-----with debates. The House is not meant to be three days every week dealing with statements and nothing else but statements. It is also a legislative assembly and we have to get that balance right.

We will be taking this issue up with the British Government. The Minister for Foreign Affairs has already discussed it with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. It is my understanding that the Secretary of State is committed to putting the legislation in place but not until after the election. I will say that the commitments that have been given in respect of the language Act should be honoured because when governments give commitments on such important matters they should follow through on them.

As the Deputy knows, the Government more broadly has moved to reduce excise and VAT on energy products in the last package. We have also taken specific measures for hauliers and have a separate tillage initiative related to the growth of protein crops, grain and mixed-species swards. The Deputy is talking about the horticultural sector, in essence. As I have said, the Government has taken broad measures on taxation more generally. We continually review different sectors of the economy to see what we can do to be of…

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. The Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, in the Department of Transport will be engaging with Dublin Airport in respect of this. There are issues with recruitment. Notwithstanding all the challenges facing the economy, the reality is that we have never had so many people employed. We have had real challenges with recruitment of staff in key sectors of the economy since we emerged from the latest Covid crisis. We will do everything we can.…

First, my understanding is that the HSE and the Department are in ongoing consultation with the health sector trade unions to finalise the application of this measure. It is intended that the payments process will be instructed to commence this week. The Government has committed very significant resources. The Government wants to do this. We are not holding back at all. I will engage again with the Minister and the HSE in this regard. It is €1,000 and it will not be subject to income tax, USC or PRSI. The announcem…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. A plan of action is being implemented by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment to meet the challenges of this increased demand and to reduce the processing time, which has built up recently, as the Deputy said. Staffing actions include recruitment of additional permanent and temporary staff which will increase the permanent processing capacity by over 100% and overall capacity by over 200% from November levels. Some 898 employment permits were processed last w…

I can tell the Deputy we will look after it. I am pressing very strongly. I will make sure the next time I am down there that I will get on it.

I thank the Deputy for raising this on behalf of the 60 families in Henry Street. I certainly will ask the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to intervene. As the Deputy said, this behaviour is not tolerable and should not be tolerated in this day and age. I will ask the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, with the RTB, to intervene.

The Deputy has raised this issue consistently and correctly. I will follow that up with the Minister concerned and get an answer for him as quickly as I can.

The Government is committed to public housing. In particular, 12,000 is the target for 2022, 9,000 of which will be built. That would be the highest ever and we are in line to achieve that in 2022. On the referendum, the commission on housing which has been established has established a sub-committee chaired by Ailbhe O'Neill, a barrister with extensive experience working in constitutional law and deep expertise in property rights. She is joined on the sub-committee by Sorcha Edwards, secretary general of Housing E…

I will follow that up with the Minister. I have noted that if you stay in here long enough, you will get a good geography lesson across every county and town in Ireland. I take the point the Deputy makes seriously and will follow through on it. The Healy-Rae syndrome is beginning to-----

I thank the Deputy. The key issue with housing is supply. We simply need to get more houses built more quickly. That is key to dealing with the housing crisis. Regarding HAP, there are different rates across the country. They are not all uniform and the cities have much higher levels of rent, unfortunately, which have necessitated more flexibility around HAP payments. I will talk to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage on the issues the Deputy raised.

I will talk to the Minister on enforcement. Enforcement is being increased across wildlife and habitat protection. I agree we have to have a stronger focus on protecting habitat and biodiversity. There is no question about that. It is under enormous threat across the country and it cannot be business as usual.

The Government has taken measures to help and to alleviate the pressures on the sector. As I said earlier, we cannot do everything. There are limits to what governments can do and they cannot 100% compensate every situation. We have to bear that in mind. We are conscious of the impact of the war, the issues arising from supply chain difficulties and inflationary pressures. We have to look at this over the 12-month cycle.

I know, but, unfortunately, the impacts of this will be longer term than we might have anticipated.

To deal with Deputy Carthy first, the Government wants to keep the pig industry going. It is a good industry in terms of viability and had been doing well. Some market distortions arose. There is a perfect storm at the moment with the war in Ukraine. We have taken initial steps to assist the industry. The Minister, Deputy McConalogue, is in constant engagement with the farming organisations and State entities to see what can be done to respond further to the situation and to help. The Government is committed to the…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 6, inclusive, together. My Department's annual report for 2021 will be finalised and published in the coming months and will set out the work of my Department in 2021 to deliver on the strategic priorities set out in the Department's three-year statement of strategy. My Department continues to work at the centre to ensure that policies developed support the Government's commitment to develop Ireland in a sustainable way which supports economic development and social progress. I…

Both Deputies McDonald and Bacik raised the expulsion of four senior officials in the Russian Federation embassy because their behaviour was not in accordance with international standards of diplomatic behaviour. We are doing this under Article 9 of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. I do not want to divulge the security briefing we received in respect of these individuals but, in my view, it is the correct and the right decision in terms of our own national security but also in terms of sending a …

Deputy Paul Murphy raised the issue of the bonus for healthcare workers. Again, the Government has given the resources to do this to the Department of Health and the HSE. These are major employers but I am anxious that the front-line workers are suitably provided for with the €1,000 payment we have agreed. The Government decided this and the implementation is about to begin. There has been a lot of consultation with unions in respect of this and it is time for it to be implemented. We are not adopting in any shape …

I propose to answer Questions Nos. 7 to 9, inclusive, together. The Mulvey report, Dublin North East Inner City - Creating a Brighter Future, was commissioned by the Government and published in February 2017. It contained recommendations for the social and economic regeneration of Dublin's north-east inner city. This report has been supplemented by the publishing of the North East Inner City Strategic Plan 2020-2022. In June 2017, an independent chairperson was appointed by the Government to the north-east inner ci…