Brian Stanley
Laois · Independent · Ireland
“We are going through an epidemic of domestic abuse and violence. In 2025, the Garda had over 67,000 calls in relation to domestic abuse. Seven women were murdered last year, and in many of those cases, it was by a family member, a partner or somebody known closely to the victim.”
“Those fundamentals cannot be ignored. Are supporters of partition really saying that we can continue on this small island with 14 different departments in each jurisdiction working back to back, often in competition with each other? Are they saying that having Twenty-six Counties in the EU and Six Counties out of it makes economic sense?”
“Those who still argue for partition ignore the fact that in a reunified 32-county state, the pension liabilities of those workers in the Six Counties who accrued pension entitlements by paying into the British national insurance system and the British exchequer or employment pensions would receive that portion of their pension liability.”
“Unfortunately, I do not get any sense of urgency from the Minister of State that we are going to have laws introduced in September or October, and that is the crucial issue. Yes, we have rules now, and she listed them out in relation to the signs. However, they are being ignored.”
“The cost is €2.6 billion for the diplomatic mission alone. There is also MI6 and the massive military machine and capacity, including the army, the navy and the Royal Air Force. I saw a figure of €60.2 billion for 2025 and 2026. That amount is due to rise sharply to meet its increased military capabilities.”
“The issue I am raising with the Minister of State is the increase in the number of injuries, including those involving young children, relating to e-scooters and e-bikes. Ten have been killed.”
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“Some of those towns have the capacity to add on small schemes. If builders got low-interest finance they could use for that, it could be done. Why has the State not implemented the recommendations of the Kenny report from 1973, published 52 years ago? If I recall, it was actually commissioned by a Fine Gael-Labour Government and Mr. Justice Kenny set out very clearly how to keep land prices down such that development land would only be 25% above the market value of agricultural land or there would be an 80% windfall tax on the profits of development land. We have to take bold measures to force down the price of land. The Minister of State may balk at that, but can something be done in between that? We have to reduce the cost of land for building. We also need to reduce the cost of building by mass producing.”
“The Government needs to enact the emergency measures that are called for in the public interest to create a State housing bond. The credit unions have been saying for years that they have a lot of money on deposit that can be used to build housing. There is potentially €160 billion in savings, much of which could be used for housing schemes. They could be used for affordable purchase and cost-rental schemes and they do not all have to be used for social housing. One of the proposals we need to examine is making finance available to small builders to build schemes in small towns such as Mountrath and Rathdowney and in some of the larger towns such as Mountmellick and Portarlington along with Portlaoise, Graiguecullen and Ballylynan.”
“We have 143,000 on social housing waiting lists and the current overall housing shortage, according to the Housing Commission and not according to us, is 235,000. Tens of thousands of couples and families are just above the income threshold for social housing, which is €35,000 in Laois. The Government is not looking after this cohort of people who are on between €35,000 and €50,000 or €60,000. They cannot get a mortgage or a local authority loan. It is a real problem. Some of them are over the age of 40 or 45 so they cannot get private finance. We have to gear up the cost-rental model for those people. I appeal to the Minister of State to do that and I say that in a constructive way because they are trapped forever in private rental accommodation and they will be pensioner renters. This will be a real problem in the years to come.”
“I thank you, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, and congratulate you on your elevation to high office. It is well deserved. The starting point, which the Minister of State will have to accept, is that house prices, rents and homelessness have skyrocketed. He cannot argue with that. A total of 51 people were homeless in County Laois in February. House prices have gone up 11.6%. The number of new homes is down. The number of new homes was down last year and 10,000 fewer than the Government parties promised during the election campaign. We have a housing crisis but is not being treated as a crisis by Government. Average rents across the State are €1,956 per month. That is a month's wages for most people and that is 43% higher than 2020.”
“On the Estimates overall, the Garda and the funding of justice are important. We have seen some improvement in the Garda stations, which is to be welcomed. The new station in Portlaoise is going ahead, as the Minister knows. I understand that the Minister cannot tell the Garda Commissioner where to send gardaí daily but there has to be more emphasis on community policing and having a visible garda presence. Gardaí cannot be seen everywhere but we can do better than we are doing. There is a considerable budget for social protection. I do not see the means test of the carer’s allowance happening yet. Issues like this and the GP medical card need to be tackled. I would like the Minister to take that on board.”
