Liffey Champion Tim Ryan, Oireachtas Reporter Gino Kenny Seeks Priority

Liffey Champion Tim Ryan, Oireachtas Reporter Gino Kenny seeks priority for Bill to legalise medicinal cannabis Dublin Mid-West People Before Profit Deputy Gino Kenny told the Taoiseach that ten days ago he accompanied Vera Twomey on a trip to Barcelona to obtain medicinal cannabis for her daughter. However, on arrival at Dublin Airport, that medicine was taken from her even though she had a prescription. “I would say that medicine was taken from her illegally and she wants it back for the health of her daughter,” he said. “I appeal to the Taoiseach as a person and not as a politician. It is imperative that my Bill is given a date by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health. Every week I get phone calls from people in pain who are not criminals, but are being treated like criminals. I ask the Taoiseach to give a date and give some hope to these people. They should not be treated like criminals but like citizens of this country trying to obtain medicinal cannabis. If the Taoiseach could give a date, it would be a really good legacy on his part.” In reply, the Taoiseach said obviously, on a number of occasions in the House the Minister for Health had dealt with the issuing of prescriptions and treatment for particular ailments. “Even if he were so willing he cannot under compassionate grounds issue an instruction for particular medicine to be distributed because it requires a prescription from an authorised clinical person,” he said. “I read the account of Deputy Gino Kenny's involvement in this. In this Dáil, because of the number of Independents and smaller groupings, there were legitimate claims that backbenchers have not had enough time or opportunity to put forward their views about Private Members' Bills. Some 140 Private Members' Bills are now backed up and Government has not objected to those. However, it is a matter for the parties and groupings to decide which of those 140 Bills they actually want to prioritise.” Lawless seeks update on roll-out of rural broadband Details on the list of the personnel identified in each local authority to support the roll-out of broadband were sought in the Dáil by North Kildare Fianna Fáil Deputy James Lawless. Prior to last Christmas he said Minister Denis Naughten had announced the appointment of dedicated personnel in each local authority to assist in the roll-out of the mobile and broadband task force. “We have identified that much of the difficulty in broadband roll-out has been the lack of consistency across local authority areas,” he said. “County council A is looking for development levies and implementing development plans in a particular way, county council B is doing it another way and county council C is doing it a different way. All of these counties intersect at a particular junction, so a broadband operator or mobile phone operator is trying to put in masts and telecoms infrastructure with three different codes pertaining to just one small area.” In reply, the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Heather Humphreys said her Department has provided funding for each local authority to support the appointment of an officer with these responsibilities. “To date, 29 of the 31 local authorities have appointed a broadband officer,” she said. “The remaining two local authorities are recruiting and expected to appoint a broadband officer shortly. The manner in which broadband officers are recruited and appointed is a matter for each local authority. Telecommunications providers have widely welcomed the assignment of a single point of contact in every local authority to deal with telecoms infrastructure issues.” Murphy seeks changes in tacking suicide issue in young people Ireland has the fourth highest level of youth suicide in the European Union, Social Democrat Deputy Catherine Murphy told the Dáil. Speaking during a debate on a Private Member’s Mental Health Bill, she said there is a very good, albeit flawed, strategy called Connecting for Life. “A mother came to me and showed me some elements of the report she would like to see changed,” she said. “She was concerned about the discussions that could happen with a trusted adult, for example, in schools. The parent mentioned that page 115 of that strategy encourages - I underline the word "encourages" - schools to deliver but that does not make this mandatory. She wanted to get across the point that we need to have in-service training for teachers in addition to a module within the teacher training programme. That is not something that needs legislation but which could be done very easily.” Deputy Murphy said the mother made the point that the problem with suicide clusters was that youngsters were talking to each other in language of emotional immaturity and that we need a wider engagement. “We need a structured coping mechanism in schools to provide that kind of engagement,” she said. “She wants that kind of initiative to be made mandatory as opposed to being encouraged. She made the point that when such an initiative was taken with issues such as teen pregnancy, the HSE made a strong argument that the strategy had worked and there was evidence that the strategy had worked. That mother was someone who had been touched by this because her son unfortunately had taken his own life as a teenager. That was very raw for her when she came to me. She wanted to make sure, as far as she could, that this would not happen to another family and where there were things that could be done, they should be done. It was a simple request for it to be taken up at both in-service training and in the teacher training module.” .

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