It will not work if we are pointing the finger at one person versus the other.

Deputy Shanahan will recall I met him when we visited WIT a few months ago and I visited the local authority. My sense of Waterford City and County Council is it is absolutely up for it. They are committed. They were all talking about how we put in the resources to make this happen. There was an event in Rosslare last week on the development of the port for offshore renewables. I do not know whether Deputy Shanahan attended but there were 150 people there. My sense is the community is right behind the opportunity t…

----- to develop as a sustainable centre. It is already happening. I note the amount of jobs that have been delivered in Waterford in the past year and they are the type of jobs, the type of people and the type of companies that want to be part of this green transition. I fundamentally disagree with the analysis that we are not looking to the south-east as part of this transition. My Department and, certainly, my party will do everything to get the jobs, the investment and the good local environment in the south-ea…

Some of my colleagues' words are ringing in my ears to point out the truth, as I understand it, that the emergency department in Waterford Hospital is the top-rated in the country.

But, if I am a patient, what I want is to be in the very best centre.

What I hear told is that Waterford is the best.

The best. I am also told-----

I am also told that second cath lab is under construction as we speak. That is an example of resources being deployed. Does the Deputy agree?

It is an example of resources being deployed. It is being built as we speak. A third example is something that was requested for a long time. Waterford Institute of Technology, WIT, has university status. Has that not been delivered during the lifetime of this Government?

The sense I got when we were at that meeting in the boardroom of WIT with the directors of services of the university - there is now a university in Waterford - is that they are good people with real skills. I agree with the Deputy that funding ought to have been provided for the resources referred to. We agree on that point. However, the Deputy should not underestimate the skills in that institution. He should not underestimate the rise of Waterford-----

-----under this green agenda. That is the story of our future.

I agree with the points the Deputy has made. It is important we recognise it when we increase payments because otherwise the political support for further increases will not be there. As the Deputy said, as part of the most recent budget, the capital disregard for carers increased from €20,000 to €50,000. That was not insignificant. The improvements in the income disregard went from €332.50 per year to €350. That is not as much of an improvement as we might want but it is still a significant increase. I will record…

We will take that into consideration. I understand the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, last year published a cost of disability report that might help to back up some of the Deputy's argument. I believe the Deputy is looking at a wider and important budget issue. Over the years, Social Justice Ireland has made a case similar to that the Deputy is making, that is, we could look at the use of refundable tax credits or other mechanisms to recognise we individualised the tax system but did not the social welfare system. Th…

I can confirm that on 31 March, the SFPA sought to undertake an inspection, which would include supervising the weighing before transport, of a fishing vessel at Killybegs Harbour. Such weighings are required by the interim EU control plan, as approved by the European Commission. The SFPA confirms that the master of the vessel and the operator objected to the process for weighing upon landing, as set out in the interim EU control plan. The master and the operator were offered the use of an industry-owned water sepa…

Unless the Commission approves this plan, the derogation that allows for weighing after transport will cease. This will involve landings being weighed on the pierside until a control plan is in place.

That is the detail I have in response to the concerns raised.

I read that article. Deputy Bacik and Senator Moynihan are absolutely right to be concerned. Our constituency in particular is at the very epicentre of the rental crisis. It is an issue for the whole country. With regard to Airbnb and the issue of short-term rentals, there is real cause for concern if local authorities are not pursuing it. However, we have to be slightly careful because the measures that were introduced in the Housing for All strategy, which is the best way to address the rental crisis, apply those…

-----in the form of a registry system so people involved in such short-term letting would have to be registered. That will be a big help.

Every part of the country is important. I just meant that Dublin Bay South happens to be the area with the highest rents. No area is immune to this rent crisis.

Similarly, we need commuter rail in Limerick, and we will build it and deliver it. We need commuter rail in Cork. We will build it. Going back to what Deputy Shanahan said earlier, we need to move the railway station in Waterford up the north quays so we can build housing there. It is the same in Galway. We need a twin track from Oranmore.