-----before the end of this week.

I thank the Deputy. I do not agree with anything he said, except for the fact that he is right that what happened on Saturday night was absolutely wrong. Like him, I have condemned it. The Government has made an unprecedented investment in communities, for example through SICAP, through investment in communities the length and breadth of the country and through the Department of Rural and Community Development. To say that there has been no investment in communities is wrong. We have addressed childcare, in particu…

The Deputy should not be giving any excuses to the far right------

-----because what the far right is doing is wrong and we condemn it. The far-right protesters do not speak for the majority of the people of this country.

I agree with the Deputy there, but we should not be giving them credence or excuses. We have ramped up all of the measures we can in terms of increasing house building. The Deputy talked about dereliction; we have the Croí Cónaithe fund, which we increased only a couple of weeks ago. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, announced increases to €50,000 for a vacant property and €70,000 for a derelict building. These are all measures that will help to address some of the problems. We want to bring more houses back in…

It is important to say we want to do everything we can to make home ownership affordable for people, especially our young people. Housing for All provides funding and commits to delivering 36,000 affordable homes for purchase, as well as 18,000 cost-rental homes, until 2030. Those affordable homes are currently being delivered by local authorities, approved housing bodies, the first home scheme and the Land Development Agency, LDA. With regard to the Deputy's county of Galway, Galway city and county councils publis…

I agree with the Deputy. We need to make sure that these plans are moved on and the developments are commenced. I agree with that sentiment. There have been issues with viability and the ability of developers to unlock private, social and affordable developments and I believe that the Government's waiving of the development levies for one year and the rebating of Irish Water connection charges will prove to be a game-changer in this regard. As I mentioned earlier, the Croí Cónaithe scheme will be extremely useful i…

I understand the Chief Whip will engage through the Business Committee to arrange a debate on the issue raised by various Deputies about what happened at the weekend in Dublin regarding international protection applicants.

She will discuss it with the Deputy at the Business Committee.

The Chief Whip will engage with Deputies to try to work that out. I do not know if it will be this week. It could possibly be next week.

Regarding what Deputy Kelly raised, a decision to prosecute or not cannot be discussed in the Dáil, unfortunately.

Legislation is going through the Houses at the minute so perhaps that would be an opportunity to raise the issues the Deputy spoke about.

There will be an opportunity at that stage to raise the important issue that the Deputy raised. I am not sure what Deputy McGrath-----

Maybe that can be discussed through the Business Committee.

There is a clear Government commitment to produce and provide a pathway to eliminate the practice of accommodating young people with serious disabilities in nursing homes. In this context, work has been ongoing with the HSE to address nursing home care of people aged under 65 who can, and wish to, live elsewhere. In 2023, specialist community-based disability services received funding of €2.5 billion to deliver a range of services in the areas of residential and respite services, day services, home support services…

I thank the Deputy. There has been unprecedented investment in recent years in active travel. The Department of Rural and Community Development is assisting by providing better facilities through our outdoor recreation fund. The Minister for Transport, Deputy Ryan, is committed to increasing the number of people who can safely use bicycles. The Deputy is correct that, especially in rural areas there are no bicycle lanes, as in my part of the country, and it can be quite dangerous. The Government is committed to exp…

I thank the Deputy. The Government takes full responsibility. I do not agree with her assertions. The Taoiseach, the Minister for Justice, Deputy Harris, and I all want more gardaí on the street. We want more gardaí on the beat in communities. This is why we are recruiting more gardaí, with more than 300 recruits in Templemore as we speak. We have new classes every 11 weeks. The Minister for Justice has spoken to the Garda Commissioner who has assured him he has adequate resources to police such protests. The Commi…

The figure is up from 12,800 in 2015 to just over 14,000 now.

I have given some statistics. The number of people who have been recruited into An Garda Síochána is increasing all the time. We are committed to more gardaí on the beat and on the street.

I thank the Deputy for raising this. I will ask the Minister, Deputy Ryan, to give the Deputy an update on that particular matter. I do not have details to hand but I am happy to make sure that he responds to the query he has raised.