The Deputy and I share a belief in public transport and the potential role of the metro in extending not just to Ranelagh but further south. Whether it goes south west to Terenure, Knocklyon, Firhouse and on to Tallaght, up the green line, which I think is less likely given the disruption it would cause, or runs to the south east, to Donnybrook, UCD, Stillorgan and Sandyford, is going to be the subject of a detailed review by the NTA, looking at all options. We have to look at the options with real seriousness beca…

I expect it to go for planning approval this year but, even then, it will take many years to build, such is the project. By thinking long term, we can get the overall planning of the area right, including Terenure and Rathfarnham.

Most of the emails I get are probably on this issue. The Ceann Comhairle would be aware of this from his contact with the public. It is a huge issue, as I said earlier. The solution will be an early return to tests, but we have to take that in the context of public health advice. The job of public health, rightly, has been to minimise all social contact, particularly anything indoors. Being able to do the theory test, particularly online, will help to overcome that problem. I expect it to be one of the services tha…

This goes back to the discussion I had with Deputy Ó Broin earlier. We need a multifaceted response and we must use the stick as well as the carrot. This must apply particularly to the use of underdeveloped lands and sites and further action must be taken. The vacant sites levy has not delivered the scale of urgency or action one would have wanted so yes, it must be part of a new, much more ambitious, much more progressive housing strategy.

I commit to trying to find exactly when it will be published and will have that information transmitted to the Deputy. She is right about the whole issue of domestic and sexual violence not receiving the right level of attention. On a separate but related issue, following the recent cyberattack, the Deputy may have read in the newspapers that the information from some of the assault units was not digitally recorded but was still on paper. On the one hand, that protected us in this instance but, on the other, it sho…

I share the concern about the resources that are needed. We keep looking at the housing crisis, which, obviously, must be our primary focus, but we have housing without public transport, local shops and local schools. There is a real issue in County Kildare. In that context, I recall a Dáil debate on the number of school places in County Kildare. It is not just crèches, it is across the whole spectrum. There is a real problem. Half of the new houses being built at the moment are in the counties surrounding Dublin, …

The key argument represented to my engineers and the Department is that investing in ongoing maintenance saves in the long run. If we let a road go and it goes below a certain standard, getting it back to standard is very expensive and difficult. There is a real case for what is called steady state investment, or investing in the steady state characteristic of our roads. Cork is the largest county by area and, I am sure, has the greatest length of road by miles, and it will be considered, like every county, in maki…

I am sure the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, will benefit from meeting the various Deputies who have expressed an interest in this matter. We have schemes in place and the question is whether they are working effectively or what changes may be required. For anyone involved, it is clearly the worst disaster that can befall a person because the house is fundamentally damaged. We must help those people and I am absolutely certain the Minister will apprise the Deputies of how he intends to do it.

I know those roads well and they are absolutely a real priority, as they are in every other county. If the evidence in the report is that Cork is left behind, I would be surprised, to be honest. The engineers and managers in Cork County Council are not slow or shy about asking for funding or in their ability to spend.

There is good work done at a local government level in Cork. I will look at the report and if there is any disparity, or if west Cork in particular is falling behind, I will be happy to try to address that.

I will pass on to the Minister for Education the case the Deputy made regarding the needs of the Gaelscoil in question. On Deputy Stanley's question, motorcycle testing is returning. As the Deputy said, the physical reality for doing the test is now very different. We provided for an additional 42 driving testers. The direction I gave was that if further testers were needed, an additional 40 would be provided. The RSA must manage its resources to optimise that allocation. It indicated that the additional testers pr…

No.

No.

The Minister of State and I thank the House for allowing us this opportunity to address the matter of international travel and aviation. The impact of the Covid 19 pandemic, coupled with the emergence and spread of variants of concern, has resulted in one of the most sustained and deepest periods of suppression of international travel. Globally, aviation is experiencing its most challenging crisis in its history. In Europe there were 5 million flights in 2020 as against 11 million in the previous year. Scheduled ca…

As a Member for Dublin Bay South, I know exactly what the Deputy is saying about the scale and depth of this crisis. It is without doubt an issue all over the country. It is at its most acute in the centre of Dublin, however. I can see the dilemma in my own constituency, particularly for a new younger generation. We will not leave them behind, we will not leave them out, and we will do everything in our power to make sure they have the ability, as my own and previous generations did, including those in Dublin Bay S…

I listened to the Deputy. I hear those stories every day and they belong to every party, constituency and political viewpoint. They do not belong to any one person. These things are happening, in particular, in some of the areas where the prices are highest, including in my own constituency. I listen to what is happening and I heed it. It is our first priority to provide for our younger people every day. I was about to mention, before the time was up to reply, some of the real and practical measures we need. We can…

We will not give over this city. It does not belong to any investor or fund. It belongs to the people of this city and this country.

It is through our public land that we will deliver the housing we need.

We have to make housing affordable. That is agreed and it is achieved by doing. There is a variety of different investments we have to make. We need to make significant investment in social housing at volume and at scale. That involves large numbers and huge amounts of money. The constraints in that regard are often not necessarily about the financing but getting the building workers with the training and skills, the blocklayers and so on. We need to avoid the costs going up so much that it is expensive for everyon…

We need that balance and mix. We will bring the mix towards affordable purchase and rental in particular because that is what we have been focused on in recent years.