Paul Murphy criticises disability failures, backs major west road

The programme for Government says that ever since Ireland ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, we have signalled to those with a disability that we are now serious about making a difference, a difference that will make things better. But the Government has not done that. They have not acted to make things better. I attended a very powerful meeting last Monday night organised by WALK, an organisation that does tremendous work supporting people with intellectual disabilities. Service users, relatives, friends and staff packed out the biggest room in Rua Red and they powerfully told their stories of how government choices put up significant barriers which disabled them. There is a chronic shortage of residential places. There are huge staff shortages because of the failure of the Government to give pay parity to Section 39 and Section 38 workers. People with mild intellectual disabilities are often unable to get the psychiatric support that they need. Will the Government act on this? Will it give pay parity? Will it invest in staff now? And will it make a significant investment in terms of residential places? As Deputy Dillon mentioned earlier, Cabinet signed off today on the tender gave approval for the N5 Scrum Oak to Balladrine Road project to go ahead. It is an investment of about €450 million and will dramatically improve access to and from County Mayo in particular. But it will also have huge benefits for towns like Strokes Town in French Park and Tulsk in Roscommon. Really taking the true traffic out and making those towns a much nicer place in which to live and in which to visit. It is a huge investment in the west of Ireland, probably the biggest single transport project that will be approved this year by Government. It comes on top of some other big transport investments in the west and the south-west. I had the pleasure earlier in the year to open the west port to Castle Bar Road. I look forward to opening the McCroon-Bally-Bourney Bypass later on in the year. I think for people who say that we are not investing in roads and we are not investing in the west and south-west, this is the answer. Very evident road projects opening and starting and that pipeline continues. I agree with Deputy Dillon's call for ongoing and increased investment in roads and rail and also in our regional airports. The challenge, of course, for Government is that there are limitations. Other than limitations around the planning process which can take some time and is not always successful, there are budgetary limitations and increasingly we are constrained less by budgets and more by the availability of skilled people, ranging from engineers to architects to quality surveyors to construction workers. So we have to programme these things out in a way that is deliverable and need to also appreciate that. By increasing budgets every year does not always mean that you get more. Sometimes it just drives inflation and you end up paying more for the same. We are seeing a big issue around construction inflation at the moment. Deputy Callan raised the issue of access to Clon Griffin Station for people with restricted mobilities. I was not aware of that as an issue. I know some very new stations like Pellets Town Station in my new constituency, in my existing constituency sorry, of Dublin 7, in the new part of my constituency, cost a lot to build but they are very, very accessible. It was worth it in many ways because people can access it in the way they count the older stations, but certainly make enquiries on Irish Rail and see if they have a plan, or at least if they can have a plan, to improve access to that particular station. It is a relatively new one, so I am disappointed here it was not built in such a way to accommodate people with restricted mobilities. Deputy Barry raised the question of 15 nurses employed by South Doc. If I picked up correctly, he said that the improvement of the pandemic bonus, the €1,000, was already approved by the HSE. To the best of my knowledge, South Doc, like the other doctor on call services, receive a mix of public funding and also private fees as well. I do not know exactly what the balance is there, but I definitely think it should be sorted out and should be paid. I will make the Minister of Health aware that it was raised here and perhaps something can be done to resolve it. On the section 39 bodies and pay parity, we debated this earlier on in the Dáil, there is an offer on the table, a 5 per cent pay increase in November, 3 per cent backdated for several months and a commitment to further engagement, as was done in the past. What used to happen in the past is there will be a public sector pay deal, and then a few months later there will be engagement on how that might apply to section 39 bodies. We would like to get back to that, but unfortunately that offer has not been accepted, but perhaps that can change. It is certainly still on the table. Just going back to Deputy Barry Barrett's questions on the film and audio-visual sector, and I do know some people who work in it, and I do know that you cannot produce this content or these great films and programmes that we are very proud of that showcase our country very well, if it is not for the people who act on them, who write them and who do everything around the protection line, from riggers to cameramen to all of the people, sound engineers, all of the people who are essential in this cultural industry. I do not know enough about the payment model, but I know that sometimes it is a fee on royalties, and other times it is a higher fee with no royalties. I think there should be a choice. I am not sure if we can educate for that, but I think there should be a choice, a fee with royalties or a higher fee if you forego the royalties. I definitely think the idea of a stakeholder reform is a very good one, and I will make sure Mr Martin is aware of that. What might work for the sector, and I am only saying might here, but what might work for the sector is some sort of employment regulation order or sector employment order. We have them in other areas, we have them in construction, we have them in childcare, we have them in security, and that at least means a set of minimum terms and conditions of rules that govern the area, and perhaps that might be a way forward. I agree. I will certainly make sure that Mr Martin is aware of that view that we both hold. In relation to Deputy Murakoo's question on the new policing model, my understanding is that it's being piloted in a number of areas. Once that's done, there will be review. Mr McIntyre might be able to inform you a bit more about how that's going. On the roster, I think all of us can understand why the COVID roster is attractive. It's four days on, four days off. Then there's also annual leave and public holidays. A very attractive roster in terms of work-life balance. But it was for the COVID period, and there's very few people, if anyone else in Ireland, certainly in the public service, who are still operating on a COVID roster. The difficulty that it has caused is that a lot of the time, Gardaí are less available or not available when we need them to be. We have more Gardaí than we had five years ago, but I think everyone would agree that Gardaí are less available than they were. That's not all down to the new roster, or to the COVID roster, but certainly the Commissioner has the view that it's part of the problem. This issue can be resolved by negotiation. That's how it should be done. The Gardaí representative organisation fought government very hard to gain access to the WRC. That's where these things can be sorted out. There's potential there for a new agreed roster, which then can be balloted on. I would encourage the Gardaí representative association to go to the WRC, allow this to be negotiated properly, and then to put to ballot a revised roster, and perhaps there's a hybrid roster that might work. Finally, on Deputy Durkin's question on NDP delivery, there are a lot of different steps on the way to getting a project done, and they do take time. There's, of course, the whole planning and design part of the process. Sometimes that ends up in the courts, sometimes it doesn't. Then there's the whole tender process, and then, of course, there's the actual construction and commissioning. Part of the role that I've given Minister Donoghue in the cabin reshuffle back in December was that enhanced role of NDP delivery, making sure the projects happen, and they happen more quickly, because I'm very frustrated, and I think everyone in the House is frustrated quite how long it takes some projects to get done, and we need to improve that.