One of the main areas of focus for the new Minister for Health has been the need to address work time during the evenings and over weekends. The Minister has been proactive in managing that over the past number of weeks, in particular, to ensure we have a greater presence of senior consultants and others across the hospital system in order to try to accelerate discharge and provide senior oversight in the clinical environment over the weekend period. We are seeing the positive outworking of that in the ongoing mana…

I thank the Deputy. I start by expressing my condolences to the family of Luke Hyde. It is deeply concerning that the first instinct of some of those present when he tragically lost his life was not to help but to take out their phones and stream the incident. It is a failure of basic human decency to take the view that social media clout is more important than the dignity and privacy of someone in extreme distress in their last moments. When this sort of content is posted, very real harm is done. The trauma of los…

The Data Protection Commission, DPC, plays a critical role as one of the largest EU data protection authorities and the Government acknowledges its strong track record in carrying out its duties. As the lead supervising authority across many cross-border cases, Ireland is generally the first point of response for new and emerging data protection issues across the EU. By law, it is entirely independent of the Department of Justice and Government. It leads the EU on the quantum of monetary fines imposed on draft deci…

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. The programme for Government includes a commitment to facilitate faster data releases from the national claims information database, NCID, to further enhance transparency and accountability. This report helps to deliver that commitment. In 2018, the average earned premium was €702. It is now 18% lower, at €575. That speaks to some of the reforms that were introduced. Insurance reform, including increasing affordability and accessibility of insurance, remains a ke…

In fairness, Deputy Doherty has been proactive in this area over recent years.

We will work across the House to strengthen insurance reform and bring forward a new programme of reform over the term of this Government.

We will work across the Oireachtas on the measures that can be taken.

Like the Deputy, I strongly condemn the continuing Israeli military operation, which has brought fresh suffering to the people of Gaza. The images we are seeing are truly horrific. The humanitarian situation in Gaza is catastrophic; it is hell on earth. It has been over 50 days since food, medicines and other essential supplies have been allowed to enter Gaza. Israel’s continuing humanitarian blockade is pushing Gaza closer to a hunger crisis. As the Taoiseach said yesterday, it is wrong in principle and law to inf…

I acknowledge the ongoing issue of high energy prices across our economy, and that is why the outgoing Government, including through budget 2025, sought to support families through the electricity credit scheme. In the context of budget 2025, we will be specifically targeting any type of support that could be made available to individuals or families through the social protection system. We have been clear that we are going to move away from universal measures in the context of any support for families. Specificall…

I thank Deputy Gogarty. My understanding is that work on that is continuing, but I will ask the Minister for Justice to respond to the Deputy directly on the timeframe of the group. There are existing systems and processes in place that are very much upholding best practice around child protection, and those concerned are considering whether repeat vetting is required or whether vetting is not required again where someone has been vetted on one occasion. However, it is important that this be managed with care, obvi…

I acknowledge the road safety considerations the Deputy raised. The Minister, Deputy O’Brien, along with the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, should examine the balance here and the appropriateness in the context of some of the speeds reached. It is an important part of the e-mobility strategy that there is an acceleration of e-bikes – not in terms of their speed but in the provision of e-bikes across cities and urban areas as we have seen in parts of Europe and elsewhere. I acknowledge the road safety issue the D…

I acknowledge the waiting time for driver testing is too long. The RSA has a service level agreement of a ten-week target which is not being met. It is increasing testing capacity and trying to improve the overall delivery by increasing the permanent sanction of testers to 200. That should help support a reduction in the wait time. I will ask the Minister for Transport to respond directly on the driver test site in Tallaght or where that may or may not be. I do not have that particular information. We acknowledge t…

I spoke on this earlier in response to Deputy Lowry. I offer my condolences to the family of Luke Hyde. What happened in the aftermath of this was shocking. That there were people who were more interested in recording the incident than helping is absolutely shocking. I mentioned earlier that the view of the Department of Justice is that this may be captured by an existing provision. I will ask the Minister for Justice to respond to the Deputy’s points. I know how upset the family is and indeed anyone else recorded …

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I will ask the Minister for Justice to respond to him directly on the particular policy plans in respect of the issue he has raised.

There is very strong reference in the programme for Government to making progress across the disability area. In each budget, we want to make incremental progress over a five-year period. That will involve the consideration of social protection payments and indeed means-tested payments like the disability allowance, as well as other areas on which we were very clear in the election regarding the means test, and other issues which will have to be considered by the Minister for Social Protection in the context of wha…

I thank the Deputy. I know from being in Youghal with him on many occasions the importance of different State infrastructure and the services and activities it provides in the context of the local community and the other resources that are attached to the courthouse he has referenced. I will ask the Minister for Justice, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, to respond directly to the Deputy on his concerns and his request for the provision of continued court services and the courthouse in Youghal, and to reflect on the concerns…

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle. It is great to see the continued co-operation in Carlow-Kilkenny. I welcome everyone from Limerick as well.

As mentioned by the Minister for Finance and the Taoiseach, the imposition of tariffs poses a significant risk to our country, society, workers, businesses and economy as a whole. All the Deputies here in the House understand the genuine concern, anxiety and distress all this places on families and people across the communities we represent. This will impact on growth and jobs and on broader inflation and cost pressures across the Irish, EU global economy. Prior to and in the days since President Trump's announceme…

As Minister for public expenditure, infrastructure, public service reform and digitisation, I am responsible for setting the overall capital allocations across Departments and for monitoring monthly expenditure at departmental level. The responsibility for the management and delivery of individual investment projects or sectoral policy strategies within the allocations initially rests with the individual sponsoring Department in each case. Each Minister is responsible for deciding on the priority programmes and pro…

I reject the Deputy's assertions in respect of that matter. What she outlined relates to CSO and Central Bank data that was already in the public domain and that was debated in the Dáil on the day it was published by her colleague Deputy Doherty and the then Minister for housing, Deputy O'Brien. There were lots of projections across the public domain, and the Government obviously said it was disappointed with the final outturn relating to housing completions. That is why, in the context of the NDP review, we have s…