Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 9 Jul 2024

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for allowing me to bring this matter up. I also thanks the Ceann Comhairle once again. I know it may sound boring at this stage. It is ten months since the origin of the problem. Since then, all representatives of County Kildare have had to bring the matter before the House. We are becoming impatient and understandably so. The situation continues, with no movement towards resolution. Resolution is in the hands of the OPW in the minds of the local people and the public representatives too. I attended a meeting last week with the protestors who have protested the actions of the OPW, wherein they put forward a proposal. They requested that a meeting take place as quickly as possible between their appointed delegation of four and the Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works, along with the county council chief executive officer. This is the most likely way to bring about progress, which is sorely needed at this stage.

We have spent almost a year talking around the subject but we have not tried to resolve it. The fact remains that, in the meantime, the house is deteriorating and will deteriorate further. The works that have to continue in that kind of situation are slowed and stalled. What is happening now is not in the interests of the preservation of Castletown House or the Castletown collection. There are all kinds of reasons. The main one is access by the officials of the OPW to Castletown House, its gardens and its approximately 235 acres. We are told that access is impeded by virtue of the adjoining landowner who took over from the previous landowner and has now called for a gateway across the previously used avenue, which the OPW negotiated with the previous owner. The county council and the OPW have stated emphatically on numerous occasions that they have no problem with that and they have an alternative entrance. They do not, however. They had one 300 years ago when the traffic levels there were not like what they are now. Now the only answer is to direct the traffic out on the main street of Celbridge, which is heavily trafficked already, and which has a problem dealing with the existing traffic.

As well as that, the issue that needs to be dealt with is how to move forward. There are various ways of going forward that I believe we should be testing now. There is the legal route, in order for the State to protect its interests in its own property. Remember that the State is the owner of the property. It is not some outside body with vague connections to the house. The State needs to protect the property. It also needs to recognise that the public has used that property. It is a local amenity. It is of historical value, heritage value, and value to people from all over this country and across the globe. In those circumstances of allowing a situation to prevail where nothing happens and everybody stands around wringing their hands and wondering what will happen next, it is time for the OPW to take the initiative and firmly put this back in the place where it should be.

I thank Deputy Durkan for raising this. I have been in this role for a relatively short period. I will not go over the script I have been provided. I will give my thoughts, which are that I have been in this role for a short period and have come to this as an honest broker. I have had three meetings of the working group. I want people to work collaboratively. I have come in with no preconceived views on it.

I am on record with the group as saying that Lime Avenue is for pedestrian access and it will continue to be that. We need to get the staff back in to protect Castletown House and grounds. I think we all agree on that. I take my instructions from the group, which were to engage with the people who had purchased the land. The land had come up for sale and the OPW was outbid for the land. I would have liked to have seen the OPW purchase the land. It did not happen. I was asked by the group to approach the landowners, which I have done. A body of work is being done in that regard. I am taking my views from the group collectively. That is something I was provided with.

The Deputy is correct that the access point from the M4 is the obvious access point. The fact is that it is privately owned. It was previously privately owned but the OPW had a licence agreement for its operation. It is the obvious way in which one would like to see that. We want to see Castletown House and the grounds be united. We have committed to looking at other possible temporary access points, including Lime Avenue, but once again I will go with the view of the group to get temporary access to get staff back in, so that we can bring the grounds and Castletown House up to par. The Deputy is correct. I want to see the access point come through the M4. It is the obvious view. There is already a parking area.

I can only go with the advice I have been given. I am open to pursuing all avenues. That is my role as a public representative. I have deliberately gone to meet the group as Minister of State. I have met the working group three times. The OPW has sought legal advice about whether it has a right of way over the lands formerly managed under licence. As entry to and over the land was by permission, no such rights have accrued, and therefore the OPW cannot enforce a right of way by injunction or other means over these privately owned lands. That is what I am being advised.

