I thank the Minister for his further response. He will recall that in our parliamentary party’s discussions on infrastructure the point has often been made that delayed investment frequently costs the State far more, so when the public finances are in a position to provide capacity to do more as a State then that is the time we should be doing it. The road network is of critical importance from the point of view of everyday living. It is of critical importance from the point of view of jobs and enterprise. In Count…

I have raised the devastating impact illegal drugs are having on individuals, families and communities right across our country in this House on many occasions. In February, I was very glad that the Minister, Deputy Harris, in response to my parliamentary questions, outlined that new legislative measures would be introduced. He referred to specific provisions including an increase in the maximum sentence for conspiracy to murder from ten years to life in prison to deal with those who direct gangland and drug-relate…

Something I would say in response to Deputy Tóibín is that nobody should talk about reconfiguring the structures of Stormont until the Executive and Assembly are restored. If we go down the route of trying to bring about changes now, we will get into even more deep difficulty. All of us in the House want to see the institutions back and fully functioning representing the people. The members of the Assembly were decided a year ago in an election. I am very glad that recently there was a meeting of the British-Irish …

In rural areas in particular, one of the challenges facing businesses and enterprise in general is inadequate infrastructure. In my constituency of Cavan-Monaghan, most businesses are indigenous and home-grown. Some of those enterprises started as one-person businesses and are now international companies with their headquarters remaining in Cavan and Monaghan. In my area, the agrifood sector, engineering and construction products are an extremely important part of the local economy. By and large, those are bulky pr…

Since the end of last year there has been improvement in substantially reducing the waiting times for driving tests at the Cavan centre. Unfortunately, once again there is a concern that we may see waiting times increase. Driving instructors believe that not enough driving testers have been rostered for work in the Cavan centre for June and July. Those two months are particularly important for young people who have completed their studies, hope to go on to employment and need a driving licence to ensure they can ge…

Of course, the shared island initiative is very welcome in many strata of society both North and South, and I have been very glad over recent months to attend a number of events both North and South to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. At a British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly commemoration held at Stormont in early March, a number of speakers from the former women's coalition took part in our discussions. Those contributions were excellent and reminded us in stark terms of the hostility they …

Cybersecurity and the protection of IT systems, data systems and communication networks are vitally important to the economy and all of society. The trend towards an increase in the use of digital and cloud technologies in both the public and private sectors has been under way for some time. As we all know, however, Covid-19 has accelerated this trend, transforming much of how we live and work. We need to have the trained personnel and, indeed, infrastructure to protect these systems. The risk of failures in cybers…

I thank the Minister for his reply. He is probably well aware of the initiative of the Louth and Meath Education and Training Board, LMETB, particularly led by Mr. Martin O'Brien as chief executive. It will be rolling out a specific course in the whole area of cyber information technology and also cyber operational technology for manufactures. I want to compliment our colleague in the Oireachtas, Senator Craughwell, who has been trying to lead an awareness campaign regarding the importance of cybersecurity and crea…

I thank the Minister. Some time ago, I had the opportunity to visit the new South West College in Enniskillen, which has an enormous catchment area in Tyrone and Fermanagh. The college was developing an innovative cybersecurity course. There are opportunities in that area for us to collaborate and ensure a good presence of such courses throughout the country. We are all aware of the desperate attack made by a rogue state or international criminals on the HSE and the Munster Technological University. It has been sug…

I welcome this debate. Like Deputy Conway-Walsh, I compliment the Cathaoirleach of our committee, Deputy O’Dowd, on his work. I also compliment Deputy Conway-Walsh and all our other colleagues on the committee. There is one word I would use about the Good Friday Agreement, that being, "transformative". I say that as a person who grew up in a Border community, as a public representative prior to the Good Friday Agreement during the era of the Troubles and, thankfully, as someone who is still a public representative …

Unfortunately, there are long delays in Cavan-Monaghan for children with additional needs or disabilities to obtain therapies such as occupational therapy, speech and language therapy and physiotherapy. We all know the importance of having early interventions to support a child with a specific health needs, but, unfortunately, this is not happening sufficiently. There are particular difficulties in getting clinicians to take up these posts in areas like counties Cavan and Monaghan. We need a robust international re…

As the Minister of State is aware, the Government's third national strategy on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, DSGBV, commits to doubling the number of refuge spaces. That ambitious strategy is very welcome. My counties of Cavan and Monaghan are two of the counties that do not have a domestic violence refuge centre, so I am very anxious that such provision be advanced as quickly as possible. The last update I had some time ago was that a number of sites in both counties were being considered. What stage…

I thank the Minister of State for his detailed reply. I am glad he mentioned that priority is being attached to the provision of a refuge centre in Cavan-Monaghan. I also welcome the fact he referred to the very important work of Safe Ireland and the Tearmann domestic abuse service in Cavan-Monaghan. They do excellent work dealing with people in a very vulnerable position. Unfortunately, we all know of the increased violence over the last number of years, particularly against women. In our constituency work we all …

I very much welcome the fact that the Minister of State spoke about the importance of the work of Safe Ireland and Tearmann at a local level in Cavan-Monaghan. I welcome the partnership that will be established with those groups. I commend officials in all the statutory agencies referred to by the Minister of State in his initial reply who are involved in advance of this project. I know they are as committed as we are but, again, even with the best will in the world, it takes too long to get things delivered in thi…

As the Minister is aware, a new Garda operating model was introduced in early 2019 on a pilot basis. The model proposes to reduce the number of Garda divisions from 28 to 19. It will not be a suitable configuration for the Border region. It is proposed that Cavan, Monaghan and Louth would be amalgamated into one Garda division with the chief superintendent based in Drogheda. It is a long way from Drogheda to Blacklion or Dowra in west Cavan Literally, it is a journey from the east coast to the west coast. I would l…

As a public representative during very bad years in this country, during the era known as the Troubles, I was very conscious of the great work of the emergency services in the Border region, including An Garda Síochána, during the most difficult of times. The Minister referred earlier to the threat from some dissidents and that is still around. There are unique policing demands in a border region. We have a long land border with Northern Ireland. The model proposed by the Commissioner will have Donegal, Sligo and L…

The Minister mentioned additional civilian staff, which we appreciate. My understanding is that some of the operating chief superintendents and the superintendents who were actually out there in uniform meeting the people, will be going to back-office jobs, when I think we need more engagement. Over the years, in the two counties that I have had the privilege of representing, I always saw that the best policing model was when the public at large knew who the chief superintendent, the superintendent, the inspectors …

Despite increases in Government funding over the past few years for the non-national road network, county councillors will be unable to carry out annual programmes as comprehensive as they had planned. This is due to the enormous increase in the costs of road maintenance and road construction products over the past 18 months. In any mid-year review of the capital programme, the Government must prioritise this roads programme for much-needed additional funding. Some 95.7% of the entire road network in my own county …

Next Wednesday marks the 49th anniversary of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings when 33 innocent people were murdered and hundreds badly injured. That day, 17 May 1974, was the darkest day of all during the era known as the Troubles when unfortunately, there were many bad days on this island with so much loss of life and suffering. Very regrettably nobody has been brought to justice for those heinous crimes. In 2008, 2011 and 2016 this House unanimously passed motions calling on the British Government to give an inde…

There has been a welcome and much-needed increase in Government funding for the non-national road network in the last few years. Unfortunately, those increases have been more than offset due to the substantial increase in the costs of road construction and maintenance since 2021. The costs of bituminous overlay pavement products, concrete and aggregates, the main products used in roadworks, have risen dramatically. I would like assurance that in the mid-year review of the 2023 capital programme, priority will be gi…