David Cullinane
Waterford · Sinn Féin · Ireland
“I met many of those patients and people with the illness yesterday. Many of them were here in Leinster House. They told me, as they have in the past, they cannot walk and they cannot swallow and, as the Taoiseach acknowledged, it is also very difficult for their families who have to watch as their condition worsens and the disease progres…”
“In fact, in the programme for Government the Government committed to reviewing that process because it was accepted it does not always work. The technical review group obviously now needs to be convened and needs to meet urgently. Emily cannot afford more delays.”
“Yesterday, as the Taoiseach knows, the HSE drugs group met to consider reimbursement of Skyclarys, the first approved treatment that can slow the progression of Friedreich's ataxia. Patients hoped for a positive decision. This process has been ongoing for years.”
“They were left desperately making phone calls, checking for updates, asking journalists and asking politicians if they had heard anything. They were treated appallingly. Then, when the news did eventually filter though, they were left devastated.”
“Richard Walsh, consultant neurologist and co-director of the National Ataxia Clinic, has described this drug as a ground-breaking development. He has said that he would prescribe it if it were available in Ireland and that it may reduce the rate of disease progression.”
“"We are not going to regain any of the abilities we've lost, but Skyclarys will give us time. Time when you're dealing with our progressive relentless disease is everything. We all deserve time with our loved ones." Those are the words of Emily Felix, a 28-year-old trainee solicitor from Kilkenny who is living with Friedreich's ataxia.”
The complete record
Every one of 786 lines we hold for David Cullinane, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 5 of 16.
“This is price-gouging with companies exploiting a crisis to squeeze more profit out of households already under severe pressure. This is an emergency and a crisis for each and every one of those families. The Government's response so far has been completely out of touch. This morning, we heard Ministers saying families may feel acute pressure in the coming days. What an understatement. Another Government TD said on television last night that it is premature to talk a the cost-of-living crisis. What planet are they on? There is a cost-of-living crisis right here, right now facing so many families. The Government does not seem to understand what people are facing. This is not something that might happen in the future. People are in crisis today. People cannot wait.”
“Within days, the same supplier was charging €700. Another worker, a carer who travels long distances for her job, paid €447 for 500 litres last month. This week she checked again and the price had jumped to over €800. For her, as she put it to me, higher diesel and heating costs mean that she may have to take a second job just to stay afloat. I also heard from pensioner households, who placed orders earlier this week, only to be told the price could not be confirmed until the day of delivery. When they checked again, the costs had nearly doubled. They had to cancel their order because they did not have the money to pay for it. This is the reality facing people right here, right now today. Workers, carers, farmers, pensioners and rural households have no alternative to heating oil.”
“Across the State, households are watching the price of fuel surge in real time. In the days since the US-Israel strikes on Iran, the cost of home heating oil has skyrocketed. We are hearing from people across the country and, in most cases, the price of a delivery has effectively doubled. The average price for 500 litres is now just under €800. Since my colleagues and I have raised this issue publicly over the past number of days, I have been inundated with emails from people describing what is happening. One household told me that on Saturday, they were quoted €525 for heating oil. Days later, the same supplier was charging €859. When prices jump like that in a matter of days, people draw a very obvious conclusion: somebody is cashing in on a crisis. It is not just one case. A worker who contacted me ordered oil at €498 at the weekend.”
“In some places the problem is that we do not have the staff to operate equipment, and somewhere else equipment is not being used because it is out of date, breaking down and needs to be replaced. We have these issues. Surgery is where I think the Minister's own attention is very important. We are seeing slippage in prostate cancer surgeries and breast cancer surgeries. Again, there may well be regional variations but the focus needs to be on where it is slipping and where we are not doing as well. The health regions can add real value from this perspective.”
“One of the benefits of having health regions is that we can have this type of focus, we can drill into the data and we can have real accountability. There are regional imbalances, county imbalances and very localised imbalances. The cancer strategy is a national strategy. We have specialist centres. I want this to be maintained, of course. It is really important. Where the areas of chemotherapy and radiotherapy are a problem, and where we are slipping, we have to fix the problem. From what I can see, part of this is due to equipment being out of date and not having staff to operate some equipment. I have tabled parliamentary questions on this and gone through it in detail.”
