I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills, Deputy Mary Mitchell O'Connor.
Commencement Matters
Diaspora Issues
I thank the Minister of State for attending to discuss this important topic. In February last, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade published a report by Indecon Economic Consultants on addressing challenges faced by returning emigrants. I am pleased the Minister of State with responsibility for the diaspora is committed to implementing the report in full. This independent research found that payment of fees is a significant issue for the diaspora community abroad. More than 40% of respondents in the study indicated the issue of third level fees was a factor in their decision not to return to Ireland. On foot of these findings and representations received, the report recommended that consideration be given to a means-tested grants system for first-time third level education for children of Irish or European Union citizens. Some of the criteria suggested in the report include that the recommendation only apply to cases where the parents are Irish citizens of the European Union, have lived in Ireland for 15 years or more and would have financial difficulties funding their children's university education in Ireland. These are common-sense proposals.
The report also found merit in considering a wider eligibility for EU fees for children of Irish emigrants. It further suggests there may be potential to expand the existing Government of Ireland international educational scholarships to assist those who are not eligible for European Union fees. I would be grateful if the Minister of State would answer three questions on this matter. First, will the Minister be able to implement the recommendations of the Indecon Economic Consultants report? Second, is primary or secondary legislation required to implement any of the recommendations? Third, what timeline does the Minister envisage for the implementation of the recommendations?
I thank Senator Lawless for raising this important matter. I will try to answer the three questions he asked. The current position is that to qualify for funding towards tuition fees, students must be first-time undergraduates, hold inter alia European Union, European Economic Area or Swiss nationality in their own right and have been ordinarily resident in an EU-EEA state or Switzerland for at least three of the five years preceding their entry to approved third level courses. Where undergraduate students do not qualify for free fees, they are required to pay fees to their higher education institute at either an EU rate or a higher non-EU rate.
The Department responded previously to concerns about the impact of the free fees eligibility criteria on individuals who have had to move abroad for occupational or economic reasons and which required them to take their children out of the Irish education system in the process. To this end, in March 2014 the Department of Education and Skills requested that the Higher Education Authority advise the higher education sector that full-time undergraduate students who hold EU, EEA or Swiss nationality but do not meet the residency clause of the free fees initiatives and have completed five academic years of study at either primary or post-primary in an EU or EEA state or Switzerland and commenced their undergraduate course of study in an approved institution here should, from the following academic year onwards, be charged an EU rate of fee rather than the higher non-EU rate by their higher education institution.
This approach was implemented for new students from the commencement of the 2014-15 academic year. It is a matter for the institutions to apply this policy to such students and I am not aware of any particular issue arising from the implementation of this policy direction.
It is important to recognise that higher education institutions are autonomous bodies and the Department has a limited role in the day-to-day running of their operational affairs. It is an issue for higher education institutions in the first instance to determine the level of fee applicable to particular programmes or elements of academic programmes. The student contribution, which currently stands at €3,000, applies to all students who benefit under the Department's free fees initiative. This student contribution is paid by the Exchequer in respect of students who qualify under the Department's third level grant scheme. Tax relief is also available for second and subsequent siblings to alleviate the costs for families of approved courses at approved colleges of higher education.
In early 2018, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade commissioned a report, entitled "Economic Report on Addressing Challenges Faced by Returning Irish Emigrants". This report, which was undertaken by Indecon, identified education along with other issues - driving licences, health insurance etc. - as one of a number of factors influencing the return of emigrants. The report made a number of recommendations on addressing education-related barriers in respect of third level education, those being, to consider a means-tested third level grant for children of emigrants and to introduce increased flexibility for EU postgraduate fees. I have already spoken to the Ministers, Deputies Coveney and Donohoe, and the Minister of State, Deputy Cannon, but we will shortly have a formal meeting to discuss these proposals in detail. The Minister of State will report to the Cabinet in the coming months.
The Department will consider the report's recommendations in the context of a broader programme of higher education funding reform. However, it is important to recognise that in implementing the free fees and student grant schemes, my Department needs to be conscious of the need for consistency in how individuals are treated and the potential financial and other policy implications arising from any specific proposal to make changes to either scheme.
