The Taoiseach correctly described the scandal of inappropriate prescribing of medication to young mental health service users in County Kerry as deeply shocking. The wider public, in particular those availing of mental health services or whose children or young people are availing of mental health services, need an assurance at this time that what happened in Kerry is not happening anywhere else to anyone else. The Taoiseach has described what happened as a systemic collapse of clinical governance and management of the service. Will he set out what measures are in place to prevent this from happening in other mental health services? Will the Government act with urgency to resource child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, properly and to the required levels?

As I said earlier in reply to Deputy Shortall, this is unacceptable. A full nationwide audit of compliance with CAMHS operational guidelines by all CAMHS teams will happen. Furthermore, a prescribing audit will be conducted in each of the 72 CAMHS teams nationally. The Government is then going to look at any further measure that is required in the overall situation.

Yesterday, I asked the Taoiseach about the Russian naval exercises off our coast that are planned for early next month. He did not answer my question, so I will ask him today. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, who is also the Minister for Defence, is sitting beside him. This is a serious matter for Ireland. We all know what is going on in Europe at the moment. We heard clearly the concerns of our fishermen in the south west about the impact that the exercises could have. Mr. Patrick Murphy, whom I spoke to yesterday and is the CEO of the Irish South and West Fish Producer's Organisation, outlined fishermen's intention to hold a peaceful protest. I was very taken by the Tánaiste saying while he was interviewed earlier today that he accepted this as well as everyone's right to protest. If there was a protest outside Leinster House, An Garda Síochána would observe it. Are plans being put in place for the Irish Naval Service to observe this protest and how many ships have we available at this moment in time if we intended to do so?

I think we need to get a sense of balance and proportion here as well. It is a very serious matter.

I agree. That is why I am asking.

It is very serious for a number of reasons. It should not happen-----

I accept that.

-----and the Minister for Foreign Affairs has communicated that to the Russian ambassador very forcefully, making clear that this is unwelcome and should not happen, notwithstanding any technical legality. The impact on the ecosystem in terms of biodiversity, fishing grounds and our whole marine life is a huge concern to our fishers. There is absolutely no necessity for this. It does connect with the overall increase in tensions and the overall militarisation along the Ukrainian border, which is destabilising. In the first instance, our focus is on engaging with the Russian Government to pull back from this exercise.

Will the Taoiseach answer my question, please? This is the second day in a row.

We will engage with our fishers as well in this respect. Our fundamental priority-----

I thank the Taoiseach, but time is up.

Will the Ceann Comhairle hear me out, please?

I am sorry, but the time is up.

I am sorry, but Deputy Kelly is gesticulating at me there. I think that safety is our overall objective. I will discuss the issue with the Deputy further.

The Taoiseach never answered my question. I will ask it again tomorrow. That will be the third day.

I wish to ask about Housing for All and the delivery of affordable purchase homes. According to a report from the Parliamentary Budget Office, homeownership among adults of prime working age has collapsed. Since 2012, house prices have grown by a staggering 77%. During the same period, wages only grew by 23%. On an international scale, housing in Ireland is rated as severely unaffordable.

In 2020, Fianna Fáil promised 10,000 affordable homes each year. Yesterday, I asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage three separate times how many affordable purchase homes had been delivered last year and, on three separate occasions, he failed to answer. Will the Taoiseach answer now? How many affordable purchase homes were delivered last year?

First of all, last year there was not an enormous number of affordable homes completed.

How many?

The target this year will be approximately 4,000. Again, that will be challenging because we had to get a lot of legislation through the House in respect of affordable housing. The Deputy knows that. There was a lot of debate here to give the underpinning to the Land Development Agency, LDA, and other measures. The Deputy talks about affordability. We did extend the help-to-buy scheme and thousands and thousands of people have had their capacity to buy houses enhanced by the help-to-buy scheme, which many Members objected to in the House. It was an affordability measure that was introduced.

A range of measures have now been introduced.

The help-to-buy scheme is inflationary.

I think the pipeline is becoming much stronger, particularly in respect of cost-rental and other affordable housing schemes.

How many?

How many?

Will the Taoiseach tell us how many?

On many issues this Government talks a good game but is not so good at delivering. Delivering new schools and the actual buildings for those schools is one spectacular failure in that regard. Under the online patronage process system, the Department of Education is due to deliver 47 schools between 2019 and 2022. I would like to know how many of them have actual sites and buildings. Certainly, in my area sites and actual buildings for the schools that have been decided-----

This is more suited to a parliamentary question, Deputy.

