I appreciate the fact that we are running into some real difficulties with the DTSS, with many dentists pulling out of the scheme and concentrating solely on private practice. It is worth pointing out that the number of registered dentists in Ireland is at its highest ever level, at 3,472 in total. That is 153 more dentists than this time last year. Regarding DTSS access in County Mayo, HSE figures indicate that there are currently 45,418 patients eligible for the service in the county and 21 contractors in County …

I am afraid I have not seen either of these reports so I cannot make a commitment on the hoof here in the House. However, I imagine that the parents of the children concerned and the patients themselves would be very keen to see those reports. I will certainly let the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, know it was raised in the Chamber and get back to the Deputy.

I do not want to comment on the individual case because I do not know all the information. However, we have a serious issue because thousands of people living in direct provision who have status are working and not paying any rent. That is not a tenable situation because we need those spaces for people who are new applicants for international protection. Single people, in particular, have been asked to find alternative accommodation and in almost all cases, they have. In a few cases, we have had to provide alternat…

I thank the Deputies. I will ask the Minister of State, Deputy Heydon, to answer the question on horse control. The scoping exercise and pandemic inquiry has now advanced. I have not seen it yet, but I am told it is close to conclusion and after that, we will have engagement with stakeholders and the Opposition on the terms of reference. I should say that the purpose of the pandemic inquiry in Ireland will be to look at the general response to the pandemic, not specifically nursing homes, although that will be part…

I move: That provision be made in the Act giving effect to this Resolution, in the manner and to the extent specified in that Act, for the charging of a levy, to be known as the temporary solidarity contribution, in accordance with section 4 of the Act.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 12, inclusive, together. The Cabinet committee on housing has met eight times in the past 12 months and most recently on 26 June. The next meeting is currently being scheduled. The committee works to ensure a co-ordinated approach to the implementation of Housing for All and the programme for Government commitments regarding housing and related matters. The plan is working. In the first three months of this year, over 6,700 new homes were built, an increase of almost 20% on the…

I thank Deputies for their questions. I will give the best answers I can but as some of the questions are quite detailed and technical, they would be probably best answered by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, or the Minister of State, Deputy Kieran O'Donnell. If I do not answer them, I will make sure a more detailed response is provided to the Deputies in writing. Deputy Durkan asked about the serviced sites in towns and villages. I will definitely follow up on that. …

-----but in my time in office, we have quadrupled the number of new homes being built and the figure has doubled since I became Taoiseach the first time. We will do a lot more. To take social housing as an example, the Government has often been unfairly criticised for overreliance on the private market. In the past couple of years, we have seen the biggest expansion in social housing since the 1970s. One of the most interesting aspects of the census figures that came out only a few weeks ago was not just the raw nu…

No, it does not. That is the whole point and it is why the Deputy's arguments in the past couple of years around the approach taken to social housing by this Government and the party I lead have been so false. Tens of thousands more people are living in social housing than ten years ago and in percentage terms, there has been an increase as well. That is significant and it ought to be acknowledged more frequently. The people who make those false claims should be taken on by journalists, presenters and informed comm…

I spoke about the mica issue earlier in the Chamber. To add to that, the Act was commenced back in late June and regulations have been signed. The enhanced scheme is now open to new applicants. It provides an evidence-based system for additional counties and parts of counties to be designated as required following a technical assessment by the Housing Agency. The enhanced and current schemes are not compensation or redress schemes. They are remediation schemes of last resort, put in place by the Government in order…

The Mulvey report, entitled Dublin North East Inner City: Creating a Brighter Future, which was published in February 2017, contains recommendations for the social and economic regeneration of Dublin's north-east inner city. This report has been further supplemented by the north-east inner city strategic plan 2020-23. Implementation of the Mulvey report and the strategic plan is overseen and progressed by the programme implementation board. The board meets on a monthly basis and its members include representatives …

I thank the Deputies. Deputy Cronin asked about the inner city drugs and alcohol task force. This ceased to function at the end of 2021 due to an impasse concerning the appointment of an independent chairperson and some other issues. The Government remains committed to tackling the drug and alcohol issues affecting the north inner city, in conjunction with community-based service providers, and has provided significant additional resources for drugs and alcohol services in the area and the Dublin north region. The …

I propose to take Questions Nos. 14 to 20, inclusive, together. The National Economic and Social Council advises me on strategic policy issues relating to sustainable, social and environmental development. The NESC is currently working in five main areas. The first is good jobs. The council is examining how good jobs could provide a mechanism to improve worker well-being, drive innovation and enhance productivity. It is expected that the NESC report on this will be completed in quarter 4 of 2023. The second is clim…

I thank the Deputies for their questions. As the House knows, Ireland is required to transpose the EU directive on adequate minimum wages and collective bargaining. I began the work of doing that during my previous role as Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. On the adequate minimum wage side, there is not much that we have to do. Our laws are already up to the European standard, and indeed ahead of them. We have a Low Pay Commission, and a national minimum wage that is the sixth- or seventh-highest in th…

I thank the Deputy. At approximately 4.30 p.m., the Government will publish the summer economic statement which sets out, as the Deputy said, the fiscal parameters for budget 2024, that is, the budget package for next year, which will be announced in October. I am satisfied that it provides the kind of multibilllion euro response required to help families with the cost of living, providing for a significant welfare and pensions package, as well as for greater tax fairness. It strikes a balance in terms of where we …

We would not be talking about full employment. We would be talking about how we would find money to pay jobseeker's benefit. We would not be talking about record levels of trade and investment. We would be talking about a budget deficit, how we are going to borrow the money to close that deficit at what the interest rate would be, and how we would curtail spending and increase taxes to cover that. The reason we have full employment, the reason we have a budget surplus, the reason we can have tax cuts, the reason we…

The situation is as simple as this. If we had followed Sinn Féin's economic policies for the past 12 years, we would have higher levels of unemployment, lower incomes, higher taxes, less money to spend on pensions and welfare-----

-----and less money to invest in public services and infrastructure. As a result of that, we would have more homelessness, bigger problems in the health service and, rather than having more citizens coming home every year, which has been the case for the past three years, we would have more citizens leaving the State. The Deputy mentioned the challenges in health and housing and I acknowledge them absolutely. However, it is not fair for the Deputy to make out that no progress has been made in these areas. Just toda…

We have an agreement to do it. It will be a fact by Christmas-----

-----that every child under eight-----