I join the Deputy in saying that it is awfully sad when a provincial newspaper closes. Unfortunately, many of them have closed in recent years. The Deputy knows as well as I do that media platforms have changed. People's connectivity to local papers has changed. National papers are also under enormous pressure. My Department has in recent years responded positively, within the rules laid down for what we can and cannot do in the context of market intervention. We support young reporters and journalists who act as court reporters. We also support newspapers in terms of local democracy so they can attend local area committee meetings in Carrickmacross, Monaghan or wherever else and ensure that council meeting are reported. An awful lot of the local papers are taking that up. The Department is conscious of making sure that State agencies, such as the HSE and An Post, advertise, where possible, with the local paper rather than online. I know, for instance, that for road opening licences and road closures, Monaghan and Cavan county councils would be adept at that. I cannot make a direct intervention, as the Deputy knows, in the case of The Northern Standard. If it has an archive and is looking to have that archive housed, there may be an opportunity for the National Archives of Ireland to discuss that. I thank the newspaper for what it has done for the people of Monaghan and for democracy. I hope that the journalists and others who work at the paper find employment in the local area. I wish them the best of luck. At this time of the year, Christmas, it is a tough loss for a community. I respect that. I thank the Deputy for raising the issue.
Sentiment score: 0.17
The Deputy should reflect on that comment, to be honest. I have been here a long time and have heard some personal comments. What the Deputy said is beneath her. I take offence.
Sentiment score: 0.05
I am not dismissing anything. My Department has not been approached formally by anybody with regard to this.
Sentiment score: 0.00
The Deputy has already insulted me. By the way, my parents lived next door to Michael Hartnett. I know him and his legacy quite well. There are two methods by which properties are acquired by the State. One is through the local authority. The Deputy is a former member of Dublin City Council. The other method is through the Office of Public Works. I mentioned this issue last night to the Minister of State, Deputy Moran. There is no provision for my Department to acquire properties. The Deputy and I know that. There is no methodology by which my Department can acquire properties. There are mechanisms for my Department to support properties that are either in the charge and ownership of local authorities or in voluntary and community groups. Any organisation that is in the charge of a local authority, voluntary group or charity can come to my Department. The Deputy is right that we have plans for 2026 around arts centres. They will be properties that are not owned by the national cultural institutions. They will not be eligible to apply. The Deputy might reflect on her comment. I hope she comes back in a second time. I think an awful lot of people in Dublin and I regret she has made such a comment. Perhaps she would like to come back in.
Sentiment score: 0.01
I take it she does not want to come back. She will not apologise.
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That is fine.
Sentiment score: 0.20
I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I speak to it not only as the Minister deputising today but as a parent and teacher. The Minister, Deputy Foley, raised the matter at Cabinet and spoke publicly to the media about it. I reiterate that as a Government, we must ensure that the needs of children are identified at an early stage and that they receive supports to meet those needs, whatever they are. There may be a need for speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, physiotherapy or another service. The Minister brought proposals to Cabinet this week. They will be fleshed out. There will be consultation and an opportunity for people to engage. I will raise the points made by the Deputy with the Minister and the Minister of State, Deputy Higgins. We are as anxious as anybody else that this is resolved. Many of us are parents of young children and have worked in schools. I do not think anyone has a monopoly on this and we want to try to make sure we get it sorted. It will not be for want of effort on the part of the Government.
Sentiment score: 0.16
I am not sure what the question is there in relation to NATO and Donald Trump. There was a conflation of a lot of issues.
Sentiment score: -0.12
The Minister for foreign affairs has outlined the Government’s position as recently as the last few days with regard to the occupied Palestinian territories Bill and the prohibition of doing trade with that geographical area. The position of the Government has not changed.
Sentiment score: 0.00
As the Deputy knows, there is a separation of powers in this State with regard to the role of the Executive, the Oireachtas, the DPP and An Garda Síochána. On the more substantive issue the Deputy raised, I will ask the Minister of State with responsibility for the marine to respond to him.
