I thank the Deputies again for their questions. I join Deputy Dillon in welcoming everyone who has come all the way from Achill. Tá fáilte romhaibh go léir chuig an Dáil. I wish to answer Deputy Dillon's questions on security of supply and price stability. We all agree and acknowledge that the best thing we can do to bring about price stability when it comes to energy and improving security of supply is shift to renewables, which cannot happen quickly enough for reasons of economics, security and climate. The main …

The new national children's hospital will transform healthcare for children on our island. Elements of it are already open, including the ambulatory care centres in Blanchardstown and Tallaght. People who have taken their kids there will know quite how good healthcare can be when we have modern facilities. The main building has been under construction for quite some time, next to St. James's Hospital. We anticipate that it will be completed and handed over next year, and will be commissioned in the months after tha…

I do not know if a validation exercise was carried out in March, but I do know that snagging and checking-----

-----is par for the course in any construction project.

The Deputy has not told me who the independent experts are. If she would give me the copy of the report, I would welcome that. Like I say, this is-----

-----something that we have only heard about, as a Government, today.

If the Deputy has this independent expert report, I would be happy to receive a copy so that we can verify whether the claims she is making, here in the Dáil, are true. There is no point in being facile about these things. An operating theatre is a room. In the US they call them operating rooms and emergency rooms. Let us be a bit grown up about these things.

I acknowledge that we have a very significant shortage and deficit of housing in Ireland and that the country is experiencing a very deep housing crisis that affects people in many ways, whether high rents, rising homelessness or the difficulty many people face in being able to buy their first home. The housing crisis is a reality for many reasons. These are a rapidly rising population, smaller household sizes which mean we need more homes and a prolonged period during which very little housing was built after the …

I heard the Deputy say that single first-time buyers have to earn €67,000 to buy their first home. The Deputy may have misread it or there may have been a different interpretation. I think the figure is that the median or average income of people buying their first home is €67,000. That, by definition, means that at least half of the people who bought their first home earn less than €67,000. These things are often very poorly reported but if the median is €67,000, at least half have to earn less than €67,000 for th…

It is true. I am sorry. I know I will be criticised for explaining these things but sometimes when things are factually untrue, it is legitimate to point out what is actually meant by average and median for people who may not fully understand it. The €3.5 billion budget for housing is the biggest budget ever. If there is any reason that we are struggling to spend it, it is because the budget is so large. That is evidence of the Government's commitment to dealing with the housing crisis. There are 9,000 apprentices …

I confirm once again that Ireland will remain militarily neutral. We are not going to apply for NATO membership, or membership of any military alliance, nor will we sign up to any mutual defence pact or clause. The Tánaiste has made that very clear on a number of occasions, as have I. However, the security threats facing our country have changed. There are cybersecurity threats, threats related to international terrorism and espionage, and hybrid threats. We have to think about that as a country. The Tánaiste has e…

There is no hidden agenda here. I have told the Deputy exactly what we intend to do. We intend to increase and improve our Defence Forces and defence capability. We are founder members of PESCO, which is European foreign and security structured co-operation. For more than 20 years, we have been part of NATO’s Partnership for Peace. Interoperability is there to protect our troops and make sure they are safe and can act effectively in peacekeeping missions, being able to use the same equipment and to engage in joint …

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. His experience will be similar to that of many in this House who have been talking to parents, teachers, doctors and psychologists and who will be aware of the increasing demands on young people's mental health, in part due to the pandemic and in part due to other challenges and pressures they face. That is why we are investing very significantly in mental health services. The total allocation for mental health services this year is €1.2 billion, which is the hig…

I assure the Deputy that we will take the INTO submission very seriously. We certainly have done so down the years. The ideas and advice it gives to the Government have very often been taken up by the Government. It is not always possible to do everything we want to do in any one given year but we can certainly do more over the years ahead. Again, the Minister, Deputy Foley, is very committed to improving psychological services in schools and has some ideas on that which we hope to advance.

I should point out that the increase in the defence budget last year was €70 million. This is a Government that is committed to investing in our Defence Forces and making sure that they have better equipment. We have seen a significant improvement in pay in recent years and it now compares very favourably with other jurisdictions like the UK and the US, for example. To the best of my knowledge, Opposition parties have been invited to participate in the forum. They might not have been asked to give a keynote speech,…

It is a forum, so people will be able to participate. That is the whole idea of it.

I would have no difficulty - nor would the Tánaiste - in the report being debated in the House. I think that is a good idea, and I think that would be entirely appropriate. I just want to confirm that representatives of all EU member states have been invited to attend the forum.

That includes Austria, Malta and Cyprus; and representatives from Finland, Sweden, Norway and Switzerland, which is neutral, have been invited to speak as panellists.

To conclude, the aim of the forum is to hear from a variety of partners about their foreign and security policy choices. It will be an interactive forum.

People will be invited to speak and make their contributions. Finally, on the issue of data centres, I have no difficulty having a debate about our policy on data centres but I suggest that Opposition time be used for that. We have a lot of legislation and we need to get it through by the recess. I suggest that Opposition time be used.