I am aware, through my engagement with the working group, that a local community group has requested Kildare County Council to consider recognising a right of way over these lands but I am not aware of progress to date. I am being advised that the OPW does not have compulsory purchase order powers. I gave a commitment at the last meeting of the working group that I would meet Kildare County Council, which I want to happen and am looking to arrange that. I went through the effort.

I have tried to work collectively with the group. I fully understand the Lime Avenue issue. We need to get staff back in to deal with restoring the house. I would like the access point from the M4 to be there straight away but there is a timing factor. Whatever route we go will take time. I remain fully committed to working with Deputy Durkan and everyone on the working group to find a resolution here.

I realise, appreciate and acknowledge that the Minister of State is an honest broker. I would not like to think that I might be observed as a dishonest broker. I am an elected public representative for the area. I convey the views to the House that people have conveyed to me. That is the position that any public representative has. I specifically ask if the Minister of State will meet with a group who see themselves as protectors of the house, with justification, and the county council, all together, so at least all the constituent parties can be under the one roof with their feet under the table at the same time in order to establish what has not been established over the last 12 months, which is progress. Progress is needed now, lest the situation become a long-term issue, which it very well can.

The State is an owner of the property. The OPW owns the property of 230 acres, including the house, gardens and land. The State is as much entitled to defend its own right to access and egress as anybody else is. It is just one group of two.

In this case, the local people have no difficulty in acknowledging the right to accommodate the adjoining landowner, provided the State has access. The OPW has ambitious plans for the area - up to 1 million people are to pass through on an annual basis and a huge contribution towards employment and local cultural organisations, etc. Will the Minister try to arrange a meeting with the local groups and the county council with the local authority chief executive?

I am doing my level best. At the end of the day, there is a working group. I met the group twice and am hoping to meet it again shortly with the Deputy and others. I am open to meeting any group but I inherited a situation where a working group was established that was multifactoral across the spectrum in the community. I want to work. The Deputy is correct: the M4 is the access point. I want to go through a process to get to that point. My motives are genuine. I want to work with everyone. I want to have a meeting with the overall working group to see once again what is the best approach. If people decide they want to work separately, I have no issue with that. My main objectives are what I can do to get the staff back in the short term and what we can do to get an access point and permanent parking in Castletown House and Gardens. The M4 is the obvious solution. The question is how to make that happen. I was asked by the group to approach the owners of the land, which I did. I agreed to go back to them through the OPW and report back to the group. We will take it from there. Ultimately, we have to get a resolution whereby there is permanent access and permanent parking. I am conscious of how important Castletown and the grounds are to the people of the wider area and the people the Deputy represents.

I am glad to get the opportunity to raise with the Minister of State this evening the question of funding for two estates that lie together on the top of Aghadoe - Birch Hill and Old Killarney Village. There is a problem with the sewerage systems, for which planning permission was granted. Kerry County Council has cited problems with this going back almost ten years. In 2020, funding was given by the Department of 75% of the cost; €401,000 was given at that time, leaving a shortfall of €135,000. Those figures were based on a certain route the sewer was to take from the two estates down to the public system, which goes into the Killarney treatment plant. That route could not be attained; there were problems with the wayleaves. Since then, the Minister of State will appreciate that costs have gone up. That was in 2020 and it is now 2024. A new, longer route that is more costly was identified. The cost is more than €1.3 million. On 21 June last, the longest day of the year, the Department of housing and local government committed to making €992,673 available, leaving 25% of the cost, €330,891, to be funded from local contributions, the details of which will have to be discussed with Uisce Éireann. Who will make up the shortfall? The householders cannot be asked for a contribution because they have already paid for their houses and the treatment plant, which they were told by Kerry County Council was adequate because it signed off on it. Uisce Éireann is already struggling outside of this. It does not have the funding. The council does not have the funding either. Where will the shortfall come from? If the Government is serious about addressing this problem, will it make up the shortfall? There are problems there with smells and pollution that will unavoidably finish up in the lakes of Killarney, which are important to our tourism product. It is going on long enough; it is waiting to be addressed for more than ten years. If €330,000 is not found, will the Government make up the shortfall? There is nowhere we can get the money in Kerry for it. Like I said, the householders cannot be asked. Uisce Éireann is struggling as it is. It was in the headlines today that it is in trouble all over the country. Kerry County Council does not have the funding either.

