I spoke to my officials yesterday again on this. I want to thank the survivors for the engagement I have had with them. There is absolutely no need to even contemplate going back on hunger strike. I will fulfil the commitments that I have made along with the then Minister for education. I wrote to the survivors, and I will fulfil those commitments as soon as we possibly can. We are putting together the detail and fleshing out the commitments I made in correspondence with them on these. I want to give the Deputy that commitment.
Sentiment score: 0.13
Ireland has been a strong supporter of the establishment of the tribunal and will provide financial supports, as we have generally in the area of international jurisprudence and, indeed, the various international courts, such as the International Criminal Court, ICC, the International Court of Justice, ICJ, or any of them have been very strong supporters of those. I share with the Deputy the condemnation of these appalling attacks. In my discussions with President Zelenskyy yesterday, I was very clear on the enormous toll on young people in this war. Thousands and thousands of Ukrainians and, indeed, thousands and thousands of Russians have been dying on the battlefield. There is no need for it. It is an appalling denial of humanity and the importance of life itself. I am shocked at how any leader and how President Putin can preside over such an appalling loss of life at a scale that is unimaginable to any human being.
Sentiment score: -0.24
I ask Members of the House maybe to consult with me and we will engage with the survivors. I understand the Deputy is asking in good faith, but there is no need to go back or even contemplate it. Work is being done on this to flesh out what I committed to. The guarantee stands. The commitments stand. For anyone to have to go back on something like that would be very damaging to their health, so I would be very concerned about that. People's lives and quality of life into the future are at stake here because not taking food and so on can impact someone long after the protest is over. I will come back to the Deputies in respect of this.
Sentiment score: 0.12
I am not aware of that particular cut, but I will talk to the new Minister for Defence in respect of that. I did set up the office of the Reserve Defence Force. We really have beefed up the capacity behind it, all with a view to increasing the number of reservists because it is a very important dimension to our Defence Forces. My view is that we should be doing everything to incentivise the recruitment of reservists, not disincentivising it.
Sentiment score: 0.29
We have a party Whip system, and we do not have open votes on every single Private Members' Bill that comes before the House-----
Sentiment score: 0.40
-----but in terms of protection of whistleblowers, there is very comprehensive legislation to protect whistleblowers. That is there and there are good systems in place and avenues by which disclosures can be made, dealt with and responded to in a systemic way. I am not clear in terms of the Deputy's comment on civil servants knowingly breaching the law. The law is there to be enforced. If the Deputy knows people have broken the law, he should report it to the Garda, which can follow it up. We need to be careful, however. The vast majority of public servants work in the best interests of this country-----
Sentiment score: 0.17
-----and for the people of this country. Every now and again, we need to affirm people in their work-----
Sentiment score: 0.00
Yes, I know, but we tend to give everyone a bad name.
Sentiment score: -0.60
I thank the Deputy for raising this question. I want to acknowledge his absolute consistent support and adherence to a high-quality food production system in this country and agriculture. At the moment, the European Union currently imports around 200,000 tonnes of beef from Mercosur countries annually. What is being proposed now is that the Mercosur countries will be granted a beef quota of 99,000 tonnes subdivided into 55,000 fresh and 45,000 frozen, with an in-quota tariff of 7.5% to be phased in over six equal stages. The Government has been actively engaged with like-minded European Union countries to voice Ireland's concerns in relation to the EU-Mercusor agreement. The Deputy is correct that the EU has very stringent standards, which are known as sanitary and phytosanitary standards, SPS, to protect human, animal and plant life. These standards are among the highest in the world and are non-negotiable. I cannot give a longer answer but the European Union, in the context of the latest agreement, has committed to increasing the number of audits and checks in third countries and to strengthening the SPS controls undergone. The reports identified by the Deputy have raised concerns.
Sentiment score: 0.38
I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. My understanding, if it is the same issue, is that it arose prior to the budget and the then Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe, advised that, as we say in Irish, níl aon dul as. There was no way to deal with it other than to bring in new measures because of European Union monitoring and what it had assessed in terms of the existing scheme. I accept it is challenging for the broiler farmers but I am not clear there is an alternative pathway. I will bring the matter to the attention of the Minister for Finance. Sometimes in the implementation of new measures there can be space to see if anything can be done. I will talk to the Minister for Finance in respect of the issue.
Sentiment score: 0.06
As I said earlier, I am very concerned about these reports. The European Union currently imports approximately 200,000 tons of beef from Mercosur countries annually. There was an assessment done some years ago on the proposed EU-Mercosur agreement that it would result in an additional 50,000 tonnes once it was fully phased in, but approximately 99,000 tonnes would benefit from an in-quota tariff of 7.5%. The fact is that Mercosur beef is coming into the country and it has been, and it is very worrying that carcinogenic hormones have been detected.
Sentiment score: 0.08
The EU has very stringent SPS standards and they have to be implemented and enforced.
Sentiment score: 0.00
Our standards are among the highest in the world. It is interesting that in other trade deals some of the countries did not manage to export too much into Europe because of the SPS standards, which are often described as non-tariff barriers.