“There are also issues in relation to diagnostic equipment and radiotherapy equipment. Much of it is out of date, particularly radiotherapy equipment. I see this and hear about it from local representatives and from hospitals. The key issues are staffing and equipment. If we put these in we can improve the areas where we are not doing as well as we should.”
“We would all accept that early intervention in healthcare is very important, especially for cancer patients, from the first GP referral to a consultant, diagnostics, treatment and surgery. I acknowledge that in some of the areas we are still doing very well but there are areas where there is slippage. Data from 2025 shows that 15% of chemotherapy patients and 21% of radiotherapy patients did not start their treatment on time. It also shows major delays in surgical care, which is concerning A total of 61% of prostate cancer surgeries were not carried out in the recommended time frame, which is the gold standard we all want and we all accept. A total of 45% of breast cancer surgeries and 39% of lung cancer surgeries did not happen in the recommended time frame in 2024 and 2025.”
“This question is on cancer services and the national cancer strategy. We have had two strategies, the one coming to an end and the previous one, and they have added real value and are among the best success stories in the Irish health service. I am blown away by the work people do in this area, with research, development, new technology, new drugs and new treatments. It is mind blowing and it is of benefit to patients. There has been slippage in some of the key performance indicators, KPIs, and some of the access times and wait times. I will go through them later. We should accept any slippage and we cannot afford any slippage. We really need to keep the focus on what has been a real success story for the health service.”
“This is particularly the case in the south east where I live, where children are waiting four, five, six or in some cases even eight years. They are listed as urgent cases and the most urgent cases are when children are in pain. There is a lot of work to be done in this area. I acknowledge what the Minister has said but there are so many issues to be addressed.”
“I welcome that as well. It will add real value. The Minister spoke about oral health generally. The are issues with screening in schools. Enough simply is not being done. There is a need for more publicly hired dentists. I have made the same argument in relation to GPs. I would like to see a public GP contract but for dentists we need to look at that space. Dentists are not engaging with the dental treatment services scheme. There are rights and wrongs on both sides. I have said to dentists and the representative body that there is an obligation on dentists to ensure the most vulnerable patients have access to services. We need to beef up the public system particularly in terms of screening and orthodontists because of the waiting times.”
“I agree with Minister about the wider issues, a new oral health policy and stronger regulation and so on but if it is a case of right here, right now, the Dental Council of Ireland tells us it does not have sufficient powers. It may have some powers and there are other powers but these dentists are going undetected, are not properly sanctioned and I am hearing of these horror stories. I think this was reported in The Irish Times last week as well. They are serious issues that need urgent intervention.”
“I welcome the wider work but the Dentists Act, an issue I have been over several times, does not provide the Dental Council of Ireland with sufficient powers to deal with unregistered dentists. In fact, it has been saying recently that it has not been able to take action against a total of 37 unregistered dentists over the past eight years, including one who was practising unregistered with a sexual assault conviction. I met a locum dentists recently who spoke to me about some horror stories of him being placed in unregistered dental practices. Some of the stuff would make the hairs stand on the back of your head. He was very concerned. There needs to be a review of that Act.”
“The Dental Council of Ireland does not have sufficient powers to protect the public from unregistered dentists. It has been unable to act in 80% of cases of credible concern of unregistered dentists in the past three years. I have met council representatives on a number of occasions. I assume the Minister has as well. It has been raising this matter for some considerable time. I also know compulsory continuing professional development, CPD, is important and the Minister is working on it and has supported it. Regulation and powers for the Dental Council of Ireland are what is at play. Will she set out her intentions are in this regard?”
“I refer to one of the lessons we have to learn if the certainty is not there, if the pathway is not there and if there are no timeframes for colocation while these hospitals are trying to expand and provide the services they need to provide in the here and now as well as for five, ten or 20 years' down the road. Being tied to colocation can be problematic when there are no real timeframes or movement. The Minister might be able to give her insight into the Coombe and Limerick as well.”
“The decision for the Rotunda in relation to colocation has raised issues around other colocation proposals as well. The Minister mentioned Holles Street, which is moving to Elm Park and which is much more advanced. There is a plan for Limerick and for the Coombe. Now questions are being asked about where they stand, particularly the Coombe, which is to move to the site adjacent to the new children's hospital, which is yet to open. Are there timeframes for that? What is the policy of the Government? Is there any fresh thinking on the Coombe given the decision that was made for the Rotunda Hospital? It is really important that certainty is given to all of those hospitals.”
