I dealt comprehensively with that issue earlier. The Deputy chose not to raise it during Leaders' Questions, which is fair enough. The housing activation office has been established. It is in the programme for Government. I made the point yesterday that no decision has been made as to the person who will head up that office. I said that to the Deputy yesterday. I also said to her yesterday that within the public service, there can be secondment. There are people in public service, working in State agencies-----
Sentiment score: 0.00
There are people earning substantially above that. The Deputy knows that well.
Sentiment score: 0.14
Has the Deputy heard of the National Treasury Management Agency, NTMA? It is has been in existence since its establishment in 1989. The Deputy knows that but comes in here and feigns not to. Of course she knows the NTMA has been there for 30 years. No decision has been made to appoint any individual. The Government will decide and the Minister will progress that in the time ahead.
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Garda numbers are increasing in terms of the numbers being trained through Templemore. People have commented on the increased number of gardaí on the streets of Dublin. In more recent times, people have commented positively about that. I have been talking to the Minister for Justice and we need to ensure that as people are coming through Templemore, we spread them out across the country. That is the agenda and that is what we are going to do. We are making progress. Covid-19 had a big impact because we lost a vital two years in the context of getting a proper throughput from Templemore. Now the number of applications is high and a great deal of progress is being made. We need to do far more and we will.
Sentiment score: 0.31
The Minister is not responsible for the inquiry or how it was conducted. Let us not try to politicise this. Let us look at the fact that the commission of investigation was established. The statement by the General Solicitor for Minors and Wards of Court is very serious. There are limitations around the Commissions of Investigation Act. I have made the general point that commissions of investigation sometimes do not give the closure or outcomes that people correctly expect, notwithstanding the spending of millions. This is worrying. The Minister is meeting the General Solicitor for Minors and Wards of Court on behalf of Grace. I will get a report of the outcome of that meeting. We are in very challenging territory because of the legal framework governing the establishment of the commission. A commission is independent. Everything that transpires within it is within the legal framework, including in respect of confidentiality and so forth.
Sentiment score: 0.05
The fundamental review of the regulatory framework governing energy prices did not happen. The Deputy knows that as well as I do. It relates to the user pays principles, be that user a commercial entity or a household. On investment in the grid, price review 5 fell on the user of energy. The Minister has established a group to look at the regulatory framework. There will be enormous investment in the grid. In the time ahead, we will need to more than double what was invested over the past five years. If we want to achieve what the Deputy suggests on a sustainable basis, it will require an amendment to the regulatory framework. That is how I see it. That will take some time to bring about, but it is an issue we must deal with because Ireland has high energy prices and is likely to continue to have them, given the level of investment that will have to be made in respect of the grid.
Sentiment score: 0.17
The Meals on Wheels service is outstanding for a number of reasons in terms of the food and nutrition made available and the contact and engagement in the neighbourhood or community. The Minister of State, Mary Butler, has done exceptional work in substantially increasing the funding to Meals on Wheels. The funding allocation for the service has increased by close to 80% in the past three years. It is difficult to think of any other service where there has been an increase of that scale. Back in 2022, it was €3.5 million but it has gone up 80% since then.
Sentiment score: 0.21
The amount of users and also the costs I accept have gone up, but 80% is a fairly significant increase. The programme for Government commits to further increased funding for the national Meals on Wheels network and to developing a plan to ensure that we support providers in every town in the country. Then, €10 million was made available in capital funding for community capital funding initiatives.
Sentiment score: 0.49
If the Deputy is saying the LDA has identified the sites, I will talk to the LDA about where current plans and progress are in terms of advancing housing on those particular sites. The whole idea of the housing activation office is, if there are issues with the sites in terms of water, grid or whatever, to unblock those at a local level. I will certainly pursue that. Existing cities and towns are the obvious places where we can make progress.
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My understanding is a lot of work happened during the time of the last Government. It would have been, I think, the Department of children at the time. I will ask the Minister for Justice to examine the issues the Deputy has raised. I presume he or other people have written to the Minister.
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If the Deputy is suggesting there are irregularities or whatever, I am not familiar with those and I cannot comment on that. I will raise the issue with the Minister.
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I thank the Deputy for raising the issue in the frank and honest way he did. I wish him personally the very best as he responds to the condition of MS. It is very important that we create national awareness around this issue and related conditions. Is it 150 km the Deputy is going to do?
Sentiment score: 0.50
That is fair going. The best of luck on that. I will talk to the Minister for Health. I think it is her ambition to complete all the neurorehabilitation units. This is very important. Neurology has been a challenging area for quite a while in terms of neurologists. We have made a lot of progress in the past couple of years compared to where we were. Neurology and neurological conditions cover a wide spectrum. We are learning an awful lot more about it. The greater awareness and the greater funding we can allocate to the research, the better the outcomes will be.
