It is a serious report. I regret the propagandistic politicking the Deputy has just engaged in on what is a serious issue for families and children. No report was sitting on the Minister's desk. The Deputy knows well there were legal injunctions on how this report would be handled. She knows well it was not sitting on the Minister's desk. Why did she say it was in that throwaway phrase, as though the Minister is callous and does not care? Why does she do that? Is there any sincerity in her position? I regard this report as serious.
Sentiment score: -0.03
It is very serious. I spoke to the Attorney General about this yesterday. Up to 62 cases have to be looked at. We were only briefed on Monday evening, again due to legal constraints in terms of how it can be shared. We will have to deal with that, yes, but the Deputy should please not trot out reprehensible comments about people's motivations. That is just wrong.
Sentiment score: 0.07
It is too serious for that.
Sentiment score: -0.08
The Stardust fire was a national tragedy that has left an enduring legacy of pain for the country, particularly the people of north Dublin and the families of the 48 young people who were tragically killed. They suffered a terrible loss, and there has been a lasting impact on the survivors who were injured in the fire. Following the State apology and engagement with the legal representatives of the families, the Government approved a two-phased approach to redress arrangements. Phase 1 involved the establishment of a €24 million ex gratia redress scheme for the families of the 48 victims of the fire. That was developed in consultation and agreement with the families' legal representatives and provided for a single, non-scaled ex gratia payment of €500,000 to be made to the families concerned in respect of each of the 48 victims. Phase 2 concerns survivors injured in the fire.
Sentiment score: -0.27
I will revert to Deputy Gannon.
Sentiment score: 0.00
Is this in relation to-----
Sentiment score: 0.00
I am familiar with the issue. I will engage with the Minister for public expenditure on this in order to see where we are. The issue of CIÉ pensions needs to be sorted as well. My understanding is that we are close to getting that one resolved. I will see where we are in respect of the An Post and Eir pensions.
Sentiment score: 0.25
I will engage more with the Deputy on this matter. I will certainly see what potentially can be done in respect of the utilisation of these devices, particularly to prevent antisocial behaviour.
Sentiment score: 0.54
In the budget, about €2.74 billion was allocated to the Garda in the recent budget. Within that is enough money for about 1,000 new gardaí, 200 more Garda staff and a doubling of the Garda Reserve to more than 600 this year. A total of 223 trainees entered Templemore in November. That is the largest intake to Templemore since 2014. That brought the total number of trainees to enter Templemore to 794 in 2025, which is the largest yearly total since 2018. In other words, we have to get more recruits through Templemore. That is happening. A total of 215 went in on 9 February. This is the third intake in a row where the numbers have exceeded 200. We are making real progress. The Commissioner has decided to allocate large numbers to certain locations. This has had a huge impact. We will get there, but people are going to have to be patient. How we deploy to the maximum optimum levels is important. Ultimately, this is an operational matter for the Commissioner but more coming gardaí coming through will mean greater allocations.
Sentiment score: 0.12
Since Deputy Pat the Cope Gallagher raised this with me, I met with the Minister. The challenge is that if the contract had not been signed yesterday, we would have no service at all.
Sentiment score: -0.11
Let us try to share the problem now. If it had not been signed yesterday, there would be no service. We have to try to work within that constraint. There was one tenderer to my knowledge. The Minister does not get involved in the tendering negotiations. He cannot. I presume the Deputy approves of that in the sense that we do not get involved with companies, tendering processes and all of that. The fact that there was one tenderer was a problem. We are not satisfied with the outcome . We would have preferred the retention of the afternoon flight and the plane remaining overnight in Donegal. Substantial money is being allocated to the public service obligation, PSO. My understanding is that it is the only PSO.
Sentiment score: -0.00
We are looking to review this within three months and to engage with the successful bidder for this contract.
Sentiment score: 0.74
I certainly will. I will engage with the Deputy in the aftermath of this. Is he saying that any Irish citizen entering the UK? Does it include Northern Ireland?
Sentiment score: 0.17
We will pursue this with Aer Lingus and more generally. I will talk to Deputy Gallagher too.
Sentiment score: 0.00
I accept the issues that have been raised by the Deputy. Ten recent break-ins seems to be a fairly high number. I will engage with the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration and the Garda Commissioner in respect of maybe specific actions to stem the tide there and to get to the bottom of what is going on in terms of that level of that particular type of crime. We will also make representations in terms of the allocation of gardaí. As I said earlier, the Commissioner prioritised city centres in Dublin in particular, Cork, Limerick and Waterford and while it is no consolation to the Deputy, the impact has been quite significant in terms of public perception of safety and security. Clearly, we want to get around the entire country and I hear what the Deputy is saying. If Offaly has received nothing, its turn must come. I will talk to the Commissioner about that because, as I said earlier, record numbers are coming through Templemore - the highest number in a long time this year alone. Hopefully, we can continue that and get them out.
