I understood that Question No. 9 in the name of Deputy David Stanton was next and I could take it on his behalf.

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle.

Deputy Stanton asked me to take this question for him. He is concerned that genetic variants are responsible for between 5% and 10% of cancers. He is concerned about whether we have an adequate funding model and about the waiting lists for this genetic testing because effective screening reduces healthcare substantially in the longer term.

Deputy Stanton is very concerned about the current waiting lists. The Irish Cancer Society reports waiting lists of up to two years for testing. There is then potentially a further two years waiting for the risk-reducing procedure that the test may have signalled. Is the Minister monitoring waiting times? Will the new initiative involve a multi-annual plan for staffing and investment so that this programme is not competing with other urgent care that might squeeze it out?

I ask the Minister to check those waiting times and report back to me and Deputy Stanton because the Irish Cancer Society is signalling quite long waiting times. For a screening test that can reduce long-term healthcare, it is to be hoped that it could be made more prompt.

From the work that I am doing with the Fine Gael policy lab, it is very clear that we need a new vision and a step-change in realising the potential we have from longer lives. To be fair to past strategies and current work, they are trying to break new ground. The real problem is the weakness in implementation across policy silos of Departments. Would the Taoiseach consider leadership in this important area coming from the Taoiseach's office? We need a new approach to planning, to providing accommodation for people…

I have a good deal of experience dealing with cases. What often happens is that the medical certification does not deal with the fact that a person must be unable to work for 12 months or more. Doctors often think that by listing illnesses, they have fulfilled their requirement. It would be useful if a message could clarify to medical professionals the exact form of certification required and what must be certified. In my experience, that is what repeatedly sees people fail at the first attempt and succeed at the s…

The Minister's Department probably has the most extensive network connecting to people who have left the workforce. We know that staying connected and active is the key to the well-being of people who have left the workforce. Will the Minister consider the opportunity she has for promoting engaging activities among people who have left the workforce because it is a huge gulf?

The Minister will have often heard the phrase "a stitch in time saves nine". Does the Minister agree that setting up a commission on care is already too late in the cycle? The reality is that if people stay connected and active after they retire, they will have many years of good health and not come into the caring system at all. As Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan just asked about, the Minister has developed a comprehensive activation programme for people who are in the workforce but suddenly, once someone has left the w…

Activation is not just about work; it can be in someone's community doing all sorts of things.

We are missing a beat here. We are too siloed in the way we think of this. We see people who are over a certain age as a caring problem, and not as an opportunity. Activation should be just as relevant to someone who has left the workforce as it is to someone who is aged 64 and wants to work for another year. It can be activation throughout the community in all sorts of unpaid positions in leisure and physical activities and all sorts of things. No Department is responsible for that at the moment.

It is the University of the Third Age.

They do.

The Minister knows that farmers worry that their transition to a sustainable model of farming will not sustain prosperous family farms into the long term. There are many in this House and outside it who want to fan the fears of farmers. I believe a clear pathway to a carbon farming approach could reassure many farmers. To date, the detail in that regard is scanty, which creates uncertainty.

First, I welcome what the Minister of State has said, but so long as there is no clear picture of what a revenue stream from sound environmental farming will mean in ten or 20 years' time, this uncertainty and unease will continue. We know, for example, that raising water levels on certain lands has huge carbon dividends. We know that benchmarking and reducing emissions by sequestration or altering methods can have very substantial dividends. However, the Minister of State put her finger on it. We continue to be hi…

Is it not the case that if we are to see a significant scaling-up of activity, and I think that is necessary, there are going to have to be substantial rewards linked to them? Surely, on a no-regrets basis, we should be making those substantial rewards available so that a step change can be considered by people who want a long-term commercial and prosperous family future. We need to take a slight step of imagination in the approach we take to this.

Will the Minister convene a group to develop a circular economy strategy for the food sector? The climate committee will be starting to consider that issue. The facts are there. The Minister will know well that food waste is over 1 million tonnes and accounts for 5% of our global emissions. Half of compostable waste does not find its way to compostable outlets. Excess packaging in the sector accounts for two thirds of all plastic packaging. Long-distance imports are a feature. Premium payments are not adequate for …

As the Taoiseach and the two Ministers have said, this has been a tragedy of harrowing proportions for the families. It was a Valentine's night that turned to anguish. You can only imagine the panic of people experiencing the chains and padlocks blocking their exits, the lights failing and the darkness as that tragedy ensued. The initial determination of arson was seen as a further slap in the face to the families and victims. The burning sense of injustice has fired these families throughout a very long struggle a…

I welcome the debate. I welcome all the work that Deputy Brian Leddin and the committee put in, including Deputies Darren O'Rourke, Paul Murphy and others who have left the Chamber. It has been a very valuable debate with a lot of insight. Globally, we are using materials from nature each year that are double the capacity of nature to replenish. That is heading in the wrong direction and we will soon be really dipping deep into nature's capability and reserve. The assembly very clearly showed that existing efforts …

I welcome the introduction of this legislation. It has indeed been a long time in gestation. I suspect it is probably a decade since this was first thought about, if not more.