Why must everyone with mental health and disabilities fight for everything tooth and nail? The programme for Government says Ireland should aim to become an international leader in support and care for people with mental health challenges. I agree. In 2019, 421 people died by suicide. Some 10% of the population suffers with some sort of mental health problem. At the end of June, there were 350 children in Meath and Westmeath waiting on appointments to psychology departments, with over 8,000 children awaiting appoin…

I congratulate the Minister and the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, on their appointments and I wish them the best of luck. Why is Meath County Council historically the lowest funded local authority per head of population in the country? Will the Minister bring local government funding for the County of Meath up to the national average?

I thank the Minister for of State for his reply. I have a local government funding review here submitted by Meath County Council in 2018. The figures from that are that Meath County Council is losing out to the tune of €72 million per year by not getting its fair share of local government funding. At the moment we are getting 61% of the national average. According to figures from 2018, for example, in housing and building, we are getting 45% of the national average; on roads, transport and safety, 90%; on environme…

Let me tell the Minister of State what the property tax has done for Meath. When former Minister, Phil Hogan, brought in the local property tax, he said local authorities were going to keep 80% of it. He did not say he was going to do away with every other Government grant that the local authority was getting. The people of Meath paid an additional €18 million in property tax but their services have not been increased by one cent because every other Government grant was taken away. In 1996 the population of Meath w…

The programme for Government does not explicitly mention the Navan rail line but it does mention a commitment to rail. Navan is the largest town in Ireland not serviced by rail. Before and during the general election campaign, all parties committed to delivering a rail line to Navan, including the three parties now in government. Will the Government deliver a rail line to Navan, as was promised during the campaign for the general election?

Page 84 of the programme for Government refers to broadband. Never has it been more evident than during Covid how important it is to roll out the national broadband plan. The programme for Government refers to facilitating remote working and innovation opportunities. In large areas of north-west Meath in my Meath West constituency, including Oldcastle, Athboy, Ballivor, Kildalkey, Delvin, Collinstown and Castlepollard, broadband is very poor, with little or no access. This makes it nearly impossible for local busin…

The principle of community policing is of course a good one. However, where gardaí are present in stations for only a few hours each week, there are no visible foot patrols and very few community group meetings with gardaí, then the actions on the ground do not match the principle. An analysis of the force's station directory shows that almost 60% of stations are open for less than three hours per day, Monday to Friday. The number of Garda stations open across the State has decreased by over 20% since 2011 when app…

I have four minutes and will try to leave a minute for the Minister to answer two questions. It is my first opportunity to speak in the Dáil and I very much welcome it. I thank all the people in Meath West including in north-west Meath who voted for me. I thank all the staff in the Houses of the Oireachtas who have been so nice and helpful to us since we came in here. Housing was the biggest issue before and during the general election and it will remain a huge issue after Covid-19. In Meath West we see the full ra…