I assure Deputy O'Rourke the Government takes this matter extraordinarily seriously. My colleague, the Minister, Deputy McEntee, initially met the group on 29 September to engage with them personally and listen to their concerns. The Taoiseach met the group on 3 October and both the Minister and the Taoiseach met the group again last Wednesday, 29 October. I understand meetings with a mediator or facilitator have taken place this week. We are very eager to assist and I will seek an update from the facilitator today.
Sentiment score: 0.19
It is a very sensitive matter and I will not play politics with it as the Deputy has endeavoured to do by suggesting-----
Sentiment score: -0.17
It is a very important and sensitive matter. The Government wants to see the matter resolved. That is why it wants to see a facilitator in place. That has happened. There is engagement with the group. There is daily medical attention as well, which is important. I hope this matter can be resolved quickly.
Sentiment score: 0.28
This is the largest and most horrific humanitarian crisis in the world right now. It is also the one that is probably spoken about least, so I particularly thank the Deputy for raising it. This country has called for an immediate cessation of the atrocities in Sudan, following the takeover of the city of El Fasher by the Rapid Support Forces. I am horrified by recent reports that the RSF has carried out large-scale, ethnically motivated atrocities, summary executions, sexual and gender-based violence and detention of civilians. These criminal acts must end. All parties to the conflict need to adhere to their commitments and obligations. They need to enable humanitarian access in line with their international humanitarian and human rights obligations. I have been working to highlight this issue, as has Ireland, at EU and international level. We have asked that it be a specific agenda item at the Foreign Affairs Council due to take place in Brussels this month. I will raise the views of the Deputy, this House and the Government on the need to do more to support the people of Sudan. We have provided €14.3 million in humanitarian support this year to people in Sudan and refugees in neighbouring countries. Irish Aid support is making a difference on the ground but the Deputy is right to highlight this. It is not getting nearly enough attention. The level of slaughter is quite horrific. I will update the Deputy after I attend the Foreign Affairs Council.
Sentiment score: 0.00
I assure the Deputy this is receiving a lot of attention, as it should, from Government and the State. We want to see this resolved. I understand a mediator met with the group this week - I think on Wednesday. There is work following on and flowing from that. I really understand the emotion and sensitivity of this but I would urge - I think it is the responsible thing for me to urge - people to come off hunger strike. I understand the depth of feeling, the pain and suffering. I get that, but if people could come off hunger strike we are wanting to see engagement in good faith. We want to see the health and well-being of the people. On the issue of a written update, I will just need to check on that. I am not certain of where that is at. I understand a mediator met the group this week and there was to be follow-up work and then further engagement. Let me see if there can be any steps to give people the confidence to come off that hunger strike but I would really urge people to do that. We want to see engagement in good faith to try and resolve this and that is why a mediator has been appointed.
Sentiment score: 0.16
We have provided the health service with funding which will enable it to increase the numbers of people working in the health service, including in community healthcare, like healthcare assistants. I will ask the Minister for Health and the HSE to directly revert to the Deputy on the situation in south Tipperary and see what can be done to assist. The HSE should be in the business of seeking to recruit more people. Sometimes there can be challenges in identifying appropriate people but I know the human consequences of waiting times for people trying to access home help. I will ask the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, and the HSE to come back to the Deputy directly.
Sentiment score: 0.23
I have not yet had the opportunity to see the programme but I intend to see it. I have heard quite a bit about it over the course of the week. The Deputy can be assured the Government will be looking into the issues raised on the programme. I will ask the Minister for Finance to directly respond to the Deputy. I am not aware of any such issues, nor would I necessarily be. The point about the Central Bank of Ireland and Minister being satisfied is an important one so I will ask the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, to come back to the Deputy directly.
Sentiment score: 0.19
I certainly will. I will talk to the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, and no doubt he will engage with the Garda Commissioner, who decides the allocation of gardaí across the country, on that matter. I was at a Cabinet committee discussion on justice and Garda recruitment issues this week. There are some encouraging signs. The programme for Government commits to further increase the capacity of Garda training infrastructure. The Minister has started work on that and potentially moving training projects from Templemore to create more space for new recruits, which should help get an even larger pipeline of gardaí through Templemore. There is increased interest in becoming a garda, which is important. I take the point around Cork city and will feed it back to the Minister.
Sentiment score: 0.34
I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I know it is an issue of importance to many people, including people in Dublin West, commuters and people going about their business and encountering these toll charges. The Deputy has made some very interesting suggestions that merit further examination. As she knows, TII has a role in this. She has called on it to give consideration to this. I will certainly bring her views to its attention. I am also aware TII officials is due to appear before the transport committee in the coming weeks. Perhaps it could be flagged as part of that engagement that they could discuss and consider that issue too.