No. It relates to a promise that the Government would deliver these schools.

Ask a question.

Dún Laoghaire Educate Together National School has a site but no building. The proposed Sallynoggin-Killiney Educate Together national school has no site and no building. Gaelscoil Laighean is still waiting on a permanent site. The Red Door School, a special school, has been operating in prefabs for over a decade. Gaelscoil Phádraig has spent 20 years in prefabs waiting for a site. Blackrock Educate Together Secondary School has a site but no building and is in temporary accommodation. That is just in my area.

From my experience as a former Minister for Education and Science, getting a site is the most important step in terms of getting buildings. Many schools do not want to wait for that, as the Deputy will know, and they seek recognition from the Department and want to get ahead. Hence, they might move into temporary accommodation. Then there can be planning issues, objections and all sorts of issues. I have been there. We are all public representatives in this House.

Gaelscoil Phádraig has been waiting 20 years.

Everybody knows that what I am saying is what happens. The most important step is to get the site. At least when there is possession of the site, either the patron or the Government, through the Department, ETBs or patrons, can then start design and build and so on. There are wider issues, however, as to how we can start the whole process.

It is called advance planning.

The Government subgroup on insurance reform promised a general scheme of a Bill on duty of care by September 2021. We have an ongoing unaddressed issue with occupier liability which continues to place a liability and a risk on business owners. In addition, the Government is still working on the promised reform of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board, PIAB, which is now on its "all other legislation" to-do list, which means further delays on reforms promised going back to July 2021. Will the Taoiseach give a commitment to remove whatever barriers exist and the continuing delay to the introduction of duty of care legislation and fast-track it in order that it is implemented as quickly as possible? Business owners cannot continue to indemnify, pay and suffer the risk in respect of this awaited legislation.

The insurance Bill on duty of care is getting priority drafting. The PIAB legislation is being worked on as well.

I thank the Cabinet yesterday for ensuring there was parity of esteem with the south east regarding the air rescue service.

England has disposed of masks in schools. Will the Taoiseach please look after our children? Mol an óige agus tiocfaidh sí. These masks are unnecessary and uncomfortable for children. Some children cannot wear them and there is a lot of angst about them. Will the Taoiseach please lift the wearing of them in our schools if he can at all?

There has been very significant lifting of restrictions on advice we received from public health authorities. The advice was to maintain the existing protocols on safety in our schools and, in so doing, to protect children while the opportunity for them to get vaccinated continues. We will keep the matter under review.

I have raised the issue of overcrowding at University Hospital Limerick, UHL, many times with the Taoiseach's Government colleagues over the past two years. Yesterday set a new ignominious record for overcrowding in UHL, with 98 people on trolleys. At the same time we learn that the new 96-bed unit which is long awaited will actually deliver only 48 new beds; other beds will be taken out and replaced. I accept that any number of new beds will not meet the exponential growth in numbers on trolleys in Limerick, so there is a problem. I do not know what it is. Is it a problem with how admissions and discharges are done in the hospital? Is it that one of the other hospitals in the UHL group needs to be upgraded to a model 3 hospital? Will the Government commission an independent inquiry to get to the bottom of what the problem is with healthcare in the UHL group?

The Deputy has asked his questions fairly. I believe there are issues with capacity more generally around the western seaboard, involving the Saolta group, and more specifically in Limerick. This cannot be solved overnight but there have been moves on that front. The Deputy has raised a wider issue that does merit further examination. I will ask the Minister and the HSE to pursue that.

I want to raise the leaving certificate. Students and teachers have been raising concerns with me about the shape of the examination for next summer. The traditional examination had shortcomings, and returning to it as a default would be a real missed opportunity. It has not been a traditional experience in the classroom either. There is a great chance to learn from the past two years and to put an improved leaving certificate in place. There are students who want something similar to last year's leaving certificate. In order to give students and teachers clarity and a chance to focus on the months ahead of them, a decision is needed as soon as possible. Will the opportunity to learn from the past two years be taken and an improved leaving certificate put in place this year instead of the traditional leaving certificate? How soon will such a decision be made?

The Minister for Education is dealing with that as we speak and has engaged over recent days with all the stakeholders and the advisory group on the examinations. We appreciate fully that clarity is required as quickly as we can possibly get it and must be provided to the students, who are going through a lot of anxiety as a result of this. Adjustments have already been made to the written papers. There may be further consideration or further adjustments in that regard. The opportunity to learn from Covid will be taken up. It will not be possible to have the more medium-term reforms in place by this summer, but the opportunities will certainly be taken and work is already under way through the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, NCCA, on reforms. The Minister is very committed to bringing about leaving certificate reform.

