There are other actions we can take as well. The meeting is happening today. The Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, will be very clear in his message to retailers - when their input costs went up they put up prices and if their input costs are coming down now, we expect to see prices come down.

The safety of our skies and the control of our airspace involve a number of things. There are aspects that relate to defence and national security, whether it is incursions by foreign aircraft or the possibility of a hijacking happening over our airspace. Mainly, however, it is a matter of civil aviation and air safety in the way the Deputy explained very eloquently. What are we doing? We are developing our Air Corps. On foot of the recommendations of the Commission on the Defence Forces, we are going to build up o…

Building up our radar is very much on the agenda and it is a recommendation we accepted from the Commission on the Defence Forces. A project team comprising senior civil and military personnel has commenced work on planning for this. It includes ground-based, maritime and primary radar systems. It is one of the early actions identified in the high-level action plan. Primary radar is extremely complex and will take some time to commission, install and operate. Delivery, however, is being prioritised. This year’s inc…

I reiterate the Government's and the European Union's condemnation of any form of collective punishment against the Palestinian people, including the demolition of homes, the demolition of public infrastructure such as schools or the targeting of hospitals. It is entirely unacceptable that any country, democratic or otherwise, should behave in such a way. I have not had any engagement with the Israeli ambassador or with the Israeli Government in a very long time. However, I will make sure the Tánaiste knows the sub…

I do think we will meet those targets. If we miss them, we will not miss them by much. I do not accept we are a laggard in this area. I take the view that we took the decision to prioritise onshore wind. It made sense. It was cheaper to do, easier to do and quicker to do. We prioritised that. Approximately 35% or 40% of our electricity comes from renewables now. That is not bad at all by international standards. That is almost all from onshore wind. We are really getting going on solar as well. There was a period a…

I thank the Deputy for raising a very important issue. The experiences he is having with youth services in Donegal are similar to what we are experiencing in west Dublin. It has been quite difficult to get them back up and running post Covid for lots of different reasons and the absence of volunteers is part of that. I do not want to give the Deputy an answer on the fly because I do not know enough about the detail of services in Donegal, but I appreciate that he has raised it and I might ask the Minister, Deputy O…

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue and join him in welcoming Councillors Paul Murphy and Clare Colleran Molloy, who are here. Quite a lot of younger people, under 65, are in nursing homes around the State. It really is not an acceptable scenario. We need to find and develop solutions so that more and more can live in the community or go back to their own homes. That is happening, but not enough. It is pertinent that the Deputy should raise it today. I know the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, is…

I thank the Deputy for reminding me of this issue. I am frustrated about it as well. For people whose mobile home is their home, it is their permanent home. It is where they are registered to vote and are registered for everything else. They have lost out on €600 in the form of an energy credit. I had hoped an exceptional needs payment might be the simple solution to it, because that would not require legislation, but I will follow up on it again. I acknowledge the injustice here and am keen to find a solution, whi…

First, the Government very much supports the A5-N2 project. It is important not just for connecting Derry and Letterkenny to other parts of Ireland but also for road safety, and I am aware of the number of people who have lost their lives on that road. If I remember correctly, the commitment that was made by the then Government was for £400 million. We had to come to an agreement with the Northern Ireland Executive at the time to reduce that contribution at a time when we were very strapped for cash here. Thankfull…

I think 17 May 1974 was one of the darkest days in the history of the Troubles when a terrible atrocity was visited here in Dublin and on the people of Monaghan. In my meeting with the British Prime Minister, Mr. Sunak, about two weeks ago in Belfast, I raised the issue of legacy and our opposition to the British Government's proposals in that regard. I met him briefly over the weekend but did not have the chance to talk to him in depth but I will certainly continue to press the case against the legacy Bill. The ne…

I think we can expedite this project and I think we should. I have not had an update on it in several weeks but I will get one and pass it on to the Deputy. I will be meeting the new CEO of the HSE. I certainly want to see us expediting capital projects in hospitals across the country, not just in Castlebar. I know this is an important one. Notwithstanding the extra 1,000 beds that have been added to hospitals in the past three years and 20,000 more staff, demand has increased considerably. Even for this time of ye…

I am happy to reiterate and stand over the financial commitment we have made to co-fund the A5 once it gets through its various planning issues. We will be happy to engage with the British Government and Northern Ireland Executive about an additional contribution because the cost has gone up a lot because of the delays. Of course, it would make no sense to build the A5 and not build the tie-ins to the N2 and the tie-ins in Donegal. I think funding has been provided for some of that - certainly from Clontibret to th…

I thank Deputy McHugh for raising this important issue. We are very keen to have the regulations done in the next couple of weeks. I spoke with the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, about this recently and he will engage directly with Deputy McHugh on it. Certainly, by this time next year I want to be in a position where we are seeing hundreds of homes in Donegal being repaired or being demolished and rebuilt. We are keen to get the scheme up and running as soon as possible. I do not want to go into any of the details abou…

The Deputy has another 30 seconds.

I will check with the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, and come back to Deputy Kenny directly. It is my understanding that people who have a terminal illness can now qualify for a discretionary medical card, but there is an understandable reluctance to prescribe certain illnesses that qualify for a medical card and others that do not. This is for lots of reasons that are explained in the report, including that it would potentially be very unfair. Certainly, one aspect we must examine at budget time is increasi…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 9, inclusive, together. The Cabinet committee on the environment and climate change last met on 20 April 2023, and the next meeting will be scheduled shortly. Climate change is the most pressing global challenge of our time and the science is indisputable. We must break the link with fossil fuels. This urgency of action is reinforced by Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine. We must not just see climate change as a burden however. It is also a moment of opportunity. Achieving ene…

I thank the Deputies for their various questions. I will try to cover as many as I can in my reply. On waste collection, from my experience, which I appreciate might not be everybody's, we have a much better refuse service than we had 20 or 30 years ago. We have black, green and brown bins and higher recycling rates. A lot has been achieved in that regard. Re-municipalisation should be a matter for local authorities. There would be an upfront cost in changing to that system as well as ongoing costs, which would pro…

I put it as simply as that, but do not expect somebody else to pay for it. You have to be honest with people that a cost would be associated with it, which they would have to bear, whether that is in the form of property taxes, commercial rates or something else. Deputy Paul Murphy wishes to characterise me in a certain way, but I am not deeply ideological. Perhaps I was ten or 20 years ago but, at this point, I am only interested in outcomes for people and not ideology. Perhaps time and experience in government te…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 10 to 19, inclusive, together. The Cabinet committee on housing last met on 17 April. The next meeting will be held in June. The committee works to ensure a co-ordinated approach to the implementation of Housing for All. The plan is working. In the first quarter alone, more than 6,700 new homes were built, almost 20% more than the same quarter last year, carrying on the momentum of approximately 30,000 homes being built in 2022. That number does not include student accommodation or …

We all have places to be but I will be happy to answer if we can take the additional time off the next group of questions.