Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 10 Jul 2024

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 5, inclusive, together.

I attended the 41st British-Irish Council summit, hosted by the Isle of Man, on 21 June. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, represented the Government at the summit dinner the night before. The council welcomed the restoration of the Northern Ireland Assembly, Executive and the North-South Ministerial Council and the return to the British-Irish Council of the First and deputy First Ministers. It is important and positive that all three strands of the Good Friday Agreement are now fully operational again.

I updated the council on recent EU and international engagements. The theme of this summit was unlocking the economic and social opportunities of renewables across these islands. I detailed the Government's ambitions for offshore wind energy included in the programme for Government and our industrial strategy for offshore wind. We discussed the importance of co-operation and shared learning between our administrations, such as the memorandum of understanding on co-operation in the energy transition, offshore renewables and electricity interconnection, signed by Ireland and the UK in September 2023.

On the margins of the summit, I held a bilateral meeting with the First Minister of Scotland, John Swinney. We discussed the strong relationship that has long existed between Ireland and Scotland, and the potential of a new co-operation framework for the post-2025 period. The Scottish Government will host the next British-Irish Council summit in Edinburgh in December.

I thank the Taoiseach for his reply. The last time we discussed Northern Ireland here, I referred to the his attendance and participation at the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly plenary meeting in Wicklow. One of the issues that I raised, which I said was a message from British members, was that they wanted more senior members of the British Government to participate in the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference and the British-Irish Council. The Taoiseach mentioned in some of his weekend interviews that he looks forward to more regular meetings at a bilateral level with the British Prime Minister and similarly with ministers at a bilateral level too, in view of the fact that we do not have the prevalence and frequency of meetings that existed in the past when Britain was a member of the European Union. As I said earlier, that was a message from members of both the Conservative Party and British Labour Party at the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly over the years. We sincerely hope there will be that opportunity with the new government. Some members of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly have been appointed to government in Britain and I wish them well.

One issue that we have to keep on the agenda is the need to repeal the legacy legislation. In implementing the potential of the Good Friday Agreement, we have to have legacy issues dealt with. In dealing with legacy issues, the policy must be victim centred. The legacy Bill as enacted by the British Parliament and put into law is actually perpetrator centred. It gives amnesty to murderers from the British state forces and from the paramilitary organisations. We need progress in investigations into the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, the Belturbet bombing, and many other atrocities which were carried out. We have never established the truth of who carried out those heinous crimes.

On the same issue, the despised Tories have been driven out of power. The great fear that I and, I think, many people in England have is that, the more things change, the more things will stay exactly the same with Sir Keir Starmer. I find it grimly amusing that the leader of a supposedly left-wing party is referred to as Sir Keir Starmer. I suspect that indicates where his agenda will lie. It will not be a particularly radical one. We need to address issues like the Dublin and Monaghan bombings and the refusal of the British authorities to open the books on the information they have about almost certain British collusion in those bombings and indeed more general collusion with loyalist paramilitaries who carried out atrocities. Our ability to put that to Keir Starmer will be severely limited if we are guilty of the same cover-up. As I have done on several occasions since the 50th anniversary of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings - the worst single atrocity that took place during the period of the Troubles and that was undoubtedly carried out by agents working for the British state along with loyalist paramilitaries - I must ask the serious questions that the Irish authorities have to answer. They still not released the papers on a range of things, such as why the families of the victims were put under surveillance. The Garda apparently did not give the information it had to Operation Newham, which is looking into this. We have no credibility asking Keir Starmer about these things unless we open the files.

