I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 13, inclusive, together. The Cabinet subcommittee on Northern Ireland was created on 18 February 2025 to oversee implementation of relevant programme for Government commitments and ongoing developments in relation to Northern Ireland, Irish-British relations, and the shared island initiative. As well as considering issues relevant to the Government's position as a co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement, including our role in Good Friday Agreement institutions such as the North-South Ministerial Council, the British-Irish Council and the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference, topics for discussion also include the annual UK-Ireland summits and their agreed programme of work and the continued roll-out and development of the investment, research and dialogue strands of the shared island initiative. On 17 October, I chaired the 30th plenary meeting of the North-South Ministerial Council in Farmleigh House, Dublin. The Northern Ireland Executive was led by the First Minister, Michelle O'Neill, MLA, and the deputy First Minister, Emma Little-Pengelly, MLA. We had constructive discussions on areas of mutual issues, including business and trade matters, infrastructure and investment co-operation, and tackling gender-based violence. Our discussion also included a new agenda item on emergency planning and preparedness. We also had updates by all Ministers on North-South co-operation under their portfolios, ranging from day-to-day cross-Border engagement to major infrastructural projects. The event was preceded by a dinner at Farmleigh with Government and Northern Ireland Ministers on 16 October. On 18 November, the Government announced allocations of over €50 million from the shared island fund for ten new projects to be delivered as part of the initiative over 2026 to 2030. Among the projects are €14 million for a major new shared island media initiative to be taken forward by Coimisiún na Meán, €5.9 million to develop cross-Border emergency management capacity on flood response and rescue operations, particularly with resources for technology and so forth, and €2 million to enable a new Dublin-Derry PSO air service to start in 2026. Next week, along with the Tánaiste, I will attend a summit meeting of the British-Irish Council in Wales where the focus of our discussions will be on the creative industries across these islands. The Cabinet committee on Northern Ireland will continue to meet biannually on these and related matters. We will be meeting again next on 8 December.
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I thank all of the Deputies for raising a variety of issues. Deputy Brendan Smith was first up. In respect of the legacy framework, the measures announced in the joint framework were published in September and provide a pathway to truth and accountability. That is why I went to London to meet Keir Starmer. It was one of those trips. I take it that people accept that we have to go to London every now and again to meet the Prime Minister. It was to make sure we got the legacy Bill over the line because it is an important piece of legislation that is certainly far superior to the previous legacy Act of the last British Government. The British Government published the Bill amending the 2023 legacy Act on 14 October, so that is the progress the Deputy was asking for. The second reading of that Bill took place in the House of Commons on 18 November. To be fair, we believe that represents speed and demonstrates the seriousness with which they are approaching this essential work. The key test for us will be whether it faithfully reflects what is in the joint framework. The Minister, Deputy McEntee, and the UK secretary of state, Hilary Benn, discussed the legacy framework in their introductory call last week. The Tánaiste and the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, also discussed this with the secretary of state, Mr. Benn, at the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference, which took place on 17 November because we, too, have responsibilities in this jurisdiction. While we can only legislate once the UK legislation is enacted, the Minister for justice, Jim O'Callaghan, has said he is hopeful that the general scheme of the Bill will be published in April or May of next year. Enabling reciprocal co-operation between the two jurisdictions is absolutely at the heart of the agreed joint framework on legacy. The Garda Commissioner is also committed to the establishment by the end of this year of a dedicated unit as a central point of contact in relation to Troubles-related investigations undertaken by An Garda Síochána. That is also in the joint framework. An Garda Síochána has also committed, where possible, to answer questions that a family may have in relation to the investigation of a Troubles-related incident and provide a report to the family. In respect of the Belturbet and Dublin-Monaghan bombings, the publication of the Denton report may very well shed light on the Dublin-Monaghan bombings. We have to await the outcome of that. I know it is into the Glenanne Gang and the atrocities they perpetrated, but that will be important. I know that Deputy Smith has been a strong advocate on the Belturbet and Dublin-Monaghan bombings. Deputy McGreehan raised a very important point about the treatment for tax purposes of workers who cross the Border. We do not have that resolved yet. There have been ongoing issues, or attempts to do that, between the respective Departments of finance and I am pushing through the cross-Border bodies and through the Department of Finance to get some progress on that. We are also working with employers and unions through the LEEF process to see can we make progress on it. It is an issue for the seamless transfer of workers North to South and South to North. It is more difficult in terms of harmonisation of prices North and South. Different Governments have different policies. I have not seen today's budget in respect of the UK yet but that could even bring in more taxation. We do not know how that will manifest. I am conscious also that it is 50 years since the Dundalk bombing. Maidir le ceist an Teachta Heneghan, tá deacracht ann toisc an gaol atá ann. Tá dualgas ar an Executive airgead a chur ar fáil d’Fhoras na Gaeilge agus caithfimid an rud céanna a dhéanamh. Is féidir linn níos mó a chur ar fáil. Trí shared island, tá níos mó á dhéanamh againn, maraon leis an méid atá ag teacht go hoifigiúil ón Rialtas, chun gnóthaí trí Ghaeilge a chothú agus tacaíocht a thabhairt. Mar sin beimid ag déanamh sin. I will come back to the shared island initiative later. Deputy Ó Murchú and others raised constitutional issues and so on. I think reconciliation cannot be postponed, Deputy.
