I do not know where the Deputy gets her information from. There is not a week that passes that she does not try to put some words into my mouth. I have never said I would take ownership of housing. I have never made that statement. I am the Head of Government and the Taoiseach. I take leadership of the Government and work with Ministers on every matter. I am working closely with the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, on this. It is a priority for the Government. The suggestion that I was somehow going to take owners…

The Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, has been clear on this on a number of occasions and I will be very clear on it too. There is no proposal from this Government to introduce congestion charges. At some point down the line when the metro is picking up people at Dublin Airport, the DART to Dublin 15 and Kildare is up and running, Cork metropolitan transport is operating, all vehicles are electric-----

-----and there are no taxes coming in from petrol and diesel, perhaps there will be a case for congestion charges, but certainly not under this Government and not in the foreseeable future. I am happy to be clear on that and I say that as somebody who represents a commuter constituency. The Minister has made clear that we are doing a public consultation on how to achieve what we want to achieve when it comes to emissions, which is to reduce the number of journeys by car by about 20% and reduce emissions by about 50…

It is important to say as a point of context that we have more teachers in Ireland and working in Ireland than ever before. The pupil-teacher ratio is lower than it was in the past. We are having at least some success recruiting and retaining teachers but there is a real challenge as well. We are in a period of full employment and a period of very fierce international competition for talent. This is true in the public sector and the private sector. It is true for well-paid jobs and for poorly paid jobs. I do not kn…

I thank Deputy McGrath. There is roughly €500 million a year in the national roads budget. About half goes to maintaining and strengthening existing roads and about half goes to new projects. It is never the case that we can fully fund every project that we want in any one year. There has been an allocation made to the N24. We have decided that if other road projects run behind schedule or behind budget during the course of the year, we might be able to reallocate money from those projects to other projects such as…

I thank Deputy Connolly. I am familiar with the issues in respect of Áras Mhic Dara but I am not sure exactly what the underlying problem is. I will certainly ask the Minister to get in touch with the Deputy about it and try to provide her with a proper answer.

I thank Deputy Troy. I welcome the report from the independent reviewer Ms Maura Quinn. It is important to say the report does not make findings against any individual and, in fact, points out that those involved acted in good faith. We should not forget that the secondment never happened. It did not happen in the end. Lessons have to be learned from this and a number of these have been identified in the report to ensure that any future proposed secondment will be handled properly. The recommendations in the report…

I thank the Deputy for raising this very sad issue. I had an opportunity to read about the case and to hear Vivienne's mother speak on the radio at the weekend. It is a heartbreaking story. It is important that we raise awareness of strep A, especially among the medical profession, including nurses, and among parents. It is tragic to think that perhaps if treatment had been given sooner, if an antibiotic had been prescribed sooner, that young Vivienne would never have ended up in hospital at all, never mind having …

I think I have answered this question before. The temporary winter eviction ban was always a temporary winter eviction ban, giving people more time to find alternatives. We believe that Sinn Féin's policy of extending it for another few months will only mean that more and more notices of termination will mount up, that fewer properties will be available-----

-----and more people will be competing for even fewer houses. It would make the situation worse-----

-----just at a later point. I do not want to comment on individual cases because there is always more to them than can be put across in the space of a minute or two in the Dáil but I would certainly advise the Deputy's constituent to seek advice, perhaps from the council or from Threshold. The Deputy seems to contend that the landlord is not going to move back into the house-----

-----because he has several already. If that is the case, it is not a valid notice of termination. However, this is an individual case. It is important that he gets good advice and if he is not getting it from the Deputy, perhaps he should seek it from a different body.

The Unified Patent Court is now up and running. We are very keen for Ireland to become a member of the court but that requires a referendum. The Minister, Deputy Coveney, is working on the legislation and on the information office at the moment. We have not set a date for a referendum yet. It will most likely be concurrent with the European and local elections next May or June but that has not been decided for definite yet.

I do agree. The Regency murder trial is now over and we have two convictions of people who were involved in serious organised crime. I want to thank the gardaí, the Director of Public Prosecutions, DPP, and the courts for their work. We have had no murder related to a criminal gang feud in Ireland in five years now and please God, that will continue. I really want to thank the gardaí, the prosecutors and the courts. The fact that there was one acquittal, even though it was not the outcome the State desired, confirm…

-----and that we get more detail on Sinn Féin's knowledge of his actions. It is clear from Deputy Ó Broin's interview this morning that there was more than an inkling and that there was knowledge.

I thank the Deputy. As I think I explained in earlier answers, the temporary winter eviction ban was exactly that: a temporary winter eviction ban that ended on 31 March. That is the legislation we voted for in this House. We do not believe extending the ban is a solution. We believe the number of notices of termination would have mounted up and up, and that there would have been fewer places available to rent because people simply would not have come into the market. When the ban was ended, as in the Sinn Féin pro…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 11, inclusive, together. It was a pleasure to welcome President Biden to Ireland last week for what was a successful visit, underlining the warmth and closeness of our bilateral relations, our common approach on many global issues, and above all, the enduring commitment of the United States to furthering peace and prosperity on this island. During the President’s visit, as well as welcoming him to Dublin and Ballina, I hosted an official dinner for him and his delegation at Dub…

I thank the Deputies. Deputy Bacik mentioned the EU ambassador Aidan O'Hara. I want to take the opportunity to confirm to the House that on Monday, a robbery was conducted by armed men at the home of the EU head of delegation in Sudan, H.E. Aidan O'Hara. The Department of Foreign Affairs has been in touch with Aidan, who thankfully was not seriously hurt. However, the attack was deeply worrying. Aidan is a former Irish ambassador and is an outstanding diplomat serving the European Union under the most difficult cir…

That is what was done. We did not have time in our meeting to discuss the situation in Israel or Palestine but there were other meetings. The Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, was present in Ireland as well, as were other senior White House staff, so it may have come up in other meetings that I was not party to. The main focus was on Ukraine and also on China. The President was very clear that he is not seeking a new cold war with China; nor do Ireland or Europe want to be caught in the middle of a cold war betw…

I certainly believe it should exist alongside an independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders. That is the position of the Government.