I call Deputy O’Reilly for Deputy McDonald.

I call Deputy Murphy for Deputy Smith.

Not a week goes by that a constituent of mine in the leafy suburbs of north Dublin does not mention the inner city and the issues and concerns they have with it. I would highlight, in particular, young women who have raised it with me as a concern in terms of their night-time plans and visiting and meeting with friends in the city centre, among other things. I know a lot has been done. I know 101 recently attested gardaí were assigned to Garda stations around Dublin in recent weeks but, as I am sure the Taoiseach c…

I am going to have to move on.

I do not think this is fitting for-----

I know but it is also talking about an individual. I should have said it to you at the start.

That does not necessarily qualify under Standing Orders. The clock is running down and I have two other Members I would like to let in.

I have been somewhat reluctant to contribute to this debate, not because of my concern about the reaction of my constituents but because the mere mention, or appearance, of taking sides is often met with scorn or worse, the utterly corrupted idea of antisemitism. That should not be the case. We must be confident in calling out that which is wrong. The taking of life is wrong. The taking of life in the name of a religion is wrong. The taking of life to expand one's territory is wrong. The taking of life to take back…

My question relates to the ongoing efforts by the Minister's Department to reduce inflation. Significant domestic and international factors have reduced inflation over the recent period, which I acknowledge. I believe, though, that more needs to be done in this regard. My question relates to what measures the Minister is proposing to introduce in the coming months in an effort to reduce inflation.

I acknowledge all of those measures, particularly the temporary measures. I acknowledge of course the nature of them and their careful impact on the inflation rate. However, part of the reason I asked this question was to do with what I would refer to as ongoing creep, particularly in the inflation on consumer goods, services and fuel, which remains stubbornly high. We are 15 cent or 20 cent a litre off what I would describe as a crisis when we were getting two, three or four emails a day from constituents, observi…

I thank the Minister. I appreciate those remarks and acknowledge of course that the home energy costs in particular are high because of those futures contracts that were entered into. I hope we will see a further reduction. As I said, the main point of my question was to determine whether additional measures would be introduced to try to lessen the burden of costs that have been borne by our constituents throughout the country over the past number of years, some of which, as the Minister rightly pointed out, have y…

I thank the Taoiseach for his response. I commend him both personally and politically on the speed with which he found common ground with Pedro Sánchez and others. I very much look forward to progress being made on that matter. We need to be honest with ourselves, hearing on a daily basis the rhetoric coming from the Israeli Government. The reality of recognising the state of Palestine and pushing towards the two-state solution is that the international community will enforce that. That means the United Nations wou…

I thank the Minister of State for his response. Like every new scheme, there are bound to be teething problems and there were a few along the way in the last few weeks. Like my colleague, I broadly welcome the success rate that has been illustrated. I note with appreciation the amount of time that the Minister of State gave to the Oireachtas joint committee recently where he went through this in great detail. Reliability is an issue with some of the machines in place. I wish to discuss the possibility of transferab…

I thank the Minister of State for his response. I am pleased to hear there may be scope for the sort of machines to which I referred to be introduced by local authorities. That would be good. To refer to some of the remarks made by Deputy O'Sullivan regarding accessibility, it is an issue. Will the Minister of State investigate whether, as standard practice, these machines could be a particular height, including where precisely the entry point for the cans and bottles is located as it does matter? My other question…

I thank the Minister for her reply. I agree with the previous speaker, broadly. No Department is an island and this is a multi-Department issue with dereliction in our towns and villages. I commend the Ministers on their significant work and investment across the country, including in my constituency, Dublin Fingal, as it currently exists. I had the privilege of not that long ago attending with the Ministers the opening of a building in Lusk, which is an illustration of the effectiveness of the town and village ren…

I completely agree with what the Minister said. As she well knows, vibrant communities have people living in the middle of them. Especially in northern Fingal, the success of the national broadband project has meant that more and more people have the capacity to work from home, particularly in a post-Covid environment. Any public representative knows there are just as many people at home in the middle of the afternoon as in the evenings when we would have traditionally canvassed. That is because of the roll-out of …

I ask the Minister for her response.

I thank the Minister. Since my beginnings in politics in 2004, I have been incredibly proud to support improving our libraries across Fingal. One thing I was most proud of when I served as mayor in 2007 was the reopening of both Malahide and Garristown libraries. The library in Garristown is a wonderful facility with a fantastic history. The Minister has been very consistent in investment across Fingal, as she rightly mentioned. A huge wonderful project is being delivered in Swords and a project is being delivered …

Twelve months ago, almost to the day, following a parliamentary exchange between the Minister and me, it was revealed that 13,138 knives had been seized by an Garda Síochána between 2016 and 2022. This is a 78% increase over the seven years. On the one hand, it shows the extraordinary proactivity of An Garda Síochána in managing to seize those knives. On the other hand, it shows that there is a rise in the number of individuals carrying knives who come to the attention of An Garda Síochána. Ultimately these knives …

There is no doubt in my mind that while the numbers are low statistically, they have increased. I know the Minister accepts and understands that. We have an issue with morale. It is very clear that we have an issue in respect of many of our men and women in uniform across all branches of the Defence Forces, including An Garda Síochána. It is undoubtedly going to be an ongoing challenge. The recruitment of more personnel is part of the solution but we also have an issue when it comes to the communication between ran…