Much more information must be made available on the Covid recognition payment. At present there is a serious information vacuum, leading to enormous confusion about eligibility. A range of staff in Mayo and around the country remain uncertain. I refer to providers in section 39 disability services such as Western Care Association and administration staff working closely with patients in acute mental health units as well as contract cleaners and caterers in hospitals such as Mayo University Hospital and nurses working in general practice. Home help and other carers should also be acknowledged. This is an important point of contact for vulnerable people who were cocooning during the early stages of lockdown. At present people are relying on information being drip-fed in the absence of official sources on the eligibility criteria. I therefore ask the Taoiseach to provide an outline as to when more information will be made available.

I think the announcement on the Covid recognition payment was made last week. It is extensive. It focuses primarily on those on the front line and within our healthcare system. It has been challenging to arrive at the conclusions that were arrived at. The payment is paralleled with the decision on the bank holiday, which will be a permanent bank holiday on St. Brigid's Day. I hear the Deputy's point and will revert to the Minister and the HSE on the communications on this.

The Taoiseach knows the urgency of the situation for the families living in crumbling homes in Donegal, Mayo and the west. The problem and the difficulty is that, following a briefing from a senior Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government official with members of Donegal County Council, it has now been suggested it could be as late as September before this scheme is operational. This is seriously urgent. These families have waited for so long. We have had two years of the discredited so-called 90% scheme.

We urgently need the legislation to be brought through this House and a workable scheme that can allow these families to rebuild their lives. I ask the Taoiseach to provide that assurance today.

I can say to the Deputy that we want to pursue this as quickly as we can for the benefit of the families. The families have been under enormous strain as a result of the mica scandal. The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy O'Brien, has brought forward, with the agreement of his Government colleagues, a very comprehensive scheme. We are going to do right by the residents and the homeowners. We will do what we can do get this operational as quickly and effectively as we can.

Mental health is an issue that we discuss frequently in this House, and rightly so. Drug use and addiction are two of the major contributory factors to mental health problems. In north Tipperary, we have a voluntary organisation, CARMHA Ireland, which offers a vital counselling service to a large number of clients. It is falling between two stools and is failing to get funding from the HSE. It will have to cease its operations very shortly. I ask the Taoiseach to direct the HSE to see what mechanism can be used to fund the voluntary organisations, such as CARMHA Ireland, so that it can continue to provide the vital counselling service that it offers to the people of north Tipperary.

I thank the Deputy for his question. Yesterday, I announced that of the €10 million that was made available to mental health on budget day, €1 million of it will be allocated to community and voluntary organisations throughout the country. It will be administered through Mental Health Ireland. The portal will go live next Monday, 29 January 2022. The amount that will be allocated is between €5,000 and €30,000, depending on the various organisations. There are obviously criteria that organisations will have to adhere to to get this funding. The opportunity is there for any organisation, community or voluntary, from Monday, 29 January to go online and apply for that funding.

I am sure that the Taoiseach will welcome both the publication of the Bill on the right to remote working and the launch of an app that highlights 177 co-working hubs across the country, with 236 meeting rooms. Will the public service take a lead in adopting flexible protocols for the use of that right to remote working and for integrating with those regional hubs in order that we get a good uptake of the new opportunities across the country to work remotely? The public service could take a lead in shaping the policy for the future.

The Deputy has made a very fair point. The right to request remote working is a positive and progressive step forward. As new initiatives are unfolded and develop, they evolve over time. Ireland has a higher level of remote working than most other countries right now and some of that is due to the Covid experience. It is important that we promote that. I know the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy McGrath, will be bringing forward proposals in respect of the public service and remote working.

The dental treatment scheme is on the verge of collapse right across the State. The Taoiseach is aware of this because I have raised it with him several times. People with cancer, kidney transplant patients, people with diabetes and all medical card holders have been unable to access dental treatment for a year now. There are 2,500 children who have not had their first class dental check-up and 2,500 more waiting for their sixth class check-up, and that is just in County Louth. In County Meath, the figures are even higher. That is replicated right across the State.

