I thank Deputy Berry for raising the issue of the Ice Dome at DkIT. It is an excellent piece of infrastructure and it is sad that it has been out of use for so long. I have been advised that DkIT is actively engaged in a process to secure a lease arrangement for the Ice Dome. I understand that the intention is to enter into a lease arrangement with a sporting organisation but, as these discussions are private and confidential, I do not know which sporting organisation that is. The conduct and the process to secure …

My understanding is that Paul Reid and the HSE have given general guidance on maternity hospitals saying that it is allowed and indeed advised that partners should attend the birth of their child and attend scans and paediatric or neonatal ICU if their child is in there. However it is the case – it has always been the case and will always be the case - that on occasion we must allow decisions to be made by local hospitals themselves, by the senior nurse or consultant who is the person in charge of infection control…

Staff are vaccinated and increasing numbers of adults are vaccinated and I hope we will be able to get beyond this point quite soon.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I know how important it is to the CF community. As a country, we should endeavour to be among the first to approve and reimburse new medicines. It makes sense from a health point of view and it also makes sense from an economic point of view. If we are asking pharmaceutical companies to invest and employ people here, we should be among the first to approve and reimburse their products. At the very least, we should not fall behind our nearest neighbour, the United Kingdom. …

Like the Deputy, I have been getting a number of representations from people living in the Middle East and the Gulf area who are caught by this issue. At the moment, we are only recognising people as having been fully vaccinated if they have received a vaccine that is approved by the EMA, but it is open to the Government to recognise other vaccines, including those approved by the WHO. We are giving consideration at the moment to whether we can include Sinopharm, Sputnik and other vaccines in that regard but, unfor…

I thank the Deputy. The Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, is very concerned that the question of continuation of rail services into Dublin Port should arise at a time when the focus is on ensuring that our transport modes are environmentally, economically and socially sustainable. The ultimate aim is that rail freight continues to be facilitated by Dublin Port in line with Government policy, particularly having regard to the strategic review of rail freight under way at present. It is also acknowledged tha…

I thank the Deputy. In the last budget or perhaps the one before, we increased the income limits for access to the full medical card, although that was probably for the over-70s, not those between 66 and 69, and I imagine the Deputy’s constituent is in that bracket. I can see how it could be a difficulty that somebody moving from invalidity pension or carer’s payments would then lose eligibility for a three-year period, even though their income is exactly what it was before. I can see there is an issue there. There…

I thank the Deputy. On foot of the Deputy raising it the last time, I asked my officials to engage with the company. I am afraid I do not have a recent update on that but as the Deputy has raised it again, I will get that and pass it on to the Deputy as soon as I can.

I thank the Deputy. She is absolutely right that the take-up by Irish people of the vaccine is very encouraging. There is very little vaccine hesitancy in Ireland. It is going to stand to us in a few months' time, I think, that Irish people have been so willing to get vaccinated. In some countries, refusal and hesitancy rates are as high as 30% or 40%. That is going to be a problem for all of us, not just for them, in a few months' time. To answer the Deputy’s question, I understand the issue and I am getting the s…

The mental health budget in Ireland is at the highest level ever at well over €1 billion. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, is making great changes and great progress in the area. I acknowledge that the need is greater than it ever was before. I would be doing the Deputy a disservice if I gave him an answer now about north Tipperary specifically, but I know how important it is to him and he has taken his time in the Dáil to prioritise it, so I will certainly ask the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, to contact …

I am afraid that I am not familiar with the details of the issue but I will certainly inform the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, that it was raised here today and ask them to reply directly.

I am afraid that I do not have an update on that but the Government commitment stands. I will see the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, later, let him know that Deputy Conway-Walsh raised it, and ask him to reply to her as soon as he can.

I thank the Deputy. I was not aware of that. I will certainly check it out. There may be a good reason for that that the Deputy and I do not know but it sounds strange. I will make inquiries and get back to the Deputy when I have a reply.

The LDA was established on an interim basis in 2018 by way of an establishment order, pending the enactment of primary legislation, when it will be established as a commercial State agency - a State-owned developer. Once the primary legislation is in place, equity funding of €1.25 billion will be made available to the LDA through transfers from the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund. The investment will be effected through a subscription of share capital in the LDA by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and H…

I acknowledge that the waiting times for therapies are very long and far too long in many parts of the country. Although I may be incorrect, I think that CHO 7 was part of a pilot where we are going to move therapists into schools, which we think might be a more effective way of providing these services than through the HSE. I will seek an update on that and come back to Deputy Crowe about it. In response to Deputy Cullinane, the Government and people of Ireland recognise and appreciate the phenomenal work that the…

I thank the Deputy and colleagues for taking the third question first. I tried to get here in such a hurry that I managed to walk up to the higher level and then had to come back down again. The WRC is an independent statutory body under the aegis of my Department. It was established on 1 October 2015 under the Workplace Relations Act 2015. On its establishment, sanction for 60 labour inspectors was granted. I understand from Department officials that an agreement with unions existed in 2016 whereby the number of W…

There are 200 staff in the WRC. The number of inspectors currently sanctioned is 60. Ninety is an old figure that predates the reform of the five bodies. We merged five into two, thereby reducing some of the requirements for staff. That is not to say we will not go above 60 but the figure of 90 is no longer one we recognise. To return to what I was saying about the meat plants, I followed up on this and wrote to the Director General about it. I was assured that the commission was going to continue to carry out insp…

I am not saying we do not need more labour inspectors; we may well do. I am just saying the figure of 90 is an historic one and not one that is committed to by the Government or one that is mentioned in any existing agreement with the trade unions. We anticipate that as we move out of Covid, we will be able to reduce the number of Covid-related inspections and increase the number of inspections related to employment rights. I thank the WRC for the work it does every day on upholding the rights of workers and for th…

I thank the Deputy. I will be very happy to work with all the local representatives in the area and on a cross-party basis on this matter. If the Deputy has any helpful leads on investors interested in the sites, I would be very happy to explore them. I thank the Deputy for his recent letter to me on job losses in the area. As I said in my reply on 20 May, I was very disappointed to hear that Teva plans to close its Sudocrem manufacturing plant in Baldoyle. Teva is an Israeli-based pharmaceutical company. The annou…

If we can find a suitable time when all the public representatives from the area are available, I would be happy to do that. I have received a request from the Deputy, but just from him and not from all the representatives in the area. Certainly, if we can all agree a suitable time, I would be happy to speak to him about the issue. I do not know if he can be part of the solution, but if he has anything constructive to offer, such as investors he knows are interested or anything useful that I can pursue, I would be …