Whatever, we should do so. They regularly do refer people to London.

In response to Deputy Coppinger, I have dealt with the public inquiry. I have views on that. I think there might be better ways of getting to it. Again, we will assess it fully when we have the other two reports - the one on dysplasia and the Nayagam report, which is the overarching report. When we have both of those with this report, we can progress it. I have answered Deputy Cian O'Callaghan's question.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 17 to 36, inclusive, together. The first meeting of the new Cabinet committee on infrastructure took place on Monday, 24 March, and the next one will take place on Monday, 28 April. Membership of the Cabinet committee consists of the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence, Minister for Finance, Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform, Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communicatio…

How high?

Quite a number of issues have been raised. Deputy Ó Murchú started with housing, Uisce Éireann and the medical device sector. In the past week, I have spoken to a number of CEOs in the medical device sector as well as in the pharmaceutical sector about the challenges that are arising. The discussion was more on the medium-term and longer term impacts of the tariffs and other non-tariff initiatives that might yet be taken by the US Administration. One would hope the complexity of the supply chains and their integrat…

With fossil fuels 20 to 25 years ago, there was no Carnsore Point for fossil fuels.

That was a different kettle of fish.

It is an interesting point. It ends up that fossil fuels are one of the reasons we are where we are with climate change. Anyway, that is a philosophical point but that is where we are. Deputy Shay Brennan is revisiting the great work his dad did, and he now wants to bring the metro to Sandyford, with his dad having done the initial work. Fair play. It is at the design stage and there is a lot of work yet to be done on the metro. It will probably take up huge amounts of national development plan funding. I will have…

That is being worked on. It has not been mothballed or anything like that. It is being progressed and we will come back to him on that. Deputy Seamus McGrath made an excellent point about new active travel facilities. The facilitation of participation by people with disabilities should be built into public infrastructure, full stop. We were both at the opening of the marina promenade in Cork last week. It is an excellent active travel initiative and we saw bicycles for all and people with disabilities in a position…

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. This is without question the most serious issue to face the Irish economy in a long time. It is clear that the scale of these tariffs will be significant in European terms. Ireland does not believe in tariffs. The European Union does not believe in tariffs and does not want tariffs. The European Union has not started this; Ireland has not started this. Ours is a small open economy and, in my view, the economic model we have followed over 50 or 60 years has brought about sig…

A meeting of party leaders will be convened. It would make more sense to wait until we see the announcement on the imposition of tariffs from the US side and the initial response from the EU. We have no issue with a Dáil debate. Next Tuesday would be a more optimal time because we will not have the full information as to what could potentially happen this afternoon or tomorrow. If people want a Dáil debate tomorrow evening, we can facilitate that but I believe we need as much information as we can get. There are no…

-----Ireland's detractors seek to undermine us in making those assertions.

We have always objected to and fought against that idea and notion. We have increased investment in infrastructure exponentially. We have invested in research and development and will continue to do so. The results have been there to see over the last five years. A lot of foreign direct investment has come into Ireland over recent years for a broad range of reasons.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue and for making reference to Dr. McMonagle, whose bravery and courage we should salute. I did not get an opportunity to see the footage yesterday evening but I will in due course. Every child in this country has the right to a school place. That is a fundamental constitutional right and it is the function of Government to vindicate it. That is my intention. I have already convened meetings with eight Government Ministers in respect of the disability issue. There will be full…

That is our commitment. That is what the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Moynihan, and the Minister, Deputy McEntee, are working towards to make sure that happens and also for future years. The growth in numbers identifying with additional needs is growing exponentially. If one looks at the most recent census compared with previous censuses, one can see that there has been a significant increase. There are now 3,336 special classes. There will be a further 372 on top of that. We have 124 special schools, 11 of wh…

On Monday afternoon, the Minister received from Ms Nunan, the negotiator who was appointed, her report on negotiations with religious organisations associated with the mother and baby institutions payment scheme. The Minister will have to review that report and come back to Government in relation to it. The Government has not gone cap in hand to anyone. The Government took its own decisions in respect of a redress scheme for those in mother and baby homes. It is quite a substantial scheme, which will total up to €8…

As I stated, our view is that the orders have a collective and moral responsibility to respond to Ireland's legacy in relation to the mother and baby institutions. As I also stated, we just received the report on Monday. We will assess that report and then consider what options we can take - within the law, obviously - in terms of persuading religious orders in respect of the mother and baby institutions. As I said earlier, it is a matter on which we will have to take advice in terms of the precise and specific iss…

I thank the Deputy for raising what is a key infrastructural issue in terms of facilitating the construction of thousands of houses but also in terms of the broader economy. The existing Uisce Éireann strategic funding plan, which was from 2025 to 2029, was approved last November. That committed over €10 billion in capital investment by Uisce Éireann in that period. There will be further additional investment in the context of the national development plan. We already announced an additional €1 billion allocation i…

The Deputy has made a number of fair points there. In the context of the national development plan, we will look at some of those issues in terms of, first of all, the need for additional capital funding for water because that is key, in my view, for housing and economic development, particularly in the context of the trade war that is potentially on our doorstep. We need to be very nimble in ensuring that we can respond to the needs of industry, both our own industries and those that may wish to invest in Ireland.…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. She had been raising the issue for quite some time previously on the floor of the House in respect of special needs education more generally, but here she is specifically referencing Offaly School of Special Education. She referred to the most recent pilot scheme, which was announced last summer, in respect of 11 special schools across the country. As I said earlier in reply to questions on special education, the overall objective of the Government is to ensure that every …