Would the Minister of State agree this whole area is moving at an incredibly fast pace? Some of the very large companies are investing not millions but billions in the area and it has the potential to change everything as we know it. Will the Minister of State comment on the need to modernise the curriculum at third level to reflect the different skills people will need? Will he also address the serious ethical questions that arise as machines push beyond what human reasoning can manage and are applied in crucial a…

I want to give the Minister of State an opportunity to inform the House with respect to the current situation regarding employment contracts for adult educators and whether he has any plans to review these contracts, improve on them and make them more career friendly. Will he outline what the future holds for this important sector?

I thank the Minister of State for his response and congratulate him on the work being done in this area, which seems to be very progressive. Will he comment on incremental pay rates and career progression in this important sector? Many adult educators work with some quite vulnerable clients and students who need a lot of help and assistance to progress. In some instances, there is no certainty with regard to employment going forward, contracts and so on. Is it the case that in some of these instances contracts run …

Will the Minister of State give an indication of how many adult educators are involved in this scheme nationally? How many students are impacted or benefiting from the various schemes or courses involved here? The Minister of State has given an indication of the total extra cost but has he any indication of the total overall budget involved in the sector?

I thank the Minister of State.

I thank the Ceann Comhairle's office for selecting this matter and the Minister of State, Deputy Heydon, for being here. I raised this issue last May with the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan. At the time, he told me the implementation of legislation on the management of tree and hedge-cutting operations was a matter for local authorities and landowners. The problem is that the countryside is full of dead ash trees, many of which are by roadsides. Last winter, I saw that a number of them had fallen down un…

I thank the Minister of State for his response. It is a bit funny because, in one sense, everyone here is responsible and no one is responsible. This issue has moved from the Department of Transport to the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and to the local authorities. Ultimately, this responsibility will fall back on the landowners if an accident does occur. This is certainly going to happen because there are so many dead trees out there. They ar…

I want to give the Minister an opportunity to update us on the local community safety partnerships, how the pilots are getting on and when she expects to be able to establish them across the rest of the State.

I thank the Minister for her response and congratulate her on this work, which is very important. That she has got the Garda Reserve recruitment campaign up and running is a very positive move. She stated she hopes to have the community partnerships up and running across the State later this year. Are we talking about the autumn? Has the Minister considered the situation in my county, Cork, where the distance from Castletownbere to Youghal is quite long? If there is but one community partnership in the county, it i…

I thank the Minister for her response with respect to the size of counties and the idea of fora. At one stage, I was involved in five different joint policing communities and noted that local knowledge is very valuable. A lot of the work is at the level of bringing to the attention of the local authority that a streetlight is not working, for example. I am referring to low-level crime and low-level annoyance. Could the Minister let us know the budget for the whole initiative nationally? Is there a budget set aside …

This question concerns a model of community court approach operating in the US and the UK, especially in midtown New York and Red Hook. When I was the chair of the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality, we did a lot of work on this issue. It proved to be very effective in dealing with low-level crimes, including misdemeanours, shoplifting and so on. It also had the backup of sociologists and psychologists to help people be diverted away from crime. Has the Department examined this approach in more detail…

I thank the Minister for her response. It worked in New York, where it was known as the broken windows approach. It was immediate. I met people and saw it in action. Will the Minister re-examine the matter?

I thank the Minister.

This question concerns the establishment and work of community councils throughout the country. I am sure the Minister of State will agree that these are a very valuable and important resource, which are very often administered under the umbrella of Muintir na Tíre. What are his plans to support the establishment and continue the work of these bodies, especially if they are democratically established and run? The training for people to get involved in these councils is part of that.

I thank the Minister of State for his response. Does he agree that there does not seem to be a clear policy with respect to community councils at, dare I say it, parish level? We are talking about LCDCs, which are at the level of the county or municipal district. Does he agree that we need to start drilling down to more localised bodies and looking at supporting those? Does he have any idea of whether there are areas in the country where there is no community involvement, movement or organisation at all? Does he ag…

It may very well be that the very areas the Minister of State has mentioned are those that need the most support. If small local groups are already established, they are well on their way to drawing down grants, supports and so on. Does he agree that where there is nothing at all and where there is no local initiative, we need to put a structure in place whereby somebody goes into an area to encourage and support the proper democratic establishment of, for example, a community council at a very small local level? T…

This question has to do with funding being made available by the Department but not being drawn down or only being drawn down after an awfully long time while costs increase dramatically in the meantime. I have highlighted one particular case with the Minister but there are many projects on the Department's desk where funding has been made available but has not been drawn down yet. What is going to happen in respect of these projects?

I thank the Minister for her response. I am glad this project is moving forward. If funding was granted in 2021 and will not be ready until 2026, that is quite a while to wait. I understand that there are structural issues. The second question I asked was whether there are many other such projects in the Department where funding was granted quite a considerable while ago but where it has not been drawn down and may not be drawn down at all. What happens in those cases? Is there a time limit? If nothing is happening…

I thank the Minister for her response. I have a final supplementary. Given the amount of time that has elapsed since this project was initially grant funded, the costs have invariably gone up. Is the Minister open to making further moneys available to the project if required?

I thank the Ceann Comhairle's office for selecting this Topical Issue matter and the Minister of State for being here to address it. The need to extend the provision of postal voting to individuals who may be away on polling day for whatever reason is of significant importance to our democracy. This proposal aims to ensure that all citizens can exercise their democratic right, even when personal commitments necessitate their absence from their area or even the country on election day. I came across this issue durin…