“However, it is possible to have a planning application that can address some of those concerns but also provide world-class, first-class buildings and capacity for the staff who, as the Minister said, do a wonderful job in the Rotunda Hospital. I am satisfied that this can be achieved. It will require funding and support at every step of the way from Government.”
“The colocation plan unfortunately was an anchor around the hospital for far too long so I welcome the fact that anchor has now been removed. It is policy since 2015 but very little money has been spent on it and there was no real timeframe. An Coimisiún Pleanála's decision did mention colocation not as the main reason but certainly as one of the factors it took into account, so removing that obviously helps. It is possible and necessary that we protect the built environment that is Parnell Street. Nobody, including the master of the hospital, disputes that the architectural heritage of that building is important.”
“My first question is on the Rotunda Hospital. Since the question was tabled, however, a memo was brought to Cabinet and the Minister has decided to abandon the plans to colocate the Rotunda Hospital with Connolly. If I am right that this is her position, she might outline that. Now the key thing has to be what happens with the critical care unit. I welcome that, as part of an enhanced planning application and the critical care unit, the sexual assault unit will also be enhanced. The Minister might take the opportunity to update the House on those two very important projects.”
“A better approach would be to allow the Minister to look at each flavour on a case-by-case basis. Some examples were given. That is a more common-sense approach and it would allow the Minister to make the decision. That is something we will debate during the passage of the next Bill. I would support the vast majority of what is in the Bill that was announced. It is just that part I have a small concern about.”
“The Minister of State spoke on the issues I raised earlier relating to the parallel Bill signed off on by the Cabinet yesterday. I would support the vast majority of that Bill, or of what I saw reported of it. Banning the sale of pouches to under-18s is something I would support. Colour images and packaging geared towards children should be banned. Vapes that resemble toys and all of that should absolutely be banned. I have a slight concern about limiting the sale of flavours to just nicotine. I could give a number of examples of flavours that adults use and are not directed at children. This is not because there is lobbying coming from the sector. I have not been lobbied directly, to my knowledge, by it. I have spoken to vapers who say it is a concern. I would probably ban the vast majority of flavours.”
“I will await the Minister of State's response, and see what clarification comes from her. I am sure her officials will have a response to that and I am interested to hear what it is. I hope she will be able to allay fears because individuals have raised those concerns with me, which is why I am supporting the Deputy's amendment. I look forward to the Minister of State's response.”
“I support the intent behind Deputy Rice's amendment. We have seen in the sale of alcohol, for example, where the industry has tried to get around changes which were brought in in relation to the display of alcohol in supermarkets and shops. The industry, whether the tobacco industry, the vaping industry or the alcohol industry, will always be looking for ways to get around legislation that we bring in for specific and clear purposes. Deputy Rice is correct. It is important because this Bill is for one purpose only, that is, to ban single-use vapes. If it is the case then through some unintended consequence that the definition is not clear, that will allow the industry or people who sell vapes to get around that and, obviously, that would be problematic.”
“The Minister of State should bear in mind that vaping is a cessation tool for some people to move away from smoking and what we do not want is that those people would go back to smoking if the only option is a tobacco-flavoured vape. If you have a different flavour that is not targeted at children but is being used by adults, that might be a step too far. I am merely saying that now. Obviously, we will have time at the health committee or whatever way the heads of Bill will come before us. That is not to take away from the substance of this Bill, which I support. As I said, I have one amendment that I will briefly speak to.”
“There are other elements that may be in that proposed Bill as well. I want to flag one concern I have in this area. I believe that anything that targets children, of course, we should intervene in, and we should act. There are all sorts of flavours. There are dozens of flavours of these vapes, many of which target children, for example, bubble gum and the obvious ones. There are others that are less targeted at children, but actually adults use them. I have engaged with many vape smokers and they tell me that if the ban was to apply to all flavours with the exception of tobacco, that would be a problem for them.”
“I want to make a few brief remarks, if I can. We will get through this very quickly. Obviously, I support the Bill. For a long time, I have been calling for a ban on single-use vapes and it makes sense for obvious reasons. There is an amendment that I have down that we will get to. I suspect the Government will not be accepting it but I will speak briefly to it. I want to quickly raise issues regarding a proposed parallel Bill that was signed off on by Cabinet yesterday, as I understand it, or at least the heads of which have been signed off on. There are some elements of that proposed Bill that I support because the thrust of it is that the vaping industry is targeting children in an unacceptable way and there is a move, as I understand it, by Government to ban flavours in relation to vapes.”
