There is no plan to help young people.

Sinn Féin's plan is to abolish supports for first-time buyers and undermine their capacity to afford new houses.

That is the essence of Sinn Féin's three-pager in its 52-page budget document. The Deputy is all bluster and no substance.

I thank the Deputy for raising a number of issues under the umbrella of renting and so on. It is not true to say that no additional protections have been put in place for renters. We have introduced quite a significant number of protections. For example, we have extended the length of notice landlords are obliged to give. The Deputy is correct in what she said about short-term tourist letting. It is frustrating that the Commission has sought further time to review the short-term tourism letting legislation which wo…

There are two points here. First of all, Naomi O'Leary's article on Marc Godart is shocking. I identified the list of authorities for whom the content of that article and his behaviour should be a matter of interest. I would add the Garda to that potentially. If the law is broken, it is broken. There are enforcement mechanisms to enforce the law and we have invested record amounts in the RTB. There is €13.4 million for the RTB in 2024 and €10.75 million for local authority inspections in the rental sector and for t…

There is no cover-up. There has been a series of Cabinet committee meetings, and these are where things are teased out and discussed, and various options are looked at and considered, if that is what the Deputy is referring to. The amendment is very basic. One of the key ones is that the definition around family should reflect current realities. That is all we are saying to people. I am sure Deputy McGrath is a man who believes in cherishing all of the children of the nation equally. A total of 42% of all children …

I appreciate the Deputy's plaudits in terms of my capacity to kick the ball around the pitch. I have to enlighten him that the position that the selectors decided for me as a young person was corner-back in an era when neither pace nor skill was a premium.

People would understand what I mean by that.

The role of the commission that has been established is to objectively assess the proposed changes and explain to the public, in an objective way, what the impact of the amendment will be. Political participants in the campaign, those who are for or against, will argue in favour of it.

I do not accept the charge the Deputy has laid. I have seen some stuff online about disinformation in terms of the difference between "duties" and "place", and I think it is completely over the top and is a complete misrepresentation of the Minister's presentation. The existing articles are clear. I would have appreciated a response to my question from the Deputy. Does he favour a more inclusive encapsulation of the concept of family, as reflected in modern-day reality? Does he accept that in the modern era? Some 4…

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. She raised it very fairly. I accept the principles she has articulated. There should be no physical segregation. The Deputy might explain why councils have said it would be more costly to segregate tenants. I do not understand why it would be more costly in terms of the construction of a development of 30, 50 or 100 apartments. The apartments will still have to be constructed. It is particularly wrong that Part V social housing tenants would be denied access to amenities or…

The maintenance cost issue seems weak enough to me as a basis for that policy in terms of arrangements. In many instances, councils themselves carry out the maintenance or contract it out. In many developments of this kind, maintenance is contracted out in respect of Part V tenancies. I can see where there could be overlapping issues in respect of a block of apartments where there could be a maintenance issue across the entire block. That is not insurmountable, and from a cost perspective it should not be insurmoun…

I would be generally in agreement with the Deputy. He used the word "co-ordinated", which suggests this is a matter that should be referred to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, CCPC. Any co-ordinated increase in price rises by such providers raises significant alarm bells in terms of whether competition is in place in the market. Perhaps further correspondence to the CCPC is called for. I will certainly raise the matter with the Minister.

I have given my reply.

First, we are all shocked by the terrible loss of life on our roads. There were about 188 road fatalities in 2023, the highest since 2014, when the figure was 192. As of 21 February, 32 people had lost their lives, in 29 collisions on Irish roads, an increase of two deaths on this time last year. A lot of young people are losing their lives. I get a sense that post-Covid, something has happened on our roads and I cannot quite put my finger on it. We need to do deeper analysis, because the figures are going up, not …

We are on this in terms of legislative changes.

My understanding is that about 500 posts have been advertised for CDNTs with a view improving them, which is necessary. There has been an issue with the recruitment and retention of staff on the paediatric side and the childcare side. I take the point in respect of prisons. I think there should be a general attitudinal change to people with disabilities, particularly people with autism, in terms of how schools deal with a child or young person who has certain manifestations of, say, physical or other activities tha…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. An information campaign is a very good idea and is one I would welcome, and I will talk to the Minister in respect of that. Medicine shortages are, unfortunately, a feature of modern health systems worldwide and are a global health problem now. However the medicines regulator here, the HPRA, has said that while individual brands or strengths of a medication may be temporarily unavailable, for the vast majority of medicines there are appropriate substitutions such as differ…

A nationwide audit of CAMHS was carried out and while there are clearly huge challenges and deficiencies in some parts of the country, in other parts of the country many of the centres are providing a good service. That said, it is not where we want it to be. No child should be admitted to an adult psychiatric facility. The numbers of such children are way down on what they were previously but one child being admitted to an adult psychiatry ward is one child too many. It is a priority area. There is a new mental he…

The Deputy has obviously received information from the Department of Justice today. She probably has more information on this than I do.