I thank the Senator for affording me the opportunity to respond to the House. As to his question on whether we would be able to implement the report, I will meet the Ministers and Minister of State. We are taking this matter seriously and the Department is scoping it out. I will have to check as to whether primary or secondary legislation is required. As to the timeline, the meeting with the Ministers and Minister of State will take place after Easter and the Minister of State will report to the Cabinet in a few months' time.
I thank the Minister of State. As an educationalist herself, she understands the implications of this situation. The number of people involved is small, so we should be able to handle them. In many instances, a lot of the parents who emigrated through intra-company transfers and so on are high achievers with kids who are also high achievers and who would qualify for scholarships in the US, but they cannot avail of those because they are not American citizens. They return to Ireland as Irish citizens only to be penalised here as well. It is not fair.
The Minister of State is aware of another suggestion. The universities are autonomous bodies but we are still subsidising many of them and we should be examining the possibility of a scholarship scheme for those individuals coming home. There are cases in which parents cannot afford to send their children to university. That is not right.
I thank the Minister of State for her concern. She has a personal interest in this matter. I thank her for her response, which I appreciated.
Does the Minister of State wish to add anything?
No. I will leave what I have said. The Minister of State, Deputy Cannon, will report to the Cabinet.
I thank the Minister of State.
Taxi Licences
I raise an important matter concerning the Taxi Regulator and the treatment of the next of kin of deceased taxi licence and plate holders. As the Minister will understand, taxi owners form an integral part of the public transport system. They are largely self-employed and work hard to earn what can only be described as very modest incomes. They comply with the law and pay their taxes and have been subject to an increased degree of regulation in recent years, which has helped to professionalise the industry and root out many of the dubious elements who had been involved in recent decades. The Minister will concede that they and their families are entitled to have a fair crack of the whip.
I wish to share with the House and the Minister the shocking experience of a Drogheda woman, Ms Marie Keegan, at the hands of this bureaucracy. Marie's husband-----
We are not supposed to name particular people.
It is important in order to illustrate the point. This woman has spoken publicly and has no difficulty being referred to in the House. Her husband was a taxi driver for almost 30 years. When the business was deregulated in 2000, he bought his own plate like thousands of others. He worked hard for 17 or 18 years as the owner of that plate and met all of the industry regulations with which he had to comply. Tragically, Tommy died in Lanzarote while on holidays in January. His sudden passing was an unspeakable tragedy for Marie and Tommy's wider circle of friends in the Drogheda area.
In recent weeks and in an effort to tie up the loose ends that occur when someone passes away, Marie, with the help of Tommy's colleagues in Drogheda, contacted the Taxi Regulator to make arrangements for the transfer of the taxi licence to her. What happened next came as a shock. The regulator stated that the licence that Tommy owned in effect died with him. Marie was told that a little known form called the S15N had not been filled in by him in order to nominate her in the event of his passing. In the absence of that form being signed, the licence simply reverted to the regulator.
Not only has Marie had to deal with the unspeakable grief of suddenly losing her husband in very difficult circumstances, but she now has to deal with the reality of losing his business and a critical source of income for her as well. This has been described by many in the media and Marie herself as something akin to stealing from her husband. I would have to agree with that analogy.
There is another case of a woman who has spoken publicly on "Liveline" in recent weeks, that of Carol Lee, who lost her husband Mick, a taxi driver of long standing. Her circumstances directly mirror the experience of Marie Keegan in Drogheda. She has lost her husband's taxi licence. She made contact with the Taxi Regulator only to be told that, because this form had not been filled in, the licence essentially died with him.
It seems to me that the taxi sector is not broadly familiar with this system. There does not seem to be any appeal or discretion and there is no human understanding whatsoever of the situation in which people like Marie Keegan find themselves. Surely, a taxi licence is an asset and, like any other asset, it can be transferred through a person's estate to next of kin in the normal way. I believe this has been dealt with in a cold, callous and inhumane fashion. I call on the Minister to respond on the associated policy matters and to commit to working with the National Transport Authority, NTA, which is the regulator of taxis, to try to divine a way in which this matter can be resolved in the interests of the next of kin of deceased taxi drivers who have not filled in this nomination form. They find not only that they have to deal with the grief of losing a family member but they have the difficulty of losing their business too.