“Some improvements have been made and the public order units have been expanded, which will be welcome when the units are needed, but the response needs to be proportionate. What happened over Sunday night and yesterday morning outside these gates was not proportionate. The protest was peaceful. I am not going to go on long about this but I fail to see why there is a need to use such disproportionate force. I have been at many protests over the years but have not seen the Garda use unnecessary force of that kind. I am really curious as to why strip-searching was used. The last time it was used was as a punishment against republican women prisoners in Armagh Gaol. That was in different times and we do not want to see that kind of oppression of women and invasiveness down here. There needs to be Garda accountability in this regard.”
“They need to have strong powers, a strong oversight role and genuine input into community policing and local policing plans. On gardaí, the overall budget has nearly doubled since 2016, from €55 billion to €105 billion. The justice budget has increased in line with that, but although there are more gardaí and a bigger budget there are fewer front-line gardaí. I was told in Portarlington the other day that there were two gardaí in the town, the second biggest town in County Laois. This is the problem. I am sure the Minister is hearing about this in his constituency. In country towns, we hear there is a huge shortage of gardaí for front-line policing. We hear it from the Garda itself. We can see that Garda resources were stretched in the likes of the Dublin riots.”
“I welcome the opportunity to address this issue. It makes sense to amalgamate the Policing Authority and the Garda Síochána Inspectorate, provided that there is strong oversight. Some of the flaws have been highlighted by previous speakers and I am not going to go over them, but it is important that, by and large, the Garda get policing in this State right. Since police forces need to have many powers, there needs to be a lot of oversight. However, it needs to be practical in terms of implementation and functions. Could I raise joint policing committees with the Minister? I was a member of one for several years. The committees were useful forums but a bit toothless. What is being proposed looks like a recreation of them.”
“She said, "I now feel foolish for believing them." Will the Government try to get the problem solved for those women who need HRT?”
“I wish to ask about the commitment in the budget last October to provide free hormone replacement therapy, HRT, for women. We are told that pharmacies and the State are in deadlock over the provision of HRT. Pharmacies have indicated that they were not consulted about this. Women still have to pay for HRT despite the commitment given by the Government last October. Brigid is a widow who has no medical card. She had to skip HRT. She is 61 years of age and cannot afford it. Sinead in Laois said that she is just about able to afford HRT and GP appointments but that her heart goes out to those women who cannot do so. Many women have contacted me who cannot afford HRT. A Kildare woman informed me that one of the reasons she voted for the Government parties of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael was because of the commitment to provide HRT.”
“It is a ludicrous situation. There are many drivers who have reached the age of 70 in recent weeks and months sitting at home twiddling their thumbs. Meanwhile, we have a shortage of drivers. Surely to God, what we need to do is ensure they pass a medical test, including an eye test, annually. If they pass that strict test, then we should let them keep driving until they are 75. I have raised this issue previously and a number of others are beginning to raise it now as well. Could the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, bring this request to the Minister for Transport in order to solve the problem? I am putting forward a practical solution to the problem.”
“The programme for Government contains a commitment to improve the school transport scheme, but again this year we face a shortage of drivers. We have had a shortage of drivers for the past two years but it is going to be worse this year because more pupils are coming on stream. Bus operators cannot get extra drivers. In approximately 19 or 20 weeks we will again face a crisis in school transport. There is a solution, which I raised with the Tánaiste five weeks ago. The Taoiseach agreed with the point again this week on the floor of the Dáil. The Tánaiste and the Taoiseach are on board with the approach. Currently, those over 70 cannot drive buses under the school bus scheme. They cannot drive 15 kids to school for 8.30 a.m. or 9.30 a.m. but they can drive a 52-seat bus to Cork or Dublin on a school tour an hour later.”
“I know Ministers will always have shopping lists but it did not get in the last time. I am telling the Minister of State it is ready to go. We have the site and the plan, a dedicated fire crew and great equipment, so let us get on with it. I am asking the Minister of State to go for this, get it into the next round of funding and have it front-loaded.”
“Those plans can be used - copy and paste - and if the design team is looking for money for it, it will be cheaper than starting again with a blank canvas. The Minister of State mentioned how the state of readiness is a factor. This is ready to go. The site is there, it is a brilliant site, and it needs to be prioritised. There is a new programme for 2026 to 2030. If we have to wait for that, I ask that this project be front-loaded into it. There is a huge parking area on the site where the new building will go. There is ample parking, and it provides for that drive in and drive through aspect so that people do not have to reverse fire tenders out. They just drive straight out and go. The Minister of State knows that quick responses with fire are very important. I am, therefore, asking him to front-load and push this project.”
