I met Mark and Cara this morning at 9 a.m. It was a positive and constructive meeting. We discussed all the issues involved and I outlined what I will do and what the Government will do. I already outlined in a response under Leaders' Questions earlier, all the steps we will take. I was involved in drafting the 2005 legislation-----
Sentiment score: 0.11
-----so I am fairly well clued-in with the legislation.
Sentiment score: 0.27
The important point is this: I am interested in solutions. I am not at all clear that Sinn Féin is.
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I get the feeling from the Deputy that the longer-----
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Sorry? We will bring that forward to this House.
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I said it yesterday-----.
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-----in terms of greater flexibility so that we use therapists optimally and get interventions.
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The fundamental intervention at the moment is State-led. The Labour Party says it believes in State-led intervention. Almost the entirety of the intervention nowadays is State-led. It stands at more than €8 billion at the moment.
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That is the highest ever on record. We need a private sector dimension to house building. I do not know whether the Deputy believes in that.
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Does the Deputy believe there is a role for institutional funds, for example?
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I am just putting it to the Deputy because I have watched over the past three or four years on housing. All I get is an antipathy on the Opposition side towards any private sector funding in housing. If they maintain that position, we will not deal with the housing supply issue.
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That is ultimately the way to deal with reducing the rate of increase in rent. The RTB is quite clear in terms of the levels at the moment.
Sentiment score: 0.38
What we have witnessed in the last 24 hours is welcome but it is too late in some respects. There has been a division of opinion among member states in respect of this issue for quite some time. It is quite historic as the Deputy knows. Not everybody agrees with Ireland. We have a number of like-minded states, such as Slovenia and Spain, and Belgium to a lesser degree, which has a coalition government. There is a really broad strand of opinion in respect of the Middle East, some of it historic in respect of what happened in regard to the Shoah and so on. That has informed some countries' perspectives on this. In our view that historic prism has given Israel a latitude that has created the most appalling death and destruction. I hope now that in the context of the Israeli-EU Agreement, we could have a suspension of that pending the review.
Sentiment score: 0.18
We have made significant progress in terms of the HPV vaccine. I will check with the Minister for Health in respect of the catch-up programme. I will ask the Minister to revert back to the Deputy in respect of it. It is a fair question to raise and I will follow it up.
Sentiment score: 0.46
I do not know the background to the Crosshaven situation. As the Deputy said, it is just hot off the press. However, I will follow it up. I work closely with the Irish Postmasters Union and we keep in touch with the network. As the Deputy knows, the Government has committed to supporting Ireland's post office network and as part of that commitment, it is currently providing An Post with €10 million funding per annum over a three-year fixed term from 2023 to 2025. Obviously, there will be a further evaluation post 2025. The programme for Government is clear in recognising the need to support Ireland's post offices. We will continue to provide the nationwide network of post offices with funding to ensure their sustainability and enhance the value they bring to local communities. In some instances someone may retire and there may not be takers for the position, but it depends, so I will check out the Crosshaven situation.
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I also welcome the pupils from Kilrane National School. I hope they will learn something from observing the activities in the House and also from the rich history and heritage that the House has to offer. I agree with Deputy O'Sullivan that the time is now for the suspension of the agreement because Article 2 is not being complied with. All human rights have been abandoned. The weaponisation of aid is appalling. It constitutes a breach of international humanitarian law; of that there is no doubt. The latitude that has been given to Israel over the past year is regrettable. There should have been a sustained ceasefire a long time ago.
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Strawberries are very high in nutrients and that is very important so I will not say no.
Sentiment score: 0.46
Generally speaking, this Government has taken a position to support the construction of roads within the provisions of the public capital programme. The updating of the national development plan will involve provision for roads. We may not go into every specific road in the country in that plan because flexibility has to be allowed to Transport Infrastructure Ireland and to local authorities. However, we want to progress projects that are currently under way. That is the objective. We also have to invest in water infrastructure, grid infrastructure and public transport along with the road and rail networks. That is the overarching objective of increased allocations to the NDP.
Sentiment score: 0.21
There has been an increased allocation for the tenant in situ scheme. There were reviews around making sure the resources would go to those tenants who were in danger of being rendered homeless. The tenant in situ scheme is not for general acquisition of second-hand homes. It is specifically for those in danger of becoming homeless. The Minister is engaging with local authorities to make sure the commitments can be fulfilled and realised in respect of families and councils that had been in discussion with landlords regarding the purchase of homes to prevent families falling into homelessness.
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This is a disability service, is it?
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For where?
