The funding will be allocated as required. You do not just send a dollop straight up. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett referred to The Complex also and the core and multi-annual funding for theatre. He described the model as a neoliberal model. I think we have a thriving arts and cultural situation in Ireland. The Arts Council is important in that regard. The arts departments of city councils are very important in supporting theatre companies and, in particular, production companies.

I will. I did not catch it but I will now that the Deputy has drawn my attention to it. I will have a look at that. I am always very open to supporting production, drama and so on. The question is what the most effective way of doing it is. It is a core part of any city in terms of quality of life, which is important. We do not just live in an economy; we live in a society. We have strengths in that regard. In response to Deputy Sherlock, the implementation bodies, as I said, are key. I have given her a timeline as…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 19 to 28, inclusive, together. The Department of the Taoiseach's annual report for 2024 was laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas in October of last year. I hope everybody has read it. The report sets out the work of the Department in 2024 to achieve the strategic priorities identified in its statement of strategy and to support the implementation of the programme for Government, including: delivering the executive functions of the Taoiseach and the Government; supporting the Tao…

I thank all the Deputies who raised a variety of issues. Deputy O'Meara raised the issue of affordable housing, specifically in Tipperary and north-west Kilkenny in a variety of towns. There is a variety of schemes to help people to afford housing. Lots of people have used the help to buy and first home schemes. The local authority affordable scheme has had applications in some counties more effectively than others. Some of that is to do with valuations and so on. We will see what we can do to make sure that every …

We will keep going. Deputy Doherty raised the issue of those who were on hunger strike. We have made very good progress in respect of that. I have communicated in respect of that to those involved. I have written but they may not have received anything.

Fine. It is very clear from that correspondence that we are very close now-----

-----to bringing that to finality, including the issue of an apology. Turning to Deputy O'Sullivan, again in terms of disability and inclusion, we have since this report and the general election, established a disability unit in the Department, which manifested itself in the budget in terms of the domiciliary care allowance, the monthly allowance, going up another €20, and in terms of the income disregard for carers being significantly enhanced and the level of increases going up. In terms of the residential and re…

Just human capital. Myself and a couple of others.

There were no huge resources. No huge resources are allocated to strategising about how we engage and meet with other leaders.

I will say this to the Deputy on where our focus always is. The economic relationship is critical. I would not undermine that. It is not about the profit of companies but that critical economic relationship is about employment for a lot of people in this country. It works both ways, by the way. Irish companies have access to the market there and do well in the United States, and want to continue to do well. We are in a very difficult situation - Europe is and Ireland is. I outlined earlier during Leaders' Questions…

They want more housing. They want more affordable and social housing and to enable people to either buy or rent at affordable prices. We need to get supply up. I think some of Deputy Boyd Barrett's policies would depress supply. That is where we differ. We need to get supply to 50,000 or 60,000 per annum. I think a lot of what the Deputy has articulated over the years would depress supply. It is not possible to do it all through social housing. We need private sector investment as well as public sector investment o…

First of all, I thank the Deputy for raising this issue, which is an extremely important one. Obviously I am not familiar with the background of the specific case she has referenced just now. If she wishes to send me the details of the case, with the permission of the person concerned, I perhaps will be in a position to interrogate the issue more with the NCCP, which is the national cancer control programme, and indeed with the HSE and the hospital. We have invested very significantly in cancer care. Cancer is a ve…

-----following recruitment and the running of additional clinics.

As I said earlier, I would appreciate if the Deputy could give us the specifics of the individual case she has identified because then we could track that with the hospital. It is important to do that because Galway hospital said late last year that it would meet the NCCP targets by the end of December.

Yes, but also in terms of treatment. We need to get-----

In any event, I think it would be useful if the Deputy could send us the details of the case-----

-----with the permission of the person, obviously. Confidentiality will apply, without question. There has been a lot of investment in cancer services, and quite rightly so. Symptomatic breast disease was one of the first areas that we identified a long time ago as requiring a specific allocation of resources and investment from cancer screening right through, and, from a national point of view, it has had very improved results in terms of outcomes, which is what we all want for cancer. It is important that, overal…

-----to ease any concerns that people who might have been recently diagnosed will understandably have.

Ar dtús báire ní aontaím leis an Teachta go hiomlán mar ar an taobh eile den scéal tá dul chun cinn le feiscint i gcuid mhaith nithe sa córas sláinte agus caithfear é sin a adhmháil mar aon le gach scéal eile. The key issue with waiting lists is waiting times and that always has to be the target. The shorter the time someone has to wait for an operation or other intervention, the better the outcome, and that is always the priority in respect of capacity and waiting times. Over the last while, we have had the bigges…

It is wrong to say that because when you look at our overall outcomes as a country, there is huge funding that has gone into health and I am sure the Deputy will acknowledge that. She has said it is not an issue of resources and significant funding has gone in, but in terms of key health outcomes over the past decade, there have been significant achievements. Ireland is now among a small group of only seven European Union countries where life expectancy is above 82 years. Our mortality rate fell by 11% over the dec…