I wish to raise two matters, the first of which relates to the Government's commitment in the confidence and supply agreement to reinvest in the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF, in order that patients who have been waiting too long for hospital treatment will have a chance to come off the waiting list. Will the Leader confirm whether this measure is being progressed and the NTPF will be set up urgently to address the ever increasing waiting lists? The figures for May show that they had reached a new high, with 74,000 patients waiting for day case treatment, an increase of more than 45% in two years. The former Minister set a 15-month target to the end of 2015, but more than 5,300 patients have been waiting longer for treatment. A further 5,691 have been waiting for between one year and 15 months. Outpatient figures are also continuing to rise, with 415,000 waiting for treatment. Some 62,000 patients have been waiting for longer than one year for an outpatient appointment, including 4,500 in children's hospitals, of whom more than 1,800 have been waiting for longer than 15 months. Overall, 30,000 patients have been waiting for longer than 15 months for an outpatient appointment. In my constituency 857 patients have been waiting for longer than one year at St. James's Hospital for an outpatient appointment, an increase of 588 since December. In Crumlin's children's hospital nearly 2,000 children have been waiting for longer than one year for an outpatient consultation, a jump of almost 1,000 since last December. Some 236 of these children have been waiting for 18 months plus. In 2002 Fianna Fáil set up the NTPF. In 2010, the last year of its existence, 33,000 public patients were facilitated. In total, almost 200,000 public patients were treated under the fund. In 2010 the average waiting time for elective treatment was just 2.6 months, down from between two and five years in 2002. Furthermore, in 2010 the prices negotiated with the private hospital system were, on average, 8% lower than in the previous year.

The second matter I wish to raise relates to older people, loneliness and elder abuse in the community. World Elder Abuse Awareness Day was 15 June. Many of us have friends, close relatives and neighbours who live alone and who, from time to time, feel isolation and loneliness to varying degrees. This leaves many of them vulnerable to abuse by those who, as the statistics have shown, are closest to them and meant to be their care givers. ALONE has reported that the abuse of older people is often carried out by a carer or family member on whom the older person relies.

As a result the abused individual is often fearful of speaking out and losing their only source of contact, help or support. Elder abuse, as has been defined, is a single or repeated act or lack of appropriate action occurring within any relationship, where there is an expectation of trust which causes harm or distress to an older person or violates their human or civil rights. Sixty-five years of age is taken as a point at which abuse may be considered elder abuse. Elder abuse can manifest itself in many forms. It can be physical, emotional or financial abuse or neglect. The World Health Organization identifies social isolation as a risk factor in elder abuse. As people's support networks narrow and they become more reliant on individuals, the risk of elder abuse heightens. If one suspects that an older person may be in need of help or suffering from abuse one may contact their GP, the Garda, public health nurse or HSE care worker. In communities it is imperative that centres for caring for the elderly, from active retirement facilities to more hands-on centres for Alzheimer's disease or more serious impairment issues, are funded and supported by the Government to ensure this sense of loneliness and anxiety is not felt by a huge proportion of citizens as it is today. I would like to see an increase in hours allocated for the home help care packages and the introduction of some type of scheme, intimated by Senator Colette Kelleher whereby elderly people are supported to stay in their homes rather than go into a nursing home which, in many circumstances, can be traumatising for the individual as a massive change in their life. In the light of more recent developments and irregularities in Console, in particular, I ask the Government not to leave this gap in funding to non-governmental organisations. It must act to properly fund and progress facilities and supports for the elderly.

I wish to raise two issues. I agree with Senator Catherine Ardagh in respect of her concerns about the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF. It is timely we had a comprehensive statement on it. I declare I am a former director of the NTPF; as such, I know a good deal about it. It has had a great record in the past. I understand from a brief discussion here in response to another issue last week that the Minister touched on the NTPF and its objectives and targets. There is mention of it in the programme for Government. It would be helpful if we had an overview of what is planned now because this organisation is up and running, albeit submerged back into the Department and called the delivery unit or the special delivery unit. It has a very good track record of delivering and ultimately treating the patients who are longest on the waiting list and bringing them forward. That is what it was set up to do and I think it has the potential to do it. It would be helpful if we had an update on it.

The other point I wish to raise is the suggestion by the Government and, in particular, by the Minister with responsibility for housing, planning and local government, Deputy Simon Coveney, that more than 150 units of housing be fast-tracked through An Bord Pleanála. There was a suggestion - one I read in the media - that Fianna Fáil was in agreement and would like the number reduced from 150 units to 50. I have not spoken directly to Fianna Fáil to date on the issue, but that is what is attributed to it. I believe in the power of local democracy and local government and the role of planning authorities to determine the outcomes of planning applications as provided in the Planning and Development Act. That is where it should remain. The supply of planning for the planning process is not delaying the roll-out and construction of houses. What is delaying it is the development levies. The sections 48 and 49 levies, under the planning and development scheme, are inhibiting development and people are waiting to see if there will be a change in how that is supplied. I would like to have the Minister come to the House to elaborate and share with members what he is planning in respect of the roll-out and empowering An Bord Pleanála which currently is not meeting its 18 weeks deadline on a whole range of major critical infrastructural issues. I appeal to the Leader to invite the Minister to come to the House and explain his thinking on that issue.