I am taking this Topical Issue on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, who would like to thank the Deputy for raising this important issue and providing an opportunity to address the matter. As he knows, a small number of estates rely on developer-provided water services infrastructure, commonly referred to as DPI, for their water services. They mainly consist of wastewater treatment facilities but a small number provide drinking water services for the estates concerned. The majority of estates with DPI were constructed between the mid-1990s and the mid-2000s. The infrastructure was provided by the developer of the estate and is not connected to the public water services network. It is important to state that DPI is privately owned and these are legacy issues. This applies to the case the Deputy raised. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage is supporting the resolution o the DPI issue in the Birch Hill and Old Killarney Village estates by providing cofunding, as the Deputy acknowledged, through its multi-annual developer-provided water services infrastructure resolution programme. The terms of the multi-annual programme are based on cofunding to support local authorities in their obligations to take in charge residential estates. The framework documentation for the multi-annual programme provided to local authorities clearly sets out the details, terms and conditions of the funding available. Under the cofunding arrangement, the Department meets 75% of the cost and the remaining 25% is met by the local authority. To the Deputy's specific question, that shortfall has to come from the local authority under this scheme. The planning authorities, which are the city and county councils, are subject to section 180 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended. They are obliged to take residential estates in charge. Funding under the multi-annual programme is a significant contribution - 75% - to assist them in doing so.

It is important to note that the cofunding arrangement under the multi-annual programme has enabled local authorities in locations across the country to successfully resolve issues like this. In 2020, under this programme, Kerry County Council was allocated funding for a solution to resolve the DPI issues in the Old Killarney Village and Birch Hill estates. The Deputy cited the figure of €401,000 for that. As he said, costs have increased and a new solution has been found.

While no progress has been made to date on the resolution of the developer-provided infrastructure, DPI, in these estates, the council has been actively working on the preparatory processes.

The Department and Kerry County Council have engaged in recent months on the matter of these two estates. As the Deputy said, on the longest day of the year last month, the Department provided Kerry County Council with a budget increase to the original allocation to reflect the construction inflation and, as the Deputy outlined, a revised approach to connection of the water services in the estates to the public Uisce Éireann network. This more than doubles that allocation. It brings the co-funding provided up to €992,000 to allow the council to resolve the DPI issues in these two estates. That is the figure cited by the Deputy and, as he has said, it is 75% of the cost. That is correct under the co-funding arrangement. Under co-funding, 25% is to come from the local authority. The Department is fully committed to resolving the DPI issues both nationally and in County Kerry. This is why €992,000 is being provided by the Department towards this necessary work.

I thank the Minister of State for her reply. Senior engineers with Kerry County Council, Tadhg Meehan, Paul Neary and Charlie O’Leary, technical engineers like Freddie Bartlett and Mike Downey, and several others have invested an awful lot of time trying to resolve this issue. When I hear the Minister of State saying that it is up to the local authorities to make up the shortfall, I have to explain to her about the contradiction. Our local authorities were informed on 18 April 2024 that, as and from 1 January 2024, Uisce Éireann has been assigned responsibility for the remediation of DPI infrastructure, which actually absolves the local authorities. It is written there but I see the Minister of State shaking her head. Where are the local authorities going to get the funding? They do not have it. The residents are very good residents who have done a lot of work there. There is also a pub and a restaurant in the middle of these estates. A lot of work has been done as they work together to try to eradicate the problems as much as they can.

