Once again, I extend my condolences to Shane O'Farrell's family on his sad death. A scoping exercise was done. I think it was by a retired judge. I have not seen the report but I know the Minister for Justice, Deputy Harris, is very keen to publish the report as soon as possible. He wants to put the published report out there. We want Members to be able to read it for themselves so that, having read the report, they can make an informed decision as to whether a further inquiry is appropriate. I understand there hav…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 11 to 14, inclusive, together. The Cabinet committee on the humanitarian response to Ukraine last met on Tuesday, 31 January and the next meeting is scheduled for 23 February. This committee, which I chair, works to ensure a co-ordinated approach to the State's humanitarian response to people arriving from Ukraine who have sought temporary protection here. Since the start of the war, more than 73,000 people arriving from Ukraine have availed of temporary protection in Ireland. To da…

I thank Deputies for their questions. When we talk about the whole issue of Ukraine and the wider migration issue, we need to put it into context. We are seeing a war on the Continent of Europe the likes of which we have not seen since the 1940s. We are seeing refugee movements across Europe the likes of which we have not seen in our lifetimes, certainly not since the 1940s. We have seen a trebling of international protection applicants from outside the European Union coming into Europe and also into Ireland. This …

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as a ceist. Is é Tithíocht do Chách an plean atá againn chun úinéireacht tí a chur i bhfeidhm, a chinntiú go bhfuil rochtain ag gach duine tithíocht ar ard-chaighdeán chun cobhsaíocht a thabhairt do chíosóirí, agus chun daoine atá i mbaol a bheith gan dídean a chosaint. Is cuid dár gcultúr agus dár stair í úinéireacht tí. Ní féidir linn glacadh leis nach mbeidh daoine in ann a gcéad teach a cheannach go mbeidh siad greamaithe i laincis cíosa. At the outset, I thank the Deputy for he…

We are acting on this. Just in the past few weeks, we have introduced rent tax credits at €500 per renter, €1,000 for a couple, three people sharing getting €1,500 and four people sharing getting €2,000. That is going to help people in a meaningful way with their rent costs. That is something I believe we can build on in future budgets if the public finances allow. We are also making a reality of cost-rental housing. This is something talked about for a very long time and it is now a real option for people to be ab…

-----or include too many one-beds or might accommodate, to use a term Sinn Féin likes to use, "transient" tenants.

I thank the Deputy. I want to acknowledge the enormous pressure a lot of people, families and businesses are under because of the rise in energy costs. We have seen a dramatic rise in energy costs over the past two years, almost entirely driven by international factors, and exacerbated by the war in Ukraine and other factors related to it. In fairness, a lot has been done by the Government to help people with the rising cost of living. I might read them out later, but I can identify 25 individual measures alone tha…

A windfall tax on energy companies is weeks away. I do not think we are late in the day because companies pay tax now on profits they made last year and last year only ended six or eight weeks ago. We will have that tax in place in the near future. It will be retrospective in the sense that the companies will pay it on the profits they made last year and will pay it again on the profits they make this year, so we will have two years of revenue coming in from that windfall tax. We will be able to use that to help bu…

Let me say at the outset that I do not believe there is any excuse for racism of any form, whether it is directed towards people who are new arrivals to this country, people who have been here for a long time or people who were born here. People should be judged by the content of their character and not the colour of their skin, full stop, and I do not think any of us, coming from any perspective, whether it is centre, right or left, should try to politicise the issue of racism or try to gain from it in any way. I …

It is absolutely right that people should stand up against racism. We are working on a new national anti-racism strategy and will have that quite soon. We will implement it and fund it. However, I do not think that anyone should use an anti-racism campaign to promote a particular political party or particular ideology and I do not think that should be done. I will keep on saying that whether the Deputy likes it or not. As I have always said, I believe migration has been a good thing for Ireland. It has been good fo…

What we want to achieve in healthcare, guided by the Sláintecare plan is essentially three things. We want healthcare to be affordable, that is, free at the point of use for a lot of people and affordable for everyone; access where people are getting healthcare in a timely manner; and we also want good patient outcomes. I am not satisfied with where we are with that as a country and I acknowledge that we have a lot more work to do and not just in the mid west region but across the country as well. People will bandy…

I do not know exactly why surgery was cancelled in Ennis during that period. The Minister for Health is beside me and has said he will check that out. It could be that the hospital was simply full of medical patients. That happens, particularly during winter when the surgical wards have to be given over to medical patients because so many people come in with pneumonia, respiratory infections and other things. That is why surgery is sometimes cancelled and it is one of the reasons we want to develop surgical hubs an…

I am advised by the Minister for Health that he is still engaging on the issue of the Patient Safety (Notifiable Patient Safety Incidents) Bill 2019. He is engaging with the 221+ group and the Attorney General around its legal implications. The Minister still hopes to get the Bill done this week but there is a possibility that we will put it off for a week if that makes sense. He is still hoping that we can have an agreement and get the legislation done this week, if at all possible. We are all acting in good faith…

It is a research document produced by the EPA and it should not be dismissed. It is a useful scientific contribution to an important debate on land use but it is not Government policy.

I will ask the Minister to answer.

An Garda Síochána is made up of sworn gardaí and Garda staff. We anticipate that both will increase in number this year. We have provided funding for more than 1,000 gardaí to be recruited this year. This will be enough to cover retirements and resignations, and will result in an increase in the total number of gardaí. While training was disrupted as a consequence of the restrictions related to Covid, the total number of gardaí who completed or began training last year was almost 500. We expect to see some of them …

I thank the Deputy. Unfortunately we do not have data that are as good as we would like on real rents paid in Ireland. We should have data from the census and also the Residential Tenancies Board data when they come through. There is no doubt that a lot of people are paying very high rents and are struggling to pay them. This is why we brought in the rent credit, for which some 170,000 people have already applied. I encourage those who have not yet applied to do so. The Minister has put down his countermotion and t…

I would have to check with the Tánaiste on that. The Tánaiste drew up the schedule for the visits for St. Patrick's Day. I do not believe it is correct to say that the Attorney General always travels to Washington D.C. with the Taoiseach. It has happened in the past. In the past the Attorney General has not travelled at all, and in the past the Attorney General has travelled to other locations. I believe I am correct in saying that what the Deputy has outlined is not the case. I can only remember one occasion when …

I do not think that is a fair characterisation. There has been a very strong and meaningful response from the Government to help people with the rising cost of living. There was the auto-double payment of social welfare and pensions; a double payment of child benefit; a €400 fuel allowance; a €500 working family payment; €500 for people with disabilities, blind people and those on the invalidity pension; €200 for those on the living alone allowance; €500 to carers; a Christmas bonus; a €12 increase in weekly paymen…

-----since the mid-2000s; the largest ever expansion of the fuel allowance scheme; increased thresholds for the working family payment; a major expansion of the hot meals schools programme; an increase in the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance; two fuel allowance lump sums; universal energy credits of €600 for every household; a reduction in student fees; a 25% reduction in childcare costs; a 20% reduction in public transport fees; a reduction in the drug payment scheme for medicine costs; reductions in…