“Much more needs to be done for those complex cases and children who are waiting for urgent care and who are deteriorating by the day.”
“Their families are heartbroken. They come to us all the time and ask us what can be done for their children. We can only raise it in here. This is the only way we can do it, by coming into the Dáil to use our voices to raise their cases. We want those children to get the care they need. I accept they are complex cases but they are children who are deteriorating before their parents’ eyes. They are asking us to appeal to the Government - to beg it - to do everything possible to ensure those children get the care they need. While I welcome the fact we are having a debate here today, we have an awful lot more to do and a lot of road to travel before we rebuild parents’ trust and confidence in CHI or in this Government’s handling of all these issues.”
“However, she is the Minister - she has a copy of a report that is very serious and has findings. Nobody, with the exception of the Minister and people in the HSE, knows what is in that report. The parents do not know and nor do we in opposition. I do not know when we will ever know. The Minister still has not told me when the report will be published, if ever, because the Dixon report was never published and nor have been the other report that caused consternation for families last year and many more, such as the Arthur Cox report and so on. There is a long history of report after report, review after review, all done behind closed doors, which never see the light of day and parents are the last to know. All the while, children like Mikey Henry-Benson, Lauren Kelly and many others are still waiting for treatment.”
“It has to look at all the failures from top to bottom within CHI and it must look at each and every one of those failures for each and every one of those children. I do not get a sense that this is what this public inquiry will do. I still do not know if it will be a statutory inquiry and what role and powers it will actually have. However, I do know what parents want, which is an inquiry where there is absolutely no hiding place for anybody because what they have seen so far in all the reports I mentioned earlier is a lack of accountability and hiding places left, right and centre. We are told by the Minister that because of High Court proceedings the Nayagam review’s findings cannot be published. My understanding is the Minister was not party to those proceedings, which were between the HSE and the High Court.”
“I accept she is going to say a facilitator has been appointed who will scope out what this public inquiry will do, but I have never really heard from the Minister what she expects this inquiry to do. I will tell her what I expect the inquiry to do, however, which is establish all the facts, wherever they lead us, and establish where the failures are, wherever they lead us, whether it is organisational, individual, clinical or political. It has to establish the facts and all the failures. It has to look at all those issues: at waiting times, how people were moved off urgent care lists, which is something we saw with tragic consequences; individual care needs for some children, for obvious reasons; urology services; and oncology services.”
“I want to get to that because that is really important and that was the substance of the meeting I had with advocates and parents this week in advance of this debate. They met the Minister and the Tánaiste in good faith. They want to be equal partners in shaping the terms of reference. They should be equal partners. They are more equal, in my view, than CHI, the HSE or the Department because it is their children who are being failed. As an Teachta McDonald said, theirs are the voices that must be front and centre and must have primacy in relation to the terms of reference. However, they tell me they were promised a mediator, not a facilitator, who would recognise those advocates and parents as equal voices. They do not see that that is what this process is. I still do not know, and I did not hear it in the Minister's speech today.”
“What they tell us is that they had been shouting from the rooftops about all those issues for years and they were met with a stone wall of resistance from the Government. In fact, an Teachta McDonald and I and others in opposition were coming in on a weekly basis and raising many of these issues and we were told in some instances that there was nothing to see here. That was the reality of it, yet we had to go back and face parents who were telling us there was something to see here. There is failure right across the board, and we now are seeing that. We saw it in some of the reports, but we obviously have not seen all of the reports. The problem then is that there are still children who are being failed. The Minister has committed to a public inquiry.”
“There was also to be a report on equity of access. That was an audit the Minister had promised was to be published by the end of November. It was then promised to be published by the end of February. My understanding is that it still is not complete. That was to look at equity of access, particularly for those complex cases and all of that. I mention all those reports because it really does show the level of scandal, dysfunction and failure that was in CHI. This drives parents mad, and rightly so, and drives advocate groups mad. I meet them all at the time. As I said, I have met many campaigners. My party colleague spoke to a lady called Úna Baker, who is also an advocate and campaigner in this area.”
