There is no doubt but that there are significant pressures at UHL. Overall, despite all of the negativity around health services, the bottom line is that in the past 20 years, Ireland has moved from 16th to first in the European Union league table of life expectancy. That is due to a whole range of public health measures but it is also due to investments in our health services, including cardiology, oncology, stroke treatment and so on.

However, we have real issues with emergency admission. Population growth has also played a role. The Deputy is correct. The problem is that the recruitment of senior clinicians tends to be in tertiary hospitals. All the various colleges, including anaesthesia, talk about the need for high-volume activity located in the tertiary hospitals. We have had this debate for 25 years.

There are two aspects to the expert group. One is to have an immediate impact in terms of systems and flow through the hospitals. I will come back to the Deputy with details of the report.

That is a very fair point. I will talk to the Minister for Foreign Affairs about the point the Deputy has raised. There is validity in what the Deputy has said. I would like to hear the counterargument. The Deputy makes a very fair point.

The Deputy has made an eloquent case for the retention of Piper's show wagon in Kinsale. I ask Cork County Council to have a heart. We will engage on the matter. We must have a community-based response and if 2,000 people have signed a petition relating to something that has stood in Kinsale for 90 years, it merits a warm-hearted response from the authorities.

They absolutely are. Deputy Barry confirmed recently that he kissed the Blarney Stone. On the point raised by Deputy Carey, I hope the legislation will be forthcoming in the next number of weeks. I will double-check that with the Minister. We will reflect on the request for pre-legislative scrutiny. Everyone should be aware that pre-legislative scrutiny will delay the scheme for months and months. We will be attacked when the scheme is not operational and houses are not being done. I am anxious to get moving and ge…

There will be primary legislation.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 8, inclusive, together. To date, more than 30,000 people have arrived in Ireland fleeing the conflict in Ukraine. Emergency and short-term accommodation for these people is being provided through the international protection accommodation service, IPAS, and over 18,000 Ukrainian arrivals are currently being accommodated by the State. The support of the Irish Red Cross and many other charities and NGOs is an essential part of the national effort. The cross-Government response is…

Deputy Bacik raised the issue of buildings in the medium term. We will have a look at the Jurys Hotel site and we have been examining any other sites that Deputy Bacik and others have flagged to us. The International Protection Accommodation Service, IPAS, has been notified of the availability for use of a range of buildings. Local authorities have identified in excess of 500 vacant buildings in their areas and to date, 89 of these buildings have been deemed capable of almost immediate occupation by up to 5,355 per…

The reconfiguration of buildings is important. The real issue here is to get scale and volume through existing buildings that are not being used, to get them refurbished, if necessary, and back into use. In response to Deputy Paul Murphy, I met the Prime Minister of Ukraine recently at Shannon Airport but he did not ask me for a declaration of support for debt relief. He indicated to me that he was travelling to Washington to meet the IMF and various organisations to discuss how to support both the current budgetar…

Often an aspect of the war that is missed is the number of Russian citizens who have raised concerns about this war and who have been jailed for, literally, voicing dissent against the Russian Federation Government. It is quite shocking in terms of the anti-democratic impulse now going through Russia. On Deputy Tóibín's question, first of all, action will be taken against anybody circumventing the sanctions. There is a role for the Central Bank in relation to that. It has done significant analysis in that regard.

I apologise.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 9 to 16, inclusive, together. Through the Government's shared island initiative, we are engaging with all communities and traditions to build consensus around a shared future and to deliver tangible benefits for the whole island, underpinned by the Good Friday Agreement. The shared island dialogues are also a key part of the Government's approach. We have brought together more than 1,300 citizens and civic leaders so far, from across all communities, traditions and regions, to discu…

Deputy Durkan and a number of Deputies raised the issue of the British Government decision yesterday and announcement of an intention to bring in legislation to circumvent and undermine the protocol. That is unacceptable. I made it very clear that unilateral action is not the way to progress issues pertaining to the protocol. We have always accepted that legitimate issues have been raised with regard to the protocol. We have also been very clear, and I was very clear to the British Prime Minister last week, that th…

The articles in the lease are not in any sense an imposition on the State, nor could they be described as such whatsoever.

We are where we are in terms of ownership, voluntary hospitals and so on, which is historical. The idea was to co-locate a maternity hospital with a neonatal centre of excellence, adjacent to a tertiary hospital. That is what gave rise to Holles Street teaming up with St. Vincent’s hospital into the future.

We are looking forward to, I hope, working with city deals and regional enterprise parks in the north west, between Derry and Donegal, to be funded through the shared island initiative. The all-island economy has done very well and is doing quite well under the protocol. The protocol has proved to be advantageous for Northern Ireland and we are very anxious to maintain that economic development in the North.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 17 to 20, inclusive, together. The Cabinet committee on social affairs and equality oversees implementation of the programme for Government commitments in the areas of social policy, including sport, equality, arts and culture, as well as children and youth affairs and public services, including matters relating to justice, policing reform and community safety. These commitments and other matters include poverty and disadvantage; examining area-based initiatives to build stronger co…

I thank the Deputies for raising these issues. Deputy Ó Laoghaire asked about the issue of childcare. In the last budget, very significant additional funding was allocated for childcare with a focus on enhancing pay and conditions for those working in the area. Discussions are to take place between employers in the childcare area and representatives of workers with a view to reaching a joint labour committee agreement. My understanding is that September is the deadline for that but I can double-check the timelines.…

I will put this point to the Deputy. It is a good decision today for the women of Ireland and for newborns into the future that we will have a new maternity hospital and a neonatal centre of excellence in public ownership, in State ownership for the next 300 years. When it is built and it is proven to be a good decision I hope that Deputy McDonald and her party will have the good grace to acknowledge that is the case and will not try to erase from the public memory their ongoing downright opposition to it. It is my…