I am sorry to hear about the experiences the Deputy is having with Clare County Council. The council and its executives are not accountable to me. They are accountable to the elected members of Clare County Council but I will certainly let the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, know that the matter was raised and perhaps he will have some suggestions as to how it can be brought forward.

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I know a lot of progress has been made on it. There was a memorandum to Cabinet only in the past few weeks. I think it is on schedule to be done before the end of the year and, if not, certainly within the next few months. I will double-check with the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, and come back to the Deputy if I am incorrect on that but I know she is keen to get it done.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 6, inclusive, together. The Cabinet committee on environment and climate change oversees the implementation of the ambitious programme for Government commitments on the environment and climate change. The committee has met four times in 2023 and its next meeting will take place on 27 November. The climate action unit within the Department of the Taoiseach seeks to co-ordinate and drive climate action across all Departments by assisting the work of the Cabinet committee and asso…

I thank the Deputies. Deputy Dillon asked a question on energy security and gas security. The Government's view, which I endorse strongly, is that long-term gas security is secured through the development of green hydrogen and biogas, and biomethane in particular. In the medium term, our security comes from the Corrib field and the interconnectors with the UK. There will also be a need for some form of liquified natural gas, LNG, storage, either floating or fixed. That is to be determined over the next few months. …

Please do. The condition of the seawater at Seapoint and Dún Laoghaire in Dublin Bay after heavy rain has not been discussed at Cabinet subcommittee level, but I will bring it to the attention of the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien. My understanding is that the Poolbeg upgrade is supposed to deal with that. I hope it will. I will seek further information on it. I did not have a chance to read the Oxfam report - I have seen the summary - but it will not be a huge revelation to anyone that the richest people produce…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 7 to 9, inclusive, together. The Cabinet committee on Government co-ordination generally meets in advance of Government meetings. Its next meeting is scheduled for Monday, 27 November. I am a member of the committee alongside the Tánaiste, the leader of the Green Party, the Secretary General to the Government, my chief of staff and the chief of staff for the Tánaiste. The leader of the Green Party also sits in on meetings. The committee reviews the agenda of Government meetings, dis…

Deputy Barry raised the issue of gender-based violence, violence against women and femicide. As I have said previously, I believe we face an epidemic of violence women not just in Ireland, but across the world. As the Deputy said, there have been approximately 20 murders since the killing of Ashling Murphy. By comparison, this year so far, thankfully, we have only had one murder related to so-called gangland violence related to organised crime. One is one too many, but when it comes to the murder of women by men, t…

I do not think it helps.

The Deputy mentioned the Holocaust, or Shoah, being a genocide. A total of 6 million people were killed by the Nazis, and they would have killed another 6 million people if they could. I know that there are active debates around the Famine and the treatment of indigenous populations in America and Australia. If people want to use words like "genocide" and "apartheid", I am not going to dispute that, but that does not bring us anywhere or achieve anything. What this is about is making sure that-----

-----we have a ceasefire, that the killing stops and that the hostages can be released-----

-----so that we can get aid into Gaza. Those are the things that are most important.

I am happy to answer the questions, but it is clear that when the Deputy does not hear exactly what he wants to hear, he shouts you down. I have kind of lost my-----

I lost my train of thought in that regard.

What is clear is that what the Palestinian people have faced for 75 years is dispossession, the loss of their lands and being made into refugees. They have not got the level of support that they should have from the international community to date. The most important thing now is that we secure a ceasefire so that the violence and killing stops, aid can get into Gaza and hostages can get out. The only solution - and I know the Deputies disagree with this - is a two-state solution. If the two peoples that inhabit th…

-----need to be viable and need to be secure. With regard to Irish citizens who are in Gaza, almost all who want to leave and their dependants are now out, or at least the majority are. We are working on a few further cases. We engage with the Israeli, Egyptian and Jordanian authorities, and others, on this. I know there are people who want us to expel the Israeli ambassador. Being able to talk to the Israeli ambassador at least gave us someone to talk to when it came to getting our citizens out of Gaza. I want to …

I propose to take Questions Nos. 10 to 13 together. The social dialogue unit, part of the economic division of the Department, co-ordinates and assists the Government's overall approach to social dialogue. This includes the Labour Employer Economic Forum, LEEF, which engages with representatives of employers and trade unions on economic and employment issues insofar as they affect the labour market, and which are of mutual concern. The most recent meeting of the LEEF took place yesterday, 20 November. This provided…

I thank the Deputies. Regarding ambulance services, I am genuinely sorry to hear about the bad experience that Deputy Ó Murchú's constituent had. Certainly, nobody would want that to happen to anyone or in any constituency. We have increased investment in ambulance services all the time. We have new paramedics, new vehicles, new bases and systems for call out, but sadly, there will always be occasions where multiple calls happen at the one time. It happens with An Garda Síochána as well. That can result in delays b…

I regularly visit the hospitals. The waiting lists are 22% lower than they were from peak levels. They are still too high-----

-----but they are not going up.

I appreciate that this issue has been raised a number of times in the Chamber. As I said previously, the idea of a stakeholder forum is a good one. I cannot see what harm it would do, and it exists in other industries. I know the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, is giving some consideration to it at the moment.