I thank the Minister of State for her reply. I welcome the fact that she says there is an active recruitment campaign. We often hear about posts being advertised and interviews taking place, but the filling of the post is critical. That is where a timeline is required. I realise that sometimes the HSE cannot appoint consultants as quickly as they are needed, but I appeal to the Minister of State to ask the Minister to insist to the HSE and CHI that this matter be prioritised. We all understand the restrictions due …

I compliment the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, on some of the measures introduced in this important Bill. As we all know, it gives effect to the social protection measures announced in budget 2021. As Deputy O'Dea said, it is the largest budget in the history of the Department and the country. Unfortunately, a substantial amount of the expenditure is caused by the pandemic. I took the opportunity previously in the Chamber to compliment the officials at local level on their great response since mid-March to ensure nob…

My question relates to Coláiste Dún an Rí in Kingscourt, County Cavan. The school opened in August 2016 and has already exceeded its capacity. The projected attendance at the school was 450 but, after five years, the current enrolment is 530. The indications are that the enrolment numbers will continue to grow. It is a highly regarded school that has been very successful. Cavan and Monaghan ETB, the school, the board of management and the wider school community are very anxious that the application for additional p…

I was closely involved with former Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, a predecessor of the Minister's, in getting the school approved for Kingscourt. There was much cynicism that there was no need for a school in the area. The projection at the time by the Department and the vocational education committee was that an enrolment of 450 would be adequate capacity. Thankfully, the current enrolment is 530 and the projected enrolment for 2024 is 815. Thankfully, there is substantial employment in the area. There has been significant…

I thank the Minister. At the request of Councillor Clifford Kelly, the chairman of the board of management of Coláiste Dún an Rí, I met the parents association and some of the school staff. The pride they take in their school was clear, as were the precautions they put in place. Every safety guideline they have been given by public health and the Department regarding the provision of education at the present time has been implemented very strictly. Councillor Kelly has been a powerful advocate for the school for ma…

It is clear that the guidelines and income limits we have at the moment are totally outdated. I was promised that a review would be completed and carried out and that income limits would be improved. This was back when the Ministers with responsibility for housing were Deputy Coveney and, subsequently, Deputy Eoghan Murphy and the relevant Minister of State was Deputy English. I have cited cases in the House previously involving a one-parent family with the mother working in a part-time low-paid job and getting the…

I welcome the remarks of the Minister of State. In his initial response he spoke about sustainable communities. Thankfully, over many decades we had local authority policies that worked well with local authority housing and a mix of households. We will not have sustainable communities if we do not improve the income limits. We will only have people who are on low incomes, especially those dependent solely on the State for income if we do not improve the income limits. The counties I represent, Cavan and Monaghan, a…

Like Deputy Ó Cuív, I thank the Minister for his reply. A greater emphasis needs to put on retention. We talk about recruitment and retention, but my understanding is, and I am more familiar with the Army than with the other two branches, namely, the Naval Service and the Air Corps, that after five years, many good, young people with great skills and expertise leave. I understand that in the past there existed a pre-discharge leave of 90 days whereby a person who decided to leave after five years had the option of …

As the Minister is aware, there has been a diminished Defence Forces footprint in the Border region and in the northern half of the country, in particular in the past six or seven years. That has been an impediment to retaining personnel who were attached to barracks in Dún Uí Néill or other areas in the northern half of the country. Is the Minister assured that there are adequate personnel in the northern half of the country, given the unique policing and security demands in that area? I welcome the commitment the…

I compliment the Minister, Deputy Coveney, the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, and their officials in the Department on preparing this legislation, and I know other Departments fed into it as well. This is important legislation and is welcome from many points of view. It ensures reciprocal access to health services for residents of Ireland in Britain, as Deputy Colm Burke has outlined in good detail. It ensures the European health insurance card for residents of Northern Ireland should they lose that facility when…

The Taoiseach, in his introductory remarks, referred to the work of Mr. Michel Barnier as the EU's chief negotiator. He outlined that Mr. Barnier had given a detailed report at the Council meeting on the negotiations with the British on the withdrawal agreement and the Ireland–Northern Ireland protocol. I was glad the Taoiseach stated that Mr. Barnier had in his contribution laid particular emphasis on peace in Ireland. He is not a new convert to peace in Ireland. I was a colleague of Mr. Barnier on the Council of …

It is essential that Ireland has the maximum possible enlistment in the Reserve Defence Force. I fully appreciate that recruitment during a pandemic is not straightforward. The Minister has heard me say previously in this House and at committees that the role of the Reserve Defence Force, and prior to that the Forsa Cosanta Áitiúil, FCA, has never been given due recognition. In the area I come from I am very conscious of the good work done by the FCA and the Reserve Defence Force in ensuring an outlet for young peo…

I thank the Minister. It is essential that the recruitment numbers are more substantial than the number of retirements. I understand there has been a substantial number of retirements in recent years. Naturally, this will occur again. I advocated at previous committees that a more aggressive recruitment campaign is needed and perhaps a focus on second-level schools, colleges of further education and third level colleges. I believe that currently there is no engagement between the Permanent Defence Force and the Res…

When the Minister establishes the commission and appoints members, I hope that a person with detailed knowledge and association with the Reserve Defence Force over the years will be considered for membership of the commission. Often the Reserve is not given the attention it needs. I fully agree and fully understand that we must be guided by the health and safety guidelines. That is absolutely essential. If we do not have some level of training, however, there will be a big wastage of skills. It would be very diffic…

It is disheartening to see council housing stock that is vacant, boarded up or both, when many people remain on our local authority housing lists. I compliment the Minister on making two substantial financial allocations to our local authorities for this year's voids programme. Those allocations will make a real difference in the two local authorities in the constituency I represent, namely, Cavan County Council and Monaghan County Council. Bringing houses back to habitable use will make a difference to each estate…

I thank the Minister for his reply. This was the first issue about which I spoke to the Minister when he was appointed. I and Fianna Fáil councillors in Cavan and Monaghan are constantly in touch with the housing divisions in both of our councils. We are working with council officials to ensure that we get maximum turnaround. Each of us in this House and everybody in society wants to see more public housing becoming available. There is a quick turnaround in upgrading voids because, by and large, those houses are in…

I thank the Minister. I work closely with all of the councillors in counties Cavan and Monaghan, my Oireachtas colleagues and the officials in the housing divisions in both councils. I know they value the two allocations that were made in the latter half of this year. They have a substantial programme of work for next year once the funding is made available. It is both good value and is visible to the public at large, because nothing is more frustrating for a tenant in a local authority estate than seeing houses ly…

I wholeheartedly endorse every comment my colleague, Deputy Ó Cuív, has made. I recently wrote to the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, about two cases. I was involved, as a public representative, in getting two pensioners a council house almost 30 years ago. They provided a site. Neither applicant ever had the State spend one bob on the house since it was built by the council nearly 30 years ago. They have the cash to buy the house. It is in the middle of the small bit of land they have, which is a typical small f…

If I may make one point, please. The Minister of State seemed to cast some doubt in suggesting we need to watch out for a person with cash to buy a house. I was talking about the case of honourable persons who, through hard work and support from other individual family members, are in a position to buy out their house. There would be no question mark over the authenticity, provenance or source of the funding that they would use to buy their local authority house.

I welcome that I had an opportunity to discuss some of these issues with the Minister previously and I welcome her statement that she will work in the budgetary context on the key recommendations of the task force and that the entertainment and events sector is represented on that task force. The Minister also said that this was the first sector to close. We know it is facing unprecedented and ongoing challenges and given all the medical evidence those challenges and difficulties will be with us for some time. As s…