Deputy McDonald told the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, she was against it.

Everything will be done to uphold the rights of children and human rights. There also has to be a fair and firm migration system. The key to it is to have timely processing of applications so that children or families are not here an inordinate length of time, during which they put down roots and so on, before then, as a result of the application process, being found not to have proper status. Huge progress has been made in accelerating the timelines for the first phase of applications. Work is also under way on th…

The Deputy has raised the specific case of Rosslare. More generally, we will have to put more resources to one side for the costs of adaptation to climate change. That change is here now. I understand the temperature in London, for example, will be 40 °C by the end of the week. That is an extraordinarily high temperature across the water. There has been too much complacency about climate change being something in the distant future. The impacts of climate change are here and now. We need stronger budget lines for t…

Aontaím leis an Teachta gur cheart go mbeadh muid in ann an buninfreastruchtúr sin a chur i bhfeidhm. Tá deacracht ann go háirithe in áiteanna iargúlta. Bhí sé soiléir le linn Stoirm Éowyn, mar shampla, nach raibh an córas chomh láidir is a cheap gach éinne go raibh sé. Cailleadh an córas go han-tapa ar fad. Beidh mé ag caint leis an Aire, an Teachta Calleary, le féachaint an féidir linn níos mó a dhéanamh ó thaobh áiteanna iargúlta agus b’fhéidir níos mó tacaíochta a thabhairt don pobal nó do na comhlachtaí chun p…

There will be songs written about the 132 bus yet. It has been raised here on numerous occasions and I will talk to the Minister in respect of it. There could be a few PhD theses written about Government agencies and Government Departments talking to each other. There is a human tendency to try to live in silos. We work extremely hard to break all of that down. The integrated approach of people working together is key. I will follow up with the Minister for Transport in respect of bus transport. There has been a si…

That is a reasonable point. I will talk to the Minister for justice on this to see if there are ways we can streamline vetting, particularly when someone has already been through a vetting procedure and process. If they apply for another job in parallel or some time afterwards, in a different area, apparently they have to go through the process again. Recruitment has been a considerable issue for us in the health service, particularly in the area of therapy. Anything we can do to speed that up is something we shoul…

I am mindful of language but in ten years we have gone from about 8,700 students availing of the summer scheme to 70,000 students availing of it. How does the Deputy call that a shambles? That is nonsense.

That is across 2,000 schools and funding has increased by €42 million. The scheme has grown out of all proportion. In fact, it was a scheme that originally was meant to target children with additional needs or children in certain circumstances of disadvantage. Any review would need to keep a focus. It has grown exponentially. There has been a lot of interaction between the Department and the schools. We have a lot of SNAs appointed. About 11,500 SNAs participated last year, with a similar number expected this year.…

I am conscious of the fact that Laois needs investment in the industrial context. I will ask the Minister, Deputy Peter Burke, to engage with Enterprise Ireland and the IDA to see what their views on this are. It may sell private sector to private sector and another enterprise could come in there. From what the Deputy is saying it seems to be a modern factory, so it is a facility that potentially another company could utilise. I would have concerns that Leprino Foods is moving to Northern Ireland or to Wales. We ne…

First of all, I do of course recall the horrific events at Creeslough where ten people died. It was an horrific tragedy in its impact on all those individual families of those who died and on the wider community. It is important that the survivors and families get comprehensive answers, but also accountability and justice. The real issue and debate here are about the best mechanism to get answers, accountability and justice. It is important that the Garda has been leading a tripartite investigation alongside the He…

I will make two points. The Minister, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, met a number of family members and their legal representatives in April of this year. It is unfair to say he spurned them. Generally, the position has always been, when a criminal investigation is under way, that Ministers for justice have to keep a distance from the case, given the separation of powers and so forth. I have no issue with meeting the families and will do so. That is to be worked out. However, there is a fundamental point, if the Deputy th…

First, it is a priority for the Government. The EPA report has serious findings. There were some positives in terms of some areas that had improved, and I think the report recommends that they be studied more, particularly in the Bannow area, to understand what is being done there that could be replicated elsewhere. The Deputy will be aware that we have set up a Cabinet subcommittee specifically on water quality to oversee the implementation of the programme for Government commitments. A number of key Ministers are…

On the maintenance of the nitrates derogation, we have been availing of the derogation since 2006 primarily because our grass-based farming system is much different to systems across the Continent. About 7,000 farmers have participated in that. By the way, those participating farmers probably have a higher and better record than those outside the derogation. It is more complex than the Deputy is articulating. In some tillage areas, you can have significant run-off. It is not all dairy. Depending on-----

Please, I did not interrupt the Deputy. It depends on soil composition and other factors. I looked at the data on estuaries. There has been quite a significant improvement in terms of phosphorous in estuaries, although not so much in terms of rivers and lakes. It is not where it should be - there is no question around that - but we have a number of fronts. You could end the directive tomorrow morning but that would have huge impacts on the dairy industry and other industries.

The Deputy has not spelled that out-----

-----and has not even articulated that either.

First of all, I recognise that this is a very sensitive issue and I appreciate the Deputy raising it in the manner she has. She campaigned consistently over a long period for the abolition of the eighth amendment. On reflection, in my view, this area should never have been in the Constitution in the first instance. It came out of a particular era in the 1980s. Be that as it may, the people spoke in the referendum. In the context of that referendum, there was a general debate on what would follow. If we look at what…

On the three days, it is interesting if you look at the unplanned pregnancy and abortion care, UnPAC, study commissioned as part of the review of the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018. It explored the experiences of individuals accessing abortion services under section 12 of the Act. The findings indicate that the mandatory three-day waiting period was a recurring feature of discussions across the majority of interviews conducted. Participants expressed a range of views regarding its value an…

The timeline for the amendment is subject to the Oireachtas. It is going to go to the committee if it is passed; if it is not, it will not go to the committee. That is where we are. It will be subject to the vote this evening and, subsequent to that, it will be considered by the committee. The Minister has already engaged with Deputy Cullinane on this. The Minister will be co-operative and in constructive mode if the amendment is carried this evening. We have to be careful when generalising about the reasons every …

It is not the main driver.