It is goodbye to Jacob Rees-Mogg, Liz Truss and all the other Tories, and good riddance. It was a landslide but, as one commentator said, it was a loveless landslide. There seems to be little or no enthusiasm for Starmer's Government. It is true that it win 9.6 million votes compared that with the 13.8 million and 10.2 million won under Corbyn in 2017 and 2019. The vote for Reform UK is a warning. It may only have won five seats but it came second in more than 100 constituencies, garnering more than 4 million votes overall. This party of racist little Englanders will try to pose as a radical alternative to the British Government. It is not radical alternative, but it will pose as one on the right. There needs to be a genuine radical alternative on the left, particularly when disillusionment with the Starmer Government hits and turns to anger. There needs to be an alternative which campaigns to save the National Health Service, on the cost-of-living issues, which stands up for the rights of the people in Gaza and for people in Britain who are transgender. I sincerely hope that Jeremy Corbyn and some of the new pro-Palestinian MPs can take initiatives which help to bring such an alternative about. It is a bit more of a statement than a question but I will leave it at that.

The so-called legacy Bill of the previous British Government is callous, cruel and irredeemable in its entirety. The intention of the British Government was clear, that inquests and investigations would go unfinished and families would remain without truth or justice, which they deserve. We all understand why the British Government did this. That particular British Government was not willing to accept anything relating to its role in the dirty war in Ireland. I am certain the Taoiseach will join me in welcoming the commitment of the new British Prime Minister to its repeal. Sinn Féin has consistently advocated for the implementation of a victim-centred approach, agreed as part of the Stormont House Agreement, of which the Government is a co-guarantor.

Will the Taoiseach outline how he intends to engage with the new British Government to ensure the unwinding of the previous Government's cynical attempt to forever deny justice and to deliver the victim-centred approach that has been called for? I add my voice to that of Deputy Boyd Barrett. The fact is that while we need to see truth and justice, particularly regarding the Dublin and Monaghan bombings and the involved of the British state in that action, causing the death of so many citizens, we need to make sure that any information and files required by the families and others for the investigation are provided by the State. Some of those relate to this State's failings.

The new Labour Party Government in Britain allows for a significant change in the relationship between Ireland and Britain on a number of fronts. The first is the issue of immigration. Figures yesterday showed an 87% increase in the number of asylum applicants in a six-month period of this year, a significant increase. If it continues for the rest of the year, it will probably be the highest figure so far in that regard. I understand we already have 2,300 asylum seekers currently without accommodation. The end of the Rwanda Bill offers an opportunity for a change in dynamic in that space. I also believe there is a necessity for France, Britain and Ireland to come to an agreement on how we manage the movement of people between the three countries because they are linked in this process. The Irish Sea border is also an issue, which we need to discuss. I raised the Irish Sea border regarding the movement of people before. It was put to a poll recently in the North of Ireland by the Belfast Telegraph. The majority of people who responded to that poll said they supported an Irish Sea border to manage the movement of people from both islands. Is there any engagement with the British in relation to those three areas?

I do not see a full commitment by the Labour Party Government in the UK to completely take the legacy Act down, which I am surprised at. The Labour Party did not oppose it in the upper house in Westminster. It may be that it will dodge this issue.

About two weeks ago, I raised with the Taoiseach the case of Noah Donohoe, a 14-year-old who died or was killed in strange circumstances four years ago. The investigation by the PSNI has not been proper; it has made an incredible amount of mistakes either by accident or on purpose. As such, the family is looking to recuse the coroner involved in the inquest. Will the Taoiseach engage with the British Government in relation to that?

I also refer to the British elections. Ordinary people across Britain are delighted to see the back of the Tories after 14 years which saw corporate profits soar while their waters were polluted by privatised corporations, the number of food banks exploded to an extraordinary level and child poverty increased. As has been said, Keir Starmer seems determined to say little will change either on the domestic or international front. I will focus on the international front because part of what made Jeremy Corbyn so offensive to the British capitalist class and traditional establishment is the fact that he was clearly pro-Palestine, against western imperialism, as against all imperialism, and stood on the side of the oppressed. Keir Starmer is determined to say there is a changed UK Labour Party which is pro-NATO and pro-Israel. Infamously, in October, he said that Israel had the right to withhold power and water from Gaza. He is, I think, currently at the NATO conference in Washington DC and is very much aligned with the US agenda. Are there any Irish representatives at this NATO summit in Washington DC or at meetings in the environs of the summit?

