I know the Minister of State has taken a real and personal interest in this issue because he knows it has created huge barriers for people in business, the voluntary sector and the community sector. Sadly, the Alliance for Insurance Reform has done significant and extensive surveys of more than 450 businesses and voluntary and community groups and it has reported increases rather than decreases. The Minister of State talked about personal injuries and there are certain caps in that area. How can the Government act …

I am not disappointed by the Minister of State's presence but by the fact that the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science is not here. The Minister of State will have heard me mention the urgent need for a new building for Cavan Institute on many occasions in this Chamber. I am at a loss to understand why we have not seen movement from the Department on this. This is a college that has exceeded itself and that is a victim of its success. It was built for fewer than 500 students …

I appreciate that the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, is not the Minister with responsibility for this but I would appreciate it if she would bring my remarks back to the Minister, Deputy Harris. It is my understanding that there is now a call-out to education and training boards, ETBs, for strategy assessment reports on new college buildings that were approved seven or eight years ago. What are we asking the ETBs to do? Are we asking them to do a rerun of the process of validating their required need? That is …

I compliment the Minister on the leadership he has shown during this awful situation and humanitarian crisis. He has shown great leadership in enabling the citizens of Afghanistan who live in fear and are traumatised to see a pathway out. It was lovely to hear the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, talking about the various programmes. He ultimately talked about 1,200 people being able to see a pathway into this country. Deputy Higgins is right that the Irish nation…

Can the Minister outline his views on the rent-to-buy scheme? Obviously, it is something that should be coming to an end in December 2021. It is a matter the Minister will be considering in the upcoming budget and I wondered if he would make a statement on the matter.

My experience, from meeting with constituents, is it has been a useful and helpful scheme, particularly to young people trying to get on the property ladder. The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, has, within his Housing for All, a suite of measures, but this is one particular one I would advocate should continue. The Minister will be aware that many of the housing authorities or housing bodies have called for consideration of an extension of the help-to-buy scheme not only…

The Minister stated he will consider that in terms of the upcoming budget. To reiterate the point, my experience has been from speaking with first-time buyers and young couples trying to get on the property ladder and own their own home. This has been very helpful. In terms of the vacant buildings and second-hand buildings, it is something that perhaps could be considered by Government in the upcoming budget.

I am delighted the Minister of State has stayed until this hour of the night to respond to the matter. I am sure that I do not need to convince her of the importance of this debate and this argument. It is pitiful that 18 or 19 months on, we are still having this discussion about women and basic healthcare in maternity services around the country. There are 19 maternity services around the country. It has to be said at the outset that not every maternity service within a hospital is restrictive, draconian or dogmat…

I know the Minister of State is very passionate about this. Both the Taoiseach and the Minister have stood up and said this is not on. They have called on the hospital directors and masters of the maternity units to get on with lifting those restrictions and allowing partners in. It would be remiss of me not to say that my own hospital, Cavan General Hospital - and not everyone is lucky enough to have a maternity unit - is letting partners in. One of my own staff who is going through that journey is having a lovely…

And the same in the Seanad.

Will the Tánaiste update the House on the ongoing dispute over pay and conditions for school secretaries and caretakers? I was delighted to see the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, announcing that good progress had been made in recent days. This is a priority for me. Many of these staff members are the lifeblood of school communities and the glue that keeps schools together. They need to be treated with the same respect and dignity as their colleagues.

Fianna Fáil supports the Bill and its primary purpose, that is, to provide that any person or firm carrying on a business of providing credit, hire purchase or consumer hire agreements to consumers and other relevant persons will fall within the authorisation and regulatory remit of the Central Bank of Ireland. This will give the Central Bank the necessary legislative basis to apply its consumer protection code, or any other relevant code, to such firms. The Bill facilitates the implementation of key recommendation…

Will the Minister outline his plans for the roll-out of midwifery-led units across Ireland in line with the national maternity strategy?

I thank the Minister. I compliment him on his advocacy for this initiative. He mentioned Cavan general hospital and the midwifery unit there. It would be remiss of me not to acknowledge and compliment its staff on the magnificent and pioneering job they do in that flagship midwifery-led unit, the first of its kind on this island. After it came the one in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda. The pandemic has given us an opportunity to put a new focus on midwifery-led units and home birthing. We have seen a magnif…

From my experience in terms of the Cavan midwifery-led unit there, what I have found important and crucial to the further expansion, development, growth and promotion of that unit is buy-in from GPs. As I said, the one in Cavan not only provides a service for Cavan-Monaghan, but is a more regional midlands service for women across the area. Does the Minister have any input in terms of how GPs are buying in? Those types of midwifery units are dependent on women having that engagement with their GPs when they are mak…

I will continue in that vein and thank the Minister and the Minister of State for the July provision. I have had numerous schools, special needs assistants, SNAs, teachers and parents contact me who will benefit from that and it is wonderful to see. I want to ask about a particular student, namely, Aoibhinn O'Reilly. She is a student at St. Mary's National School, Crosserlough, who is awaiting assistive technology for her education. She applied last October and I wonder if the Minister could give us an update.

I thank the Minister of State for that comprehensive reply and detailed outlining of the requirements. I have been in a classroom and have seen how assistive technology can have an enormous positive impact on the needs of students in participating in mainstream education. For teachers, it is an extra piece of work to do when they have assistive technology but for the students, the benefits are significant and should be embraced. As the Minister of State is aware, Aoibhinn's application was made last October. I am g…

I thank the Minister of State for her comprehensive reply. This is an issue which has been ongoing for the student since October 2020. During the pandemic, it has been highlighted that technology is extremely important. The Minister of State has said that there is another opportunity for this student to have her application looked at again and that the appeals process is there. That would be most helpful to her and her parents, who have been in contact with me and are very concerned that she receive extra help in s…

I wish to ask what are the Minister's plans to further support digital online learning for primary and secondary schoolchildren, including the development of a new digital strategy for schools, and whether she will make a statement on the matter.

If the pandemic has taught us anything, it has taught us how important is the digital world and forum. Not unlike my previous question, we have learned that it will be most useful to students in every guise in education. It is clear that digital online learning has played a crucial role in school and college life over the past year and it must be acknowledged that the reliance on online learning has, at times, placed a significant burden on teachers, students and many parents, who bore the cost of devices and conne…