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Wexford has always been open for business and has many high-quality hotels across the spectrum of accommodation. One of the great marketing steals of the century was the "sunny south east" logo, if I can call it a steal. It has stuck. It is interesting. There seems to be some dispute between the industry and the CSO, which is unusual, in terms of the figures. Nonetheless, the Government has transferred tourism from the parent Department it was in and moved it into enterprise to perhaps have a greater coherence and complementarity in terms of the business end of it and also to try to create additional resources at an administrative level in terms of tourism policy. Fáilte Ireland is there and so on, so it has been a success story for quite a long time. We have to drill down into the figures and understand what is happening in the industry, and then respond with appropriate measures.
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Absolutely. It was a very impactful visit, if I say so myself, and very worthwhile. Fantastic work is going on at Kildalton college. As the Deputy knows, Kildalton college will split the delivery of the programme with the Waterford campus of South East Technological University. Its engagement with the Veterinary Council of Ireland is currently ongoing in regard to the professional accreditation of these new programmes. This is a very significant programme for the south east region and nationally. There is a demand for veterinary places and many students are travelling abroad to study these courses. We want to get this up and running. There are issues around regulatory and curricular approval, staffing, equipment and lab facilities. All of them have to be open, so there is a tight timeline. I can assure the Deputy that I will speak to the Minister for higher education with a view to progressing this as quickly and effectively as possible.
Sentiment score: 0.25
I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I understand from a certain perspective why the Deputy is concerned about it. My understanding is that it stems from an EU directive in respect of grants for fossil fuels essentially, for installations that have a fossil fuel dimension. However, I will examine it. I understand there is some leeway in terms of purchasing second-hand boilers and so forth, but that is not responding to the totality of what the Deputy has said. I will have it examined to see what can be done, if anything can be done, but there is an EU directive, which governs all of this.
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It is a very sad and shocking situation for the family of Aoife Winterlich. I believe a full and comprehensive apology should be given in respect of this. My understanding is that this has been in the courts as well.
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There would have been a full assessment of this during the court process. In my view, when something like this happens, the response should be fulsome and it should be without conditions.
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Very significant work was undertaken by the last Government and the Minister, Deputy McEntee, in respect of gender-based violence. Indeed, I would have launched the first strategy as Taoiseach with the Minister, Deputy McEntee. The Minister, Deputy O’Callaghan, is absolutely committed to continuing to progress this agenda in government. The programme for Government is very clear in respect of the prioritisation of this issue, particularly in terms of refuge services and centres, which I think we need to accelerate progress on.
Sentiment score: 0.41
I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. Perhaps he can send me a note on it. I presume the Minister for Finance is aware of the case. I will speak to the Minister for Finance in respect of the content of the Bill and in terms of the inclusion in the resolution office of all outstanding issues to which the Deputy has alluded.
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First of all, I never used the phrase "where it was gone". I never used that phrase.
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I made the point that it was now April, €20 million had been allocated to Cork City Council and the city council was saying the €20 million was all gone. My view is that there have been issues around the operation of the tenant in situ scheme nationally and they have to be dealt with. Fundamentally, we have to target it at those who are in danger of homelessness because of eviction, an owner selling the house or whatever.
Sentiment score: -0.25
There is an issue here and it is not just in Cork. The scheme was brought in in 2023 and it has been very successful and very effective. We want to continue to ensure it is effective.
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The Deputy raised a very legitimate issue in terms of the testing backlog, which has been there for quite some time. I will speak to the Minister again in terms of talking to the Road Safety Authority. Decisions have been taken on reform of the driver testing aspect and responsibility for that. I will talk to the Minister again, given the urgency of this.
Sentiment score: 0.12
We come to the House and we talk about value for money for taxpayers and everything else. I respect the IPU. It has a job to do, which is to advocate for pharmacists, but just because it says a certain figure, do we all just say that is the figure?
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I know all of that.
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The HRT product was offered free to people. The IPU said it wanted a dispensing fee. There has always been a dispensing fee for other medicines and so on. It falls to negotiation between the Minister for Health and the IPU. The Minister for Health has offered €5, plus €1,000 for signing up. In my view, it is not a bad deal at all.
Sentiment score: 0.16
If we are going to arbitrate every negotiation in the House, it will be no basis for negotiating with professional bodies or businesses and so on. Pharmacies have a key role to play. We need to roll out the service for women. I have concerns about how this is being arbitrated.
Sentiment score: 0.01