Not that I am aware but I will double check for Deputy Murphy.

I thank Deputy Brendan Smith for the point he made today and has made on a number of occasions about the importance of the opportunity for Ireland and Britain to engage at a senior level. In my initial conversation with the Prime Minister, we spoke about the importance of getting the structure for engagement right, for the very reasons the Deputy said. It used to happen almost automatically that whoever the Taoiseach was would meet the British Prime Minister by virtue of our membership of the European Union. You would meet at European Council meetings and other events surrounding membership of the European Union. That stopped and now we need to find another mechanism or, as the Deputy suggested, determine how the mechanisms already in place North-South and east-west under the Good Friday Agreement can be harnessed. That may be the British-Irish Council with senior attendance or, as the Deputy said, senior individuals in the British Government attending the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly. It is not for me to be prescriptive but if the Prime Minister and I can come to an understanding as to what that structured engagement looks like, much good will flow from that. We are all in politics; we all know that challenge emerges from a lack of dialogue and that issues can become more entrenched if there are no formats to talk person-to-person, counterpart-to-counterpart. I appreciate that the Prime Minister phoned me on his first day in office and has invited me to Downing Street next week. I take that as a good signal of his commitment to a reset in Anglo-Irish relations, which we need.

A number of people mentioned legacy. The Irish Government's position is clear; I think it is shared across this House. We do not support the legacy Act in any manner or means. We found ourselves having to launch an inter-state case. Not much unites all political parties in Northern Ireland; this has. I want to talk to the British Prime Minister about legacy and I am sure he will want to talk to us about it as well. He made commitments in his party's manifesto, which I welcome. I will not be prescriptive because I want to have that dialogue directly with the Prime Minister. There are some principles the Irish Government has. First, it has to be victim-centred. Second, the Northern Ireland Executive and parties in Northern Ireland need to have a role. It has to comply with the Good Friday Agreement and its processes. It has to be human rights-compliant as well.

On the Dublin and Monaghan bombings and the issue raised by Deputies Ó Murchú, Boyd Barrett and Smith, I was honoured on 17 May to attend a commemorative event to mark the 50th anniversary of the bombings and to meet some of the families of victims and survivors. It is important to recall that the investigation into the bombings remains an open case in this jurisdiction. The Garda has assisted the authorities in Northern Ireland in their investigations. Legislation was passed to enable cross-Border co-operation with Operation Denton. I understand the Tánaiste recently received correspondence but the fact is the Garda continues to work with the police ombudsman as it proceeds with its wide-ranging work.

I will discuss with my officials on how best to engage regarding Noah Donohoe.

On migration policy, we have to make sure the Common Travel Area is protected from abuse. That is the mechanism through which to explore the issue.

I propose to answer Questions Nos. 6 to 9, inclusive, together.

I attended a meeting of the European Council in Brussels on 27 June. I was delighted to travel to Brussels with my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Carroll MacNeill. At the meeting, which had an extensive agenda, leaders and heads of state and government agreed on a package of appointments and nominations to top roles in the Union’s institutions for the next period, adopted our five-year strategic agenda to cover the period to 2029 and agreed a roadmap on internal reforms. We also met President Zelenskyy, discussed Ukraine and returned to our discussions of the Middle East, calling again for an immediate ceasefire, the release of hostages and unhindered access for humanitarian assistance in Gaza. I repeated my view on the need for the trade agreement to be reviewed regarding the human rights clauses. We discussed short- and medium-term goals in the area of security and defence and touched on a number of other issues including competitiveness, migration, the Black Sea region, Moldova, Georgia and hybrid threats.

