I do not know where Deputy Tóibín will be. He deserves his place on this side of the House but in what role will be decided later. Where does Sinn Féin stand in respect of the Special Criminal Court? If we look at criminality, and the fear and loathing of people who carry out the most evil crimes in our society, many of them were brought before the Special Criminal Court because of intimidation of jurors, or because people were afraid to give evidence or even sit on juries as they would be eyelined, named and attac…

But it is the job of Deputies to express their views-----

-----whether in government or opposition.

The Ardee Educate Together National School in County Louth has 187 students. A portion of the school building dates from 1812, the year in which Charles Dickens was born. The situation some of the students must go through at the moment is unbelievable. The school is ready to go, the council has been appointed a contracting authority and the tenders have been finalised. However, the project is one of the 56 currently held up in the Department of Education. I ask the Tánaiste to insist, as a matter of urgency, on a r…

Deputy Nash will have to do better than that.

I welcome the decision of the Government to have an inquiry into nursing homes during Covid, but the reality is that when HIQA staff visited the Oaklands Nursing Home in County Kerry in November 2020, 27 of its 32 residents had Covid. The general manager and the person in charge were both absent and the person further identified to manage the centre in the event of the absence of those people did not step up and take responsibility for the centre, albeit from a distance as this person lived abroad. That is appallin…

I would just make one correction. Nurses and doctors did turn up but not immediately. Most of them did not turn up when they were asked.

Hear, hear.

One hundred years ago, many people lived above commercial premises in the centre of Drogheda. Today, very few people live there. What further and additional regulations can he amend- obviously, I exclude those relating to health and safety - in order to encourage more people to live in the centre of our towns and over commercial premises nationally.

I congratulate the Minister of State on his recent appointment. I have sat here in the Chamber with him for a number of years, and he and I both know how we feel and think about things. I recently met the owners of property in the centre of Drogheda. They are local people who own substantial levels of property. They were aware of the exemptions but they felt they did not have enough knowledge, which is why I met them to further their proposals. There were concerns, appropriately and properly, about fire safety and …

These properties are vacant today. I hear what the Minister of State is saying but we need a driver. I am not condemning the current vacant homes officers, but most of them were doing other jobs previously. That is the reality. They were not doing anything in this area. I accept and acknowledge what the Minister of State said about housing, particularly in the context of his recent visit to Drogheda. The Minister, along with the local authority, has put in place the capacity to build 5,000 more homes in the town. T…

I welcome the commitment the Taoiseach has reiterated this morning. The fact is that 24 residents died in St. Mary's community nursing unit in the first phase of the pandemic in 2020. A protected disclosure was made and was discussed by the HSE at a meeting held on 14 May 2020. The minutes of that meeting show that advice was given to take emails relating to that review and investigation off the system. The investigation team requested the permission of the HSE to investigate the letter I sent it on this matter. Th…

There are 41 driver testing centres nationally. On Monday, there will only be 40 because the biggest town in Ireland, with a population approaching 50,000, will not have a test centre. This is despite the Road Safety Authority, RSA, having decided six or seven years ago to have a permanent centre in Drogheda. Residents in an estate in Drogheda are being blamed for the closure. That is not good enough. I, along with Councillor Paddy McQuillan and others, have offered the RSA numerous sites for centres which would be…

I thank the Tánaiste.

Drogheda is the largest town in Ireland and it has the longest waiting list in the country for driving tests. If you apply for a test today, it will be 27 November before you get an invitation to formally apply and 2024 before you sit your test. That compares badly with Dundalk, where the waiting time is three months, Navan, where the waiting time is two months, and Monaghan, where the waiting time is less than two months. The Road Safety Authority, RSA, has promised to establish a permanent test centre in Drogheda…

I welcome this timely and important debate. There is probably a consensus in the House as to the way forward but I will reflect, like my colleague, Deputy Fitzpatrick, on issues in my constituency. What brought not just Drogheda, where I live, to national attention and international notoriety was the context of the murder of Keane Mulready-Woods, who was a young person, a child, as a result of a drug feud. That epitomised how low those people who are involved in criminal gangs and the drug trade can go. It was a sh…

We need more time to go through how we solve the problem but I welcome the fact the citizens’ assembly has been set up.

Many more people are living longer in our society. The latest census indicated there are over 1 million people aged over 60 years in the State, of whom 150,000 are aged over 80 years. I am thankful that hundreds of people are reaching the celebration mark of 100 years of age every year. Older people want to age in place, not in nursing homes or institutions. Will the Minister give an update on the Government commitment to establish a new statutory home care support scheme? I welcome the work the Minister of State, …

Absolutely.

I thank the Minister of State for her reply. One of the biggest problems we have is getting people to work in the home care area. The Government is dealing with that in some respects. I welcome that over 1,000 visas are being issued to people to come to work in Ireland as healthcare assistants and healthcare workers. Would it not also make sense to look at the thousands of people who are in this country seeking international protection? If they have qualifications in healthcare, home care or in the health field gen…