Sentiment score: 0.00
I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I know the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, and the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, are working with regard to rail. DART+ South West, which forms part of the broader DART+ programme, involves an extension of the DART from the city centre to Hazelhatch and Celbridge. The programme will increase train capacity from 12 to 23 trains per hour. An Coimisiún Pleanála granted permission for DART+ in 2024 and it is estimated the route will serve 56,000 people. The review of the NDP allocated €22.3 billion Exchequer resources to transport from 2026 to 2030, with an additional of €2 billion from the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund to support the Metrolink and other projects. I understand the Deputy's comments, and I am sure Deputies from that part of Dublin will agree with him. I know it is a priority for the Minister and Minister of State.
Sentiment score: 0.24
I understand the Deputy's concern with regard to rural GP practices. It is an issue for all of us who represent rural areas. On the specifics of this issue, I will have the Minister for Health, Deputy Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, who, unfortunately, is unable to be with us this week, revert to the Deputy directly with a specific response.
Sentiment score: -0.11
I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. She raised it in a different way from her colleague in the Labour Party. She will understand that there are only two ways properties could typically come into the State's ownership. One is through the local authorities and the other is through the Office of Public Works. The OPW manages all the State's portfolio on behalf of Government Departments, including my own. For instance, this includes the national museums. This building we are sitting in is actually the property of the OPW. I mentioned this issue to the Minister of State with responsibility for the OPW, Deputy Moran, last night. If there is a mechanism to get the building into the State's ownership, my Department can then obviously engage to discuss how we will support it going forward in terms of its operation and everything else. I encourage Dublin City Council, the largest local authority in the country, with the largest rate base in the country, to heed what the Deputy has said with regard to the local community and the importance of The Complex and to try to see-----
Sentiment score: 0.21
The Deputy knows I cannot give grants for the purchase of properties, in the same way as I cannot do it for sports facilities.
Sentiment score: -0.17
I have raised the Deputy's question with the Minister of State, Deputy Moran. The OPW is probably the best vehicle to get this done, so I will raise the matter with him again.
Sentiment score: 0.32
As the Deputy will appreciate, the Minister for Education is not around. Regardless of that, I agree. The concept of school secretaries and caretakers and other ancillary staff who are integral to the operation of our schools being on picket lines was, to be quite honest, very difficult. The industrial machinery of the State is the vehicle through which this issue needs to be progressed. I hope the unions and the Department will be able to enter into it in a spirit of co-operation and we do not see what we saw before. Nobody wants to see children having to walk past their school secretaries and caretakers. At the end of the day, we have to leave this issue, in the same way we would with any other industrial relations issue, to the industrial relations mechanics of the country to be able to resolve it. I am sure, at the end of the day, that where there is a will, there is a way.
Sentiment score: 0.26
The Deputy is right that in a previous life I was a chemist. Lithium does not fall from the sky. It is dug out of a huge hole in the ground and anybody who says there are no environmental consequences from an electric car is not telling the truth. In some far flung place in the world somebody is driving a gigantic Volvo BM, spewing thousands of tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere to try to get a bit of lithium out of the ground. It is not an inconsequential extraction. The Deputy is right that there have been issues with regard to their safety, particularly in phones and poorly-built toys from countries outside the EU that might not have the same regulations as us, particularly a CE mark. I will ask the Minister with responsibility to respond to the Deputy directly. He raises a very valid point but it may be something that is more pertinent for the European Council than this House.
Sentiment score: 0.03
I thank Deputy Daly for the question. I know the school well. John B. Keane used to say that if you fell out of bed in north Kerry you would wake up in west Limerick. I know the town very well and the school in question. I do not know about the issue the Deputy raises and I do not know how much plaster has fallen down but I will ask the Minister for education and her officials to revert to the Deputy.
