I join colleagues in expressing my condolences to Deputy Mitchell on the loss of her father. I am sure it is a very difficult time for her and her family. Our thoughts and prayers are with her. I very much agree with Deputy McDonald on road safety. I am beyond concerned to see the number of people who have died on our roads this year, including those in County Donegal in the past 48 hours. We had statements on road safety in the Dáil only two weeks ago but I am sure time could be provided next week or the week afte…

That is perfectly acceptable-----

-----but if the party does not use its own time for something, it is not reasonable to expect the Government to give over its time to do so. In regard to Deputy Gannon's request for questions and answers with the Minister for Education, she answers questions regularly in the Dáil and can also do so in the form of a Topical Issue debate.

On the matter of the Israeli ambassador, it is not the Government's intention to expel the ambassador, and that is for very good reasons. Even countries at war have ambassadors. We have not expelled the Russian ambassador-----

-----and I do not think anyone in the House is as supportive of Ukraine as I have been in meaningful ways, not just in words. We have a situation now where we have about 40 Irish citizens in Gaza and we want them to be able to leave-----

-----if they want to leave. We have an Irish citizen who may be held hostage in Gaza by Hamas and we want to get her out. At some point we also want to be able to talk about peace and reconciliation and an end to this conflict. When you expel an ambassador, you disempower yourself. You cut off links, you cannot talk any more and you have to rebuild those links. I can understand it as an emotional reaction but it is not a common-sense approach in my view, and it is not the way things get done in international affair…

I want the violence to stop, the killing to end, the hostages to be released, foreign citizens to be allowed to leave and aid to be able to get back into Gaza. I do not want to get hung up on the terminology that is used but perhaps I can explain to the House why some countries do not like the term "ceasefire". It is because they believe that talking about a permanent ceasefire implies that Israel cannot go after Hamas at all. I do not accept that definition but that is the reason some countries prefer the terms “p…

I will speak to the Tánaiste and his team about that. I am sure it is possible and can be arranged. I will say, however, that anything related to individual cases is extremely sensitive and we all understand why that is. When it comes to broader matters beyond individual cases, however, I think that can be done.

I thank the Deputy and hear what he is saying. The situation is as it is. It may be difficult for people in this Chamber to understand it but the position around the table at European level, the position of the 27 member states, is nowhere remotely near imposing any form of sanctions on Israel. It is nowhere remotely near that. A large number of countries - certainly a blocking minority, if not a majority - strongly support Israel. The role we are playing is different to the one the Deputy thinks is possible. The r…

I thank the Deputy. We all understand that, very often, truth is the first victim in war. In the fog of war, it is very difficult to know exactly what is happening. In this House only two weeks ago, people were with absolute confidence condemning Israel and the Israel Defense Forces, IDF, for bombing a hospital. It now appears increasingly plausible, if not probable, that it was an accidental attack carried out by Islamic Jihad. The facts are still-----

We do not know what the Deputy claimed or believed to be the case. The point is that the facts remain unclear. As the Tánaiste said at the weekend, it may well be the case that war crimes have been committed. That is where the International Criminal Court, ICC, comes in but there has to be a proper investigation.

I thank the Deputy for raising the upgrade of the N24. I appreciate the enormous inconvenience caused to people by having a very wide reservation or a number of routes and that needs to be narrowed down. I do not have an update on it at the moment but I will get one from the Department of Transport and pass it on to him.

I am afraid I do not know what the up-to-date position is in relation to that but I will let the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, know that it was raised here today and ask him to get back to the Deputy directly.

I will have to make inquiries with the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly. I know the surgical hubs around the country, including in Limerick, are going ahead and they were funded in the budget for 2024. I do not think they will alleviate emergency department overcrowding by much but they will help people who are on waiting lists for elective treatments. We are keen to have them up and running because they work where they exist. What will help with the overcrowding is the development of the 96-bed block b…

We all appreciate that many different things need to be done in order to improve road safety and enforcement is one of those. I am told that in 2022, the last year for which we have figures, enforcement levels for life saver offences were 6% higher than they were in pre-Covid times. These offences are speeding, using mobile phones, not wearing seat belts and being intoxicated while driving. Garda authorities are saying that the number of enforcement incidences is actually higher but it is a fact that the number of …

I do not think it is a fund that we need, per se . What we need from the local authorities is a submission setting out the cost of the work they have carried out and the work they need to carry out and then we will examine it. As I said when I was there, accompanied by the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael McGrath, and others, there will be an additional allocation for Cork County Council. It will not have to pay for these works and repairs from its existing budget but we will need a submission from it as to wha…

I thank Deputy Griffin for his question. It was great to be in Muskerry yesterday to open the final section of the N22 Macroom to Ballyvourney road. The fact there was such a big turnout from County Kerry, including Deputy Griffin, helped to remind me this is as much an investment in Kerry as it is an investment in Cork, improving access to and from the county, which will be good for investment, jobs and tourism. The first motion the Deputy put down when he was a member of Kerry County Council related to this proje…

The budget provided a record allocation of €5.1 billion for housing. That will allow us next year to break all records when it comes to the provision of new public housing - social, cost rental and affordable. It is already clear the 2020s will be a record decade when it comes to public housing. No decade since the foundation of the State saw more social housing being built than will be the case this decade. It is important to point out that approved housing bodies such as Ó Cualann, the Peter McVerry Trust and Clú…

I thank the Deputies for their questions. Deputy Healy-Rae raised the issue of the large number of people seeking international protection who are being housed all over the country, in small towns, big towns and cities. I know how challenging it is that so many people have come from abroad seeking international protection, with approximately 10,000 each year now, up from only 3,000 a year a few years ago. That is challenging. It is changing the demographics of some small towns and villages and even some parts of th…

On Deputy Smith's question on the Revenue decision relating to GPs, I am aware of it. While I am not a practising GP, I know a lot of them and am aware of the issue. It is a problem and we need to find a solution to it. The Department of Health and the Revenue Commissioners are working on exactly that. Deputy Whitmore mentioned the next meeting of the European Council is not until 14 December, but there are other meetings happening and there is a lot of bilateral contact under way, led by me and the Tánaiste, with …