I thank Deputy Murphy for her Topical Issue matter. The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, has asked me to take it as she could not be here herself and I am glad to do so. The matter Deputy Murphy has submitted refers in particular to addressing the three-year wait time for disability dental services across County Wexford. She has raised specific cases in her contribution. I will relay those directly to the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, as well as the experience Deputy Murphy has had. I will update the Deput…

I will relay to the Minister of State, who is working to address this and make genuine progress, the Deputy's representations and the points she has made. Nationally, the public dental health service staff of the HSE comprise 260 dentists, 60 dental hygienists and 510 dental nurses and dental surgery assistants. Over the course of the pandemic, the number of available staff has reduced by 23% on an annualised basis due to staff redeployment for Covid-19-related work such as testing and tracing and vaccination, and …

I thank the Deputy for raising the matter. It is something on which he has done significant work in the past. The Minister for Education raised the issue with me as well. I know the Deputy has been engaged with this issue and has tried to progress it so it is good to be able to update him today. I will take him up on his offer of a visit. I hope to be in Kerry in September and will certainly visit it with the Deputy then. To clarify matters for the Deputy, my Department owns, operates and maintains six designated S…

I look forward to coming down to Kerry in September with the Deputy and the Minister for Education and in the meantime working with the Deputy regarding how we can move things forward and work together on this. There has been significant investment across the county over the past ten years. I know the Deputy very much values the impact of that assessment and how it makes a significant difference. In particular, funding from the Department working with the local authorities makes a massive difference throughout a co…

I thank Deputies Michael McNamara and Carol Nolan for tabling the Topical Issue. Certainly, this has exercised minds in the farming community across the country over the last number of months. I have been looking at it and trying to address it. It is good to have the opportunity today to update the House on the current position. I acknowledge and thank the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food, and the Marine for its recommendations and observations on the EU Regulation 2019/6 on veterinary medicines which has, undo…

Such decoupling is not solely for the purposes of economically assisting one sector of an industry over another.

I thank Deputy McNamara. I will complete the points I was making. The Department's view was that there was an absence of a sound veterinary medicine evidential basis for a partial or full decoupling. As a result, decoupling does not currently appear to be a viable option. The Department shared the outcome of these advices with the members of the antiparasitic resistance stakeholders group. In response to concerns raised about prescribing particular branded veterinary medicines, I intend to permit substitute medicin…

I thank Deputy Cahill for bringing forward the Veterinary Practice (Amendment) Bill 2021. I recognise the tremendous commitment he has made and his investigation into, and assessment of, this issue as a member of the previous agricultural committee. I also recognise the work he has done in drafting this Bill and bringing it forward on Second Stage so that it can proceed to Committee Stage. I thank everyone who has made a contribution on the Bill. As the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, outlined earlier, the rela…

We, as a nation, have endured many challenges over the past year and a half, from the disruption stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic to the upheaval caused by Brexit. Ireland's seafood sector has been among the most seriously impacted during this period. My objective is to work with the industry to grow the sector and the coastal community supported by it in the years ahead. My Department's action plan for 2021 sets out the priority actions to be implemented this year to drive the development of a sustainable compe…

I thank the Deputies for their contributions. We have had a very constructive and useful debate. I am very glad we have had three hours to discuss marine issues. As Deputies will be aware, it has been my hallmark as Minister to engage in every way I can with fishers. I have held virtual town hall meetings with people from coastal communities throughout the country in the absence of being able to meet people during the pandemic. I intend to visit our piers and harbours over the summer when hopefully it will be possi…

I welcome this opportunity to speak to the House regarding the ongoing CAP negotiations. Since 1962, the CAP has undergone several evolutions and, indeed, sometimes revolutionary changes concerning its scope and objectives. This long-standing policy began with the aim of supporting food production in Europe and I believe that aim is still every bit as valid today. The CAP has evolved since being formed and now plays a much wider role. Production supports have been replaced by decoupled payments and the introduction…

I thank the Deputy. I am glad he thinks the cap should be €60,000 because he has followed the position of Fianna Fáil in that regard.

Prior to that, the Deputy's position was that the cap should be €80,000.

I set out that the cap should be €60,000 and the Deputy toddled along afterwards.

The Deputy has the audacity to stand here and try and sell that as being his own policy. In the same way, he is also trying to take some ownership of the ombudsman's office for which he had previously suggested no allocation or support.

At European level, I have been pushing at all Council meetings to try to keep the maximum limit that can go to one farmer as limited and small as possible.

My objective was to achieve a cap of €60,000. I have been pushing for that at EU Council level. I have pushed for it the most of all the representatives of EU member states. It remains to be seen what will be the final level.

I will make the following point. The Deputy's policy was for an €80,000 cap until I set a policy of a €60,000 cap. He followed on in that regard so he should not be coming in here today and trying to sell himself as the author of that policy.

My position is that we should be able to have a national debate and discussion on this matter.

We have not.