John Connolly
Galway West · Fianna Fáil · Ireland
“The decision of the Government to purchase the Hammerson site on O'Connell Street - the site of the old Carlton Cinema - clearly shows the intent and determination of the Government to progress and complete the MetroLink project.”
“I mention one such community organisation in my constituency, Connemara Care, which provides home care and support for the elderly, people with disabilities, and people with dementia.”
“I had been aware that the deceased man had been diagnosed with dementia some years earlier. When I expressed my condolences to my friend, his response really struck me. He said that this was the second time they had lost their father.”
“If we can look at training more people in this area and promoting this as a profession, it might help. A concern has been brought to my attention but I do not want to imply wrongdoing on anyone's behalf. A family asked me to get clarity. They were provided with home care hours to be provided by a private company.”
“Families want to support that wish for their own loved ones and I know that across the House, Government and Opposition want to support this. Our health service should be structured to support that. However, in the correspondence that we have received, concerns have emerged regarding the availability of HSE home support services.”
“Cuirfidh mé tús le m'óráid leis an méid ar chríochnaigh an Teachta Aird leis. Molaim an tAire Stáit go bhfuil sé anseo le linn na díospóireachta ar fad. Tá sé anseo ag fanacht. Ní dheachaigh sé amach as an Seomra.”
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Every one of 425 lines we hold for John Connolly, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 3 of 9.
“I want to reiterate that the development of the elective hospital was seen as something that could facilitate the increased development at the regional hospital site of the university hospital site. As far as I understood it, the plan had always been that elective non-emergency, non-acute outpatient facilities would all move to the Merlin Park site and that the university hospital site would be for acute, high-tech procedures, cancer care, maternity and accident and emergency. I am really concerned about that plan now. I am really concerned about the progression of that plan. We need clarity on that.”
“I was advised that the integrated design team was working at pace to progress the detailed design to inform planning submissions on a range of statutory and regulatory approvals to proceed to tender and construction. That was for the elective hospital. It had been perceived to be the development of a 200-bed facility. I understand some of those were only for day case beds. In terms of my reference to there being two theatres on top of the surgical hub, the information that I received from the HSE describes that the elective care centre will consist of two operating theatres plus four operating theatres in the surgical hub. We were always conscious and always felt that there were two developments here, namely, a surgical hub and an elective hospital.”
“The first thing I should have said is that I appreciate the Minister of State being here as a Minister of State in the Department of Health to take this question and provide an answer. However we present this, it is a significant change in what was to be the provision of a facility that had intended at its outset and up to 2025 to provide for 200 beds. I recognise fully the point she made that these are day procedures but I understand from the documentation that had been provided previously that there were to be 75 elective inpatient beds and 125 day case beds. That had been the position up to March 2025, when I had previously asked for an update.”
“I am concerned that not alone are we losing a facility where there was going to be 200 beds but this decision will not facilitate as easily the capital investment and expansion and development of University Hospital Galway, which is so badly needed. I hope I am misinterpreting the response but I am concerned that I am not. A decision of such significance should have been discussed and debated further and possibly information should have been provided before that. In terms of the elective hospitals, my understanding was that Galway was part of a package that included an elective hospital in Cork and Dublin. Where do they stand as well?”
“Furthermore, I am advised that the new facility, or care centre as it will now be called, will consist of two operating theatres, where the original plan had been, I think, for 11 operating theatres, five endoscopy procedure rooms, where I understand there had been eight procedure rooms in the initial resource requirements, and ten minor operation procedure rooms. In the elective hospital there were also plans for radiology and diagnostic modalities, outpatient rooms and pre-assessment rooms and there was a proposal for 200 beds - 75 inpatient and 125 day case beds. It comes as a deep disappointment to me, and I know it will to my constituents and indeed to the wider region, because part of this plan was to facilitate the decanting of the university hospital site in Galway, which is due for significant capital development and investment.”
“It stated: The HSE have identified the need to refine the scope and budget of the planned Elective Care Centres. [...] The result was a substantial reduction in the building area and in turn, overall cost. [The original building area in the scoping document had been for a building of between 60,000 sq. m and 80,000 sq. m] The design team are currently investigating the possibility of expanding or bolting-on the new facility to what will be an Operational Surgical hub. It is hard to consider that this is not a serious reduction in what had been planned as part of the elective hospital development in Galway.”
