Jennifer Murnane O'Connor
Carlow-Kilkenny · Fianna Fáil · Ireland
“There is nothing any of us in this House can say that can undo the pain, harm and loss experienced by those young boys, their families and the communities in which they lived, played basketball and worked. They have had to endure a lifetime of harm, many of them carrying their suffering in silence.”
“We are listening to you, we are learning and we are acting. All of us in this House have a responsibility to ensure that our child safeguarding systems are robust. We must ensure that if concerns are raised today, they are acted on without delay.”
“Today is a profoundly important and solemn day. I want to add my voice to the full and formal State apology and to acknowledge the courage, dignity and perseverance of those survivors who fought for truth and accountability for so many years.”
“I thank the Deputy for highlighting this very important issue and the 161 recommendations. First, I thank the Joint Committee on Drug Use for its work. I welcomed the report and I am in agreement with many of its recommendations. As the Deputy will be aware, earlier this year I published a draft of the national drugs strategy.”
“The Bill and the secondary legislation, training and clinical protocols that will follow it will support the terms and conditions for this service, as laid out in the community pharmacy agreement. All secondary legislation will be in place before commencement and launch of this measure.”
“No. I thank the Deputy again for her work on the drugs committee. The vast majority of the 161 recommendations will be in the new drugs strategy but one of the recommendations was on the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977. It falls under section 3. That legalises drugs. It is important we tell the people of the concern.”
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“Two new framework agreements, in principle, have been reached with the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association, IPHA, and Medicines For Ireland, MFI, regarding pricing and supply of medicines. As part of these agreements, the State, MFI and the IPHA have agreed to develop a future strategy partnership which will support the Department in developing a pilot early access programme focused on rare diseases, in line with commitments in the programme for Government. There are a few other rare diseases in Ireland. The Minister has committed to working on this. I thank the Senator for raising it.”
“The Senator is right. It is important we get a timeline. There have been a lot of meetings, as the Senator heard from my response. The Minister is absolutely committed. I assure the Senator she appreciates the importance of ensuring patients with Duchenne in Ireland have access to the latest treatment. As a Minister of State in the Department of Health, I am very appreciative of this too and I do understand. The HSE has sole statutory responsibility for making decisions about which medicines are reimbursed. The Government has been committed to investing in the medicine since 2021. The HSE has approved 250 new medicines and new uses for existing medicines.”
“On 30 September 2025, the NCPE met with the developer to assist in the HTA process. The assessment could not continue until the NCPE received the full health technology assessment from the company, which was received on 15 January 2026. The HSE has advised that it will process and assess any pricing and reimbursement application received as efficiently as possible within the resources available to it. The HSE has also advised that the application remains under consideration and it cannot make any comment on possible outcomes from the ongoing process, but I assure the Senator it is being looked at and is a priority for the Minister.”
“The HSE has statutory responsibility for decisions on pricing and reimbursement of medicines and medical items, in accordance with the Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Act 2013. The Minister for Health met with her Italian counterpart at the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs, EPSCO, Council meeting in June 2025 to ask him to encourage the developing company, Italfarmaco, to submit a timely pricing and reimbursement application to Ireland. On 6 August 2025, an application for reimbursement was received by the HSE and underwent a rapid review by the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics, NCPE. As I said, that happened really quickly. Following the conclusion of a rapid review on 14 August 2025, a full health technology assessment, HTA, was commissioned by the HSE on 26 August 2025.”
“This investment has included dedicated funding of €158 million for new medicines from budgets 2021 to 2025. Budget 2026 allocated an additional €30 million in funding for new drugs. All this investment has allowed the HSE to approve reimbursement for 250 new medicines, or new uses for existing medicines, including 101 for treating cancer and 69 for treating rare diseases. Givinostat, sold under the brand name Duvyzat, has recently undergone assessment by the European Medicines Agency. The EMA evaluation recommended that it be granted conditional marketing authorisation for the treatment of DMD in ambulant patients aged six years or older. The European Commission granted this conditional marketing authorisation on 6 June 2025.”
“I thank the Senator for raising this issue which I am taking on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Carroll MacNeill today. It is an important topic, as the Senator said. Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a rare disease affecting fewer than 200 people in Ireland. The Minister met with families of children with DMD in July 2025 and spoke at Muscular Dystrophy Ireland's national conference in December 2025. The State acknowledges the importance of access to medicines and is aware of the plight of patients with DMD. This Government is committed to providing timely access to new and innovative medicines. Significant investments have been made in recent years, with annual spending on medicines now more than €3 billion. This is a very welcome investment to support patients through the availability of new medicines.”