Sentiment score: 0.25
I will speak directly to the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill on this matter. We have made good progress on cancer care and cancer treatment in recent years in this country and it is important we build on that. We have a national cancer strategy. We are increasing our capital investment in health as well. I will try to understand the rationale around those timelines and whether there is anything that can be done to expedite them. I will ask the Minister to come back to the Deputy. While we are on the issue of cancer, I missed the opportunity yesterday but I also welcome Deputy Boyd Barrett back to this House. Many people right across the country were inspired by his interview this week. I know it has been an extraordinarily difficult time for him. He might not believe it but we missed him in this House.
Sentiment score: -0.03
I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter for her constituents in Castlecomer. The Deputy and Councillor Michael Doyle have been working on this issue of greater water capacity in Castelcomer and the wider area so I thank them for that. Uisce Éireann can confirm, as the Deputy and her constituents know, that there are supply and demand issues on the Castelcomer water supply zone. This has resulted in supply disruption impacting customers at times when supply does not meet demand. I understand over the summer months Uisce Éireann took measures to maintain everyday daytime supplies through interventions such as tanking to reservoirs. The long story short, though, is we have given a hell of a lot more money to Uisce Éireann. It needs to get on with it now. We in this House need to empower it to get on with it. There is too much bureaucracy, too much red tape, too many processes and even when we allocate the money, it is still taking too long to deliver it. That is why we have set up an accelerating infrastructure delivery task force. It is why I campaigned with the Deputy in the election on the need for a Department of infrastructure. It is not just about counting the money any more; it is about driving delivery. We will have proposals from the Government on how we can bust through some of that bureaucracy in the coming weeks. I think the Leas-Cheann Comhairle will support that. We will look forward to having a chance to debate that. There is too much critical infrastructure, and there are not too many things more critical than water, that is taking too long to deliver. I will keep in touch with the Deputy on Castlecomer in that context.
Sentiment score: 0.02
I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. It is a really important one and particularly important in her constituency. I am proud of the work we have done together to try to bring some level of closure at this point to families who were quite frankly abandoned for far too long in terms of the State apology and the initial phase of compensation. The Deputy is absolutely right that there was to be a phase 2 for survivors and it is important that it progresses. In fairness to the Minister, I understand he is finalising proposals for next steps but that piece around communications is important. If the Deputy will allow me, I will seek an update from the Minister for the representatives of the Stardust victims and families and come back to her.
Sentiment score: 0.21
What I would say to them is that love is love and they live in a Republic where equality must be at the core of all that we do. Homophobic attacks and violence are crimes and there needs to be zero tolerance of them. The Minister for education reminds me that this week is Stand Up Awareness Week, an important initiative by Belong To in our schools. I thank it for the work it is doing. Perhaps this is something we could discuss on a cross-party basis. I would certainly be very happy, on behalf of my party, to arrange for party leaders or representatives to sit down. If the Deputy would like to put that in train, perhaps all representatives of political parties could sit down and discuss this. We have made good progress in this country but I sometimes think that when we have a referendum, people think that is it done. I am very proud of the progress we have made on things like marriage equality but we clearly have more work to do. The idea that anybody would feel unsafe expressing their love in public or on our streets is not acceptable.
Sentiment score: 0.40
We have been working on this together over the past while. We meant what we said during the election. Having a childcare system that is fit for purpose, empowers parents, is affordable and accessible, and has quality at its heart is a core priority for this Government. If we can get this right over the course of this Government, we can transform childcare in a way that other parts of society and our education system have been transformed in years gone by. The first step is that the Minister will before the end of the year publish an action plan for 2026, detailing what she believes we will be able to get done in 2026, what immediate measures can be taken with the allocations she received in the budget. Early in 2026, she will publish the comprehensive action plan that knits together the 22 commitments in the programme for Government and looks at how we get to the €200 per month per child, which is doable, and how we also make sure there are places, how we use our planning system to drive that, and how we empower parents, recognising it cannot be one-size-fits-all. Childminding works for some people, private crèches or community crèches work for others. A whole variety of situations can happen and we have to empower the parent as well. I am very excited about the work we can get done over the lifetime of this Government, with a comprehensive action plan published in early 2026.
Sentiment score: 0.20
I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I was familiar with this in times gone by and would have had engagement with the family, as I know so many representatives over the years have, both in Wicklow and in government. I will ask the Minister of State with responsibility for fisheries, Deputy Dooley, to update me on the matter, to come back to the Deputy directly and to see if we can have some engagement with the Gaffneys as well. I will talk to the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley.
Sentiment score: 0.36
Yes.
Sentiment score: 0.40
I will only unilaterally agree on behalf of the Government but it is a very sensible suggestion. This is certainly not a new area but it is a relatively new area that Members in this House, people in local authorities, citizens and people new to our country are all trying to grapple and engage with. I am not seeking to be divisive here but the debate should not be hijacked by anybody nor should anybody be shouted down. There should be an opportunity to really look at this. How we involve our citizens in this discussion is something I have been grappling with too. I will take away the Deputy's suggestion and I will consider with Government colleagues and come back to him. It is made in a constructive and helpful way and I appreciate it.
Sentiment score: 0.27