The Deputy's proposals would create chaos.

There would be chaos if every Government in Europe were to take on and disagree with the ECB. We need monetary policies to be set by the ECB.

That is the way it should be. We need to get inflation down. Ireland has an unemployment rate of less than 4%. We have the lowest youth unemployment in Europe. We have dramatically increased employment in the past three years. There must be a balanced, measured and stable approach to managing the economy. Some countries outside the EU have inflation rates of up to 50% or 60%. When a country reaches that disastrous level, it is in real trouble. Getting inflation down matters and it matters to citizens. A balance mus…

It was agreed more recently than the St. Andrews Agreement in the context of the Fresh Start agreement and the shared island initiative. The issue is not financing, as the Deputy is well aware. A public inquiry is under way in Northern Ireland. There have been significant challenges in progressing route selection for the project in the North because of opposition from a variety of interests. I have been exasperated by this, as we have made clear through the shared island initiative. The Government has put €1 billio…

First, I thank the Deputy for her support of the Government's programme to provide accommodation for those seeking asylum. Some 84,000 people are now in State accommodation. That is unprecedented. Never before in the history of the State have we had to respond to a situation like this because of global conflict, not least the war in Ukraine which has been catastrophic for the people of Ukraine. It has created the greatest displacement of people in Europe since the Second World War. That is sometimes glossed over. I…

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue and I share his horror at the violence and nature of that attack. I too have met representatives of the LGBTI community, especially young people who articulated on a personal level to me the bullying they have been subjected to. In some instances young people have to leave a school and go to an alternative school. That has happened. We must work harder to ensure our anti-bullying strategies penetrate or get traction on the ground. The Minister developed and launched the poli…

I take it that the fire that happened this morning will be referred to the HSA. Under the law the HSA will conduct and I understand is conducting investigations into the previous incidents in which two workers were seriously injured, one of whom was very seriously injured. It is an absolute prerequisite that there would be comprehensive health and safety investigations. In respect of the question of union representation in meetings, I will talk to the Minister, Deputy Coveney, about that. There has never been an is…

I thank the Deputy for raising a very important issue. I agree with him on the importance of the Garda Reserve. I agree that members of the reserve force can be of significant help to the community. I recall being in government when the Garda Reserve was introduced. Like all institutions, initially there was some resistance to the idea. Increasingly now, both within An Garda Síochána and within the military, there is an acknowledgement of the role of the reserve. We are creating new initiatives in terms of accelera…

The Deputy is correct. I am sure he would agree with me that Councillor Micheál Anglim has been a very strong and proactive advocate for this.

I say that to be fair to Councillor Anglim. I went down to Ardfinnan. An external review took place. The NTA should approve this separate proposal, given that the independent review said this was the best way to go. I have spoken with the Minister in respect of this as well. I believe there has to be a balance and a proper response from national agencies as well. This is very unsafe. It is unacceptably unsafe for school children and young people. Sometimes, we have to do things outside of the box. The external revi…

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I do not have the specifics in respect of every county across the country at hand. There have been ongoing issues with the dental service and the reform of oral health services. Orthodontics have always been challenging, notwithstanding the unprecedented funding that has been allocated to the sector. We are probably better than most European countries due to our State-funded oral health care scheme for medical card patients in terms of fees.

We are, in terms of the fees paid and so on. An additional €15 million was allocated in the budget for public oral healthcare services, bringing it to €200 million to address backlogs and longer term reform. There is an issue here about value for money, efficiency and about getting some return for that investment.

It is a bit more complex than that. The home tuition grant scheme provides funding towards the provision of compensatory educational services for children who, for a number of specific reasons, are unable to attend school. This could be due to illness or certain conditions. By nature, it is a short-term intervention. Some of the providers could be more long term, some are more short term. They might get a permanent job the following year, for example. In the first instance, the home tutors are engaged by the parent…

The Department is not the employer.

The Deputy raised this matter with me the other night and I raised it with the Minister. He seemed to be of the view that the project was progressing but he said he would check it for me in respect of its current status and the appointment of the design team. I will revert back to the Deputy on that.

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I agree with the broader strategy of incentivising recycling and separation of waste. The country has made extraordinary progress in those areas over the past 25 years and that needs to be acknowledged. Sometimes we tend to have a negative self-perception of the country; actually, it has made extraordinary progress on a number of fronts in the past two decades. On the council, I am open to different options in respect of the collection of waste. A noticeable development in …

The HSE says it will. I will speak to the Minister for Health again because this issue has been raised across the House again today. We have to give time to deal with the backlog from Covid but we also have to look at methodology and models of provision and have a more fundamental look at this because waiting times are too long.

I share the Deputy’s revulsion at the shocking attack on the young boy in Navan. We have collectively done that today. On the retained firefighters, we ask all parties to continue to engage constructively on resolving the outstanding industrial relations issues within the established facilitation forum. That is the best way to resolve this. There is no silver bullet solution to the issues of recruitment and retention. The Minister has acknowledged there clearly are issues. A report was commissioned in 2021. He acce…

I referenced the Deputy’s interest in this in my earlier contribution and his long-standing advocacy in this area. I spoke with the Minister for Health on the ERNs and the necessity to provide resources to build up supports for the clinicians involved, as well as to recruit people to the service to enable a critical mass of people within the HSE to be focused on our participation in ERNs. They are the way forward to bring expertise and knowledge together.

I hope the Deputy is not suggesting that there was a deal between An Garda Síochána and far-right activists.