Otherwise, we will never get movement on it.

There are a number of questions there. I take it it is the Bord Pleanála issue because I could deal at length with the housing issue. As I said yesterday, and I thank Deputy Murphy for raising the issue, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, is aware of the allegations that have been made. He understands those allegations are currently being denied by the board member concerned. A senior counsel has been appointed by the Minister to provide a report in consideration of thi…

The Minister has acted quickly and promptly on this and has appointed a senior counsel to provide a report on the specific issue. The terms of reference are currently being finalised. I assure the Deputy there will not be any undue delay in respect of that because the independence of An Bord Pleanála, as defined in the Planning and Development Act, is important in itself. Also, it has to be beyond any perception of potential inappropriate behaviour or a failure to disclose. I am not making any judgments on this. I …

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. I fully accept the huge challenges and pressures on the health service. On the question on why we cannot measure the improvements in the service, I wish to make a general point. There have been dramatic improvements in health outcomes over the past 20 or 30 years. In 2000, we were 16th in the EU league table regarding life expectancy; this year, we are number one. That is because of a combination of factors, including public health measures, in addition to the significant…

It is important to retain healthcare staff. Many current staff in our hospitals are senior and experienced, and have garnered experience and expertise overseas. There has always been that balance. There should be better retention in the early years of those who have gone through our medical schools. That considerable investment by the State should be retained in our hospital system to a far greater degree than is currently the case. On the neurology question, the HSE is now working closely with the Tipperary Univer…

I thank the Deputy for raising what is a very important issue. We cannot make Covid, or its impacts, disappear. I am not suggesting the Deputy is saying that but we cannot do that. Unfortunately, Covid has had impacts across all aspects of activity and lives. That said, we had a record 8,607 apprentice registrations in 2021. We are well on the way to ensuring that our 2025 target of 10,000 registrations per annum is very much realisable. Registrations in 2021 show an increase of nearly 40% compared with 2019. There…

That is a fair point. I will speak to the Minister again to see what can be done in respect of the seven-year timeframe the Deputy is suggesting. It is a fair point.

The Deputy is saying that at the moment people may have to go seven years, which would be too long. We did not close down medicine during Covid. I am not saying that facetiously. We did close down construction twice - in the first and second lockdowns - which had impacts.

The students went online. I take the Deputy's point but the nature of apprenticeship is that the student is on the job-----

In the case of medical studies, many doctors were in hospitals and gained different types of experiences. We did not close that down. I take the Deputy's point. It is valid but there are specific-----

The Deputy is aware that I have been involved in apprenticeship as a Minister in different capacities. There are specific block periods of release that apprentices have to do, with specific facilities and all of that.

The Government, through the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Department of Foreign Affairs, has condemned, and I condemn, the killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. Media freedom and the safety of journalists must be protected. There is an extra obligation on state forces to ensure the protection of journalists. We express our deepest condolences to her family. We have called for a swift, thorough and independent investigation and will pursue this through all forums at our disposal as a Government.…

I answered that question earlier, but the lease does give effective ownership to the State. In my view, there is no question about that. I have read the letters from Professor Deirdre Madden and Dr. Sarah McLoughlin. Again I make the point that it is not clear to me at all and no one has actually specifically explained from their perspective - from Deputy Bacik's perspective, for example - what the material difference is between the 300-year lease and a freehold ownership in the context of all legally permissible s…

-----saying this should go ahead.

But the conditionality only relates-----

-----to the utilisation of the site, which is not an imposition on the maternity hospital, if you read the-----

First, it is important to give context to this. The Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, has led much very important work in respect of illegal birth registrations and, in the context of the Birth Information and Tracing Bill and the amendments thereto which take on quite a number of the recommendations from the child rapporteur in respect of illegal birth registrations, the Government believed it was appropriate that an apology would be made on behalf of the Government by the Minister. That said, I have heard what survivor …

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I, too, pay tribute to Cara for what she is doing to raise awareness in respect of autism. I am very conscious of the situation of her two brothers, John and Neil. I have visited Scoil Chormaic Special School on a number of occasions but I do not think I have been to Ardfinnan National School recently. I salute all those involved in that area. As I have said in this House previously, I am a strong believer in greater provision within the school context in terms of putting …

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. To cut to the chase, the expert team will not just be about firefighting. Its purpose is to look at the entire management process and what is going on within the hospitals. There was a very good article by Paul Cullen in The Irish Times yesterday about how some hospitals have developed systems that are getting better outcomes than others. He instanced St. Luke's General Hospital in Kilkenny as a very good example. With different systems and mechanisms, one can get better ou…

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. I will engage with the Minister on the issue. It relates to post-primary placements. About 287 additional special classes with 1,700 new places for the 2022-23 school year have already been approved and provided. There is, however, an issue with second level placements, as I discussed with Deputies yesterday. There is in place legislation by which the Minister can direct post-primary schools to develop post-primary autistic units. There is an obligation on all secondary s…