I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill. As we start, there is not a family in the country that has not been affected in some way by road deaths. We are no different from that. The context of this Bill is the increase in road deaths over the last while and the terrible trauma that is inflicted on the family, the person who loses their life and the consequences of that. We have to sympathise, in the first instance. We also have to say that we need to bring forward rules and regulations in a data-based context…

Major work is ongoing to refurbish and extend three important pieces of health infrastructure. It was hoped the units at Millstreet Community Hospital and Kanturk Community Hospital would be completed by the end of the year but it is now hoped to have them completed, opened and occupied by early next year. I would like a date for that. The work on an extension to Mallow General Hospital is hugely welcome for the entire region of north Cork and I compliment everybody involved in it. Perhaps we could get a date for i…

I welcome the opportunity to speak, and I welcome the Bill. It is a fundamental piece of legislation and has been a long time coming. The volume and depth of the legislation shows the challenges that are right across the planning issue in urban and rural Ireland. There have been many thoughts in the contributions by many Members over the last while regarding serial objectors to planning, and people objecting to planning who are many miles, and hundreds of miles, away from the location. That is fundamental. There is…

That is true, yes. The reality is that if we set down a set of guidelines in this document, we would expect that there would be uniformity right across the country. That might be an aspiration too far but I do not think it is unreasonable to ask that we would have a solid and absolute interpretation of the regulations in it. Over the years, and in many discussions we have had about one-off houses, we have heard about the urbanisation of Ireland, that it all had to be in the cities and had to be all critical mass. I…

If I may come back to what is in the legislation-----

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for that. It is because this planning legislation will be fundamental to the interpretation of planning across the country in urban and rural Ireland. It is important that we discuss various types of housing, whether one-off houses, housing estates or apartments, because they will all be decided upon based on this legislation. My point is that 20 years ago, people took to objecting to one-off houses and look where we are now with a housing crisis. Urban areas have grown beyond managing i…

He might as well, everyone else did.

I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach for the opportunity to raise this issue. The SENO, or special educational needs organiser, plays a vital role in the provision of special education or education for additional needs. They have done tremendous work in working with boards of management, school authorities and with families throughout the country. Over the recent while, I have noticed from my engagement at both constituency level and nationally with the disability matters committee that there are vacancies around th…

I thank the Minister of State for putting the facts on record. I welcome the additional SENO posts; it is not before time. It is needed because the SENOs are stretched to the limit. There is no merit in a further reply. I thank the Minister of State for putting on record that the vacancies will be filled. I will come back to the issue in February if what was outlined does not come to pass on the ground. I appreciate him putting on record the improvement we expect to see in January.

Yes.

In the programme for Government there was a commitment in respect of the optional protocol to the UNCRPD. There is an awful lot of work going on within the Departments and within the Government to improve the State's provision for people with disabilities, their families, their communities and their carers. It is important as well, however, that we send out a signal. We have ratified the UNCRPD, and a lot of work is going on in Departments on that, but a commitment was given to ratify the optional protocol. What wo…

In recent years, difficulties have been experienced with the disabled drivers scheme and the primary medical certificate, in particular on the appeals side for the latter. There were a number of resignations from the appeals board, as the medics involved said the scheme was too restrictive. Urgency is needed on the part of the Government. As Chair of the Oireachtas disability committee, we hear from people week in and week out who experience difficulties in getting the primary certificate or appealing it. I just do…

On the appeals commencing in December, there is a backlog of 1,100. At what rate will they be heard? I ask the Minister to ensure additional resources are provided insofar as possible in order that as many appeals as possible may be heard in the short term.

I thank the Minister for the response on resources for the appeals process to ensure as many appeals as possible may be heard. He mentioned the competence in the Department of Finance and the change under the Department responsible for disabilities to ensure the new scheme, whenever it will be tailored, will meet the needs we hear about weekly at meetings of the disability matters committee. There is a need for the scheme and it is important to have it up and running as soon as possible and practicable.

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate on Science Week. I applaud the great work being done across every sector in advancing science. Recent studies from the European Union showed the number of young people in Ireland who have gone on to third level education and the on to PhDs. They have contributed enormously to the advances but we have more to do. We often think of science in terms of medicine and other traditional areas but there is a raft of them that are moving at pace, none more so than those …

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to raise the issue. There are three parts to it. Charleville, County Cork, is one of the busiest towns in the Munster region and the N20, the main road between Cork and Limerick, goes through it. The Minister of State is very familiar with it and I thank her for the many times she has visited in a constructive way to help us, particularly with St. Joseph's Foundation in Charleville. It is a road about which there have been ongoing discussions. It was to be bypassed ma…

This was raised very forcibly by Councillor Ian Doyle in Charleville at Cork County Council level. He has been raising this issue constantly at meetings of both the northern committee and the county council. I understand there is co-operation between TII and the council on this matter. I would be grateful if the Minister of State could ask the Department of Transport and TII to respond to us. I believe the council has been liaising with TII over the last while. I want to ensure that whatever documents are needed at…

I welcome the Bill and the opportunity to speak on it. It is important that there is debate. This is the first time that we are debating boundary redrawings under the new Electoral Commission. I called for this body to be set up some time ago. It is of great importance that we have an independent body set up to oversee all elections. We must take great pride in the electoral and democratic process we have had for the past number of years and since the foundation of the State. We have probably one of the oldest demo…

The Blackwater River decides that.

It has been there long before any of us. Deputy Healy-Rae has left the House but it is a hotly contested part of the country on either side of the Blackwater and on either side of the Cork-Kerry region. What side people are on is contested not just on Munster final day but throughout the year. The point being made is that it is important that county boundaries are not divided up and pieces of different constituencies put in. I remember going back a number of years ago where part of west Limerick was put into north …