Rhun ap Iorwerth: The increasing incidence of alcohol abuse is very concerning, and it's something that each and every one of us should be concerned about. It's believed that high-risk drinkers have been driving the recent increase in alcohol consumption, and that has led to the highest level of alcohol abuse in 20 years. We know of the damaging impacts of alcohol abuse on our physical health, as well as our...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: There's quite a simple motion before us today. Myself and my colleagues on these benches agree that the Welsh Government doesn't have an adequate plan to tackle NHS waiting lists in Wales and the backlogs in Wales. We've seen the plan, over the last few weeks, and there are, of course, positive elements. One, that we have a plan at last, having waited far too long for it, and there are plans...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: 'May I...congratulate the Soviet Foreign Office on its skill in concealing the true situation in the USSR? Moscow is not Russia, and the sight of well-fed people there tends to hide the real Russia.'
Rhun ap Iorwerth: The Soviet Government denied the existence of this famine until the end of the 1980s, but it’s been seared on the minds of the people of Ukraine for 90 years. It’s important that we remember too. To conclude, the sadness beyond words is that this isn't something that has been laid to rest forever in history. Here we are in 2022. Last week, an official of the United Nations said that the...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: 'What I saw that morning...was inexpressibly horrible. On a battlefield men die quickly, they fight back, they are sustained by fellowship and a sense of duty. Here I saw people dying in solitude by slow degrees, dying hideously, without the excuse of sacrifice for a cause. They had been trapped and left to starve, each in his home, by a political decision made in a far-off capital around...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: But, of course, this wasn't a story that could be told publicly. The Soviet press, as we've heard, denied that any famine had taken place at all. Unfortunately, there were plenty in the western press who were willing to believe that. There was one man, of course—we’ve heard his name time and time again today—who tried to draw attention to the genuine situation, and that was Gareth...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd, and to everyone who has made such thoughtful comments today, and thank you for that commitment by the Minister. I'm pleased that we as a Senedd can express in such a unified way our sympathy and our solidarity with the people of Ukraine, as we note 90 years since the Holodomor, which is called the 'great famine' very often, but, of course, the use of that word...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: It really is hard to over-emphasise the importance of the site. Anglesey Aluminium provided very good jobs for thousands of people over four decades. We have to ensure that sustainable economic activity—a new era of good jobs, if you like—is brought to the site. Quite rightly, the priority of all of us after the collapse of Orthios was to support those who'd lost their jobs, and that...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: I appreciate that. This nurse certainly was concerned about the staffing levels in general, and clearly the over-dependency on agency staff. I was told that the majority of nurses that came from Spain a few years ago, after a recruitment campaign, have returned to Spain. There are major gaps in the workforce. The Minister, I know, will have received a copy of the latest report by the Royal...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you, Llywydd. It's Nurses Day tomorrow, and I'd like to thank nurses in all parts of Wales for their care and dedication. But I want to draw the Minister's attention to concerns that have been raised with me by a nurse, who tells me that they represent a significant number of nursing staff in Ysbyty Gwynedd. I was saddened to hear the nurse describing the working environment, describing...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: 5. Will the Minister provide an update on efforts to safeguard and create jobs on the former Anglesey Aluminium site? OQ58028
Rhun ap Iorwerth: 'Prevention at all stages needs to be embedded in our actions'.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: That is so true, but I don't see the signs of the kind of revolution I would like to see. I remember, after a recent statement, I accused the Minister of having missed a nought from the end of a figure that was being spent on preventative measures, and I mean it. We have to aim, ultimately, to spend less on healthcare, and the way of achieving that is that we are a healthier nation because...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you, Minister, for this statement. I don't disagree with the wording or the content, and I don't disagree with the aim here. Who would disagree with the aim of trying to create a healthier nation? What concerns me a little is that we could be tied up here talking about what we're trying to deliver but we don't see those robust steps that will take us step by step towards this aim. The...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: —I wrote to the First Minister on 27 April, asking him to correct the Record, the Senedd Record, after he said that responsibility for the COVID public inquiry 'has moved into the hands of the independent judge who has been appointed to lead it.' He was answering a question asked by Heledd Fychan. Now, as somebody who has called consistently for a Wales-only inquiry to ensure that issues...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you for the statement. I think I have three questions. There are few changes, if truth be told, by now. I'm pleased that the evidence, not so much the testing now, but the ONS evidence and the wastewater evidence—does suggest that the situation is improving. The first question is on schools and colleges, which I think see the greatest changes here given that face coverings are no...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you for that response. At least 8,000 people in Wales have a chronic hepatitis C infection, but we could eradicate hepatitis C entirely. That's the good news. But, although eradication is possible, and Wales in the past has taken major steps towards eradication by 2030, the reality is that we have now fallen back and we're not on the right tracks to hit that target and there are now...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: 3. Will the First Minister provide an update on the Welsh Government's target to eliminate hepatitis C in Wales? OQ58030
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Diolch yn fawr iawn, Dirprwy Lywydd. I couldn't quite believe that I was being given that briefing by the Minister and his officials last week, and I'm very grateful for that briefing. But to be fair, I don't think the Minister could believe that he was giving the briefing on such a sudden change of heart when it came to border facilities. I happen to represent the second busiest roll-on,...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Will you take an intervention?