“I recently asked the Minister for Health for an update on the development of the elective hospital at Merlin Park in Galway. Looking back at some documents I have, I note that the elective hospital was first proposed in 2018. It was also included as part of the national Sláintecare programme. It has been included in every HSE capital plan up to 2025. The description in each of those documents has been for an elective hospital. In 2026, when the HSE published its national service plan, I noticed that there had been a slight change of language. It was no longer described as an elective hospital but as an elective care centre. Following that, I put this question to the Minister which was referred on to local HSE officials as commonly occurs but the response I received is quite concerning.”
“Average life expectancy for men who are members of the Travelling community is 15 years below the settled community and for women it is ten years below. Lastly, the Irish Traveller Movement advised us of data in the all-island Traveller health study suggested that half of travellers die before the age of 39, a startling statistic to hear. Senator Joe O'Reilly described it as an indictment on Irish society. There is a national Traveller health action plan that runs to 2027. I ask that the Taoiseach include the implementation of that strategy as a recurring agenda item for the Cabinet subcommittee on health.”
“I recently raised with the Taoiseach the issue of the higher rate of suspected suicide among members of the Travelling community compared to the general population - there is a suspected rate difference of between seven and ten for members of the Travelling community. In recent weeks, the Committee on Key Issues affecting the Traveller Community held a number of meetings to engage on the issue of Traveller health with various witnesses. It would appear that despite increased health provision, technology and treatment, the Travelling community is not benefiting at the same rate as the general population or settled community. The data is quite shocking. Traveller mortality rates are three times higher than the settled population.”
“Will the Minister clarify the status of those projects that have already been granted planning permission, such as the passing loop in Oranmore? Will there will be a difference in how projects in the planning process and projects that have completed the planning process are treated by this action plan?”
“I thank the Minister. I would like clarity. The emphasis and focus in action 30 is on transport and water. Will the Minister confirm that it is not limited to these and that we are looking at using this action in other areas? The Minister mentioned energy at the outset. Further clarification on my next point would also be welcome. How do projects in the planning process stand in terms of this new action? Will they benefit from it? I hope we will get a positive planning decision, although it cannot be guaranteed, on the Galway city ring road. We would like to see this project move quickly should a positive planning decision come through. Another project on my mind is the quay in Rossaveel, which is in the planning process. I hope both of these, should they be granted planning approval, can move quite quickly to construction.”
“Uisce Éireann receives a lot of criticism for how it implements infrastructural plans but it is clear now that the guidelines we have set down for it are part of the reason for this. At present, Uisce Éireann business cases must be approved through the infrastructure guidelines and by the CRU. Will the Minister provide clarity on transport and water in particular, and on the elimination of dual processes?”
“I welcome the Minister's confirmation that we are not removing political approval for these projects. There was some concern about the elimination of ministerial approval at stage 2 of the project timeline but the Minister has clarified that ministerial approval will still be required at stages 1 and 3. This is very welcome. There was a sense that we were moving on and leaving decisions to unelected officials rather than Ministers. One of the reasons I have focused on this action plan is because of its reference to transport and water infrastructure. We are all familiar with delays in the progression of major transport infrastructure and major water infrastructure. One of the things outlined in the action is that the approval processes in transport are to be reviewed to identify opportunities to eliminate duplication.”
“Tugaim faoi deara ar maidin go bhfuil go leor de na ceisteanna ar an téama céanna, ar nós an chinn a bhí ag mo chomhghleacaí ar mo thaobh clé anseo maidir le cúrsaí infreastruchtúir agus an luas ar breá linn a fheiceáil le cur chun cinn i gcúrsaí infreastruchtúir agus infreastruchtúr a thógáil níos tapúla. Roimh an Nollaig, d'fhoilsigh an tAire an tuairisc nua. Before Christmas the Minister printed the Accelerating Infrastructure Report and Action Plan. I saw it described as one of the most comprehensive and ambitious Irish Government reports of recent times. This ambition is due to the number of actions and the timeline laid out for the completion of these actions. I want to ask about one in particular, which is action 23.”
“I very much welcome the formal announcing of the national therapy service in education involving the placement of occupational therapists and speech therapists in special schools. I particularly welcome its introduction in two schools in Galway, Ábalta Special School and St. Joseph's Special School in Newcastle. I also welcome the announcement of 301 new classes for children with additional needs in the mainstream setting. However, the lists that we get do not define the category of class and I am concerned that we are not opening up enough classes for children with developmental language disorder, DLD. These are classes that children attend for two years and then they return to their own mainstream class or school. We need more of these classes. Early intervention is important in this area.”
