I know the Ceann Comhairle has stepped out but I want to pay tribute to him for hosting President Zelenskyy earlier. He spoke passionately and emotively from the heart and he represented the views of the people of Ireland. I commend the Minister, who also spoke most eloquently. It was wonderful to hear him namecheck and quote some of the 21 previous speakers who had addressed the Houses. It put the momentum of today in context. I congratulate him on that. On the business at hand, we are facing the perfect storm. On…

I am sharing time with Deputy Carroll MacNeill. As many colleagues have said, we live in unprecedented and uncertain times. A friend of Europe and of Ireland has been invaded, the victim of a barbaric act and a barbaric dictator who has brought wanton and untold carnage on that country. Over the past number of days, we have seen a massive outpouring of humanitarian support and aid for the people of Ukraine, which is only right, just and proper. There are many analogies between Ireland and Ukraine, going back to the…

The programme for Government made a number of key commitments to look at new ways of structuring funding for and promoting apprenticeships. It recognised that we have to encourage better and wider take-up and target skills to meet the needs of our economy. A plan to deliver this is the Action Plan for Apprenticeship, which has shown the intent to create a modern apprenticeship system that is reflective of Irish society and supports learners and employers. I ask the Minister to comment on the staffing and funding al…

I agree with the Minister that we have seen good and much-needed progress lately in the form of an increased annual number of apprenticeship registrations. I think the entire House agrees that the creation of a focused, well-resourced national apprenticeship office to co-ordinate the apprenticeship system and to drive it forward is essential to this delivery. I am therefore delighted to see the Minister's enthusiasm for the project and to see the commitment he has made to it thus far. He said €1 million is allocate…

I take on board that we have to wait for the director to come into office before seeing exactly what her plans are. The country agrees we need apprentices rapidly, particularly for retrofitting. It will be a missed opportunity if we do not take a centre and office for apprenticeships outside Dublin and the big urban areas. In the main, apprenticeships and apprentices will be drawn from rural Ireland into construction trades and across the agricultural and possibly retail sectors. Deputy Conway-Walsh spoke of the ch…

I am aware that the Minister recently announced the appointment of five external members to the Project Ireland 2040 delivery board. Heretofore the membership of the board was predominantly comprised of Secretaries General of the main spending Government Departments and the appointment of five new external members will bring additional knowledge, greater private sector experience and important independent and regional perspectives to the deliberations of this important board. Can the Minister advise on the actions …

I welcome the Minister’s comments and his enthusiasm for and commitment to this sector. His points on regional and balanced development were particularly timely and he will be aware that Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, recently shelved the funding for eight major road projects. I will go partisan on this point and say that the most important project within those eight would be the N4 upgrade from Mullingar past Longford. It is particularly disappointing that this money has been shelved. To date, €6 million h…

I am heartened by the Minister's response to this issue. An additional €1.5 million this year will keep this project on track and allow the design team to continue with the route-selection works. Everything the Minister has said would echo the views of the midlands, generally. This is a critical infrastructure and road, not only for the midlands, but for the wider north-west region. It behoves us, as legislators and the Government, to ensure in the interest of balanced regional development that this road programme …

Our shared island initiative aims to harness the full potential of the Good Friday Agreement, to enhance co-operation, connection and mutual understanding on the island and engage with all communities and traditions as we seek to build consensus around the shared future. Sport will play a large part in all this. Will the Minister update the House on the shared island approach to sport?

That is most welcome. As we build a shared island we need to facilitate and expand our sporting connections and, therefore, this news is very timely. Sport plays a vital role in breaking down barriers and bringing communities together. We only have to look at our experience through Covid to see how important sport was. It brings us together in a common cause and in teamwork and, most importantly, it helps fill the gaps that divide us. That is nowhere more important than in Ireland. Can the Minister of State indicat…

I commend the Minister of State on his input and role in the area so far. He has taken a real leadership role, although I saw his exploits on Twitter earlier this week and I do not think he will be any threat to Johnny Sexton or Joey Carbery soon. The role he is in probably suits him better. More seriously, is there a budget allocation in the shared island unit for initiatives relating to sport?

I have previously raised with the Taoiseach the matter of the stalling of the allocation of funding for the continued development of the N4 upgrade from Mullingar to Longford. It has now emerged that €6 million has been spent on the project to date. In the event of funding not being allocated this year, we risk that previous expenditure being wasted. The Taoiseach has committed to looking at the project. I urge him to treat it as a priority. It is essential for the midlands and the west.

We will all have to be here if the Minister is going to come in and announce the new facility will be on the south side of Cork. There will be some fun that day. My question for the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, is whether she can identify the number of children waiting for a CAMHS appointment in the Longford-Westmeath local health office area, the number of these children who are also on a waiting list for a primary care psychology appointment and if there is an audit, review or reform planned of the CAMHS ser…

I am heartened by the Minister of State's response and I pay tribute to her efforts in this area. Since taking office, she has been very passionate about her work and a great support to me and many colleagues. She and her officials have liaised with me on a number of difficult cases and I thank her for that. In regard to the audit, will she give some indication as to a timeline for when we might see it unfold? Will it be done in every CAMHS area at the same time or area by area? The third point of the review relate…

I thank the Minister of State for her detailed response. I ask her to home in, in her final response, on the specifics of the over-reliance on medication and parents' concerns in this regard. Following what has emerged in recent weeks and months, the entire CAMHS process has been discredited to some extent. It is important and reassuring for the public to see she has come out strongly on this issue and has detailed plans in place and a commitment and resolve to put this issue right. Parents are worried and I am dee…

Amid concerns over sustained inflationary pressures, and as the midlands struggle to adapt to a new era with the fast-tracked decarbonisation and the closure of Bord na Móna and the ESB operations in those areas, I ask the Taoiseach if he has a view on giving some consideration to a further decentralisation of Government Departments and agencies in Dublin, and bringing them out to areas that have been most adversely affected and have paid the biggest price in the understandable move towards decarbonisation.

Hopefully, I have sufficient breath. The latest phases in major road upgrades around the country for this year have been shelved by Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, citing insufficient funding. These include the N4 Mullingar to Longford upgrade, which has now been more than 20 years in gestation. It is a critical piece of infrastructure for the region and, given the road's inclusion in the national development plan, NDP, there was a realistic expectation locally that this road would proceed. Will An Taoiseach…

The brutal murder of Ashling Murphy shook this country to its core. It was a callous taking of a young life. It behoves us as legislators and as a society to ensure we act now and act decisively to address the deficiencies in the supports for women at risk of violence. What shocked most people was that Ashling was murdered in the early evening on the banks of a canal in a small provincial town. It was not the stereotypical location for a violent murder, but perpetrators of violence against women know no geographica…

Following on from a theme raised by Deputy Haughey, I ask the Minister of State to give details of the number of community gardaí in the Roscommon-Longford and Westmeath divisions and, if possible, to make a statement on same.

I thank the Minister of State for the response. We all agree community policing is very much at the front line and has proven itself to be extremely effective over the past decade in tackling antisocial and street crime. Through a parliamentary question earlier this year, I asked for the number of gardaí in County Longford. The response was that there had been 139 gardaí in the county as of 30 September. I am concerned that this figure includes those who were injured on duty and those on long-term sick leave, offic…