“The media knew before the parents were even briefed on it, and that was days after the Minister had received the report and, indeed, the HSE had the report since September of last year. That was only one part of two reviews Mr. Nayagam was doing. The second is now going to look at all those systemic failures that have been identified in many the other reports I have talked about. We also had the famous unpublished report that looked at failures in urology and oncology services for children. Again, it referenced the orphan children, HR issues and very clear management and systemic failures within CHI. We had a report on where and how money had been spent and whether it had been spent for the purposes for which it was intended. We had a report, unfortunately, on hip dysplasia and all the mistakes that were made in that area.”
“Even though it talked about a cohort or subset of children, I met a number of those parents this week in advance of this debate and they told me they still have not received that report and do not know what is in it, yet they know their children are mentioned. We had an Arthur Cox report that looked at the role of management in relation to, again, the use of unauthorised springs. We had the first part of the Nayagam review, which is still not published. We know there are findings in it. We know there are recommendations. We know very clear clinical failures were identified in that report, yet the very children who are part of that review and their parents, again, were the last to know, because everybody else seemed to know.”
“I would argue there were also political failures in all this because many of the issues that were identified had been raised by parents and by those of us in opposition and, in fact, by advocacy groups and I would say they were ignored. We had the Boston report. We had the Dixon report, which is still unpublished. As the Minister knows, the Dixon report talked about orphan children, by which it meant children who were falling through the cracks. They were not under one consultant or another. Their care was missed. They were not getting the multi-specialist treatment they should have been getting and so on. They were identified in that report as orphan children. Many more failings were identified as well. That report was never published.”
“If we look at what has happened since Simon Harris made that promise, more children have deteriorated, more children have got worse and more families have had to take to the media to highlight their children's cases. We have had scandal after scandal, and report after report. Let us look at some of that for a second to really digest how bad things were. We had a HIQA report that examined the use of unauthorised springs. As the Minister knows, that HIQA report was damning in relation to failures in CHI. It obviously identified clinical failures, and I accept those failures, but there were management failures, systemic failures and organisational failures.”
“The appalling ongoing treatment of children with scoliosis and spina bifida is absolutely disgraceful. This month is eight years since Simon Harris made that commitment that no child with scoliosis and spina bifida would have to wait longer than four months for life-changing and, in some cases, life-saving treatment. What has happened since is appalling, and it really shows how bad things were in CHI. Before I get to that, I want to acknowledge that there are some excellent staff working in Crumlin, Temple Street and Cappagh hospitals who do fantastic work because I have met many of them. They are as scandalised as I am and as the parents and advocates are because they want the best for children.”
“I am not going to be two-faced and come in here to say the Government has done a great job when the facts speak for them selves - 257 closures which should be owned by this Government, by the Minister and by each and every member of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael over the past ten years who have done precious little to save those post offices which have closed. If the Minister of State, Deputy Healy-Rae, was standing where I am now, which he was, he would be saying exactly the same thing but of course he is whistling a different tune now he is a Minister of State.”
“I wonder do the 15 post offices that closed in Kerry and the 257 post offices that closed across the State agree they have been safeguarded. He also talked about the Government being deeply committed to post offices. Again, I wonder do those 257 post offices which closed feel that. The reality is that for far too long the Government has not valued post offices. Where I do agree with the Minister of State is that, of course, we should, and we do, all support our post offices. However, as Deputy McGuinness outlined, most of the closures took place because of the contracts which are in place and the lack of viability. There has been report after report, including one done by a Kerry man, that outline what needs to be done to support rural Ireland and rural post offices and this Government took no notice of what was said at all.”
“Two hundred and fifty seven post offices closed over the last ten years. Those were 257 post offices that were in rural and urban communities which have now gone. People know Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael were in part responsible for that but I listened to the Minister of State, Deputy Healy-Rae’s comments earlier and it is quite something to have sat here before the last election and watched as the Minister of State, Deputy Healy-Rae, challenged the Government quite robustly on its failures for rural Ireland day in, day out and week in, week out. Since the election, he has gone over to the other side of the House and sits there as a Minister of State. He praises the Government and praises every Government Minister. He said today that he wanted to praise the Government for "safeguarding post offices".”
“There is a big difference between providing limited information, as the Minister does, and transparency. I think communities out there see it. They are calling the Minister out on it. They are calling the Government out. They are hoping that the Minister will make the changes that are necessary but, given his response to the previous comments made by Deputy Carthy, I and others, I think they will be waiting a while for that to come.”
