While I am happy to finally see a regional focus on the Government's latest tourism policy document, which aims to grow sustainable tourism in historically overlooked regions, I fear that we have missed an opportunity to integrate successful tourism campaigns from both jurisdictions. Ireland's Hidden Heartlands, for example, only recently expanded to include a fraction of County Fermanagh. While I welcome that, it could be further expanded into mid-Ulster to offer visitors a unique experience across both sides of t…

I welcome the work that has been done in that area, but I want to encourage more of it, and I want to encourage it to go beyond the marketing. In particular, tourists travelling North and South still face poor public transport options. If I tried to get public transport from Mayo to Belfast, it would take me hours upon hours, and I would nearly be in New York by the time I would be in Belfast. There is much to do there. Other issues are the disjointed visitor information and the lack of integrated ticketing for tra…

What we have seen over the past few weeks is an absolute and abject failure of the Common Fisheries Policy. Even the 1996 Hague preferences have failed. That was the very mechanism that was set up to guarantee Ireland a minimum level of fish to catch in our own waters. That is what it would have meant. However, France, Germany, Poland and the Netherlands banded together to ensure that not even a boat could be taken on it. The truth is that Ireland's fishing industry has suffered a death by a thousand cuts. I come f…

I ask the Taoiseach to consider issuing an upfront fund to local authorities, but to Mayo County Council in particular, in order that they can turn around the vacant properties they have without having to go through the bureaucratic nightmare of applying for funding from central government on a house-by-house, unit-by-unit basis. Can the Taoiseach imagine what it is like to be a homeless person in Mayo watching council houses remain empty month after month while nothing is done? I will give him an example from a yo…

I wish the Minister well in her new role. It has probably never been so important. I listened intently to the Minister's answers on the incident involving five drones endeavouring to intercept the plane of President Zelenskyy recently. Was a C70 form completed to ensure there was a Garda-Defence Forces co-ordinated response? Were all protocols followed in the context of that incident?

I certainly welcome the increase in the radar capability. It is very important. I appreciate that the Minister cannot give every detail and has to be cautious in what she says but people want to know. They want reassurance that we are resilient enough and that our reliance is holding up and being improved all the time. One of the questions that has been asked of me a lot is on what protocol is in place when there is drone activity in our airspace. Are airlines notified? What happens when such incidents occur? I ver…

I reiterate that we need to have some transparency. That is why I asked that the remit of the defence and national security committee be revisited. Transparency and accountability are very important. I welcome the investment the Minister announced last week, which is badly needed to address the neglect there has been of our Defence Forces, but there must be oversight of how it is spent and accountability for it. People need to know we are resilient as a State. That is necessary not just for the public but also in t…

The very serious incident of five drones endeavouring to intercept the plane carrying President Zelenskyy last week brought our unpreparedness on defence and national security into sharp focus. Was the C70 form completed to ensure that a Garda defence co-ordinated response was put in place? Were all protocols followed? Why did the navy ship not have drone-disabling equipment? Why were airlines not informed that there was drone activity in the vicinity into which they were flying? Lieutenant General Rossa Mulcahy to…

Sorry, the Taoiseach has not-----

I just want to put it on the record the Taoiseach has not answered.

Do we have the capacity?

I know the Taoiseach will agree that the people in Mayo deserve to have proper road infrastructure. I want to specifically talk to him about the R312, which is the main road connecting Erris to the county town of Castlebar. I want it to be designated a regional strategic road because that is the only way it will get the funding it needs. It is a dangerous road. People have put up with it for years but it is time for it to be fixed.

It is the R312. I thank the Taoiseach.

I wish to speak to amendments Nos. 5, 6 and 7. Unfortunately, this is a bit like playing handball against a haystack because I do not believe the Minister is going to change his mind on any of these amendments. Through the vote we have had on the amendment on blocks, he has made Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael TDs from all of the impacted counties, including Mayo, do something they know is absolutely wrong. One hundred percent redress means 100%, not more or less; it is just what it takes to make up for the lack of legis…

While we are talking about the process, why does it take over nine months for the test results to come back? There is no explanation whatsoever. People are told, month after month, that this is to do with the process of the whole thing. Why does it take so long for the results to come back from the test?

I need clarity before I leave here tonight. I want to be able to tell the people of Lios na Circe and Westport what this means for them. Not only are these semi-detached, detached or terraced houses, but the topography of where they are built means they are sitting on a number of slopes. These houses were built by an approved housing body with the local authority and local authority mortgages. The Minister of State is saying that this amendment is designed to bring flexibility so that if one homeowner applies and t…

We are talking about a scheme that will cost billions, that is, in excess of €2 billion and maybe €5 billion. To have this arbitrary date to exclude some homeowners is deeply unfair and unequal. I have a situation on one estate where some homeowners on the estate are getting one rate and some owners are getting the other rate. That is grossly unfair. I ask the Minister, as others have said, to revisit this and look at it again. In the context of the whole scheme, we are talking about a pittance here but it is a hug…

I, too, want to commend the achievements of Cara Darmody due to her dedicated campaigning for increased access to assessment of need. It is absolutely shameful that she is outside the gates pleading with the Government to do what it knows it needs to do, on one of the worst nights of the year. Not one child in Mayo has had their assessment of need completed within the legal timeframe so far this year. That is 0%. There are 291 children in the county waiting for an assessment of need. This is absolutely shameful. Ch…

I ask this question in the context of how sole traders and self-employed people are struggling right now. I ask in particular what consideration the Tánaiste has given to raising the VAT threshold, especially in the area of services from €42,500 to try to alleviate the administrative burden on these sole traders and self-employed people.

I am asking the Minister to undertake greater exploration of this. One of the reasons for this concerns the impact of inflation. We live in an environment that is constantly changing and it is important to examine these things. I am familiar with the different rates in the EU; some are higher and some are lower. In Britain, for instance, it is the same for goods and services at a straight £90,000 sterling. We need to listen to the self-employed. I try to speak to as many of the self-employed as possible. What they …