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The Deputy kind of said we could not wait.
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I know. I am not trying to-----
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I just think we need to really focus on reconciliation on a constant, constant basis.
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It is hard work but it does bear great fruit in terms of the North and South and different traditions and political backgrounds within the North as well.
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It is very important that we consistently do that. I do not think citizens' assemblies are in any shape or form an appropriate route for discussing the future of Ireland or the constitutional framework into the future.
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I just do not believe it at all, because anyone who knows anything about the North - and I have been involved all my life politically; I have been involved in discussions about the devolution of justice, for example, and I was in the Government when the Good Friday Agreement was first signed - knows it means people-to-people engagement. It means political parties engaging. It means political traditions as well as independent politicians or people who have a view. Citizens' assemblies can be closed enough in some respects and they can be a percentage of a random percentage of the population. There were some good citizens' assemblies but for something as overarching as a future constitutional framework - I just want to give my view on this - from my experience, it simply would not cut it. You would end up with a report-----
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What I am always amused by-----
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Fianna Fáil as a party has committed to the North with great substance over the years - Charles Haughey, Albert Reynolds and Bertie Ahern in terms of the Good Friday Agreement. In this Government and the last, we did something that has never been done in the shared island initiative. Some €1 billion from 2020 to 2025 and beyond and another €1 billion in this programme for Government, which is bringing real substance. Instead of all the rhetoric and everything else, we are doing things. Part of that has also been a very important investment in real research into the different systems North and South - into our health systems, into education completion, into energy, into enterprise, and into ecology and climate. Good stuff has been done by the Economic and Social Research Institute. I defy the Deputies to go back over the last 100 years and come up with anything that parallels the level of research we have undertaken to try to understand better the different systems and different approaches. Now, I will put a challenge to Sinn Féin. It has been talking about this for decades but it has not produced a scrap of paper in terms of-----
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One second, please. I am just trying to make a point.
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In terms of a blueprint, why is Sinn Féin afraid to bring forward a blueprint?
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I know.
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We are taking our responses in terms of the Good Friday Agreement.
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I believe in the unity of the Irish people, okay,-----
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-----but I would say to the Deputies that with everything Sinn Féin does, the onus is on the Government. The Government will take its responsibilities in relation to this but-----
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-----fo a party I would have thought was so committed as Sinn Féin is rhetorically - it keeps going on about it - it has produced very little in terms of what it believes the blueprint should be.
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That is the point I would make-----
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-----because the party always wants us to produce the blueprint.
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By the way, Fianna Fáil will not be found wanting, nor will other parties, in terms of delivering substance in respect of this issue.
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That is covering all the seven really. There are a good few-----
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Deputy Devlin made a very important point and he has done very good work as Chair of the Good Friday committee. I certainly think he is correct in respect of what has happened in Nigeria. At the European Union-African Union Summit, that was raised in terms of what Boko Haram and various jihadist groups were doing in terms of the persecution and killing of many people, but Christians as well, and the kidnapping of young girls and so on. I appreciate the point the Deputy raised there. To Deputy Boyd Barrett on the issues around Palestine Action, all of our embassies and so on provide whatever consular supports to any Irish citizen who is on remand or in prison. We always provide whatever supports we can or whatever assistance but we do not and obviously cannot interfere in the criminal justice system. I will review the case of Jordan Devlin and I will ask again our ambassador in London for an update in respect of that.
