Let me rephrase it so, a Cheann Comhairle. If there were concerns that there were any breaches of the FOI Act or the Local Government Act, would the Tánaiste have serious concerns about those breaches, and what would the Government actually do? Would it look at reforming the FOI Act, or indeed what safeguards exist when local authorities breach them? Is that a matter he takes seriously and what would he do about it?

The horrors Israel has been committing in Gaza since October are frankly indescribable. I think I speak for most people when I say we watch TV screens and we cannot believe what we are watching because of the utter barbarity of it and also the fact nobody is doing anything to stop it. The civilian population of Gaza have been subject to the most depraved, indiscriminate bombing campaign in modern times. Not satisfied with bombing babies, women, children and other civilians in their beds, killing over 25,000 people …

I am looking for time to be set aside to discuss RTÉ's strategic plan. RTÉ workers heard about job cuts in the region of up to 400 jobs and they heard this from leaks to the media which is shameful in itself. The Government needs to come in and outline its plan for RTÉ. I understand the director general met with staff this morning and the information was quite sparse. Workers are understandably extremely worried about losing their jobs and about the amount of restructuring and how their jobs and work will be affect…

I would not normally raise an issue such as this and would deal with them myself but I have been left with no option. This is something that is very serious indeed for the residents involved. A section of Cearnóg Brugha in Drogheda and surrounding areas has been left with no water. They are mostly elderly residents but there is also one family with a young baby. As they have a dribble of water from the taps downstairs and nothing upstairs, they cannot heat radiators, they cannot bathe or wash clothing and they cann…

As the housing crisis deepens, we are all aware Fine Gael has been in government for 12 years and has been propped up by the Minister and Fianna Fáil for seven of those. In every one of those years, the housing crisis has worsened. Under the Government, house prices have increased by €70,000 and rents have increased by just under €4,000 per year on average. Homelessness has increased by 47%. In July, we reached a grim record figure of 12,847 people homeless, which is the highest ever. Some 12,847 men, women and chi…

I have to again raise the issue of the chaos caused by the Obelisk Bridge and the adverse effect it is having on traffic congestion in Drogheda. I have told the Taoiseach that I had liaised with Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, Louth County Council, the Minister for Transport and the Department, and they all passed the parcel. When I raised this matter with the Taoiseach several weeks ago, he said he was aware of the inconvenience it was causing in Drogheda and that he would revert to the Minister. The Minist…

------to formulate some sort of workable solution?

I say with no exaggeration that Drogheda is literally at a standstill seven days a week.

I ask the Minister to provide the most recent update in relation to the two ongoing reviews she has commissioned into governance, culture, contractor fees, human resources and other matters in RTÉ, including timelines and dates for completion.

I thank the Minister for the reply. It is good to get that update. I did submit two other questions that were disallowed by the Department relating to inquiries into RTÉ. One of them was about when RTÉ appeared before the Committee of Public Accounts two weeks ago. Serious concern has been raised about RTÉ's refusal to furnish us with the key documents around the setting up of the tripartite agreement. RTÉ claimed initially that it was because of legal privilege, then that it was because of client confidentiality. …

I sincerely hope he does. It is in the interest of RTÉ as much as anyone else's not to frustrate the workings of the committee and not to force us down the legal route of compelling the documents. The other issue I wanted to mention was in the other question that was disallowed. This is about the issue of bogus self-employment in RTÉ and the fact that €1.2 billion has already been paid to Revenue for workers that were bogusly classed as self-employed. It was the first time ever that RTÉ put on public record that it…

It is in relation to the workers. RTÉ has not set aside any money to compensate workers.

As we speak, ethnic cleansing of the world's largest open-air prison is happening. That is a war crime. The people of Gaza have nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. To add to the torture of knowing that each moment could be their last as bombs rain down upon them, the Israeli blockade now means that Palestinians are left thirsting for water, hungering for food, suffering with no medicines and huddling in the dark with their electricity cut off. It is simply terror upon terror. Hospitals, ambulances and medical perso…

As sure as there will be an overcrowding and trolley crisis in our hospitals this winter, which will unfortunately be the same as it is every year, there was a school bus capacity crisis this year, which is the same every year. It is not a new issue; it is a Government issue. The Government and the Minister know this but still they allow these problems to persist. Now and as always, the Government has failed to plan for the new school year properly, and this is despite repeated commitments from Ministers, past and …

The Obelisk Bridge at Oldbridge in Drogheda has been closed since August for restoration, and will be closed until May 2024. It was closed without any sort of traffic management plan, and has caused traffic chaos. It was the only crossing for people living in the immediate vicinity to get from the north to the south side of Drogheda. As a result of that, people are now forced to use the toll section on the M1 daily to take children to and from school. I have been liaising with the Minister for Transport and I have …

I want to speak about grassroots soccer, the League of Ireland and the publication at the beginning of June of the FAI's facility development strategy, which shows the association recognises the need for long-term investment and the development of Irish football. It comes at a time when we see most stadiums in the men's Premier Division selling out in advance of matches week in, week out. While this is enormously positive for League of Ireland clubs garnering unprecedented growing support, it also highlights the fa…

We would all agree that RTÉ, our public, State broadcaster, has been brought into disrepute as an entire organisation by the actions of a few at top management level. The matter first came into the public domain when the Deloitte audit of RTÉ's books finally revealed the overpayment of its top presenter in March 2023. The RTÉ executive board knew of these overpayments. It stayed quiet, hoping it would not be noticed and that the auditors were as inept at their job as members of the RTÉ executive board have been fou…

As I speak, retained firefighters are on the picket line in Drogheda and they have been forced to do so and left with no other option because of Government inaction. At present only six out of ten retained firefighter positions in Drogheda are filled, and that is a problem across County Louth which has been ongoing for seven years. They work six 24-hour shifts in a row, with only two days off. They are on call for 144 hours per week and have a five-minute turnaround time to get to the station, which most find impos…

Two weeks ago, I raised the issue of Louth County Council closing the applications for housing adaptation grants for new applicants because of the lack of Government funding. A total of 610 people are currently on the waiting list, many of whom are priority 1 cases. Since the applications were closed, my office has been inundated with people in dire need, all of which are serious cases. I will give the Minister one case as an example. A person in their early 50s had a leg amputated two weeks ago. This person was di…

There are well over 2,700 people in Drogheda waiting to do their driving test. They will be waiting at least 30 weeks, if they are lucky, to get a test date. For some reason, the Road Safety Authority, RSA, seems to deem Drogheda not suitable as a location for a test centre. Following information I requested from the RSA, seven of the 14 sites it looked at were deemed not suitable but it gave no reasons whatsoever for those assertions. Looking through the other reasons other sites were rejected, unbelievably, traff…