I am sorry about that. I will address that later on.

My question to the Minister is about what his Department is doing to inform all public bodies of their immediate obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, CRPD, to prioritise disabled people's organisations, DPOs, in all consultations affecting disabled people.

I thank the Minister for his comprehensive response. The UNCRPD was ratified about five years ago in this Parliament, and I am sure the Minister agrees it is a very good convention. It is rights-based and it has living with a disability at the heart of it. We must continue the dialogue with that group of people and the groups advocating on their behalf. It is very important they have a say and that the approach is a rights-based one. Service providers and those who advocate for people with a disability do great wor…

I again thank the Minister for his comprehensive reply. I want to get his thoughts on the ratification of the optional protocol. When the UNCRPD was ratified some years ago, this was omitted, which I think was a big mistake. Many groups, including those advocating for people with a disability, have said its omission by the Government was a big mistake. Does the Minister have plans to ratify the optional protocol during his tenure?

This question concerns PhD researchers from non-EEA countries. There is a national review of State supports for PhD researchers generally taking place and last week hundreds of these researchers were outside Leinster House to highlight the issues they face with their work.

It is a tricky one for me as well.

As I said, hundreds of PhD researchers were outside Leinster House last week to highlight the issue of their pay and conditions. There are over 10,500 such researchers and their hourly rate is below the minimum wage at present. It is difficult to survive on that. I think the stipend is €19,000 at the moment and researchers are calling for more than that due to the cost-of-living crisis and the cost of living in the State generally. PhD researchers are excluded from social welfare benefits because they are paid so l…

I thank the Minister. I think we all agree the composition of PhD researchers as a group is quite disparate and that it is important they are kept in this country. They are educators, ultimately, and should not have to struggle with their everyday needs. I hope the review leads to an increase in the stipend. When will the review be published? The researchers are eager to hear what will come of it. We hope it will benefit all PhD researchers in the country.

The Government recently announced that a consultative forum will be set up to address Ireland's broader foreign policy. Nobody is afraid of debate and discussion but what many people are afraid of is the erosion of Ireland's neutrality. The Tánaiste may argue to the contrary but all of the soundings in recent times, particularly around the triple lock mechanism, as well as on Ireland's involvement in EU battle groups, permanent structured co-operation, PESCO, and the use of Shannon Airport, point to that. We must r…

I never said that.

No, the actions of the Government say it.

Over the next few months, many people will find themselves in a situation they never thought they would be in, namely potentially being homeless. It is not their choice; rather, it is the choice of this Administration. I am sure I speak for everybody when I say I hope that scenario does not happen and that families or individuals who cannot even get emergency accommodation will not have to go to a police station or airport. That is now within the realm of possibility. If that happens, and it could happen, the damag…

I too commend the Labour Party on its very timely motion. Many schools across the State will be disappointed and anxious at this time because of the delay over construction. One particular school in my constituency is the Holy Family Community School in Rathcoole. It was built in the 1980s for 500 pupils and now has 1,000 pupils. Rathcoole is a burgeoning area that has seen massive growth in both construction and people, which is very welcome. Residents, pupils and teachers want to know about the construction of a …

There are over 900,000 people on some form of public hospital waiting list. The Irish Hospital Consultants Association, IHCA, stated it would take up to a decade to address that legacy issue. Its main thesis regarding the national treatment purchase fund, NTPF, and the figures was capacity in all forms around acute situations and all forms of the hospital environment. This is a legacy issue that goes back decades, particularly to when Fianna Fáil was in government and slashed thousands of beds out of public hospita…

My question is on the decision taken by the Government in January to withdraw Irish troops from the Golan Heights to participate in the European battle group. We believe this is a breach and an erosion of Irish neutrality. I would like to hear the Minister's comments on that.

I disagree on the basis that there have been soundings, even from the Minister, and from other Ministers, on Ireland's neutrality. Let us look at the evidence. Why would Ireland participate in an EU battle group in the first place? Permanent structured co-operation, PESCO, also comes into play, as does the use of Shannon Airport as a military base. Millions of American troops have gone through Shannon Airport and they participated in a number of wars that killed hundreds of thousands of people in the Middle East. T…

I disagree again. Prior to the Minister stepping down as Taoiseach before Christmas, he went to the Council of the European Union and one of the main issues there was strengthening security and defence. All the evidence points towards the development of a European army when it comes to Ireland's neutrality and its place in the world, which has deep respect across the international community. We have said many times that the evidence points to PESCO and participation in European battle groups eroding our neutrality …

I never said that.

No. The Minister is making things up.

It is good that we are having this debate. There are serious issues around staffing levels in some of the hospitals in the State and particularly in emergency departments. This has been exacerbated by overcrowding and the inadequate bed capacity. The environment is not conducive to safety for the staff or the patients. There is something fundamentally wrong when nursing staff from emergency departments say the situation is dangerous. It is around staffing levels and where people can sometimes wait for days in emerg…