I thank the Deputy. I was really shocked and appalled to hear that it was even possible that UN staff would have been involved in the terrorist attack on 7 October. If it turns out to be true, I think it will do damage to the agency.

It is a very serious matter. Even if it is a small number of staff in a very big agency, it is shocking to think that UN staff could be involved in any form of terrorist attack. It does need to be investigated thoroughly. We have taken the decision, however, not to suspend our funding to the agency. The people of Palestine need humanitarian aid, healthcare, and education and it would be a disproportionate response to suspend our funding. For that reason, we are among a number of countries, perhaps even one of the f…

I thank the Deputy and acknowledge Limerick is one of a number of places that needs more gardaí. Blanchardstown in my constituency is another. The number of gardaí peaked in 2020. Templemore was closed as a consequence of Covid. It has now reopened and we expect the total number of gardaí to stabilise this year and begin increasing throughout the year. Some 746 trainee gardaí entered Templemore in 2023, the highest number since 2018. A new recruitment campaign is under way. There are also more Garda staff and bette…

I appreciate the Deputy's interest in this matter and his consistency in raising it in the House. The in camera rule is there generally speaking to protect the identity of children and families in what can be very sensitive cases. To waive that would be something we would have to think about very carefully.

The Minister is working on that legislation at the moment. We do not have a date yet for the publication but it is a legislative priority for the Department of Justice.

I am afraid I do not have an update on the bridge project to hand but I will follow up on it and get back to the Deputy directly.

I do not have a direct role in deciding where post offices are located. It is a matter for An Post but I appreciate the feeling in the town. New Ross is a big town. It needs a post office, and post offices are much better located in the centre of the town than in other locations. I will speak to the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, about it and ask him to get back to the Deputy directly.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 12, inclusive, together. The Cabinet committee on health last met on 7 December 2023 and is currently scheduled to next meet on 12 February of this year. The committee oversees the programme for Government commitments relating to health and receives detailed reports on identified policy areas. It considers the progress of health reforms, including Sláintecare and the reform of disability services. The committee also maintains an overview of public health. In addition to the mee…

I thank the Deputies for their questions. Deputy Durkan raised the operation and layout of emergency departments. I very much agree with him that staff work very hard in emergency departments and are often subject to abuse and even violence from a minority of patients and their visitors and that is never acceptable. The NTPF is used to commission private healthcare for public patients and it generally works very well. However, patients do have the right to seek healthcare in Northern Ireland or in the EU and have t…

The HSE can recruit an additional 2,000 staff this year.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 13 to 23, inclusive, together. The Cabinet committee on housing met yesterday. The committee works to ensure a co-ordinated approach to the implementation of Housing for All and programme for Government commitments regarding housing and related matters. Our latest update on progress achieved under Housing for All was published last Thursday. Despite considerable challenges in the external environment, we are making real progress with new homes and apartments being built all over the…

Deputy Durkan raised the issue of institutional investors. The Government recognises the need for protections to prevent institutional investors displacing owner occupiers. For this reason, we introduced tax and planning changes to protect traditional family houses from bulk purchase. These include changes introduced in May 2021 to the rate of stamp duty on bulk purchases. A 10% stamp duty levy was introduced by Government for the cumulative purchase of ten or more residential houses in a 12-month period. Section 2…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 24 to 27, inclusive, together. The Government has established ten Cabinet committees. These are Brexit and Northern Ireland, children and education, economy and investment, environment and climate change, EU and international affairs, Government co-ordination, health, housing, humanitarian response to Ukraine, and social affairs and public services. I am a member of all committees, as are the Tánaiste and the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Ryan. Tha…

On the St. Patrick's Day events in the White House, I have not yet received an invitation. If I am invited, I will accept and, as always, use it as an opportunity to speak to the US President and Administration about matters of interest and concern to the Irish people. Those conversations are not always pleasant ones. While we agree on the majority of things, we do not agree on everything. I point out that the President of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, has met President Biden in the past few months, and certainly more …

Of course. We are getting our own legal advice.

I thank the Deputy. As I said yesterday, the Government does not want to see investment funds buying up family homes that could be bought by individual families for their own use. That is why we changed the law in 2021 in respect of new planning permissions. This particular development got planning permission in 2019 and therefore does not fall under the law we changed in 2021. That is why this particular case has arisen. We have also put a supertax, a stamp duty of 10%, on the bulk purchase of homes. I hear what S…

No, there is tax on the dividends.

I would genuinely like to see those figures and to have a few hours to interrogate them. The law was changed in 2021. If I remember correctly, it was changed in the course of the year, so what would be particularly interesting to see are the numbers for 2022 and 2023 because that is when the change would have had an effect.

As I say, I would like to see them and interrogate them. To come back to what the Deputy said in respect of tax, companies and people are taxed differently. If you are an individual, such as a landlord, you pay income tax. Companies do not pay income tax. They never have. Companies pay corporation profit tax and when they issue a dividend to their shareholders, those shareholders pay capital acquisitions tax. That is how they are taxed. To say they do not pay a red cent in tax is misinformation.

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. At the outset, I want to acknowledge that there are far too many people in Ireland waiting far too long to see a specialist or get the operation they need, and that our emergency departments are very busy at the moment and that is putting staff under a lot of pressure. I am really sorry that Mr. Sheehan's grandfather had the experience that he did. It is not acceptable that should be the case. It is important, though, to put on the record of the House that there …