The commissioner for protected disclosures, who is responsible, acknowledged receipt on 2 September. Once transmitted, the commissioner independently determines the appropriate prescribed person or public body to follow up on the disclosure. The HSE has issued a statement, as the Deputy is aware. Ministers are required to establish dedicated channels to receive protected disclosures and to publish information on how to access and use the reporting channel. A secure dedicated mailbox was set up to receive protected …

Access to records is strictly limited to ensure the identities of the-----

-----reporting person and any persons named in the report are kept confidential to the greatest extent possible.

All disclosures received by a Minister or Minister of State must be transmitted to the protected disclosures commissioner within ten calendar days of receipt. That is a statutory requirement under the Act.

I am but Deputy McDonald was too. It is not good enough that misleading presentations are being made by the Deputy.

Let us not play politics.

First of all, I fundamentally disagree with the positioning of the Deputy in respect of the housing issue, which is the number one priority facing our country, particularly young people. Progress was made under Housing for All and the targets outlined in it were achieved, despite commentary to the contrary. Over 137,000 houses have been built since Housing for All was published, with €14 billion in terms of capital Exchequer funding allocated. Some 59,000 households have purchased their first home through the help …

I have never said that.

We have over 190,000 workers in the construction sector. That is up by about 45,000 since 2019, so there has been huge work done in terms of the human resources requirement for house construction. I was on a housing site last week in Ballyvolane in Cork. They are now building the houses within a nine-week timeframe because of the infrastructure work that went in there about two years ago. Up to 800 houses will be delivered on that site, through timber frame and modern methods of construction, utilising the Enterpri…

We need houses of different types and size and different approaches to solve this issue.

Everywhere you go, the Opposition opposes almost all of the measures.

What Deputy Sherlock offered there is of no real substance-----

-----in terms of talking about a new agency. The LDA will now have €8.5 billion for direct build.

I thank the Deputy for raising what is an existential issue facing humankind. I also welcome her mother, Madeline, and her good friends to the Chamber. I hope they have a very enjoyable day. I will also take this opportunity to wish President Connolly the very best of success in her role as President of Ireland, as we did yesterday. I fully concur with the objective of addressing the issue of climate change. I have no issue with being overly critical. The last Government actually did engineer a step change in terms…

I have never said we would be shelving any climate projects, but I did say we should not attempt to litigate our way out of climate change because we would divide society. We will develop a counter-reaction to the changes that are required to meet our climate change targets. Maybe I was picked up wrong, but I have been saying this for quite some time. The legal route will be the ruination of the consensus that we have created in society around the need to tackle climate change. That is the view I have. There are ce…

The challenge on the nitrates directive is to give us space and time to get it right, but not to undermine and ruin what is a very important industry to the country-----

----but also to do it in a proper, effective way. That is the objective, and that is what I have been doing-----

-----in my discussions with the present Commissioner. I know the Minister, Deputy Heydon, has also been doing so in his discussions.

I am sorry.

I thank the Deputy very much for raising an important issue that is close to my heart. At the time, I opposed the abolition of town and borough councils. As a democrat, I believe in fundamental layers of democracy. Town councils played a very effective and impactful role in their day. In the first instance, they were a channel for people to get involved in communities and politics and to outline plans and visions for their towns. As Deputy Healy says, in Clonmel and all across the country we have very good examples…