Ní aontaím in aon chor leis an Teachta. Before I start, I express my gratitude to the Ceann Comhairle and her team and all the staff in the Oireachtas who help us elected representatives to do our job, day in and day out.

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I refer to the clerks, security staff, cleaners, catering staff and all who quietly go about their business and create what is essentially the community that underpins our nation's democracy. I also thank all the TDs in the House. We may differ on matters - we do not agree on everything - but I believe we are all here for the right reason, which is to advance the interests of the people of this country. I wish everybody a well-earned break with their family and loved ones. I thank my own team and the officials in my Department and wish them a happy and peaceful Christmas. Nollaig shona agus athbhliain faoi mhaise daoibh go léir. I wish a happy Christmas to Deputy McDonald as well. I hope she has a very good rest and break. In relation to the first year of the Government, I would take an opposite view to Deputy McDonald. I generally think she takes the soundbite approach as opposed to dealing with the issues of real substance. The Government came into office at a time of huge geopolitical turbulence, with tariffs, etc. We have navigated the tariff situation skilfully, effectively and with impact. We have reduced the threats to this country significantly as a result of our work within Europe and bilaterally with the US and by influencing the European approach to the discussions with America. That was a significant threat, if the Deputy recalls, at the beginning of the Government's term. We worked with industry, including the medical devices, pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical and life sciences sectors, to make sure we were on the ball in terms of dealing with the core issues in a very difficult situation. It was likewise in terms of the security situation facing Europe, with a war in Europe for the first time since the Second World War. We have navigated that. We have worked with principle in terms of dealing with those issues. We also took a principled stance in relation to the shocking genocide in Gaza. Economically, we are heading to be the fastest growing among the world's most advanced economies this year. We will have 2.8 million people at work. That is 550,000 additional people at work in the Irish economy between 2020 and 2025. We have 2.825 million people at work. It is a record in the labour market. That creates its own challenges but it is a positive. I can remember other decades when people in this country could not get work. We should never take that for granted. I know the Deputy does take it for granted, dismisses it all and keeps coming up with ideas and proposals that would undermine the enterprise economy that is critical. One of the core Government deliveries this year was infrastructure and proper investment in the productive capacity of our economy and society into the future. Investments in water infrastructure, the energy grid and housing have all been announced in the context of the national development plan. Big projects like MetroLink have been green-lighted and are on their way. The planning has come through. Projects like the Shannon eastern and midlands water plan are big projects. No doubt Deputy McDonald will come at us objecting to some of them but these are very big projects for the future of this country. In research investment, we have the INSPIRE programme. I have never heard Deputy McDonald mention the word "research" in five or six years. She has never raised it with me, yet research is critical to the future of this country in terms of the jobs of the future, products of the future and ideas for the future. That is what matters ultimately in terms of a measurement of a government, not the quantum of legislation passed. We passed 32 Bills in 2020. Why? Eleven of them were to do with the emergency arising from the pandemic. I do not accept the analysis Deputy McDonald has put forward. We have a lot of law and regulation in this country. Some would argue we have too much regulation, which has stopped us getting the roads, bridges and railways built. Let us have balance and perspective here.

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As for judging any government, there is a whole range of issues and I will get back to some in the supplementary response.

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We are doing more for children now in terms of our investments.

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Deputy McDonald did not want us to do targeted measures for child poverty in the budget, but we did it.

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That is a bit silly. The bottom line is that we are prioritising children and we want to do that. It is accepted that there are issues facing children in this country, but we provided for a major 20% increase in investment in disability services. As the Deputy knows, we are now developing a new education therapy service, which will be transformative. It will start in special schools early in the new year. It will be expanded into all special schools in the school year beginning in September of next year. Then we will expand it into the mainstream classes. That will have multidisciplinary teams in schools for children with disabilities. In parallel with that, we are investing in disability services. We are amending the assessment of need to make sure we prioritise the provision of therapists to children, as opposed to them being behind desks doing all sorts of assessments that are not the optimum use of their time. We need therapists to work with children on the ground. We have 400 new special classes this year, and we also have 300 new special school places sanctioned for the 2025-26 school year.