“I thank the Minister of State for that response. I welcome the news on the Stradbally station. I raised it with his predecessor on a number of occasions in the Dáil. That is very welcome; it was badly needed. I would say to the Minister of State by way of being helpful that there is a design for Stradbally. The plan is done. It is a similar size town and a similar size area. The Minister of State can see the stages it goes through. He needs to talk to the Secretary General of the Department about this. Civil servants sometimes get bogged down in things like the appointment of design consultants and submissions of preliminary design. We can take that out straight away if we can use the same plans.”
“The Minister of State knows the importance of the fire service. Pay and conditions have been improved, which we all welcome. A lot of us campaigned with them to get that. I acknowledge that their equipment has improved dramatically in the past ten to 15 years. Training has improved. In Rathdowney, though, what is missing is the new fire station.”
“Otherwise, they have to park on kerbs and on double yellow lines, so there is a real problem with that. The good news is there is a site literally around the corner from it. People can drive in and through it. It is one of those new fire stations that have been modernised and which people can drive through, like they have in other stations in County Laois. These can be put in. It is a shovel-ready project. We do not need to draw up new plans. There are existing plans that have been used in similar towns. As I said to the Minister for housing yesterday, we should stop running to architects the whole time - we do not need to. Copy and paste; give whoever drew up the plans a bit of extra money for the royalties and get on with the plans we already have. This is a shovel-ready project.”
“The station is serving a large area across south Laois, across nearly into Roscrea, Ballaghmore, across to Offaly, back across to north Kilkenny and all that area, back into Errill and Ballinakill and up as far as Abbeyleix. It is a huge area. There is a real problem with space in the station. They have good equipment; the system has been modernised over the years and money has been put into it. I acknowledge that the equipment has improved dramatically. They just need extra space. They have one shower. As the Minster of State can imagine, it is totally unacceptable for a large crew to come back in after a house fire or any kind of fire and have one shower between them. There is no parking area. They have to look for parking at a business down the road and hope the little area in front of that is not already full up.”
“That slows down the response time in terms of getting out to calls. There is a larger fire crew there now. It was down to four and five for a year or two. It is now up to nine and is due to go to 12. There will be 12 firefighters in that station but there is physically no space for them. The changing area is absolutely tiny, about 2.5 m or 3 m in each direction. It is basically a small cubicle of an area to change in. I also bring it to the Minister of State's attention that some of the firefighters are women. There are three women, including Shusha Killeen, the station officer who is doing a good job there along with the very committed staff in the station who maintain the equipment very well.”
“I am raising the issue of the need for a new fire station in Rathdowney. This has been sought for a number of years now. The current station was built to house a jeep and the small mobile pump they used to pull behind them. I do not know if the Minister of State would remember them, the old Land Rovers. Smaller towns had them and that is what the station housed. There are three vehicles there now, including two large fire tenders and one jeep. Only one of the larger vehicles and the jeep can be housed in it. It is very difficult to get the large tender in and out because it is on a narrow street and it is a very small building. I can tell the Minister of State it takes good skill. I witnessed one of the crew reversing it in recently. It took great skill to get it in and out.”
“Sometimes the Government comes in here and does not oppose a motion, but will it act on it? That is the question going out of here today. The Government must take action on this. Young carers need it and I appeal to the Government to follow through.”
“The line Minister in this Department is a former Minister for Education and a former school principal so she will know what we are talking about here and recognise the responsibility to put proper targeted programmes in place to support young people and to keep them in education. The Government must recognise fully the unpaid work of these carers, including the amount of work they are doing and the saving to the State, and it must guarantee some respite days and a young carer’s grant alongside bursaries for education, counselling and psychological support. I am asking the Government to bring forward its plan. What is in this motion is very reasonable. The Government says it is not opposing it and I welcome that, but this often happens. I have been watching this for 14 years.”
“Young carers are not recognised in the programme for Government and if it is to be reviewed at any time they should be included in it. More importantly, the Government should act on this motion now. We need commitments to support this group. The Government must commit, as the motion proposes, to put in place a cross-departmental group on young carers and designate a Department that will have lead responsibility and commit it to developing the dedicated programme of supports called for here. Identifying carers is also important. Sometimes they are hidden. Some people keep these things very private, but it may affect them in their schooling and their social life.”
