It is a separate issue. It is not a health employee per se ; it is a very important post in the wider community agenda.

I think they should take a break. They work too hard altogether.

I will also share time with the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin. The recent violence in Dublin could not be more serious. It cannot be tolerated in our democratic Republic. It represents a challenge to all of us here to show we have a politics which is capable of treating serious issues with urgency and with a focus on action. The sad reality is this debate has nothing to do with the issues of policing in Dublin and divisive radicalisation. It is yet again solely about Sinn Féin pursuing its cynical and aggressiv…

Rubbish.

It should be.

Ar dtús, déanaim comhbhrón le clann Shane MacGowan agus a bhean, Victoria, ar a bhás. Níl aon amhras ach ceoltóir den scoth a bhí agus atá ann. I express my deepest sympathies to the wife and family of the late Shane MacGowan, an iconic musician who blended many different musical disciplines and genres but who was particularly influenced by his time in Tipperary. He was very conscious of the traditional musical heritage and interwove that with many others. It is particularly poignant at this time of the year in the…

It is clear that the situation would get far worse if Sinn Féin was in charge of housing.

Banning rent increases will not produce one additional house. In fact, it would reduce the number of houses available for rent in the market. That would be the impact of Sinn Féin's decision and its entire approach to the matter. We need to support renters via alleviation through the tax rental credit that we have now but Sinn Féin's proposal-----

-----would reduce the availability of housing, and if one reduces supply the rents will go up even further. Supply is the key to this.

Deputy Doherty talks about affordability. Sinn Féin opposed the help-to-buy scheme.

Sinn Féin would abolish it. Sinn Féin opposed the first home scheme. Sinn Féin opposed the grants around dereliction and vacancy.

Sinn Féin has opposed a hell of a lot. Sinn Féin has opposed new housing schemes across Dublin on State land because they did not contain social housing only. Sinn Féin did not want affordable housing on certain sites in Dublin and it opposed it. Deputy Doherty has opposed a lot of things which brings me to the conclusion that his policies would make this situation far worse.

It would disincentivise house building. It would get far worse. Sinn Féin's policies are overly negative in respect of housing.

We all recognise - I said it already - that housing is the most significant social issue we face in this country. I am interested in coming up with solutions. I have heard precious little from the Deputy other than a good descriptive analysis of the current situation, but actually no solutions. Freezing rent is not a solution because it would cause a further exodus from the rental market, which would reduce supply and would result in ever increasing rental prices. That is the reality. Supply has to be the solution …

First of all, there is a dearth of proposals and solutions coming from the Deputy and her party on housing. I do not see any detailed proposals over and above what is in Housing for All, the Government's comprehensive housing plan in terms of increasing supply. The Deputy has made a passing reference in her question where she accepts that there is a higher and greater need for housing supply. Housing supply is the key.

Some of the policies which she has put forward such as banning and freezing would actually reduce supply, and would have a very negative impact on the rental market. That would mean higher prices again. I have to challenge that simplistic notion that we can simply ban everything for three years and that everything will then be the same or will get better. If one bans anything for three years, people will get out of the market and do other things. We have seen that and have tried to clamp down on some of that with r…

I thank the Deputy for raising this very important issue. Historically, Ireland has had a very high prevalence of COPD. There can be different factors involved, even climate. The Deputy outlined towards the end of his contribution the public health framework which governs much of this. Smoking was a big factor but also tended to be a socioeconomic issue with regard to its prevalence and scale. As a country, we have taken various measures on smoking which have helped but there are issues around work safety in terms …

I admire the Deputy's ingenuity and creativity in turning a chronic disease management programme into the deficiencies of the grant-based system for retrofitting. That is to be applauded.

I acknowledge what the Deputy is saying. He is alluding to the fact that there are so many applications and to the capacity of the scheme to provide responses more quickly. There is no doubt, comparing it to before this Government came into power, about the contrast in the volume of retrofitting now going on. An entire new industry is being created as a result of guaranteed funding over the next decade, through the national development plan. It gives the industry confidence in the retrofitting area. We want those i…

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. The UCD sexual exploitation research programme, SERP, report raises matters of the most profound concern. The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth and Tusla are aware of risks to children in care. Tusla is continually working to address these complex and concerning issues, including working with An Garda Síochána as required. There is no doubt that children in the care of the State are the most vulnerable individuals in our society.…