I thank the Minister for her response. I particularly thank her for recognising the need of large-scale employers and the workers in those operations. Has a national survey been undertaken with respect to the need for hubs across the country? Are there areas where there are no hubs? Has the Minister consulted with her colleague, the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, with regard to third-level outreach? Does she agree that it is possible for universities and technological u…

I thank the Minister for her approach and I encourage her to keep it up and to, maybe, ensure a whole-of-government approach in this area. A number of Departments can contribute to this. I welcome her remarks with regard to students. Can we go beyond facilitating students to link up to lectures and so forth and allow for research and development to take place? Collaboration, innovation and so forth can occur in such hubs if they are of a scale that can facilitate such movement.

I recognise the work the Minister of State is doing in this area and his personal interest in it. With reference to Question No. 68, will he outline what supports are in place to assist communities that do not currently have a centre to develop one? Will he consider doing a national audit of towns and villages across the country to see where the deficits are and to encourage and support local authorities to put in place measures to ensure, first, that land is made available and that community centres can be constru…

I agree with what the Minister of State said but I encourage him to engage with local authorities in this matter. They need encouragement, support and a policy direction. Does he agree that community centres can provide services, facilities and a place for people, young and old, to go at night and where communities can really develop? We need more of them and, where there is a deficit, that needs to be identified and encouragement provided to local authorities to address it. Such provision should be a condition of …

Will this task force have any role in the security of mobile phones? How certain is the Minister that her phone, my phone and the Cathaoirleach’s phone are not being hacked or tapped at the moment, that someone is not listening into what she is doing and saying about where she is and who she is talking to, or the fact she is sitting beside the Minister of State, Deputy Joe O’Brien, could not easily be identified and so forth? Has she had any discussions, or does she intend to have any discussions, with the Minister…

Is the community services fund open for new applications and, if not, is it intended to be? If so, how many new applications would be accepted?

I thank the Minister of State for being here to discuss this important issue. I also acknowledge her personal interest and involvement in this issue since it arose last summer. Last June, the announcement was made that the Owenacurra Centre would close on 31 October and that in the interim all residents, and their families where appropriate, would be consulted. It was also promised that the will and preference of the residents would be paramount when suggestions were made on possible new placements for residents, o…

I thank the Minister of State for her very positive response, particularly her assurance that residents will not be moved "until appropriate placements have been found for each person based on their individual assessed needs, will and preference." That means that no pressure will be put on people and they will have to agree before they move to location X, Y or Z. That is hugely important and will be of great relief to the residents and their families. I ask the Minister of State to explain what she means by buildin…

We are bringing in a sick pay scheme and it seems many of these workers cannot actually avail of that scheme because they have to sign on, and they do not build up enough time. Will the Minister comment on what are the plans to change that?

I concur with Deputy Griffin's final point. Throughout the country, there are youth organisations that have nowhere to go. Has the Department considered engaging schools that are closed? Some of them, which often have fantastic facilities the State has paid for, lie idle at night and on weekends, when young people could use them. Throughout the country, in towns and villages, they are there. Will the Minister give some thought to that and engage with schools? It would not cost a lot. Minibuses are something youth o…

Last June it was announced that the Owenacurra mental health centre in Midleton was to close on 31 October last. That has not happened. It seems there is no suitable place for the residents to move to. Obviously, this has caused a lot of angst, uncertainty and worry among residents and their families. There also seems to be an issue with the future policy on the mental health residential centres across the country as to whether they are to be kept in existence. I acknowledge the role the Minister of State, Deputy B…

Over the weekend, the Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces said Ireland is in the front line of a cyberwar. Yesterday saw the publication of the electronic communication security measures for consultation by the Government and the Government also endorsed the EU toolbox on 5G cybersecurity, so there are clear issues of security here. Has the Taoiseach confidence in the security of our mobile telephone networks? Has he confidence in his own mobile phone and those of Ministers, decision-makers and other people of int…

We are giving €1.5 million to all the local authorities every year to employ vacant housing officers, most of whom are part-time. In fact the vacant housing position is an add-on and these are not full-time dedicated staff members. Does the Taoiseach think they should be full-time dedicated staff members and what mechanism will the Government put in place to ensure that this happens? Would he also agree that large counties like Cork should have more than one vacant housing officer? Does he agree it is a very import…

Since 2018, €7.75 million has been made available to local authorities to pay for vacant housing officers. Most of these officers have other jobs as well and recently I believe only five were full time. Those officers had other roles too. How can they do the work if they are not doing it full time? When will these officers be full time and why are they not full time already? Cork County Council, for example, should have three full-time officers for each of the divisions in the county to do this work. They should be…

I do not blame the vacant housing officers who are already in position. They are doing their best but they have about ten other jobs and this is probably the lowest one on the list. They should be freed up to do this exclusively because it is a hugely important job and it is a win-win. There are people all over the country now screaming for houses. There are vacant properties that could be turned around very quickly into usage. They do not need planning permissions very often; they just need to be made available. T…

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for accepting this Topical Issue matter this evening and the Minister of State for being here. This is a challenging area, and I congratulate the Minister of State and her team on the work they have been doing since she took up office. I am quite impressed. When children leave special schools, they often go into adult services. The transport arrangements to special schools are good. They have escorts and services and so forth, even though sometimes the special schools are too far away fr…

I thank the Minister of State for her positive response and encourage her to keep working on this. Disability and intellectual disability are a continuum, as the Minister of State well knows. Some children and young people, as the Minister of State suggested, can be trained and taught how to use public transport and navigate the system and so on. There are others on the other end of the spectrum, however, who cannot and will never be able to do that and who will need to be guided and brought from the door of their …

I commend the Minister and the Department on the supports they are providing in this area, but I put it to her that it is quite often the case that when court cases occur, which is often a long time after the events in question, the victims are retraumatised and there is further need at that stage for support and counselling. I ask the Minister to take that request on board and revert to me regarding what can be done in that regard.

A number of these citizenship applications are probably from members of the Defence Forces who are foreign nationals. Would the Minister of State and the Department examine the possibility of reducing the fees in cases like that because these people are serving the State?

We have all heard the toxic discussions and debates with respect to politicians, the hate speech and so on. Councillors are resigning or retiring early, before their time. The programme for Government states that the Government will "Consider the introduction of an alternate/substitute candidate list to cover parental and caring leave, long-term illness leave, resignation [and so on, and] career breaks". It also states that it will "Develop supports and alternatives for members of the Oireachtas to take parental le…