The serious issue remains, however and, to solve the problem, they have to connect to the Killarney public treatment plant. To do that we are now being told that €1.3 million is the cost and they are providing €992,000. Where is the other €330,000 to come from? The residents clearly do not have it. There are 69 households and 90% of these residents have families. We all know the pressure families are under at present with the cost of transport, the cost of living and the cost of everything. They do not have money to make up this €330,000.

I thank the Deputy, on behalf of the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, for his comments and his commitment to resolving these legacy issues with facilities built by developers to provide water services in housing estates. I acknowledge the hard work and the efforts of the engineers listed by the Deputy.

The Minister introduced the multi-annual developer-provided water services infrastructure resolution programme to provide funding towards the progressive resolution of these issues. The Deputy is correct that Uisce Éireann does have a role to play when it comes to the connection of water services but there is a role and responsibility for local authorities here too. Funding is available under the multi-annual programme to assist in resolving DPI issues in the Old Killarney Village and the Birch Hill estates. A total of €900,000 plus has already been provided to resolve this issue for these two estates. That is 75% of the cost. That is what the Department will be providing. The funding arrangements made available under the programme are for co-funding. This is what the Department co-funds with the local authority to support the local authority in its obligations with regard to the taking in charge of residential estates. The 25% does fall to the local authority.

I thank the Minister of State for being here to take this Topical Issue matter. It is a very important issue. I will outline what I feel is one of the most unfair and mean-spirited moves that has happened in my four and half years in the Dáil in terms of the State and its treatment of former healthcare workers. These people came back from retirement to answer Ireland's call during Covid. They put themselves on the front line and now they are being asked to pay back money I certainly feel they do not owe.

It might help if I outline what has happened. In April 2020, in the midst of Covid-19 taking hold in Ireland, the State through the Government put out a call, Ireland's call, to medical workers who might have been abroad and to retired HSE healthcare workers to come back and help us, that we needed help because it was going to be incredibly difficult and we needed them to get us through that period, and they did. At the time we had images of the first deaths from Covid, lockdowns, funerals loved ones could not attend, vaccination centres and healthcare workers falling ill. Despite all of this and despite everything that was going on, these retired healthcare workers, who were well into their 50s and some who were in their 60s, came back to put their lives on the line to help some of the most vulnerable people in Ireland and to help us through this. They were told at the time not to worry and that, if they came back and did their half week or half hours, it would not impact on their pension. In the normal course of events, if someone comes back from retirement and works for the HSE, the abatement kicks in. This impacts on a person's pension in that it is deducted from their pension, but these returning workers were told it would be okay and would not impact on their pension, and it did not. They worked their way through the pandemic.

When the pandemic ended, the health system remained under pressure and under stress, they were asked to stay on. We needed their help and experience, and so they stayed on when the pandemic ended in 2022. All went well until recent weeks when a lot of these workers started receiving correspondence from the HSE essentially thanking them for getting us through this and for everything they had done for us through the pandemic but that they now owed the State €5,000 or €6,000 or, in one case, up to €20,000. To me, this is completely unfair. It is a kick up the backside for people who put their lives at risk. Essentially the HSE was saying thanks for everything they had done but the abatement was kicking in and the waiver no longer applied.

I will put this into context. A waiver on the abatement applied in 2020, 2021 and 2022. After 2022, the pandemic ended, and they are now being told they owe money from the pension that was paid to them in 2023 and parts of 2024. It is ludicrous and ridiculous. The key point here is communication. If these workers had been communicated with, for example, in December 2022, that if they were to keep on working in 2023, the waiver would no longer apply, then they would have been informed that the abatement would come back in and they would have deductions from their pension. There was no such communication and no effort was made to communicate with these workers that they were going to be down money.

I am asking to get this sorted. The Government has just announced an extra budget of €8.3 billion. I do not know how many workers are impacted by this but it is not going to cost that much to thank them for everything they have done and to allow them hold on to their money. I suggest a little lead-in period whereby, after a couple of months, abatement would kick in from there on. Please do not make them pay back this money.