I thank Senator Nash for raising this issue, which is one that has obviously caused great distress. I wish to express my sympathy for the widow on the death of her husband in this case. I understand the distress she is suffering and the expectation that she might have received something that she has not. My guess is that the human elements of this are extremely worrying for the family and that we probably have uncovered a somewhat complicated issue that has the capacity to cause unexpected distress to bereaved people, something they could do without at a time of grieving.
As the Senator is probably aware, under the Taxi Regulation Act 2013, the NTA is the independent regulator of the taxi, hackney and limousine sectors. Technically, these are known in the legislation as small public service vehicles or SPSVs. Section 15 of the Act deals with the transfer of SPSV licences in the event of death. The 2013 Act sets out new rules and arrangements relating to licences for small public service vehicles. It took account of a review of the taxi industry conducted in 2011. Recommendations arising from the review were widely publicised at the time through the media, the NTA website and industry updates. Action 14 of the published report recommended the introduction of a general prohibition of the transferability of taxi licences. The measure was provided for in section 41 of the Taxi Regulation Act 2013, which was commenced with effect from 6 April 2014.
Provision was made in section 15 to enable the reassignment of an SPSV licence in the event of the death of the licenceholder. Under the law, a licenceholder can formally nominate someone to take over the licence when the holder dies. The Act sets out rules governing the process. The provision applies to all categories of SPSV, including taxi, hackneys, limousines, wheelchair-accessible taxis and wheelchair-accessible hackneys. This process relates to the licence for the vehicle to be used as a public vehicle. Obviously, in the interests of public safety and consumer protection, the vehicle is still required to meet the normal safety standards set for SPSVs and the new driver must meet the requirements for an SPSV driver licence.
The NTA is the independent regulator and administers the process for these formal nominations and reassignments of vehicle licences. The NTA website has details about the process and the relevant forms. The nomination form and an information guide can be collected in hard copy at all NTA inspection centres or when requested through the industry information line.
The industry is regularly requested to complete this free nomination process through the SPSV industry updates newsletter. I am told that these forms are also handed to licenceholders or their representatives after every annual vehicle inspection. The NTA has informed me that it urges all SPSV licenceholders to submit a completed nomination form.
I am aware that there have been cases where licenceholders have passed away without completing this form. I am asking the NTA to consider raising the level of awareness of the nomination process. I strongly support the NTA in encouraging SPSV licenceholders to complete the nomination form and I advise all SPSV licenceholders to take the time to complete this form as soon as possible.
We have a really difficult situation here, which obviously is not unique. However, we also have a situation whereby it would be extraordinarily difficult to retrospectively anticipate the wishes of anyone in this predicament.
I thank the Minister for his response and I thank you, a Leas-Chathaoirligh, for indulging me in permitting me to mention the two particular cases, with one of which I am especially familiar. I did so merely to illustrate the point and the human cost of this overly bureaucratic system and its impact on people on a regular basis. I tend not to mention individual cases in this House and I understand the restrictions that ought to apply, but I took the view it was important to illustrate the point that I was trying to make, that is to say, that there was a human cost to this.
I have looked at the form on the website. It appears tenth on a list of obscure forms on the website. It seems to me that the existence of this form is not widely understood in the taxi sector. I have spoken to many smart people who work in the taxi sector in recent days to assess their level of knowledge. The level of knowledge is extremely poor. In cases like this families are put in difficult situations. There appears to be no flexibility whatsoever and no humane and compassionate understanding of the circumstances in which people find themselves when someone dies suddenly.
Every year, taxi drivers are required to renew the licence. It would be worthwhile if the regulator would consider informing individuals on an annual basis of their obligation to sign these forms if they wish to reassign their licences for consideration to family members in the event of their passing.
I appeal to the Minister to take a personal interest in this matter and to work with the regulator of taxis to try to have this resolved. I am committed to doing that. I believe we need a far more humane and compassionate system to try to work with women like Marie Keegan and Mrs. Lee, who lost her husband recently, to address these real and human problems. I appeal to the Minister to commit to doing that.
The fact the Senator has pointed out that this is not a unique case indicates there is certainly a problem. This may be a problem with communication. I have pointed out the ways the NTA is communicating the need or obligation on anyone in this situation to fill out the form and nominate someone. If they do not, then the licence dies with them.