“We all welcome the ambition and objective of that scheme to make it easier for children to walk, cycle or scoot to school. A level of frustration has developed around the completion of those projects. I was the principal of a school that was involved in the first tranche of the safe routes to school scheme and, as yet, the work has not been completed. One of the challenges is that money is being provided to the active travel team within the local authorities but they also have lots of other tasks to do such as maintaining bus shelters, cycle schemes and road-narrowing schemes. We should provide the local authorities with staff specific to the safe routes to school scheme. The investment deserves that.”
“We should provide direct guidance to Galway County Council and other local authorities that we expect the speed limit, at least periodically around the time of school operations, to be reduced to 30 km/h at those spots. Similarly, on the R336, at Scoil Náisiúnta na bhForbacha, Scoil Náisiúnta Sailearna and scoil An Tulach, we should also ensure that at those locations the county council will reduce the speed limit to 30 km/h. On a general point, across the country, while we welcome the work local authorities are doing specifically on urban areas, we should ask them to reduce the speed limit on those national regional routes to 30 km/h during school times at least. I also want to talk about the safe routes to school scheme.”
“I will confine my comments today to the issue of road safety around schools and enabling children to access schools in a safer manner. I welcome, as part of that, the implementation of phase 2 of the national speed limit review, which proposes to reduce the speed limit in urban areas to a default of 30 km/h. It is not so clear, however, what is expected of local authorities in relation to schools on national routes, and we should give them greater clarity. The Minister of State will be very familiar with some of the routes I am going to discuss, such as the R336 and the N59. In the case of the N59, Scoil Baile Nua, Rosscahill national school, Leam national school and Derryglinna are all on a national route.”
“Is fadhb í an tithíocht ar fud na tíre ach is í an Ghaeltacht an t-aon áit sa tír ina bhfuil tionchar díreach aici ar ár dteanga féin, ar thodhchaí na teanga agus ar thodhchaí na Gaeilge mar theanga pobail. Más rud é nach bhfuil tithe ar fáil sa Ghaeltacht, ní féidir le daoine cur fúthu inti agus bíonn an baol ann go mbogfaidh siad go ceantair ina bhfuil an Béarla mar ghnáththeanga. Is mór an gá agus fainic atá air seo.”
“Tugann sé muinín do mhuintir na Gaeltachta a chloisteáil go bhfuil an méid sin déanta againn go dtí seo. Glacaim leis gur tús é ach is maith an rud é go bhfuil an tAire ag labhairt leis na daoine tábhachtacha sin, lena n-áirítear Údarás na Gaeltachta, an Roinn tithíochta agus na húdaráis áitiúla, chun béim a chur ar an tábhacht a bhaineann le cúrsaí tithíochta sa Ghaeltacht. Tá mé dóchasach anois, tar éis an mhéid atá ráite ag an Aire, go mbeidh dul chun cinn againn air seo i mbliana, chomh maith le foilsiú na dtreoirlínte, rud atá thar a bheith tábhachtach. Tá a fhios agam go bhfuil an Roinn ag oibriú ar na treoirlínte tuaithe chomh maith agus, b’fhéidir, ba cheart an dá ceann acu a chur le chéile agus an dá chóip treoirlínte sin a fhoilsiú le chéile, mar téann siad le lámh a chéile.”
“Molaim don Aire gur cheart do dhuine ón Roinn tithíochta, nó duine ó na comhairlí contae áitiúla a bhfuil ceantar Gaeltachta acu ina limistéir, a bheith ag an gcruinniú sin chomh maith, cosúil le hoifigeach ó Chomhairle Chontae na Gaillimhe, Comhairle Contae Mhaigh Eo, Comhairle Contae Chiarraí nó Comhairle Cathrach agus Contae Phort Láirge, mar shampla. Tá ról acu, mar a dúirt an tAire.”
“Glacaim gur ról tánaisteach atá ag an údarás ach mar a dúirt an tAire, tá ról suntasach aige i saol na Gaeltachta. Tá sé ag déanamh oibre maithe le blianta fada. Glacaim leis chomh maith nach bhfuil sé éasca d’eagraíocht nach bhfuil aon chleachtadh ná taithí aici ar chúrsaí tithíochta tús a chur leis an dualgas sin, go háirithe gan an fhoireann. Glacaim leis go bhfuil sé ráite ag an Aire anois go bhfuil duine fostaithe ag an údarás chun oibriú sa réimse seo, agus gabhaim buíochas as sin. Ceapaim go bhfuil an duine sin lonnaithe i gContae Mhaigh Eo. Is tús maith é sin. Chomh maith leis seo, cuirim fáilte go raibh cruinniú ag an Aire leis an bpríomhfheidhmeannach agus go bhfuil an tAire ag eagrú cruinnithe eile idir an t-údarás agus Uisce Éireann.”
