Clonakilty is a beautiful and delightful west Cork town with a wonderful quality of life. Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan has been raising this issue with me for some months now and has outlined and articulated the problem. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath, is also engaging with Irish Water on this issue, which seems to be a different scheme from the one the Deputy is talking about. Irish Water is talking about a major connection between Bandon, I think, and Clonakilty and says t…

I appreciate the Deputy's interest in this issue. It is not the intention of the Government to downgrade the Dean Maxwell unit. There have been various proposals brought forward, as the Deputy knows. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, will meet senior HSE staff and Department of Health officials tomorrow to discuss these issues. I ask that she come back to the Deputy and other Oireachtas Members from the county following this meeting.

I will come back to the Deputy on that. I will have a look at this. The issue came to my attention last evening. There are obviously a number of perspectives on this in terms of the environment, clean air and other issues as well. I will examine the matter in full. I have not yet had an opportunity to do so. I will come back to the Deputy. I just want to give him time to catch his breath. I was anticipating a response, but I appreciate-----

Significant capital moneys have been allocated to roads and public transport in the NDP. Notwithstanding that, a whole range of projects have been at different stages of development, whether it be route appraisal and so on. We will have to engage with the Department and TII with a view to how these projects can be progressed. Some only have to move to route selection, which would not entail a whole lot of money in the short term. I am of the view that planning of projects should continue. A difficulty may eventuall…

All the party leaders in the House met on Monday to discuss the issue of violence against women and sexual violence. Legislation was one of the areas raised, along with others. The Oireachtas should look at this through the Joint Committee on Justice. I know that the families of women who have been murdered are very aggrieved at the current situation in respect of their being alerted to parole requests, for example. There needs to be a more victim-centred approach to all of this. Sentencing for this violence should…

The Deputy is prone to a little fanfare himself.

My experience of cross-Border projects is that planning and objections seem to be slowing down many of them. We are making funding available to cross-Border road projects.

For example, for the first time in a long time we are putting flesh on the bones of the Narrow Water bridge project. I have allocated funding to it with the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien.

I will examine that project along with others. The NDP is very expensive in terms of the amount of money that is being provided for road projects. As I said, we will engage with the Minister and the TII in respect of what can be done on a whole variety of projects that are at different stages of development.

Yes, in short I would welcome a proposal from the mid-west in respect of an elective-only hospital. In the health service generally, capital projects are moving too slowly. The elective process has gone on for five or six years through different working parties, in addition to people, consultants and administrators having different views. The Government has taken a decision to press ahead with elective-only hospitals for Cork, Galway and, latterly, Dublin. My advice to the Deputy is to look at State-owned land and …

Yes, it is devastating news for the workers involved. The State agencies should do everything they possibly can to support them and help to ensure that the company can stay open, if that is possible. I do not have the full background to the rationale behind the decision, but it is critical that the State agencies also engage with the workers to support them in every way possible in respect of supports and helping them to seek alternative employment, if that turns out to be the case.

The Minister for Finance is looking at the fintech issue. A decision was taken by the Oireachtas in respect of taking competition out of the Central Bank's remit. There are issues in terms of bank competition in Ireland. We know that. There are other issues as well, but I do not have time now to go into the detail.

I agree wholeheartedly with the Deputy that the importance of Kerry, in particular Killarney and Farranfore airport, can never be overestimated. The airport is very valuable and important to the economic development of the region and to the social life of the region. With the development of the Munster Technological University, there are great opportunities and synergies to be had in terms of increased investment in Tralee Munster Technological University, along with the airport. We are fully behind that.

I appreciate the points the Deputy has made. I think we should get on with this scheme. Migration policy is evolving. It is a very progressive and important scheme. We will continue to evaluate it as it is progressed and rolled out. It is a groundbreaking scheme relative to how we have dealt with this issue in the past. Lessons can be learned as we roll it out and we can get greater analysis as to what the true situation is out there in respect of the people the Deputy has identified this morning.

I appreciate the Deputy raising this issue. I know he has a lifelong commitment to this area. In that context, I intend to bring to Cabinet shortly proposals for a citizens' assembly on biodiversity. It is absolutely critical that we move on this and that we move with speed and conviction. I intend to do that.

My understanding is that there was a reconfiguration of the hospital there and that it is looking for a new centre, in respect of which it is liaising with the users. I will ask the Minister to come to the Deputy on the matter. We will pursue it.

I will inquire of the Minister of State in terms of the timelines around that. I am working on this and my departmental officials are preparing an overarching plan in terms of partnerships and area partnerships to see what is the best way forward on a multidisciplinary basis to provide safe communities, to ensure those communities most in need are looked after and that people can go about their lives safely.

The Deputy may be aware that the party leaders met during the week. Approximately a fortnight ago, it was announced in the House that the Minister for Justice would lead on policy and services in respect of violence against women and that a new strategy will be published, hopefully, in March. There will then be accountability to the Department of An Taoiseach and the Cabinet sub-committee and there will be a unit in my Department to co-ordinate the work of all Departments. It has to be a whole-of-government respons…

Yes.

That last assertion is ridiculous. No one is gunning for anybody. The Government does not want to close any airport; it has no interest in closing any airport. The Minister amended the tender requirements for search and rescue to specify that four bases, in Dublin, Shannon, Sligo and Waterford, would be provided for. It depends on the lens through which one looks at things. I think the Deputy is developing a conspiracy theory that does not stack up in respect of the specific issue of a tender for search and rescue.…