“If there were problems left, right and centre that the Comptroller and Auditor General found, was he wrong? Is the Minister saying he was wrong? Deputy Carthy rightly called the Minister out when he said he saved tens of millions of euro. That only adds to what we are saying. He is making the argument for us that what we are calling for is what is needed. In the conclusion to the Minister's earlier comments, he said that this amendment is not necessary. That is what troubles me. I think the Minister believes what is there at the moment is robust, and he believes what is there at the moment is the level of transparency that I, the Members of this House and communities should have. I do not buy into that, and I do not believe it. I believe in much higher levels of transparency. I will finish where I started.”
“We want to make sure that the highest levels of transparency apply. That brings me to the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report. If all of those checks and balances that the Minister says are in place were in place, why is it that the Comptroller and Auditor General, in his report, found major weaknesses in IPAS contracting? Why is it that he found overpayments, incorrect VAT charges, poor invoice verification, inadequate due diligence on providers and weak monitoring of accommodation standards? The report concluded that financial controls were insufficient and that the system allowed significant failures and potential profiteering. Those are not my words or Deputy Carthy’s words. They are the words of the Comptroller and Auditor General, who looked into this area and found there were problems left, right and centre.”
“A private company runs the service. There were about 80 families living in the accommodation at the time, and they invited me out because they had issues they wanted to talk about with their local public representative. When I got there, the manager of the centre would not allow me in. She said that I would have to make an appointment and come back again. I said that was fair enough and asked to make an appointment, but she said that, no, I could not meet them there. I was eventually barred from that centre. I certainly raised that with the Minister for Justice at the time. What really struck me was the “out of sight, out of mind” approach that was in place. There are genuine issues of transparency with regard to companies providing a service where over €1 billion is being spent and tens of millions are being made.”
“I think the Minister is confusing providing information with transparency. He said earlier that there is a high level of transparency. It depends on what information he is providing. If the information is vague and does not provide what should be provided, I am afraid the transparency is not there. In relation to the profiteering that we certainly see in this area, I will get to the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report shortly, given that it was very clear about what it uncovered. There are also issues in relation to the suitability of some of the companies or individuals providing this accommodation. Do they have experience in this area? Are they the best people? Are the companies the best companies to provide the service? I remember that some 15 years ago, I was invited to a direct provision centre in Waterford city.”
“On financial schedules, is there a reason that cannot be done, or in regard to performance reports and compliance assessments relating to accommodation, which would surely benefit everybody? In life and politics, we know that transparency protects everybody and a lack of transparency is our enemy. We have seen that on this and other issues. If the Government is not transparent in what it is doing, or is not seen to be transparent, that causes more difficulties and challenges for the political system and more damage within communities. For that reason, I ask the Minister to support the amendment.”
“Notwithstanding all that and whatever views we might have of using such accommodation - and I agree with previous speakers that public provision is always best, rather than lining the pockets of these wealthy people - unfortunately it is happening. Unfortunately, it is a feature of this Government providing IPAS accommodation and there is no transparency. What an Teachta Carthy is trying to do through this amendment is to bring some level of transparency whereby we and the public are aware of exactly what is being paid. As the amendment states, "The Minister shall publish all contracts". Is there a reason that cannot be done? On subcontracts, is there a reason that cannot be done?”
“I certainly support more public provision. That is where we should be and it was something the Government committed to before. The Minister has talked about this in the past himself when he said some progress is being made but I can tell him that people see it themselves. They know what is happening in their own communities, where they see people who are making huge amounts of money out of this. It is accommodation that, in some cases, is hotels in areas where we know that is not the best way to provide IPAS accommodation. In other areas, it is accommodation that is not really fit for purpose but somebody saw an opportunity to make money. There is anger about the level of profiteering and the scale of profits being made by these individuals.”
“Previously and over the course of a number of hours last week, we spoke a lot about the asylum application process itself and the need for transparency in that area. We spent a lot of time today and last week as well on the previous amendment that was taken in relation to the community impact assessments, which the Minister did not accept. Again, that was about transparency and making sure communities were at least consulted and had a voice in relation to what was happening in their communities. We have a similar amendment here in regard to contracts, subcontracts, financial schedules and so on. At the heart of this is a small number of people who have become very wealthy on the back of providing IPAS accommodation. I agree with Deputy Kelly. It is not that we want more private accommodation; it is happening.”