“Tá a fhios agam gur chuir an tAire freagra chugam maidir leis seo píosa ó shín, ach tá sé an-tábhachtach na hiarrachtaí a chur chun cinn agus labhairt fúthu chomh minic agus is féidir mar gheall ar an ngéarchéim tithíochta atá sa Ghaeltacht.”
“We need to make sure the affordable scheme is something that local authorities can develop because they play an important role in increasing supply.”
“The Taoiseach mentioned housing at the outset. One of the commitments in the programme for Government regarding housing was to repurpose the local authority affordable housing purchase scheme to become part of the starter home programme in order to enhance uptake. I am not sure we will have any difficulty with uptake; the difficulty is with supply. We are conscious that we are trying to generate supply across the entire sector. Last year, Galway City Council managed to complete nine affordable houses and Galway County Council completed 17. The local authority advised me it is finding it challenging to fund affordable housing programmes. In 2023, I voted to develop 30 affordable houses in Galway city, but they are yet to break ground. The local authority has advised me it is a funding issue. We need to examine and enact that commitment.”
“Could the Taoiseach discuss this with the Ministers, Deputies Chambers and O'Brien, to try to expedite the successful conclusion of the agreement?”
“Yesterday, I met with a delegation of former employees of CIÉ. They are members of a pension scheme who have not had an increase since 2008. That is 18 years, and we are all conscious of how the cost of living has increased during that period. Furthermore, to compound issues for members, many were paying a class of PRSI that allowed them no access to a contributory pension. They have been campaigning for a long time to have this issue resolved and last May, an agreement was reached between the trade unions and CIÉ management for a 5% increase. However, eight months later, the increase has not been applied. I understand it must go through a somewhat bureaucratic process with the Department of public expenditure and be approved by CIÉ.”
“It is ironic, to some degree, that the State has embarked on, and given a commitment, that we were going to roll out broadband to every home in the country but yet there are 172,000 households for which we have not provided a public or a group water supply. We should look at that. There were schemes in the past such as the CLÁR programme which funded and supported the funding of water installation in those remote, rural locations. We need to look at something like that again.”
“It is impossible to say that this is a direct consequence of the issues with the network but one can gather this may have something to do with it. Those two reasons, the environmental impact and the inability to develop further in the east of the city, are reasons we should be urging Uisce Éireann, at the earliest opportunity, to proceed with the work on the pumping station at Merlin Park. I want to briefly address water supply. My predecessor for Galway West, Éamon Ó Cuív, in an era when you could get answers to questions on water supply in this House was advised in 2022 that there were approximately 172,000 or 10% of households depending on private sources of water supply. These are rarely tested, they are not monitored and they could potentially be a cause of illness. They are also quite unreliable for the households involved.”
“The EPA said the duration and the quantities of the overflow are not known and they have the potential to pollute Galway Bay. That alone should be reason for us to say we need to intervene here quickly and make sure we do the work on the Galway network to prevent that. The other reason is that the lack of appropriate wastewater treatment in Galway city is preventing residential development, particularly in the east of the city. In fairness and to its credit, Uisce Éireann did apply for planning permission to upgrade a pumping station in Merlin Park. However, there has been no commitment since the granting of permission for that to develop it. We need to see that commitment. I should point out that there are two beaches in Galway city where the water sampling has not met the standards to be awarded the blue flag.”
“I noted yesterday a substantial announcement on wastewater investment for Limerick. I compliment Limerick, the local authorities there and the Minister in the Department for developing that work. Like Limerick, Galway is a city the national planning framework plans for growth over the coming decade or decade and a half, in terms of counterbalancing the development of the country between the east coast and the west coast. Galway needs a similar commitment on wastewater investment to what was given to Limerick yesterday. The network in Galway city is in need of significant upgrades. In 2023, the EPA claimed that there were overflows of diluted effluent on 70 dates from a holding tank on the Galway network and that on most of these dates we had less than 10 mm of rain. That is an unlicensed discharge.”
