The Dáil will this week debate the urgent need to address the crisis in home care support with almost 6,500 people on a waiting list to access support, including some individuals who are currently stuck in hospital beds claims Denis Naughten TD. On Wednesday morning the Regional Group of TDs will move a Dáil motion highlighting the critical state of …
Artificial Intelligence or AI seldom gets good press
Artificial Intelligence or AI seldom gets good press; take the examples of ChatGPT which has been banned in many Universities across the world due to the potential for student plagiarism or the controversy surrounding the Hollywood writers’ strike calling it a “plagiarism machine”. There has also been concerns about the potential of Deepfakes to misrepresent reality by manipulating media by …
Today is World Environment Day 2023
How does plastic pollution affect us? An estimated 19 to 23 million tonnes of plastic leak into aquatic ecosystems annually. Plastic pollution has devastating effects on a wide array of organisms in our seas, rivers, and on land. Marine litter harms more than 800 species. More than 90 per cent of all birds and fish are believed to have plastic particles in their stomachs. The effects …
Further blow to disabled drivers – Naughten
Disabled drivers and passengers are facing a further setback after it was revealed to Denis Naughten TD that the National Rehabilitation Hospital is to withdraw from its role in the Primary Medical Certificate appeals process. This compounds problems already experienced for those trying to obtain the certificate following the blanket resignation of the appeals board, which effectively meant the vast …
Frontline workers must receive long Covid supports – Naughten
Denis Naughten has called on Government to ensure all frontline workers who contracted Covid through their employment, and who were subsequently forced out of work due to long Covid symptoms, are able to avail of supports until they are fit to return to work. “At present, 120 frontline healthcare workers with long Covid are availing of a special leave …
May is Myalgic Encephalomyelitis M.E. Awareness Month
M.E. has been described as “an often-debilitating disease” that has a prevalence close to one percent worldwide which would equate to around 52,000 people in Ireland or roughly the population of the county of Waterford (Bonilla, H. et al., 2023) With the number of people with M.E. / CFS on the rise following long-COVID, it is estimated that around 45% …
Social Protection Committee publishes report on the Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Bill
The Joint Committee on Social Protection, Community and Rural Development and the Islands has today May 3rd, published its pre-legislative scrutiny report on the Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Bill. Read the report and its recommendations in full here. This Committee have put forward 21 recommendations in this report which span over 9 key issues. In its pre-legislative …
Dept of Health fails to establish vaccine damage compensation unit despite assurances– Naughten
The Department of Health has failed to establish a separate unit to deal with a vaccine damage compensation scheme, three years after the Minister received a report on the current system for managing claims and four years after the Health Research Board (HRB) carried out an evidence review on such schemes in other jurisdictions, Denis Naughten TD has revealed. Denis …
Decade long transport lockdown for people with a disability – Naughten
Local TD Denis Naughten will tell the Dáil next week that people with a disability have effectively been coping with a decade long lockdown because of the failure to put transport supports in place to allow them to access work and other community activities. “Ten years ago the Government suspended the Mobility Allowance and Motorised Transport Grant for new applicants …
Up to Health Minister to designate long Covid as occupational illness – Naughten
International Workers’ Memorial Day must be used to ensure income support provided to all frontline workers The decision to designate long Covid as an occupational illness lies with the Department of Health and Minister Donnelly, Denis Naughten TD has stated. “The Secretary General of the Department of Social Protection made it clear to the Oireachtas Committee that the decision on …