I thank the Deputy for raising this very important issue. We were all shocked and appalled by what we saw on the "RTÉ Investigates" programme last week. I appreciate the opportunity to comment on the matter. I especially recognise how incredibly difficult it has been for the residents of the Residence in Portlaoise and Beneavin Manor and their families. We heard that first hand from the family of Audeon Guy this even…
TDs / Kieran O'Donnell
Kieran O'Donnell
Minister of State at the Department of Health and at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
0
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
113,996
words spoken in the chamber
113,996 as a minister, 0 as a TD
426
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
From the Dáil chamber only: committee meetings are not in this archive.
The record holds no parliamentary questions from them in this Dáil.
Month by month
Low months are usually recesses, when the Dáil does not sit. The archive runs to 22 October 2026.
Contributions to debates 256 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
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|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 |
| January 2025 | 0 |
| February 2025 | 10 |
| March 2025 | 15 |
| April 2025 | 12 |
| May 2025 | 17 |
| June 2025 | 15 |
| July 2025 | 15 |
| August 2025 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 11 |
| October 2025 | 12 |
| November 2025 | 23 |
| December 2025 | 6 |
| January 2026 | 30 |
| February 2026 | 18 |
| March 2026 | 10 |
| April 2026 | 2 |
| May 2026 | 20 |
| June 2026 | 9 |
| July 2026 | 10 |
| August 2026 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 4 |
| October 2026 | 17 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 191 contributions in the regular slots, such as Leaders' Questions and Priority Questions. Speech from the chair is not counted.
Party, constituency and offices
- constituency Limerick City 29 November 2024 to now
- party Fine Gael 29 November 2024 to now
- office Minister of State at the Department of Health and at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage 29 January 2025 to now
There is a commitment in the programme for Government to bring forward an adult safeguarding policy for the health and social care sector. I expect the issue will be brought to the Cabinet before the summer recess. Following that, we will be looking for approval to progress a health and adult safeguarding Bill, which is in the current legislative programme. It is a matter of absolute priority.
I am on record as sayi…
I welcome the opportunity to discuss fair and sustainable funding for carers, home support and the nursing homes support scheme. The Minister for Health is not opposing the motion.
I echo the motion in acknowledging the indispensable contributions of carers and front-line healthcare workers. We all know that they do phenomenal work. Their valuable work supports older people, people with disabilities and individuals …
The Deputy referred to the HIQA report. Obviously, it operates independently. It was felt the current location on the campus was impacting the residents of the nursing home, that is, the community nursing unit itself, so an agreement was reached that it would look for an alternative permanent location. In the interim it has temporarily located on another area in the campus where there is separate access. The older pe…
I thank Deputy Cahill for raising this important matter. The Programme for Government - Securing Ireland’s Future includes several commitments to deliver practical housing for positive ageing. These commitments build upon the policy objectives in Housing for All that commit to increasing the housing options available to older people to facilitate ageing in place with dignity and independence.
The commitments in the …
I thank Deputy Cahill. He has covered many of the matters I wish to cover in the context of housing choice for older persons.
On inclusion, we have older persons councils - through Age-Friendly Ireland - which very much engage with the local authorities. I am involving all older person representative organisations in the work I am doing in the context of the policy group on stakeholder engagement. We held a stakehol…
Taking the last point first, we have increased the grant amounts and income exemptions considerably. For instance, if someone has an income of below €40,000, they get 100% of the grant, the disabled persons grant and the housing adaptation grant, which was previously 95%. Furthermore, we have increased the level of the grants. We are always seeking to ensure that what is on offer meets the needs of people.
The Deput…
I wish to thank the Deputies. There were three Deputies down. Is Deputy Pearse Doherty absent?
