My understanding is that the Minister for Health did address this issue at a conference recently and outlined initiatives he is taking, particularly following the publication of the Mazars report on this issue. There is a requirement for a review of this. That length of time is not optimal by any means.

The Deputy made a good general point about making sure that there is absolute equality in the treatment of women and girls playing all sports. When he was Minister of State with responsibility for sport, Deputy Chambers took initiatives on that and the Minister of State, Deputy Thomas Byrne, is going to address it through grant schemes and so on in the future. The participation in the World Cup by the Irish women’s soccer team is an opportunity and a watershed moment to encourage further participation among young g…

I am talking about facilities, yes. We had a record allocation of grants to sports clubs across the country last year. As the Deputy knows, one of the criteria is diversity and facilities for women and girls. It is a clear criterion in the grant scheme. We are also looking at the membership of boards which the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, had started and on which the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, is keen to focus. He knows the importance very well himself through personal experience and knows the need to …

I appreciate the Deputy’s point and the difficulties facing the Educate Together school in Harold's Cross that he identified. As I said earlier, we are very possessed of this issue in government. It is a matter of trying to work out a sustainable pathway for this school and all of the schools that need to be progressed. We are very conscious of it. It has been raised in the House and I fully accept the urgency attached to this.

I will talk to the Minister about that. It is open to the NTPF to do outpatient treatment, for example, or appointments with consultants. Predominantly, it has been used for inpatient acute treatment. That has been the predominant application of the NTPF but the Minister has indicated in the past that it can be used for disabilities as well and to deal with the significant outpatient list as opposed to the inpatient list. I will alert the Minister to the point that the Deputy raised.

I will talk to the Minister about that the issue is in the progress on this road. The Deputy said that 6 km were completed after the method statement was issued and now two further method statements have been completed as far back as September on this. I will talk to the Minister.

Again, I will engage with the Minister to engage with the county council on this. I have sympathy with the position that the Deputy is presenting. As part of the Housing For All plan, we have made it very clear that all state agencies must be involved in resolving the housing crisis. I have had similar conversations in my own Department where properties were going to be demolished and I said, "No, they are not going to be demolished." There has to be a mindset change in terms of the crisis. I do not know the full b…

There are a number of issues. We are bound by international conventions, including the Geneva Conventions, and so forth. We are looking to deal with this issue at source in terms of the boarding of planes in the first instance. If people board with documentation that then disappears, there will be a problem at the other end. The Deputy is referring to enforcement and to more effectively prevent it from happening in the first instance by analysis of documents before people get on a plane. We are dealing with a globa…

I am deeply concerned by the significant increase in settler violence in the West Bank. Ireland condemns in the strongest possible terms all acts of violence committed by settlers against Palestinian civilians. Ireland uses all available opportunities to make this point, including within the European Union and at the United Nations. The Irish Embassy in Tel Aviv also makes our position clear to the Israeli authorities bilaterally. The mass settler violence in Huwara at the end of February was a particularly disturb…

The attack on Huwara was particularly shocking in its scale and intensity and the sense of impunity. Israel has clear obligations to protect Palestinian civilians from such attacks. As the Deputy is aware, the Israeli and Palestinian security officials met at the summit in Aqaba, Jordan, last month, and again at Sharm el-Sheikh on Sunday. I met with the Jordanian foreign minister on this issue and took his counsel in respect of the efforts he was making to broker these talks. The United States, Egypt and Jordan fac…

To be honest with the Deputy, as I said, we are all basically agreed on the issues here. Ireland has a consistent position. We used our position on the Security Council to consistently bring the Israeli-Palestinian situation to the table, as well as at the General Assembly in terms of supporting the resolution, for example, on the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice. At an EU level, we are endeavouring to create a group of like-minded states that can change the direction within the EU itself. To …

-----and comments like those by the Minister, Mr. Smotrich, in particular, which are quite racist.

It is absolutely unacceptable that any Minister would say that about Palestinians within Palestine.

I accept what the Deputy is saying in respect of where we are going or where the Israeli Government is going here. It has been our long-standing position that policies and practices of successive Israeli governments relating to illegal settlements and their expansion, as well as expulsions, forced transfers and demolitions, undermine prospects for a two-state solution and are a major obstacle to a just, lasting and comprehensive peace. The continued establishment and expansion of settlements is a violation of inter…

My point is that we remain steadfastly supportive of a two-state solution.

I am extremely concerned, just as the Deputy is, at the way things are turning out.

I do not disagree. I do not get the strategic approach - if one could call it that - from the Israeli Government. It ultimately undermines the security of the Israeli state itself. Israeli policy has marginalised moderate opinion within Palestine. Israeli decisions seem almost tantamount to creating fertile ground for hard-line extremist positions. That is, in my view, counterintuitive in terms of proper peace and a stable situation. The two-state solution has been earmarked for a long time. It is very difficult to…

I would argue that we have been using the United Nations very effectively.

We must continue to support the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, UNRWA, as well as non-governmental civil society in Palestine and those who defend human rights. I apologise, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle; I am not used to the ministerial time limits.

That is the strategy we have been following. We engage with the neighbourhood, which is particularly important, including Jordan and Egypt, as well as with the United States. The issue has to be raised in terms of the engagement of the United States of America and the European Union with Israel. There are very serious issues arising around the behaviour and the performance of this Israeli Government, not least with its internal situation around judicial reforms and political control of the judiciary, which run coun…