On appointments, we decided to nominate Ursula von der Leyen for a second term as President of the European Commission, subject to a vote of the European Parliament; to appoint former Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa as President of the European Council; and to nominate Estonian Prime Minister, Kaja Kallas, as High Representative and vice president of the commission for foreign affairs. The meeting also adopted the EU’s new strategic agenda based around three themes: a free and democratic Europe; a strong and secure Europe; and a prosperous and competitive Europe. The agenda will help to guide the EU’s direction and goals over the next five years, including during Ireland’s Presidency in the second half of 2026. We met President Zelenskyy, who was able to attend in person on this occasion, and expressed our deep concern about the recent escalation of hostilities and intensified attacks on civilians by Russia. The situation has become only worse in recent days. We took stock of the various ways the EU is supporting Ukraine, welcoming in particular the signature of the EU’s security guarantees for Ukraine, as well the first disbursement this summer of extraordinary revenue from Russia’s frozen assets. We called for the Council to agree urgently the release of the first tranche of funding from the Ukraine assistance fund under the European Peace Facility. I am pleased that negotiations towards EU membership were formally opened with Ukraine and Moldova on 25 June in meetings of the Intergovernmental Conferences. This represents a historic step for both countries in their paths towards EU membership. EU membership will be Ukraine’s ultimate guarantee.

We also returned to discussions on the Middle East. We agreed an important set of conclusions, called for all parties to implement the recent UN Security Council resolution on the need for an immediate ceasefire, and called for the release of all hostages and a surge in unhindered humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza.

Crucially, the European Union called for full respect for international law and for the implementation of International Court of Justice, ICJ, orders, including those from 24 May in relation to Israel's offensive in Rafah and the obligation on Israel to provide humanitarian access to Gaza. Leaders reiterated the commitment to a two-state solution, with a viable Palestinian state living alongside a secure Israel, as the only way to achieve a just and lasting peace. The action to weaken the Palestinian Authority must stop. We called on Israel to cease illegal settlements, to release any withheld clearance revenue, and to take the necessary steps to ensure the corresponding banking services between Israeli and Palestinian banks remain in place. At our meeting we also called for a de-escalation of tensions along the blue line between Lebanon and Israel.

On security and defence, the European Council considered how to enhance Europe's defence readiness and requested that work on the European defence industry strategy be taken forward. For Ireland it is important that we engage maturely and constructively in these discussions while also ensuring at all times that our position of military neutrality is fully respected. The meeting also reviewed progress on initiatives to enhance competitiveness, to secure economic resilience and to achieve the full potential of the Single Market. We also reviewed progress on enlargement and adopted a roadmap on the parallel task of internal reform. This outlines the steps we need to take to ensure the European Union can continue to be effective in the future, including a European Union with more member states. We also expressed concern about the situation in Georgia, warning its leadership that recent decisions will damage their country's EU perspective. We discussed migration including the need to implement the asylum and migration pact, called for an EU strategy for the Black Sea region and considered how best to tackle hybrid threats.

The European Union makes clear its determination to stand against Putin's barbaric actions in Ukraine. I fundamentally disagree with the alliance that they wish to advance with NATO but we all are horrified about what Putin is doing. Then we look at what is happening today or in the last few days in Gaza. Four schools were attacked with 29 people killed in just one attack on a school. As we speak, Israel is issuing evacuation orders for the whole of Gaza City again. Everybody has been told to get out. In front of the world, Israel is saying "We are doing ethnic cleansing". It is a crime and they do not even pretend. They just do it. The determination Europe displays when it comes to action in Ukraine is sadly missing when this has been going on for nine months in Gaza with schools being blasted. The report in The Lancet is terrifying. The Lancet has said that when we consider the devastation to schools, to power, to water and to electricity, the real death toll is likely to hit in the region of 186,000 people. There are famine conditions and ethnic cleansing but no actions, just words. At what point do we give up and say that the European Union is hypocritical, is riddled with double standards and has no intention whatsoever of doing anything to stop Israel, which it could do? Europe is Israel's biggest trade partner. Weapons flow to Israel from Europe. Many other states give political support to it. When is Europe going to use the power at its disposal to deter this genocide?

I must put on the record my disgust at the bombing of the children's hospital in Ukraine. It shows the true face of Russian imperialism once again. Ordinary people around the world will feel nothing but disgust for that, and have deep sympathy for the victims. This has nothing in common with the weasel words coming out of the NATO summit from people who are arming a state that is bombing schools and hospitals on a daily basis.

