-----in all communities to pursue these people who seem to think they can create an alternative-----

-----framework to get their way. They must be resisted by all of us.

The Government does acknowledge and takes very seriously the role of carers in our society. I acknowledge that we have made commitments in the programme for Government, particularly the commitment in terms of the weekly income disregard and that we would eliminate the means test, essentially. Already, as part of the most recent budget, and from this July, the weekly income disregard will increase from €625 to €1,000 for a single person and from €1,250 to €2,000 for carers who are part of a couple. The latest reform…

As I said, we are going to do it. We did give the commitment that it would happen over the lifetime of the Government. I would not underestimate the step we have already taken because I think that when this lands in July, the increase in the income disregard will actually be quite significant, maybe more significant than people thought. We will make a further significant move in the forthcoming budget and I think we will be well on the way then to eliminating the means test. Of course, there is a wide variety of me…

-----therapies, as we are doing in the school-based therapy service, which will take some pressure off carers.

First of all, I want to say without equivocation that the crimes committed by Bill Kenneally were absolutely horrific over a prolonged period of time and caused immense trauma and suffering to many people and families. I am reading through the report, like Deputy Bacik. The judge, Michael White, has been very clear in terms of the central finding of a failure and a dereliction of duty in relation to the way An Garda Síochána dealt with this, particularly in 1987 when the perpetrator himself, Bill Kenneally, was in …

-----by those who knew also.

It is a damning report in that respect. We will follow through on it.

We hope to arrange time in the House to have a proper consideration of this report.

We need to let the report speak for itself. It does not have a finding of a cover-up, a conspiracy or collusion. We have to be true to the report of the commission. However, it does have a finding of gross dereliction of duty and the need to reform the law in that respect, which the Minister will now be pursuing with the Law Reform Commission, as recommended by the commission. Yes, we can do better. The State has initiated quite a range of inquiries, as the Deputy iterated, going back to the industrial schools. We …

In my view, in the first instance it bears rearticulation that any abuse allegation should be reported to the Garda.

At the outset, the Deputy made an assertion in respect of the Minister. She kind of made a few leaps and sort of said that the Minister is saying that women lie in court cases. That is outrageous and should be withdrawn. There is no room for that in debates of this kind. We are all coming to this issue in a bona fide way. That is the first point I would make. There is no agenda here. We agree that violence against women and domestic violence, in particular, is at an appalling level. There are multiple factors respo…

I appreciate the Deputy has acknowledged that it is not easy and that there are difficulties in terms of framing legislation within constitutional parameters here. That is at the core of this. I would have much empathy with the broad argument in terms of the disclosure of counselling notes. However, this legislation represents a very significant improvement and strengthening of the legislation on behalf of women, in particular, as opposed to what we had. There had been a request for additional time. My understandin…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue, specifically in respect of the industrial activity and the IDA's performance in attracting investment into County Laois. I must say that I find the figure of 150 jobs quite extraordinary. When we look at Laois geographically it is on the motorway. It has critical mass in terms of population and one would have thought that there would have been a natural gravitation of foreign direct investment to Laois because of its proximity to labour markets in Dublin, Cork and Limerick…

Laois is a beautiful county but the Deputy's points about investments there are well made. I would give the example of Carlow. For many years, Carlow had an IDA site. When I was Minister for enterprise the IDA even gave up and wanted it to be used for indigenous companies. I advised patience and that we keep going. Eventually Merck Sharp and Dohme arrived to Carlow. It, along with others, has transformed the area industrially. The site is there and we appeal to the IDA to do everything it possibly can to secure a s…

In the minute available to me, I will make the point that at one level the Deputy says that she is not asking us to usurp but she is, really. I do not understand the logic of what she is saying.

We are not members of UEFA. The FAI has to navigate UEFA in the same way it has to navigate FIFA. The Irish football team has had a lot of success recently.

The bottom line here is-----

I cannot hear a thing.

I read that report and I will engage with the Minister of State, Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan, and the NPWS. I think we have roughly doubled the staffing level of the NPWS in the past five years and have provided it with additional resources, correctly so. The Minister of State is very focused on the enforcement dimension. There has been good success also in terms of conservation and the biodiversity side of the equation, so to speak. Enforcement is important because we need to stop this crime. It is interesting t…