I thank Deputy O'Sullivan for raising this issue today, which I will take on behalf of the Minister for Health. As the Deputy has outlined, on 10 March 2020, the Department of Health informed the HSE that, following engagement with the then Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, approval was given under section 52(4) of the Public Service Pensions (Single Scheme and Other Provisions) Act 2012 for a temporary waiver of pension abatement for retired health workers who returned to work as critical front-line healthcare staff during the Covid-19 emergency. The purpose of this move was to ensure a sufficient body of staff with key skills was available during such an unprecedented and uncertain time and to support those who answered Ireland's call, who put their well-being on the line and who came out of retirement to do that.

The initial approval for the waiver of pension abatement was granted up to 30 June 2020. However, given the extraordinary circumstances of the pandemic and the uncertainty of its future course, the then Department of Public Expenditure and Reform granted periodic extensions to that temporary blanket waiver following regular reviews by the Department of Health and the HSE.

The temporary blanket waiver of pension abatement continued up to 31 March 2021, when the pension abatement policy for the health sector returned to normal in line with other sectors. This, I am informed, was communicated to the HSE on 15 January 2021 by the Department of Health via Circular 1/2021. I am informed that on 22 January 2021, the HSE, in turn, informed all relevant staff, including, but not limited to, all heads of HR in the CHOs, all HR managers in section 38 agencies, all group directors of nursing and midwifery and the director of the National Ambulance Service. I am also informed that in January 2021 communication to impacted workers happened. I appreciate that what the Deputy said here today is it did not happen. That is, however, the information I have with me. I am happy to discuss this further with the Deputy and to raise it directly with the Minister on his behalf.

I point out that in accordance with section 52(4) of the Public Service Pensions (Single Scheme and Other Provisions) Act 2012, the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform may still, at his or her discretion, waive the application of pension abatement subject to certain criteria: that the Minister is satisfied the retired person, or persons, with particular training and experience is required for a particular role, the retired person has the required training and experience and is suitable for employment and there are no other means to meet the requirement other than by the employment of the retired person. The normal rules of pension abatement are that waivers will only be granted in exceptional circumstances for a limited time.

It is crucial that the ongoing recruitment to our health service workforce continues. We cannot rely on retired workers. Exemptions from the principle of pension abatement are not a durable solution and we cannot rely on it in the long term. Following the conclusion of the temporary blanket waiver, requests by HSE for waivers of pension abatement have been considered on a case-by-case basis under normal pension abatement policy rules. These are the rules that apply right across the public service and Civil Service.

I thank the Minister of State. I appreciate the response and her understanding of the issue. I also appreciate that she has given an undertaking to communicate to the Minister my frustration and the unfairness and mean-spiritedness I feel have taken place here. I will also, of course, do that myself.

I raise a few points. My understanding is that the waiver applied to 2021 and 2022. According to what the Minister of State said regarding the correspondence it went out in January 2021 concerning the ending of the waiver. That is interesting. I suppose it plays out in terms of the amounts of money involved for these people. As I said, these workers sacrificed themselves. When all of us were locking ourselves up out of harm's way, these people were putting themselves on the front line. The amount of money they are being asked to pay back is extraordinary.

It rubs salt on the wounds to say that it will be okay and that a payment plan will be devised and they can make these repayments over several years. They should not have to pay this money back at all. The most important thing in all this is that the Minister of State said an attempt was made to communicate with the HSE, the Departments and the relevant sections within Departments. I can tell her now with absolute certainty that the healthcare workers who came to me in my constituency, and those who have gone to other TDs in other constituencies as well, were not informed in any way, shape or form about this issue. They had no correspondence. They had no written correspondence or verbal information about this matter until 2024 when they were informed they had to pay back money. This is not good enough. For me, it merits a refund for anyone who has gone about paying this pension reduction money and an ending of this practice. It is absolutely ridiculous. It said that this refers to exceptional circumstances. We still have exceptional circumstances. We have a recruitment embargo. We have wards and units in hospitals that need to be staffed. These people are still doing that and we need them.

