It is a new clinical medical school at CUH. I cannot see where the project was presented to the Dáil and where it was debated, scrutinised or approved by the House. University College Cork, UCC, informed us through the Irish Examiner that the development is for "anticipated" needs, not pressing or present needs. South East Technological University, SETU, is awaiting the outcomes of endless advisory panel reviews for new programmes in dentistry, pharmacy, medicine, nursing and veterinary, not to mention the approval…

Two days before the budget.

This is on the campus of CUH.

No. I am criticising the fact that there is nothing comparable in Waterford.

Will the Tánaiste expand on the basis of benefiting University Hospital Waterford?

Before I start, I mark the passing of Ollie Clery, a former mayor of Waterford and somebody who campaigned tirelessly for 20 years for the South East Technological University. It is show time all over again. I feel as though somebody should stand up and question the wisdom of breaking the fiscal rules in developing this budget, particularly given how without the windfall corporation taxes, we are actually operating a deficit in real terms. These are fiscal rules that have been developed by the Government to try to …

The latest CSO data show a massive discrepancy in disposable income between Dublin and the south west versus the Border areas, the midlands and the south east. In fact, for Dublin and the south west, the figures are 20% and 4% above the average, respectively, while the figure for the south east and the midlands is minus 20%. There is a 40% difference, therefore, in disposable income, which might be related to the representation in the Cabinet. Is the Tánaiste aware of these numbers and is he going to try to effect …

I thank Cáit Nic Amhlaoibh in our parliamentary service for helping us with the motion, and I thank the line Minister, Deputy McEntee, for being in attendance for the entirety of the debate. That does not happen often and, as such, we note the Minister's attendance and thank her for it. As we know, it has been 100 years since the foundation of An Garda Síochána. It is a community police service that serves with the consent of the people. We also know that our front-line gardaí are unarmed and that the Garda is one …

Am I done? I thought we had more time.

The debate is to finish at 12 noon.

I thank the Chair. I want to speak about Garda transfers. Gardaí have been waiting for many years for transfers with not a hope of getting one. This is why we see early retirements. It is something the Minister has to look at. We need radical action and this is what the vote represents. It is frustration among rank-and-file gardaí. It is a communications issue with governance and head office. This is what needs to be addressed.

On behalf of my colleagues in the Regional Group, including Deputy Berry, who is a retired commandant, and on my own behalf, we would like to be associated with the very positive comments about the joint task force's security operation yesterday. The Government has built up expectations that South East Technological University, SETU, will meet the south-east region's need for university education principally by adding capacity and new programmes to halt the region's longstanding brain drain. This brain drain is a s…

I ask the Minister to outline the present and proposed spending from the recently announced outdoor recreation measures fund in Waterford city and county, and what future projects are under consideration.

I know the Minister has visited Waterford and I have had the pleasure of accompanying her on some of those visits. She rightly pointed out the very significant number of attractions. We are blessed in Waterford with the topography that we have, with lakes, rivers, mountains and the sea right on our doorstep. The measures that the Minister is announcing are very welcome. However, it is important that we get good joined-up, strategic thinking. The Minister mentioned the rural regeneration and development fund, RRDF, …

The Minister has done a fair advertising job there in terms of speaking about the amenities that are on offer. There are two that I would like to highlight and they may well be on the Minister's desk already, and those are the development of the blueways, particularly on the River Blackwater - the Minister referenced Cappoquin - and the Waterford estuary. We have great visitor attractions but, ideally, we need to try to develop great destinations where people will stay over, not just visit for an hour or two and mo…

They do not have that in Monaghan.

I notice the absence in the Government benches today. I hope that is because the Members are down supporting the farmers and not intimidated into not attending Dáil Éireann today. One of the strongest vestiges of our colonial mentality is our continuing to unthinkingly replicate the policies of other nations as though they somehow have things figured out. We think the Finns have the answer to homelessness and that we need to copy Amsterdam's night-time mayor and implement the Kiwis' literacy programme. We followed …

There is often a disconnect between aspiration and output. I hear what the Minister is saying about trying to stimulate the economic conditions to deliver on planning and, in particular, deliver one-off housing. However, I am not seeing it in my constituency. When I speak to my colleagues, I note there is a lot of difficulty, particularly in the rural areas, in securing planning permission, be it for their children, people caring for them, or others. The Minister mentioned the need to reinvigorate and support our r…

As the Minister of State knows, a plebiscite was held in 2019 in three city areas to decide whether to have a directly elected mayor. Waterford was one of those and I voted in that. I actually voted against the proposal at the time. I could not understand exactly what this person was going to be doing in terms of the way the job was being framed. What I saw in essence was a job in which people were being given accountability but not the authority to get things done. I am not sure that is not still the position at t…

Okay, it is based on two constituencies but just the same, it seems like a lot of money to put into an election of this sort. It does beg the question of whether a person who can raise more money is in a better position to be potentially elected than somebody who cannot. That again speaks to the ability of people to do this job. I wonder as well how the division of labour, if you want to call it that, within the local authority is really going to work. On the one hand, we have somebody who is essentially describing…