I will now turn to the main point I wish to make today. Reducing the pension age to 60, imposing a wealth tax on the super rich, raising public sector wages, linking salaries to inflation, banning the sale of arms to Israel and mobilising to defeat the far right: this is the programme of the New Popular Front, which won the largest share of the vote in the second round of the French elections. Its victory represents a bruising defeat for the racist far-right National Rally. It also represents a defeat for Emmanuel Macron and his Government of the rich for the rich. It shows how to defeat the far right: a left alternative with radical policies linked to mass mobilisation. I will make the point that this mass mobilisation needs to stay mobilised by building anti-fascist committees in every neighbourhood, school, college and workplace, by challenging the system of the rich, and as a first step by demanding that any new government implements the policy proposals of the New Popular Front. I have gone over my time so I will conclude. Will the Taoiseach comment on how to defeat the far right? I must give my apologies that I have to be elsewhere at 2 p.m. so I will not be able to stay for the reply.

Overnight Israel bombed a school at Khan Younis, killing 25 people. This follows on from a prior Israeli strike against a school over the weekend that killed 16 people. The terrible total is now at four schools bombed in the past four days. A medical journal, The Lancet, said last week that even if the conflict were to end immediately, there would continue to be many indirect deaths in the coming months and years from causes such as reproductive, communicable and non-communicable disease. Over the last eight months, Israel has laid waste to Gaza killing 37,396 civilians, including more than 14,000 children. The Lancet reports that the death toll could be multiples of this. Ursula von der Leyen has been true to her word at the outset of the conflict when she offered Israel unconditional support. She has refused a request of our Government, alongside that of Spain, to review Israel's compliance with its humanitarian obligations under the EU-Israel association agreement. I have spoken to the Taoiseach about the need to deal with other states from the point of view of getting this reviewed. The Taoiseach has endorsed Ursula von der Leyen for a second term as President of the European Commission. Will the Taoiseach outline to the House the formal response he has received from the European Commission to his request?

The far right is on the March across Europe. They topped the poll in six countries in the European Union elections. They came second in another two. They got about 20% right across the EU. A key question is this: how were they defeated? We have debated before whether the so-called "centre" is best placed to defeat them or whether the left is best placed to defeat them. We have seen a kind of laboratory test in France over these two strategies. Macron put forward an immigration law, supposedly to take account of the concerns of those who might otherwise vote for the far right. This law was so bad that Marine Le Pen voted for it. Then Macron called a surprise snap election that opened the door to the Rassemblement National coming first in the first round of those elections. Ultimately the Macron group - the so-called "centrist grouping" - was quite decisively pushed back in terms of its representation. Contrast that with the approach of the left, which came together in the space of a number of days to unite around a radical programme that included the kinds of measures People Before Profit puts forward: a wealth tax, taxes on excess profits, price freezes on energy and a maximum ceiling for inheritance, which is interesting in the context of this country's debate around inheritance tax. The consequences of this, linked with mobilisation on the ground, is that the French left - the New Popular Front - won the election. There is a lesson for us here. Above all else, the lesson is that the left in this country must prepare a left front before the next general election.

I add my voice in condemnation of the Israeli military killings in the Gaza Strip in recent days, most especially the bombing of people sheltering in a school in the Gaza Strip. I wish to highlight the incredible hypocrisy of the western world. NATO can point the finger at one country for an atrocity but finds it unable to point the finger at another country for equal if not worse atrocities at the same time. That hypocrisy does not just exist on the world stage. There is hypocrisy here in this Chamber too because we have a Government that has condemned Ursula von der Leyen for her ability to distort Irish foreign policy over the length of the Israel-Gaza war but is still seeking our support for Ursula von der Leyen in her efforts to become the Commission President.

Rather than Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael being movements for ideology or policy, it seems to me that they are movements for jobs. In other words, these are strategic manoeuvres that the parties are involved in so their man, in this case the former Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath, can get the job he wants within the European Commission. It is just amazing that Fianna Fáil occupied both the position of being in opposition to Ursula von der Leyen in the European Parliament while also being supportive of her in the Government.