To be clear, the temporary blanket waiver of pension abatement continued up until 31 March 2021. This was when the abatement policy for the healthcare sector returned to normal in line with other sectors. This was, as I understand it, communicated to the HSE on 15 January 2021. On 22 January 2021, only a few days later, I am informed that the HSE informed all relevant staff, including, but not limited to, all heads of HR in CHOs, all HR managers in section 38 agencies, all group directors of nursing and midwifery and the director of the National Ambulance Service.

I am informed that happened. The Deputy, though, has told me that the people he is dealing with are saying otherwise. On behalf of the Government, I take this opportunity to express our appreciation for the work carried out by our public health workers during the pandemic, including those individuals who returned from retirement to help their colleagues and the public when they most needed it. This cannot be overstated. We are absolutely so grateful for it. The temporary blanket waiver of pension abatement was introduced to recognise that at a time of great need. It was based on necessity. With the end of the emergency situation created by Covid-19, the waiver was ended.

I appreciate what the Deputy is saying about the need for us to grow our workforce year on year. He is right. As of the end of May 2024, there were 28,346 more staff working in our health service than there were at the beginning of this decade. The Minister for Health has approved the allocation of 2,268 new development posts for this year, which is outlined in the HSE pay and numbers strategy. Approval has also been given for the immediate recruitment of these posts. Recruitment, therefore, is happening. The Deputy raised this aspect as a secondary issue here. It is happening and we are continuing to invest in and grow our workforce in the health service.

I first spoke on the issue of the community access support team in 2021, not long after it was announced that it was to be trialled in Limerick. I was told at the time that it was going to be operational in 2022. Unfortunately, this did not happen. My colleague Deputy Ward asked the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, about it in 2022. He was also told that the community access support team would be up and running in 2022. I have raised this issue several times in this Chamber over the years, as well as in meetings of the Limerick joint policing committee. At one such meeting of the joint policing committee in January 2022, I was advised that the creation of the unit was progressing and it would be live in 2023. It did not happen. Again, in April 2023, I sought an update on the progress of the unit, this time via parliamentary question. Once more, I was advised that it was on the cusp of being launched, but it has yet to be launched. I have asked numerous parliamentary questions over the years about this matter, as outlined in the pages I have with me.

This is a pilot programme that is very much needed. It is very much welcome and is most definitely needed in Limerick. The pandemic period had a major impact on people's mental health and this is still being felt. The delay in commencing the community access support team is beyond disappointing. It is a further example of how this Government continually fails people in Limerick and the mid-west when it comes to accessing medical support. We have a trolley crisis that continues unabated, long waiting times in the major hospitals, including University Hospital Limerick, and we have a failure to urgently address the challenges in mental health, especially during out-of-office hours when such support is needed. The unit has been prioritised for nearly four years and for four years, the Government has failed to deliver it. Where does the fault lie? What is the impediment to establishing this proposed team?

I remind the Minister of State of the remit of the community access support team. Should it ever be implemented, this team will call to a person experiencing a mental health issue, with the idea being that this specially-trained team will meet the person, triage that person and refer or bring him or her to the appropriate service. The long-awaited de-escalation unit, which will combine staff from the HSE, the Garda and the National Ambulance Service, is set to serve those facing mental health challenges outside regular working hours. As it stands, in Limerick the vast majority of out-of-hours interventions for those needing mental health support are provided by volunteers. It is the volunteers from the Limerick Mental Health Association and other volunteers, such as those in the Haven Hub and other groups, who try to fill the gap. We then have the last line of defence, those groups that respond when there are no other services. These include Limerick Suicide Watch and Limerick Treaty Suicide Prevention, which both do regular riverside patrols in Limerick city. Without these people opting to give up their time to try to tackle the mental health challenges that exist, I am sure we would have had more people lost by suicide.

