I thank the Minister. As he mentioned, the project is one of the most exciting that will be carried out in my area of Cork over the coming years. I am delighted to see progress on it. I have two more questions I would like the Minister to address. Do we have any indicative timeline for the disbursement of funds in Ireland? Will it extend into next year? I would appreciate information in this regard. Has the Minister any information on future grants? The rounds of funding in question are the first of a couple. The n…

Beidh mé ag roinnt mo chuid ama leis an Teachta Colm Burke. Having listened to the previous speaker, the Minister of State is probably going to become an expert in water and water quality. Deputy Burke and I wish to speak about the issues relating to Carrignavar wastewater treatment plant, which is just 10 km north of Cork city. We could probably name a dozen villages in the greater Cork area affected by this issue, but the specific issue at Carrignavar deserves scrutiny, given that its potential for development in…

I should have acknowledged initially that there was a great investment in water infrastructure right across the country as part of the last budget. However, the Minister of State said Cork County Council and Irish Water have not prioritised the matter. I have seen the council's wastewater treatment plant priority list. Carrignavar comes somewhere in the middle. Ultimately, however, it is the call of Irish Water, which said there is no funding for the project. This is unfortunate. The Minister of State is saying a s…

I raise the issue of substitution in schools at the moment. I want to raise it in a constructive way, not with the antics that we had again yesterday from across the floor. There is undoubtedly a shortage of substitute teachers. I rang a few principals this morning before I came in. One of them was short 22 staff last Friday between SNAs and teachers, so there are very grave difficulties. I acknowledge some of the measures the Minister has taken in terms of people coming back from career breaks and job sharing to s…

If the Taoiseach is looking for suggestions on which citizens' assembly to prioritise, I will obviously plump for the one on education. The sector faces a number of issues, as the Taoiseach knows. Leaving certificate reform springs to mind and the joint committee on education is in the middle of discussions on that. The reform of July or summer provision also needs to be seriously addressed given that only 20% of eligible students had access to the programme in the past year. I welcome progress made on the school m…

I would say the Minister of State is blue in the face from answering questions about the national broadband plan. It is a constant theme here but we are here to voice the concerns of many of our constituents. I am losing track of the number of parliamentary questions that I have lodged in this area. I would be grateful if I could get an up-to-date report on the roll-out in the Cork North-Central area.

I thank the Minister of State for the update. Every time I lodge a parliamentary question, as the Minister of State said, the numbers are changing and increasing. I welcome that and the investment that the Minister of State detailed. The difficulty I have with the responses that we are getting is I am hearing a great deal about Midleton. No disrespect to Midleton but it is in another constituency. I wish them the best of luck. I am hearing about many other towns and townlands and, unfortunately, very few in my cons…

I welcome many of those schools being connected as broadband connection points. I welcome the increase in the number of BCP sites installed from 302 the last time I asked a parliamentary question on the issue to 386 now. There is no doubt progress is being made but it is slower than we would hope. People are demanding this service. The Minister of State indicated that surveying in Cork was complete, which is great. With regard to all the big contracts that are out for tender, the Minister has penalties and other po…

What numbers of bovine animals in the beef and dairy herds were found to have failed the TB eradication test in 2019, 2020 and to date in 2021?

The figures the Minister provided are very concerning and the trend is clear for people to see. It confirms what we hear on the ground, namely, that TB is prevalent again. Many farmers I have contact with have spoken of TB being detected in their herds for the first time in 30 years. This causes monetary and personal distress for these farmers. Responding to a TB outbreak is particularly onerous. When a TB reactor is found in a herd it imposes significant constraints on the farmer and the way he or she can conduct …

It will be interesting to see the final figures for the year. I am giving feedback to the Minister on the lads who are working on the ground eradicating TB. They are highlighting to us that they are facing an uphill battle. That said, I welcome the investment of €6 million in budget 2022 for TB eradication but this money must translate to boots on the ground. An important part of this investment is the wildlife programme, as the Minister said. Increased resources must be targeted in this area. The work is enormous …

The programme for Government speaks of extending the oral health promotion programme to reach all children in primary schools. Unfortunately, this aspiration is moving further and further away from us. Many children are not being seen until some time in secondary school and when they are seen they are put on a waiting list, often for two or three years. The situation is deteriorating. I ask the Taoiseach to speak to the Minister for Health and to ensure that the additional resources required to ensure early detecti…

I wish to ask the Minister if additional funding will be provided for the digital hubs, particularly in my consistency of Cork North-Central.

We all know the importance of a good quality high-speed broadband connection in modern times, particularly in remote rural areas. None of us here could do our jobs successfully without such a service and many businesses and jobs across the country depend on a stable, reliable Internet connection to ensure their competitiveness in a global market. I welcomed initial funding for digital hubs across the country last year as I felt it would spread the benefits of the national broadband plan, NBP, and accelerate access …

To follow on from that point, I believe it is going to be about blended working into the future. As somebody with three young kids, it is quite difficult to work at home at times. To get into one of these hubs could be quite beneficial for many people. I speak to constituents, particularly many of those working with multinational companies, who might not have to travel to the US or wherever they are going as often as they would if they had access to that high-speed broadband we are talking about. I also welcome the…

As Deputy Richmond said, it is quite difficult to comment on the budget in five minutes. We need to recognise the positives. We are good at accentuating the negatives in here all the time. Listening to some of the previous speakers you would swear this was not a progressive budget. There are things happening in childcare and education that must be acknowledged. I will focus on a few issues that need to be highlighted. Over the past few days, Adam Terry and his mother, Christine, have been in the limelight with rega…

I am glad the Minister of State is here to take this matter because I know she understands it. She and I have met a number of groups to discuss it over the last few weeks. I would like to speak to her this evening about the Irish Sign Language Act and seek an update regarding its implementation and oversight in her Department. This Act places a statutory duty on all public bodies to provide Irish Sign Language, ISL, users with free interpretation when availing of or seeking to access statutory entitlements and serv…

I thank the Acting Chairman. I will always concede time to the Minister of State, if she wants it. I appreciate her frank response. To follow up on how she finished in terms of the delay of Departments in coming back to the Minister of State, it is quite apparent from the report I cited earlier that a number of Departments are not compliant with the Act, which was established in 2017. It is also quite obvious that a number of State bodies and even a number of Departments did not bother to even respond to requests i…

While this is not necessarily the Minister’s area of expertise, I would like to talk to him about special education and of the case of Calum Geary, whose father, Andrew Geary, I met last week. The Minister might have seen them pour their hearts out to the nation a couple of months ago on "The Late Late Show". Calum is profoundly deaf and has no access to an Irish Sign Language teacher or interpreter in class, as is his constitutional right. I ask the Minister what the Government will do to ensure the full implement…

I will open my brief statement with a statistic. The 2016 census indicated that 375,000 or 3% of young people committed an offence annually. More than 50% of the cases before the courts involving youth crime are dismissed or struck out for being of a minor nature. That said, the kernel of the issue is that one's propensity to commit an offence is linked to one's socioeconomic status and, as such, there is a likelihood of reoffending. To tackle youth crime and associated issues, we must first combat poverty and depr…