No, but there has been engagement. My understanding is that there is a pathway, but I would obviously prefer if the team in CHI communicated with the family. My understanding is that prior to coming in this afternoon, progress was made in respect of the case. I will follow up on this, and I know the Minister is here as well. There is a pathway, hopefully in the shorter term. In the first instance, the clinical nurse was in touch or will be in touch with the family today - hopefully by the time I have spoken today -…

More and more hotels are decanting in respect of IPAS and the beneficiaries of temporary protection, BOTPs, over the last while. Obviously, we will do everything we possibly can to increase numbers. There are significant issues globally in terms of confidence in the world economy - that may be a factor playing out - but again, it is early days yet to be writing off the tourism industry. Our tourism industry is very resilient and very robust. We have a very good product. We have some very big events coming that will…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 13, inclusive, together. The National Emergency Co-ordination Group is the central Government platform, established as part of the response to a threatened or ongoing national level emergency, under the strategic emergency management framework. All Government Departments, local authorities, emergency services and agencies are represented on the NECG. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, which is the relevant lead Department under the strategic emergency man…

Are we eating into the time for the next questions?

Deputies have asked a lot of questions. I welcome them all. To reply to Deputy Dolan on the review and the response, there will be a review. At the most recent meeting of the Government task force on emergency planning on 11 March, it was agreed that a review of the response to Storm Éowyn would be submitted to Government by the summer. That will be led by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and will identify recommendations regarding the response at the national and local levels, reducing seve…

More recent plans are much more towards broadleaf trees and a proper mixture. We need commercial forestry as well. Deputy Murphy called it for-profit forestry. We need timber. Timber-frame housing is more climate friendly than cement. We need a better balance. We cannot just ridicule forestry for profit. We need a commercial forestry sector. We also need greater biodiversity and varied plantations of trees. I am very keen on that. A comprehensive scheme was announced last year and significant grants are available t…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 14 to 24, inclusive, together. The programme for Government, Securing Ireland's Future, sets out a number of commitments relating to our national security and defence. The programme acknowledges that we live in a time of geopolitical upheaval and challenges to democracy and the international rules-based order with threats and challenges arising from a dynamic global geopolitical landscape. In this context, the Government will implement a number of measures relating to defence, justi…

I thank all the Deputies who raised the issue. I will make the fundamental point that the establishment of the national security council is about creating a proper structure to ensure democratic accountability on national security matters, and proper co-ordination between all Departments and between An Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces. As Taoiseach, I will chair it, and also participating will be the Ministers for Justice and Foreign Affairs and Trade. The council will operate at a high level in terms of the n…

They do not have to protest at all. We had protests a year or two ago that were quite violent.

I am not saying the Mothers Against Genocide protesters were doing that; they were not. However, everybody in this House railed against the Garda for not having operational procedures to ensure access to, and egress from, Leinster House.

I did not interrupt the Deputies. Protesters do not have to block the gates of Leinster House.

What happened then was the Garda gave a direction under the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act. That is what the Garda formally did. There was no physical engagement; gardaí just gave a direction. I am informed that the individuals were given a period of time to adhere to the direction. That direction was not complied with and 11 people were then arrested for offences contrary to section 8 of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act. All 11 of them have received adult cautions. Additionally, three people were arres…

It is a horrible assertion. It is a demonstrably false assertion and a misreading that is absolutely wrong. It should not be made.

Deputies complain from time to time about assertions made about them and others. That assertion is very fundamentally wrong. It speaks to a kind of philosophy and mindset that is about how they can blame the Government or Irish parliamentarians for what is going on in Gaza and not the Israeli Government.

Those Deputies' approach always seems to be, "Let us blame the Irish Government", rather than putting the blame where the fault lies. They are attempting to drive a wedge between the Irish people and the Irish public representatives who are not of their persuasion.

I move: That Dáil Éireann has confidence in the Ceann Comhairle, Verona Murphy T.D. As we begin this debate, I hope members of the Opposition will allow others to be heard and will not engage in the systematic barracking we have seen in recent months. This is an extremely serious debate that goes to the heart of a range of fundamental issues about how this democratic Parliament operates. It is profoundly regrettable that this debate is being held today. There is nothing in the behaviour of the Ceann Comhairle that …

Over the past 106 years, the Standing Orders and structures of daily business of Dáil Éireann have changed regularly and often quite radically. There has never been a requirement for all parties to agree a change before it can be implemented. There has never before been a debate as long and as disruptive as there has been on these changes - changes that will mean the Irish Opposition will retain a greater share of speaking time and more opportunities to question the Government than any other Opposition in Europe. N…

-----has been seen here every day.

Day after day, it has become harder to be heard if Sinn Féin wants to have a go. The strategy has been implemented by means of the rigid discipline and control of elected representatives which is unique to Sinn Féin. We saw this last week when Deputy Carthy left his usual place to sit near the back and co-ordinate disruptions with Deputy Doherty, who led proceedings at the front.

Having collapsed the business of this democratically elected Parliament, Sinn Féin then did what it always does; it played the victim and blamed others for the scenes it had planned and orchestrated. Having broken every rule governing behaviour in the Dáil and making it impossible to hear anything, the party is not only disputing the Ceann Comhairle's ruling, it also disputing the detailed explanation of the Clerk of the Dáil. If the Opposition wants to be taken seriously during this debate, the first thing it shou…