“It can be difficult enough for people my age who have been through the trials and tribulations of life, but for young people in adolescence it must be very difficult and really affect them. Their education is affected, as I said, and the Department of Education needs to recognise this. It is important to try to keep young people in the school system. That means providing extra supports, especially for young carers. These young people could be dealing with addiction situations in the household, a mental health issue, a physical health issue or all three. This is really serious. We need to provide those supports. The rules that cover the carer’s allowance and other income supports often act as a huge barrier to continuing in education and cause problems in the workforce as well when it comes to training and promotion.”
“While I am aware of some carers, the breadth of the issue is very significant and the number of them under 18 is probably well over 70,000 now. They are a very separate group. They are providing great support in an unpaid capacity. They are trying to maintain their education, to keep going, maybe hold down a part-time job and do all sorts of things while doing this. The number will increase because our population is getting older. That is something we know. We need to try to keep people who have disabilities and illnesses in their own homes. This group is helping us to do that and we must acknowledge that. The effects put a huge strain on the mental health of carers young and old, but for a young person in their formative years it must be a huge burden.”
“I welcome this motion from the Labour Party. The proposals in it are very sensible and should be implemented. I also acknowledge the work of Family Carers Ireland and the young carers, some of whom are here, as well as the Laois-Offaly family carers association. The means test needs to be abolished. Carers are on call 24-7. It is not like any other job. They live on small incomes and it is important that is recognised. It places a huge burden on them. It basically takes over their whole life. It determines what they can do and whether they can socialise, have friends or do any other part-time work. It is a huge call on people and we need to accept that. I, like others who have spoken, was surprised by the figures on young carers aged under 18.”
“I thank the Minister for his reply. When we discussed this previously, he indicated that a review was under way or getting under way. While I accept that it is there in law and welcome the clarification regarding the 1984 Act, the Minister, who was until recently a practising barrister, will know from the courts that it is clear there is a consistency problem. He used the word himself and that is what we need to address here. Of course the courts need flexibility and need to be separate from the Oireachtas, but the Department has a responsibility to monitor what is happening at some level in the courts and where there is a complete breakdown in consistency and sentences that are off the Richter scale, such as in the Joe Drennan case, it shows we have a problem and judges need to be clear the sentencing needs to match the crime.”
“However, while the Minister says the provision is there in law, it is not being taken on board in some of the courts. In a case like this where a person is up on serious charges, including shooting up a house, it is clear there should be concurrent sentencing and there needs to be clear guidelines on it.”
“I thank the Minister for his reply. He outlined that there is provision in law for consecutive sentencing and that he is of the opinion that should happen for serious offences. However, in the recent case of Joe Drennan - a young man from near Mountrath in County Laois, where I come from, who was mowed down at a bus stop coming home from work - the driver of the car had 46 previous convictions. He fled the scene. He received a concurrent sentence, which means that he will not serve one additional hour in prison for the killing of the young man. That is shocking. Young Joe Drennan lost his life. His family lost him. There has been a strong campaign in the county to have this reversed. I welcome that the DPP is now appealing the decision.”
“My question is about the progress being made on the review of concurrent and consecutive sentencing. I have discussed the need for movement on this with the Minister outside the Dáil Chamber previously. It is not about locking people up and throwing away the key, but we need some common sense in the sentencing guidelines.”
“We need to be able to copy and paste plans, use the same plans and reduce costs. This is an unnecessary cost in the bill for houses. It will speed up delivery. Let us use the same plans across the State to fit different house types. It is an important issue which I ask the Minister to take on board.”
“Having to bring in an architect and start with a blank canvas in every housing scheme costs a fortune. It costs 10% to 15% extra. It also delays and slows things down. The designs are sent back and forward between the Custom House and local authority technical staff. This can go on for a period. All of that would be cut out. I am not arguing for 1930s- or 1970s-type houses but we increased housing then and in other years when the State was a lot poorer by mass producing. Does the Minister really think people in Laois care if they live in a house that looks like an affordable or social house in Limerick? I certainly would not. That is how it was done. Anybody who ever produced anything at scale did so with mass production. I ask the Minister to talk to senior officials about this and change it.”
“I do not mean that in a condescending way; I am just saying it does not bear any resemblance to reality. We want to keep this scheme working. By all means come forward with improvements regarding value for money or whatever else. Reasonable people will support reasonable measures. It shows the shortage of supply of social and affordable housing to buy. The mass production of homes is never talked about in this House. I took this up with four of the Minister's predecessors and the Secretary General of the Department a number of times. The main parties in this House do not seem to focus on it. We need somewhere between six and ten house types to meet the needs of different family sizes, disabled people, elderly people and single people, etc. We need to use the same plans across the State.”
