I will begin today by condemning the senseless antisemitic murder of Yaron and Sarah overnight. These were two young diplomats in Washington DC who were killed in the prime of their lives. They were a young couple, soon to be engaged. I think of them and their families, to whom I send our sympathies. I also think of all those present at the Jewish museum in Washington DC last night, who include one of our own young diplomats. Antisemitism is a disgusting, despicable and vile scourge and we should condemn it at each and every opportunity. I join with Deputy Doherty in welcoming Cara back to the Gallery of the Dáil. I look forward to working with her. I assure her that there is no tribal division here between the Opposition and the Government. Everybody in this House wants to make progress on children's disability services, assessments of need and access to therapies. My colleagues the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, and the Minister, Deputy Foley, have the full support of the Government. I hope we can all work in a cross-party way to make the progress we really need to make in respect of children's disability services. I thank Deputy Doherty for raising the issue of the national children's hospital. The reality is that the hospital is now almost complete from a construction point of view. It is well over 95% complete and the technical commissioning is now under way. We are moving towards a twin track, where Children's Health Ireland has early access to the hospital. It is not a question of waiting for every single last bit of construction to be completed. The commissioning work is able to start alongside it. That is a practical and appropriate thing to do so that we can get this hospital open and so that access can be granted on a phased basis as parts are fully completed. That is good. It is urgent. Children and parents need it. I am assured that the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board, CHI and BAM are engaged on achieving this. Let us not lose sight of the facts. Within the overall budget for this hospital, a budget that has not changed from the €2.2 billion the Deputy asked about earlier, two satellite centres are already open. These centres, at Tallaght hospital and Connolly Hospital, are part of that overall budget, the overall envelope for the children's hospital project. They are complete and open. The facility at Connolly Hospital has now hit a milestone with 100,000 children having been treated there. Sometimes when people speak of this project, you would swear nothing has happened. However, 100,000 children have already benefited from having the Connolly Hospital element alone open. It is a world-class project of massive scale with an internal street the length of Grafton Street, 4 acres of open space and a massive increase in theatre capacity. It involves many of the things we discuss in this House with a view to making more progress on children's waiting times. It will have 22 operating theatres and procedure rooms and will provide every child and parent with a single en suite room. The days of parents having to sleep on hard floors at night as their children spend weeks, if not months, in hospital are coming to an end. The hospital will have 6,150 rooms and is located on 12 acres. This will be state of the art. I am pleased to say the hospital's elevated helipad is complete. This will be shared with St. James's Hospital and will offer rapid, safe access to key areas including critical care, theatres and the emergency department. Everything the Deputy raises in this House, and that all of us in this House raise, demonstrates the necessity for this hospital. We know it cost more than originally intended. That is true. However, the Deputy has been covering finance for his party for a hell of a long time, so he will know that we have significantly changed the approach we take to the delivery of infrastructure. He will know of changes we have made only in recent weeks as to the role of the Department of public expenditure and reform. I guarantee the Deputy that when this hospital is open - the Committee of Public Accounts was told today that it is due to be completed by September and to start treating patients in 2026 - it will transform children's lives. When we live in a country that is spending around €110 billion in an annual budget each and every year, investing just over €2 billion over a number of years for a hospital that will serve children well into the next century is a good and an appropriate thing to do. It will make a very significant difference to children's health services in this country.
Sentiment score: 0.12
The sheer hypocrisy of the Deputy. It was only in March of this year that the First Minister of Northern Ireland, who is the Deputy's party's vice president, said that she was delighted that £671 million would be spent on a state-of-the-art children's hospital at Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital. Ladies and gentlemen, who was that contract with? Does anyone know? It was BAM: the same developer building the hospital in this jurisdiction.
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Not only that-----
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I have more to say, please. The contract was announced and it was welcomed.
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Not only was the contract signed with BAM, do you know what happened then? It pulled out. As a result, Sinn Féin has further compounded the delays to the delivery of the project. Not only that but the children's hospital that it is delivering in Northern Ireland and that Sinn Féin's First Minister and vice president welcomed is more expensive per square metre than the children's hospital we are delivering in this jurisdiction.
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They are not my words; they are the words of the Parliamentary Budget Office in the Oireachtas. That office has looked at the hospital Sinn Féin is presiding over in the North and the hospital we are presiding over here and it found that Sinn Féin's is more expensive than the one we are delivering.
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Get over yourselves with the absolute hypocrisy.