“New drugs and therapies are being made available and patients are receiving better support with their cancer treatment. I ask the Senator to give me the lady's details because her case is one that we need to look into, particularly as the Senator said that she has gone back down to the end of the waiting list. That is a worry for me. I assure the Senator that the HSE and the Department are working at getting those waiting times down. I thank her for raising this issue today. It is also important to mention Senator Costello who has been highlighting this issue too.”
“What the Senator said is important for women waiting on this surgery. I assure her that the Department and HSE are working on reducing waiting times for this surgery. While immediate reconstruction can avoid a second hospital procedure - I think that is more important - delayed reconstruction allows for more time for decision making and can ensure that necessary cancer therapies are not delayed. Successive national cancer strategies have delivered a continued improvement in the outcomes for cancer patients. Since the beginning of the national cancer strategy in 2017, the Government has allocated €105 million to support cancer services and improve outcomes for patients. Under this investment, more patients are being seen in the specialist centre and more patients are being reviewed.”
“The Government and I recognise the urgency of need for patients to receive their surgery so they can finish their treatment and move on with their lives. The Government remains committed to the implementation of the national cancer strategy and to continually build on improvements to service and better outcomes for patients.”
“The NCCP worked with the HSE acute operations to facilitate access for hospitals to the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF, as a short-term measure to help to speed up the reconstructive surgeries across the different cancer centres and reduce overall waiting times. In 2025, the NCCP provided funding to Cork University Hospital to pilot a project for patients to receive their risk-reducing surgery in the South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital using elective theatre space. This pilot allows surgeries to be scheduled in a timely way suitable to the patients and does not compete with other cancer or unscheduled care demands. My thoughts go out to the patients still waiting for their surgery.”
“The surgery is a stand-alone procedure. It must be scheduled within the overall surgical capacity of the hospital and can be affected by unscheduled care and demand for theatre access. Surgeries can be lengthy and complex depending on the type of reconstruction taking place. Significant clinical and nursing expertise can be needed. The implementation of the NCCP's hereditary cancer model of care, which was published in 2023, means that women who have an identified genetic predisposition can be referred to the specialist services to discuss risk reduction strategies, including preventable double mastectomies, which can include breast reconstruction based on a patient's preference. In 2023, the NCCP carried out a survey of cancer centres that looked at waiting times for reconstruction surgeries.”
“The stage of the diagnosis has a significant impact on survival rates and earlier diagnosis often leads to better outcomes. The Minister, the Department and the HSE recognise that breast reconstruction surgery following treatment for cancer is an important part of a patient's recovery and should be accessible to everyone who wants to have it. There is a wide range of treatments for breast cancer. Surgical options are discussed through the consultant with the patients to see what they want. Where surgery involves a mastectomy, options for reconstruction surgery will also be discussed. The reconstruction is often done at the same time as the mastectomy surgery, but it can be done at a later date. The HSE's national cancer control programme, NCCP, reports that access to services is affected by several issues.”
“I thank Senator O'Loughlin for raising this really important issue today. As she knows, I am taking this Commencement matter on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, who cannot be here. The Senator has highlighted a really important issue. The Government is committed to improving cancer care, ensuring better prevention and maintaining improvements in cancer survival rates and timely access to treatments. As the Senator said, breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in Ireland. Almost 4,000 cases of breast cancer were diagnosed in Ireland in 2025. Fortunately, under the national cancer strategies, survival rates for breast cancer have greatly improved. The most recent figures show a five-year survival rate of 87.5% for people diagnosed between 2019 and 2022, which we all really welcome.”
“It is important that we tell anyone who needs to get their vaccine that they need to get that as soon as possible. Again, I thank the Deputy for highlighting this matter. I will certainly bring his questions back to the Minister and get answers, particularly with regard to children. It is important we look at that again. I thank him for raising this very important topic tonight.”