It seems to be something I cannot retrospectively change but we can certainly make stringent efforts and ensure that State agencies and others insist that communication is better. Perhaps the suggestion that taxi drivers or drivers of SPSVs should be informed and reminded of this every year is a good one.
I do not know the details in the particular instance and we cannot anticipate such cases but it certainly seems that there is a recurring problem, if the Senator is right. I urge the NTA to address it by communicating more frequently with those who hold these licences.
Job Creation
In recent years, I have had submitted to the Minister and her predecessor a number of parliamentary questions to try to understand foreign direct investment, FDI, and IDA-supported jobs in Donegal. In July 1999, County Donegal had lost more than 1,000 jobs in the textile industry. Companies such as Fruit of the Loom, which was a significant employer, was on the verge of leaving the county and it eventually left. Magee was a textile manufacturer in south Donegal and Unifi was based in Letterkenny. They all left in subsequent years but already in July 1999 we had lost 1,000 jobs. The Government of the day set up a Donegal employment initiative task force and it presented its recommendations in July 1999. It said that Donegal was way behind the rest of the State in job creation, especially foreign direct investment, and it targeted almost 5,000 additional jobs in foreign direct investment for the next seven years.
I decided to track how we progressed in the past 17 years. What I have discovered from the responses of the Minister and her officials is that today in Donegal the IDA supports fewer companies than it did in the year 2000. It supported 14 companies then and it is 12 today. When one looks at the growth in jobs in IDA-supported companies across the State, it was 140,000 in 2000 and today it is more than 210,000, which is 50% growth. I commend the IDA on the excellent job it has done in bringing companies from around the world to the State. I say good luck to all the locations that got such companies. In County Donegal, even though we set a target of 5,000 additional jobs in the following seven years, the growth has been less than half of the State-wide level of 50% at 24% growth. We would be in serious trouble were it not for companies such as Pramerica and Optum, which employ more than two thirds of all the IDA-supported jobs in Donegal. It is a fantastic story of Donegal leadership. There has been a failure to deliver foreign direct investment to Donegal but there is good news in that we have Pramerica and Optum, as well as other companies. In particular, I refer to Pramerica, which employs more than 1,500 companies and which demonstrates we can get jobs in Donegal, keep them there and grow them.
The Letterkenny Institute of Technology provides fantastic leadership. The adjoining CoLab develops and incubates small businesses. There is also a science and technology park. In addition, there is the leadership of Donegal County Council, as well as Derry City and Strabane District Council. They are breaking down the Border and talking about the north-west city region. While I need to focus today on the historic failure and the negatives, I want to bring to the Minister's attention the significant positives. The Minister must work with her Government colleagues to fast-track the commitments in Project 2040 in terms of roads investment, broadband, airports, bridges and harbours. I ask that the Minister works with her Government colleagues to fast-track the commitments made concerning Donegal. Donegal was playing catch-up in 1999. We put in place recommendations but fell further behind. I urge the Minister to work with me and other public representatives in Donegal to bring more foreign direct investment to the county and to make sure that the commitments in Project 2040 are delivered.
As a Minister from a Border county, Deputy Humphreys knows how hard it has been. She knows the struggle that we have had and the threat of Brexit. We need a strong statement from the Minister today about how we are going to bring new businesses to the area. I ask her not to quote the jobs growth in Pramerica. We know all about that. She should please tell me about her plan to bring new companies to Donegal, on the back of Pramerica and Optum, to turn around the historic failure we have seen.
I thank Senator Mac Lochlainn for raising this matter. As a representative from the constituency of Cavan-Monaghan, job creation in the Border region is particularly close to my heart. In that regard, I will begin by stressing that the Government is determined to support the growth of high-quality and sustainable employment across Ireland, including in County Donegal. Regional development is - and will remain - a national priority and sustained efforts are being made to foster job creation and investment all over the country.