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I very much appreciate that events have overtaken us. First, I join with the Deputy in acknowledging that it is the tenth anniversary of marriage equality today. I acknowledge the pretty significant role the Deputy's party played in this. I enjoyed being in government with the Labour Party during that period when we put this referendum to the people of Ireland and became the first country in the world where, by popular democratic vote, we voted overwhelmingly to recognise that love is love. I recognise, as Deputy Bacik does, that on this day there is still more work to do. In fact, as we have seen in recent times progress can go backwards. It is very important in 2025 that we continue to speak up for our values and the values of the Irish people on equality and inclusion. I just wanted to acknowledge that too. I thank the Deputy for her comments about our people, our diplomats, in Ramallah in our Palestinian mission. I was pleased to speak with the head of the Irish mission to Palestine yesterday, Feilim McLaughlin. He and his deputy were present in Jenin outside the refugee camp when the Israel Defense Forces appallingly fired what it described as warning shots in their direction, or over their heads specifically. This is the latest in a long line of intimidatory action by the Israel Defense Forces directed at diplomats or at our peacekeepers in Lebanon. We have conveyed our views in the strongest possible terms to Israel, as has the European Union, through the ambassador to Ireland. Deputy Bacik raised a specific issue on the deportation flight landing in Shannon Airport. I am conscious that this is the Dáil and I want to provide accurate information as I have it. It is very much an evolving situation because I am aware of media reports that suggest a US flight on 21 May landed in Shannon. This was a civil aircraft and as such no diplomatic clearance would have been sought or would have been required. The regulation of civil aircraft and flights is a matter for the Department of Transport. This morning I spoke to the Minister for Transport in relation to this. I have also spoken to my Department. As the Deputy and the House will be aware, diplomatic clearance to overfly or land in the State is required from my Department for any military and state aircraft but not for civil aircraft. What is most important is that we now have full clarity on what may or may not have taken place. Officials from my Department are liaising with the Department of Transport, the Department of Justice, and the US authorities. I am concerned about some of the aggressive migration policy we see being pursued in the United States of America. In the first instance, it is not for us to determine the legality of the US Administration's actions in relation to its courts. It is for the US Administration to answer. In the same way, if we had a deportation flight landing in another country, there would be a presumption that those on the flight were lawfully detained. I am trying to piece together here information that is coming at us, in the first instance through US media, and the decision of the US courts. I am very happy to keep in close contact with the Deputy and with this House because I recognise there is significant public interest and public concern in relation to this.
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The Deputy is right; this is genocidal activity. There are no two ways about it. The Israeli Government is rather upfront and blunt in outlining its military and political objectives for Gaza, which are abhorrent and clear breaches of international law. As I have been saying, and as I want to continue to say, the Irish people have, through their taxes, sent a significant amount of aid to the people of Palestine. That aid has been effectively, not to be flippant, parked in Jordan for the last four months. It is enough food for 6,000 Palestinian people. That is only a number of trucks out of the overall international contribution to this - all sitting there. There is only one reason and one reason alone that food cannot get in today, namely, the decision of the Israeli Government. We need to take more action. What I did say, and I mean it sincerely, is that I will engage constructively with the Labour Party on the proposals it is bringing forward - the earlier the better - as I know it will. I will also meet today with Senator Frances Black in terms of our own proposals to bring forward legislation regarding the occupied Palestinian territory. I hope to be in a position to update the Government and this House on that next week.
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I thank Deputy Ward for raising this matter. I had the pleasure of meeting the Raphoe Community Playgroup during a relatively recent visit to Donegal. It keeps in touch with me directly, as I know it does with Oireachtas Members from Donegal. I see the Minister of State, Deputy McConalogue, in the Chamber as well. I know it also keeps in contact with the Taoiseach, the Minister for children and the children's ombudsman. I appreciate the Deputy referred to more than the Raphoe Community Playgroup, but I may use it as an example of the broader issue because it is one with which I am a little bit more familiar. A building inspection was carried out in Raphoe in autumn 2023 which revealed that mica was present in the foundations of the building. Initially it was felt that the building would need underpinning rather than demolition, but by the end of February 2024 there had been significant further deterioration. There was a follow-up visit in March 2024, and the architect advised that the building would be unsafe to use past June, as the Deputy knows, and should be demolished. I commend the playgroup, by the way, because it has been extraordinarily proactive. I really have to acknowledge that because I have had quite a few dealings with it. It went on and identified a local building - I think it is called Volt House - to use temporarily for service provision, together with an existing prefab on its own site that is, thankfully, unaffected by mica. Renovations took place at both locations. I am pleased to say that we provided some sustainability funding from strand 1 to try to help with the rental costs up to May 2025. I believe Raphoe Community Playgroup is currently providing service to approximately 22 children from this site and to 14 children in the prefab. I know, it knows and it tells me that the Volt House site is suboptimal as a permanent solution because the service has to operate as a pack-away service. I can only imagine the huge challenge in putting the equipment into storage at the end of every day and back out again the next day. The Deputy is right. In early 2025, Raphoe Community Playgroup did apply for building blocks capital funding. On 25 March, Pobal, which administers that, was included on an email from the Raphoe Community Playgroup seeking further support, further sustainability funding and a written strategy of options on a plan of support going forward. It also raised the fear that the playgroup could need to close. A meeting was set up on 9 April between that service, Donegal County Childcare Committee and Pobal. At the end of the meeting, Pobal clarified that no decisions had been made on the building grants capital grant application, although it clarified the eligibility. Following on from that meeting, a steering group, comprising Pobal, Donegal County Childcare Committee and the service is to be convened. Pobal is now looking at further sustainability support options, and will bring forward proposals. I believe Donegal County Childcare Committee is also exploring the potential cost of securing another building on behalf of the service. I am told that Pobal and the Donegal County Childcare Committee will support the board to decide on the strategy for the next 12 months. I know everybody in the Government wants to find a way forward. I am conscious that I have mentioned Raphoe, but it is not the only playgroup affected. The Minister, Deputy Foley, and all of us across government will work constructively with the Deputy to try to find a pathway forward.