I thank colleagues for raising a variety of issues. First, Deputy Boyd Barrett and I do not agree on a lot on foreign affairs, but I have said in this House recently and in the European Council, as well saying it publicly at the peace summit on Ukraine, that I do believe there is an inconsistency in the approach being taken by many countries in relation to conflict, and not this one. I said before that I do not like this country being described as being pro this or pro that. We are pro international law and pro human rights. This is the lens we bring to all conflicts. We think, therefore, that what is happening in the Middle East is utterly horrific and is in a space that is almost unimaginable in terms of humanitarian catastrophe. We think that the position in terms of Putin's illegal invasion of Ukraine is also a despicable act of brutality. We can speak out against both. I do find it unfortunate that not all countries do that. Ireland and our Ministers continue to advocate in every international forum, with every leader and with every counterpart with whom we engage, for an end to conflict and violence. We are extraordinarily consistent in relation to that.

It is not for me to speak to other countries' foreign policies, but the European Union is a collection of member states with independent foreign policies, foreign affairs ministers, governments and the likes. While people like to personalise this issue around President von der Leyen, the reality of the situation is that if enough member states of the European Union, those people who sit around the Council table with me, were willing to back the call from Ireland and Spain, and also, Belgium, somewhat, in relation to the review of the trade agreement, it would happen. I think the position of President von der Leyen has been misrepresented intentionally time and time again. Yes, in the early days after the most horrific terrorist attack, which is what it was, by the way, on the Israeli people in October, a horrific terrorist attack that saw the butchering and death of that country's people and heinous crimes, President von der Leyen visited Israel and expressed solidarity with the people of Israel. Israel has moved well beyond simply defending itself and to a position that is utterly unacceptable to us and I think to people right throughout the civilised world. She has supported UNRWA in terms of extra funding.

I hear the Chair ringing the bell. Everybody asks me questions and then he rings the bell and I have not even been able to answer the questions. I know this is not the fault of the Chair.

President von der Leyen wants an immediate cease fire. We believe in a two-state solution. This is now the unanimous view of the European Union.

Perhaps we can exchange views on how to beat the far right in the future. Fundamentally, however, I would be very interested to know the position of the left in this country as to what it would do with Sinn Féin in any such alliance.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 10 and 11 together.

The Cabinet committee on children and education and disability oversees programme for Government commitments relating to children, education and disability and receives detailed reports on identified policy areas such as child poverty and well-being, local area disadvantage and the reform of our disability services. In addition to the meetings of the full Cabinet and of Cabinet committees, I meet Ministers on an individual basis to focus on different issues. The committee has a particular focus on the forthcoming national disability strategy. This is an important moment because it will set out the blueprint for further realisation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. We have also asked the committee to focus on the ratification of the optional protocol to that convention as well, which I would like to see happen this year.

The membership of the committee comprises the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste, the Minister for the environment, the Minister for Transport, the Minister for Health, the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, the Minister for Education, the Minister for public expenditure and reform, the Minister for Finance, the Minister for Social Protection, the Minister for housing and the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. The Minister of State with special responsibility for special education and inclusion and the Minister of State with special responsibility for disability also attend those Cabinet committee meetings. Other Ministers or Ministers of State are invited to participate as required. Three meetings of the Cabinet committee have taken place since I became Taoiseach. The most recent meeting was held last Thursday, 4 July, and the next meeting will be scheduled shortly.

As we are in the last week of this Dáil session, just let me give the Taoiseach an instance of that. In April, Greg and his wife, Celine, and Greg is an SNA by the way, were in the Public Gallery here when we debated the issue of special needs. We raised the case of his son, Lewis, who is 13, who has autism and an intellectual disability, because he has no school place.