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A total of €3 billion has now been invested in special education, and rightly so. It will continue.

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The Deputy has identified a number of issues, ranging from public transport and the M50 to road safety. For me, the latter is the most significant issue. There is very significant traffic congestion on the M50. It is a vital piece of national infrastructure. Growth in our economy and in our population has added significantly to the traffic. Overall levels on the M50 have grown by 11% since 2019. There is huge investment going into public transport. I do not agree with the 2:1 ratio. It is too crude a mechanism. A lot depends on when a project comes to completion, as it draws down an awful lot more money than at the beginning. The 2:1 ratio is not a sensible framework on a year-to-year basis to judge investment in public transport versus investment in roads. In regard to investment in roads, the Macroom bypass, for example, was huge for safety. It was better for safety, air pollution and the quality of life of the people living in all the towns – Macroom, Baile Bhuirne and others - along the way, yet people would say it is anti-climate or whatever to build a bypass like that. I have never accepted the ideological orthodoxy of some people on that side of the fence. At the same time, we need to invest hugely in public transport. That is what we are doing with BusConnects, MetroLink and DART+. We now have about 1 million public transport journeys a day. Last year alone we had over 343 million public transport journeys. That is increasing but we need more on that front. Historically, the establishment of the Road Safety Authority was the most significant measure taken in respect of dealing substantially with road deaths. As I have previously done in the House, I pay a lot of tribute to the former Minister, Noel Dempsey, who really took on this issue with the late Gay Byrne. They transformed it. They were very unpopular in this House because they took measures that many parliamentarians opposed on drink driving and all sorts of penalties, but they did it and it is a lesson to everybody. Every now and again we need a bit of backbone in politics to do the right thing and get over the short-term opposition and knee-jerk reactions. Our roads did become much safer after that and we significantly reduced road deaths and injuries. We need to do the same now. There is a serious increase - not back to the levels of the 1970s or 1980s - that is causing untold trauma to families and young people. We have had some horrific accidents in recent times that horrify us in terms of the trauma that has been visited on so many parents and families. I favour the retention of the Road Safety Authority as the pre-eminent authority to deal with road safety. It will have the resources to do that.

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An Garda Síochána will be very active over Christmas in particular. It is conducting a dedicated road traffic enforcement operation throughout the Christmas period, which began on Monday, 1 December and will continue until Monday, 5 January. The Deputy is correct. Investing in better and safer roads, continued enforcement of the law and increasing the allocation of gardaí to front-line duties are all part of the measures that we are going to be taking on an ongoing basis. We are going to implement the road safety strategy 2021 to 2030. We are going to do everything possible through our enforcement. The Garda Commissioner is taking this very seriously. The Minister for justice has been speaking to the Garda Commissioner in respect of this. I accept the Deputy's fundamental point. Every road fatality that occurs on our roads is a profound tragedy for a family somewhere in our country. Collectively, if we are all agreed, I am willing to work with the Opposition in terms of any measures that people think are meritorious in terms of reducing accidents on our roads.