“The two-year rule - in other words, that the house needs to be within the social housing net for two years with the tenant getting a rent subsidy, housing assistance payment or rental assistance payment - will cause problems because a lot of them will not be in it for two years. The Government is making it very restrictive. It will causes problems and limit the number. In County Laois, it was used in 2023 and 2024. In 2025, a number of homes are in the process of being bought but it is all on hold because there is uncertainty about what will happen. The owners of the properties will not wait indefinitely. That is just a fact of life. I am not exaggerating anything. There are practicalities. I am not too sure who drew this up. I would like to know. They have no idea what is going on out there in the real world.”
“As a constituency TD, the Minister knows the reality is many rental properties are not registered and the tenant has no power to change this fact. Another restriction is the exclusion of reasonable refurbishment costs. This does not bear any resemblance to reality. The facts are that any local authority official will tell you - the Minister knows this as well - that homes in the private rental sector do not receive regular maintenance. There will be shortcomings in that regard. Few homes will come in without needing €10,000, €20,000 or €30,000 to be spent on them. People with a disability are supposed to be okay but they will not be because doors will have to be widened and baths will have to be taken out and a shower put in. If there is no flexibility for the local authority to do that, it will not help their case.”
“The proposed changes to this scheme are greatly concerning. I believe they will cause havoc. This is a scheme broadly welcomed across the House. It is one that has seemed to be working. Does it need to be improved? Everything, of course, can be improved and I would have no objections to that. However, the proposed restrictions the Government is going to put on this scheme could render it redundant. It is going to increase the risk of homelessness. There are no vacant spaces in homeless services in most counties, including the one I live in. The simple reason is the number of people losing their tenancies and finishing up in homeless accommodation. I refer to putting in place restrictions on this scheme such as a requirement for the property to be registered with the RTB.”
“To conclude, we need to mass-produce housing. I have raised this previously with various Ministers. We need six to ten house designs for different needs, for disabled people, single people, families with children, both larger and smaller houses. We need possibly up to ten designs and then we need to use those designs. That will cut out the architectural costs, which are adding 10% to 14% to the cost of building and slowing the process down. Papers go back and forward between Departments. We need to cut this out and use the same designs and plans.”
“The Housing Commission report tells us, at #61.c. that there is an urgency around "enforcing vacant building and vacant site taxation". If one looks closely at the report, one sees that the residential zoned land tax, at 3%, is not enough. I do not want that tax levied on active farmland but it needs to be levied on land that is not active farmland and it needs to be stepped up a gear if we want it to work. Only 16 local authorities have actually levied the vacant sites levy, on 186 sites in total in the country. There is a whole string of local authorities that have not even designated one site as subject to the vacant site levy. That is really unusual. We have to free up the land and reduce the costs. These are two things that can be done and the Housing Commission report tells us that they need to be done.”
“Workers and families who are just above the limit for social housing but who do not have a hope of getting a mortgage or a loan for a house are losing out. They are stuck in private rented accommodation, paying skyrocketing rents with no security of tenure for themselves or their families. They are locked in and those who are over 40 or 45 have no hope whatsoever. We need to start providing affordable and social housing for them, including in small towns like Mountrath, as well as in larger towns like Mountmellick, Portarlington, Portlaoise, Graiguecullen, Rathdowney, Abbeyleix and similar towns. We need affordable housing to buy and rent in those towns. We need cost rentals for workers and families. I know that we cannot pull rabbits out of hats but I would make two points to the Minister.”
“The housing targets were missed last year by a country mile. The leaders of the Government promised before the election that up to 40,000 units would be delivered, but when we got through the election, we discovered that we just about built 30,000. The signs this year for social housing in particular, and indeed for housing delivery overall, are not very promising. Two areas that are really being left behind are cost rental and affordable-to-buy housing. The affordable housing scheme, as currently designed, is not working and it will not work in most parts of the country. The Minister does not have to take my word for it. If he speaks to local authority managers and housing officials around the country, they will tell him it is not working.”
“That may not be appropriate for some of those disciplines because it may be required at a different level. I do not know the ins and outs of that but where apprenticeships can be used, can we look at doing that and increasing the supply? This year, with the new academic year, can we further increase the places in universities in those disciplines?”