The HSE has stated today that it is going to carry out a review in the second quarter of this year. Is it for real? That will mean that by the time the review is finished, people will not have had access to dental care for almost two years. Is the Taoiseach actually going to let the HSE get away with this and let it off the hook again, or is he going to pick up the phone to Mr. Paul Reid and insist that given we are now into the second year where people with medical cards and primary school pupils do not have access to dental treatment, there is an urgency with the review and it must be carried out and the matter resolved within the first quarter of this year?

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. Discussions and talks are ongoing between the Irish Dental Association and the HSE.

No, there was one meeting in December.

Deputy, please.

The review has not started. Just to be factual----

Deputy, you have asked the question. Let us move on.

The Ceann Comhairle cut me off 20 seconds before I was finished.

I cut you off 20 seconds after you had used the minute allotted.

Just to put it straight, that review is not happening until the second quarter of this year, which will mean that medical card holders will not have had access to dental treatment and primary pupils will have had no dental check-ups for 18 months.

Deputy, please, there is no provision for supplementary questions on these matters.

I am just putting the facts right.

As I said, the talks are ongoing. It is a contractual issue. It is not just the HSE side of the equation. Deputies should keep that in perspective when negotiations, in terms of prices and contracts and so on, are ongoing. I want a service that is fit for purpose and gives people the service they deserve. Some €10 million has been invested and allocated this year. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, responded to a Topical Issue on the matter that was raised earlier, so there might be more information in that.

I wish to raise the issue of the difficulty of schools finding replacement teachers. It is a huge problem that has been made worse by Covid. While it is a national problem, I will give one example from my own constituency of Greenhills Community College in Walkinstown, where a teacher has gone on maternity leave and the school has been unable to replace her. It has been told that it could be another five or six months. Whatever form the leaving certificate may take, there are students now who have no physics or chemistry teacher, who will not be able to have any teaching for this leaving certificate coming up, no matter what shape it takes. Teacher recruitment has been made worse by Covid, but there are long-standing issues with it. We need to do more to incentivise people. What can be done in the short term to help schools like Greenhills Community College in Walkinstown? The case concerns a teacher on maternity leave, not the sudden loss of a teacher due to Covid.

I cannot comment on the specific case raised by the Deputy. I am not aware of the details and background to it. The Minister has introduced a suite of measures to try to help schools with substitution. I can understand that in some subject areas, such as perhaps chemistry and physics, there may be more challenges in getting replacement or substitute teachers. I suggest that the Deputy contacts the Minister with a view to seeing what can be done.

I wish to raise a very important issue in relation to Benefacts. The board of this non-profit analysis company has announced that due to the termination of support from its lead Government funder, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, its seven-year project to transform the transparency and digital accessibility of Ireland's €14 million non-profit sector will cease in February 2022. I think it is important to point out that many reasons are being given for this, but no Department seems to want to take the lead on it. A lot of public money has been spent on building up this very valuable resource and there is no alternative in place at the moment. What we are going to find, in February, is that all of this wealth of knowledge that is available in the voluntary and charitable sectors will be lost, after spending in excess of €6.3 million in State grants building it up over the last number of years. I ask that a transition arrangement be made.

The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has provided grant funding to Benefacts since 2015 in the order of €5.7 million. Benefacts was initially co-funded with philanthropy. However, as the Deputy is aware, in recent years, the Department has been providing the majority of funding following the withdrawal from Ireland of a major philanthropic sponsor. Benefacts has also received funding from other State bodies to a total sum of State funding in the order of €6.35 million. In 2019, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform received an independent report which it commissioned to provide analysis of the market for data on the non-profit sector. On foot of this report, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform undertook a review in 2020. At this time inquiries were made to establish potential alternative funding sources from other public bodies and departments. Due to Covid-19, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform sanctioned a three-month extension of funding to 31 March 2022. The Department for Rural and Community Development is currently exploring options for the establishment of a centralised database on the non-profit sector.

I plead with the Taoiseach to open up visits for family members to patients in hospitals.

They need family members for personal care and to advocate for them. Patients will only confide in their own. Old people are lonely and this is the one thing that happened with the virus. Many of these people died alone. They miss their family members after working hard all their lives. Everything else has opened up and that is fine. This is inhumane. It can be done safely.

I offer my heartfelt sympathy to the family of Pádraig Clifford from Milltown who died last night leaving four children behind. His wife, Elaine, died four months ago. The four children are now on their own. I offer my heartfelt sympathy to the Harrington and Clifford families who are in total shock at this time.