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I take the Deputy's point and his position with regard to the broader mica scheme and whether it can be changed. The Deputy knows the programme for Government includes a commitment to review it. The Deputy may correct me if I am wrong, but my sense of it when I meet playgroups and others affected is that they just want a solution. They are understandably less fussed on how that solution comes about, but want to know that there is a way for them to continue to provide the very excellent service that they do. What I want to echo and repeat in this House today is that the Government is committed to working constructively with them and others to try to find that way forward, through the childcare committee and Pobal in the first instance. I assure the Deputy of my ongoing personal interest, that of the Minister, Deputy Foley, and that of the Government more widely.
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Does Deputy Tóibín know why I am in my job? It is because we had an election and I got elected. Some 458,000 people gave their first preference votes to my party. An overwhelming majority of people gave votes to the parties and Independent Deputies who make up this Government. It is called a democracy. Aontú ran and got two seats. Congratulations. The Deputy does not lecture me and does not hire me, thank you very much. I answer to the people of Wicklow. They elected me with one of the highest votes in the country, so do not give me any of that sanctimonious nonsense. We all have a mandate in this House. We had a general election. The Deputy rehearsed his lines that he must practise in front of the mirror every morning. People went out and gave their verdict, and we are in the Government. We are getting on with the business, and yes-----
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-----of course the buck stops with me. Does the Deputy know what else-----
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I am going to tell the Deputy what it means. Calm down. He asked his question and I get an opportunity to answer it. It is how this place works. The Deputy asked a question about the children's hospital. I am responsible, of course. I am responsible for bringing the proposal to the Cabinet and for recommending that we proceed. The easiest thing to do in politics if you do not want to ever get into any challenging situation is to never make a decision. Does the Deputy know what else I am going to be responsible for, along with my colleagues in Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Independents, as well as those who served in government in the intervening period? We are going to be responsible for a world-class facility. We are going to be responsible for transforming children's healthcare. We are going to be responsible for making sure that parents who slept on cold, hard floors in Crumlin hospital last night can have bed facilities. We are going to be responsible for children having single ensuite rooms. We are going to be responsible for providing a health service that will have more theatres than ever before, will have open spaces for our children, will have improved medical outcomes and will tackle waiting lists. Nobody gets everything right in politics. Many lessons have been learned. Before the Deputy asks me what that means, I will tell him. We did the PwC report. It looked at all the options and recommended that continuing and proceeding was the best option. We have brought in several changes in how we deal with capital projects since then. We have also set up an infrastructure division in the Department of public expenditure and reform. It is very easy to sit over there and just have to stand up and correct everybody else's homework. It is much harder to come to work, roll up your sleeves and actually deliver for the people of this country.
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I will just point out first of all that the Deputy is very well paid himself. This country spends roughly €110 billion on its annual budget. We made a decision to invest €2.2 billion over several years in a project that will transform children's health and deliver a world-class children's hospital that will not just serve people for the lifetime of this Dáil, the next Dáil and the one after that. Long after we are all dead and buried and gone from this Earth, children will still be being served in that hospital. This is a major transformational investment decision. Yes, we all know it costs more than expected. We all know that. It is absolutely crystal clear. We have been through that not just in this election but in the one before that as well. Now it is about getting on with the job of actually transforming children's healthcare. Words like "incinerating money" and the like are inflammatory language that misses the point.
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Pardon the pun. Not only is this children's hospital not the most expensive in the world, as the Deputy has said in the past, but it is not even the most expensive children's hospital being built on the island of Ireland per square metre according to the budget office of this Parliament.
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The Deputy can shout me down if he wants, but we are going to transform children's healthcare. The Deputy can keep correcting the homework and we will get on with doing the business.
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