Deputy Pringle will have ten minutes. I am bound by that. The Deputy should be conscious of the time.

I wish to advise the House of the following matters in respect of which notice has been given under Standing Order 37 and the name of the Member in each case: Deputy Bríd Smith - to discuss The provision of hot meals for DEIS schools. Deputy Gary Gannon - to discuss the challenges faced by the North Dublin Muslim National School. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan - to discuss the actions required to address the shortage of school places at primary and second level in north Kildare. Deputy Paul Donnelly - to discuss the Conn…

There is no Minister here yet to deal with the first issue. With the House's permission we will proceed to Deputy Bríd Smith. The matter will be taken by the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming. Deputy Smith has four minutes, followed by the Minister of State for four minutes, followed by a further two minutes each.

No. I am bound by the rules of the House.

I welcome that the Minister of State has brought the Bill before the House. I am sure she would acknowledge the work of her predecessor, the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming, in preparing this Bill.

It is an example of how we are trying to work with the credit union movement to try to improve on what everyone in the House agrees is an important and essential service. We have to remember where the credit union came from. It came from communities where there may not have been a lot of money. It was a way of avoiding people having to turn to moneylenders who were known to knock on the door and take advantage of people who had very little by charging a penal interest rate. Deputy Crowe spoke about the Sparkasse mo…

I appreciate the Taoiseach outlining some of the details of the European Council meeting. There are two areas of concern for me. One is the fact that the latest round of sanctions includes further seizing of assets belonging to Russian companies and Russian citizens. How might we mobilise those resources to support Ukraine and its economy during any reconstruction, and also to support the millions of Ukrainian migrants living in EU countries right across Europe? I would appreciate it if the Taoiseach could provide …

I know the Taoiseach will share the frustration of many parents of children with different abilities as they wait for assessments of need and then interventions, treatments and therapies. One of the real difficulties in delivering that service is the level of vacancies for the posts. In CHO, 9, my CHO, we have a vacancy rate of 35%. It is difficult for any service to deliver if 35% of posts are empty. Will the Taoiseach outline what the Government strategy is on recruitment for posts in this sector and what we can …

I welcome the announcement today regarding the appointment of a chair of the Citizens' Assembly on Drugs Use. I also welcome the early date of 14 April for its first meeting. While it is very unlikely a constitutional amendment will be required as a result of the Citizens' Assembly on Drugs Use, it will make recommendations. I am conscious that we are midway through the Government's term. Has the Government plotted out where those recommendations might fall in the timeline between now and the end of the Government'…

Will the Minister of State outline the plans of the Government has to implement the provisions of the circular economy Bill to assist local authorities in the use of CCTV to tackle illegal dumping? We know it is not the silver bullet it is often presented as, but it is an important tool for local authorities to tackle the scourge of illegal dumping in many of our communities.

I welcome the update from the Minister of State. He referred to earlier that many of us in this House have served time on local authorities. The issue of illegal dumping was one we were all extremely frustrated with. When it was possible in Dublin City Council, sometimes when it was done at night-time or at obscure angles or when the face was covered, it did not provide the evidence that was needed. There were occasions when strong investigative tools were used by local authorities to try to find the people who car…

I welcome the Minister of State's visit to the north inner city. He is welcome to come and visit my own constituency. He is right; it does go in scale. It can be a matter of a bag in a bin or it can be a matter of a washing machine and a half a tonne of a truck in a laneway. We need proportionate responses and we also need swift action in this regard. I urge the LGMA and the CCMA to present the code. Once that is done and local authorities are in a position to use CCTV legally within the frameworks of privacy legis…

Hear, hear.

I will take that opportunity to give a shout-out to my Aunt Lorraine who agreed naively yesterday to mind my kids until 8.30 p.m. yesterday evening and ended up being there until the best part of 00:40 a.m. I think family friendly arrangements would definitely be beneficial for everyone in this House. I will start my contribution in an area I had not planned. This is to follow Deputy Boyd Barrett’s point on the issue of drugs. So much of crime and safety, my experience of it and the experience of the places I repre…

Except water perhaps, but we know the negative impact drugs have. However, similar to that debate about the issue of the eighth amendment, we also know the reality and complexity of life and what is in our control and what is not in our control. Rather than us fleshing it out in full today, because it is not really the principal focus of the debate, and I do not often agree with Deputy Boyd Barrett, on this issue we do need a mature discussion. Whether you believe taking a particular substance that is currently ill…

The Government has very ambitious climate action targets. We also want to support small businesses. This is why we have very generous grants for taxi drivers wishing to switch over to electric vehicles, EVs. Last year, there was no stock but many people who wanted to change over. The scheme closed in December 2022 and has not yet opened for 2023. The Taoiseach has heard me ask about this in the House before. We have stock in garages, customers who want to buy these vehicles and a Government that wants to support th…

He is making an accusation.

We will not accuse Deputy Collins of corruption.

I welcome this motion. I see that the former Minister of State, Deputy Feighan, has just left. I know the contribution he made to the preparation of this citizens' assembly. It is important to say we would not have reached this point without significant voices in all political parties and many at a community level calling for this citizens' assembly to be established. We know the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977 is not working. Drug use has increased over this time and the State is allocating huge resources to try to tackl…

I welcome the figures in the quarter 4 report. Regardless of what figures we look at, we see last year's performance on housing was better than any other year for some time. Certainly in terms of public housing, we are back to where we were in previous decades. In my constituency, there are sites off Oscar Traynor Road, Collins Avenue, St. Joseph's Hill, Parkview, Church of the Annunciation and Kildonan, all of which involve public housing on public land. However, where we are struggling is on sites like the Ballym…