If there is overcrowding-----

No.

I spoke to him yesterday and he said invest in it to save it.

We are all familiar with the horrific detail that came to light in the Grace case, specifically with regard to the State's response to the allegations and the abuse suffered by the person known as Grace. Are there any other cases that the Minister is aware of which are similar in nature to the Grace case?

With respect, the Minister has not answered my question at all. Since the establishment of Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, in 2014, some 13 internal case reviews have been carried out by it. My parliamentary assistant has been handed two of these reports by two women who suffered sexual abuse as children. The reports are deeply upsetting to read. In the 1990s, gardaí and social workers did not act on the disclosures when they were made. I stress that these are two separate cases. These two children escaped thei…

The content of these reports is deeply shocking. I want to know what happens to these reports. Where is the oversight and accountability in respect of them within the Department? Can the Minister confirm to me, if somebody comes forward to report retrospective child abuse pertaining to a period when they were in State care or in foster care, whether all other adults who were previously in foster care in that home where the alleged abuse took place tracked down? Are they interviewed by social workers? Can the Minist…

This is the first time in the 11 years I have been in the House that there has been no other Deputy present to ask a Minister a parliamentary question. The Minister will agree with me that the direct provision system has been a disaster. In a country that looks back continuously at wrongs the State has done, the fact that the direct provision system is currently still functioning is a reflection on ourselves. How many Ukrainian nationals have entered the direct provision system so far?

I want to give credit to all the various community organisations and groups, including churches and State organisations, that have so far made resources available to people from Ukraine who have come to this country. There has been an enormous amount of work. It is important to give credit and recognition to those who have offered the céad míle fáilte to people fleeing what is a terrible war. There is no doubt that there are already significant pressures on society and that many are feeling the pinch as a result, b…

Can the Minister give us some information on the number of pledges by the general public of accommodation for people from Ukraine and the number of pledges that have been accepted in this regard? Has he information on the number of vacant homes repurposed to allow Ukrainian refugees to live in them? The issue of vacant homes has been a serious bugbear of mine for a long period. In my constituency about 4,000 people are on the housing waiting list and there are 3,000 empty homes. There are towns in my constituency w…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Leas-Cheann Comhairle as an deis teacht ar ais. I wish to address a couple of issues I believe are important in this debate. We do have a wonderful electoral system in this State. The PR-STV system does provide for very clear representation within the political institutions, which is very important. When we have a system whereby various minority voices are excluded for whatever reason, that leads to real difficulties within the political system. First, those minority voices are very importa…

Today, families around the country are being hammered. Hundreds of thousands of families are living from overdraft to overdraft and many others are completely maxed out. Families are going without food and heat. Energy prices are sky-rocketing. It is incredible that people are spending time awake at night trying to work out what bill they can afford to pay and how they will make ends meet. Some of the advice we have gotten from the Government in response to this is incredible. Ministers have told us to drive slowly…

The increase in the cost of fertiliser is hammering farmers across the country at the moment. According to the Central Statistics Office, CSO, there has been a 130% increase in the space of just two years in the cost of farm fertiliser. Farmers are also being hammered by energy prices, which have gone up by 30%, while feed prices have gone up by 20%. The input costs for farming are increasing at an alarming rate while the output cost, the cost of the product, is not going up at the same rate. What will the Governme…

My question relates to farm fertiliser.

I was waiting for the word "fertiliser" to appear in the Minister's reply. Thankfully, we are there now. It is important to focus on what is happening in farming at the moment. Teagasc has detailed that there are major difficulties in the farming community at the moment. Only one third of farmers are currently making a living from farms. Another one third of farmers are only making a living because somebody in the household is working off the farm as a teacher or a nurse, or is working in a shop. A full one third o…

I welcome the fact that the Government has made an effort to start to meet some of the costs with which farmers are dealing. However, from what I am hearing from farmers, it is not enough. We had a debate in this Chamber about a week ago on the issue of food security which is a significant concern at the moment. Food supply chains are tightening in this State and internationally. In fact, in some parts of the world, including countries in the west like Britain, certain staple foods are being rationed. In Britain, f…

Like Robert Watt's.

Hundreds of thousands of commuters are paying massive prices on motorway tolls every day. Many people are commuting up to three hours a day and paying thousands of euro a year for tolls in their areas. In Meath there are four tolls. Someone living in Kells, for example, and working in south Dublin can pay up to €3,600 per year on tolls. Aontú has done research that has shown that commuters have paid €1.3 billion just on M50 tolls in nine years. This is State-owned infrastructure and commuters have already paid for …

It is built. It is paid for.

There is a significant crisis within unionism at the moment. Unionism is now a minority political view in the North of Ireland. This has been the case for the past number of elections but unionist leaders have still not realised it. If those of a minority political view want to shape the future, they have a responsibility to work with others. Unfortunately, unionism has not seemed to realise this. Unionists are still relying on a veto which is a remnant of the past. It is the cause of major difficulties on the isla…

The British Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss, has been accused of saying that a no-deal Brexit in Ireland would only affect a few farmers with turnips in the back of their trucks. Some people might say that is just Tories being Tories, but it does give an insight into the ignorance at the heart of the British bad faith when it comes to Brexit and the North of Ireland. The Good Friday Agreement is shredded and gutted. The Executive has collapsed. This has happened at a time of a cost-of-living crisis and while 44,000 pe…