Sentiment score: 0.16
I will go back to a comment I made earlier about Deputy Healy-Rae. We agree on most things but we do not agree on this. Support for Ukraine is something that we have to do, to be honest about it. We cannot have a situation where a country's territorial sovereignty is illegally invaded by a state like Russia and we do not support it. Most people would agree and I know that deep down, Deputy Healy-Rae agrees. We have to support them. Their lives have been made an utter and absolute misery by a state that has no regard for international law. I do agree with the Deputy with regard to small businesses and increased costs. That is why the Minister for enterprise, Deputy Burke, has now insisted that any memorandum being brought to Government, with regard to any great idea any of the 15 of us might have, must pass the small business test in order to ensure that we keep costs to businesses down. In the Deputy's local town of Killarney, which I know well, and in Kenmare I am sure they welcomed the reduction of VAT in the budget. That has sustained thousands of jobs all over the country. I know some others on the Opposition benches do not agree with it but I agree with, as does Deputy Healy-Rae, because it sustains thousands of jobs in towns like Killarney.
Sentiment score: 0.31
I already answered a question from Deputy Moynihan on DART south-west and the Government's commitment to it, as well as to DART+. I do not disagree with Deputy Ahern at all and that is why Deputy Darragh O'Brien, when he was Minister for housing, brought forward legislation in relation to objections. It is also why the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste speak so frequently with regard to the abuse, as I see it, of judicial reviews as being an obstacle to getting essential pieces of infrastructure over the line. It is not just a Dublin issue but is all over the country. Whether it is in relation to roads or public transport, it is everywhere. Deputy Ahern is correct that Dublin needs a metro, a connection to the airport and an underground. Dublin is one of only two capital cities in the entire EU that does not have an underground network. We need one and the Government is committed to building it. I hope there is a favourable response with regard to the latest planning issue but we will have to take that as it comes.
Sentiment score: 0.07
I know what a blister pack is and do not need to be shown it. I have used one in my own house and I have had to use-----
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Please.
Sentiment score: 0.32
If the Deputy is going to ask me a question and then shout at me-----
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I know what a blister pack is and have had to use one myself as have other loved ones in my family. I answered a question on this earlier in response to Deputy Carthy. The Taoiseach outlined yesterday the steps he believes are available to the HSE and the Irish Pharmacy Union to discuss this matter and I am sure those discussions will happen in due course.
Sentiment score: 0.31
I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. Massive investment has already been made in primary and post-primary schools across County Offaly by the Department of education under both this Government and the previous Government. That will continue. The Minister, Deputy Naughton, will respond to the Deputy on the specific issue she has raised regarding Birr when she returns.
Sentiment score: 0.09
I thank Deputy Neville for raising this issue. We discussed this previously at a meeting held in the Department. The Deputy is right; Swim Ireland published a gap analysis with regard to swimming pools in the last week. There are huge gaps in relation to the number of swimming pools available across the country, particularly in large urban centres. What were once small villages are now massive towns with populations as big as Limerick city's. We need to invest in them. I made it very clear the other day that, where these projects are led and driven by local authorities and developed on local authority land, my Department will engage and liaise with those local authorities on the possibility of delivering them through the large-scale sports infrastructure fund.
Sentiment score: 0.20
The Deputy raises a very important issue. Some local authorities are very good at dealing with voids. Some local authorities have no issue in returning voids to their stock.
Sentiment score: 0.16
They do it out of their own resources and by connecting directly with-----
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Will the Deputy let me answer?
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If the Deputy does not want to hear the answer, I will sit down. Does he want to hear the answer? Some local authorities are very good at this.
Sentiment score: 0.17
With the Leas-Cheann Comhairle's indulgence, as Minister with responsibility for the sector, I will join with him and with the House in extending the sympathies of my Department and of the Government to the family on their loss. It is not just a loss to the family but the loss of a great cultural icon here in Ireland.
Sentiment score: 0.42