I am aware of the point the Deputy raises. I have listened very carefully to him. With regard to the voids programme, my Department is satisfied that Kerry County Council has been well supported in its efforts to bring social housing stock back into much-needed productive use. Given the significant investment in the voids programme over recent years, local authorities should be in a strong position to begin the transition to a strategic and informed planned maintenance approach to stock management and maintenance. …

I wish to deal with the points raised and the response from Government. I thank the Deputies for their contributions. I am grateful for the opportunity to close the debate for the Government. As the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, outlined earlier, the Government opposes People Before Profit's Eviction Ban Bill for a number of reasons. The Minister also outlined that the Government is currently considering the legal policy issues involved in the extension of the eviction ban. No decisions have yet been made. Cabinet will…

Will the Deputy bring us the details of that case and the previous case?

I responded to that but the Deputy was not here when I responded.

I am sorry, we are opposing the Bill.

I am sorry, we are opposing the Bill.

On a point of order-----

We are opposing the Bill.

My apologies, we are opposing the Bill. I ask for the indulgence-----

Sorry, please, this is semantics. We are opposing the Bill. Please, a Cheann Comhairle.

My apologies. We will say it is a rookie error. My apologies. I would ask you to be some bit flexible, just on this occasion, a Cheann Comhairle.

Is there another format where I could bring this? We are opposing the Bill. We have said it. Both the Minister and I said it.

I acknowledge how serious an issue this is for families. Obviously, Senator Seery Kearney has been a pioneer on this, has campaigned on this and has done a huge amount of political work on it. It is a matter that needs to be expedited. With that, I begin by thanking the Senator for giving me, on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, the opportunity to inform the House of the up-to-date position in respect of introducing legislative provisions for the regulation of international surrogacy and historic surrogacy a…

I will conclude by emphasising the urgency with which the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, wishes to be in a position to bring the new surrogacy provisions on Committee Stage of the Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022 to the Select Committee on Health for consideration. He is particularly determined to seek a way to speedily resolve the predicament and uncertainty faced by parents of existing children born through surrogacy. Although it would not be appropriate to comment on individual cases, he is ful…

I thank the Senator on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, for this opportunity to update the House on this important matter. The children's hospital project will truly transform how paediatric care is delivered in Ireland. The new children's hospital building is at the heart of this transformation bringing the acute paediatric hospital service and specialties in Children's Health Ireland under one roof for the first time, leading to improved clinical outcomes and a better experience for chi…

Once again I thank the Senator for her contribution on this matter. I can see how passionate she is in respect of putting forward the name of Dr. Kathleen Lynn as the name. This significant undertaking and the children's hospital project shows the commitment of the Government to develop paediatric services for children and young people, or dare I say to further develop them. The key enabler of the new children's hospital project will be the hub, a national network of paediatric services. This network will support r…

I thank Senator Chambers for the opportunity to address this issue. I would first like to outline the Minister for Transport's belief in the potential of rail. The Government is strongly committed to providing all citizens with reliable and realistic sustainable mobility options, and the rail network plays a key role in the delivery of this goal. As the Senator is aware, the Department of Transport, in co-operation with the Department for Infrastructure in Northern Ireland, has commissioned an all-island strategic …

The Senator's first question was about the approval process. As I said, a draft report is being finalised. The Minister expects to receive that within the next month. The draft report will be submitted to the Ministers for approval, as well as the Irish Government. The necessary approvals, based on what has been provided to me today, would be from both Executives, that is, the Government here and the Executive in the North. The Department will then publish the report. Until the report is published, it would be prem…

I thank the Senator for raising this issue as it affords me the opportunity to outline the position with regard to teacher redeployment schemes operating in post-primary schools. I am responding to the matter on behalf of the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley. I note the points the Senator has raised about redeployment. I will bring those back to the Minister and will highlight the points the Senator has made. Teacher allocations to all second level schools are approved annually by the Department of Education in…

I thank Senator Cummins again for giving me the opportunity to outline to the Seanad the position on the different redeployment schemes operating in the post-primary sector and how the voluntary transfer scheme helps to deliver on the important objective of successfully redeploying surplus post-primary teachers to where they are needed most. I note the point he has made in respect of the pilot schemes. It has operated in 24 counties but not all at once. At present it operates in counties Longford, Westmeath, Laois …