Cuirim ceist ar an Tánaiste faoi Ospidéal Beaumont. Despite the very best efforts of nurses and doctors in the emergency department it is often severely overcrowded. For over a decade, the Tánaiste's Government has been promising a new emergency department at Beaumont Hospital. What is causing the delay to this much-needed new emergency department? When is it actually going to be delivered?

Answer the question.

Ba mhaith liom ceist a chur ar an Aire faoi thionscadal tógála poiblí. When multiple parties contribute to a project but only one still exists years later and when something goes wrong, that party can be held liable for 100% of the cost even if it is only 1% responsible. Developers nearly always use special purpose vehicles and then wind them up, which means they are let off the hook, meaning architects and engineers are sometimes left to pick up the bill that could put them out of business. Has the Minister looked…

I know this issue has been looked at and some work has been done on it, but it has not been addressed to the degree that is necessary for architects, engineers and small firms. They are still being caught by this. They are still not able to go in for projects, cannot get insurance and insurance costs are prohibitive. I recently met with representatives of the Association of Consulting Engineers of Ireland who told me how this is driving up costs and driving small firms away from public projects. As the Minister kno…

I think, based on the Minister's comment, that he accepts there is a problem here and I ask him to look into it further. The engineers are not raising this for no reason; it is because they are experiencing a very real problem. There is a solution to this which is to insert net contribution clauses into public contracts. That would not increase risk for the State and would simply prevent smaller contributors from being forced to absorb the full cost of defects caused by others. It would not remove any liability but…

Is there an update on the provision of a much-needed new Garda station at Northern Cross in Dublin?

It is welcome that we are making some progress in that there is a commitment that construction will start in 2028. Is the Minister of State confident that timeline will be adhered to? If construction begins in 2028, what is the timeline for finishing? I am concerned that we are still talking about identifying a suitable site for this new Garda station when it was announced not by the last Government, but by the Government before it in 2019, and when a site had been identified for it at that time. I do not really un…

I welcome his work on this, his commitment to it and his interest in it. That is very welcome. It is also welcome that genuine attempts to move this on are now being made. The Minister of State is right that this is a growing community with a huge population. That community was bitterly disappointed that this was announced in 2019 and that nothing then happened for seven years. The fact that we have the date of 2028 is positive, as is the fact that the Minister of State is engaging with the Department of justice on…

On the Critical Infrastructure Bill, it is good that there is a focus on trying to speed up these processes. We have heard from the Minister with responsibility for the OPW that it takes about ten years to deliver a Garda station. That is just one of many examples of how slow these processes are. It is not just about legislation, though. The Bill would give the Minister significant powers in terms of designation. What safeguards, oversight mechanisms or process would be in place to ensure that those significant pow…

I accept there is no mystery about these projects. They are all good projects. I cannot see why anyone would want to bring a motion to the Dáil to annul prioritisation of any of the projects under consideration. That is not really the issue. The issue is the bit of mystery about how the prioritisation will be carried out. What will and will not be prioritised? How will that be decided? That is the bit the Minister and the Cabinet will have information on but the Dáil, Oireachtas and public will not. That is the mis…

The point I always make about legislation is that it has to be drafted not just for this Government but the governments that come after. It has to be drafted for Ministers who will take these responsibilities in the absolute public interest but also for Ministers who may not do that. My concern is having that concentration of power without information around the process. If we have information as to how the decisions will be made on each project, at least we will be able to understand the rationale as to why a cert…

I thank my colleague, Deputy Gary Gannon, for bringing forward this motion and, indeed, everyone who has contributed to the debate. The price increase for every day basics are relentless. Rents, food, heating, electricity, petrol and diesel are all through the roof. People's wallets do not stretch indefinitely when their wages stay the same. We are reaching a breaking point. People contact me every day who are unable to cope. Could the Government not see that the country was already in crisis before the tractors ha…

The country was brought to the brink last week and it is extraordinary that the Taoiseach will not answer questions today after the Dáil being in recess for three weeks. Why will the Taoiseach not take questions from TDs and party leaders in the Dáil today? Why does he think that is a good precedent to set? Has he learned nothing from the past week and from the mishandling of it in terms of the need for accountability and listening to people?

Gach lá, gach seachtain, feicfimid Rialtas atá caillte agus nach bhfuil cúram air do ghnáthdhaoine. This is a Government that does not listen. It does not listen to the people or the Opposition. It also does not listen to its own backbenchers. Having ignored all the warnings, the Government stumbled into a full-blown crisis last week. When calm leadership was required, we got chaos. Instead of pursuing a strategy of de-escalation, Ministers decided to fan the flames. GI Jim O'Callaghan arrived on the scene thinking…

I want to start by saying to the Tánaiste that the Government has lost a Minister of State who said clearly that the leadership of the Government was not listening. When I was talking to the Tánaiste and the Taoiseach earlier during the confidence motion and reading out the experience of the cost-of-living crisis of a nurse who had worked for years for the HSE in this country, he and the Taoiseach were having a grand old chat rather than-----

Well, it is true. A couple of people have been in contact with me and I want the Tánaiste to listen when I outline their experiences. A constituent who contacted me this morning said: Now what about the rest of the people Pensioners like myself Every time l go into the supermarket items are going up. I can't afford to buy meat anymore. Maybe you could ask Michael Martin to walk around the supermarket with me to see the price of food. This is her experience. For the first time in her life she is not able to buy the …

She is a pensioner.

I did not say it would not help anyone.

I want to respond to a couple of points made by Deputy Fleming. Alarm bells ring for me when the explanation for why we cannot do pre-legislative scrutiny is because we cannot do it efficiently and it might take us six months, when we are talking about a Bill that aims to make processes efficient. I did pre-legislative scrutiny in the previous Dáil when it needed to be done quickly on the housing committee and it was done in a matter of a couple of weeks. We were able to do it quickly and efficiently. The Governmen…

I welcome the northside home care workers in the Public Gallery today. They do incredible work in the local community looking after sick and elderly people and they must be paid a decent and fair wage. Parents and carers from Before We Die visited the Dáil recently to highlight the housing needs of adults with intellectual disabilities. The name of their campaign group sums up the grim reality of what they are fighting for. They are loving parents who want to be sure their daughters and son will be cared for after …