From what the Deputy has told me, it does not make sense, quite frankly, but it is very difficult for me to comment on an individual case. If the Deputy passes the details on to my office, we will look into it and see if something can be done.

As a person who has worked in and used the health system, I do have confidence in it. One only has to look at the outcomes. Whether it is life expectancy, cancer survival, stroke, heart disease, maternal mortality or neonatal mortality, we have much better patient outcomes compared with the National Health Service of our nearest neighbour. That does not mean that I am for one second blind to the problems that many patients face. When asked if that they are happy with our health service, the vast majority of patient…

-----whether it is as a result of overcrowding in emergency departments or being on waiting lists. I do not discount what the Deputy says for a second.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I appreciate that it is one that is causing some concern for local authority and Garda staff. We are trying to make reforms in these areas by making Irish Water a stand-alone utility and semi-State company and by bringing civilian Garda staff and gardaí together into a single service. That makes sense from a public interest point of view. The workers in question are very well represented by their unions. I am sure that proper negotiations and engagement will take place bef…

I thank Deputy Ward. I join him in welcoming everyone from the High Five Boxing Academy. As both the Deputy and I know, boxing is a very inclusive sport. It has always been good at including people from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, but also people who may be disadvantaged in other ways. I am a strong supporter of the sport. We have a great club in Mulhuddart in my constituency. I would certainly be happy to lend my support to the call for moneys to be provided from the dormant accounts fund, subject, of …

As the Deputy may be aware, in the budget, the Minister for Justice secured funding to recruit 1,000 new gardaí next year. Those gardaí will obviously be distributed across the country in accordance with what the Garda Commissioner considers right. We have never had more gardaí or a better-funded Garda Síochána service. I appreciate that this is also against the backdrop of an increasing population, which we have to take into account. I do not have the information in front of me on the exact resources for Meath but…

I thank the Deputy for making a very valid and prescient point. We need to build a great deal more homes. We will probably build approximately 25,000 to 28,000 houses this year. That is nowhere near enough when we think about what we need. However, by building homes, we increase emissions. We cannot build homes without using concrete, timber and steel or without roads and emissions. It is one of the trade-offs we have to accept that in order to solve the housing crisis, we will see an increase in emissions from at …

I thank the Deputy. I can certainly confirm that that is not HSE or Government policy. I am very sorry to hear of the experience that lady has had. Again, it is very difficult for me to comment on individual cases in the absence of details. If the Deputy would like to pass on more information, either to my office or to that of the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, we will certainly look into the matter.

On Friday, our worlds stopped. Our hearts stopped as we learned of the terrible tragedy that was unfolding in Creeslough, a tragedy which makes no sense and whose only lesson is pain and loss. Since then, we have seen the best of each other. A small country becoming one big community to search together, to grieve together and to heal together. This week the world is watching us and it is seeing a nation in tears. As the people from this place, we send our condolences to all those whose grief is still raw and painfu…

I thank the Deputy for raising the question. First, I acknowledge the fact that energy and gas prices are very high. They are likely to rise more in the months ahead before they level off and start falling again. I also remind the Deputy that we had a budget only last week which gave every household, including households that use pay-as-you-go meters, €600 in energy credits over the course of the winter. As a lot of people who use pay-as-you-go meters are on social welfare or are low-income families, they will bene…

The answer to the Deputy's question is "Yes" but because of how pay-as-you-go works, we have to find a viable mechanism to achieve exactly that. The energy credit is €600. In addition to that, people can overrun by €20 without being disconnected. They cannot be disconnected at weekends and we are looking at mechanisms to make sure we can extend the treatment that bill-pay customers have to pay-as-you-go customers. I believe it can be done. I can understand why the Deputy does not want to talk about the Sinn Féin al…

These are working poor people. We provided a €500 lump sum. For people living alone, the Deputy's party proposed a €2.50 increase in the living alone allowance.

We will provide a lump sum of €200 before Christmas. Based on Sinn Féin's proposals-----

-----somebody would have to live alone for another year and a half-----

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue and I will certainly take a look at the motion and respond to it. It is not entirely accurate to describe people as having been outsourced. That does a disservice to them and even the bodies for which they work. It has always been the case in this State and almost every other democratic state that some services are provided directly by the State and others by voluntary bodies, charities and not-for-profit bodies, many of which predate the existence of the State, and private …

This is not just done in Ireland. The NHS provides services through hospitals with royal charters and has done so since its establishment. In France and Germany, nearly one third of public health services are provided through voluntary bodies that have an agreement with the state payer. It is similar in Australia. One would have go to eastern Europe 30 years ago to find a set of public services that were only run by the state and excluded the private sector, voluntary bodies, charities and NGOs, and that is not som…

There is a lot in that question and it is hard to answer comprehensively in the time allowed. I do not think the Deputy's characterisation of our regulatory structures is entirely fair. They are not perfect but many of them have served us very well in recent years. That is not to say there have not been flaws and failings. It is important to bear in mind that some of these regulators are accountable directly to the Oireachtas and not to the Government. That is the way they have been established and they are held to…

I appreciate that the Regional Group is putting forward solutions in this regard and they need to be considered. One of the reasons keeping Derrybrien going does not necessarily make sense is that when the energy system is short of generating capacity is when the wind is not blowing. That is at the heart of many of the problems we have. We have a lot of renewable energy. The risk of a blackout or brownout occurs only when the wind is not blowing. That is why keeping Derrybrien online is not particularly useful in t…

What we plan to do with some of the plants in the midlands is that one will go to biomass and the others will be used for battery storage, so we can use the wind power and renewables, which are not dispatchable but can be stored. That might make more sense in terms of energy security and for the environment.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. My county, Dublin Fingal, went through the revaluation process some years ago. I know how traumatic and frightening it can be for some businesspeople when they receive a letter in the post telling them their rates are to go up by a dramatic amount. There is, as the Deputy noted, an appeals process. I encourage anyone who has had a valuation changed to avail of that. A lot of people find that the amount comes down on appeal. It is important to point out that when the revalu…