I thank the Deputy very much for her questions. I know from our engagement to date on a variety of issues and her own professional background that she is data driven in terms of the questions that puts down in this House and, indeed, in the discussions that we had around the programme for Government. I thank her for that because what she is raising today, as she rightly said, is a commitment in the programme for Government. I will ask the Minister, Deputy Chamber, as the Minister with responsibility in this area regarding the unit for future planning, because it will be based in the Department of public expenditure and reform, to engage directly with the Deputy to make sure that we get her the most up-to-date information about where that unit is and when it will be established. I am told that the work is now ongoing through a unit for future planning. There is a unit there across a number of key areas. The purpose of the unit is to look at how we can integrate long-term strategic planning more systemically into policy-making in line with the policy document - better public services. So far, the work has not got to the point that the Deputy is rightly raising here. It would be useful if it could in terms of that county-by-county basis because it is not. Even in a country the size of Ireland, some of the issues are common but there can also be very significant differentials. The housing example Deputy Gogarty gave us is an example of that too. In some parts of the country, we are seeing a very significant number of new homes and in others, not nearly the levels that we need. We are engaging now on work to try to strengthen long-term planning right across the Government. The unit for future planning with the Minister, Deputy Chambers, is an example of that. There are also other examples. The decision that we took to publish a medium-term expenditure framework to effectively outline what levels of spending we have, not just for today or tomorrow, this year or the next budget, but out for five years on capital and current is quite important. That framework is based on analysis of past trends. The piece of work I am most proud of - it gets a bit of talk in here but not enough - is Future Forty. It is a really good piece of work done by officials in the Department of Finance. It looks ahead at demographic, technological, social and environmental trends. It basically says that if Ireland did not do anything in terms of policy and we were operating on a no change policy basis, what would our country look like by 2040? It is the antidote to short-termism. We are having a Cabinet committee on this very shortly. It will be discussed at the National Economic Dialogue. How we embed that treasure trove of information systemically in public policy, not just for the Government but everyone in the Oireachtas, agencies and State agencies is an important point. The national development plan has €275.4 billion set out in public capital investment until 2035. This is beyond the lifetime of this Dáil. This again gives agencies an ability to respond beyond the short term. I did not get a chance to come back on childcare and school places but I will in my next contribution.

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I appreciate that. That has always been my experience in dealing with the Deputy. Politics is about a number of things. One of them is that we are here representing our constituents and bringing forward the issues and what we hear. Second, we are obligated to do a bit more than just diagnosing the problem as the Deputy has gone further in her questions to begin to explore what the solutions look like and how can we constructively engage across political backgrounds. On childcare, we have recognised as a Government that relying entirely on the market is not a viable option. It is not going to work. That is why we have now taken a decision and already an allocation for the very first time to have publicly-funded childcare facilities in terms of a call. That needs to be the start. On the big issue around how we reduce the cost of childcare, we are fully committed to delivering that commitment over the lifetime of Government. However, we have to build a system to make sure that we got the places. Similarly on school places, there are a number of school projects under way in County Meath. Meath's population is not too dissimilar to my county's population in Wicklow is growing at a very fast rate. We will continue to engage on this. On the issue of training, I truthfully do not have the answer but it is an important point in making sure we have that continuous professional development within the public service and support our public servants. I will ask the Minister, Deputy Chambers, to engage with the Deputy on it.

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