“Certainly, I will get those answers for the Deputy. I am pleased to note that in this flu season, the uptake rate for the vaccine among adults aged 60 and older was 66%, and for fair deal residents it was 83%, which is high. This is very positive and has been a factor in ensuring hospital and trolley numbers for flu this year are lower than previous years. It is important that we protect ourselves and each other from infection during the winter season by availing of the flu vaccine when it is offered. The introduction of an enhanced vaccine can be reconsidered when the cost effectiveness is more favourable. I will get the Deputy those answers. I urge all those who are eligible for any vaccine under the national immunisation programme, at all stages of life, to take the opportunity to be vaccinated.”
“The HIQA HTA estimates that procurement of the enhanced influenza vaccines would cost between €4 million and €19 million per year. However, the actual costs remain commercially confidential and are not known until tenders are evaluated each year. Decisions regarding increased spending in one area could impact the provision of other technologies and treatments in the healthcare system. Therefore, cost-effectiveness must be considered in any decision-making process. It is important that the Department and the HSE adhere to the value-for-money obligation set out by the Department of public expenditure in relation to the efficient and effective use of public funds and resources.”
“It concluded that evidence specific to the relative effectiveness of enhanced influenza vaccines when compared with standard vaccines was still limited and that further studies were necessary to allow more substantial conclusions on the potential benefits of enhanced influenza vaccines. The HSE is responsible for the procurement of vaccines in line with EU and national procurement rules. It was asked to commence a tender process to determine if enhanced flu vaccines could be purchased at a cost-effective price and within its existing budget. It carried out an analysis of the tenders received and on 4 February 2025 advised the Department of Health that neither of the available enhanced vaccines for older people met the criteria set out in the HTA for net monetary benefit compared with the standard flu vaccine.”
“Based on the limited data, the HTA determined that switching from a standard to an enhanced flu vaccine for those aged 65 and older was likely to reduce the burden of flu. However, whether such a switch would represent a good use of public money would depend on the price of enhanced vaccines when compared with the standard flu vaccine. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, ECDC, reported overall low to moderate relative vaccine effectiveness for the enhanced influenza vaccine against laboratory-confirmed influenza-related hospitalisations.”
“Therefore, the immunisation schedule will continue to change over time. The vaccination programme provides a free flu vaccine to those most vulnerable to the impact of flu. Every year, the WHO reviews global surveillance data and recommends the specific strains that manufacturers should include in the season's vaccines based on the flu strains that are considered most likely to circulate. All licensed influenza vaccines included for the 2025-26 season comply with WHO and NIAC recommendations. In 2024, HIQA carried out an enhanced flu vaccine health technology assessment, which found there were limited studies on the effectiveness of enhanced flu vaccines, along with a lack of data over multiple seasons. Due to the variability of seasonal influenza, a single study may misrepresent average vaccine effectiveness.”
“I thank the Deputy for raising this matter in the House this evening. The Minister for Health shares his concerns about the protection of older adults against influenza. For those in recommended groups, the influenza vaccine reduces the risk of serious illness and death from flu. Ensuring high vaccine coverage is a priority in order to reduce severe illness from influenza, RSV and Covid-19 over the winter period. Ireland’s immunisation programme is based on the advice of the National Immunisation Advisory Committee, NIAC. The committee's recommendations are based on the prevalence of a disease in Ireland and international best practice. NIAC routinely revises recommendations to facilitate the introduction of new vaccines and to keep on top of changing patterns of disease.”
“I see where the Deputy is coming from but the Minister welcomes the news that the development of the primary care infrastructure in County Offaly is progressing, offering a real example of the investment the Government is making in community-based health infrastructure, providing a single point of access to healthcare services for patients. I assure the Deputy that there is currently no barrier to recruitment to primary care services and an additional 200 staff for primary care therapy services have been prioritised in the HSE national service plan. I assure the Deputy that I will be speaking to the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, tomorrow and I will highlight the concerns Deputy Clendennen raised tonight. I thank him for raising this important issue.”
“I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I assure him the Government is committed to providing access to the best care for the people of Ireland. We are clear that no matter where the facilities are located, everyone should have access to adequate and appropriate care based on their needs. Through the delivery of this programme, we are increasing capacity to meet short- and long-term needs, but the surgical hubs and elective treatment centres together will form a national network. These facilities will enable the delivery of care for all patients. Geography will not be a barrier. Instead, consultants and other doctors will be able to refer on the basis of patient need.”
“All of these measures are showing significant investment in the area and will have a very positive impact on the people of the midlands.”