Subsequent to that debate, he met with officials from the Department of Education, the NCSE, as did Nicola who was with him and who is also an SNA. As well as having children with special needs, Greg is also an SNA. There are still no school places. If these parents do not get school places, not only will we be short-changing these vulnerable children with special needs, but Greg and Nicola will have to stop being SNAs and that will roll on to affecting other children with special needs.

Let us take the example as well of Theo, who is 14 and in residential care. He has autism on the severe end of the spectrum and an intellectual disability. He stays with his parents for a couple of days a week, who are in the Dún Laoghaire area. They had to go to court to get a placement in County Louth for their son, when they live in Dún Laoghaire. Theo is in a residential placement in County Meath but stays with his parents two days a week.

The way that children with additional needs are failed by this State is nothing short of scandalous. I have no end of parents contacting me who have been on waiting lists for long times and with no end in sight. What it comes down to is the understaffing and underfunding of our health service and an absence of therapists. I will give one particular example, namely, the massive shortage of speech and language therapists in the Tallaght and Dublin south west area. Multiple parents have shared their stories with me. I will give some of them. One quote comes from a parent who said:

The waiting lists for our area are much longer than the children she's in class with and live in areas where they aren't having to wait. Unfortunately the children of Tallaght are disadvantaged due to long waiting lists.

Another parent said:

At the time of assessment she was the only paediatric speech therapist in the Ballyboden primary care centre. There should be 4. It took several months to fill one position and that is all that they could fill due to an embargo on staffing which seems insane to me as I thought the government were full of promises to address services for children's disabilities.

The HSE has told me that there is currently a level of 50% in staff vacancies in the speech and language therapy department for the Dublin south city area. It is not only a problem in speech and language therapy but also in other areas. I get answers back from the HSE. I have one here which says that the HSE is actively recruiting for vacancies in the CDNT. The parent in this case was told by a woman who is on the front line that there is a recruitment embargo and there is no recruitment.

Go raibh maith agat. I ask the Taoiseach to support the idea behind my education amendment Bill. This is the proposal that parents of kids with special needs would be able to apply to schools, primary and secondary, two years beforehand. This would allow the school, the parents and everybody to do everything that needs to be done and the Department and whoever else to play their parts.

The joint committee on autism met the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, earlier. We must look at the best means we can to provide everything across the board from assessment to therapies. The school inclusion model can play a major part in this. Regarding assistive technologies, the Minister of State spoke herself about a number of ideas but the fact is that the system is not always great at getting them into play. That needs to be looked at.

I am going to request some flexibility. This is an issue that is a tangent, but it is very important. Dave Teather is a full-time sub officer stationed in Dundalk. He has worked for Louth County Council fire and rescue for 33 years. His contract is expiring on Monday. Louth County Council sent him for a medical check to Meridian. He passed it and basically was told that he had been declared fit for work. The doctor who usually deals with Mr. Teather was not there, however, so he was told to come back in three months.

As a result, Louth County Council does not accept that he has been checked. Currently, it intends to process his retirement on Monday, 15 July. We really need this to be addressed as soon as possible. If the Taoiseach could use his offices to do so, Mr. Teather would be forever grateful, as would the people of Dundalk, and an absolutely necessary firefighter would be put in place.

In a few decades' time, a successor of the Taoiseach's will be standing where he is today, issuing an apology to all the victims who are suffering from the current child protection situation in this State. This morning, I received a letter from Tusla confirming that in the past decade, 201 children have died while known to child protection services. Nine of these children were murdered, 32 children died of suicide, six overdosed on drugs, 16 were killed in road accidents and a further 16 were killed in other accidents. If you read these reports, you will find these children are often referred by Tusla to CAMHS, but CAMHS refuses to take these children, saying that it does not take children who are using drugs or alcohol. This is a very bizarre and alarming situation.

Tusla has also confirmed to Aontú that 40 children under the care of Tusla are currently missing. Half of these are unaccompanied minors who have vanished while under the care of the State. Judges and people in the legal profession are deeply concerned at the likelihood that many of these children will be sexually exploited or trafficked. The Minister, Deputy O’Gorman, shredded correspondence he received from Judge Simms, and yet he has now been promoted to become leader of the Green Party. Will the Taoiseach make sure that the voluntary care system, the system that is used to care for children who are in serious need in this State, will receive additional funding in this year's budget? Will he make sure that only the highest standards are used when looking after children who are in State care?

