To depict it as being restrictive in terms of funding action on Covid-19, that has not been the case.

I agree with the Deputy. We need to be vigilant and to educate ourselves and each other. There should be no place in Irish society for racism. There is a new national action plan against racism, which is due to be published early next year. The proposal that the Deputy suggested might fit within that. I will forward it to the relevant Ministers so that they can look at it as one element of the plan they will put in place.

A major development last week was the publication of Shaping our Electricity Future by EirGrid. A detailed two-year public consultation process leading into that came back with something that a lot of politicians here would absolutely understand, which is that microgeneration has to be the centre of the electricity future, shaping our new climate and energy future. The plan has been delayed. We were due to have it in the summer under European legislation. It has taken us longer than that but we are on the cusp of d…

The Deputy is right that there has been a huge spike in oil and gas prices. We see that at the petrol pump and in the gas bills people are getting. However, it is expected that it will not be permanent. It is impossible to know exactly what the price of oil or gas will do but the leading experts say it is due to a variety of immediate issues which may lead to prices coming down as they unwind. In the meantime, it is a very significant issue. The Deputy raised the specific example of the school transport grant for p…

The national broadband plan is one such facilitation. The Deputy is right that it has been delayed compared with what was originally expected because of Covid. There was a particular issue around issuing planning licences within local authorities. Both of those issues have been largely addressed. We still face significant issues in getting access to ducting and ducting that is not as high quality as was originally expected. There are real challenges but we have delivered 388 broadband connection points for rural co…

The Deputy was looking for practical examples and these are real things that are in operation. Some 274,000 houses have been surveyed and build works are starting on 125,000. It is not fast enough and we all want to accelerate but we recognise that this is a particular moment in time. We are doing everything we can with Eir and National Broadband Ireland to try to help deliver that.

Difficulties there will be but there is no lack of commitment.

Deputy Griffin is right. Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, has proven itself a good delivery agency. It delivers on budget and on time with good engineering expertise. That is why we have commissioned it to have specific responsibility for the roll-out of our national cycling network. The National Transport Authority, NTA, and city councils will have a key role in urban areas but in rural counties or counties outside cities it will be TII working in its regional design offices with local authorities. The skill…

I would be happy to. If the Deputy could forward the details on to me I will be happy to pass them on to the Minister for Education. I do not see how twins being divided could possibly make sense. We will look at the details.

Poolbeg is a critical development for our constituency and the city and is a model of high-quality urban living. The transport strategy for the greater Dublin area, which was published last week, is in the consultation phase, so the timing of any particular project is open to variation. The first obligation on us is to build the BusConnects, DART+ and metro projects, all of which must start quickly. We need to get them through Government in the coming weeks and months, get them through planning and get them built. …

It is coming soon, within a number of weeks. It is critical because we want a lot of the money that we have saved, unwillingly in many ways, over the course of the pandemic to go into this. The provisions in the national retrofitting plan include a one-stop shop where people can get good advice, low-cost loans to assist those who have built up a deposit to bring down the cost of works, and the roll-out of apprenticeships through the work of the Minister, Deputy Harris, to make sure we have enough workers available.…

Irish Water is best placed to decide on the allocation of funding and the timelines for its projects. I am very glad we have stopped pumping raw sewage into Cork Harbour, which was a huge problem. That had to be the first priority in the city. It was an immediate scandal that had to be addressed. Beyond that, sewage treatment is a real issue. Irish Water got significant additional funding in the national development plan. In terms of the housing crisis we must get our transport and water infrastructure in place in …

The filing of annual returns has continued throughout the period of Covid-19. To date this year more than 215,000 annual returns have been filed. While a small number of practitioners are experiencing difficulties relating to annual returns for their clients, there does not appear to be a widespread issue of filing problems. The CRO has approximately 48,500 annual returns at various stages of processing. It has been an exceptional year due to a series of filing extensions which were granted in response to pressure …

I absolutely accept, particularly for younger people, who have borne the brunt of the Covid-19 restrictions, that their ability to get a licence, get mobile and then get a job is critical. I will follow up on this and engage directly with the Road Safety Authority on it. We put a huge amount of additional testers in place to clear the backlog. I hear what the Deputy is saying on this. I will see if anything can be done and will report back to the Deputy directly.

We will support them. As I said earlier, the best mechanism for this is the EWSS because that gives a direct subsidy or support to employers to make sure they can continue paying their staff. I hope, more than anything else, these are temporary measures. Our vaccination rates show that we have thrown the book at it, and with further boosters coming, we will be able to live with Covid, avoid our hospital numbers going into the red territory and get back a semblance of normal life. The night-time economy is an import…

I will refer the other question to the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, and ask her to report directly to Deputy Tully with a detailed response to the question.

I thank all of those who have contributed to the debate. I appreciate the broad support for the principle of the Bill, as well as the constructive approach that was in evidence through the debate. This legislation has the improvement of public safety at its heart. We may disagree on the best way to provide that. However, these are disagreements we can work on in practice, rather than disagreements in principle. I would like to address a number of points which were raised throughout the debate, which I hope will ref…

I move: That the Bill be referred to the Select Committee on Transport and Communications, pursuant to Standing Orders 95 and 181.

I thank the Ceann Comhairle. I am grateful to the House for affording me this occasion to make a statement on the air accident investigation unit’s final report of its investigation into the Rescue 116 accident, published on 5 November. The R116 accident on 14 March 2017 was an appalling tragedy. It claimed the lives of four people who, with consummate professionalism and total dedication, gave themselves to the task of saving others. I would like to take this opportunity to extend again my heartfelt sympathy to th…

The Senator is absolutely right to quote Article 9 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. As she said, the article puts obligations on State parties to ensure access for persons with disabilities to, inter alia , transportation in both urban and rural areas. In line with that article, my Department and its agencies are progressively making public transport accessible for people with disabilities, including in rural areas, by ensuring that new infrastructure and services are acc…