I thank the Deputy.

That concludes questions to the Minister for Transport. I apologise to those Deputies who have been waiting but we are over time.

Deputy-----

Thank you, Deputy. We are on Priority Questions here-----

Deputy, please take your seat.

Deputy, could you resume your seat pleas? Your 30 seconds are up. Let me clarify something here. I was actually due to hand over the Chair but was just starting on questions. Unless something has changed, unknown to me, we are taking questions nominated for priority and the first is Question No. 106. Are you dealing with that, Minister?

I wish to advise the House of the following matters in respect of which notice has been given under Standing Order 37 and the name of the Member in each case: Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh - To discuss the need for immediate action to end uninterrupted and open drug dealing in the south inner city. Deputy David Stanton - To discuss the urgent need to improve children's disability services in the Cork area. Deputy Jennifer Murnane O'Connor - To discuss the changes to benefit-in-kind regarding company cars introduced in J…

I call Deputy McDonald, who has up to one minute.

Unfortunately, we have run out of time. I know Deputies are disappointed, but I have to move on.

I am afraid it does not work like that, but I will revert to the Ceann Comhairle on it. It is unfortunate that they were not reached today. We do our best, but we are very late today and there is little scope for discretion.

Anybody can make a mistake. I have certainly made mistakes. It is about how one handles those mistakes. If we are looking for perfection in politicians, we are not going to get anyone to put themselves forward. However, how we deal with mistakes when they are made and the consequences of those mistakes are what is important so that trust is restored. I say that conscious of tribunals in the past that have cost the taxpayer an absolute fortune. The most recent estimate for the costs of the Flood and Mahon tribunals …

I thank Sinn Féin and I support the motion. However, having been elected in 2016, I really wish I was here with a motion from the Government and an update on Sláintecare and the primary care strategy in order that we could all participate. We have been through this song and dance, have we not, at every single election? Public health, housing and transport, dealing with climate change and our wanting to pay taxes is the message. Thus, we came together and a cross-party report was produced, Sláintecare, showing the w…

Yes.

A Thaoisigh, comhghairdeas. Guím gach rath ort i do ról nua.

Baineann mo cheist arís eile leis an bpolasaí atá beartaithe do na hoileáin ar fud ár gcósta. Cá bhfuil an polasaí sin? Cá bhfuil an plean gníomhaíochta? I, along with my colleagues, will follow this up. Where is the policy for the islands? It has been promised over and over. It was to be published by the end of summer and then by the end of this year. Where is it?

I do not doubt the commitment of the Minister. I do not doubt that she is working very hard to see a policy produced but we have heard this for a very long time. In 2019 I tabled a motion in the Dáil. By comparison, in Scotland we see the population of the islands rising. We see a policy underpinned by legislation and proper resourcing. Here we have promises. I know the Minister has inherited this but we have promises. In the meantime, 70% of the population of the Gaeltacht islands is made up of Irish speakers. The…

I thank the Minister. Without a doubt there is positivity on the islands. What is lacking is positivity on the part of the Government-----

-----notwithstanding the Minister's commitment. What I hear is the Minister telling me she will have the draft plan. The draft plan was there in October. It remains a draft almost three months later. I presume the Minister has not seen it yet and it has not landed on her desk. She is giving a commitment that it will be published. I would like this clarified. When will the action plan be published? There has never been a policy for the islands. There have been interdepartmental committees and any amount of reports. …

I have a question later on this and I am coming in now in case it is not reached. I am not sure why the question was not grouped but that is the privilege of the Department. I hear the Minister telling me that she listened to the islanders. When I visited a packed AV room meeting, they told me that for 38 years the islands have been fighting to be recognised as a subregional area and socioeconomic development specific to the offshore islands, and so on. They tell us there is no basis in EU rules or regulations for …

I am glad I have the opportunity to ask this question. I did not think I would, given the time restrictions. I will go back to the funding for the islands and recognising the islands as one subregional area. The Minister said she has had interaction with the islands and has brought changes but the islands have asked for that recognition. When the Minister brought in those changes, which I resume are positive, what interaction did she have with the island representatives? She should bear in mind that we had a packed…