We can get those figures for the Deputies.

There is no doubt that the Iveagh Markets are important architecturally but also socially for the community around the Liberties. It is an impressive building in its wider context on the street but also as a heritage building. There has been a great deal of concern expressed about it of late and down the years. I will outline a couple of points. My functions as Minister of State with regard to the protection of our architectural heritage are set out in the Planning and Development Acts, as are the responsibilities …

Again, I agree with everything the Deputy said. As a culchie who moved up to Dublin in the last couple of years, I cannot but be impressed by the architectural heritage of the city, particularly the older parts of the city such as the Liberties. The Iveagh Markets are intrinsic to that and an important asset for the people of Dublin and the country as well. Although deemed to be of regional importance, I believe the market is of national significance. It is critically important that we work collectively and collabo…

I thank Deputy Duffy and the committee for bringing forward this very important Private Members’ motion. In particular, Deputy Duffy has a lot of skin in the game as an architect and he has been very vocal on this issue for some time. I want to begin by acknowledging that this report, Embodied Carbon in the Built Environment, is the result of excellent work by the committee and the many contributors to its content. Embodied carbon in construction materials makes a significant contribution to the lifetime carbon emi…

It was a very interesting debate. Before Deputy Martin Kenny leaves the Chamber, I want to say I am a huge supporter of hemp as a material. Certainly, if we look back at some of the points raised by Deputies on public procurement and it being a constraint or that we have not advanced enough, there is sufficient flexibility to incorporate sustainable materials in public procurement guidelines in terms of technical specifications. I will give an example. In the past decade, there has been a refurbishment of St. Mary'…

It is important to have a strategy on the use of such materials. It is a very sustainable material. I thank all the Deputies and I commend the Oireachtas joint committee. It is a fantastic committee which has done invaluable work, including this report. I thank Deputy Duffy for proposing the report this evening. Some very interesting points have been raised around operational versus embodied carbon. I will come back to the point on technical specifications. The issue of wood was also raised. Coillte recently publis…

I thank the Senator for raising this issue. I know MS Ireland has been campaigning on it for a long time. I apologise for the misprint in the date on the written version of my reply that has been circulated. The implementation framework for the neurorehabilitation strategy was launched in February 2019. It provides guidance for the development of specialist neurorehabilitation services across the continuum of care - from acute to post-acute and community services. Neurorehabilitation services play a critical role i…

I reiterate that the Government remains committed to implementation of the neurorehabilitation strategy and the current demonstrator project for CHOs in CHO 6 and CHO 7. Delivering on this commitment, additional funding was provided in budget 2023 for neurorehabilitation. Funding will provide for the continued roll-out of the strategy in two more CHO areas. The exact location of these two teams is currently being considered by the HSE and a final decision will be made having regard to a range of factors. In additio…

They certainly picked a good time to come in. It is great to see such a good contribution in the Seanad Chamber. The students are very welcome and I thank Deputy Duffy for bringing them here. I am taking this question on behalf of the Minister for Health. It might have been preferable to use a hurling analogy, being a Kilkenny man, but it is okay; I will accept the football parlance. I thank Senator Cassells for raising the matter of the ambulance bypass protocols at Navan hospital's emergency department and welcom…

There is a shared concern to ensure patients in Navan, Meath and the north east, or any part of the country, can access the services they need. As mentioned earlier, there is currently an ambulance bypass protocol in place for Our Lady's Hospital Navan for paediatric, obstetric, major trauma, heart attack and stroke care patients. These patients bypass the emergency department at Our Lady's Hospital and are brought to the closest appropriate hospital for their needs. This ambulance bypass protocol is being enhanced…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Seanadóir as an gceist sin and for the opportunity to provide an update on the status of the Saolta University Health Care Group's proposals for a new emergency department, cancer care centre, elective beds and laboratory facilities at UHG and Merlin Park. As fate would have it, the Minister is before the committee with regard to Estimates. It is an incredibly busy time. The strategic assessment report for the proposed emergency department, women and children's block at UHG is currently und…

By their nature, capital projects of the scale and ambition of projects discussed here today take time to come into fruition and must adhere to the public spending code and certainly while not delaying part of it, it is important they adhere to the code. The strategic assessment report for the proposed new emergency department at UHG is currently under review by the Department of Health and when completed will be submitted to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform for review. With regard to the Galway canc…

On behalf of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, I am happy to have the opportunity to outline before the Seanad the Tailte Éireann Bill 2022. The purpose of the Bill is to provide for the merger of the Valuation Office, the Property Registration Authority, PRA, and Ordnance Survey Ireland, OSI, through the establishment of a new body to be called Tailte Éireann. Tailte Éireann will be a body corporate with perpetual succession and an official seal. It will be independen…

I will address points raised by Senators during the debate as well as the PLS recommendations. I thank Senators Boyhan and Fitzpatrick, as well as other members of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage, which is an excellent committee. Our interaction with the committee has been fantastic. There is no doubt it has been very busy in recent years. We appreciate the continued, active participation of the committee's officials, Chair and members in what has been a hectic schedule over…

This section is about the cumulative effects of smaller abstractions and the threshold that the Senators mentioned. This would be captured as part of the regular water framework directive monitoring, with sophisticated flow modelling and field investigations by local authorities' water programmes. The registration threshold is sufficient to capture over 99% of the volume of water abstracted in Ireland, thereby minimising value risks from over-abstraction. As I understand it, Deputy Matthews is going to raise this m…

The suggested amendment would only relate to a temporary measure to alleviate acute animal welfare concerns. A permanent and foreseen abstraction for the purposes of animal welfare concerns, which is above the registration threshold, should be placed on the register. The amendment is not accepted as section 9(3)(b) of the Bill provides for an exemption for temporary abstraction to facilitate the carrying out of works. These works are not specified and could be interpreted to include the provision of temporary drink…

Section 9, dealing with exemptions is included to ensure that where such exemptions are appropriate and allowed for under the water framework directive, they can be exercised if necessary. The scope of the exemptions that would potentially be permitted by regulations made under this section is strictly limited and these activities are listed in section 9. No specific organisations are deemed exempt from any requirements. The broad criteria or matters to which the Minister must have regard when making regulations to…

This amendment is not accepted as the Environmental Protection Agency will be subject to data protection law - the Data Protection Acts 1998 to 2018, the Data Sharing and Governance Act 2019 and the general data protection regulation, GDPR. Only the appropriate non-personal information relating to the abstraction will ever be published by the agency. This is similar to what the EPA does with the septic tank register, for instance.

This section enables public authorities, including local authorities, to submit an opinion to the EPA that the abstraction would be better regulated by the EPA despite it otherwise falling under local authorities' responsibility. It is an added element to ensure that abstractions that are identified as posing a risk to the relevant water bodies are properly controlled. Removing this section would weaken the EPA's capacity to ensure that appropriate regulation and protection of the environment is in place. Therefore…

Section 23(2)(b)(v) provides for the information included in annex IV of the EIA directive by reference to the transposing legislation, namely, the 2001 planning and development regulations. Where any change is made to the EIA directive requirements, the 2001 regulations will also be updated so that the reference in the Bill remains valid and up to date. The Department is satisfied that all relevant aspects of the EIA directive are addressed in the Bill. I will not accept the amendment.