Ireland's policy of military neutrality has long been a very important strand of our foreign policy. It has been practised by successive Governments of which I have been a member. The policy means that Ireland does not participate in military alliances or common or mutual defence arrangements. The Government has no plans to alter this policy. That is not part of this conference. The Deputy has attempted to make the view that it is. He has tried to damage and undermine the bona fides of the conference. It is our fir…

I would like to test that. I do not think it is unparliamentary language. I think it is-----

First of all, I did not say they were putting the jackboot in, but I said in the future, given their trend and approach-----

In the interests of civility, I will take back the word "jackboot". Again-----

I do not want a debate. I want this issue of freedom of speech in Parliament referred to the procedures committee.

I do not like what is happening here. I have to put it to the Chair directly. I do not like it. I am doing it in the interest of-----

Cuirim fáilte roimh an deis seo chun rún faoi Chomhaontú Aoine an Chéasta a phlé, chun machnamh a dhéanamh ar an méid a dhein ceannairí ag an am sin chun conradh a chur i bhfeidhm, agus chun machnamh a dhéanamh ar ról Rialtas na Breataine agus Rialtas na tíre seo agus ar tábhacht na comhpháirtíochta idir an dá Rialtas. Sin bunchloch an chonartha agus na comhpháirtíochta. Níl aon amhras orm ach go bhfuil an saghas comhpháirtíochta sin ríthábhachtach ó thaobh todhchaí an Tuaiscirt chomh maith. I welcome the opportuni…

Aontaím go bhfuil géarghá ann le faoiseamh a thabhairt do theaghlaigh agus do leanaí atá gan faoiseamh tithíochta, go háirithe leanaí le riachtanais speisialta. Táimid ag déanamh gach aon iarracht na seirbhísí a chur ar fáil. Ní ceist áiseanna í seo. Ní ceist tacaíochta í. Tá na háiseanna ann. Tá an t-airgead ann. Is éard atá in easnamh ná na foirne a chur ar fáil agus na daoine a mhealladh isteach sna seirbhísí chun oibriú sna hionaid fhaoisimh seo. I am fully aware of the situation in respect of Carrigaline Commu…

Every year, resources have been increased and expanded, and correctly so, in respect of special needs and the families to whom Deputy Doherty referred and whom I have met. There is not a Deputy in the House who has not met families in situations such as this. Staffing is now the issue. I refer here to the recruitment of staff. The funding is there to recruit staff to these services and facilities, and funding will continue to be provided and it will be expanded. In the forthcoming Estimates, there will be additiona…

I thank Deputy Bacik for raising this issue. She made a very fair point in respect of the significance of Meta's announcement. It is a significant number of job losses. Our thoughts have to go to the employees who will lose their jobs as a result of this announcement and their families. Notwithstanding that the economy is strong, people are committed to the particular jobs they are in at a given time. A sudden announcement such as this can undermine the planning of individuals and families in terms of job security …

It is fair to say there has been significant enhancement of workers’ rights over the last two and a half years since this Government came into office in terms of the Sick Leave Act 2022, the payment of wages and the Redundancy Payments (Amendment) Act 2022. Crucially, and I would have attended the Labour Employer Economic Forum, LEEF, programme last year, the report of the high-level review group on collective bargaining established under the auspices of the Government’s Labour Employer Economic Forum was published…

First, I would not agree with the Deputy’s assessment of the Government's position. I would argue that the Irish people did take a fundamental decision on the repeal of the eighth in a referendum, but that followed a significant level of constructive engagement, informed engagement, and a listening exercise within the then Oireachtas Committee on Health – it may have been the Committee on Health and Children at the time. Many people made presentations to that Oireachtas committee, which was considering the then Cit…

I genuinely believe that the approach we took in the referendum was the correct approach. This is a sensitive issue and people have different views on this issue, and those views go deep with people. The idea that you have an Oireachtas committee to look at this in a detailed way should not be a surprise or should not be attacked, and you are attacking that. Through the Chair, I am not looking for confrontation-----

Through the Chair, I am not looking for confrontation. I am not attacking anybody's motivations or bona fides in respect of this. However, I respect the fact that this is a legislative assembly, with people who will potentially be asked in due course to vote on or have a view on legislation relating to this area and the very least that should happen is that the report should be examined by the Oireachtas. I find it extraordinary that Deputy Smith is saying that those who are working on the legislation should do no …

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I would say at the outset that there is no cap or ban on the granting of planning permission for new homes in rural Ireland.

Planning authorities provide a target for new housing as part of their statutory development plan, including for rural areas outside of their towns and villages. There is one statistic that may not be well known, which is that it has generally been one quarter of delivery nationally for the last 30 years. In terms of overall house construction, one quarter has been new rural homes, including one-off houses. About 4,000 to 5,000 homes built every year are rural homes. That gets lost in all of the narrative around th…

Will I have a chance to come back in with supplementary remarks?

The match at the weekend is in Navan.

We go forward with all modesty and so on. In respect of the issue, I was going to mention the vacant and dereliction grants which give real opportunities but I take the Deputy's point. I understand the sincerity of what the Deputy is saying in terms of people who want to build on their family's land. The overall planning policy over the years has been to try to move to areas that are contiguous to villages and towns for services including sewerage, amenities and so on. That has been the preferred policy direction. …

To me, that would suggest that a bit of pragmatic common sense-----