The Minister spoke earlier about the ongoing work to build stronger and safer communities and his plans to recruit extra gardaí and increase the number of gardaí, which are very welcome. The visible presence of gardaí in uniform on our streets is very important for our communities. Many men and women would like to serve in the Garda Reserve. Can the Minister tell me when recruitment will begin with respect to the Garda Reserve?

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for his kind remarks and selecting this topic and I thank the Minister for being here to discuss it with me. The Minister is very familiar with the area I am talking about in Cobh and Carrigtwohill. There are two fine secondary schools in Cobh but there are six primary schools, one of which has 120 students in sixth class alone. Over the years, there have been issues with capacity in Cobh, which is something the Minister might ask her officials to look at again with respect to the need t…

I thank the Minister for her response. I ask her to ask the Department to sanction a service from Cobh to Carrigtohill for the next school year in order to facilitate the young people involved. The parents have already done what the Minister has suggested; they have applied, but they have been told there is no bus service. We have many girls who are now discommoded. The cost is horrendous. I contend that they cannot realistically apply to the nearest school now, because some of them are in third, fourth or fifth ye…

Does the Minister agree the Unified Patent Court is extremely important? Can he outline what work his Department has done, particularly with respect to the arranging of the referendum to be held in order to enable the State to ratify the court? Is his Department responsible for putting the legislation together to enable us to have a referendum? How far advanced is that preparation?

I agree this is very important. Does the Minister agree with the assertion made by some business organisations that this could be worth between €500 million and €1.5 billion per annum to the State? Can he tell me why there does not seem to be any urgency in holding a referendum or getting ready for a referendum, seeing as we will probably be holding referendums in November anyway? Is his Department responsible for drafting legislation or can he tell me which Department is responsible for drafting the legislation to…

I asked which Department is responsible for bringing forward the legislation to enable us to have a referendum on this matter and how advanced that work is at this point in time.

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle's office for selecting this matter for debate and the Minister of State for being here. Unfortunately, this is the second time that the Minister for Transport cannot be here with us but that is another story. I recently purchased an electric vehicle, EV, and they are a great job, really fantastic, charging at night and so on. However, the charging network nationally leaves a lot to be desired. I know a lot of work has been done. I have read the implementation plan and the strategy …

I thank the Minister of State for his response and I agree with most of what he says here. The issue with respect to home charging is important. You can charge at a cheaper rate overnight and so forth, which is good. That needs to be expanded as well, by the way. The big issue I and some of my colleagues have encountered, however, is the dearth of charging facilities on the motorways and, in fact, in rural areas. The apps are quite complicated. Quite often, the chargers do not work properly, and there is a queue as…

I thank the Office of the Ceann Comhairle and the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for selecting this matter and I thank the Minister of State for being here. I have raised this matter on a few occasions already as a Topical Issue, at committee meetings and in four parliamentary questions. The matter is fairly straightforward. We are dealing with a couple of young adults who have intellectual disabilities. One set of parents in particular has been in contact. Their girl has Down's syndrome. She is gorgeous, lovely and fun-lov…

I thank the Minister of State for her response. I acknowledge the good work being done and the efforts being made by all the agencies across the board. However, what can I say to Orla and her parents for next September? Orla is a young woman with Down's syndrome. She needs to have support to get from A to B. Even though she would like to change buses, she is very vulnerable; she is very trusting. I am sure the Minister of State realises what I am talking about here. Her parents want the best for her. They brought h…

What are the Tánaiste's views on the situation in Sri Lanka? It is an awfully long way away, but there has been an economic collapse there. Things are pretty serious and sometimes what happens in countries like that can have an impact here, eventually.

I thank the Tánaiste for his response. I am sure he is aware of the humanitarian crisis that has developed in the country. There is a shortage of fuel and food. The 21 million people there are under intense pressure. There are long queues for fuel. Basics like milk, baby powder and so on are not available on the streets. Serious riots occurred in autumn. Are many Irish citizens based in Sri Lanka at the moment?

I again thank the Tánaiste. One of the issues that is developing there is that people are desperate to leave and they are selling what they have, including property and whatever else. They are mortgaging houses to get out and try to get to Europe and the traffickers are taking advantage of that. Would the Tánaiste bring that to the table in the EU so that it is aware of that and of the pressures people are under and to see what more can be done to assist the people there to get out of this shocking crisis they are …

I ask the Tánaiste about his most recent engagement with Dóchas, which is made up of 58 organisations working in 104 countries and aims to reach the furthest behind.

I thank the Minister of State for his response. Will he comment on the concerns Dóchas and its membership have with respect to what they see as the reversal of the progress that had been made on the sustainable development goals since 2019? Can the Minister of State also give some indication as to Ireland's funding in this area with respect to reaching the furthest behind and funding for the Dóchas organisations? Are there plans to increase the same in line with the aim we had to reach the 0.7% target? Will the Min…

I thank the Minister of State for his response and join with him in congratulating Dóchas and the organisations for the fantastic work they do. As the Minister has pointed out, quite often they put their own lives at risk as we have seen with the GOAL workers. I ask the Minister to comment on the situation regarding front-line defenders, who are also a matter of concern to the Dóchas organisations. The fact is that so many of them are suffering around the world and have been killed, imprisoned or tortured and so on…

Probably the biggest and longest awaited project in north Cork is the Mallow relief road. The then Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Donohoe, gave the go-ahead eight years ago. A total of €1.2 million has been expended and a huge amount of work has been carried out. The next step was to go to An Bord Pleanála, which required €1.4 million this year and that was expected. At the last minute, that funding was pulled. There is consternation, upset, anger and puzzlement in Mallow. Will the Taoiseach find…

I would again join with colleagues here in welcoming this scheme and the work that is occurring under the various schemes. It is fantastic to see a rejuvenation going on. I remind the Minister that Cork county is maybe seven times the size of some other counties-----

-----and when she is allocating funding to bear that in mind. We find sometimes we get the same allocation as very small counties indeed and that maybe is not fair. With respect to acquiring buildings, is it possible to acquire land adjacent to buildings which would assist in rejuvenating the buildings and bringing them back to life? For instance, sometimes access to the upstairs of a building can be a problem and land close by can lead to other floors of buildings being used. Off-line, I can tell the Minister abou…

I thank the Minister for all the work she is doing in this area. Are these schemes community-led in the main? Do they come from the ground up rather than being imposed by local authorities? I ask because sometimes, schemes open and close quite quickly and people do not have time to make the application. There is a very short window in which one can make an application. Will the Minister keep in mind the giving of time to people and community groups? Will she make sure they are advertised pretty well in order that p…