153. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Health his plans to address disability services in rural areas and the effects cuts to personal assistance services have had on those living in very isolated areas as is the case for persons in County Donegal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10778/16]
147. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Health if he will ensure that the 36 posts sanctioned nationally to support the implementation of the type 2 diabetes cycle of care initiative as set out in the Health Service Executive 2016 service plan will be filled; to ensure the community-based senior dietician role allocated to County Donegal is filled; if he is aware that without this post being filled, general practitioners delivering the cycle of care initiative in County Donegal cannot refer high risk patients to a more specialised service such as dietetics that could help improve diabetes management in patients; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10731/16]
143. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Health his response to the successful piloted BeLonG To, the Health Service Executive's safe and supportive school initiative, which recently launched its successful findings of the programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10742/16]
110. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will engage with the social housing funding proposal of the Irish League of Credit Unions as part of the solution to the housing shortage crisis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10777/16]
9. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Finance the status of his engagement with the Central Bank in relation to the Irish League of Credit Unions' social housing proposal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10198/16]
1187. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if she will establish an agency, similar to that of IDA Ireland, for the development of small businesses in Ireland given that small businesses employ nearly 1 million persons or over 70% of the private sector in Ireland with potential to employ many more if expansion was adequately supported; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10401/16]
1186. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if she will examine the issues that affect seasonal workers, particularly in the fishing sector; her plans in response to a study on the prevalence of zero-hour contracts as carried out by her predecessor; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10400/16]
1185. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if she will restructure indigenous enterprise policy to include all types of firms and all sectors including import and export, rural and urban with a specific focus on developing small business viewing them with the potential of becoming exporters into the future; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10399/16]
1036. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question No. 34 of 5 May 2016, wherein it was indicated his Department has no record of the person (details supplied) submitting an amendment form, if his attention has been drawn to correspondence which indicates the amendment form was sent to his Department; if he will re-examine this case; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10092/16]
1035. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the tonnage of live American lobster imported and subsequently exported to the European Union under the label of Irish lobsters; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10089/16]
1034. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the rules and regulations for importing live lobsters; the controls in place to prevent the release of imported live lobsters such as the American lobster into Irish waters; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10088/16]
859. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Health the number of persons in the community waiting for home help; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10351/16]
858. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Health the number of persons in hospital services waiting for home help; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10350/16]
857. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Health the number of persons in the community waiting for packages under the home care scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10349/16]
856. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Health the number of persons in hospital services waiting for packages under the home care scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10348/16]
855. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Health the number of persons in receipt of intensive packages under the home care scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10347/16]
854. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Health the cost of increasing the number of home help hours by 10% in 2016; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10346/16]
853. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Health the cost of capping prescription charges at €20 per month; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10345/16]
852. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Health the cost of abolishing prescription charges; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10344/16]
851. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Health the cost of reducing the drugs payment scheme threshold to €100 per month; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10343/16]
850. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Health to implement the national dementia strategy; to provide ring-fenced funding for dementia and develop a second strategy to ensure persons with dementia are supported to live well in the community; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10336/16]
841. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Health why some of the nurses allocated to provide home respite care are on temporary contracts, given that Our Children's Voice was promised 9.5 permanent nurses; why some of the nurses are not for respite care but for direct care, which means families are restricted as to when and how long they can leave, if they can leave the home at all while the nurses are present; why parents are not allowed to leave the home for more than 30 minutes at a time; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10299/16]
840. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Health his plans to unify the National Ambulance Service with fire stations as advocated by the Chief Fire Officers Association in response to the recently published report commissioned by the Health Service Executive which indicated that additional staff and resources allocated to the National Ambulance Service would not enable it to meet additional targets of response times in rural Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10298/16]
839. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Health to enact legislation setting out the statutory right to home care to recognise the vital role of primary care and the right to that care for elderly persons in particular; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10297/16]
838. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Health to outline an implementation plan and timeline for the national positive ageing strategy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10296/16]
837. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Health his plans to preserve the mental health budget as part of the A Vision for Change strategy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10295/16]
836. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Health his plans to replace the Health Service Executive with a health commission and to provide an expanded role for private health companies in the public health system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10294/16]
627. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Health when he will commence relevant sections of the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 to enable the non-biological parents of children conceived in assisted human reproduction to be legally recognised as parents; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10026/16]
625. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Health how persons can access records of local authorities prior to the introduction of the health boards in relation to births that took place in mother and baby homes, particularly in Donegal County Council and at Bessborough House in County Cork; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9420/16]
613. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht to petition at European Union level to have the American lobster recognised as a foreign species, as Sweden has already done in March 2016, which would prohibit the import of live lobsters from the United States of America and Canada (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10087/16]
597. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his plans to increase the transparency and clarity of the public procurement regime, which is primarily determined on a lowest cost basis with no effective remedy process for disputes or appeals; if he will ensure that international best practice is applied to public procurement processes to prevent discrimination against small Irish businesses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10398/16]
550. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Social Protection the savings accrued by changing the PRSI contribution eligibility criteria for the State pension in September 2012; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10342/16]
549. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Social Protection the cost of fully restoring the Christmas bonus to recipients of the State pension; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10341/16]
548. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Social Protection the cost of restoring the telephone allowance to its original value of €22.50 per month; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10340/16]
547. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Social Protection the cost of restoring the telephone allowance to €9.50 per month; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10339/16]
546. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Social Protection the cost of increasing the living alone allowance by €2.50 per week; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10338/16]
545. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Social Protection the cost of increasing the State pension by €5 per week; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10337/16]
482. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Social Protection why young persons on a disability payment from his Department are excluded from the Youth Guarantee and why Ireland is the only country in Europe to exclude persons with disabilities from the Youth Guarantee and other mainstream activation programmes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9549/16]
467. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Social Protection why he will cease funding the walk disability project in July 2016 which is currently supporting 170 young persons with disabilities who are in receipt of disability allowance and who do not qualify for employment activation supports or are deemed not job ready by employability services; to reconsider his position and advise on how these persons will remain supported when the project closes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9476/16]
406. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will promote the right to housing as part of the economic, social and cultural rights approach to the long-term solution of homelessness and to the overall housing crisis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10305/16]
348. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government when he will publish the revision of the 2006 Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government wind development guidelines, given that it is two years on hold; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10039/16]
312. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Education and Skills to develop and issue clear guidelines in order that children of any faith and none who wish to opt out of a patron’s religious instruction have the right and opportunity to do so in all schools; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10304/16]
311. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Education and Skills to promote faith formation to the end or start of the school day to allow families to opt in as opposed to forcing families to opt out; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10303/16]
310. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Education and Skills his plans to diversify patronage arrangements in order that it is easier for schools to change patrons while continuing to increase the number of multi-denominational and non-denominational schools; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10302/16]
309. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Education and Skills to ensure the requirement that faith formation in State funded schools is confined to a distinct period of time, not permeated throughout the school day and taught after core school hours so that parents can choose if their children receive religious instruction in a particular religion; to avoid the community national school model of schools which segregate children during the school day and fail to treat children of all beliefs and none with equal respect; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10301/16]
213. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Finance the cost of abolishing the 4% interest rate for those who choose to defer payment of the property tax under the current system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10353/16]
212. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Finance the cost of introducing an exemption from property tax for those on incomes below €14,000 per year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10352/16]
171. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Finance the steps he is taking to deal with the prohibitively high increases in insurance premiums for small businesses and individual drivers; if the increases in premiums demanded impact on the viability of businesses or the ability of persons to stay in employment and are a threat to the stability of the economy and, in turn, to the ability of the insurance industry to remain viable; to assist persons who cannot afford the increases being demanded; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9419/16]
165. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality to immediately appoint an independent national rapporteur on human trafficking to bring Ireland into line with other European states and to ensure robust measures are in place to combat this crime; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10698/16]
164. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality when she will publish the second national action plan to combat human trafficking, which was promised four years ago and which currently exists in draft stage; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10697/16]