I thank the Deputy, who is, of course, raising such a serious issue regarding what is happening in the Middle East and what is happening to the people of Gaza. I have outlined the Government's view on it and what we are doing to make a difference. I am not in a position and nor do I have the necessary information in front of me today to offer a view on the actions of other parliaments or governments in relation to this. All I can do is reiterate two points. First, we in Ireland recognise and will continue to recogn…

I thank Deputy O'Gorman for raising this issue. The Taoiseach, the Minister for agriculture and the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, are very much aware of the importance of the issue raised by the Deputy. The reason the Taoiseach went to the aforementioned conference in the first place was to highlight the personal interest he has in this issue and the Government's commitment to do more in this area. Our marine life, our oceans and our seas are such a precious economic and natural asset. I am informed that the Go…

I am sure the Deputy will understand that I am not in a position to comment on any individual Garda station. I am sure the Minister for justice will be able to respond to the Deputy on that but the Government is fully supportive of the efforts of the Minister to increase the number of gardaí and to continue our efforts to keep our streets safe in Cork and elsewhere. Three things have been done in that regard. First, as the Deputy will be aware, we have increased the stipend that is available to those who want to be…

I thank Deputy O'Shea for raising this important issue. I know the local improvement scheme is really important for the communities he represents and the many other communities that need additional support in upgrading their roads. Since 2017, €169 million has been invested in this scheme. Last year, the figure stood at €40 million, which represented an increase of €12 million on the previous year. The Government continues to increase funding for this important scheme. I understand the Department of Rural and Commu…

The Deputy knows I do not have the information. He knows it is not reasonable to expect me to know the status of every greenway in this country when answering questions on promised legislation. If he wanted an answer, he should have let me know he was going to raise this particular issue. I then could have given him a more detailed answer. It is not acceptable to expect that, when I am on my feet responding on a variety of issues, I would know the status of every greenway in our country, even one as important as th…

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. As we build more homes, which we need to do, it is really important that we do so in a way that makes services and facilities available for those who will live within them, including families. I am sure the Minister, Deputy Foley, will be giving this matter consideration. I will raise the issue with her and let her know the Deputy has made this suggestion. There may well be trade-offs that need to be considered with regard to the impact it might have on development within…

I am aware of the issues the Deputy has referred to, which affect not only the people of Louth, but also those of the wider north east, as the Deputy has said. The location of surgical hubs depends on the evaluation and recommendation of the HSE. The Minister and the Department of Health then do their best to act on such recommendations. I am not aware whether such a recommendation has been made for the Deputy's hospital but I will certainly pass this on to the Minister for Health because I know the availability of…

I thank the Deputy. I will outline what we are doing to support people with the cost of living, which we know continues to be a significant issue and problem for many, even when the price growth we have had to deal with for many years is slowing. What has the Government done to respond to the needs we know are there? We are rolling out the free hot school meals system and making free GP care available for under-eights. We have rolled out a free schoolbooks scheme in primary schools across the country and the Minist…

The very reason the higher rate of HAP was made available in the first place was that the Minister and the Government recognised the need for that payment to do more, to help more and to make a difference in preventing homelessness. I am not aware of the exact issue that could prevent somebody from accessing the higher rate. Of course, the last thing we want to do when designing something like this is create incentives that make it more difficult for somebody to move out of the terrible difficulties of being homele…

I thank the Deputy for the manner in which he has raised this matter. I am also aware of the issues he refers to and the views of MABS. The issues he raises are really serious for so many citizens in our country. First, no budget decisions have been made. We are here at the start of July. The budget will happen in October. In between July and October, various other measures I have outlined to the House will be implemented to help with the cost of living. Second, and generally, this budget will have to move to a mor…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. The terrible behaviour he has referred to is inappropriate, given that somebody could be suffering, distressed or vulnerable. It is equally repugnant to those who love that person and who might find out about it on their phones in an unprompted and unplanned way with no support. For those two reasons, and there are many others, the behaviour the Deputy has referred to is terrible. I compliment and acknowledge Deputy Duncan Smith. My understanding is - I am sure he will cor…

Okay. While the Government indicated that, in recognition of this issue, we did not oppose the legislation, we indicated our significant concern that we believed it would be difficult to legislate for the behaviour the Deputy has referred to and the harm it could cause. I know we need to debate this issue and consider it more carefully. I cannot imagine how any of us would feel if we were in a moment of distress, pain or vulnerability and we had somebody standing over us recording and it being broadcast in a way th…

Yes, it is. I thank the Deputy for raising it. He and I are aware of the great work the Mater hospital does, how much it is respected and how hard its staff work. I also know how important and sensitive the issue he is raising is. I understand that, last year, approximately 60,000 women were seen in a rapid access clinic. The HSE, in recognition of this issue, has set a target for 95% of urgent referrals to be seen within ten working days and non-urgent within 12 weeks. Five of our centres met those standards and t…

Funding for apprenticeships is increasing. Funding for higher and further education has increased as well. The Minister, Deputy Lawless, is committed to this. He is doing important work in this area. We have seen in recent years the funding we are making available has been prioritised particularly for those who need to retrain and want to move into parts of our economy where we need additional skills. I know the overall picture is one in which the funding for this work has been increased. I am not aware of the spec…

The Minister, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, will reply to any communication that we have received from the European Commission on this matter. When he has decided on the appropriate response, I am sure he will be able to come to the Dáil and answer questions in relation to it. I see him in the Dáil and Seanad virtually every day. I did not hear any sniggering when the issue was raised earlier. Anybody who sits beside me over here is well aware of the importance of this issue, and getting the balance right between freedom…

I am extremely proud of the quality of libraries that are opening up across our country. I am proud of their beauty and the essential role they play. I believe libraries are cradles of decency and learning. We have shown that in our investment in our library programme in recent years. On the particular library referenced by the Deputy in Cork, we need local authorities to make decisions on the allocation of funding and the projects that they wish to prioritise. As the Deputy says, I can imagine that the cost has go…

I thank the Chair. I appreciate the opportunity to present the Bill to Seanad Éireann. The local property tax has become a well-embedded and established part of our tax structure since it was introduced in 2013. It provides a stable funding base for local authorities and it has raised over €6 billion since it was introduced. The programme for Government contains a clear commitment to ensure fairness and stability in local property tax payments and to continue to retain revenue collected locally in the same local au…

I thank the Chairperson for the opportunity to respond to the different issues that have been raised there. I thank Senators Crowe, Deasy and Murphy for contributing to this discussion. I will begin with the points made by the first speaker, Senator Deasy, and the different issues he raised. I am so sorry. I meant Senator Cathal Byrne.

I do not know where that came from. Although, I actually do know where it came from, so I apologise.

It was a slip of the tongue nonetheless, so I apologise. I know what it is like. I was referred to as Paschal Sheehy for all my early years in here and then I eventually turned into Paschal Mooney before becoming known as Paschal Donohoe. I apologise to Senator Byrne again. The point he opened by making was on the trade-off between the need for affordability and the stability of income. That is the balance we have tried to get right. A small number of people will be moving band and we are asking them to pay €20 or …