-----saying Sinn Féin would end open borders, and that is not true.

That is not true either.

When I listen to the Minister, I usually try to figure out which parts of what he says he believes and which parts he does not. It is not always that easy, but I am sure there is a great deal he does not believe. He speaks of hypocrisy, but he knows perfectly well that the objections made by Sinn Féin representatives were made on the basis of affordability. Yes, there should be houses, but not for €400,000 or €500,000. That is different from the kinds of objection that people such as Councillor Seán Martin made to …

Education is about ensuring that every child can reach his or her greatest potential and thrive. Obviously, that means a great deal of different things to individual children and families. For children in special schools and children in places like St. Killian's Special School, which is a remarkable place, therapies are absolutely crucial to ensuring that those children can reach their fullest potential. At the minute, they are extremely frustrated because they do not believe their children are getting the support …

I will quote from the response the Minister of State gave. He stated, "I know that my colleague the Minister of State with responsibility for disability services, Deputy Rabbitte, is fully committed to the continued development and enhancement of our children’s disability services through the implementation of the progressing disability services", and it carried on like that. I then look at what the Tánaiste said last Thursday, when he stated: There is an issue with disability services and CDNT teams. My view is th…

Ah stop, go away. Who are you codding?

More standing back and reflecting.

I want to express concern about what was raised by Deputy McNamara. It is very serious and I hope it can be clarified at the earliest stage possible. I want to raise the issue of buses. Hardly a week goes by without my office being contacted by several people for whom buses have disappeared. The buses never show up or they are extremely late.

At the minute it certainly does seem like that. I want to make very clear that it is not the responsibility of the drivers. What is happening fundamentally is that there is a shortage of drivers in Cork city. I would be very surprised if the Tánaiste's office is not getting the same calls. Many routes are particularly badly affected, including the 14, the 203, which was the Tánaiste's father's route I believe, the 220 and the 208. Bus services had been improving for several years but over the past 12 months, things…

We believe the Government is taking the wrong approach on this migration compact. We believe Ireland is in a unique position. It has a unique opportunity. Ourselves and Denmark are the only countries that have the flexibility to opt out. We have that flexibility going back to recognition of the fact that Ireland is in a common travel area with Britain. There are a number of reasons the Government is wrong to sign up to every element of the migration compact and, for that reason, we will vote against the Government …

On a brief point of order that is not a response to any comment, the Minister was not present when I spoke and I also want to be associated with the expression of solidarity and to express my regret about what happened to her family, which was terrible.

Is the embargo in that?

Before I got up to speak, I was thinking that in this House we have got into a habit of making very sincere and profound apologies. Very often, the quality of the apology is very good, and I do not wish in any way to take away from some of the apologies that have been made recently, which were sincere and well articulated, but what we are not always so good at is the follow-through. That has been the case, not just for the survivors of residential institutions, who are at issue in the legislation before the House, …

I apologise to the Leas-Cheann Comhairle and the Minister for being late. I appreciate the Leas-Cheann Comhairle taking these questions now. I know Deputy Tully has a similar question, namely, Question No. 6. Many people welcomed the decision not to proceed further with the consultation on the Green Paper and to walk away from the proposals examined in it. Questions now arise as to what happens next. What happens with the opinions that were submitted? There is a recognition that some reform is needed. How does the …

The question still arises as to what happens next. The Indecon cost of disability report rightly indicated that different people have different costs of disability and that people with higher costs relating to their disability should receive greater support. There were a number of problems with the Green Paper. One was that it conflated severity of disability with the higher cost of disability whereas that is not necessarily the case. There are many other variables, including geography. Sometimes there is a cost to…

I agree this may have been what it was intended to do but conflating the cost of disability with severity of disability, when they are not always precisely the same thing, was a problem and there were concerns. I welcome the fact the Minister has listened in that regard but what we do not know is, and this may not be decided yet, if there is a timeline on it. The Minister referred to a broad review within the Department or across other Departments. There was a general consensus among people with disabilities and di…

More than tens of thousands of people rely on the citizens information service. It is a vitally important, high-quality service. To ensure it remains a high-quality service, we need to ensure quality staff are attracted to it. The pay has not changed for those in the citizens information service in 16 years, since 2008. That is an absolutely extraordinary amount of time considering the extent of inflation over that period. The starting salary is less than €30,000. This is a serious problem that has been attempted t…

I may take some comfort from that to a small extent. I do not think it helps that there is such a baroque structure here. These are companies but they are not for profit and they are funded exclusively through the public purse. There is the Minister, the Citizens Information Board and then the citizens information service. I do not know why this is the case. Leaving that aside, it is important to put on the record what this means practically. The pay has not changed in 16 years. The starting salary is less than €30…

I have a few other points. The Minister made the point these staff members are not public servants. They were aligned to the public sector pay structure until the previous recession. I also make the point that the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, CCPC, is aligned to public sector pay. Even MABS, which is a sister company of the citizens information service funded through the Citizens Information Board, has received those pay increases. The point regarding the Labour Court is that the only people who …

This is an area the Minister and I have discussed before. The temporary protection directive ends next spring. It is not fair on anyone, including those in receipt of payments currently who are under temporary protection, that there be a cliff edge and uncertainty as to what will happen after that date. The Minister has made a number of remarks, not always necessarily to the same effect, in recent months, so I want to know what the Department's position is at this time and how she intends to prepare for the ending …