I thank the Minister for his response. I am happy that he is a supporter of this scheme, whereby farmers are encouraged and supported to install solar PV on their farmers. Will he clarify the situation regarding payment for farmers who used the money from TAMS to install solar PV? Are they entitled to receive payment for any electricity that they put out onto the grid? What is the rate? If they are not entitled to such payment, why not?

Does the Minister agree that this is counterproductive and does not encourage farmers to put solar PV in place on their farms? Would it not be much better if they could get some payment for the electricity they free into the grid? Under the EU renewable energy directive II, consumers have the right to receive remuneration. Will the Minister let me know where exactly the rules say this cannot be done? Will he make some effort to get them changed, especially now when we need as many people as possible to generate ele…

Change the rules.

I wrote to the Minister last January and again last March on the need to upgrade the N25 between Carrigtwohill and Midleton. I have yet to receive either an acknowledgement or a reply, about which I am disappointed. In the meantime Transport Infrastructure Ireland has objected to a housing development outside Midleton because the road infrastructure is not adequate. It seems to be a chicken-and-egg situation because the road is very dangerous and there is also a large IDA Ireland site that is landlocked because of …

With respect to third country nationals coming into Ireland, and God knows we have a lot of people coming in at present through no fault of their own and not as their first choice, there seems to be a problem with respect to people registering here as pharmacists. We passed the Pharmacy Act 2007 which put in place a third country route of registration. There seems to be an ongoing problem with the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland which is charged with implementing this. It has been going on for quite a number of y…

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this matter and allowing me to speak to it. The ice in the Antarctic and in Greenland is melting at an alarming rate, as was stated in a joint report published in Ireland last year by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Marine Institute. That report, in a finding similar to that of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, found that sea levels are, as a result, rising at a startling rate. It is really frightening. John Englander, a climatologist and oceanograp…

I thank the Minister of State for her response. She referenced "flood risk" more than once in her reply. A sea level rise does not recede. When it rises, it stays up. There is a difference between it and flood risk - floods which come and go. When the sea level rises, it stays up and does not recede. This is what we have to look at. I invite the Minister of State to check out Climate Central. It has an interactive map that allows a person to enter in how much the sea level will rise and to see the impact it will ha…

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Josepha Madigan, for attending to take this matter. I am back again, as this is my third or fourth time dealing with the issue. The pressure on schools in east Cork again this year is very high. There are long waiting lists in all of the schools and this has been the case for many years, for many reasons. It has led to a situation where parents are compelled to apply to more than one school. In east Cork, Carrigtwohill and Midleton are 3 km or 4 km apart and there are four seco…

No.

I thank the Minister of State for her response. This review started in October 2019. I know we had a pandemic but it is still ongoing. I understand it is only this year that public representations are being sought. I am disappointed that the Department has no plans to make the change. I would like to know why not. Would it cause some major rupture to policy all over the place? Why is this not happening? Does the Minister not have the authority to do this? The distance between the two centres is just over 7 km. I ch…

Change the plans.

We need one.

I have been interested in LTIs for some time. They could be said to be the Cinderella of the training structure. I am interested in hearing what the Minister has to say about the plans to expand the number of people taking part in these training initiatives and about the number who took part in them in the past year.

Will the Minister agree with me that the staff who work in these LTIs are important? Could he tell me what plans there are to help those staff in their professional development and to put in place an appropriate future staffing framework, as has been mentioned in the national further education and training strategy, Future FET, that was launched two years ago? Is the Minister concerned that LTIs are not mentioned in the national further education and training strategy at all? Will he tell me what can be done to ens…

I thank the Minister for the final commitment that he will look at the professional development of staff and the appropriate future staffing framework, which is mentioned in the national education and training strategy. In this particular instance, however, it seems to be missing; it is not there. I would be very grateful if the Minister could come back to me with concrete plans on this. I put it to the Minister that whatever about SOLAS and the ETBs, it is very important that at a national level, from his Departme…

Will the Minister of State pass on to his team in the Department how grateful people are for how they were treated so professionally, respectfully and helpfully? On the question regarding the appeals, as my colleagues have said there are people who have invalid applications and so on. Can those clubs and organisations that did not get their full ask appeal as well? In some instances, the categories are such that it is not possible for the clubs to tick the box and gain that set of points. Will the Minister of State…

The Minister of State did not get an opportunity to answer the question I asked earlier. If clubs want an increase in what they received, is that possible through the appeals process? If a club in that category submits an appeal, can I take it that there is no danger of it having a reduction in the amount it recently received? I join my colleague, Deputy Ó Cathasaigh, who spoke about energy, green energy, insulation and different ways of producing energy, etc., for clubs. Many clubs are really interested in that an…

This morning, we have seen attacks by land, sea and air on the people of Ukraine. It is unbelievably awful. However, there is another arena of attack, which is cyberspace. Given that we experienced such an attack on our health service in May 2021, what has been done to date to strengthen our defences in this area? That attack cost tens of millions and showed we are vulnerable to this very new area of attack.

I thank the Minister for his response, the work being done in this area and his acknowledgement of how critical it is. He talked about State and Government bodies being protected. What are his views on the security of mobile telephone platforms? How sure is he, for instance, that his own mobile telephone has not been hacked when he has visited other jurisdictions, or even here in Ireland? I was recently told that a number of people in this jurisdiction have had their telephones hacked in a way that meant they were …

The Minister has acknowledged that this issue is extremely serious. Has any communication been entered into with the mobile telephone operators in this regard? They control these platforms and are mainly based outside the jurisdiction. Has any contact been made with the very large IT companies that operate here? Their expertise might be availed of on this issue. It is an extremely serious matter. The mobile telephone can be a window and avenue into gathering other information, including very sensitive information, …