I agree. Public transport, be it a local bus service or, ideally, cycling and active travel to get people to the train station, is the way to go. I do not like to see big park-and-ride facilities and I am certainly not promoting that in this case but the reality is that, on the Kinsealy side of Portmarnock especially, none of the Fingal County Council plans is going to provide safe levels of access, so a degree of car parking provision will always be needed at a train station like Portmarnock. That is not to say we…

Following on from my two colleagues, the anachronistic geographic rule fails on the fundamental law of common sense in many cases. One such case is Coláiste Ghlór na Mara, Balbriggan. It was given patronage based on the region. It was said that it would be the regional Gaelcholáiste for Fingal. Children in Swords, 12 in particular, are unable to get the bus service to Balbriggan, which is closer in terms of travel time. It is cleaner and greener to get there. The line on the map says the school in Glasnevin or the …

In a sector that is beset by perpetual crisis and all-too-regular scandal, this particular scandal stands somewhat apart, or, if it does not stand apart, it stands with a select few scandals as one of the worst in the history of the State. One of the perpetual crises that we have throughout our health service is waiting lists across every aspect of the service, be it emergency medicine, mental health services, social care in the community or surgery. It is here we have focused so much of our political energies in t…

I seek clarification on the last point on the Crumlin report. Is the Minister saying it was not commissioned because of potential poor outcomes, as happened in Temple Street, but it was commissioned because Temple Street had done a report? I ask the Minister to expand on and clarify that.

When exactly was that report commissioned? How many cases did it review in comparison with Temple Street?

The waiting list has not reduced despite the number of surgeries increasing. Does the Minister have any information as to why that is the case? Could it be that patients having unexpected further surgeries are being added to the waiting list? Therefore, they never come off or come off only for a short period of time because they have to go on.

It is incredible because the questions are simple. There are large waiting lists for those with spina bifida and scoliosis, but we are not dealing with tens of thousands of children. It is a quantifiable number. It does not provide any confidence when the Minister cannot get answers. They do not need to be detailed answers, but just general answers to those questions. Surely these clinicians will know if the children on these waiting lists are coming in for repeated surgeries or are brand new. Surely someone senior…

CHI has been at pains to stress that spinal surgeries are continuing. Is the specific procedure, kyphectomy, continuing at the moment or is it paused for lack of the relevant expertise, for want of a better phrase?

Does the Minister have information on the impact for that particular procedure? I am not sure if it is captured in a particular waiting list. Has the waiting list for that particular procedure increased in that time?

On the procurement procedures in Temple Street as it related to the non-regulated springs, has the Minister asked for any immediate measures to be taken there to ensure that no loose procurement or loose procedures are taking place for any other devices for any other types of surgeries in this hospital or in any other hospital?

I ask for an update on the efforts of the Minister and his Department regarding what has been done to help resolve the pay parity issue in respect of section 39 organisations, which are predominantly funded from the health budget and provide such an important service in buttressing and supporting our health service in the community.

The offer from the Government was designed to fail. It was nowhere near what was needed to resolve the pay parity and pay justice issue. Even management in section 39 organisations has been saying that. On the back of what we are seeing with St. Michael's House, which is a section 38 organisation, with young adults coming out of the school service and having no service available, where does the responsibility for that service go? The section 39 organisations are being asked to meet that requirement. These section 3…

The unions have never been backwards in wanting to engage with the Government on this. The Government is not meeting the basic asks these workers require. However, we are where we are. We do not yet have the results but we know there will be a mandate for industrial action, up to and including an all-out strike. If that happens, it will be a hammer blow to communities. The difference in this case is that the families involved, and even the management of these section 39 organisations, support the workers and their …

Does the Minister for Health support the provision of the chickenpox varicella vaccine for free to all children through the primary or schoolchild immunisation programme?

At the moment, should a parent choose to get the chickenpox vaccine for their child, it will cost approximately €90. It is a prohibitive cost for many. Many make the leap to get it done not only to protect their child's health, but also because of considerations such as parents losing work time and so on. The HIQA recommendation is a game changer here. Just after the summer break, I got a reply to a parliamentary question in which I had asked whether the Department had calculated what it would cost to include the v…

That is great. As the Minister of State outlined, for many people, and children in particular, the disease is a mild one but it can have severe complications for some. I have heard of the phenomenon of chickenpox parties for kids over recent years. The disease was almost considered a rite of passage that should be got out of the way. This was never something I thought appropriate. If you read about the complications that can arise and how severe the disease can be, you will see that we need a vaccination programme.…

Unfair and cruel. Those are the words of parents of children in a national school in Swords whose kids have been left at the side of the road by a school transport system that has failed, that is not fit for purpose and that needs to be totally remodelled. It has been a nightmare summer for children up and down the country and that nightmare has continued into the autumn for those who have been left behind. In the constituency the Minister and I share in Fingal, more than a dozen children in Swords cannot get to Ga…

I thank Deputy Cian O'Callaghan and the Social Democrats for tabling this motion. I apologise for being late. I missed the opening statements by both Deputy O'Callaghan and the Minister, but if the Minister's response to Deputy O'Callaghan and this motion was anything like his response to the Labour Party leader, Deputy Bacik, or to Deputy Doherty earlier, I can only imagine it was another attempt at obfuscation and denial of the facts of the housing crisis as it exists right now. We are having a dispute about figu…

In his closing remarks, the Tánaiste articulated a desire that all of us share for a just and sustainable peace in Israel and Palestine, especially for the Palestinian people. The events in Jenin on 3, 4 and 5 July make that goal, which was already so far distant, appear even further away. This is an escalation in the conflict that we have not seen in probably 20 years. This is not a continuation of the existing oppressive security activity or attacks that Israel has been carrying out on the Palestinian people; thi…

I ask Deputy Feighan to correct the record. There is not only one Rovers; there are the champions, and they play in Tallaght. The era of poor old soccer, football, being at the back of the queue has ended. I commend my colleague, Deputy Ó Ríordáin, on his passion and commitment to this - not this week, last week or last month but throughout both his teaching life and his political life. That was evident in his opening statement. The mismanagement at the top of football for years, we believe, has now ended, and ther…