It is time for the Government to step up to the plate and implement that long-promised de-escalation team.

The launch of the team is not unprecedented and is not without an example to follow. A similar pilot was rolled out in Belfast some years ago. It operated between the hours of 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. on Friday and Saturday for one year. During that time, the team had 193 referrals, 94 of which were face-to-face. In this context, 131 people were diverted from attending an emergency department and were instead directed to more appropriate routes of treatment. It also diverted 61 people from the justice system - 61 people who would otherwise have been charged with an offence, despite being unwell. They met, treated, and triaged people within their own community, alleviating pressures on a strained hospital system.

The service and staff, when funded, can work. Now, if someone suffers a mental health challenge outside of office hours, it is incredibly difficult to get the support, or indeed any support whatsoever. If such results could be replicated in Limerick, it would have an immediate impact on the number of presentations at our accident and emergency department at UHL. As the Minister of State will be aware, UHL is always at full capacity. It always has a huge number of patients being treated on trolleys in hospital corridors. Any programmes, such as community access support teams, CASTs, or the pathfinder programme, that could stop presentations at the hospital while ensuring that appropriate care is received, must be enhanced, or indeed commenced. It makes sense from a capacity pressure point of view, and crucially, it makes sense from a treatment point of view.

I am taking this Topical Issue on behalf of the Minister for Health. I thank the Deputy for his support for this Government initiative. The development of a CAST, a multiagency initiative proposed for Limerick city, was a recommendation of the final report of the high-level task force, HLTF, on mental health and addiction challenges of those who come into contact with the criminal justice sector.

As the Deputy will be aware, this report was published on 30 September 2022. It was always envisaged that significant planning would be required to progress this recommendation. The purpose of the CAST project, as he outlined, is to create a specialist uniform unit in which gardaí will work together with mental health professionals to provide a rapid and integrated 24-7 response to persons with mental health difficulties or those experiencing situational trauma. This will be a one-of-its-kind, first-of-its-kind team of its kind to be created in Ireland comprising two modes of delivery, namely, a crisis response service and a community support forum.

A specialist uniform unit will respond to relevant 999 calls that have been triaged. The on-scene crisis response will involve trained members of An Garda Síochána working with their existing operational unit and supported by an assigned clinical nurse specialist and other members of the team. As the Deputy will be aware, the community access support team will be based in Limerick’s Henry Street Garda station during working hours and will follow up with individuals based on needs identified during coresponse. When not responding to calls, these staff will be completing work associated with the project, such as linking in with external agencies, outreach to homeless and addiction services, following up on previous call outs and providing ongoing intervention based on need.

At the heart of the CAST project is the establishment of a multiagency community support forum in Limerick. This case management forum comprises identified statutory agencies and approved support services. The aim is to reduce future presentations and interactions with gardaí or other blue light emergency services through community follow-ups and the case management of complex cases. An independent person from the local authority will chair the forum, which will meet on a monthly basis. The aim of the forum is to provide an integrated approach to working with people during a crisis. A study of the project with academic partners in the University of Limerick will inform further roll-out of similar teams in Ireland.

Mr. Bernard Gloster, CEO of the HSE, recently confirmed that the new mid-west regional executive officer has been given appropriate directions for the CAST project to proceed without delay. The staffing requirement for the pilot from a HSE perspective is one clinical nurse specialist, one social worker and one social care worker. These posts have recently been approved. The gardaí will support the pilot with two gardaí, both of which are vulnerability navigators, and one clerical officer member of garda staff. In addition to significant progress at a local level, a meeting was held in Limerick yesterday, 8 July, between representatives of local HSE and An Garda Síochána to progress and commence the pilot project. Representatives of the interdepartmental steering group to monitor the implementation of the high-level task force recommendations also attended this meeting. It is hoped to commence the pilot project in the fourth quarter of 2024.

