I welcome that information, particularly that the Minister will be meeting with SIPTU on this issue. I was lucky enough to go to the bus depot in Summerhill to look at the electric buses recently, which are fantastic to see. One of the issues we discussed was the need to attract more women into the service. One of the big barriers to that is the need to communicate to the public or those who might be seeking employment in the service that it is a safe job for women, and indeed that it is safe for women in general t…

To reiterate, part of that is a perception of safety. I would not endeavour to speak for SIPTU but one thing that might be useful would be to have a transport stakeholder forum where unions can work with the Department to ensure that across the board, across all of our public transport, there is a perception that you are safe when you use a bus, a Luas or a Local Link, that you are protected and have nothing to fear, and that you can also take up a job in those industries and be safe and protected. We have a securi…

As was alluded to, most of us in politics have spent the last few weeks discussing care, people's right to care, how we care for our families and how we care in the home. Can we get an update in that regard, in light of the fact that a very large portion and majority of older people would like to stay in their homes for as long as possible? The programme for Government made a commitment to a statutory right to home care.

First, I thank the Minister for her earlier comments in which she clearly differentiated the perpetrator of the tragic incident last week on Parnell Square from those who inhabit the streets of my constituency, Dublin Central. There is an increasing appetite for scapegoating people in addiction or who are forced to live on the street, often due to the failures of us in this House, and to link those two things. I reject that completely so I thank the Minister. The Department is focused on expediting the Dominick Str…

I thank the Minister for the two confirmations of those two important approvals. I take her point that community use is a matter for the parish, but what we are talking about today is how in use the building is. As the Minister will know, the hall closed in 2020, ostensibly for fire safety reasons - there are some differing views on that - and there has been a hard-fought local campaign, as the Minister outlined. It is good news, which we received this time last year, that the hall will be given to the school to al…

I thank the Minister for that information. I know she met the group from the school and the area and has engaged with the issue. I welcome that and the further information about the project manager framework. We will monitor its progress with a view to ensuring it is done as urgently as possible.

The Guardian newspaper, based on an investigation by Greenpeace UK, reported last week that leading European agribusiness groups using a manifesto called the Dublin Declaration have been lobbying senior EU officials against recommendations for reduced meat consumption in the bloc's cancer strategy, its sustainability policies and its climate goals. The Dublin Declaration of scientists on the societal role of livestock was launched at Teagasc in October last year. It is a relatively short document that argues for th…

It seems from that statement that Teagasc is disavowing the Dublin Declaration, which is interesting. Nobody, certainly not me, has suggested that the people involved in the declaration were not scientists, only that they are scientists who are fatally compromised. The conflicts of interest that I have read into the record in my initial statement are from Teagasc's briefing document, which was accessed by Greenpeace through a freedom of information request. It seems obvious to me, and certainly to Greenpeace and Th…

How is the Department seeking to review services for gender-affirming care according to WPATH best practice?

I am wondering, given that the question was put to the Department in July, whether it is possible to get some sort of timeline for those with the issues in question. As the Minister of State knows, WPATH set out that part of best practice would be to respect patients, part of which would involve a workable service. It sets out the need for local, accessible services that are affordable and not overly centralised in a way that creates barriers for people. By that, I mean we should not make it that people have to tra…

I thank the Minister of State. She is right insofar as there is sometimes a dearth of clinical data. Most services are now linking up with that issue. We have good principles from WPATH, including dignity, equality, equity, justice and fairness. At the moment we have entered into a public debate around people's very right to exist, but in real life those services do not exist in Ireland. They are not accessible. The community and people like me are looking for some kind of timeline as these things can be dragged ou…

I thank the Taoiseach for the progress report. There is renewed concern about meeting our climate targets and about our emissions, given recent reports. Something I have been chasing up is our progress on geothermal energy. Based on the reply to a previous parliamentary question, it seems that what we really need is completion of the policy statement. The Minister tells me the policy statement is meant to run from 2023 until 2027. We are in June 2023. In my constituency, and I imagine in that of the Taoiseach, a nu…

Will the flagged idea of a sovereign wealth fund be on the agenda for the next meeting, as it is possibly one of the most important investments this Government will make? We have seen sovereign wealth funds perform very well around the world. However, they are now almost all engaged in an environmental, social and governance, ESG, framework, which acts very similarly to climate targets insofar as sovereign wealth funds have to be retro-engineered to be carbon neutral or zero carbon. Will the Taoiseach make any comm…

At recommendation 1.4 of Ireland's competitiveness challenge report, the NCPC recommends that the actions put forward by the Commission on Taxation and Welfare be addressed. In its reply, the Government has undertaken to consider changes in site value tax, or tax in general as it relates to land. Has the Taoiseach considered, or has there been significant consideration of, a site value tax, particularly as it relates to rates? As we know, the rates system at the moment is a significant barrier to business. It vests…

I am sure the Taoiseach is well aware, as a fellow Dublin Deputy, that community leadership on addiction and in the provision of services is core to how we deal with that issue in our communities. In my community, in 2022, the Government began a review on the north inner-city drugs and alcohol task force. We did not see its terms of reference, but it has been ongoing for nearly a year and a half. I ask that, as a matter of urgency, the Cabinet publish that report and facilitate the immediate return of the statutory…

I ask the Minister the current schedule of audits on the accessibility of prison facilities, upholding the principles of the UNCRPD.

I welcome those comments. It would be very useful if we could get a timeline for that consideration and a schedule of when those audits will take place. As the Minister of State is well aware, people with disabilities are over-represented at all stages of the criminal justice system. He spoke about the accessibility of prison facilities in terms of capital investment but there is an overlap or grey area between a number of issues here. He rightly picked out the Irish Penal Reform Trust, which did a very good report…

If I could just expand a little, we know the prevalence of ASD might be four times higher in the prison population. We are also aware that we require extra capacity in the prison population in Ireland and there are a number of overcrowding issues. People with ASD have cognitive, sensory and social challenges that would be exacerbated by overcrowding. The Prison Service was before the Joint Committee on Disability Matters not too long ago and I was very impressed with its engagement on the issue but there is only so…

Along with the Syrian refugee and human rights activist, Ms Sarah Mardini, Mr. Seán Binder was arrested in 2018 and accused by Greek authorities of espionage, aiding human trafficking and belonging to a criminal organisation. Mr. Binder, whose mother lives in Togher, has spent a significant part of his life in Ireland. In 2018, he volunteered as a lifeguard with a humanitarian NGO on the Greek island of Lesbos, assisting asylum seekers arriving in small boats from the nearby Turkish coast. Mr. Binder and Ms Mardini…

I thank the Minister of State, and I welcome some of his comments about Operation Irini. The detail he gave is instructive because it shows that these operations and their funding are quite complex. They often stray into areas for which they were not originally envisaged, but they also have to be dealt with. Our funding should operate in a similar way. The way in which the Government contributes to EU funds that are used to patrol EU borders in the manner we have seen in the past six weeks, and certainly since 2017…