I thank the Minister for his positive response. Transport to college is a big issue, as is the availability of wheelchair-accessible places on buses and so on. Perhaps the Minister might take on board the suggestion of a national survey. Will the Minister comment on the view of his Department and the sector in general regarding people with autism attending third level and further education and training courses? Sometimes people with autism need supports such as quiet spaces, as the Minister is aware. Has much work …

This question relates to the need for a new dental school and hospital facility in Cork. I was disappointed to learn recently that plans for such a facility were dropped last February. There is a major need in this regard. The current facility is old. It is too small, it is overcrowded and it is located on a busy campus. My information is that funding was the issue. I am interested to hear what the Minister has to say about this. Will he have a look and see if anything can be done to rescue the plan?

I thank the Minister for his response. Will he consider visiting the Cork university dental school and hospital as soon as he can? I am alarmed to discover that funding will be invested in the old building, which has been described as frail, constrained and ill equipped. What is really needed, as I am sure the Minister will agree, is a new building. Planning permission was granted for it, and it was full steam ahead. Because of Covid, inflation and so on, it did not go ahead, but the need remains and has increased.…

I acknowledge that good work and it is hugely important but the need for a dental school and hospital remains. If I heard the Minister correctly, I am alarmed that €15 million in funding will be made available to refurbish an old building. For the sake of further, relatively small, investment we could have a state-of-the-art dental school in the south, which is badly needed. I understand the Higher Education Authority also recommended that investment be made to boost places. As the Minister stated, we have a growin…

I ask the Minister if he agrees with the implication in Powering Prosperity: Ireland's Offshore Wind Industrial Strategy, published by his Department, that there are thousands of potential jobs, maybe hundreds of thousands of potential jobs, in this whole area from the point of view of assembling and maintaining the turbine infrastructure, having the upstream and downstream maintenance, manufacturing, supply chains and so on. It is a huge potential from a jobs point of view. Will the Minister expand on how he sees …

I thank the Minister for his response. Obviously, there is enormous potential here from the point of view of having an almost unlimited supply of energy - and renewable energy at that - for the country. That energy is badly needed. Also, there is the potential relating to job creation and the economy. Is the Minister of State aware that we need to have a place where the work relating to this matter can be done? I refer to the assembly of turbines, the carrying out of maintenance and so on. At the moment, there is n…

Am I correct in saying that these demonstrator sites will all be offshore? I am speaking about an onshore centre, such as in the Port of Cork. At present, the latter is not able to operate as an onshore centre. It is not big enough. It needs to expand, and the planning permission is about to run out. The Minister of State might bring that up at the interdepartmental working group the next time it meets. Otherwise, all of the other work to which he referred cannot happen. Would the Minister of State be supportive of…

Will the Taoiseach tell us the date on which the call for the next round of the excellent urban regeneration and development fund, the fourth such round, will be made? The people of Carrigtwohill and Cobh in my area are very interested in this because it is an excellent fund.

I thank the Minister of State for his response. Following events like Storm Babet in east Cork, is he aware of delays in payouts to consumers and of the stress that can be caused if people must wait for a long period to have their claims met and indeed if they have to jump through all kinds of hoops to make a claim in the first place and have it accepted? Is there anything we can do to make it easier for people to make claims in the first place and ensure payments are made in a timely manner?

The number of complaints to the Financial Services Ombudsman last year rose considerably. Many of those complaints related to insurance and a number of them related to the delay in making claims and the difficulty in making claims in the first place. Delays in payouts was the big complaint. Will the Minister of State undertake to look at what is available to the consumer? Perhaps a faster and more efficient way can be put in place to deal with delayed payouts. Even the Financial Services Ombudsman is under pressure…

I congratulate the Minister and his Department on the work done on the designated maritime area plan, DMAP, which was published recently. There is more work do to there. However, my question today has to do with the southern ports. The Minister will be aware that Doyle Shipping Group has pulled out of anything to do with offshore wind and assembly of turbines. The Port of Cork has planning permission in place, which runs out next year. It needs funding to carry on with the development to take part in the constructi…

The situation is extraordinarily serious. Planning in place in the Port of Cork runs out next year and it may be very hard to extend it or get new planning. The rubber is hitting the road very quickly because the port needs funding very soon to expand. Will the Minister of State tell me where that money is going to come from? That is the bottom line here. We were told the port needs up to €120 million to develop properly. With Doyle Shipping Group off the pitch now, it means there will be no facility on the south c…

The Minister of State gives me only some comfort because he stated, and he can correct me if I am wrong, that the port can obtain 30% of the costs. That is not enough. It needs 100% of the cost to have certainty. There are many companies looking at this and making serious investment decisions to the tune of billions of euro. We need clarity here. The Minister of State said we are going to have 30% of the cost, but there still is not clarity. Can the Port of Cork enter into a public private partnership, PPP, with th…

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for selecting this issue and the Minister for being here to respond. I have been raising this issue for quite some time in committee, in the Chamber and with colleagues. It has to do with Irish companies and foreign direct investment, FDI, companies located here that require staff to come from abroad to work here for a limited period. They bring leadership and expertise and so on that is not available here. However, quite often, staff have a partner or spouse who can actually accom…

For once, I am at a loss for words. I am absolutely thrilled with this news. I thank and congratulate the Minister for listening to what I had to say, taking on board what I said and actually making the change happen. It is an example that shows that this House actually works. If Ministers like her listen to colleagues across the House with regard to suggestions such as this and then actually take action, we can make much more progress in many areas. This will make a huge difference to a small number of people. A n…

Thank you. I am from Cork.

I ask the Minister of State about the Forty-first Amendment to the Constitution (Agreement on a Unified Patent Court) Bill 2024, which I understand is before the Seanad. Will the Government support its passage and enactment so it is ready in time for a referendum?

I thank the office of the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this Topical Issue and the Minister of State for being here this evening. I have been raising this matter consistently since 2016. I raised it in a Topical Issue debate here on 30 May 2023. I also raised it with the Tánaiste on 18 April last. Since 2016, on and off, we have had a boil water notice affecting up to 10,000 people in my constituency. The last boil water notice was issued on 29 October 2022 and remains in place. This means that families and people …

I thank the Minister of State for his response. I agree that we all want the boil water notice to be issued as soon as possible. However, the most recent information I have is that it will take at least 22 months before the plant can be commissioned, so it is almost another two years to wait on top of the many months that have already had to be endured by the people in that area. My main question now following on from the Minister of State's response is about whether a complaint has been made to the CRU, and if it …

In November 2022, the then Minister of State with responsibility for the OPW, Deputy O'Donovan, visited Pilmore, Youghal and the Womanagh river on my invitation. Many other officials from the council and OPW attended on the same day and saw the risks to property, houses, land, roads and so on due to possible flooding. I would like to know what has happened in the meantime.