The capital funding is there. There is no difficulty in increasing capital funding.

We can do it for childcare. If solutions come forward, we can provide the funding. I am endeavouring to say that we do not have to wait until 2025 to review the NDP. We can work to provide capital funding, either for the school setting where the playschools were or for stand-alone supports through the childcare budget.

I have engaged with the Deputy on an ongoing basis. Our engagement has been cordial and constructive and he knows the sincerity we have applied in allocating resources to cardiac services in Waterford.

We have provided the capital for buildings and there has been funding for staff as well. The Deputy knows that well and that is all I have to say.

Ah, come on.

Motions do not change anything. If we want to be serious about solving issues, we can play politics with motions or we can try to solve the issues. Staffing numbers have increased significantly in all hospitals. In the case of Naas General Hospital, there is a significant difference between the staffing levels five years ago versus today. There is a balance and resources will continue to be applied to health, but there is also a balance in using those resources in the most effective and efficient way possible. Pati…

There are established industrial relations processes to resolve issues of this kind. The transfer was done with a view to protecting the entitlements of workers who would transfer from local authorities to Irish Water. I had not heard of any attempts to undermine existing rights of existing employees of local authorities.

I will raise this with the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. What struck me when I was opening the Macroom bypass was the number of Kerry Deputies who arrived. That brought home to me the desire of Kerry Deputies and Kerry people to get closer to Cork and to have greater access to Cork. When the Deputy arrives in two weeks' time, he will see that we have lovely active greenways and a lovely park developed adjacent to Páirc Uí Chaoimh to facilitate Kerry supporters with picnics. In deference to my colleague, Deputy Eamon Ryan, you do…

Senator Eugene Murphy has consistently raised this me with me as well and has asked that I would meet the family. I made that commitment to Senator Murphy and to Deputy Kerrane as well. The issue, as the Deputy has outlined, is that the Australian Government has been leading in the discussions but we have also been making representations. It is a very difficult and sad situation for the family and the individual concerned, so we are continuing to work on it. Unfortunately, this is an increasing trend across the wor…

Táimid bailithe anseo inniu chun ár n-ómós do, agus ár meas ar, Noel Treacy a chur in iúl. Cuirim fáilte faoi leith roimh Mary, Joan, Emer, Lisa, Rory agus a chlann go léir atá anseo. Níl aon amhras ach gur pholaiteoir den scoth a bhí ann. B'Aire Stáit agus tírghráthóir é. Bhí sé fréamhaithe i measc a phobail féin agus ina dhúiche féin. D'oibrigh sé go dian dícheallach, Domhnach is Dálach. Beidh cuimhní geala maithe againn go léir ar a chairdeas agus ar a gháire croíúil fáilteach. Thar aon rud, is cuimhin liom fear…

First, I must say that the country has been sickened and disturbed by the shocking attack on this young boy; the random violent nature of it, the videoing of it and the posting of the video online. I have not seen the video but some who did have described it as stomach-churning and quite shocking. I agree with the Deputy that there is absolutely no place in our society for such violence. More broadly, there has been increased violence against our LGBTI community, which is quite disturbing. I believe collectively, i…

First, of course, it should not have to wait for the online commission, nor does it have to wait. The companies themselves should remove such videos immediately once they go up and that should be the position. We have given that message to the social media platforms on a consistent basis. Indeed, they argue that they do that but the rapidity by which they do it at times has to be questioned. The impact that can have on the individuals concerned who are the focus or the young person who has been attacked can compoun…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I read a summary of that report, which is very serious in terms of the short-term impacts arising from climate change and a projection over the next five years in terms of rising sea levels but also rising temperatures and, in some instances, excessive rainfall in northern Europe. The reality is that climate change is here. Some of the big events arising out of climate change will not happen post 2050 as was the original scientific consensus a decade ago; the idea that if …

I appreciate the Deputy's criticisms but we must be fair that the offshore wind auction was a significant milestone-----

-----in the drive towards offshore wind energy in this country. The 5 GW target is now in sight. I would argue that people could not see that target a year ago. The auction gives us concrete sight of that target. It will be challenging because we must get the ports ready. They are coming back with their business plans and so forth. The infrastructure and grid pieces require attention. However, the jigsaw is coming together for offshore wind. The Maritime Area Regulatory Authority, MARA, is up and running and essent…

There are plenty of opportunities for picnics and everything else. In the local community, you can get the sense of the transformation that is occurring. There are some very exciting projects in every town and city across the country on active travel. I make that basic point. On industry, I visited the PepsiCo facility last week. Some 25% of the its annual energy needs will from now on be met by the largest solar panel roof installation. Industry is also moving at pace.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue, which has been an issue of interest to me for quite some time. Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan of Fianna Fáil has also been a strong advocate in this area. I welcome the participation by Ireland in 18 of the 24 ERNs. By definition, rare diseases have never been amenable to pharmaceutical investment, or the State could never invest in treatment or medicines, because the volume involved would never be sufficient to match the investment required for research into the treatment for …

In respect of treatment, the Government has substantially increased funding for new innovative medicines for rare diseases, investing €100 million over the last three budgets. More than 100 new medicines have been approved, including 39 orphan medicines to treat rare diseases. We also committed €2.7 million to support the implementation of the national strategy for accelerating genetics and genomic medicine in Ireland. As I stated earlier, we progressed Irish entry into the Horizon Europe partnerships on rare disea…

On the European Central Bank, there is a common currency and we have joined that. We are members of the European Central Bank in so far as every state nominates a representative. Of course, he or she does not act as an Irish representative and must act in the collective in the context of the European Central Bank itself. In terms of monetary policy, they have to control inflation. Inflation has to be controlled. Unfortunately, interest rate increases have always been a mechanism of monetary policy to reduce a rampa…