Yes, but once we have disposed of the amendments, will a question be put to the effect that the Bill will be then passed?

I think that is the procedure, in fairness, but I was not sure, so I wanted to check.

I was not sure but I thought that was the case and wanted to check. It is important, therefore, that I put on record what I would do if there were to be a vote. Sometimes even some of us in the House still get confused by the procedure, and certainly, for people outside the House who have been following the debate, the procedure may be even more confusing. I put on record, therefore, that if there were to be a vote on the overall Bill, we would oppose it for the reasons we set out previously. In the previous Dáil, …

My question relates to the recent report that has been in the media. Can the Minister provide an update on child protection and welfare practices in publicly funded and publicly run residential care facilities? Is there any sort of oversight or monitoring from the Department with regard to suspected abuse? Will there be provision to address issues highlighted by Tusla included in this budget? The Minister might give us some more information. I am sure he is aware of the report to which I refer.

I thank the Minister. I welcome some of those points he made, particularly around some of the new working groups. I assume they were established recently enough. Maybe they were established even after this report was published. Obviously, however, it is very concerning and worrying for us. Some particularly worrying things that stuck out to me were that in some instances, front-line workers were uncertain about reporting their suspicions and felt uncomfortable discussing sexual exploitation or did not know what to …

Am I over time?

I would like to know more about the Barnahus project about which the Minister spoke because I want to be solution-focused here. The report is damning and very upsetting. We want to see how we can prevent this going forward. I am not sure if it is possible for us to get some more information, obviously, not in this answer but even outside of that as a committee. We can maybe do a visit, if that is appropriate. It would be good to see whether that is actually working and whether we can learn from that experience. I k…

This question follows on from a written parliamentary question I tabled on the number of children in care who are awaiting the allocation of a qualified social worker and what measures, particularly as we come into budget season, the Department is proposing to tackle the shortfall in social workers in Tusla. What measures are there to address the deficit in available data? That is one of the issues. I will go into it further in my supplementary question.

I thank the Minister. What prompted me to ask this question is that, in the reply we got back, remembering that 870 children do not have a social worker, the Department was not able to give us a breakdown of the time that children were waiting. Someone could have gone onto the list two or three days before the question was asked, but it could have been months or a year. It would be useful to everybody if we could get that breakdown of data. I was going to ask about the interaction with the Department of Further and…

In the context of the previous question, if a social worker is allocated and if there is consistency in an individual's case, that person is less likely to fall into the trap of potentially being exploited. I know we all agree with that statement but we really need to work towards that. I welcome any sort of imaginative initiatives that we can do, particularly the apprenticeship route. Is that just being looked at or is that possibly something that will happen? Is there any timeframe? The Irish Association of Socia…

This question relates to the steps in budget 2024 that will address disadvantaged children in early years education, given the significant levels of child poverty being experienced.

I wanted to raise the issue of meals in pre-schools as I have received good feedback on it. Will that continue? It is a pilot scheme but it was very successful. On the policy the Minister referenced that is being drafted, does he envisage it will be ready for the budget or is it a longer term project? In the area of poverty, particularly child poverty, anything we can do to assist children and families is welcome. We had a lot of back and forth about the hours over the years and it was a welcome change. It was sign…

If it is early in the process, that gives us the opportunity to keep asking - asking early and asking often. That is good to know. I welcome that. I also want to reference childminders coming into the scheme. That will be welcome in general. A huge number of people rely on childminders. Not everyone, including those of us in this Chamber, has a nine to five, Monday to Friday type role. We rely heavily on childminders. That will be significant for people in a disadvantaged situation because they often rely on childm…

I ask the Minister of State, Deputy Joe O'Brien, to conclude the debate. He has ten minutes.

I thought the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, would be here, but I understand that people cannot necessarily be everywhere. I was going to start by saying that I know she has a strong track record on this issue and that she is genuinely committed to it. The reason I wanted to raise this matter is, in the first instance, because I have an interest in it. I do a lot of work locally with various people trying to flee domestic violence relationships, as I am sure many other Deputies do. I have tied in a lot with …

I thank the Minister of State. I do not doubt his sincerity on this issue at all. One of the key things in this regard concerns some interim measures. We must see this happen while we are waiting for the agency to be established. It is important the stakeholders are consulted in respect of this agency to ensure it works effectively. I refer to local programmes, such as StartSafe, run by our local refuge, Amber, for secondary schools and youth groups. We must try to see where things are working well and how we can r…

Briefly, this aspect has changed, but it depends on who people are dealing with. We must examine some of these short-term interim measures while we are waiting for the broader strategy to be established. I am sorry for going over time.

The Minister was in my home town, Callan, a few years ago on a day with similar weather to what we are having today. Some good projects, such as the one she was there for that day, are happening in some of our towns and villages. That is welcome but, as my colleagues said, there are still outstanding issues. I apologise in advance to anyone who has heard me talk about this before. The train is one of the things that really bothers me about transport in the constituency of Carlow-Kilkenny. We have the same train tim…

Deputy Healy-Rae is over time.

Deputy Healy-Rae's time is up. I ask him to have respect for the Chair.