Many parents in Wicklow rely on Tallaght hospital's emergency department for their children. I have often frantically made the journey on the hard shoulder with my child to bring them to the emergency department, where they get excellent care. When the new children's hospital is opened, the Tallaght emergency department will close for children and it will be an urgent care centre with daytime provision, which will close at 8 p.m. every day, so parents in Wicklow will have to bring their child into St. James's for a…

He can do it here now if he wants. I am happy for him to take it.

He can tell the Tánaiste what the answer is.

When will the Tallaght paediatric emergency service close?

We need a debate on climate targets and how we will deal with our emissions in this Dáil. Today, for the second year in a row, the Environmental Protection Agency has said that even if the Government implements all its policies, it will still meet only 29% of the reductions it is meant to meet, as opposed to the 51% target. What we see from this Government is spin over action. As regards the warmer homes scheme, it is taking two and a half years for people's homes to be completed. We have a Minister four and a half…

The Ombudsman for Children has issued a report this week to highlight the many ways in which children are being failed in this country. The report states that children are competing for attention at a time of crisis in many areas. Dental health is one of those areas where children are being forgotten so I want to focus on children in this contribution. We have 104,000 children on a waiting list for the school screening dental service. There are 4,342 children and special care patients on the public dental surgery l…

I want to raise the issue of the neurological rehabilitation centre that is planned for Bray. This was first promised in 2018. In July of 2023, a team of 13 specialists were identified. The recruitment process was to start for them and then it all came to a stall because of the recruitment freeze. If a derogation is applied to that centre, those jobs and positions can be filled. I previously raised this with the Tánaiste in March to see whether we could get a derogation on that. The Minister for Health was to refer…

I am really disappointed. This Topical Issue was first scheduled for 23 April. The Minister was not available and I was asked whether I would postpone it until he was available, which was today. Unfortunately, he is not here. That is very disappointing. I want to discuss issues relating to BusConnects for Wicklow. I have a number of concerns. The primary one arises from reports that Go-Ahead is contracted to manage BusConnects for Wicklow. When the public found out that was the case, there was concern because the r…

I do understand that the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, has been handed this document but unfortunately the Department was unable to predict the specifics of my questions, so a lot of what I have asked has not been answered. Perhaps the Minister of State will make sure the Department provides answers. That would be welcome. It is disappointing as well that there is no specific date for it. We were given a specific date of the second quarter this year and that has been pushed on. It seems there are delays with it…

I thank the Minister of State.

I raise nicotine pouches. A nicotine pouch rests up against a person's gum. A pouch is five times stronger than a cigarette. Children are using these pouches in schools. Teachers do not know they have them against their gums. These pouches are highly addictive. They are marketed to teens and come in mint or berry flavours. We currently do not regulate them. In January, I tabled a parliamentary question to the Minister for Health. There is no regulation of them in Ireland. That needs to happen. The chair of the nati…

I wish to ask the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications to detail the process for the establishment of Re-Turn Ireland, the governance structures of that entity, and if he will make a statement on the matter.

I thank the Minister of State. I have a number of concerns about it. They may all be completely fine and not warranted, but there is no information on the Re-Turn website anywhere about the organisation, how it is structured, who the board of directors are or any of that information. When the Minister of State talks about transparency, it is not there at the moment. He talks about the highest standards of corporate governance. When you look at the board - I have seen a list of names online of people who are on the …

I would be interested, and the Minister of State might not have the figures now, in what the salaries of the staff are and whether there are any bonuses or salaries being provided to the directors. That is very important information. Regarding the revenues that are made by this not-for-profit company, they could actually be quite large. It has been estimated that from 1 February to this point, there is potentially €65 million in unclaimed vouchers that will be staying with this company. That is a large amount of mo…

Do I not come in again?

In response to a previous contribution, the Tánaiste said there is a plan to deal with tents that are popping up across the city. Will he tell us what that plan is? What we have seen is tents removed, fences put up and the problem moved to other streets. Less than six hours after tents were removed from the canal, they are now down in Ringsend and East Wall. This is clearly not a sustainable solution. We need to hear exactly how the Government is going to deal with this matter because fencing every single street in…

What is the plan to deal with the tents?

What is the plan for people who are seeking asylum?

The Tánaiste is not answering the question.

I hope the Government has a large supply of fences, because that is its response to this.