“An additional 12 posts have been allocated to the midlands integrated healthcare area, including posts to address vacancies in occupational therapy and physiotherapy for children’s services in Offaly and Laois. I am also very pleased to advise that additional primary care infrastructure is in development in County Offaly following on from the opening of primary care centres in Tullamore and Banagher in recent years. Birr primary care centre is due to open in the first half of this year. It will include an extensive GP practice and allow the HSE to consolidate its primary care and mental health services under one roof, and this will be of real benefit to the people in the area. The Edenderry PCC is in the early planning stage and a planning application was submitted for this development to Offaly County Council this month.”
“Under this programme of work, in September last year the Minister asked the HSE to put measures in place to address the long waiting lists for physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech and language therapy. This is expected to remove over 60,000 people from these three waiting lists throughout the country. In addition, to ensure the necessary resources are available to maintain waiting lists below that target, the HSE is prioritising recruitment of permanent staff to primary care therapy services, with approval of an additional 200 whole-time equivalents in the national service plan for 2026. It is therefore about recruitment too, which the Deputy spoke about, through the different areas.”
“These new facilities will make a real difference to those who are waiting for access to elective treatments while also freeing up capacity in other hospitals to deal with more complex and emergency cases. Patients in the midlands will have access to these elective treatment centres on an equal basis to everyone else in the country, that is, based on clinical need. This will help to reduce waiting times for elective procedures and ultimately lead to a more efficient and responsive system for everyone. Long waiting times are not unique to the hospital system, however. To address the long waiting times for primary care therapy services, the Department of Health is currently engaging with the HSE on a focused approach to these waiting lists.”
“In order to meet medium-term demand, we are delivering the first phase of increased elective capacity through a national network of surgical hubs. The two surgical hubs at Tallaght and Mount Carmel in south Dublin are already open and are having a real impact on day case waiting lists. There are due to be five more surgical hubs opened in 2026 at Cork, Galway, Limerick, Waterford and in north Dublin. Hubs at Sligo and Letterkenny will then follow, with design for both now under way. In the longer term, and to meet the needs of our growing and ageing population - the Deputy is right to note it is ageing - we are also delivering a national network of elective treatment centres in Cork, Dublin and Galway.”
“I thank the Deputy for raising this really important topic. I am taking this on behalf of the Minister. The Government acknowledges many patients are waiting too long for care, but we are committed to improving access to hospital care and reducing waiting times for patients, including through the multi-annual action plan approach. Building on the progress made to date, we will continue to focus on reducing waiting times for scheduled care in our hospitals through a range of measures, including service reforms and innovation, as well as targeted increases in capacity. The Government is also committed to increasing elective care capacity across Ireland to ensure high-quality and timely scheduled care is available to all.”
“The Minister of State is committed to improving emergency mental healthcare and welcomes this opportunity to set out the range of initiatives the Government is resourcing to make this a reality for the people in our communities who need to access these vital services. I thank all who contributed this evening. It was really important to have this debate.”
“The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, has allocated €1 million in dedicated funding to begin the new strategy, which will be published in the coming months. As we bring tonight's debate to a close, I thank all Deputies for their contributions. We each know constituents who have faced profound crises and have turned to us, as their public representatives, at moments when they felt most alone. The actions the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, has taken and the investment the Government is delivering will ensure our response is more compassionate, more effective and will deliver in the right settings. The Government's ambition is clear and the programme for service reform, integration and expansion is well under way.”
“The Government has listened to this, as the new measures we are funding this year demonstrate. Reducing deaths by suicide is a very complex task but evidence and experience internationally show that measurable improvements in suicide prevention can be achieved through effective cross-sectoral, cross-government and cross-functional working. Connecting for Life adopted this approach and, as a result, suicide reduction initiatives have advanced in many areas, including local government, justice, media, agriculture and health. The strategy had strong cross-departmental support, including from the Departments of Social Protection, justice, education, higher education and agriculture. This will continue and will be strengthened in the new strategy.”
“It will build on the success of the existing strategy, Connecting for Life, while addressing gaps and areas that require more focus. The new policy implementation structures will be supported by a lived experience panel hosted by the National Suicide Research Foundation. We continue to embed lived experience into Government policy formation and delivery. Last year's public consultation involved surveys and a series of in-person consultation sessions. The online survey closed with 1,895 submissions and 200 people were involved in the in-person and online sessions. Access to mental health crisis services and poor experience of presenting to emergency departments emerged as the key theme in these sessions, as detailed in the report on the consultation published by the Department of Health last year. That was the main issue identified.”
