There are 30 seconds. Can the Minister be very brief?

I thank the Minister. I am moving on to the Government slot. Deputy Calleary has four minutes.

The next speaker is Deputy Cathal Crowe but I do not see him in the Chamber. Is Deputy O'Connor taking the seven and a half minutes allocated to his colleague?

I thank the Minister. We move now to Sinn Féin. Deputy Mairéad Farrell has two and a half minutes.

I apologise to the Deputy but his time was taken by his colleague because he was not here.

I am sorry but apologies were given that the Deputy was attending a transport committee meeting. We must move on. I will see if there is a way of slotting him in.

I apologise to the Deputy but his time was taken by his colleague. I checked that at the start.

No, I am sorry but there were not. I apologise but you were not here. I checked with your colleague and he said he was taking your time-----

-----that you had sent your apologies because you were at the transport committee. Deputy Mairéad Farrell has two and a half minutes.

First, I wish to commend Deputy Connolly and her colleagues on bringing forward this motion. I agree with much of the sentiment that has already been expressed around the importance of having the national maternity hospital in public ownership and the fact that there should be no religious influence. However, I want to take the opportunity to specifically focus on the maternity services situation in St. Luke's Hospital, which is based in Kilkenny, but provides services for the counties of Carlow and Kilkenny. There…

I am sorry Taoiseach, we are out of time for this.

He is not here yet, Deputy, if you wish to continue.

Is the Minister aware of the official complaint by the Association of Childhood Professionals to the United Nations and the Ombudsman for Children regarding the systemic discrimination against children and families by his Department in the context of its childcare policy under the national childcare scheme? Will he make a statement on the matter?

My issue with this, which I have raised previously, relates to after-school and children who are being shut out of that scheme. A whole cohort of children is falling through the cracks. I thought that there was a commitment given to review the scheme last year. A parent working outside the home or in education can avail of this but we should be looking at the needs of children. When we talk about childcare people automatically think about fees and parents but we need to think about what is best for children. There …

I apologise if I missed it, but what does the Minister expect the timeframe for the review will be? I welcome the review and think it is vital. I really hope that it will be a genuine review and the issues will be taken on board. It is becoming a big difficulty particularly in areas of disadvantage where parents just need a little bit of extra support. They may not be working outside the home, they may not be involved in education but their children have been benefiting for years from after-school care in particula…

This question is on the youth sector. There has been a shortfall in the number of volunteers in the sector. It relies heavily on volunteer hours. Many services are now facing closure due to a serious shortfall of properly trained volunteers.

I welcome the increase made last year, which everyone in the youth sector also welcomed. The Minister is relatively new in his role. The people in the sector maintain that funding has been significantly reduced since 2008 and they have not seen any increase since then. Much of the money provided is simply to play catch-up and the sector has not yet caught up. I had meetings recently with some of the youth organisations, including the National Youth Council of Ireland and Foróige. The representatives I met made the …

I acknowledge that work has been done. It is about getting a word in for the groups at this stage because budget negotiations are upcoming. I understand the Minister and others acknowledge the work these groups do but it is important that we keep a focus on this. One thing I love about the various youth groups is the range of activities they undertake. They are involved in sport and many other areas. I speak regularly to representatives of the Young Irish Film Makers programme, for which I am a great advocate. It i…

I must say, I am glad to see the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, taking this Topical Issue matter. It falls into his constituency as well so it is actually quite good. I am sure he will be aware of the situation. In counties Carlow and Kilkenny, several businesses are having significant issues in operating online. I want to specifically discuss one business called Sunshine Juice in Tinryland in rural Carlow, which employs 50 people and has had huge issues with trying to run the business. After experiencing diffic…

I thank the Minister of State. In Topical Issue debates, as with parliamentary questions for written answer, there is often a standard type of answer given. Regarding the review to which the Minister of State referred, is that a genuine process? Have there been successful outcomes to it or is it a case of saying there is a review happening in the hope it will kick the whole issue down the road? I mentioned the initiative by Kilkenny LEADER Partnership because it offers a possible solution not just in that particula…