“I thank the Minister for his reply. While there are moves afoot, it needs to be at a scale and a pace to match the demand that is there. The HSE states in one of its replies to me that there is an apprenticeship programme for social workers. Can there be apprenticeship programmes for other disciplines? Maybe that cannot be done but that is possibly one area that could be used. We agree that the current situation cannot continue. We have to expand what is there. However, on the way home last night at 9.30 p.m. on the local radio, I heard an advertisement from a private company seeking people in these disciplines and are recruiting them. There is a huge problem there with retention in the HSE. The Minister is right about increasing the supply because obviously that has to happen. On training places, I mentioned apprenticeships.”
“I know it cannot be fixed overnight, and it means increasing the pipeline. What is being done by Government to increase the workforce supply pipeline? We cannot flick a switch, I understand that.”
“Sometimes that is from the credit union or from family and friends but sometimes it is from moneylenders. Voluntary organisations such as Laois Offaly Families for Autism try to plug the gap. A voluntary organisation tried to plug the gap for some families and provide whatever services they could out of their limited resources but they can only do a small percentage of what is needed, so there are gaps in services. This is not a new problem. The problem is older than this House, or the time I am in this House, I should say, and going back to when I was a county councillor. This problem has been raised with me for the last nearly three decades, way back into the 1990s. A particular problem in Laois is that there is only a third of OT posts filled, with some of the other ones outlined, and some posts have no staffing whatsoever.”
“I raise this with the Minister on behalf of parents who are at their wits' end on this issue. For children who badly need services and who have autism, ADHD, dyspraxia or a range of other disabilities, the services are not there. These children are missing out on assessments, therapies and, crucially, on care at a crucial stage in their development. We all know that children with special needs require the early interventions. Early intervention equals better outcomes but late or no interventions lead to huge problems later in life. This can cause huge problems for families and children do not go on to live the full lives they should. It is putting enormous pressure on families, so parents, including those who cannot afford it, are going private for assessment and in some cases are borrowing thousands of euro.”
“I raise the issue of staffing of children's disability network teams across the country. I have replies here from the HSE that say between 22% and 29% of posts are vacant. In Laois, I can tell the Minister that there are posts where there is 100% vacancy and 67% vacancy. In Laois, there is a chronic situation regarding staffing. The figures for network 12, which covers most of the county, are absolutely shocking. I will give the Minister a flavour of what they are. Occupational therapy is 33% staffed and 67% vacant. Speech and language is 46% staffed. Physiotherapy is 50%, and these are the three critical disciplines, as I understand it, for children who are on the autism spectrum. If you go down to therapy assistants, there are zero levels of staffing. Dietetics, zero. Behaviour therapists, incredibly, are zero.”
“We are supposed to be moving towards a universal health system under Sláintecare. As I understand it, we have less than two years left to do that. This is one thing we can do, but I wholeheartedly welcome the GP visit card. We need to go the whole way and we need to start moving up the income limits. I think the Minister will agree that a €184 income threshold in 2025 is just off the Richter scale. She mentioned the balance. The seesaw is tipped too much against those on lower incomes.”
“I thank the Minister for the reply. That is helpful because the GP visit card is welcome. We acknowledge that it is there. The figures she gave mean that, I think, about one in 12 people who are entitled to it have applied for it and got it, or one in 11 or something like that. Obviously, there is a big piece of work there for the Government and all of us to try to get the word out there on that. It is important that we get people into primary care and that we are able to treat them in primary care because many people neglect their own health due to health costs and they finish up with a more chronic condition in some accident and emergency unit. Obviously, that is not the place we want them to be. It is bad not only for their health and for outcomes but also for financial management within the HSE.”
“I thank the Minister for her reply. I have another question about people of working age, or people under 66, as they are referred to in the question. This question refers to people over 66 years of age. I have deliberately phrased the questions that way because for people who are under 66, the income thresholds are €184 for a person who is single and €201.50 if you are over 66. The basic rate of social welfare is €50 ahead of that at the moment. For a couple, the figure is €266.50, and for a couple over 66, it is €298. I ask the Minister to picture this. For a couple with two children, €342 is the limit, the income threshold. I checked yesterday. I checked the HSE website and I double-checked on the Citizens Information website to make sure I had not got this wrong. It is a real problem for workers and families.”
“I welcome the opportunity to put this question. I congratulate the Minister and the Minister of State beside her, Deputy Murnane O'Connor, on their appointments. It is the first time I have had an opportunity to raise an issue with the Minister in the Dáil, so I wish her the best of luck in her position. She has a big job ahead of her. I want to raise with her the income threshold for medical card entitlements. We have not moved on this for years. It is causing problems. There are a great many people caught there without it who are in desperate need of it. We have the aim of getting to a universal health system but we are caught in this situation now and we need movement on it.”