I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 9, inclusive, together. The National Competitiveness and Productivity Council, NCPC, published its annual competitiveness challenge report in September 2022. It makes recommendations to the Government across a range of policy areas. On 29 November 2022, the Government published a formal response to the council's recommendations. This is the third year in which a formal response was issued by the Government to the competitiveness challenge report. This response was co-ordinated …

I thank the Deputies for their contributions. Deputy McDonald spoke about her visit to Letterkenny and her engagement with the chamber of commerce there. I have had the chance to visit the county on many occasions, including in recent months. I visited Tata Consultancy Services, a multinational company employing over 1,000 people now in Letterkenny, which is great to see. I visited the hospital. I met with families and have been in homes affected by mica. I want to acknowledge some of the real problems that the cou…

Tógfaidh mé Ceisteanna Uimh. 10 go 20 le chéile. The Cabinet Committee on Health met on 29 May and is due to meet again on 19 June. In addition to the meetings of the full Cabinet and of Cabinet committees, I meet Ministers on an individual basis to focus on different issues. I meet regularly with the Minister for Health to discuss progress and challenges in the area of Health, including the Sláintecare reform programme. Sláintecare is happening with the support and the oversight of the Department of the Taoiseach …

I thank the Deputies again for their questions. Deputy Hourigan raised the issue of the north inner city drugs and alcohol task force. I am afraid I do not have my file on the north east inner city with me but there is a report and an update on it. I do not have it to hand but I will certainly make sure the Deputy gets a reply later in the week on it. I will send it to other Deputies from the constituency as well. Deputy O'Sullivan raised the issue of funding for new medicines. If I picked him up right, he said tha…

There is €30 million for 2022, so the full amount allocated in that year was not spent. I was not aware of that. I am not sure it is correct but I will double-check because my impression had been the opposite in that any time any additional funding was provided for new medicines it was not enough. If that is the case, there is a problem so I will definitely check up on that this week and get back to the Deputy as soon as I can. Deputy Moynihan mentioned that budget 2023, including funding to extend free GP care to …

I propose to take Question Nos. 21 to 26, inclusive, together. Cabinet committees meet as appropriate according to their work schedules. In addition to meetings of Cabinet committees, I often meet with Ministers on an individual basis to focus on particular issues, which are also regularly discussed at full Government meetings. From June to December 2022, the Cabinet committees on economic recovery and investment and on Europe met three times; the committee on housing met four times; the committees on health and on…

I thank the Deputies for their questions. The number of people sleeping rough was in or around 100, or just below that at last count. I do not know what the discrepancy is between the Simon Community count and the DRHE count. I will ask that question. It might relate to the time of night at which it is done. It might also relate to whether it is done on a single night or over an average number of nights, which would be much more accurate than a count done on a single night. Emergency accommodation is available in D…

I thank the Deputy. At the outset, on behalf of the Government, I want to express our shock and horror at the events in Nottingham today. We do not yet know the details because only a certain amount of information is available but it is clear there have been fatalities and a number of injuries. We extend our condolences to those whose loved ones or friends have been killed. We send our best wishes for a speedy recovery to those who have been injured. We will be in touch with British authorities today to offer any a…

In January, the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, brought an independent report to Cabinet on the retained fire service. We accepted the recommendations of that report. Negotiations were ongoing up until a few weeks ago. A third-party negotiator, Mr. Ultan Courtney, was appointed to chair those talks. An offer was made which would involve: a 20% increase in staffing, with a minimum of 12 firefighters in all fire stations; structured time off, recognising the need for prope…

I thank the Deputy. A lot of politicians talk out of both sides of their mouths, and the champions among them are those who come in here and express concern about the housing crisis and then go back to their constituencies and oppose housing. We will come back to that-----

-----on another occasion, and I will now answer the question. Climate change is real. It is happening. It is a clear and present danger. It is man made, and we need to act to reverse it. We have to be the generation that turns the tide when it comes to climate change. In respect of data centres, over 100,000 people in Ireland work for technology firms. They might not work in data centres, but their jobs would not exist without the existence of data centres. As a result, data centres are important to our economy and…

I am not going to engage in scaremongering; I am just going to give the basic facts. There are different proposals being negotiated at the moment in respect of the EU nature restoration law. There is a proposal before the European Parliament which is very radical. There is a proposal at the European Council on which the Government is currently negotiating. There is also a proposal made by the European Commission. At a certain point, we get to trilogue and we try to reach an agreement between those three different b…

Anything that is done has to be properly remunerated. I would like to see people from rural constituencies like Cork South-West and Wicklow, for example, backing the Government in that regard. I do not see how farmers in Cork South-West, Wicklow or other rural constituencies could possibly believe that the Social Democrats have their backs.

I thank the Deputy. This is something I will have to discuss with the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, and the Minister of Housing, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy O'Brien. Local authorities are principally accountable to their elected members. I believe in local government and do not like to see central government taking over local government. Sometimes that has had to happen and functions have had to be transferred from local government to central government, but it has never been something I have been …

-----but again, that is central government beginning to take over local government and I am not sure that is the right approach. It is something I have an open mind on and something I will discuss with the Minister, Deputy O'Brien and the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell. Something I think we all agree on is that public money, the people's money, money paid by them in local property taxes and money paid by them in commercial rates, needs to be spent well and in the people's interests. There have been far too man…

I firmly agree the people's money needs to be spent well, spent efficiently and spent in their interest. That is why it is important that we have audit and oversight functions that work. However, local government is separate from central government. Local government is now enshrined in our Constitution by means of an amendment passed by the public some years ago. While local authorities receive some of their grants directly from central government, they also receive funding from the local property tax, commercial r…

-----and from their own income. For an Oireachtas committee to start to take oversight of income that is local government income and not central government would have to be thought about, and thought about in depth.

We all acknowledge the way our retained fire services have changed down the years. There is a retainer payment and then there are call-out payments. Due to improvements in fire safety, the number of call-out payments has reduced and that needs to be reflected in changes to their terms and conditions. We acknowledge that as a Government. As I said earlier, an offer has been made which includes a 20% increase in staff with a minimum of 12 firefighters at each station, structured time off, individual flexibility with …

I have not engaged in any blaming. The blame-game has only come from the Opposition benches today on this matter. As I said earlier, we value the work of retained firefighters. They are highly committed people in communities throughout the country who provide an exceptional service. All industrial relations disputes are resolved in the end. They are resolved by negotiations. Government is willing to engage. As is often the case, matters that cannot be resolved have to go to the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, …

At the outset, I concur with Deputy Bacik's remarks. I heard Deputy Berry speaking on the radio the other day. He made a very valid point that those of us in politics often complain about the quality of discourse, abuse and social media abuse. Sometimes, however, we are our own worst enemies. We set the standard in the way we behave and none of us are angels in that regard. Given what Deputy Bacik said, we should all resolve to conduct our business in a more parliamentary manner, in the way we used to in the past. …