As Senator Mac Lochlainn said, the Donegal employment initiative task force was set up in 1999 as a long-term plan to target sustainable job growth for the region. The task force set out extremely ambitious targets for job creation for Donegal in terms of foreign direct investment and internationally traded services. While not all of the task force's targets have been met, the overall employment trends in the county are positive. When looking at employment growth in Donegal over the past ten years - or elsewhere across Ireland for that matter - it is also important to take account of the impact of the financial and fiscal crisis that began in 2008. We must be mindful of that. It had the effect of reversing job creation and investment for a number of years, stalling the country's wider economic progress. Significant steps forward have been taken, however, since the country emerged from recession. If one compares, for example, foreign direct investment-related employment in Donegal at the beginning of our economic recovery in 2012 with our most recent FDI employment data at the end of 2017, one will find the county has experienced a 52% increase in FDI employment in that five-year period. Job numbers in IDA Ireland client companies there have grown from 2,223 in 2012 to 3,389 at the end of last year. That growth rate compares very favourably with the national average increase of 31% in FDI employment within this same period.
Last year alone, the number of IDA-supported jobs in Donegal increased by 11%, with the region now home to 12 IDA companies, which currently include SITA, Optibelt and Pramerica. The agency continues to work hard to create further employment opportunities in the county and to increase the number of multinational companies located there. Last October, my predecessor attended the opening of Pramerica's new state-of-the-art campus in Letterkenny, where more than 220 local tradesmen were employed during its construction. Pramerica's presence in the county began in 2000 with just eight employees and the firm has grown to become a highly successful company with more than 1,500 employed in County Donegal. I believe that exemplifies the potential that exists in the county and the efforts the Government and the IDA have made, and are still making, to bring more investment there. We want that to continue, which is why the IDA is working closely with both existing and new clients to encourage further projects and more job creation for the county.
As I anticipated, we now need to get to the core of the issue. That is the reason I had those questions tabled and why I am probing the issue. Pramerica is a fantastic story in Donegal. It employs more than 1,500 jobs and has local Donegal leadership. I was at the launch of the fantastic new building, known as the Rock. It is a great story but it is not enough. Why are we not building on the story of Pramerica? The Minister talked about a 52% increase over a number of years but it was from a low base. The unemployment levels in Donegal in the 2016 census and historically have been around twice the national average. A significant factor in the reduction in unemployment levels between 2011 and 2016 is emigration. People in Donegal know that. We have lost young people to the United States, Australia and Canada and many of them are not coming home.
I want to hold up the positive examples of Pramerica, Letterkenny Institute of Technology, Donegal County Council, Derry and Strabane council, and their visionary leadership, but the Government is not meeting them half way. It is not bringing new jobs. The low number of IDA site visits in the past ten to 15 years is despicable. The Government is basically riding on the back of Pramerica's success and it is not delivering new investment to the county.
The Government is not acknowledging the scale of the disadvantages we have faced historically and is not delivering the new investment and jobs that are required. It is clearly not telling the story of Donegal or of Letterkenny Institute of Technology, LYIT, and the visionary leadership in the region. If Pramerica Systems Ireland Limited and Optum were taken from the figures for new and additional jobs, Donegal would be a disaster zone. The Minister cannot continue to point to Pramerica to make the Government look good. She must start to build on Pramerica's delivery. Local Donegal leadership and good friends in America delivered in Pramerica. What the IDA must do now is bring in new companies and new investment and accept that, historically, there has been huge Government failure.
The Minister started by talking about the Donegal employment initiative task force back in 1999. She must accept there has been utter failure in achieving those targets. The target was almost 5,000 for the next seven years for Donegal, but it has had less than half the growth of the rest of the State. Not only did it not catch up, it fell further behind. That is an indisputable fact. I ask the Minister to accept that and to promise to stop quoting Pramerica to the people in Donegal. We know about that. She should tell us when she will bring new jobs and new investment on foot of the brilliant leadership in Pramerica, LYIT and Donegal County Council.
I do not accept what the Senator says regarding the lack of effort on creating jobs in Donegal. That is untrue. The figures the Senator quotes go back to 1999. He forgets to mention that in the middle of all that time we had a huge economic recession. He knows that as well as I do.
Jobs grew every year during it. The recession has nothing to do with it.