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I have no issue with people - obviously, I do not - supporting Palestinians. I do have an issue - I am not saying this happened in these cases at all because I do not know the full detail of them - but I read recently of a case where there was a ramming of building in London, so it is not as black and white as the Deputy has articulated, or even here where people drive through gates and barriers and do criminal damage. TDs' offices have had criminal damage by, I would say, more extreme elements of people who were involved in supporting the Palestinian movement, unfortunately. It is true. My own office was damaged three times. I know other TDs whose offices were damaged.
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So, is that acceptable? Is that legitimate protest? No, it is not. When there are people working in those offices, they do not think it is legitimate. All I am saying is we all have to be clear on the demarcation line. I am not familiar with the individual cases here in terms of the alleged crimes and so on like that, but let us not try to pretend that everything is just all one way because-----
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-----one thing I do know-----
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One thing I do know is either on the far right or the far left, people do transgress the lines and let us not pretend they do not. They have in this country in the past. There clearly are other issues in the UK-----
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-----and so on like that. Look, some people were trying to stop Dublin Port the other day.
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Well, they should not be trying to stop-----
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Some 80% of trade in this country goes through Dublin Port and you guys want to wreck it. That is bread on the table. Workers all over the country depend on trade going through Dublin Port. As far as the Deputies are concerned, that should be stopped in its tracks. There are demarcation lines that we have to be very clear about. The right to protest-----
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-----is a sacred right in this country. We should cherish that and we should never do anything to damage it, nor should others. I think I have dealt with the issue Deputy Bacik raised in my general response. I do not believe a citizens' assembly is the right way to go. Deputy Conway-Walsh spoke about the cancer consortium. I helped to set that up originally. We are supporting it. On congenital heart disease, there was a very good agreement and there are cross-Border health initiatives including, for example, an initiative to treat children's hearts in Crumlin. There is more we can do. There is a cancer centre at Altnagelvin. I do not know if the Deputy has seen that. The Republic provided a lot of funding for that. There are also other services. I am all for that. We are researching whether we can provide better primary care services North and South and whether hospital resources can be combined. Deputy McGreehan made a point to me about two hospitals, one of which was Daisy Hill Hospital, where more stuff could be done. We have been working on that through various initiatives. I am all for that. We will continue to do that in conjunction with the ESRI and NESC. I have given my views on the issue raised by Deputy Eoin Hayes. We have established all-island forums through the shared island initiative. Through that initiative, we have created a climate and biodiversity network, an all-island women's forum and an all-island youth forum where young people get together and talk about the future and about their lives. We have also developed the first all-island music archive, combining music from different traditions in the one archive. That is being funded through the shared island unit. There is a lot happening on the ground. People are just getting together. I was at an event two weeks ago. It was fantastic. People from east Belfast were doing tapestries with people from Inishbofin. Some of them had never been in the Republic before. Some of those from the South had never been in the North. We have a long way to go but we need to do this right and properly. To respond to Deputy Conor McGuinness, is maith an rud é go bhfuil an coimisinéir teanga nua ann sa Tuaisceart. Tá Acht ann anois. Tá reachtaíocht curtha i láthair. Is dócha go bhfuil an-chuid oibre le déanamh ag an gcoimisinéir chun é sin a chur i bhfeidhm. Níl an reachtaíocht sin lán-cosúil leis an reachtaíocht atá againn anseo. Más féidir linn aon tacaíocht a thabhairt dó agus do ghluaiseacht na Gaeilge sa Tuaisceart, beimid sásta é sin a dhéanamh. Tá a lán déanta againn ach táimid sásta i bhfad níos mó a dhéanamh.
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Again, they were not negotiated by this Government, nor are they part of the joint framework. It is our understanding that the accommodation made for witnesses should apply in the cases of all victims equally, regardless of the perspective being brought to the matter.
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I did.
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You are very welcome, Declan.
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It is a brilliant statement.
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I jest.