Sentiment score: 0.27
I thank the Deputy for raising a very important issue. There was a meeting this morning of the Cabinet subcommittee on evaluating Storm Chandra. We will deal further with the issue of insurance but there needs to be a balanced, combined approach between the insurance industry and the State. It involves the investment the State is making in a quite significant number of flood relief programmes and the degree to which those flood relief programmes should also impact future insurance, which sometimes can be problematic in the aftermath of the completion of such flood review schemes. Work is under way. We are not walking away from the issue but, equally, it cannot all fall on Government either and the industry has obligations too, so we will engage with the industry and endeavour to see whether we can land this in a zone that both can live with. More importantly, it is about ensuring that the people who are suffering can have some security around their homes and businesses.
Sentiment score: 0.32
In my view, institutionalisation was the great stain historically on Irish mental healthcare. Without question, we over-institutionalised in the past. Over the past 40 years, we have substantially deinstitutionalised mental healthcare from the old-type buildings and have put more emphasis on primary care and community-based mental healthcare. I accept we have a lot more progress to make and a lot more to do but a lot of progress has been made, particularly forensic medicine in terms of the new investment in Portrane. That is a very high-quality centre - of that there is no doubt. Further funding is going to that centre to increase its capacity in terms of its intensive care. In addition to that, a lot of work has been done in CAMHS and community health in a whole range of strands. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, can elaborate on this in more detail but, fundamentally, we are not where we want to be in terms of mental health. I accept that but we have made a lot of progress over the past couple of years.
Sentiment score: 0.29
As I have outlined, we have given a huge funding allocation to An Garda Síochána and record numbers are going through Templemore. A total of 223 trainees entered in November, which was the largest intake since 2014. The total number of trainees to enter Templemore in 2025 was 794, which was the largest yearly total since 2018. A total of 215 trainees entered on Monday, 9 February. That is the third intake in a row where the numbers have exceeded 200. These candidates were all from the 2024 and 2025 recruitment campaigns, so we will diaidh ar ndiaidh, gradually, allocate more gardaí around the country as they come through Templemore. A lot of progress has been made and we will continue to make progress. Offaly has been mentioned and the Deputy mentioned Tipperary. We will get around to the country in terms of the further allocations.
Sentiment score: 0.12
There is established industrial relations machinery to deal with disputes, be they local disputes in particular hospitals or national disputes, and I encourage all involved to refer this to the industrial relations process so that these issues can be addressed.
Sentiment score: -0.25
We need to stand back a bit in terms of the situation regarding SNAs. There has been an incremental exponential increase in the number of SNAs. We now have about 25,000 SNAs - 24,925.
Sentiment score: 0.13
I know. I am making the point about whether the view is that we keep on increasing, that we have no reviews or that we do not evaluate the system. We do need to stand back a bit. I spoke to a principal recently who said we need other forms of provision as well. We are bringing in school therapy for special schools through the national therapy service. In some continental schools, they have behavioural therapists which can facilitate integration in mainstream schools. Obviously, I cannot get into every individual school, but I hear what the Deputy is saying and will relate it back to the Department of Education and Youth. However, the numbers have gone up substantially again this year as a result of the allocation. There are individual school allocations then pertaining to the criteria of the NCSE too.
Sentiment score: 0.04
I thank the Deputy and I understand where he is coming from to a degree, but the requirement for a licence to sell tobacco and nicotine inhaling products was enacted in December 2023 and it came into effect earlier this month. It follows on from a recommendation for a national tobacco control policy from Tobacco Free Ireland and it is designed to give an enforcement authority to the HSE's national environmental health service. We know tobacco kills one out of every two smokers and is responsible for about 4,500 deaths a year. We want to end tobacco consumption. Vapes, on other factors, are worse in terms of other impacts on public health. I know the Deputy is asking if there can be a differentiation between larger and smaller retailers. I will talk to the Minister about that, but I do not think we can resile from a fundamental issue facing us a society. The vapes, to me, are big tobacco's revenge after we substantively dealt with the tobacco issue. It came back around the corner with the vapes, which are doing real damage. I met Dr. Fauci a year ago and he outlined the damage to me in no uncertain terms.
Sentiment score: -0.17
There has been huge investment in the northside of Cork by this Government and the previous Government. There has been huge investment and regeneration in the Deputy's area, which he has ignored. We are progressing the elective hospital in Glanmire.
Sentiment score: 0.11
It is progressing. We have now worked out the road issues with the city council that had-----
Sentiment score: 0.00
I spoke to the chief executive on the issue three weeks ago. I did not interrupt the Deputy. He has created a vision of doom and more doom. There has been huge investment and the northern distributor-----
Sentiment score: 0.06
I just want to make a point about the northern distributor road. One of the most important companies in the country and in Europe, Apple, has 6,000 people employed in the northside. We are going to facilitate the people of the northside.
Sentiment score: 0.12
The Deputy kept interrupting me. I could not get a word in.
Sentiment score: -0.15
I will talk to the Minister for Transport, but I presume, as the Deputy knows, that the statutory agencies have a significant role in terms of bus shelters.
Sentiment score: 0.30
There is no shortage of money in the bloody system. Come on. Dáil Éireann should not have to discuss the provision of bus shelters.
Sentiment score: -0.24