I wish to take this brief opportunity to allow us to recall and recognise the life of Charlie Bird. I think he was somebody who pretty much everyone in this House knew from his professional life. He was an extraordinary and animated journalist who really brought stories to life. In his later years, he showed enormous courage and bravery in the campaigns he led. He will be sorely missed by all of us in this House and by his colleagues in the media and RTÉ. I wanted us to take the opportunity to recognise that.

I will take this opportunity to note the passing of our former colleague, Emmet Stagg. I worked with him when he was deputy Chief Whip in the 2011-2016 period. He was a fine man and did a lot to make sure that Government stayed together and got votes across the line. I extend my condolences to his family, party, supporters and friends. On the issue of asylum seekers, there is to be a Private Members' motion on the matter this week so there will be an opportunity to discuss it there. My understanding is that there a…

-----or the European Parliament, is ever a waste of money even if you do not get the result you want.

Yes.

The main thing for us to get the scheme up and running. It has been far too long in coming. It is open to applications from today and we are very keen to implement it, press ahead with the other measures such as the remembrance centre, memorialisation and the medical cards and get what has been agreed by Government and the House operational as soon as possible.

I am afraid I am not familiar with the particular individual project but I will take it up with the Minister and come back to the Deputy directly.

Deputy, I think there is no more righteous glow than the moral indignation of isolating yourself and criticising everyone else. That is not the way you influence people. I have been working very hard in the past few months, as has the Tánaiste, in influencing the position of the US, as well as that of the EU, bringing it closer to ours. I think this has happened not because of what we have done, but that we have contributed in part, at least, to this change. I do not see what the Deputy has done in this regard or h…

I thank the Deputy. Referendum or no referendum, I think we need to do more to demonstrate that we value carers and are on their side. The Minister, Deputy Humphreys, is bringing through legislation that will give pensioners a full State contributory pension, recognising their years of caring as equivalent to PRSI contributions. I think this is very important. There are several sets of payments being made to carers. There is the means-tested carer's allowance, the means test for which will be relaxed from June. The…

I thank the Deputy. I have read about the case in the media. I am led to believe it is now before the courts, so it is a matter that is sub judice and it would not be appropriate for me to comment on it. As is always the case, though, the courts will hear the prosecution but also the defence, and I am sure the court will make the right decision.

I do not believe so. The State's apology was sincere and we followed up on it through various actions. I have received some correspondence on the matter the Deputy has raised, from Councillor O'Farrell and some others. My advice, however, is that this is not something central government can intervene in and that it is a matter for the local authority.

I discussed this issue with the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, today, and only in the last week with the Minister of State with responsibility for special education, Deputy Madigan. The explanation they gave me is that this new model is fairer. Two thirds of schools will have the same number of hours or will, in fact, gain hours. It is not the case that complex needs will not be a factor any more at all. The schools data around complex needs will be used, rather than HSE data, which I am told is patchy and i…

The last European Council meeting failed to reach any conclusions. I am attending it tomorrow and on Friday. It is definitely my objective to get to the point of having conclusions where the European Union as a whole unequivocally calls for an immediate ceasefire, the release of hostages and the supply of adequate food, medicine and electricity to the Palestinian people living in Gaza, and a two-state solution. As the Deputy knows, when it comes to common foreign and security policy, the European Union acts unilate…

The Minister, Deputy Coveney, his Department and its agencies are seized with this matter. There has been engagement with the company but I do not have an up-to-date brief on it. I do not want to give information that might turn out to be incorrect. I'll make sure that my office sends the Deputy a written reply.

I thank Deputy Griffin for his kind remarks. I will certainly let the Minister know about the issue he raised about the valuations. As we all know, there are winners and losers and it works out overall exactly the same. However, sometimes people face very big increases. There is a system by which that can be disputed and appealed to the Valuation Tribunal. I would encourage anyone affected to do that.

I appreciate that prices at the pump are rising and that impacts commuters, motorists and many people in business, including hauliers. As Deputies will remember, we reduced these excise rates on a temporary basis at a time when prices were over €2 a litre and thankfully they are still well below that. It would not be possible for the Government to reopen the budget now. There would be consequences down the line if we were to reopen the budget now. We will, of course, monitor prices over the next couple of months.

I thank the Deputies for their questions. On valuations, as I mentioned earlier, when there is a revaluation, some people see their rates going up and others see them going down. Overall, there is no increase in revenue. People are encouraged to make appeals to the Valuation Tribunal but I will check with the Minister about the delays there and if something can be done in the interim. I do not have an update on the Greystones media campus but I will seek it from the Minister for Finance and will come back to the De…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 9, inclusive, together. When we published the programme for Government in June 2020, we said: This is a Programme to recover our economy, rebuild our society, renew our communities, and respond to the challenges we face both nationally and internationally. This will be a Government of enterprise, creating new jobs, preparing for the jobs of the future, driving our economic recovery, and improving the quality of life for all our people. I believe we are making good progress in t…

Laggards.

I thank the Ceann Comhairle. Deputies raised the issue of assessment of needs. I know we have a very big problem with waiting times for that. We all know it from our constituency clinics. The real struggle is finding enough clinically and appropriately qualified staff to carry out the assessments and provide all of the therapies. There are some big recruitment campaigns under way. Money has been set aside for them. Hopefully, it will make a real difference. It also demonstrates the pitfalls that can arise from putt…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 10 to 12, inclusive, together. The parliamentary liaison unit in the Department of the Taoiseach assists the Government in its relationship with the Oireachtas. It works with the office of the Government Chief Whip on issues that arise at the Business Committee and the Committee on Standing Orders and Dáil Reform, including Dáil reform proposals and amendments to Standing Orders. The unit helps the office of the Government Chief Whip in the implementation of the Government’s legisla…