“In 2025, we launched a new model of care for consultation psychiatry, which gives hospitals a strong and clear framework for developing these vital services. Liaison psychiatry is the team that supports people who come to emergency departments or hospital wards in need of both physical and mental help, including individuals experiencing eating disorders, self-harm or suicidal thoughts. These services play a crucial role in ensuring people receive the right mental health support when they need it most. As part of budget 2026, we are providing funding for five additional full-time staff to help to put this new model into practice. The Government will shortly publish Ireland's new self-harm and suicide prevention strategy, as referred to by many speakers.”
“The programme also gathers important information on self-harm presentation and shares it with the National Suicide Research Foundation, which keeps Ireland's self-harm register. This data is published every year. In 2024, 12,621 self-harm presentations were reported, a 10% drop compared with 2014. A key part of the service is having a dedicated room in each emergency department for mental health assessments. The national clinical lead has been working with hospitals to ensure these rooms are available. While most hospitals already have such a room, an audit found eight emergency departments still do not have one. The programme is actively working with those hospitals to put that right.”
“The national clinical programme on self-harm and suicide-related ideation works in our hospitals to make sure that anyone who comes to an emergency department after self-harm or because they are thinking about suicide is treated with compassion and gets a quick assessment of what they need. They are then given support and advice on staying safe and a written safety plan that is also shared with their GP. Staff also help link each person with the right follow-up care. The programme is run by teams of specialist mental health nurses and it is now in place in all 26 emergency departments across the country, including every model 3 hospital, with approximately 50 staff involved.”
“We are significantly increasing funding to voluntary and community organisations, including organisations like Pieta House, HUGG and SOS, by €1.7 million, recognising the vital role they play on the ground every day. We are creating a new crisis response pathway for children and young people. This includes 19 new specialist CAMHS doctors to cover emergencies and out-of-hours needs, along with five new adult liaison psychiatrists. This is a major €4 million investment in timely and responsive care. Taken together, these measures show clearly that the Government is serious about strengthening crisis supports, investing in prevention and ensuring help is available when and where the people need it most.”
“These will be safe, welcoming drop-in spaces for anyone who is feeling distressed or overwhelmed. There is a further €4 million dedicated to early compassionate community-based supports, which is really important. Community supports are really important. This year, we also funded 12 additional suicide crisis assessment nurses. These nurses work directly with GPs to support people who come forward in distress. This represents a €1 million investment. We are providing €415,000 for suicide prevention initiatives designed with the Traveller community. This is by the Traveller community, ensuring culturally appropriate support where it is needed most.”
“Building on this progress to date, in budget 2026, we are making real practical investments to help people in crisis when they need it most. First, we are investing €2.8 million this year to begin the establishment of the specialist nursing teams in every major hospital emergency department during the busiest out-of-hours periods. These teams, made up of highly trained advanced nurse practitioners and clinical nurse specialists, will be there to provide immediate support to people who arrive in crisis. We also opening the three new crisis resolution services, with teams made up of expert mental health professionals, and Solace crisis cafes, which are staffed by lived experience peer support workers. These services already operate in six counties and in 2026 will expand to serve communities in counties Donegal and Kerry and the midlands.”
“Funding has increased by over 50% in this time and this has allowed us to recruit more staff, develop new digital services, provide more counselling and roll out specialist services across the country. The ambition of the Government is to provide timely and responsive access to safe, high-quality mental health services for people in mental health crisis and deliver the right care in the right place at the right time. This means effective, compassionate and responsive services in the community, but also in our emergency departments and hospitals. The wider shift to community-based services is particularly significant for mental health where, as we have noted, emergency department and hospital-based services are often not the most appropriate setting for people in distress.”
“This group has been reviewing the issues of mental health crisis supports. A specific work team is developing an overarching framework to better integrate the range of out-of-hours and crisis services and supports available. One of the things that was highlighted again tonight was the crisis service and the supports available. As we continue to expand alternatives to hospitals for those in crisis, this work will deliver on an overarching crisis response framework to align patient pathways, integrate crisis services and address specific service improvements to fill any gaps in provision that are identified. Mental health is a priority for the Government, demonstrated by the record funding increase since 2020.”
