Powering Prosperity is a fantastic policy document and I commended the Minister on it when he was before the Oireachtas committee last week, as well as the people who put it together. However, it is going to be diluted unless the port infrastructure is expanded. Without having a place to do a thing, you cannot do the thing. We cannot assemble the turbines, maintain them or service them if we do not have a place to assemble them in the first place. I understand that Cork is the only place where there is planning per…

I thank the Minister of State for that positive response and encourage him to continue in that vein. Is he aware of the potential for the shared island fund to be used in conjunction with Cork and Belfast to maximise the development of infrastructure? Will he commit to going to the Department of the Taoiseach to support that initiative in order to maximise Powering Prosperity? This is what we want. We want the jobs and the technology to be here in Ireland, not elsewhere. We need the infrastructure on-site and on la…

The Minister and I have had a number of discussions about Fermoy Educate Together National School. I visited the place and am sorry to bring it up again, but I am very concerned about the cramped conditions in the school. I am asking the Minister what progress has been made since I brought it up last. Have the officials in the Department examined this matter? Have they looked at possible solutions? I suggested one or two when I spoke with the Minister the last time I raised this.

I thank the Minister for her response and her interest in this matter. Does she agree that things have moved on in the interim? Does she also agree that because of the popularity of the school, the professionalism of the teachers and the desire of more and more parents to send their children there, numbers are growing and that there is a need to look again at the agreement that was arrived at? This was the first school I taught in 46 years ago, if the Minister can believe it. That is a long time. I know the place w…

I appreciate that and agree with the Minister there was an agreement, but I also believe, and she might also, that things have moved on now and parental choice is coming in here in a big way. There is a big demand in the area for this particular school as it is a very successful and popular school. I again put it to the Minister that there is an interim solution available. The Department of Education, I understand, owns the property and the Minister said it is until something else comes along or is made available. …

Of course.

Does the Tánaiste agree with me that many farmers are facing fodder shortages in the coming winter? Does he further agree with me that there is now a need to introduce a fodder production incentive scheme to encourage and support farmers to sow forage crops on their land, as happened in 2018?

I thank the Minister of State for being here this morning. It is great to see a Minister from the Department here. I congratulate him on his promotion and wish him the very best in the weeks, months and hopefully years ahead. This is an issue I have been raising for quite some time. I am lucky enough to represent a constituency that is growing rapidly. A lot of houses are being built there, thousands in Midleton. We are concerned about the N25 road between Midleton and Carrigtohill which the council and TII had hug…

I thank the Minister of State. There is a lot of good news there, which is very welcome. The big issue here is Castlemartyr, which lies between Midleton and Youghal. The Minister of State might be aware of this very picturesque village and of Castlemartyr Resort, which is very popular. Castlemartyr is a major pinch point. During morning and evening rush hour, there are kilometres of traffic jams on both sides. The same thing happens in the summer when people go to the beaches in the area. It is extraordinarily frus…

The proposed route will go through it and buses will be stuck in traffic.

I ask the Minister what progress has been made with respect to flood defences in east Cork. It is almost nine months now since we saw the utterly devastating impact Storm Babet had on Midleton and the surrounding area. People and businesses are still reeling after it. The Minister of State visited east Cork recently. I thank him for that and for the personal interest he has shown, but what the people I represent want to know now is what is next. When will we see the planning permission lodged and when will we see p…

I thank the Minister of State for his commitment to this and for visiting the area on more than one occasion and for spending quite a bit of time there. I am sure he will join me in my frustration at the lack of progress. It is not his fault at all. With respect to Mogeely, the council is going to appoint a number of consulting engineers in the coming weeks. It has been almost nine months since we had the flood. Will the Minister of State be a bit more specific as to when this is going to happen? Are we talking abo…

I thank the Minister of State for his personal commitment to this. If the tide was in and if it had happened at night, we would have been hauling coffins down the road a few days later. People would have drowned in Midleton because it was that serious, it happened that fast and the water was that deep. It made headlines all over the world because it was so devastating. The Minister of State told me that consultants were appointed to start on planning and design in 2017. He has now told me that a planning applicatio…

That is nine years later. Why does it take so long to deal with so important and devastating an issue in this country? It will have taken nine years for people to get their act together and put a plan in place. The planning application has to be lodged but we do not know how long it will take for a decision on that application to be finalised. There may also be objections. The Government really needs to get its act together on this because we are talking about life and death. Devastation occurred, homes were destro…

I want to give the Minister of State an opportunity to update the House on the status of the restoration of Barryscourt Castle in Carrigtwohill, one of the finest examples of a castle in the country. Much good work has been done there. The Minister of State has been there recently, visiting the castle. He has seen for himself what went on. I believe he climbed up onto the ramparts as well. Will he update me on what is happening and when it might reopen?

I join the Minister of State in acknowledging the fantastic abilities and hard work of the OPW staff and the skill levels they have put in here. It is an amazing project and it will be of huge benefit to the local area. Will the Minister of State outline his vision for the castle in the context of the greater east Cork area and nationally given its importance, the plans for the curtilage of the castle, the land around it and the other buildings there, and how it can be used in the whole tourism and archaeology offe…

I thank the Minister of State for his response. It is one of the finest castles and tower houses of its type in the country. It is also part of a wider plan for Carrigtwohill and east Cork, the Carrigtwohill 2040 project, and that will require further resources later on with respect to the purchase of land, possibly locally, for the parking of buses and that kind of thing. Is the Minister of State aware of this vision, plan and proposal? Is he prepared to support it in the medium and long term?

Will the Minister for Finance give an update on the vacant homes tax, VHT, including how many houses have been included, how much money has been collected and what are the projections for the future?

I thank the Minister for his response and congratulate him on his appointment, as I did not do so when I stood up earlier. Do the Minister or the Revenue Commissioners have an estimate of how many vacant properties might be liable for VHT? Does the Minister agree that the number he quoted of 6,400 and the actual number that paid the tax is very low? Do the Department or the Revenue Commissioners have any link with the vacancy survey project, which is supported by the Department of housing and carried out by the loc…

Does the Minister agree that because the tax is self-assessed, many people might not know about it? What imperatives are on people to report they have a vacant property that might be liable for this tax? If people just sit there and do not do anything and even want to sell their properties later, because it is not on any register there will not be any clawback at that time as there would be with other taxes. Does the Minister agree that a lot of tightening up needs to be done to make this tax the incentive it shoul…