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The introduction of free schoolbooks for some 940,000 children and young people in primary and post-primary and special schools in the free education scheme from the start of 2025-26 was a really significant progressive decision that was taken some years ago by the then education Minister, Deputy Foley, and has been continued. The Deputy has raised interesting points about the mechanics of the scheme and how it operates with regard to enrolment numbers and textbooks consequent on curricular change. I will raise these issues with the Minister to see if a more flexible and responsive model can be developed. Of course, that could also have implications for schools that lose pupils. Sometimes we have to be cautious about what we wish for.
Sentiment score: 0.36
I fully understand the issue the Deputy has raised. The ask is that there would be access to a single public service pension scheme. That is something that needs to be resolved through the industrial relations processes. We have made progress in respect of the salary side and the payroll aspect of this. Since September 2023 the Department has been providing a payroll service for formerly grant-funded school secretaries. Currently 85% of school secretaries have opted for the new package and are on the Department’s payroll. That happened on foot of an agreement arrived at in the WRC in 2022. Until then, they had been paid directly by the schools as the employer. There has been progress made on the school secretaries front compared with where we were. As regards the pension issue, these are not easy issues to resolve overnight but it is something on which we will engage with the union.
Sentiment score: 0.23
The Deputy has raised fairly legitimate issues. There has been a tendency lately in planning to have no car parking spaces in certain developments. The Deputy made a fair point about restricting car use but not car ownership. There has to be more flexibility in the planning frameworks governing developments of this kind and, as the Deputy said, the Adamstown plan itself. I would like to see a complete review. You would lose another couple of years with that but the points the Deputy is making should be fed into the process and a bit of common sense and flexibility should be applied.
Sentiment score: 0.23
My understanding is the Department, together with the HSE, will provide a total of €6.53 million to meet the full operational costs of the 51 beds in the new facility in 2025. I will follow up again with the HSE and the Department to confirm, but that is what I am being told.
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Further resources will be available to expand the capacity of the new facility on an incremental basis in 2025, subject to an agreed business plan between the HSE and the Dublin Simon Community. The Deputy is correct that it is a very significant development. The Government has already provided €35 million to construct the facility. That provides for the 51 beds that were, up to now, in temporary locations. These include step-up and step-down beds for acute services and inpatient treatment beds for drug stabilisation, detoxification and recovery. Up to 700 treatment episodes-----
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-----per year across four clinical programmes can be provided. Approximately €6.5 million will meet the full costs. I will get the Department to come back to the Deputy on that.
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I thank the Deputy for eloquently and very strongly putting the issues pertaining to what is happening in Gaza in terms of the behaviour of the Israeli Government and Hamas, and stating that action is required. We have taken a series of actions but I take the Deputy's point. The focus now has to be on this EU-Israel association agreement because, without any question, Article 2 of that agreement has not been adhered to at all. What is now happening is barbaric. People are appalled at the slaughter of innocent children. I am conscious we will debate this shortly, but I appreciate the comments of the Deputy in this regard.
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It needs to be expanded. I will talk to the Minister in respect of it. The funding was allocated. There could be issues clinically - I do not know - with the allocation of resources. However, I will ask the Minister to revert to the Deputy in respect of the issue.
Sentiment score: 0.19
I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. As I said, the situation is barbaric. We urgently need to facilitate a high-profile visit by the international community to Gaza, including both political and media representatives, who could see at first hand the level of destruction and the appalling situation the civilian population there is now in. That would do more than anything to change the situation and the momentum of war in Gaza. The occupied territories Bill is being progressed. On its own, it will not change the mindset of the current Israeli Government, I am afraid. We have taken many measures already in respect of the issue, from recognition of the State of Palestine to intervention in the genocide convention case and the ICJ judgment and so forth. However, the international community collectively must bring all of its influence to bear to stop this.
Sentiment score: -0.06
I agree with Deputy O'Donoghue and sympathise with his point. I will again talk to the Minister for Transport on this and ask him to engage with Bus Éireann to get this issue sorted. Chronological age is meaningless as a metric. It can be general but it is meaningless. There could be a very fit 75-year-old and an unfit 65-year-old. To borrow the phrase again, we need a little common sense applied here. On Deputy Whitmore's point, I will talk to the Minister for Education in respect of the specifics in County Wicklow. There are common enrolment systems in some parts of the country as regards general enrolments, but the Deputy said one is required in Wicklow. Is the Deputy talking about general enrolment?
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The Deputy is saying there is a general problem-----
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-----and an insufficiency of general school places.
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It is very distressing for them and for their families. I will talk to the Minister in respect of this.
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