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I will try to cut it short to allow others to come in. I propose to take Questions Nos. 14 to 35, inclusive, together. I established the disability unit in the Department to bring about a renewed focus and urgency and out of a desire to drive progress on disability issues. The unit's first programme plan, published in September, outlines how the unit will drive the delivery of the Government's new national disability strategy, working across government to make the ambitions a reality. In particular, the unit will look to drive innovation, to get things done, to bring momentum to policy implementation, to troubleshoot, where appropriate, to improve the delivery of services, and to get strategic thinking on future challenges. The unit will also support the Cabinet committee on disability. The first programme plan for the unit outlines ten priority areas for the period from 2025 to 2027 across five workstreams. The first workstream relates to transforming children's disability services, early years education and health. The second is about increasing system capacity and the third is about opening doors and addressing barriers to employment pathways and supports. The fourth relates to implementing the national disability strategy and the fifth is on planning and designing for the future. The programme plan allows for further workstreams to be assigned to the unit as may be needed. We do not want to duplicate the work of Ministers or Departments but to support them in improving services and getting things done. It is already up and running. The Cabinet committee on disability has met five times to date. With the support of the unit, we have looked at the new national disability strategy. As the House will know, that has gone through and has now been published. The provision of therapists in special schools is up and running. Some €16 million has been allocated for that this year. There have also been improvements to the delivery of services and the assessment of need process is being reformed, which includes legislative reform. The budget was impacted by the unit and the Cabinet subcommittee and there was a significant focus on disability, particularly the income disregards for carer's allowance, among other initiatives and payments. The budget also provided a record €3.8 billion allocation towards specialist disability services. This represents a 20% increase year on year. That is to provide permanent dedicated funding for essential disability services. The investment in children's disability services will provide therapy services and strengthen the children's disability network teams through the provision of additional staff and so forth. Some €20 million was targeted at the assessment of need waitlist initiative, providing up to 6,500 clinical assessments. We are developing our budget spotlight on disability. That will be published in due course. It relates to the last budget but will also provide further thinking with regard to future budgets. We are also looking at developments in the area of transport and mobility. We are awaiting proposals from the Departments of Transport and Finance in that regard.
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You can bring some more of them in if you want, a Cheann Comhairle.
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I am not going to write replies to oral questions. I have given an overall response to everybody.
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Do I have six minutes remaining?
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I will get around to everybody who has asked a question.
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It is a new departure if I am going to do a written reply to every oral question. That is not on either.
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Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan raised the Rainbow Club, which is doing exceptional work. Jon and Karen O'Mahony have been exceptional leaders in that regard. The former Minister of State, now Senator Rabbitte, did good work on a service level agreement. I was involved in advocating for that building, which was a HSE building, to be allocated to the Rainbow Club. I will certainly continue to work with them and to support them with capital. What is important is that we get a timeline and some idea of how we can progress that as quickly as we possibly can. It is a very good, practical example of how a parent-led, community-based approach can develop services for autism in a nimble and flexible way that has helped so many families. Deputy Ó Murchú asked about the action plan. That will come. I do not have an exact date but it is on target. It is fairly imminent.
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The Minister, Deputy Foley, will lead, with the support of the unit in my office, but she will also report to the Cabinet subcommittee, which will then make recommendations to the Cabinet. That is how this will work. The Cabinet subcommittee is very important because all the key Ministers have to be there. I agree with Deputy Cian O'Callaghan that the unemployment levels among the disability community is too high, and the barriers are too much. Part of the strategy in terms of what I am trying to do with the Minister, Deputy Calleary, is to remove some of those barriers and to create additional supports to make sure that employers are even more incentivised to recruit people. The intention is also to give supports to those who employ people with disabilities on a more sustainable basis. I do not disagree with the Deputy. The historic underemployment of people with disabilities in society is something that is exercising me. I will pursue the issue raised by Deputy Heneghan about the two autism classes in the Educate Together school in Baldoyle. I agree with Deputy Boyd Barrett. That is a very strange response from the council referring to the prevalence of autism. Autism is a spectrum, a continuum. There is high-functioning autism, people in the middle and those with autism which is very severe and profound. The council should be able to use the general guidelines in respect of health needs more generally. I am at a loss as to why the council cannot say in this case that the child needs prioritisation and a proper house to facilitate the treatment and life of the child. That is something on which I will go back to the Minister for housing in respect of guidelines to be sent to councils in that respect. I would not have thought it necessary. I thought councils would have enough flexibility to do this. I disagree with Deputy Paul Murphy's description of the budget as a savage attack, but €3 billion has been invested in special education as an outcome of the budget, as well as €130 million for grants to adapt the houses of older people and disabled people. There was a €10 increase per week in the disability allowance, an expansion of the wage subsidy scheme, an increase of €375 in the income limit for carer's benefit, and a €20 increase in the monthly domiciliary care allowance. That is not a savage attack on disability. We have to pursue the cost of disability and the Minister will bring plans in the next budget in respect of that. In response to Deputy Tóibín, the vacancy rate nationally has come down for CDNTs. We have increased the allocation of therapy places in third level colleges.
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