I will ask the Minister of State, Deputy Anne Rabbitte, to engage with the Irish Wheelchair Association, IWA. I am not fully au fait with the background to this. There was a settlement in respect of the section 39 workers. An agreement was reached last October, which resulted in an 8% increase in pay to be delivered in three phases. There might be other background decisions, but it is a regrettable closure of an important service to quite a number of people who used the in-person service. I will follow this up.

One of the factors here is the resignation of a consultant.

I mean that is the fundamental issue. Is it the case that this consultant was responsible for endocrinology retired? Is that what happened?

My understanding is that the HSE-----

What we need to do is engage with the HSE, in the first instance. We can write to the Taoiseach of the day but it will go back down the chain. The Minister for Health has to deal with it, as does the HSE within the broader programme on diabetes generally. There has been substantial increased investment in LUH over the past number of years with increases in staff and so on. I will talk to the Minister for Health and make him aware of the fact that the issue has been raised.

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue, which he has raised consistently, with other Deputies, particularly all the public representatives in Cavan-Monaghan. Approximately €3 billion has been allocated to regional and local roads to date by the Government. A total of €658 million has been allocated this year, which is an increase of €32 million over last year. Of course, I accept that inflation has eaten into this increase. I have spoken to the Minister and I will have further consultations with him to see what w…

This is a novel proposal. I understand the challenges. It is shocking when boil water notices are the order of the day in certain localities. I will discuss this with the relevant Minister, although I can see challenges to it and precedents and so forth being established.

I commend the Deputy on her dexterous use of the time available to her to include two issues. On the diabetes question, clinical nurse specialists are essential so I will check with the HSE on the replacement of those clinical nurse specialists for children with diabetes. The Deputy is correct that their advice is required for proper use of insulin pumps, which are essential. The Deputy knows my thoughts on minor injury units and I have talked to the Minister in respect of the needs of the south east.

The school building programme is at record levels. This year, the Minister has again secured substantial additional funding to try to progress a range of projects across the programme. I will certainly raise the specific case. Site acquisition can often be the slowest part of any school project. I will talk to the Minister in this regard.

While there are always difficulties and challenges in every situation, including in the force, we need a bit of balance in our commentary. Everything is not "on the floor"; everything is not disastrous. The Government has increased the training allowance and has increased the age of entry to An Garda Síochána from 35 to 50. We want to grow the force to 15,000 members and beyond. There were approximately 319 retirements and 169 resignations in 2023 but 746 trainees entered Templemore last year, the highest intake si…

It needs to recover, particularly due to the closure of Templemore during the Covid period.

There is a whole background to that situation. It is not a snub.

I do not see why, generally speaking, the Garda Commissioner would not be invited. Let us get back to normal.

We can have disagreements but people should always maintain dialogue, should always engage, and the common courtesies of life should always apply, in my view.

I am not talking about the Minister. The Deputy knows why; he knows the background to it.

Ar dtús báire, ní aontaím leis an Teachta maidir le cúrsaí a bhaineann le hailse sa tír seo mar is léir le blianta beaga anuas – deich mbliana anuas – go bhfuil dul chun cinn ollmhór le feiscint ní hamháin i seirbhísí ailse agus sláinte ach sa mhéid daoine a bhfuil ag teacht slán ón ailse. Tá dul chun cinn le feiscint againn. Tá sé soiléir agus níl aon fhianaise ann go bhfuil sé ag laghdú ag an nóiméad seo. The first point I would make, which the Deputy did not reference at all, is that there has been a dramatic im…

We have provided over 1,000 new beds. Since coming to power, the Government has provided significantly increased allocations to the HSE. An extra €7.7 billion on the 2019 figures has been provided. Just because the HSE or any agency comes in and says it wants X, is it the Deputy's policy that he gives everything that people ask for and he does not ask about value for money or efficiency? Does he not ask-----

Hear me out a second, please. I am talking about numbers. We have dramatically increased the numbers of people employed. In fact, the HSE could not recruit the numbers of people that were provided for in successive rounds of funding to the health service over the past two to three years. The Deputy is in opposition. I look at his party's alternative budgets. Every now and then, his party condemns aspects of our budgets. When we look at its particular formulations, however, they do not reflect the realities at all.

No, it is an important point because-----

-----equally, the Deputy must accept-----