I thank the Deputies for raising a range of issues. I appreciate Deputy Boyd Barrett's point that we need to do more and do better when it comes to children’s disability services. The Minister of State, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, wrote to me specifically about a number of cases in Dún Laoghaire. There seem to be particular concerns with the scale of the teams, and the Deputy has referenced a number of individuals, such as Sam Lewis, Theo and others. There are two issues here. Indeed, this brings me to Deputy Paul Murphy's point as well.

There is a change of approach being taken in respect of school places. We will look seriously Deputy Ó Murchú’s Bill, which instinctively sounds to me to be logical, but let us look at it in more detail. A forward planning unit has now been set up in the Department of Education in relation to special schools, children with disabilities, and planning. This cannot be rocket science. People know that when a child is X age they will require a secondary school place. It seems to me that this has not been happening at an early enough point. I can stand here today and tell the Deputy with a degree of confidence that every child will have a school place in September. I get that and that is good, but it can sometimes miss the point, though, regarding the level of stress, anxiety and worry that the child and their family go through. The point is taken, and I am happy to follow up on the additional specific cases if the Deputy so wishes.

On the issue of therapy places, I can assure the Deputy, because I have looked into it, that this is not an issue of an embargo. I accept that the HSE has to live within its budget, and we can debate what is an appropriate level of workforce, etc. I can send the figures to the Deputy - I do not have them to hand - but the number of fully funded vacant posts we have in children's disability network teams-----

-----is a significant cause for concern. There is some encouragement. We ran a recruitment campaign that concluded a little while ago. At the end of May, 160 offers were made to successful candidates. I am going from memory here, rather than my note, but I think approximately 53 job offers from the figure of 160 have now been made and processed. There is another recruitment campaign about to be run as well. They are also looking at new, innovative ideas around therapy assistants and new grades in that space. This worked in other areas, such as psychology, in the past. They are looking at areas such as student sponsorship programmes as well. I met Bernard Gloster, the head of the HSE, on this only approximately a week ago. I am sure there are other issues to which the Deputy can point regarding funding challenges, but on this issue, we actually have more funding allocated than posts we can currently fill. We need to work intensively in that regard, and we are doing so.

Second, we need to increase the number of people we are training in these spaces. I thank my colleagues, the Minister, Deputy O’Donovan, the Minister for Health and the Minister for Education for the work that is being done to very significantly increase the number of training places in Irish universities from September. This does not fix every issue, but it should provide us with a pipeline of graduates coming out of Irish universities in key therapies such as speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, physiotherapy and others. I am pleased that that will kick off from September.

There is an interesting discussion to be had about that, particularly regarding master's level degrees. I am a big fan of reducing fees; I did it twice. At master's level in particular, there is a conversation to be had, especially if the person is willing to work in the Irish health service, about whether that is an intervention that could be made. That is under active consideration.

I take very seriously the point raised by Deputy Ó Murchú about the concern that people in Dundalk have about Dave-----

-----who is due to retire on Monday but has no wish to retire on Monday and neither do the people of Dundalk wish to see him retire. I will ask my colleague, Deputy Dillon, who is the Minister of State with responsibility in that Department, if anything can be done. There is obviously a role for the local authority there but I do not wish to speak for it. The Deputy’s office might contact the Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, after this. Let us see if clarity can be brought to the issue.

On the issue raised by Deputy Tóibín, I have a detailed note but not for this question, unfortunately. I am happy to write to the Deputy on the issue of children in care who have gone missing in our State. It is a serious issue and it is taken seriously as well. We need to do more in terms of beefing up our child protection services. I would argue that we have made a number of steps in recent years, whether it is constitutional change, legislative change or the establishment of Tusla. The Deputy’s ask, that we do more in relation to the budget in this area, is one that I will take it very seriously.