First, I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. In the first instance, I pay tribute to the victim here - Margaret Loftus. I commend her bravery in speaking out. I did not get an opportunity to see "Prime Time" last evening. Her courage in reporting this matter has seen it come through the courts and a guilty verdict delivered. We applaud her strength and resilience, showing that no matter who the perpetrator is, those engaged in domestic violence will be investigated and will be prosecuted. The Government will c…

I agree wholeheartedly with the Deputy. It is chilling. It is quite shocking. Every effort will have to be made to deal with this on a societal basis through State agencies and State forces - in terms of An Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces. There has to be a very clear zero-tolerance approach to domestic violence. As the Deputy says, increasingly such violence has led to fatalities and murder, as we see on an all-too-regular basis. We will work with the Deputy. To be frank, this transcends parties. If any addi…

That should also be acknowledged. There are regulations in place to deal with the aftermath of the court case. I do not want to prejudice the outcome of that case.

We are moving on in respect of this scheme. The scheme is expected to cost in excess of €2.2 billion. Government is committed to that. That is a key fact and decision. As the Deputy will know, it is estimated that close to 3,000 homeowners are now at various stages of the scheme. That was the figure at the end of August 2025. A lot of people are engaging with the scheme and a lot of cases are being progressed. The grant rates, which were increased in 2024, are based on expert advice and are set at a level that ensu…

I will talk to the Minister and ask him to look at these test cases and to revert to the Deputy after doing so. We want to make this work.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue, this shocking situation. I saw it yesterday on the news. It is absolutely unacceptable that a family should lose their daughter in such circumstances. It seems to me that this person should never have proceeded with the operation, should never have been doing the operation. I cannot comprehend how that happened. A benign tumour should have been a straightforward procedure. Then Jessica was taken to intensive care because it was not carried out in an effective manner. We le…

There has to be accountability; the Deputy is correct in saying that. I appreciate what he has said about the current management. I also want to place on record that under the leadership of Bernard Gloster, there has been a welcome change in approach to dealing with situations like this-----

-----in terms of apologies being made much more timely. Eight years is far too long when everybody knew what had happened here. The Deputy is absolutely correct. In issues like medical surgeries, people should put their hand up. It should be about evaluating, learning and so on. People should say that was done wrongly. It should not take eight years for a family to get some sense of accountability in terms of what happened here. The objective is to make sure it does not happen again to some other young person or so…

I am very committed to the evaluation model and have been consistently from the very beginning, even during Covid itself, for a number of reasons. Legal adversarial types of inquiry may not necessarily improve the situation subsequently or indeed for future pandemics as they may arise. We need to learn. We need to find out how to do things better into the future. We do not need people who are in the engine room or in the midst of a future crisis to be looking over their shoulder wondering how this will look in an i…

I will talk to those responsible in terms of the public disclosure process. As the Deputy knows, we have a fairly elaborate process for the management of public disclosures under a legislative framework. There have been various amendments to the legislation and so forth. I will follow up on that in terms of the specific case she referenced. The terms of reference for the evaluation are quite broad, but I have no difficulty in following that up with the Deputy.

Déanaim comhbhrón le clann Stephen Lavelle as ucht an méid a tharla. Is olc an scéal é gan dabht. Mar a dúirt an Teachta, ní féidir le héinne nó aon fhocail sásamh nó aon rud a chur in iúl don chlann. Is drochscéal ar fad é mar atá á léiriú ag an Teachta inniu. No words can console the family of Stephen Lavelle in terms of what happened and the loss of life in the circumstances the Deputy described. I am not aware of the case specifically, but I take on board what she said about the delay in getting Stephen to the …

There has been recruitment. An 25% increase in staff is a significant increase by any yardstick. The National Ambulance Service is also saying that it is developing alternative care pathways, which are important. It is in the process of reforming and expanding such pathways, which would include clinical capacity in terms of community paramedics deployed nationwide, clinical hubs and so forth. That would mean more appropriate treatment at the right level. That is something that clearly has to be worked on and furthe…

Let me make the point. I fully accept that anything I have said is not a consolation to the Lavelle family. However, without question the reform has to be far greater deployment and upskilling of first responders, and the primary and community care-based approach.

Aontaím leis an Teachta go bhfuil cúrsaí an tsaoil an-dainséarach, deacair faoi láthair agus go bhfuil dúshláin an-mhóra amach romhainn agus roimh mhuintir na hEorpa i gcoitinne. Is maith an rud é go ndearnamar an-chuid ó thaobh cúrsaí eacnamaíochta de agus ó thaobh an gheilleagair. Tá an geilleagar i bhfad níos láidre anois ná mar a bhí. We are in very uncharted territory and the situation is serious and potentially very grave for the European and Irish economies and, indeed, for the United States economy, if a tr…

We are probably in a better position, although you could never be in a good position because of this. Tariffs are bad, but fiscally we are probably in a better position than we would have been if we had taken Labour's advice in terms of the expenditure side because we concentrated on looking after those on the lowest incomes and we concentrated on infrastructure to really make sure we can invest in the productive capacity of our economy, which is something we control and we can govern in the time ahead. It is very …

I did not say Labour. I said other Members opposed it. We also created the climate infrastructure and nature fund, which I think are important buffers, as well as having significant cash balances to hopefully help us deal with any potential negativity that could arise from this.

Yes, we have no difficulty in organising briefings of leaders of the Opposition. We need to be careful and look at things in perspective. The greatest threat on the European continent is Russia. It is not just a threat; it is happening and has been happening for four years. Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed, soldiers on both sides, all because of the decision by President Putin to illegally invade Ukraine, to bomb its civilian infrastructure to bits and to try to destroy its energy infrastructure. No…

First of all, the European Union will adopt and is adopting a principled, firm and robust stance in relation to the territorial integrity of Greenland, the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Denmark and adherence to the international rule of law and to the United Nations charter. There are very clear positions from the European Union. Also, having already prepared various scenarios in respect of potential responses to any additional tariffs, we - Europe - have prepared significant packages, the clearest being the €93 bi…

As I said, the leaders of the European Union member states will convene next Thursday to consider the position we are now in. It is uncharted territory; there is no question about that. No one ever contemplated that Greenland would be under threat or that the friction between the US and Canada would be at this level, although when the leaders meet a different sort of vibe emanates from meetings between different leaders, including those of Canada and the US. There are profound shifts happening. From our perspective…

As I said earlier, we are in a very serious situation. Our national interest, quite frankly, is to protect Irish workers. We will behave accordingly to do that and to achieve that, and to make sure that we can get a reasonable international legal framework through the UN to get countries to adhere to the international rule of law. The world is in a very bad place. Thousands and thousands of people are losing their lives all over the world. I have referred to Ukraine, for example. Europe worked with the US. Why? Dep…