I thank the Deputy for raising two issues, namely, the constitutional amendments and the review of the operation of the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018. She consistently endeavours to characterise the Government's position as one of patronising women. She is entitled to her perspectives but so are people on the Government side of the House. I do not believe her characterisation of the Government's position is an accurate one. The amendments to the Constitution we have proposed in respect of…

As I said and as the Deputy confirmed, this was sent to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and that committee has now completed its report. If we did not send it to the committee, I would respectfully suggest that the Deputy would be standing here this morning asking why it was not referred to the committee and why the committee should not deal with it. We have to follow up on that report in terms of the review. I am very open to the recommendations to come from the report of the committee and the Government …

-----including the review but we cannot dismiss the fact that we put certain arguments before the people at a given time not so long ago and people voted on the basis of those arguments. That was the Taoiseach's point and it is a valid point. That said, the review was also contained within the Act. We have had the review and we will act on it. The Government will give that active consideration. I was very unhappy that maternity hospitals were not providing services. That was the first priority. There are two more t…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. It reflects the hardworking nature of the Deputy in terms of the cases that come to him via his constituency office and the people he meets on a regular basis and I respect that. More generally, I would make the point that there has been record investment in health since this Government came into office. This has focused a lot on reducing costs for patients generally. We have removed inpatient hospital charges and have had the biggest expansion of access to free GP care in…

I thank the Deputy for raising those issues. Since 2015, medical cards are awarded without the need for a financial assessment to children under 18 years of age with a diagnosis of cancer. More broadly, the Government took a position whereby if there was a terminal prognosis of 24 months, the Government would facilitate the granting of a medical card. In other words, eligibility does not relate to a specific illness. There is neurological disease, which can shorten a person's life significantly, heart disease, COPD…

I thank the Deputy for raising multiple issues under the overall umbrella of farming and agriculture. The fundamental objective of the Government is to protect farm family incomes. The most effective mechanism to do that is through the Common Agricultural Policy. We negotiated a Common Agricultural Policy for the period 2023-27, with a strong focus on supporting family farms regardless of size or location. We are looking at close to €10 billion in total between EU and Exchequer funding that will support over 120,00…

He said "senior politicians".

I know he was not there but I was there. Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan facilitated it.

Actually, it was a very constructive meeting. We went to see how farmers in the Timoleague-Kilbrittain area were dealing with a research project with Teagasc in respect of water quality. We spent a good three hours there. It was informative and insightful.

The bottom line in the discussion afterwards was about how we avoid losing the derogation or going below 220 kg. There was much realism at that meeting. Many people realised the reality of the situation. It was critical that, nationally, we take every effort, working with the farming community, to make sure we do not go below the 220 kg limit and that we retain that at the time of the next review. It is important we work collectively and in partnership with the farming community to achieve that. Deputy Collins know…

The Deputy raised a multiplicity of issues. The farm organisations are being invited to meet the Revenue Commissioners and the Department of Finance to discuss the VAT issue next week. The Department works with the farming organisations and farmers on these issues.

The Department is also working to resolve the issue in respect of the knackery situation, the fallen animals and the issues that have arisen. I am confident it can get a working resolution of that issue for farmers more generally. Our whole approach is to get payments to farmers to facilitate this. That is why we have allocated the resources. We are not out to get anybody or undermine anybody. I think ACRES has been a successful initiative. The evidence of that is the number of people who have applied. I have no do…

I thank the Ceann Comhairle. I think the statistics he outlined about the level of activity are quite significant. I am conscious that there are many staff in various Departments who are very enthusiastic in responding to the 52,000 parliamentary questions - I say that in jest. We have to remember the people who toil in the offices across the public service to do their best to get transparency and to answer the questions. We thank them for that work. It was a very useful summation, which reflects the positive produ…

I am also extremely frustrated with what has transpired. We started a mediation process and it should never have broken down. We were looking at, first, dealing with the health dimension so that there would be absolute provision of healthcare benefits for victims of the thalidomide scandal, whole-of-life care in respect of housing adaptation and so forth, and a third aspect that was to be discussed through mediation. The Government entered that in good faith. I share the Deputy's view. I would like to see negotiati…

I will talk to the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, but no Member of this House is more passionate about advancing public transport and accessibility of public transport. Our budgets for public transport infrastructure have increased exponentially to meet the needs of the climate issue and provide greater capacity and access for people.

The Government took a range of measures, as the Deputy said, including the €12 increase in weekly social welfare and pension rates, which will apply to all cases, increased rates in the qualified child payment, increased thresholds for the working family payment, which does not apply in this case - I do not know the full circumstances - the extension of child benefit to 18-year-olds in full-time education, and the various other measures we took to facilitate families-----

----which will apply to those groups. Many of these-----

Some aspects the Deputy identified will not, but many others will-----

-----in respect of the various reductions we have facilitated right across-----

-----the cost of public services more generally.