I propose to take Questions Nos. 5 and 6 together. The Government has been working to implement the commitments in the programme for Government which are advanced through the co-ordinating mechanisms of the Cabinet committee structure. The ten Cabinet committees established by the Government reflect the core policy areas set out in the programme for Government. The strategy statements of all Departments reflect the national priorities outlined in the programme for Government. The Department of the Taoiseach is cont…

I thank the Deputies for their questions. As Deputy Dillon mentioned earlier, Cabinet today signed off on the tender and gave approval for the N5 Scramogue-to-Ballaghaderreen road project to go ahead. It is an investment of about €450 million and will dramatically improve access to and from County Mayo in particular. It will also have huge benefits for towns like Strokestown, Frenchpark and Tulsk in Roscommon, where the through traffic will be taken out, making those towns nicer places in which to live and visit. I…

I agree and, like I said, I will make sure that the Minister, Deputy Martin, is aware of the view that we both hold. On Deputy Ó Murchú's question regarding the new policing model, my understanding is that it is being piloted in a number of areas. Once that is done, there will be a review. The Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, might be able to inform the Deputy a bit more about how that is going. On the Garda roster, all of us can understand why the Covid roster is attractive. It is four days on and four days o…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 7 to 10, inclusive, together. The next meeting of the Cabinet committee on housing will take place in October. The committee works to ensure a co-ordinated approach to the implementation of Housing for All and the delivery of programme for Government commitments regarding housing and related matters. We are now entering the third year of the implementation of Housing for All. The plan is working, with strong performance on many indicators, including new home commencements and comple…

I thank the Deputies and I will be as quick as I can. Certainly, when it comes to multi-unit developments, all should have a sinking fund. A portion of the management fee should go into that every year so it builds up over 20 or 30 years and there is a pool of money then to carry out any works that need to be done. Whether you live in an apartment or a house, every 30 years or so you need to do major works to it. That is the nature of buildings, and that is money the owner has to pay. In terms of the review of the …

I have just checked. First, the Deputy has misquoted me. Second, he has misrepresented me. I have never sought to blame anyone for the housing crisis or for homelessness, not the people who experience it nor the people who try to help them, whether this is the Government, the local authorities, NGOs or anyone else. The Deputy has misquoted and misrepresented me and-----

-----this is bad politics as far as I am concerned, but let us move on.

I did not actually.

I did not.

Let us move on to the issue at hand. We are experiencing a very deep housing crisis in this State and we have done so now for quite some time. It affects lots of people in lots of different ways, whether it is people who are struggling to pay the rent, people who cannot find their first home to buy or people who have been living at home too long. I know this and I get it. I deal with this every day in my constituency service in trying to help people, as I am sure the Deputy does. The Deputy wants to do something ve…

Those comments were made in response to an individual case given by another Deputy. There are many individual cases and everyone has their story and everyone's story is different. That is the truth of it. It is a simple fact that there are people on the housing list who have refused offers of accommodation and, in some cases, multiple offers of accommodation. Often, this is for good reasons.

One of the reasons we have choice-based letting now is that people will have more choice regarding the offers they get. This has been a big success and something that was introduced by the last Government.

It is a huge leap to say that stating the fact that people refuse offers of accommodation is somehow blaming them for-----

Ah stop.

If it would help, and help to contain the Deputy and his outburst, I am happy to rephrase the term "plenty" to "some".

I thank the Deputy. I am happy to confirm my and the Government's support for an EU nature law. We have seen an extraordinary loss of biodiversity in Ireland, Europe and around the world in the past few decades. For me, it was brought into sharp focus by one of the David Attenborough documentaries I watched where he pointed out that 97% of all animal life on earth by weight is us and the things we eat. That only left 3% for nature. That is one of the reasons why I and this Government support a new EU nature law. Bu…

I have not actually seen that correspondence yet. I will have to see it and I will then confer with the Minister, Deputy Ryan, and other Government colleagues. I will ensure that I do see it and that we will respond to it as soon as possible. I absolutely agree that social dialogue is crucial. Everybody wants climate action and actions to be taken which help to reverse the decline in biodiversity. Once these actually happen or are proposed we then run into significant opposition and that is why it is important that…

I am not familiar with the particular service or programme but from what the Deputy has told me, it seems to be very successful and it seems to be a very good one. I am told there is another transition pilot programme for school leavers which involves 20 schools in Dublin and elsewhere looking after children over two years. I will certainly take on board what the Deputy has said today. I will speak to the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and see if there is a way it can be funded. I am sorry I cannot give a bett…

The Deputy has my assurance that I will make some inquiries about it and speak to the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and the other relevant Ministers. As we know, often when something is funded from the Dormant Accounts Fund, it is only funded for a short period of time and then it can get picked up and funded and on a more sustainable basis by another body. As I am not fully across the programme, I do not make any commitments here but I will definitely follow up on it.

My diary is published. It was a real pleasure to have a chance to visit west Cork again. It is surely one of the most beautiful parts of the country. I was really glad to meet people in different parts of it and talk to them on this occasion. I got to visit Bandon, Clonakilty, Timoleague and also Courtmacsherry. While I did not meet the people the Deputy mentioned, I met a number of councillors who impressed on me the need to find more funding for road maintenance and restoration. In Senator Lombard's office in Ban…