The Deputy is absolutely right. Rare diseases are not that rare and that is certainly the case if one puts them all together. It includes diseases such as cystic fibrosis, haemophilia and muscular dystrophy. Often it is a delayed or missed diagnosis and the sooner patients can get a diagnosis the better for everyone; not only themselves but the wider health service. As the Deputy knows, we have a five-year national strategy in relation to genomic resources and rare diseases. Some €2.7 million has been allocated for…

As I said earlier, rare diseases taken all together are not that rare but some rare diseases are very rare. When we have conditions that are one in a million or one in 5 million, it is not possible for us to treat those patients on our own; we have to co-operate internationally and particularly at European level. We definitely need better patient registers. There are many conditions for which we do not have a list of all the patients who have the condition. That makes research in particular very difficult. That is …

I am afraid I do not have those figures available to me at the moment, so it is impossible for me to comment on them. I know Deputy Connolly has raised the housing task force for Galway city and county before. When we calculate how much social housing is being provided, we need to recognise that there are many different ways in which social housing can be built and provided. I do not mean the housing assistance payment, HAP, and the rental accommodation scheme, RAS; I mean social housing where somebody has a long-t…

I thank the Deputy. What we are doing, and what the Deputy has recommended that we do, we are doing all over the country, namely, building public housing on public land. We are building public housing on private land and buying private housing to use as public housing. We are doing all of those things. Look at the census figures for the past ten years. The percentage of people who live in and benefit from social housing has gone up, not down. About 40,000 more families live in social housing now than was the case t…

I am advised that engagement is taking place regarding section 39 and section 56 agencies. All of us on all sides of the House are very conscious of the vital services those bodies provide. The issue can only be solved, and it can be solved and the strike avoided, through engagement over the next two weeks. Regarding time being provided, I spoke to the Chief Whip. It is possible, through the Business Committee, to provide time next week for statements notwithstanding the fact that it is budget week. As Deputies wil…

I thank the Deputy. Under Housing for All, each Department and agency, including the HSE, was requested to examine its existing portfolio of properties and to place them on the market if they were not suitable for their purposes and may be suitable for conversion to residential accommodation. My Department chairs the State lands and property subgroup, which reports to the public service delivery group under Housing for All to monitor progress being made on this action by the HSE and other agencies. We have seen a r…

Child poverty and well-being will certainly be a theme in the budget when it is announced on Tuesday. If we go back to 2013 and the aftermath of the great recession, approximately 13% of children experienced consistent poverty, the worst form of poverty. That had fallen to approximately 5% by 2021. It has gone up again slightly because of the cost-of-living crisis. We are determined to bring it back down again. I cannot obviously make any commitments on what is or is not in the budget until it is agreed and present…

The decision on the moratorium with regard to energy is made by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, and not by the Government, as the Deputy may know. This will be a budget for the 5 million people who live in the State. It will include an income tax and USC package, which will reward work and ensure that more people get to keep more of the money they earn. There will be a cost-of-living package, which people will see reflected in their pockets this side of Christmas, helping families in particular wit…

This year, more than 149,000 children were transported to school every day, at primary and secondary levels, throughout the country. This is an increase of 12%. Fees have been reduced considerably by the Government. I am advised that the review of the school transport scheme is nearing completion. The review is being conducted to ensure it serves students and their families adequately. The final report of the review will include recommendations on the future operation of the scheme. Once approved by the Government,…

I will have to double-check but my understanding is that an agreement was reached recently on increased pay and improved terms and conditions for people who work in home care. I hope that will make a difference. The other area where we have made a change is in work permits. We are allowing people to come here from outside Europe to work in home care, which had not been permitted in the past. People could come from overseas to work in nursing homes but not in home care. That change has also been made.

The Minister for Justice and I are very aware that communities all over the country, in urban and rural areas and in Dublin, Limerick and elsewhere, are affected by crime and need a decent police service. The Garda Commissioner has confirmed to the Minister for Justice that there are no plans to move any Garda members formerly appointed to specialist units as part of the reintroduction of the previously agreed Westmanstown roster. Specifically, neither community policing nor divisional drug units will be disbanded.…

I am not familiar with that particular service but it sounds like a very valuable one. The Minister and the Government will have regard to such considerations when it comes to any budgetary decisions. However, decisions of that nature will not necessarily be made next Tuesday. Once Ministers have their allocations, they will want to develop their service plans on foot of that provision.

We are acting on that. We have increased the number of GP training places considerably, with up to 300 new trainees coming through this year. We have increased the rural practice allowance for rural practices and appointed more practice nurses. We are making it easier for GPs from overseas to take up positions in our health service. There is a particular problem with single-handed practices that is very difficult to fix. The world has changed and people's willingness to work on their own in a single-handed setting …

I very much agree with the Deputy's sentiment. Work of that nature is under way. Targeting small areas of population that are in the greatest need can produce good results. We have seen some results in the north-east inner city. It is not a case of one size fits all but there is an approach like that happening in Drogheda at the moment, and the Cherry Orchard-Ballyfermot area is also under consideration. We certainly can take west Tallaght into account but it is not possible to apply that approach to every area.

Students will not be forgotten in the budget next week. In the previous budget, we increased the SUSI grant and made it available to more people. We reduced student contribution fees, provided the rent credit to students and increased funding for student accommodation. Hundreds of additional beds are now being provided every year on our university and third level campuses. While I cannot say what will be in the budget next Tuesday because it is not agreed yet, the approach we took in the previous budget was valid a…

An Bord Pleanála is not working the way it should be. There is no denying that. Its 2022 annual report was approved by the Cabinet today. It showed that fewer than 50% - only about 45%, in fact - of appeals were adjudicated within the statutory timeframe.

Whether the figure is 27% or 45%, it is bad. I am not going to argue with that. What are we doing about it? A full complement of board members has now been appointed and the board has sanction for 300 additional staff. We know more staff are needed. Today, we published the planning and development Bill 2023, which will make the deadlines for decision statutory. It will no longer be the case that An Bord Pleanála can just look for more information or more time. It will have to make decisions within the specified tim…

If we look across the country there are problems with recruitment and retention in the public sector and the private sector, in big companies and small, and in well-paid areas and in poorly paid areas. That is a feature of the fact that we do not just have full employment in Ireland - we are now beyond full employment and there are many more vacancies than there are people with the skills to fill those jobs. What we can do about it? We can increase training and education so that more people have the appropriate ski…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 6, inclusive, together. On 6 July, along with the Tánaiste and the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, I convened an energy summit at Government Buildings. The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment also took part, along with speakers from the International Energy Agency and the Danish Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities. The summit brought together representatives of those in the public, private and voluntary sectors whose combined efforts ar…

I thank the Deputies for their questions. Deputy Paul Murphy raised the issue of the pollution of the River Poddle. I do not know the facts or the details but I will make sure that my office makes further inquiries about it. Deputy Boyd Barrett raised the issue of the retrofitting of homes. I am told by the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, that the programme is going well and that we will meet or exceed our target to retrofit 30,000 homes this year. We have made some changes to the SEAI grant. One can now pay the diffe…