Sorry, Deputy Doherty. We must move on to the next question.

As entertaining as all this is, we are six minutes behind already, and somebody else-----

I would like to move on to the next question.

I call Deputy Shortall.

I call the Minister to respond.

I call the Minister to respond.

The Deputy should please allow the Minister to respond.

I welcome Tony and Eileen Manning to the Gallery. They are here with Deputy Devlin.

The next question is in my name but it is being taken by Deputy Aindrias Moynihan.

I spoke to the Taoiseach on this issue last week. I am glad he is back to take it, so I do not have to explain much of the background. It involves the amalgamation of two secondary schools, namely, St. Vincent's Secondary School and North Presentation Secondary School, on the north side of Cork city. All four Deputies representing Cork North-Central jointly tabled a Topical Issue matter last night. We are unanimous in our opposition to the process that has taken place up to now. There has been a complete lack of co…

I commend Deputy Joan Collins on persevering with this, giving us all an opportunity to again have a whinge about Irish Water and to bring up all our localised issues, which is where this debate always seems to go. I am guilty as charged as I will probably do the same. Before I do so, I have to acknowledge that record investment is being made in upgrading infrastructure throughout the country. The total of €1.68 billion that has been committed in budget 2023 has to be acknowledged. That is an increase of approximat…

I thank the Minister, Deputy Foley, for coming to the Chamber to take this Topical Issue matter. It should be noted that all four Deputies from Cork North-Central are in agreement on this. We have consulted parents, corresponded with students and discussed it among ourselves and the wider school community over recent weeks and months. To say communication has been poor is an understatement. It is misleading to say a consultation process, or an adequate one at least, has been undertaken. The decision to amalgamate S…

Have I 30 seconds?

I thank the Minister for her response. There are a couple of points to pick up on. Later in the Minister's response she said that it was indicated to have involved formal meetings with the board of management, staff, students, students, parents and guardians as well as parents and guardians of students attending Catholic primary schools in the area. To clarify, from what we are being told by parents there was one Zoom meeting that involved parents. I am not sure that process was followed as is outlined in the repor…

Mheas mé gurb é Ceist Uimh. 14 amháin a bhí i gceist ach tá an ceart ag an Aire Stáit.

I ask the Minister to address the engagement between her Department and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage in respect of the Croí Cónaithe scheme.

It is very welcome that the scheme is being extended to rural communities. That was probably one of the few criticisms I had of the policy and it is good to see that the Minister and her colleague, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage have responded to that and extended the scheme to rural communities. It is a great scheme that will provide incentives for people to bring those properties back into circulation. I have a few questions regarding interaction with local authorities. How many indicatio…

The latter point relates to Question No. 80, which I tabled. I will get onto that in a minute. As regards the administration of the scheme, if a person avails of the grant and subsequently sells the property and there is a clawback by the State, is that done through Revenue or via the local authority? What is the vehicle to ensure that clawback is in place and the scheme is not taken advantage of? There is a significant budget for the scheme, but are there targets in terms of the number of applicants it is anticipa…

I have previously raised the issue of drug reimbursement in this country with the Tánaiste and the Taoiseach and last week, the Swedish Institute for Health Economics published a report on cancer outcomes in Ireland. It found that while much progress was made, we are still among the worst in the EU for ovarian and breast cancer outcomes. The report specifically cited that our drug reimbursement system is not fit for purpose and that it costs the equivalent of 2,600 life years per annum due to the cumbersome nature …

I thank the Minister for coming to the House today. I was listening to this debate upstairs before I came down to the Chamber. Over the past few weeks, post budget, there has been a lot of commentary in respect of the decisions that were taken in advance of this Bill. I ask Members to think back 12 or even 24 months and consider the position we were in and the uncertainty presented by Covid. Pre pandemic, we were concerned at what might happen post Covid. It exemplifies the position of the Government and the decisi…