The steering group has been established under the chairmanship of my office and officials from my office will co-ordinate across all Departments. The cultural and artistic dimension will be the strongest dimension of the building itself and of the GPO. The Government approved this only yesterday, following a lot of work. We need to get it right. Sometimes what becomes interim becomes permanent too. We have to be conscious of that. This is an opportunity to really transform not just the GPO's impact but the wider ar…

The proposed restriction on lead ammunition is being developed at the level of the European Union under the REACH regulation, which aims to protect human health and the environment from harmful chemical exposure. The proposal is intended primarily to reduce lead pollution from spent ammunition and to protect wild birds, hunters and their families from the harmful effects of lead exposure. The Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment participates in REACH processes through the Health and Safety Authority. Po…

I hear the Deputy. Having read the reply, I know what is going on in the sense-----

I will revert to the Deputy.

This is a very serious issue and I will take it up with the Minister for justice. I will talk to the Minister in respect of this issue and work to see if we can make progress on it, which I think we can.

I appreciate the work that Sharon Lynn and Bryan Gallagher are doing. Courts often respond negatively to mandatory guidelines from the Oireachtas but, nonetheless, it is something I will ask the Minister for justice to explore, in terms of manslaughter and male-on-male violence. More broadly, within our education system and the criminal justice system, we should focus on violence more generally. We had an earlier discussion on the shocking report from Women's Aid in respect of the number of terrible, violent incide…

This is a general issue, not one that just applies to County Louth. What the Minister for public expenditure would say is that all county councils will have received funding that involved a provision for emergencies. That said, submissions have been made from county councils across the country, particularly those that were more affected than others by Storm Chandra. The Government is giving consideration to that.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 20, inclusive, together. The Cabinet committee on water quality oversees the implementation of programme for Government commitments in relation to issues affecting Ireland's water, including those related to agriculture, forestry, land-use change and wastewater treatment. Water quality is vital to the well-being of our society, economy and environment. The programme for Government commits to improving water quality. The EPA recently published Water Quality in 2025: An Indicator…

Did the Deputy say 50 years?

I would love a swim now. I will not get one.

I am working too hard all day and will not get the chance. The Deputies have all made me very envious. Everyone is going swimming and we are in here. We should reflect. Deputy ‘Chap’ Cleere made a very valid point in terms of Mullinavat and Inistioge. I have been saying this to Irish Water. As the Deputy knows, one of the outcomes of our discussions has been developer-led treatment plants. There were some decisions made on that, but it is in terms of naturally based water treatment processes which would then enable…

My experience in life is that the engineer or person on the ground might know an awful lot more than the corporates in terms of specific pipes and so on. I will pursue it and I will raise the fact that the Deputy has raised it with me. Deputy Connolly has a sensible proposal. The bathing season of June to September does not make sense any more. Particularly since Covid, an awful lot more people swim all 12 months round. I interviewed Professor Luke O'Neill some time back, before I became Taoiseach. Cold water is ve…

It makes absolute sense to carry out testing, particularly in rural towns and villages, during the festive season and the winter when there are many swimming events, such as on Christmas Day, new year's eve and new year's day. A lot of people gather in those areas for those events. It is a very good point. I will get the Minister to send a circular to the local authorities on that. Deputy Cullinane said to inquire with Irish Water about Portlaw and Woodlands. I hope he does not mind but I better inquire with the Mi…

We have a number of areas where things are not taken in charge. These things should be facilitated by the agencies. I got the message from Deputy Boyd Barrett but he went from tropical weather to torrential rainfall within one minute.

Within three days.

I am trying to work out when the torrential rainfall was but the point is well made. There is a fundamental issue there and that is why we are putting €2.5 billion into this to do some very substantial wastewater infrastructure. Dublin is one of the areas that is probably most impacted because of the access to the coast, the huge population and so on. Deputy Paul Murphy essentially made the same point in terms of the impacts on swimmers. This is a public health issue and we cannot take it lightly. When warnings are…

I will examine it with Irish Water. They make a very good black pudding in Newport as well, by the way.

I will certainly look into it and check with Irish Water as to why. It might be an operational or planning issue. I do not know but I will check with them.

Deputy Whitmore referenced 59%. This is a very serious point which I have raised with Irish Water. In my view, there should not be operational errors or non-performance which then leads to poor water quality. The Irish water authority should be the personification of excellence in terms of clean water. There has been some pretty poor evidence in some areas where standards have dropped. In fairness to the 47 best-paid employees, I would say they were not involved.

Collectively, there is a question about ethos here. We have had presentations from the EPA and Irish Water and this is an issue.