I look forward to reading the Labour Party's alternative budget, hopefully being able to take on board some of the suggestions made. We will have a budget next week. The details will be announced by the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform next Tuesday. People will see a response of scale from the Government to help them with the cost-of-living crisis. That will involve a multibillion euro package. People will see that in their pockets and off their bills within weeks. That will a…

I will be brief. We probably need to take a dual approach to this. There is an international inflation crisis that is driven by monetary policy, the war in Ukraine and high energy bills. We need to respond to that reality by helping people with their bills. We need to help put more money in their pockets and also help to reduce energy bills in particular. As a country, we had a high cost of living long before this current inflation crisis. There are areas in which the cost of living in Ireland is out of kilter not …

I thank the Deputy. He paints a bleak picture of the country in which we live. One would not think that the United Nations - not me but the United Nations - considers Ireland to be one of the top five or ten countries to live in the world. That is based on health, education and economic well-being. One would think from the remarks of the Deputy that we were seeing a massive outflow of people from our country. In fact, the reverse is the case. The CSO, which the Deputy mentioned earlier, has indicated that the popul…

The Deputy has got the numbers wrong again. Substantially more people came to Ireland last year than left.

More Irish citizens returned than left. The difference was marginal but more returned than left. The impression the Deputy would create is a different one. He would create an impression of a country that is seeing its citizens leave in large numbers and not return in greater numbers.

Those are the facts. People are free to check them if they wish.

People will see the Government's response to the cost-of-living crisis on budget day. As I mentioned, there must be three elements. We must increase pay and pensions, reduce the amount of tax people pay to allow them to keep more of the money they earn and reduce the cost of living in areas such as childcare, healthcare, public transport and rent. That is what we are working on. We will be working throughout the weekend to finalise that package. To answer the Deputy's question, we do intend that some of that will b…

I thank Deputy Fitzpatrick for raising this important issue, which is a matter of great interest to newly qualified teachers, in addition to school management and school communities. As teachers returned to their classrooms a few weeks ago to meet their students after the summer break, we were once again reminded of the significant and valuable role teachers play in our communities. For the first time in a long time, teachers and students returned to classrooms without the need for masks or social distancing. Teach…

Other than in exceptional circumstances, schools should deploy newly qualified teachers in a mainstream setting. However, in certain circumstances, a newly qualified teacher may complete the Droichead process in an special educational needs setting. As a general rule, paid employment in a permanent, temporary or substitute capacity is eligible. During the past school year, the Teaching Council put in place some special arrangements relating to Covid, on an emergency basis, to alleviate the impact of the pandemic on…

I am afraid I cannot give the Deputy a definitive response. I certainly hope and expect that the mica scheme will be up and running in the new year. I will be very disappointed if is not. There will need to be a scheme to help people who live in apartments that have defects. The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, is working up the proposals around that now, which will be considered by the Government.

As far as I understand it, the deal for this year is that the Government will provide additional funding to childcare and early education providers. There are pay increases for the professionals who work in that area. In return, fees are supposed to be frozen for this year. Not everyone has signed up to that, but I understand the vast majority have. If there are instances of fees being increased, that is a problem and I am alarmed to hear it. If the Deputy can provide me or the Minister for Children, Equality, Disa…

I thank Deputy Berry for raising this issue. We have all seen the video footage of what happened in Cherry Orchard. We are all taken aback and rather shocked at the scenes we saw and unreservedly condemn what happened. I have visited Cherry Orchard on a number of occasions. I spent time there with the former Minister of State, Catherine Byrne, before the pandemic and I have spoken to Senator Seery Kearney, who represents the area, in recent days. Cherry Orchard is a good community full of some really good people. T…

I am not directly involved in this area. It is a licensing issue between the company and the Department. Despite what some have suggested, it is not a matter for the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, to decide yes or no on. It is a licensing matter between the Department officials and the company. As the Deputy pointed out in his remarks, it relates to issues around finance. The company says it is providing information but the Department is not happy with the information that has been provided. My understanding is that …

I am afraid I do not have an up-to-date note on that. I will ask the Minister, Deputy McEntee, to contact the Deputy directly.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I neglected earlier to convey my best wishes to the gardaí subjected to this unprovoked and highly dangerous attack and to the people living and working in the area who I have no doubt were very frightened by the scenes we have all seen. With regard to Garda resources, the total budget will be decided in the Estimates and we will know what it will be on Tuesday. How it will be deployed in different parts of the country is ultimately a matter for the Garda Commissioner. I k…

A number of backlogs built up over the course of the pandemic, including in the areas of passports and work permits. We have managed to get through most of them. The passport situation is much improved and delays in getting work permits are now down to four to five weeks. This is clearly one area in which there is still a backlog and that needs to be dealt with. I do not have detailed information on south Dublin but I will make the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, aware that the Deputy raised this issue. We will see wh…

I thank Deputy Dillon for raising this matter. The 9% VAT rate will remain in place, at least until the end of February. Any decision on extending it would be made either on budget day or at a later point. That is a matter under consideration. I had a chance to visit Kerry with Deputy Griffin on Friday and I met with some of the people involved in the hotel business and the tourism industry. I had the chance to do the same in Kilkenny only a few weeks ago. I do not agree with the charge that all or most hotels are …

I do not know if that has been done but I will ask the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to get back to the Deputy directly. I accept the point she is making. Construction inflation is running at about 12% a year at the moment and that would have to be reflected in any scheme the Government provides.

As we both know, Tipperary is a very large county geographically and has benefited from increased Garda resources in recent years. I agree with the Deputy that more will be necessary. He can be confident that will be the case. The number of people going through Templemore is going to increase very significantly in the coming months. I cannot comment on the issue of the chief superintendent directly. It is probably a matter for the Garda Commissioner rather than the Minister for Justice but I will alert the Minister…

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. Section 39 bodies and agencies are a very diverse group. They range from very big healthcare providers, hospices or disability service providers to some very small charitable groups with only a small number of employees. It is a complicated area. I think both the Deputy and Ministers across Cabinet would agree that in the real world, if the HSE is increasing its salaries, then healthcare and disability service providers that are section 39 organisations have to do the sam…