I thank the Minister of State. I appreciate her response, but it seems that we do not have a cast-iron guarantee about when the unit will launch. She will excuse me for having concerns about the date of quarter 4 of 2024, because we have been told different dates on numerous occasions, but we will wait.

I do understand that progress has been made. For the first time, there are definite numbers and figures. There were meetings yesterday in Limerick, as the Minister of State has said. I have been speaking with the HSE, An Garda Síochána and the National Ambulance Service about this issue for a number of years.

Four years since it was announced, it is yet to be delivered. Much of the patience and space that have been afforded to the requisite Ministers and State agencies to allow for the training and launch of this unit have really run out. Yet, we need to get this right. Will it be launched before the end of the government cycle of quarter 4 of 2024? I doubt it.

When it comes to Limerick city, which is a city with three Government Deputies, there has never been any urgency. That is also demonstrated by the fact that there is nobody from Department of Health present here tonight, although that is no disrespect to the Minister of State. The people in Moyross campaigned for a decade to have the Coonagh to Knockalisheen road constructed, but it is yet to be completed. The people of Limerick voted in 2019 to have a directly elected mayor, but it took the Government five years to finalise the legislation. Those of us from Limerick have had years of waiting for improvements in capacity at UHL but rather than tackling that issue, it was allowed to worsen and worsen with trolley numbers rising every single year. Last year, for instance, more than 21,000 people were treated on trolleys, which was the highest number ever recorded in any hospital. That was an increase from 18,000 in 2022, and this year there will unfortunately be more than that. It will probably be 24,000, going by the figures we have at the moment. Why does the Government fail to deliver for Limerick? Why do the people of Limerick always have to fight, campaign and lobby to receive what has been previously committed to? I ask myself if the Limerick Deputies from the Government parties ever question this.

There remain extraordinary pressures on mental health services, services that have suffered from years of underinvestment, particularly in Limerick. Mental health services were under pressure before the pandemic, but the mental impact of that period, as I said earlier, has overwhelmed them.

Now more than ever, we need to assist those with mental health needs. I refer to the issue of delay again. Why has this unit not been launched yet? When will it be launched? How many people will be trained to operate in it? What are the stumbling blocks? What do we need to do to get movement on it?

The Deputy referenced 2022 in his opening contribution and the report of the high-level task force was published in 2022. Progress is happening. Posts have been approved. Additional progress happened just yesterday. That underscores this Government's commitment to make this pilot happen. I have given him the target date of the fourth quarter of 2024.

From a HSE mid-west perspective, mental health needs across the population are addressed through community and primary care supports and services. People who require specialist mental health services are referred to one of the 13 adult community mental health teams across the regional health authority. Those who are experiencing acute mental health crisis can access support through the 24-7 mental health crisis team, which is based in the emergency department at UHL. In the mid-west, there are also out-of-hours mental health services available in Clare, north Tipperary and Limerick seven days per week.

While in many cases it is appropriate for people to be seen at an emergency department, the HSE is progressing as envisaged under our mental health policy, Sharing the Vision. The development of alternative treatments, such as a crisis resolution team, CRT, is being developed in Limerick under the national clinical programme for CRTs nationally.

The team's model of care in Limerick includes a community café that could become a key contact point when working with people in crisis. A city centre location in Limerick for the café and a partner agency to staff the café have been identified. Integration with this team will be central to CAST in the future. The CAST project is well placed also to develop an integrated diversion model incorporating the use of the adult caution scheme, diversionary interventions, non-prosecutorial practices and a support hub to facilitate appropriate, therapeutic and-or personal supports.

This partnership approach to calls relating to mental health and situational trauma between An Garda Síochána and local mental health services is to support those in distress. The CAST pilot project and the establishment of the new crisis resolution team are welcome developments for the mid-west and they are exactly part of what the Government sets out to achieve in terms of delivering for people in the mid-west, as the Deputy has said, where our Ministers are working.