That is fine. I thank Deputies Conway-Walsh and Mac Lochlainn for raising this matter, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy James Browne. As the Deputies will be aware, the Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Act 2022, which commenced on 22 June 2023, contains the current grant scheme and the related regulations that were a…
I thank both Deputies. I understand the frustration for people in these areas. As I already stated, the Minister and the Department sought legal advice that confirmed extending the increases the Deputies are talking about to a wider group of relevant owners requires amending the Act. I think everyone is agreeable on that. In the interest of equity and fairness, the Minister intends to extend the increase in the schem…
I can only deal with what is the position now. It is down for priority drafting. The Minister is taking this matter very seriously. As indicated, a number of other matters have come to light during the first 18 months of the operation of the scheme and the Minister will consider a number of technical amendments also as part of this legislative change. These changes will assist in the efficient administration of the s…
Improving access to home support is a priority for this Government. Home support hours have increased every year since 2020, from 17.8 million hours in 2020 to a funded target of over 24 million hours in 2025, including intensive and complex home support. The HSE has reported that 5,556 people were assessed and waiting on the provision of home support at the end of 2024, including those waiting for a carer to be assi…
I thank the Deputy. I gave him global figures. I assumed he was going to ask me about CHO 8, his own area.
It is across the spectrum and there are different areas. As regards the Deputy's area of CHO 8, the additional hours provided to March 2025 were 434 in terms of people waiting. The total number of people waiting was 791. At the end of December 2024, that number was 932. We have seen a reduction of 141 in the number of people waiting. This is a positive. At the end of December 2024, then, the figure for people waiting…
We can say we are always looking to increase the level of funding that has gone into home care, but it has increased to €838 million from a base of just over €400 million in 2020. It is such that between 58,000 and 60,000 people are receiving the service. The key thing is that, since last December, we have seen a significant reduction in the numbers. Deputy Gould might want to bring me the particular human case he sp…
I wish Deputy Rice well in his new role as Chair of the Oireachtas Committee on Health. No doubt, we will be working with him. The programme for Government commits to designing a statutory home care scheme to allow people to stay in their own home for as long as possible. As Minister of State with responsibility for older people and housing, I am fully committed to delivering the design of the scheme and the operatio…
As Minister of State, I have a responsibility to navigate the introduction of a statutory home care scheme. I am utterly committed to it but it must be built on solid foundations and process. The home care sector is unregulated so we have to regulate it.
This is a statement of fact. That is the first step. We are looking at the funding model. The ESRI is doing a body of work, which I hope to receive very shortly, looking at capacity in the context of acute, older people and private health services, so it is part of it overall. The first step is to get the legislation passed to regulate the sector. We will look at a funding model to look to introducing a statutory hom…
It is worth setting out the practical side of it. Since 2020, Government has increased the spending on home care packages by €338 million. That is a considerable amount of money that has clearly allowed people to stay in their homes. It is about choice. We must stick with the process. I am new in the role. A lot of work was done by my predecessor. It is now about bringing the legislation forward and bringing it throu…
I wish to begin by thanking everyone for taking part in this very important debate. I echo the Minister's opening remarks. She stated that she is awaiting the final report of the clinical audit into surgeries for DDH in the coming weeks before any conclusions can be drawn on the matter. The Minister has gone on record as saying she would welcome a debate once she has received the report and it is published. Obviously…
All politics is local.
The Deputy might send the details to me.
We have had a debate for more than three hours with 38 contributions, which shows the significance of the issue for people. I thank everyone who has taken part in the debate.
I will touch on a few general points and then I will try to address some of the points that were raised by Members. I want to reflect on the progress has been made since Uisce Éireann was established as Irish Water more than ten years ago. In t…
I thank Deputy Lawless for raising this important issue. I will reply on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Browne. This matter has been raised by Oireachtas colleagues of the Deputy's from Mayo, notably the Minister of State, Deputy Alan Dillon, who is here. It is obviously a matter of huge concern for the public representatives and the people of Newport.
Deputy Lawless will appreciate that the operation of the public …
I again thank the Deputy for raising this issue. As I have said, the Newport wastewater treatment plant is currently at preliminary business case stage 2. Uisce Éireann will develop a shortlist of solutions identifying preferred options and will calculate estimated costs. A significant amount of data gathering, surveys and assessments are required to support various consenting processes. A licence is required to carr…