I join the Deputy in offering sympathy to the Harrington and Clifford families on their loss. With regard to the ongoing nursing home restrictions, the HSE AMRIC, the antimicrobial resistance and infection control, provides extensive guidance on the control of the risk of the spread of Covid-19 in healthcare settings, including extensive guidance on normalising visiting in long-term residential care facilities. Healthcare settings are different from other contexts in which people gather for work or social interaction. People with infectious Covid-19 in need of healthcare may need to attend healthcare settings, introducing a risk of infection. Many of those most vulnerable to the consequences of Covid-19 infection are also present in healthcare settings. For this reason a greater degree of caution is required in healthcare settings compared with other settings. There are more than 213 open outbreaks in nursing homes at present, with 49 new outbreaks notified in the past week. This underlines the need for continued vigilance in these settings.

I want to ask about the exclusion of huge numbers of people from the Covid recognition payment. The answer the Taoiseach gave earlier is that it is restricted to those on the front line. For many groups of people, this is frankly insulting. The Taoiseach is saying to carers they are not on the front line. Despite the €20 billion of free labour done by these people, the Taoiseach is saying to them they do not count as being on the front line. During Covid they were keeping friends and family safe in very difficult circumstances when everything was shut down. The Taoiseach is saying to them they are not on the front line. He is saying to cleaners in vaccination centres they were not working on the front line. He is saying to receptionists and other staff in GP centres that when the vaccination programme was happening, they were not on the front line. Why is the Taoiseach refusing to include in the recognition these and others who were on the front line?

The Government recognises the efforts of people throughout society in respect of Covid-19. Originally, in the earlier phase of Covid, when we spoke about the front line, it was very evident in terms of intensive care and the consistent pressure workers in hospitals were under in respect of Covid-19. There are different mechanisms and contractual arrangements with different sectors. For example, there has been ongoing extensive engagement between the HSE and GP practices on a range of programmes where supports and agreements have been arrived at. There is a combination of approaches in terms of the bank holiday to try to recognise more generally people's contribution and to remember all those who lost their lives as a result of Covid, and to try to provide a recognition programme that is balanced and does its best to meet the needs of those who have done so much.

We are out of time and three Deputies remain. I will take a 30-second question from each of them.

Yesterday the Minister with responsibility for children responded to Aontú on a shocking case we raised with regard to Tusla recording untruths about a mother in its files. Tusla incorrectly stated the mother, along with other things, was an alcoholic. It said it was a copying and pasting error and has apologised since. For months we have had a back and forth with the Minister to try to find out how many other families have had untruths in their files. The Minister said he only became aware of this in March 2021. We have seen a document-----

The time is up, Deputy. We cannot have a conversation.

-----where he actually did become aware of it in October 2020.

We are finished, Deputy, please.

It is important that we find out-----

Please, Deputy, do not ignore the Chair.

-----as soon as possible the prevalence of this crisis among families throughout the country.

I will not call the Deputy again if he continues to ignore the Chair.

Last July, the Government approved Scariff Community College to proceed to tender for two mainstream classrooms, a metalwork room and a woodwork room. The school is under the patronage of Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board. The principal, Angela McNamara, is excellent, as are the staff. The project has been delayed for a while. I ask that the Taoiseach and my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Foley, might intervene to get this over the line. It is needed. I also have a question for the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers. The school has also made an application for a running track and I ask him not to see it short.

The Taoiseach is very familiar with the N25 between Carrigtwohill and Midleton, which is one of the busiest roads in the country with 30,000 traffic movements per day. It is a very dangerous road. The Taoiseach is also familiar with the former Amgen site, which is now landlocked because the N25 is not being upgraded. He is also familiar with the 2,500 houses that were to be built in Water-Rock which are also at risk because of a decision not to upgrade the N25. Will the Taoiseach intervene and make it happen?

I will ask the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, to answer the first question.

I will respond to Deputy Tóibín's question. In the case at issue, serious incorrect information was provided on the file. In my correspondence with the Deputy I outlined when I became aware of it as Minister. The Department and Tusla will always respond rapidly if similar instances are notified to us by any parent in future.

Last July, Scariff Community College got approval to proceed to tender for two new mainstream classrooms, one metalwork room and one woodwork room. Tenders have been received and a decision on appointing a contractor is imminent.

In respect of Deputy Stanton's question, I will speak to the Minister, Deputy Ryan, and Transport Infrastructure Ireland in respect of the road.

That concludes Questions on Promised Legislation and whatever you are having yourself.