The Senator fails to acknowledge that. Most new IDA supported jobs are created from existing companies. There are three very good FDI companies in Donegal and the IDA continues to work closely with them. I have just returned from the United States and I have to make the point that the work the IDA does abroad is second to none. American politicians said to me, "How did you do it? You have one of the best agencies in the world in terms of attracting foreign direct investment". I assure the Senator that the IDA is doing everything it can to encourage foreign companies to locate in Donegal, Cavan, Monaghan, Louth, Sligo and Leitrim. I accept that those Border counties need increased attention and investment and that is a priority for me.
The IDA's clients based in the county have performed well. The IDA retains a healthy presence in the north-west region despite the challenging economic operating environment over the last number of years. The latest CSO figures show a significant drop of over 8% in the unemployment rate in Donegal since 2011. This recovery is not driven by FDI companies alone. Enterprise Ireland, EI, has also grown its jobs numbers in the county with 3,552 people now employed in EI client companies in Donegal, an increase from 3,420 last year. Both Enterprise Ireland and the IDA maintain constant engagement with their clients in Donegal to encourage them to grow both jobs and investment in the county even further. The agencies also work closely together, where possible, to help spur employment creation. The local enterprise offices, as well as InterTradeIreland, are also working hard to ensure sustainable job growth for County Donegal and the wider north-west region.
I acknowledge that more work remains to be done both in Donegal and across the north, west and Border region in terms of creating opportunities for the people of those areas. As the Senator knows, I am from the Border area and following my appointment as Minister with responsibility for business I said from the outset that I wanted to shine a light on the region for job creation because traditionally it has been one of the areas that has lagged behind. I recently met the chief executive officers, CEOs, of the local authorities in Cavan, Monaghan, Louth and Meath and I will also meet the CEOs from Donegal, Sligo and Leitrim. Those meetings involve senior officials from my Department, as well as the IDA and Enterprise Ireland. I am committed to ensuring that we do more for the Border region and I hope to see more investment in the region in the years ahead. In fairness, Donegal County Council and Letterkenny Institute of Technology have done great work. The Government has supported them and will continue to support them.
Another issue is the N2-A5. The Minister of State, Deputy McHugh, and I are absolutely committed to that road going all the way from Dublin to Letterkenny. That would be a wonderful addition in terms of opening the north west and reducing the time it takes to get from the airport in Dublin to Donegal. Both of us are committed to that and it is included in the national development plan and the national planning framework for 2040.
Mental Health Services Provision
I thank the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Catherine Byrne, for coming to the Seanad this morning. The important issue I wish to raise is the inpatient mental health unit in Roscommon town. As the Minister of State will be aware, a recent inspection by the Mental Health Commission has found that the unit is non-compliant with 14 regulations, one rule and four codes of practice. She will also be aware that an external report on mental health services was published last September. It is difficult for me, as a public representative, for people in our community and for people who need to use our mental health services and their families to have confidence in the acute inpatient mental health unit as well as the other services in the county when there is non-compliance in a number of key areas.
These inspections take place every year. I should emphasise that our results have been getting worse, not better, through 2015, 2016 and 2017. We are not making improvements. In 2015, there were 18 non-compliant areas, in 2016 there were 13 and in 2017 there were 19. That is very serious. I will highlight the difficulties that were found in the report. They are basic issues - I worked as an occupational therapist in mental health services - such as poor hand hygiene, no soap in dispensers, dairy products not stored at an appropriate temperature, inadequate staffing, no up-to-date training and broken handles on windows and lockers. One section of the report indicates huge issues with recreational space. It was described as a cage-like area. I acknowledge that work commenced last November on developing a garden at the inpatient mental health unit, which is something of an improvement.
However, I am not happy. We had a meeting last night with the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Jim Daly, about another unit, the Rosalie unit in Castlerea. There was no HSE management at that meeting. Who exactly is running our mental health services at present? I am not satisfied with the level of care being given to people who are going through very difficult times.
I want to know exactly what measures are being put in place to ensure we do not see results like this again. I ask the Minister of State for a response that deals with the practical solutions that will be put in place immediately.
I thank Senator Hopkins. I will read the response I have been given. I may not be able to address some of the details. On behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, who could not be here, I thank the Senator for raising this Commencement matter.