“I know that the Minister of State, through his good offices, previously got in touch with the Irish Embassy in Moscow on my behalf and some consular assistance is being provided to Dmitry's family, but we do not know how he is being treated. It is of great concern to Daria, his family and his many friends in Galway. I know that we do not enjoy a very positive relationship with the Russian Federation at the moment and there are strained relationships between the two nations, but we both maintain embassies in each other's country. I urge the Department, the Minister of State, the Minister and perhaps the Taoiseach to make some effort to raise the case of Dmitry with the appropriate authorities in Europe and Russia to try to make sure he is being well-treated and can come home.”
“One relates to online commentary and, I suppose, his propensity to ignite terrorism. I am no expert on Russian law, but the second charge is cited under Article 330.2 of the criminal code of the Russian Federation, which is that he has failed to file a timely notification about acquiring foreign citizenship or a residence permit. That essentially reads to me like he is being tried with gaining Irish citizenship and not informing the Russian Federation of that. We should take some offence to that. Obviously, there are many concerns about the situation, most notably the uncertainty about how long Dmitry will be in the detention centre, but also his treatment there. We have no sense of how he is being treated.”
“He resides in Claregalway, County Galway, and is a valued employee of PennEngineering there. Dmitry was visiting family in Russia last August when he was arrested and detained in a detention centre at Chelyabinsk in Russia. Since that time, his wife Daria has had no direct contact. His family in Russia has had only limited opportunity for updates on his well-being. Dmitry's wife believes his detention is due to her Ukrainian citizenship and the fact she made commentary on social media criticising the Russian invasion of Ukraine. On his arrival in Russia, Dmitry's phone was taken by the Russian authorities. It is believed they encountered these messages or contributions by Daria on social media. Dmitry was arrested as a result and was charged. He is facing two charges in the Russian detention centre.”
“I share the sentiment of many Members as to how depressing the situation the world finds itself in at the moment is. Having endured the depth of international conflict and war that was witnessed during the 20th century, we find that leaders of major international powers could make decisions that could bring us back to a point of significant tension again. This could undo the great work that was done by many of the institutions formed following the Second World War which have set about trying to maintain international law. Today I will use my time to raise with the Minister of State the circumstances one Irish citizen finds himself in as a result of the increasingly hostile international environment. Mr. Dmitry Simbaev is an Irish citizen who has been living here for in the region of 25 years.”
“One of the actions in the recently published housing plan is that the Department will be publishing quarterly and annual performance tables for new-build output versus targets per local authority, thereby ensuring transparency and accountability. I understand that will commence next June in relation to social housing. We should also provide similar tables in relation to affordable housing. The local authorities should also be assessed on their output of affordable housing. What actions will the Government take with local authorities that are not meeting their housing targets?”
“Given the liberty we have been shown, I have to wish Athenry ladies camogie team the best of luck in the all-Ireland final at the weekend. I look forward to the publication of the strategy. I hope that we can see some incentivisation of the third level sector to provide accommodation in close proximity to the institutions and that it will be available to students at a reasonable cost. The Minister outlined very well the supports he has provided and the increased supports he has provided. Could the Minister tell me the borrowing framework for the technological universities? It could help a lot if we could get some clarity on it.”
“Could the Minister address allowing technological universities to borrow and the framework for the preparation of that, which could help in meeting that goal of developing purpose-built student accommodation?”
“It is very welcome that we would have a strategy over the coming weeks. We need it. The third level sector needs it. It is anxious to hear what will be included in it. The Minister gave some indication about how the strategy will use other policy areas or other departures in Government policy recently to make sure we can stimulate and incentivise the development and provision of student accommodation. There are a number of options in terms of incentivising people to rent out spare capacity in their homes, incentivising the private sector to get involved and public-private partnerships. If they had the choice, most people would plump for purpose-built student accommodation with some association with the third level institution in close proximity to it. I hope the strategy can include some incentivisation in that area.”
“In a response to a previous question, the Minister outlined very well the supports available to students and families to assist in meeting the cost of accommodation and how he has increased those supports and made them available to a greater number of students. I wish to ask the Minister about the supply of student accommodation and the position of the Department regarding the publication of a new strategy for the provision of student accommodation.”
“In the review the Minister of State mentioned, two concluding remarks indicate that the scheme should form part of future policy, hopefully in the near future because, as the Minister of State said, it is included in the programme for Government. One concluding remark was that no one project can overcome the challenges faced by small schools in rural areas but this scheme is a small step in the right direction. That is accurate. The second comes directly from the cluster in Gort, where a cluster administrative officer was appointed. Everyone agreed that this should be expanded to all small schools.”