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From the Deputy's perspective, that is the short-term popular answer, is it not? All that would do would depress supply. The fundamental answer to homelessness is supply. The Deputy's party has never got that. All its proposals, in my view, would actually depress supply and reduce it. That is the fundamental difference between us. I am not going for the short-term popular thing, to ban this and all of that. It sounds great, but it would be damaging to getting more supply into the market. That is the bottom line. Homelessness is a huge issue facing the country. It is a complex issue, far more complex than the manner in which she has presented it. It is not all at the door of the Government. We had a good presentation at the housing Cabinet subcommittee meeting earlier this week, which illustrated the complex factors behind homelessness and different categories of people becoming homeless for different reasons, requiring a different response. It contained a whole range of issues outside of the control of some people which need attention. I have to be careful in how I say this, but there are pressures coming from the increase in the population and migratory pressures do factor into the homeless issue. In Dublin, if you look at it, the figures are very clear. I will be talking to the Dublin regional executive about this and what we can do to help. That is why the issue is increasing. People coming out of direct provision, for example, and family reunification are creating challenges. It is the right thing to do. Our challenge is to provide housing solutions. Let us not pretend it is all just because of wanton neglect or that someone does not care. Since this Government and the last Government came in, 50,000 social homes have been added to the social housing stock - over 50,500. That is way ahead of anything in three or four decades. You would have to go back to the 1970s to get as many social houses delivered by any Government. We are going to continue that in the new housing plan because social housing is key to dealing with the homeless issue. The level of investment is continuing to increase and will continue to increase to deal with that issue. The Minister, to be fair, is developing further approaches, particularly to child homelessness. He received in the budget a further €100 million additionally to focus exclusively on children and families with children to get them out of emergency accommodation as quickly as possible. In the last two to three years, the numbers that we are getting out in a more timely way out of emergency accommodation has increased. Obviously, the objective is to prevent people going into emergency accommodation, but once they are in there, we then must move to get people out as quickly as possible. We have said to the local authorities that they must prioritise families with children who are in emergency accommodation. You will begin to see the impacts from the initiatives that the Minister has taken, particularly because of the additional budget he has received. That is the way to try to address the issue.

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They are great old slogans. Dusting down the old policies: it is all just rhetoric and jargon.

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The Deputy is saying we keep doing the same thing. We have built over 50,000 social homes, or delivered over 50,000. The new plan will deliver 72,000. That is substance.

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That is building houses. You are not leader yet, Deputy.

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That is real substance. We are building houses. We need to build more and build them as fast as we possibly can.

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That is our approach. It is something I initiated back in 2020. We have resurrected social house building in this country through the local authorities and approved housing bodies. We have also leased and acquired housing for the social housing portfolio.

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We need to develop affordable housing as well. We all know we need to get to 50,000 per annum overall in terms of house building and 60,000 if we can. That is the answer to it.

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We are intervening and have been intervening all of the time. Local authorities are intervening all of the time-----

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----- and exiting families from emergency accommodation.

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I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I know that a number of Deputies in his constituency, including Deputies Ryan O'Meara and Michael Murphy, have also been focused on this. This is a project we have been endeavouring to progress. I know the last Minister for Transport was probably not as enthusiastic about road construction as others, and the idea was possibly bypasses and so on. I will talk to the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien. The Deputy is correct in saying that better roads make for better road safety. That is certainly the case. There is a lot of congestion on that road. We will see what we can do. There is a huge investment programme. Only a number of weeks ago, the Minister announced a sectoral plan for transport under the national development plan. The list of projects is enormous, with huge investment. Obviously, those projects will be staggered and sequenced. The Deputy is asking for funding for the Cahir to Limerick Junction section to be continued in 2026. I would anticipate that that should not be a challenge. Has the Deputy heard to the contrary that it will not be continued? To be fair to the outgoing Minister, work on it was begun. I will go to the Minister and see whether we can see what the story is and whether we can accelerate it. The Deputy also wants design to start with regard to the Cahir to Waterford section. Again, I will have to go back to the Minister to see where we are in terms of the prioritisation of this project. There is a whole range of projects. Construction inflation has eaten into some of the budgets and that has been a significant factor. Nonetheless, hugely increased allocations are going to road transport and public transport more generally. I would like to think that we should be in a position to spare funding for this road, which is a very important artery, to enable in particular the continuation of the work on the Cahir to Limerick Junction section. I will ask the Minister to come back to me about the Cahir to Waterford section.

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I again thank the Deputy for raising this important issue and confirming that the Minister is relatively positive and optimistic about the continuation of funding for the section from Cahir to Limerick Junction. The Deputy made an important point, which sometimes gets overlooked when it comes to road construction, about the road safety dimension. That is critical. My understanding is that Tipperary County Council is progressing the Cahir to Limerick Junction section in partnership with Limerick County Council. It is being managed by the mid-west national road design office. I understand the Minister has engaged with public representatives about the Cahir to Waterford section. I will talk to the Minister about that. I appreciate the reasons the Deputy raised this matter.

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