Mental health remains a priority of the programme for Government. Since 2012, around €200 million, or 28%, has been added to the HSE mental health budget which now totals over €910 million. This is a significant investment by any standard and the Programme for a Partnership Government gives a clear commitment to increase our mental health budget annually as resources allow to expand and modernise all aspects of our services, including those in Roscommon. One of the strategic priorities for mental health in the HSE national service plan 2018 is to deliver timely, clinically effective and standardised safe mental health services in adherence to statutory requirements. Specific provision is made to improve compliance through monitoring services in collaboration with the Mental Health Commission. The HSE’s national service plan 2018 also highlights the implementation of the HSE best practice guidance for mental health services, including developing and delivery of training and reporting for quality surveillance.
The Mental Health Commission is charged with visiting and inspecting every approved mental health centre at least once a year. On 15 March 2017, the commission published its report on the department of psychiatry in Roscommon University Hospital. This followed an inspection of the approved centre which took place from 5 September to 8 September 2017. While the facility received satisfactory rankings for elements of its performance, there were concerns raised by the commission on the detailed aspects of service delivery. The inspection team found, for example, that the unit failed in some respects on appropriate recreational activities, visitor areas, therapeutic services and programmes, privacy and premises, risk management procedures and admission and transfer and discharge records. Details of the full report are available on the Mental Health Commission website.
The HSE community health care organisation, CHO, 2 has welcomed the commission’s report on the Roscommon acute psychiatric unit. A corrective and preventative action plan was drafted by the HSE following the receipt of the inspection report to ensure all issues identified in the report are addressed. The Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, is satisfied that the HSE is committed to improving this particular service overall and is in the process of addressing the specific issues highlighted. One of the main concerns related to a lack of proper garden facilities for the residents and the HSE has already commenced construction of a new garden at the hospital. The Senator may rest assured that the Department of Health and the HSE will continue to closely monitor the issues raised in the Mental Health Commission report to ensure the necessary corrective actions are progressed as quickly as possible. The Senator will also be aware that the report of the Roscommon mental health services was published last September. Good progress is being made by the HSE in implementing the 27 recommendations of this report to help modernise mental health services overall in Roscommon. This will by its nature help raise standards and practice for mental health overall in Roscommon, including inpatient and community-based services.
I will respond to any supplementary questions the Senator raises.
I thank the Minister of State for her response. She will understand how frustrated I am. I do not rest assured. We had a meeting last night with the Minister of State, Deputy Daly. There was no HSE management at the meeting on the Rosalie unit in Castlerea. I have absolutely no faith in HSE management of mental health services in County Roscommon.
The Minister of State mentioned action plans. We know the 27 recommendations of the report. I was at a meeting last Friday with the chief health officer, Tony Canavan, about the report. We were told an action plan has been developed. I would like to see a little bit of action from that action plan. I acknowledge there has been work on the garden. What about basic hand hygiene? What about broken handles on lockers and windows? What about food safety? What about mandatory training? What about staffing? They are all very serious issues. The response I got last Friday on mental health services in County Roscommon overall is not at all positive. We have absolutely no clear pathway to improve services in the county. The only words that were used at that meeting last Friday were about closures of day centres and hostels and the serious concerns that have been raised here. A strong focus from the Minister and Ministers of State in the Department of Health would ensure we improve things because we need to do so. People in Roscommon deserve better than this.
I can see clearly the Senator is very upset and frustrated by what has happened. The simple issues the Senator raised around hand hygiene, food hygiene and locks on windows are very common sense things. Those of us who have an association with health services believe there should be management and leadership at grassroots level. Some of the small issues the Senator raised have not been corrected. That is down to the leadership and management at HSE level and at the level of the management of the service. We owe the best of care to people who go into a service like this. If the management in place is not sufficient to deal with the mundane, every day clinical and hygiene issues in a centre like this we are in really deep trouble. I agree with the Senator on that.
I do not have details of a further clear pathway to give to the Senator but I will outline her frustration, which she has spoken about clearly, to the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly. I will ask him to meet or respond to the Senator in detail on the pathways to address the issue. I am very sorry I do not have specific answers and I understand the Senator's frustration.
I am sure the Senator appreciates what the Minister of State will do for her.
Sitting suspended at 11.27 a.m. and resumed at 11.37 a.m.