“This fact underlines the dual approach we are taking to mental health crisis service reform in rolling out specialist nursing teams in emergency departments and building up our new crisis resolution services in our communities. The main objectives of Sharing the Vision, Ireland’s national mental health policy of which we are all aware - I thank everyone who spoke about it tonight - are to enhance the provision of services and supports across a broad range, from the promotion of positive mental health to specialist mental health service delivery. Actions under the policy cover prevention and early intervention, service access, co-ordination and continuity of care, social inclusion and accountability and continuous improvements. Implementation is being driven by the national implementation and monitoring committee.”
“First of all, I want to thank all the Deputies for their contributions on this important motion this evening. These are vitally important services, and the Government has taken action to reform, reorganise and invest in the services for people facing into a mental health crisis. There is still much work to do to build supports up to where we know they need to be today. As my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, highlighted earlier, this work covers both our hospital-based supports and our community-based alternatives. We know that emergency departments are often not ideal settings for people experiencing a mental health crisis. However, they are an essential 24-hour service, and we know that people will continue to present there when they need immediate care.”
“It will ring-fence the main principle that the best interests of the child must guide every decision we make and acknowledges the critical role played by foster carers and supporters. We appreciate their work.”
“I know this is not in the Minister's remit and I know she will be working with the Minister, Deputy Dara Calleary, but we should always be looking for extra supports for foster carers in order to ensure the financial supports, such as the foster carer's allowance, are fit for purpose. It is important that we continue to ensure that everyone who wants to do this work can do it. Such work is invaluable. The role is invaluable, and we need these people in our society because we just cannot understate the impact of their work and the effect they have on our children. I again commend the Minister, Deputy Foley, on her leadership in bringing this legislation forward.”
“The Bill reduces the time after which foster carers can apply for enhanced parental rights, from five years to three years, where an established and enduring relationship with the child exists. This is a child-centred reform. It will help foster carers when they have to make decisions on everyday matters, such as school tours or doctor's appointments, without unnecessary administration that can be so frustrating for foster parents. Most important, it supports greater stability for children who have formed secure attachment in foster placements. While these changes are significant, we must also acknowledge that foster carers continue to face considerable pressures. They have a demanding role - emotionally, practically and financially.”
“There are many other parts of this Bill that are very welcome but I particularly welcome the important improvements this Bill brings to foster carers. Foster families play a vital role for children who cannot live at home. They provide stability and compassion during what can be a very challenging time for a child. It affects every member of the family and open and clear communication between all State agencies and families is so important. It is important that all members of the family feel included and are confident. The contribution of foster carers is huge and it is also important that we continue to strengthen the supports that are available to them.”
“There are changing demands on our services and this Bill ensures our legal framework remains fit for purpose. A very important part of this Bill is the introduction of a statutory duty to co-operate between several State agencies and bodies, including Government Departments and Tusla. This substantial reform reflects the reality that child protection is the responsibility of everyone, whether it is in healthcare, education, justice or community supports. This duty will help ensure everyone works together more proactively. The clear statutory basis for information sharing between agencies is so important. Effective and timely information sharing is essential for robust safeguarding. This Bill provides the clarity needed to support that co-operation.”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Child Care (Amendment) Bill before the House today. This is very important and timely legislation. I commend my colleague the Minister, Deputy Norma Foley, for her work in bringing it forward. Her commitment to strengthening the child welfare and protection system has ensured this Bill reflects the realities of modern practice and the needs of children and families in Ireland today. This Bill is a significant revision of the Child Care Act 1991, which has been a key feature of our legislative framework in the child protection area for more than 30 years. A lot has changed since then, as the Minister knows. We now have a better understanding of our children's needs. Families are different and have different circumstances today.”
“When announcements are made, I ask that commitments, dates and funding are given and that we work on them as soon as possible. I thank the Minister for all of his work.”
“I know the Minister is working on this and that is why it is important we are looking at the wraparound services. The council was going to build houses in Ardattin because there was the need. It was going to look at local authority and private homes but it could not get the wastewater treatment and what it needed to build houses. We have to make sure, through Irish Water, that when we give a commitment to delivering these services, we do it. We cannot just announce them, in particular in the case of Grange. The council is emptying septic tanks in Grange and it is unacceptable. There are a lot more projects in Carlow town. We really need to see how we can progress this and work together to get the services to make sure we have the delivery. Rural Ireland is really important.”