I am absolutely focused, however. As far as I am concerned, it is a crisis. Young people need to be able to afford to buy houses and be able to rent houses at affordable prices. That is the Government's agenda and we have already allocated an additional €800 million in the first two months of this Government over and above what the provision was for housing.

First of all, I listened to that interview from Kate this morning on "Morning Ireland". It was absolutely horrific what Kate had to go through. The behaviour of those involved was beyond any comprehension that such violence and violation of a young woman could happen in modern society. We have to deal with that on a whole-of-society level, through programmes in education, through the social, personal and health education programme and so forth, and also in terms of the journey of a victim through our courts. The O'…

I want to pay tribute to the previous Minister, Deputy McEntee, who did a lot of work in this area over the past number of years. The current Minister, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, is absolutely focused on this and will be hosting a national forum on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence at the end of March.

I will ask the Minister and I will engage with the Deputy on that.

It is on the way.

It is on the way.

I know Newport. I have visited Newport. It is a beautiful town. When a treatment plant is on the way there should of course be full engagement with the business committee or the people living in the town, through the various structures, to identify the progress that has been made and the timelines. This is what Deputy Lawless's question is about. I will check with Irish Water. Deputy Lawless is saying the project is on the way but there is an absence of any clear timeline or explanation for the public. I will work …

It is in a lovely corner of the town. There is a lovely café there with the little manufacturing unit for the black pudding there also. Am I right?

That is a fair point. For some time I have been hearing Deputies in the House articulating the problem with the delays in getting driving tests, which are crucial for people seeking a job. For the want of getting a test they can be stymied and undermined in this respect. I will speak to the Minister about what we can do in the interim. I appreciate Deputy McGrath raising the issue because it is a real issue for many people out there at present.

I thank Deputy Brennan for raising this issue. There was what was perceived to be a big breakthrough two or three years ago when the then Government allocated substantial funding to enable the first-ever agreement between unions and employers in respect of childcare and a JLC was established. I take Deputy Brennan's overall point. Compared with primary education we are still not anywhere close in terms of comparable pay grades or career pathways in early education. This is not something that can happen overnight bu…

I accept fully what Deputy McGreehan is saying. The existing sustainable rural housing guidelines date back to 2005. The national planning framework fully supports the sustainable development of rural areas. The updated rural housing guidelines are being prepared by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. We are looking at the guidelines to change them and make them more amenable to getting more planning permissions through for people. I do want to say that approximately 6,000 one-off houses on av…

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue, particularly on national slow down day. I do not have an up-to-date position on where the working group is at. I will talk to the Minister about the Deputy having raised this issue and will ask him to come back to her directly on both issues, namely, the technology and the working group. We are losing too many lives on the road. We changed the dial significantly in the past, particularly in the early 2000s when significant legislation was introduced, against a lot of opposi…

I thank the Deputy for raising the matter. Flood relief schemes are taking far too long. There is a structural issue in terms of permits and various planning procedures. All across the country the delivery of flood relief schemes is snarled up. There are planning objections, and while people can object, it is taking far too long, with judicial reviews. It is serious because climate change is now. Its impact is being felt through severe storms and flooding. Life itself is in danger and loss of life happens in the co…

First, on Ghaelcholáiste Reachrann I will come back to the Deputy. He is looking for the current status and that there will be ongoing communication with the school, which should be happening, and with the parents community in particular. In the case of KRC, the Government has been favourably disposed to any applications for coeducational schools. I will certainly ask the Department and the Minister for Education to look at that specific request as articulated by the Deputy.

The Minister for Health is here but the Deputy asked me about the public inquiry. I did not jump to the conclusion. It has been a view of mine for quite some time. Of the last two inquiries published, the inquiry on Project Eagle found nothing in the end. Do not get me wrong, that in itself can be a finding, but it cost millions of euro and took years. We need to be honest with advocacy groups and with everybody who talks to us and say that this could take between five and ten years. I genuinely think there has to …

We know the essentials in that something unbelievable and incomprehensible happened and it should not have happened. Yes, there are issues around that. We then need to deal and engage on the governance issue. Let us work through. There have to be better ways than the formula of public inquiries, which are not giving people closure or satisfaction.

I will come back to the Deputy on that.

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. It seems all roads lead to Killarney at the moment. There are a lot of requests in. I will follow that up with the county council. There are a lot of requests in from different local authorities in respect of roads. The costs of them are increasing in terms of when they go to tender and so on. There was a major investment yesterday of €450 million. I will look at the issue and see where we are at. The objective is to try to progress through the different stages as best we c…

I do not disagree with the Deputy. We have a problem in the Cork area. I have a well-informed Minister and Minister of State here who confirm that. Notwithstanding the fact that 24 million hours were allocated for home care packages this year, which is an increase of 7 million hours compared with four years ago, that does not help the Deputy's experience and that of people in his constituency. There seems to be an issue in the Cork and Kerry area that we have to address.

The Minister will engage with all concerned. Curriculum reform, generally speaking, has worked well in Ireland through the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, NCCA. There have been many innovative and good and positive developments. I will talk to the Minister in respect of the issues that have been raised. I have no doubt the Minister will engage with the social partners on this matter.