world at the moment; production just has not kept up with demand. It is not unique to Ireland; it is very much a European and international problem. It has always been a bit of a problem but I have never seen it this bad. The industry needs to ramp up production. In almost all cases, it can be resolved. It might mean using a different brand than people are used to or different doses. In almost all cases a solution can be found. However, it needs doctors and pharmacists working together and reassuring patients that the different dose, different frequency or the different brand is still the same active medicine.

Given the recent devastating flooding in east Cork and other parts of the country, would the Taoiseach agree with me that it is important to expedite climate change issues right now? In that regard, what is the Government's policy regarding the construction of anaerobic digesters which remove methane from farm waste and make it available as renewable fuel to be added to the gas grid in certain locations?

I very much agree with the Deputy. The recent flooding events in Midleton in Cork and around the country reminded us, if we needed to be, that we need to accelerate climate action but also that we particularly need to accelerate adaptation. Climate change is a global problem that we can only make a very small contribution to changing, unfortunately. However, adaptation is entirely within our hands now. We need to increase our focus on adaptation over the coming years and we will. It is about much more than flood relief; it is about other things as well. The Government is very ambitious about anaerobic digestion. We have not seen the kind of progress we would like to have seen to date. We are very keen to encourage and support farmers and the industry to invest in this and produce biogas for our grid, which we do not currently have.

In April of last year the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, announced a €50 million pilot scheme to put in wastewater schemes in towns and villages where there was not one. That was to be just a first round; there was to be another round. Since then, there have been considerable delays such that there might not be a second round. Most importantly there has been enormous competition between Broadford and Cooraclare, which were put forward, and competition with Carrigaholt which was not put forward. There is competition with settlements that really need a sewer but do not have one like Spanish Point and Doolin. There is even competition between the parliamentary colleagues of the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, to come out on top on this. For all of these communities but most importantly for communities affected by this, I ask the Taoiseach to tell us what will happen. When will the announcement be made? Will there be a second round of this during the Government's lifetime?

I understand the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, is working with officials on this at the moment. The last time I checked with him, he anticipated he would be able to make an announcement before the end of the year. We would very much like to see a second round happening during the term of this Government but, of course, that will depend on how long the term of the Government lasts.

I wish to raise the case of Mark Noonan and Glen Murphy, two young men, two cousins, who were not involved in any type of criminality and who were gunned down at Clearwater in Finglas 13 years ago this month. To date, nobody has been charged in connection with the double murder. While the family has received good contact from Finglas Garda station, they are frustrated at the seeming lack of progress in the investigation. I am asking that the Taoiseach or the Minister for Justice might speak with the gardaí in Finglas and have a review of the case or else refer it to the cold-case review team so a fresh pair of eyes can look at this case.

This morning we all woke to the horrific news that Israeli soldiers had stormed Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza. Images of death, destruction and dying babies haunt us all. What Israel is doing is barbaric, inhumane and criminal. I have spent time in Palestine and I have seen at first-hand the utter disdain with which Israeli soldiers treat Palestinians. I cannot begin to imagine the pain and the suffering that they are inflicting on a civilian population now. Ireland has been a lonely voice on the international stage; we have been an outlier in the EU. That has resulted in an Israeli minister saying that Palestinians should go to the desert or to Ireland. The Tánaiste is on the ground in the region today and he has brought us the welcome news that Irish citizens are starting to escape Gaza because of our diplomatic channels. I ask the Taoiseach to use his reply to explain why we should maintain diplomatic channels with Israel even now.

The Deputy has asked a very valid question. I join her in expressing my deep concern about what is happening around Al-Shifa Hospital at the moment. I was encouraged to hear President Biden in particular speaking on this issue. We maintain diplomatic contacts with Israel for a number of reasons. Diplomatic relations do not, of course, mean that we are necessarily friends or allies. However, it does mean that we talk and can at least deal with each other. Emily Hand, an Irish citizen, is being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza; we want her out. Between 30 and 60 Irish citizens and their dependants are in Gaza. We need co-operation from Israel to get them out and that is happening today. We have 400 troops on the Golan Heights and in south Lebanon. We need to be able to contact and talk to Israel so that their safety can remain paramount. We also want Ireland at some point - hopefully in the not-too-distant future - to have a meaningful role in a new peace process that will give the Palestinians the state they deserve and need. Those are four reasons we need keep diplomatic relations open with Israel.

In recent weeks, Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, published advice it gave to the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, in October 2022 that delaying road projects in Mullingar, Cork, Leixlip, Cahir and Limerick would lead to 77 deaths and 381 serious injuries but he ignored that advice. This ignored report did not even look at our minor roads which are starved of funding. One municipal district in west Cork needs at least €5 million to bring roads up the standard. It got a little over €2 million which will not even scratch the surface. A massive understanding is coming home to roost and excessive flooding is adding to a nightmare driving situation. We all know far more water is falling than ever before. Everyone knows we are the authors of our own downfall. We see drains blocked, and rivers full of silt and debris and in desperate need of cleaning. We have underfunding of roadside workers and machines, which, if in place, would alleviate at least 80% of flooding problems on our minor roads, preventing death and injury. I ask the Taoiseach to promise today that he will work with the Minister to double the roads budget in County Cork. Does he support the TII report to save lives? Will he call out the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, for allowing an underspend on these roads?

There are many aspects to road safety. The condition of our roads is one of them, but much more important are driver behaviour, enforcement, safety of vehicles and so on. We need to attack the issue of road safety from all different angles. I will be chairing a ministerial meeting on road safety tomorrow. I think it is the first time any Taoiseach has chaired a meeting of Ministers on road safety in a very long time - perhaps more than ten or 12 years. I am really bothered about the increase in road deaths this year. I want to make sure that the eyes of my office are on it and that everyone in government, including the Department of Transport, does their bit when it comes to making sure people are safe on our roads.

I will be working with the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, to increase the roads budget for Cork and every other county. I only spoke to him about it yesterday. Central government is not the only source of funding for local and regional roads. There is also the local property tax, commercial rates and the various levies and charges that councils impose. Local authorities have more discretion than they make out when it comes to how much they invest in the roads, with some putting almost nothing in and some putting in quite a lot.

I wish to raise with the Taoiseach an issue in my constituency with regard to Scoil Mhuire primary school in Carrick-on-Shannon. The board of management has been ten years looking to get a new school built. The school is split into two campuses. More than 500 children, many of them from various countries, attend the school. The Department of Education compiled a technical report in August 2021 which indicated that many of the classrooms were less than half the size they are required to be. There are also issues with roof leaks and asbestos. There are major problems. Also, the location of the school on the Dublin Road is totally inappropriate. They are looking for a new school campus to be built. The authorities at the school have engaged with the Minister for Education. She promised them over a year and a half ago to come back to them and to meet them. That has not happened. There has been very little contact with or movement on the part of the planning and building unit in the Department of Education. The local authority is working with them to try to identify a site, but they really need engagement from the planning and building unit to work to provide this new school. The situation has become urgent at this point.