I was interested to hear what the Minister of State said, following the conversation we had in the Chamber yesterday. I mentioned the Gates Foundation. He re-emphasised Ireland's commitment to overseas development. That is good news in a world where the cuts in US aid have been described by aid agencies as irreplaceable and having a significant impact. The security piece is important. I want the European budget to adapt and develop in such a way that it is able to meet unforeseen circumstances. I understand 90% of …

I thank the Minister of State. Our political grouping at EU level, Renew Europe, has some positive ideas. It proposed reinforced provisions to promote democratic resilience, including something that is close to the heart of this Government, which is funding support for independent media, investigative journalism and fact checking. I understand the Estonians are way ahead of the rest of Europe in dealing with disinformation. We need to pile some significant money into that. Much of this overlaps with the portfolio o…

What does the Tánaiste consider the best response to the comments by the chair of the United States foreign relations committee that the occupied territories Bill is blatantly antisemitic?

I welcome and echo the Tánaiste's remarks. The small Jewish community in my constituency of Dublin South-West feels particularly vulnerable at times of protest. Outside our relationship with the UK and the European Union, we have a unique relationship with the United States. This issue provides an opportunity, not to review it but to move forward with a different kind of dynamic. Some people on the left are the first to protest when members of the Houses of Congress who may hold strong views with which we disagree …

I echo the Tánaiste's comments regarding our diplomats. The week of St. Patrick's Day is a particularly important week for Ireland. Is it time to look at mobilising more politicians, outside of just Ministers and Ministers of State, to engage at state House level in the United States, open up a new conversation with American legislators and mobilise our considerable diaspora? There was a time when we had very significant figures on Capitol Hill but that has diminished a little bit. The Cathaoirleach of the Seanad h…

On the subject of our contributions, we had the Gates Foundation in yesterday. It was about maternal and child health. Ireland remains up there with just the Nordic countries and the Dutch in retaining that level of support. We are beacons in the ocean of development aid funding, but specifically in that area. The Minister of State may want to comment further.

As an aside on the GPO issue, the GPO has always been a hub of business transactions for well over a century. I am really excited by the Government's plans and the cultural and historical aspects. The GPO was always a hub of business and business transactions. My question relates to a serious backlog in HSE dental check-ups for primary school children. Constituents have contacted me about their son who is now finishing fourth class. He missed out on this check-up because of Covid when he was in second class and he …

It is not true.

The waiting times for driving tests are increasing at my two local centres in Tallaght and Deansgrange, which serve constituents in Dublin South-West. I had a call to my office this morning from a constituent whose son has been waiting over nine months for a test. He represents Ireland in athletics and his father, who works in a hospital, has to accompany him or drive him around the country to races. All his son wants is his independence to drive himself, but he cannot as he is still waiting for his test. Second, p…

Could we institute a learner driver programme to try to address those really-----

-----appalling figures?

I will wrap the two questions together if that is okay with the Chair and the Minister.

Has the Tánaiste had any recent discussions with his Ukrainian counterpart and will he comment on that? Will he update us on whether any further sanctions will be imposed on Russia?

I appreciate the combined answer there. I have a couple of comments. The Tánaiste will be aware of this and the briefings he gets will be far more sophisticated and informative than what I would be privy to, which is reading some of the international newspapers today, but it looks like Russia is mounting a further offensive into Ukraine. There is a lot of commentary in the press about what the US President's next step will be. The US President had said if Russia did not take certain steps, then he would not just co…

Words are completely inadequate, but I want to share some thoughts in spite of that. I warmly welcome the steps taken by my colleague the Minister for Justice, Jim O'Callaghan, to try to bring some - I will not say closure - sense and reason to the awful events that happened in Carrickmacross a decade and a half ago. I am very happy the Leas-Cheann Comhairle is in the Chair to oversee the proceedings. When you get a little older in life, certainly in my case anyway, you become acutely aware as each decade passes of…

I thank the Taoiseach for taking the question. I have enjoyed reading NESC reports on and off for the past 30 years. I noticed that one of the most recent ones, which was also referenced by the Taoiseach, was in regard to energy poverty. Successive Governments have introduced schemes like the warmer homes scheme, which is very valuable, and we also have the fuel allowance. These cost the State significant amounts of money, and it is right that the Exchequer pays this money out. However, it has often struck me that …

I, too, congratulate the Minister and the Minister of State on their appointments. Like others, this is the first opportunity I have had to do so. The Minister can take as read that I support the thrust of what the previous speakers, Deputies Martin Daly and Barry Ward, the good Deputy beside me, have said. I will take a slightly alternative route, however. The Dáil had gone into recess in July 2018 and our party leader, the current Taoiseach, was speaking at an event for the heads of third level colleges and insti…

This is a transport issue. Under the last Government, and it was generally welcomed at the time, the Minister for Transport introduced very relaxed laws around e-bikes, e-scooters and electric bikes. Now there are electric bikes and scooters that travel at the speed of mopeds and motor bikes that are completely powered-up and do not require any pedalling activity to get them moving. At the same time there are regular electric bikes and regular e-scooters that are probably fit for cycle tracks and active travel sche…

A statement was made regarding Garda strip-searching. That was denied by gardaí, and just because someone can come back in and keep repeating it does not make it so. I am a person with a record of calling things out here, just as the Leas Cheann-Comhairle did - I took my lead from him - but just repeating any accusation does not make it so, and it went unchallenged.

The Taoiseach called out the horrors yesterday at the Global Ireland Summit in front of as large an international representative audience as you could get, from around the world and the European Union. I wish he could do it every day but that seems to be what is being asked for on the Opposition benches. My colleague Deputy O'Meara put it very well with regard to the inability of the European Union to act cohesively on Gaza. Ireland has been very clear about it. The Taoiseach was exceptionally clear about it yester…