This is going to take years to get started let alone complete.

When we have used citizens' assemblies to their best effect, we have done exactly what the Deputy proposes, which is to take the report, ask a time-limited special committee to examine it, refine it and then put proposals to the Government to which it can respond. That is how we intend to approach the report of this Citizen's Assembly. I have spoken about it with some of my people today and we will be working with a view to establishing that special committee in the next couple of weeks. There are some logistical i…

I am sorry to hear of those experiences. I cannot give a comprehensive answer at the moment. I am not fully up to date or briefed on the matter, but I will let the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, know that it was raised here and ask him to reply to the Deputy directly.

The dental treatment services scheme, DTSS, was cut back significantly during the financial crisis and has not been restored. While we have agreed a restoration schedule for funding for general practice, we have not done so for dental practice. We will need to do that. It is a matter for the budget and the HSE service plan. I understand and share the Deputy’s sentiments. In the context of the health budget, it is not an enormous amount of money, so I hope we can get the matter resolved in the next couple months.

I thank the Deputy. We have a programme of improvements for the National Ambulance Service, including new vehicles and bases. I am not sure where Carlow fits into that but I will certainly inform the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, that the issue was raised in the House. Hopefully, we will be able to make some progress on it in the not-too-distant future.

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue of mica in the Chamber today. It is an issue of real importance not just in Donegal, but in Mayo and other counties around Ireland. As the Deputy said, I have been in those homes and met with some of the people involved. Not only have I seen it with my own eyes, but I have felt it in my fingers when I touched those walls. One can see how easily they can break and crumble. I know the devastation it has caused people. I know how much personality, life and love people put into …

The current scheme was agreed in collaboration with local action groups, local authorities and homeowner representatives. The decision to go with a grant scheme as opposed to the type of scheme provided under the Pyrite Resolution Board was done with the intention to give homeowners the flexibility to manage their own projects and to allow them to deal directly with their appointed contractor. The defective concrete blocks scheme is intended to put homeowners in the position they would have been in regard to their …

I thank the Deputy. My understanding is that the Minister has already clarified his position and his remarks in regard to this issue. I am sure he will be in the Chamber in the near future. If not today, I am sure he will be in the Chamber next week for some reason or another. All of us from time to time say things that are inaccurate or incorrect, including the Deputy. There is not a single Member in this House who has not said something in an interview, at a meeting or in an email that turned out to be incorrect.…

I am informed that the Minister has written to the Ceann Comhairle to correct the record. I am confident he will do whatever is necessary in that regard. What this is fundamentally about, and I think we will all agree on this, is helping people to buy their own home. I believe in home ownership and this Government believes in home ownership. Ireland is still a country where 65% to 70% of people own their own home. That is not the reality, however, for lots of people, particularly younger people and even those who a…

I know this is an important issue locally in Kenmare, Glengarriff, Bantry and in other parts of south Kerry and west Cork. My colleague, Deputy Griffin, is on the case as well. As the Deputy will appreciate, I do not have any control over the timing of the works on the tunnel, as it does not fall under my remit, but I understand the case being made to defer the works for a few weeks. I am not sure whether that is possible, but I understand why people are calling for that. It is ultimately a matter for TII and the l…

I hear what the Deputy is saying and I understand the case he is making on behalf of his constituents. Just before this, the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, was here for transport questions. Unfortunately, he is not here now so I cannot refer this to him, but Deputy Griffin and I will speak to him later in the day and make contact with TII and see if it is possible. There may be very good reasons as to why they cannot defer the works, but I do not know that as I am not across the project and I am not a tunnel or road …

I thank the Deputy. I want to add to the words of others in expressing my regret at the fact Professor Tom Keane has stepped down as chair of the Sláintecare committee, albeit six weeks before his term was due to end. I met him in Ireland and in Toronto. He is a fine man and I am sorry he is no longer part of this project. Obviously, I regret the fact Laura Magahy has resigned as the programme director. I think it is important, though, to set out some facts. In contrast to what the Deputy said earlier, €1.235 billi…

I thank the Deputy. I understand the Taoiseach is going to meet them and the Minister for Health has or is about to meet with the advisory council. I am not pointing any fingers here. The Deputy is the one who has been pointing fingers. I do agree with her that Covid care is a very good example of how we can run a health service well in the future. What she may not know, or may not wish to acknowledge, is that a huge amount of what has been done on Covid care in the past year or two has been done in the form of a p…

If what we have done in terms of our response to Covid in the past year or so is a success, and the Deputy has acknowledged it is, I think she needs to perhaps consider why it worked so well, why it was done so quickly and why it was able to stay on budget.

I am not sure that relates to promised legislation but what I can say is that what happened in the Dáil yesterday was wrong. What Deputy Carthy did yesterday was an abuse of privilege, to make an allegation against a member of the Cabinet based on rumour and no evidence whatsoever. I have no evidence that particular leak which Deputy Doherty referred to was done by a Cabinet member. It was not even accurate, it was not correct, or at least it was not entirely correct, and I have yet to see any evidence to that effe…

Of course, it is not a surprise Sinn Féin should abuse privilege on the first day back in this House. If that is the way they behave in opposition, imagine how they would trample people's rights if they were allowed into government. Why do they do it? It is because it was the form of their party leader. In 2015, Deputy McDonald came to this House and made false allegations about six people, including a dead man, that they were tax evaders and that they had Ansbacher accounts. The CPP ruled she abused privilege but …

Do not believe everything you read in the newspapers, Deputy.

I hope it will not get worse. The return to schools has been successful - much more successful than many of the doomsayers said it would be - and cases are now stable or falling. Hopefully, it will get better and not worse, but we cannot assume that. We cannot take anything for granted in that regard. I appreciate that children missing school is causing enormous disruption. Their parents then having to stay at home to look after them is causing disruption for them and at workplace level as well. In our engagements …

-----bear in mind that we have avoided huge numbers of outbreaks in schools and we do not want that to happen either.

In fairness, the Minister and the Government have given this issue much of our attention. It is an issue that continues to come through my constituency office. It probably comes through the Deputy's office too. I sympathise with the lived experience of people who have to sit in a car park when they should be at the side of their partner being scanned, attending an appointment or giving birth to a child. As matters stand, as the Deputy will be aware, 90% of adults are now fully vaccinated in Ireland, which is an eno…