If I could be allowed to answer-----

I am trying to be the Deputy is interrupting.

Where is the Deputy's Green Paper?

Where is the Deputy's plan?

Chancer.

No.

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I recognise that this is a very sensitive issue. There are a range of opinions and perspectives in this House and, indeed, among the public. The people voted to repeal the eighth amendment in 2018 and to provide free, safe and legal access to termination services. We have made a lot of progress since then on the implementation of the Act. I am aware of the arguments for and against the removal of the three-day waiting period. It is important we have a respectful debate in t…

First of all, councils have not been gutted.

That is a ridiculous statement and a stupid statement to make.

There have been very significant investments made. There has been very significant allocation of resources to local authorities.

There has been very significant allocation of resources to local authorities and we have increased funding on a whole range of fronts. The bottom line is we are moving to Revenue to impose a tax. A lot of work has to be done to do this properly. That work is under way and will be resourced. It is very important that we do this with good precision and we do it comprehensively. I believe that this move, because it is Revenue and is a tax, will change the psychology around this and the implementation of it. It did not…

-----and the Deputy cannot use the lazy excuse of resources.

First of all, I agree that every fatality on Irish roads is one too many. For well over a decade or two, we had seen dramatic reductions in road fatalities and injuries, but in the last number of years, post-Covid in particular, there has been an incremental increase with some moderation of that. We have a clear road safety strategy. Progress has been made to deliver on phase 2 of the action plan for the period 2025 to 2027. There have been 12 primary transformative actions and 77 support actions. Progress to date …

There are three points. First, we are acutely aware of the pressures and anxieties in families in relation to a number of drugs pertaining to rare diseases. There was good news last week in terms of the HSE drug group approving givinostat and sending it forward to the senior leadership group, which will now consider it. Hopefully we can get this progressed as quickly as possible. There are other drugs. Skyclarys is on the agenda, among others. In fact, we are increasing the number of approvals on a year-by-year bas…

The Deputy was a long time a councillor. He knows the intricacies of this more than anybody does in terms of the application and enforcement of derelict site levies. There has been very significant progress in Cork in terms of housing. There needs to be more and we need to do more but in terms of the housing schemes that have started, been developed and are continuing, particularly along the docklands and, more recently, the schemes at Creamfields, Ballyvolane and many more, there are a lot of big housing projects …

I thank the Deputy for raising what is a very important issue for many people across the length and breadth of the country. We have a target for 2026 of 26.7 million home care hours. Additional hours will be delivered through a mixture of public and private provision, with a focus on addressing persistent waiting lists in certain areas of the country. Preliminary data shows that as of 31 March, 6.55 million hours were provided in the year to date, which is about 541,000 more hours than in the same period last year.…

I thank the Deputy for raising this very important issue. I will raise the points he made regarding Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore with the Minister for Health as to whether there are specific issues there. There is a lot of work under way in terms of development of surgical hubs, the National Treatment Purchase Fund expanding its programme in regard to particular specialties - the public-only contract should help in that regard - and continued investment in capacity. We acknowledge that more needs to be done …

I will raise this issue with the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, and the Minister for education, Deputy Naughton, in respect of that new school for Balbriggan. I do not have the specific details here, but we are working flat out to get as many places available through classes and new schools as quickly as possible to make sure pupils have places in September.

There were about 15 questions there but I think the Deputy started with the 199 Bray to Glendalough route, which I understand is a significant issue; other Deputies from Wicklow have also made that point to me. Obviously, there has been a significant expansion in transport services in recent years, with considerable public expenditure allocated to it. We are continuing to look at other services that need to be expanded and the Minister will be working with the NTA and TII on a range of issues in that respect.

Aontaím leis an Teachta. Tá géarghá go dtuigeann na daoine a bhíonn ag obair Domhnach is dálach go mbeidh faoiseamh le teacht. I am confident that in the forthcoming budget we will have a comprehensive framework to try to programme decisions on tax and other areas to help middle-income and low-paid workers with their tax burden. We have significantly reduced the tax burden for the low-paid. In particular, the number who are not paying tax has increased significantly in recent years. Without question, there is a nee…