Sorca Clarke

Statements and conversations on mental health are always welcome, no matter where they take place. However, we must be very clear and cut through the soundbites coming from Government not only since the election, but since 2020. There are many words that the parents of children who are not only not on a CAMHS waiting list, but who cannot even get in the door of CAMHS to be put on a waiting list, w…

Is a copy of the speech made by the Minister of State, Deputy Murnane O'Connor, available?

I am asking if a copy is available.

Every child has a right to an appropriate education. Year after year, we can set our watches by parents coming onto local radio stations, on the phone and through email to say that their child with additional needs cannot find a school place, only now it is the principals too who are on the local radio stations. Producers on those shows are ringing local TDs because they are so profoundly affected…

The Minister is correct when he speaks about complacency on the progress we have made. It is a significant problem. Every fatality and every life lost on our roads is one too many, and so are the life-changing injuries, where in a blink of an eye somebody's life has changed so profoundly, oftentimes because of a split-second decision that is made on our roads. I draw the House's attention to a pi…

You insisted Sinn Féin-----

It is pertinent to the payment.

I wish to raise with the Taoiseach the very serious and concerning case of a personal trainer who operated a rehabilitation and fitness centre in Mullingar. This man has been convicted and sentenced for sexually assaulting a woman he was treating for chronic pain and covertly recording 18 hours of footage of another 35 women in various states of undress. However, on release from prison, because o…

-----where he perpetrated these crimes. That is not acceptable. Will the Government move quickly to amend the legislation and any regulations necessary to ensure that CORU takes-----

-----a risk-based assessment as the basis for the regulation of professions and closes this loophole?

Is 40,000 houses the line the Minister is sticking to?

I will address the part of the programme for Government that references zero tolerance of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. We all know the devastating effect on victims when their personal counselling notes are used in court as evidence in rape and sexual assault cases. This has been outlined repeatedly by the Rape Crisis Network and other advocacy services. Last summer, the then Minist…