I will examine the details and try to get back to the Deputy. If he can send me the background to the case, we will pursue it. We want people to insulate. We do not want people to be penalised for insulation. Deputy Bacik raised workers' rights and the reproductive healthcare leave Bill. I will have to check where the research commissioned by the previous Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, is. Remote and flexible working is kept under constant review. Due to the nature of different jobs and the nature of work in different …

Yes, Deputy Bennett too, apologies. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler said earlier she has met the group. She says the HSE is telling her that it has to satisfy governance and it wants audits and so on. It is working with the group to try to fix that and get that sorted.

I know but there must be some issues there that need resolving.

As soon as we can get it done. The Minister of State is sympathetic. She has met the group with a view to getting it resolved.

On Deputy Coppinger’s question, the €3 billion will be some time off. The immediate target is LOA 2. The programme for Government commits to a move to LOA 3 after that but we are some distance off because of procurement and so on. The Deputy spoke of increases but we are one of the lowest spenders. We have very low spending on military and we are coming from a very low base. Procurement capacity has to be built up and so on. The fact is, Europe is exposed in the world today and Europe feels exposed. Those on the ea…

I will be going, yes.

I thank the Deputy for the points he made. I refer to Mark Henry’s book which identifies the extraordinary gains that have been made in lifespan in Ireland among men and women. It is a great story which never gets told but health did something right over the past 20 years. Lifestyle is important as well. I like the idea of tax relief for gym membership. I think it is a good idea although I understand that, I should not say the mandarins in finance -----

-----are inevitably saying there are complexities. Inevitably there are complexities attached to the proposal but I think we should do everything we possibly can to encourage activity and fitness levels in society. That is why I think one of the best things we have done in recent years is transformative investment in active travel across the country. One only has to go along greenways or walkways and they are populated by people going out, getting exercise and getting fit.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 8 to 23, inclusive, together. The Cabinet committee on disabilities has been established to oversee the implementation of programme for Government commitments in the area of disability with specific focus on children’s disability services as well as disability services more generally under the forthcoming new national disability strategy. It is due to meet shortly. Under the programme for Government, we are committed to delivering a step change in disability services. To deliver on …

How many occupational therapists?

What is the delay? Is he seeking an opinion?

Who is seeking the opinion?

Deputy Geoghegan raised the first issue, which was an interesting point, relating to the recruitment of therapists, particularly from overseas. This was raised at our initial meeting between Ministers last week. Perhaps we need to engage with CORU on this. Historically, although I am not sure whether this is the case here, regulatory bodies can have fairly rigorous criteria for professionals coming in from overseas. That needs to be examined because the figure is too low. We have been in a position to recruit peopl…

Yes, a therapy-based service is being worked on. At our meeting, we gave the green light for that and asked the Department of Education to prepare to, we hope, commence it this September, if we can get the Estimates right and so on. It was not provided for in the previous budget because the pilot scheme had been initiated under the auspices of the Departments of Health and children, but that has not worked out. Therefore, I think we are going full on with a school-based therapy service, for special schools in the f…

We are working to see if we can ensure places for children next September. I agree with Deputy Cian O'Callaghan that nursing homes are not suitable for young people who have a chronic illness or a significant disability. My understanding is that the number had come down in recent times but I will speak to the Minister for Health and the Minister of State with responsibility for nursing homes with a view to seeing what we can do to reduce and eliminate that. I did not fully get what Deputy McGreehan spoke about, the…

In terms of its obligations.

We discussed that last week. The public service must do far better than it is doing. There is no question about that. There must be proactivity within the public service, particularly on the employment front. We are not employing enough people with additional needs in our public service. The Deputy spoke about the means test. We will work on that, with the Minister for Social Protection in particular, but that is a budgetary measure for next September. Deputy O'Sullivan spoke about CAMHS in the south west. It is a …

I propose to take Questions Nos. 24 to 37, inclusive, together. The Cabinet committee on children and education will oversee the implementation of programme for Government commitments in the areas of children and education with a special focus on child poverty and well-being. It will receive detailed reports on identified policy areas, such as child poverty, well-being and education. A separate Cabinet committee on disability has been established. The membership of the Cabinet committee on children and education co…

Which report?

There were quite a number of contributions there. Deputy Tóibín spoke first on the 70,000 referrals.