“One of the most positive attributes of this scheme, with which I have some experience, is that it enabled principals who also have responsibility for teaching a class or multiple classes to do two important things. The first was to cluster their release days, so that when the principal is on a release day for administrative duties in the school, the same substitute teacher is there every day. This provided great consistency and continuity for the school and pupils. The person covering the release days did so in every cluster, meaning that the release days almost gave rise to a full-time position. That was one benefit of the scheme.”
“The Minister of State has noted many of the positive elements of this scheme and how the schools, in the evaluation undertaken by the Department, reflected positively on it. As he said, there were two such clusters in County Galway, one in Gort agus ceann i gceantar Iorras Aithneach i gConamara. Bhí trí scoil sa scéim sin: Scoil na hAirde Móire, Scoil Mhuighnis agus Scoil an Aird Thiar. Other communities that have seen the benefit of the clustering project have contacted me pointing out that there are a number of similar small schools in their community and asking if the scheme can be expanded to include a new cluster in their community. That is a very fair call. The Minister of State noted that the administrative burden is reduced, the school staff get additional training and there is shared learning among the teachers and pupils.”
“Mo cheist ná chun a fhiafraí den Aire Oideachais agus Óige maidir le tionscadal na scoileanna beaga. Cad iad na pleananna atá sa Roinn chun cur le líon na scoileanna atá sa scéim faoi láthair agus chun stádas buan a thabhairt don tionscadal? This question relates to the small schools project. The Minister will be aware that her predecessor, the Minister, Deputy Foley, started a pilot project for clustering small schools in support of the schools and easing the administrative burden on the principals of those schools. She deserves great credit for that initiative. I would like to see the project put on a firm footing into the future.”
“As many people with more knowledge of the area than me have said, we should put the obligation on the platforms and the companies to act responsibly, regulate appropriately and look out for poor and harmful behaviour online. Young people should be taught in schools or at home, using the guide that Coimisiún na Meán has, how to report illegal and harmful content. If more people were aware of that information and it was spread further, people would be able to report harmful or damaging content. That would be beneficial.”
“One of the great challenges here is that, as soon as we come to terms with one aspect of the online world and as soon as we generate regulation or start to regulate and monitor behaviour, a new sphere or extension of the online world will create new challenges for us. There will always be darker forces out there. It will be very interesting to observe the ban that has been put in place in Australia, which many people have commented on. Undoubtedly, efforts will made to try to undermine that and try to get access for under-16s to the online world. That is one of the reasons I do not feel the ban will achieve what people think it might. I would not agree on such an outright ban for young people in Ireland. What we need is greater education around the healthy use of the space.”
“I agree with Deputy Neville that we have made some strides in recent years. We have seen the establishment of Coimisiún na Meán, we have seen the introduction of Coco's law, the Digital Safety Act and the online safety code. However, I cannot help but think that, in the years to come, we will reflect somewhat on the recent era in the same manner that we currently reflect on how we allowed cigarettes to be so freely available to a generation previous to us. We will ask how it was that we did not recognise the dangers of allowing young people access to such a broad sphere of unregulated information, including information that often has a bias or was sent out to target and, unfortunately, hurt people.”
“I will pick up on a point Deputy Neville made about the abuse adults suffered online. One can only appreciate the significant impact that also has on children when they suffer abuse or bullying online. As adults, we have perspective. We receive political abuse online that we might describe as bullying, but we should have the perspective as adults to be able to tolerate that. Not that we should have to tolerate it, but we should be able to deal with it. However, for a young vulnerable child who is unsure of themselves to suffer that will have a very severe and detrimental impact on their well-being. We have seen some catastrophic, sorrowful and damaging impacts from that. It is a point well-made that nobody should suffer it, but we need to go further in protecting children from such suffering.”
“I am concerned, though, that we may meet challenges in recruiting appropriate therapists to the roles. If we do meet that challenge, we have an obligation to overcome it. That is through working conditions, job security, permanency and appropriate contracts.”
“We know about children being referred to CDNT, which then says that CAMHS is the appropriate service only for CAMHS to say it thinks community psychology is the appropriate service. We need to streamline that. We need to make sure that when a child is referred, the referral is made to someone who can and will help, not somebody who might pass that child to a different service provider. We are moving towards that direction. We need to stop that frustrating merry-go-round. In welcoming the legislative change, I am confident that we have matched this change with appropriate funding in budget 2026 to resource these new teams. Part of budget 2026 was about making sure our public services could withstand what might be constraining economic circumstances. I hope we have included this measure in that. I am confident that we have.”