I propose to take Questions Nos. 17 to 24, inclusive, together. The return of the power-sharing Executive and the Northern Ireland Assembly is hugely welcome. I was very pleased to travel to Stormont on 5 February to meet the new First and deputy First Ministers and other members of the Executive Committee of Ministers. While in Belfast, I met the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak. I acknowledged his efforts and those of his team in concluding the talks to achieve restoration. We discussed and agreed on the impor…

I thank the Deputies for their questions. Deputy Brendan Smith asked about the legacy Bill. He raises these issues regularly in the Chamber. I welcome that because it keeps them on the agenda. I will certainly continue to discuss them with Prime Minister Sunak any time we meet. Deputy Durkan asked about the Executive and the assembly. I am keen to work with them and to work closely with the new First Minister and the deputy First Minister. In fairness, they have got off to a good start, which is encouraging. We wan…

Yes. The Deputy might send me a note. I am aware of the issue but am not 100% across it.

I thank the Deputy and wish her and everyone in the House a happy St. Valentine's Day. It is very clear that we have significant problems in RTÉ. We see a culture of poor governance when decisions were not made or not made properly. We see a culture of arrogance from some of the senior people who were in charge of that organisation. We also see a wider culture of entitlement, a belief that the revenue from the licence fee should belong to RTÉ either entirely or for the greatest part. That sense of entitlement and t…

It is not. There are a number of options. One option is direct Exchequer funding but that funding might otherwise go to education, health or pensions, for example, and it would potentially give future governments undue influence over RTÉ if RTÉ was funded directly from the Exchequer. We know there is somebody in this House who might be head of the next Government and who is suing RTÉ at the moment. It would be a huge conflict of interest to have people who are suing RTÉ deciding how much money it gets paid. That is…

-----and it will require a system to set it up. In the meantime, the TV licence remains the law. People should obey the law, pay charges they are liable to pay and pay their taxes. That is a very simple thing. I do not believe in tax amnesties and never did. I do not think the policy the Deputy is pursuing is the right one. It is a return to left populism and is a mistake.

I cannot give a date today but we should make a decision on this in the coming weeks, and certainly in the coming months. I agree that at a time when misinformation and disinformation are rife and are undermining democracy here and around the world, it is important to fund public service media and broadcasting. That cannot just be about RTÉ for reasons I think we will all agree on. The current model is to fund it through a mixture of the Exchequer and the TV licence. We will examine the options of a full Exchequer …

The current position is the TV licence is the law. I encourage people to pay it, as I do and always have. It is not just about RTÉ; it is about Irish-language broadcasting, public service media, children's programming and the broadcasting fund, which supports many broadcasters and creators in the private sector who have their own small businesses. We need to bear that in mind when deciding whether to pay the TV licence fee. It is linked to television at the moment but that is old-fashioned. I know there are people …

At the outset, I thank Deputy Naughten for raising this important issue and I know rare diseases are a cause the Deputy has championed for many years. I know the effect that rare diseases can have on many patients living with them and, at times, it can be difficult to access the appropriate medicines, technologies and diagnostic tools. We made commitments in the programme for Government to ensure increased focus on rare diseases and people living with them and we are now developing a new rare diseases strategy, whi…

I understand that some of the posts that were approved in 2023 were affected by the temporary pause on new recruitment. A new workforce plan for 2024 is being developed by the HSE and it will be able to increase its total staffing levels by between 2,000 and 3,000 over the course of this year. This will include genetic counsellors and the development of the genomic resource associate role to help patients navigate the genetic and genomic care pathway and improve the co-ordination of care. The €2.7 million provided …

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as a cuid ceisteanna. Caithfidh sos cogaidh a bheith ann anois. Tá an iomarca daoine básaithe agus gortaithe sa Phalaistín. This morning, the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, and I wrote formally to the President of the European Commission, Ursula Von Der Leyen, expressing once again our deep concern at the deteriorating situation in Gaza and calling for an urgent assessment of whether Israel is in breach of the human rights obligations under the EU-Israel association agreemen…

I really hope we do not make this conflict or these terrible events that are happening in the Middle East to be in any way about us. It is not about us or the differences between the different parties here or between the Government and the Opposition. It is about the civilian population in Israel and the civilian population in the Palestinian territories. I disagree with the Deputy on two counts, even though we agree on most things. First, absolutely nothing Israel is doing at the moment is being done in our name. …

I will certainly look into it and see what can be done. Over the past number of years we have tried to improve the financial position of carers. We have increased the carer support grant which is not means tested. We relaxed the means test for the carer's allowance, increased it and extended free GP care to anyone in receipt of the carer's allowance. We will strive to continue on that pathway of improving things for carers. I appreciate that when it comes to respite services we have some real difficulties. Generall…

My understanding is that the allocations are made every year based on the profile of the children in the school. For example, in any given year children with particular needs may leave the school and move on to another one or more kids with special needs may come in. It is based on the profile of the children in the school, not on the school itself. I understand that what Deputy Ó Ríordáin is saying is correct. We have 1,000 more special education teachers than we had back in 2021 and two thirds of schools will be …

I can guarantee that. It might not necessarily be their school of first preference but I can guarantee that everyone in Kildare and also in my own constituency of Dublin West, where this also occurs, will receive a secondary school place. That is an absolute commitment and an absolute guarantee. Figures are used from the census and also from child benefit data. When it comes to secondary schools, the number of children enrolled in primary schools determines the need for secondary school places. What we have, though…

If it is the case that children are not able to find a place, we will make certain that they get one but we cannot always guarantee that it will be their place of first choice, particularly if the school is not in their catchment area.

I understand that a proposal was issued to staff representatives last year to establish a new grade of adult educator, with a standardised payscale aligned to Youthreach. A key issue that has been raised relates to incremental progression. The Ministers, Deputies Harris and Foley, who have regulatory responsibility for the ETB sector, have submitted an updated proposal to the Minister, Deputy Coveney. Officials are engaging on this updated proposal and hope to be able to conclude this matter at an early opportunity…

I hope to travel to the US next months for the St. Patrick's Day events and I will, of course, use the opportunity, both in public and in private, to share the views of the Irish people, and my own views, on what is happening in Israel and Palestine. I hope by then there is already a ceasefire. Let us pray there is but either way, I will be sharing our views with our friends and colleagues in the US. It is important to say that the US, Egypt and Qatar are working together on a ceasefire proposal and it is incumbent…

As is often the case, industrial relations disputes can be quite complicated. I have a four-page note that I could read out for the Deputy but I am not going to do that because time is limited but of course, the employer and the Government will engage with the representatives of the adult tutors with a view to coming to a resolution. If that cannot be done then, of course, there are options like the WRC or the Labour Court.

I thank the Deputy very much for raising this important issue. It has been raised with me by Deputies Feighan and MacSharry as well. It was expected that patients and staff at The Rock community hospital would move to the new community hospital in Ballyshannon this week. However, it emerged that following a vote taken by the nurses' union, staff refused to move to the new facility, citing concerns over staffing levels. In the interests of maintaining good employee relations, the HSE has agreed to defer the planned …