Did the Tánaiste answer the question? Does he regret it? It was his own brother.

There were eight councillors, including the Tánaiste's brother, and every single one of them voted against it. We have not voted against social housing in Cork City Council for 20 years.

Say that again.

Okay, well then the Tánaiste failed to stop them voting against it in his own neighbourhood.

The Tánaiste is telling me he did not have a conversation with his brother about a Part 8 development in his neighbourhood three weeks before a general election. Come off it.

It is not a bit false.

I thank the Minister of State for taking this matter, which relates to an issue over which residents of the Noonan's Road area are tearing their hair out. We talk about Noonan's Road, but we are really talking about the few flats just off it as well, in St. Finbarr's Road and other locations. Noonan's Road is the main thoroughfare in the area and was developed in the 1960s and 1970s after the lanes and tenements that had existed there were cleared. The area has never seen any real remediation in that time. In conve…

There is a bit in that. The Minister of State said the Department is waiting on an application from the city council. I suppose that is true and I will come back to that. The first thing I want to say is that I appreciate that he and the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, are busy people. However, I am sure they will be in Cork at some stage over the course of the next year. The Minister likes to come down when there are positive developments. If he is in Cork in the next couple of months, I want him, or the Minister of Sta…

I thank the Labour Party for tabling the motion. When I think of grassroots football, one of the first people that comes to my mind is Aidan Herlihy from Togher, or Gaffer as he is known to everyone. Gaffer is my stepson's coach at Pearse Celtic FC. He has given incredible service to grassroots football and the community in Togher. He set up a schoolboy section for the first time in Pearse Celtic. He set up Football for All in the club. Sadly, in the past week, Ann Herlihy, Gaffer's mam, died. She gave countless ho…

The issue of the cost of disability is much discussed at present. It is a concept that is being increasingly developed. In March, the Minister, in response to a parliamentary question, stated the work on the straw man was at an advanced stage and widescale public consultation was planned. In May, the situation was similar. Where are things at in this regard? How does the Minister intend to progress the issue?

I thank the Minister. She provided a bit more insight there. Perhaps she can provide more as we proceed. There is no doubt but that the challenges faced by people with disabilities are enormous. The survey on income and living conditions includes a category of people who are unable to work due to long-standing health problems. This cohort substantially consists of disabled people. One in five of that group is living in consistent poverty, compared with 5.3% in the general population. One in three is at risk of pove…

I take the Minister's point in general and philosophical terms regarding targeted compared with universal supports but very few people on disability payments are on very high incomes. Given the current thresholds for the disability allowance, there are many people on modest incomes who benefit little or not at all. That needs to be examined separate from the cost of disability piece. I am glad the straw man proposal is progressing. If the Minister can provide more insight on what she means by "shortly", which is a …

I wish to ask the Minister for Social Protection about the recommendations from the child maintenance review group. This is an area that has long been in urgent need of reform. The challenges that lone parents face, the fact they have to fight this battle on their own, very often, and the fact that their income from maintenance has been taken into account for means has created a lot of challenges for a category of people who, more commonly than most, are at risk of poverty. I seek an update from the Minister on the…

I thank the Minister. There are acceptance issues concerning the justice recommendations in respect of the agency, but that is outside the Minister's remit. I welcome that the Department has accepted the recommendations concerning the social protection system. The Minister has stated – it is my understanding also – that she is not including child maintenance in the means test for new claimants; however, in the ordinary work of the Department, lone parents on the likes of the one-parent family payment or jobseeker's…

When dealing with a previous question, we spoke about the fact that people who have disabilities are at much greater risk of poverty. Right now, the Minister's Department has taken the living alone allowance off people on partial capacity benefit. That is absolutely appalling. It is not a very great number of people and not a very great amount of money but, for those people, the decision arrived at by the Minister's Department means a loss of between €44 and €88 a month.

It will be impossible for me ever to establish whether this was an oversight or whether the Department is now backtracking.

I am very sure that this did not come to the Minister's desk because it was an administrative decision. I will give the Minister the example I was going to give anyway. A gentleman in my constituency, who is probably not watching this debate, has given me permission to outline the facts of his case, although not to name him. He is sitting at home and believes he is down €66.20 a month. This man has terminal cancer. He was previously on an invalidity payment after working full time all of his life. He went onto PCB …

I very much accept that Department officials are hard-working and sincere people who administer millions upon millions of claims. It is not my view that there are any issues with regard to people's bona fides but I do believe that a review such as this would have had to involve a meeting and a discussion. I have to accept the Minister's word up to a point. Will the Minister tell us how many people were affected? When will they receive their letters? They will have only missed out on a couple of weeks but will they …

Ba mhaith liom tréaslú leis an Teachta Andrews as an obair atá déanta aige sa phíosa reachtaíochta seo mar is é a rinne formhór na hoibre uirthi. Is píosa reachtaíochta luachmhar atá inti. I commend Deputy Andrews. While I was happy to assist him with several elements, the bulk of the work was conducted by him and his office in consultation with the groups he has mentioned, namely Involve Autism, Dublin 6, and Neurodiversity – Irishtown, Ringsend and Pearse Street. This legislation is valuable and would assist in s…

In 2018, people voted for women to have access to services. Five years on, and these services are still not in place and the protections that they ought to have are still not in place. I support this legislation and I commend the work of my colleague, Senator Gavan, in particular, who worked hard to put this in place and brought forward the legislation in the Seanad. This legislation is about striking the balance between free assembly and the rights of women and their partners attending maternity appointments and s…