Sentiment score: 0.20
I thank the Deputy. I am very conscious of this issue. He has been advocating, as has Deputy Shane Moynihan who has been hotfoot onto me in respect of the timelines for this. DART+ South West is part of the broader DART programme. I will speak to the Minister. Permission was granted in November of last year. All of the benefits are there in terms of increasing capacity. We will work with the Minister to see whether there is flexibility in terms of how projects are delivered. There is huge investment in public transport as a result of the national development plan and the sectoral plan published by the Minister. The issue is whether we can get it all delivered as quickly as we possibly can. I understand and accept Deputy Neville's concerns in respect of this.
Sentiment score: 0.26
I thank Deputy Connolly. That is too long a time. We should know what is happening with particular sites. I would have thought that if the NTA or Galway City Council has possession, it should engage with the other council and make the site available. I do not know the full details but there are always ways of getting things done. Park and ride facilities do matter and they can be of significant value to a city in freeing up inner-city congestion. I will ask the Minister to engage with the National Transport Authority in respect of this and get clarity for Deputy Connolly and the people of Galway.
Sentiment score: 0.32
Obviously the identification of centres has been very problematic and challenging for communities and for the Government. I am not sure the appellation of "waste" can be applied to it in this context. The context is much different in terms of ordinarily procuring or acquiring buildings. I will talk to the Minister in respect of the site and seek an update in respect of it.
Sentiment score: 0.04
I will engage with the HSE to bring the clarity the Deputy requires in respect of St. Brigid's Hospital and the centre there. Facilities should be used in terms of primary care. Again, I will have to engage with the HSE in respect of this to bring further clarity to it and get an updated position.
Sentiment score: 0.70
As I said earlier, a national policy and strategy in respect of migration is being developed. I object to the conflation of racism and attacks on people because of their ethnic background and the Government's position. That is wrong.
Sentiment score: -0.26
It is wrong to do it. These attacks occurred long before anything was announced this week or this month. It is not good enough that the Deputy would make those assertions. There is nothing wrong with a proper legal system of entering into the country.
Sentiment score: -0.20
Sorry, it is not about mixed messages. It has always been the case that asylum is treated through the asylum system. People have never been allowed to work immediately when they are seeking asylum. It is not as if there is an open door; there is not and there never has been. Even though we were criticised by the far right for having an open door, there never was an open-door system in terms of asylum.
Sentiment score: -0.10
There have been work permits and freedom of movement within the European Union, which are all very positive.
Sentiment score: 0.84
Again, there has been extensive consultation with the NTA on BusConnects across the country in Dublin, in Cork and everywhere. We have been strongly making the case to the NTA to engage with and listen to the public and society more generally. This new scheme has been in operation for four weeks. I understand there is a meeting tomorrow with the NTA and the local public representatives, is there not?
Sentiment score: 0.14
Okay. We can deal with it then. The Deputy should engage with the NTA tomorrow.
Sentiment score: 0.19
I am not disagreeing with the Deputy; I just think that tomorrow is a good opportunity to bring the views of the people to the NTA.
Sentiment score: 0.77
I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. He is correct when he says that this is a very serious issue. Access to the GMS in dental capacities is very restrictive. I will talk to the Minister for Health in respect of this. My understanding is that Cork university dental hospital used to take public patients in the past. That was always the tradition. I will certainly pursue that specific issue with the Minister to see if we can unblock that. It would facilitate additional capacity in a situation where there are huge pressures.
Sentiment score: 0.13
Certainly, Deputy. I will have to discuss this with the Ministers for education and public expenditure to see what the issue is and whether it is ready to go. It is an ASD wing. We have put a lot of capital into special education in the past year or two to get more special classes built and so on. I will check with the Minister what is holding it up. The Deputy will have my support in trying to progress this project.
Sentiment score: 0.34
More generally, Dublin has benefited significantly in the past year or two in terms of an increase in garda numbers. There may be specific geographic areas-----
Sentiment score: 0.16
The Deputy is focused on Dublin West. There is no question that the city centre has benefited hugely. That has had an impact. The good news is that numbers are increasing. The last intake into Templemore - 220 - was the highest ever. I was with the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, in Templemore recently when approximately 190 gardaí came out and passed through. In various parts of the country, including the Deputy's area, they are coming in now. The way the commission is doing it, with significant numbers for significant areas at a time, is probably more impactful, rather than dribs and drabs of numbers across the whole place. Over time, we will get there. I appreciate the Deputy's impatience and his advocacy for his community. I will articulate that to the Minister also.
Sentiment score: 0.08
First of all, I do not accept the premise upon which the Deputy is basing her question. We do not govern via opinion polls, nor could we do so. We should not-----
Sentiment score: -0.10
I am making a fundamental point here. Is the Deputy is seriously suggesting that the Government should react to every opinion poll on every specific issue in the country? Sure we would have chaos.
Sentiment score: -0.17
On the issue itself, I think the Deputy has brought legislation forward. We will examine that. All the parties will examine that legislation, as I have said. I think we have submitted a timed amendment on it. That is the approach that the political parties are taking.
Sentiment score: 0.16