Micheál Martin

As soon as we can get it done. The Minister of State is sympathetic. She has met the group with a view to getting it resolved.

On Deputy Coppinger’s question, the €3 billion will be some time off. The immediate target is LOA 2. The programme for Government commits to a move to LOA 3 after that but we are some distance off because of procurement and so on. The Deputy spoke of increases but we are one of the lowest spenders. We have very low spending on military and we are coming from a very low base. Procurement capacity h…

I will be going, yes.

I thank the Deputy for the points he made. I refer to Mark Henry’s book which identifies the extraordinary gains that have been made in lifespan in Ireland among men and women. It is a great story which never gets told but health did something right over the past 20 years. Lifestyle is important as well. I like the idea of tax relief for gym membership. I think it is a good idea although I underst…

-----are inevitably saying there are complexities. Inevitably there are complexities attached to the proposal but I think we should do everything we possibly can to encourage activity and fitness levels in society. That is why I think one of the best things we have done in recent years is transformative investment in active travel across the country. One only has to go along greenways or walkways …

I propose to take Questions Nos. 8 to 23, inclusive, together. The Cabinet committee on disabilities has been established to oversee the implementation of programme for Government commitments in the area of disability with specific focus on children’s disability services as well as disability services more generally under the forthcoming new national disability strategy. It is due to meet shortly…

How many occupational therapists?

What is the delay? Is he seeking an opinion?

Who is seeking the opinion?

Deputy Geoghegan raised the first issue, which was an interesting point, relating to the recruitment of therapists, particularly from overseas. This was raised at our initial meeting between Ministers last week. Perhaps we need to engage with CORU on this. Historically, although I am not sure whether this is the case here, regulatory bodies can have fairly rigorous criteria for professionals comin…

Yes, a therapy-based service is being worked on. At our meeting, we gave the green light for that and asked the Department of Education to prepare to, we hope, commence it this September, if we can get the Estimates right and so on. It was not provided for in the previous budget because the pilot scheme had been initiated under the auspices of the Departments of Health and children, but that has n…

We are working to see if we can ensure places for children next September. I agree with Deputy Cian O'Callaghan that nursing homes are not suitable for young people who have a chronic illness or a significant disability. My understanding is that the number had come down in recent times but I will speak to the Minister for Health and the Minister of State with responsibility for nursing homes with…

In terms of its obligations.

We discussed that last week. The public service must do far better than it is doing. There is no question about that. There must be proactivity within the public service, particularly on the employment front. We are not employing enough people with additional needs in our public service. The Deputy spoke about the means test. We will work on that, with the Minister for Social Protection in particu…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 24 to 37, inclusive, together. The Cabinet committee on children and education will oversee the implementation of programme for Government commitments in the areas of children and education with a special focus on child poverty and well-being. It will receive detailed reports on identified policy areas, such as child poverty, well-being and education. A separate C…

Which report?

There were quite a number of contributions there. Deputy Tóibín spoke first on the 70,000 referrals.

In the first nine months of last year, and he is suggesting it will go to 94,000. That is an extraordinary number. I will have to drill down behind the numbers in terms of context and so on but it is very high. That is a broader societal issue as well and it shows Tusla has an enormous workload, to put it charitably. That is a huge impact. As the Deputy said, they are referred by a variety of prof…

That is what I am saying, but again I need to know the details of it. I will certainly see what I can do to progress it. Deputy Ó Murchú asked about school-based and holistic therapies. The initial phase would be special schools and that will take some time. I am hoping we can get it started this year. Mainstream schools will be some time after that, but we will see what we can do. A lot will dep…

The Deputy has mentioned it three times already, so I will find out where it is at. Turning to Deputy Bacik, there has been a massive increase in the number of special needs assistants. I will follow through on the issues she has raised in terms of what has been provided. I take Deputy Crowe's point on the census. I have seen this issue before in terms of how transience in rental accommodation c…

Yes, and schools’ allocations. I will pursue Deputy Ardagh's question with the Minister seeing as she made a compelling case. If there is no second-level coeducational non-denominational school in Dublin 8, there should be. As she said, there is now a primary school so there is a feeder school for such a school. We should try to progress that. It is no different to Deputy O'Sullivan's point in th…

I agree with the Deputy that it is absolutely unacceptable that a young child in these circumstances, Tiernan Power Murphy, should be denied urgent oral healthcare and dental healthcare in terms of the extraction of teeth. The fact that we are dealing with the condition of autism as well exacerbates the unacceptable nature of this. The Minister of State, Deputy Mary Butler, has been in touch with…

No, sorry. I did not-----

More broadly, as I said earlier, the Minister of State, Deputy Mary Butler, has been involved in this case and has spoken to the regional executive officer. As I have already said, prior to this being raised, the HSE has acted and has advised the Minister of State. The Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, has also been in touch with the HSE. The family have been advised-----

-----by the HSE that this matter will be resolved. In this specific case, the intervention has happened and the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, has been advised that it will be resolved. I will discuss the broader issue with the Minister for Health and the chief executive officer of the HSE in terms of cases involved, such as this one, and, more broadly, in terms of the broader dental situation …