So did I until I started running. I should start by apologising for my hurried arrival into the Chamber. We were dealing with the matter of cybersecurity threats in a committee, specifically because of the situation we are discussing in the Chamber now, namely the outworkings of the criminal invasion of Ukraine by Russia. I add my voice again to everyone else's in saying we need to show absolute solidarity with the Ukrainian people. Part of that involves having a response that is adequate to a massive humanitarian …

When dealing with the question of money flowing through the IFSC, we are all committed to the idea that Russia's ability to fight a war should be hurt as much as possible in a financial sense. Will the Minister indicate the status of the list of companies still trading with Russia and which we who sit on the European Union affairs committee were told by the Ukrainian ambassador, H.E. Larysa Gerasko, was given to the Minister's Department? I get that it is far better that we act across Europe as opposed to unilatera…

I agree with much of what has been said. We agree with this and want to make sure we are part of the IMF's loan infrastructure. We are a long way from the original concepts in Bretton Woods. We have moved into a period of free flow of capital where private enterprise takes precedence over everything, including the necessity of our communities and societies. That needs to be looked at. It is difficult to talk about the IMF without talking about our past experience with it, which was one of austerity. It embedded ine…

On foot of the actions of the British Government at Westminster, we could be looking at an unworkable hard border for those who are not British or Irish. That could include Polish people living in my town of Dundalk who want to travel to Newry because they would have to fill out electronic travel authorisations. While this says a great deal about the nonsense about security uttered by the British Government following our response to the Ukrainian crisis, it says more about the politics of Brexit and racism and wher…

I will add my voice to those of my colleagues who have spoken in support of the European arrest warrant and the necessity for it. We have all said on many occasions here previously we need whatever tools are necessary for dealing with the wide level of international criminality at this point in time. The Minister of State and I have spoken about drug gangs many times. Obviously, at this point in time the Minister of State is thinking about human traffickers and many others way beyond that. In dealing with the Russi…

It has been said by many others at this point that there is an absolute need for a regulatory framework with regard to assisted human reproduction and the wider issues of surrogacy and IVF. It has also been said by many, including my colleague, Deputy Paul Donnelly, that there are significant questions with which we need to deal. A significant amount of due diligence will be required on Committee Stage. Deputy Jim O'Callaghan spoke about the difficulty or, I suppose, the reality with regard to international surroga…

We have all made statements and some could argue they fall between being trite and overplaying the issue but this is one situation where we can say with hand on heart that the world has utterly changed. We never thought we would be dealing with a case of 10 million displaced people, comprising 3.5 million who have left Ukraine and 6.5 million who have been internally displaced. It is hard to believe that is modern-day Europe. If someone had told us this a couple of weeks ago, I do not think we would have believed i…

I thank the Acting Chairman for facilitating me. The timeframe for the consideration of the development of the radar surveillance capability that we are lacking became evident when we had the threat of manoeuvres by the Russian military. There has been much conversation on the criminal invasion of Ukraine by the Russians and the particular circumstances we are in. I mention the capacity that we will require into the future. We know there is a fear of hybrid cyberattacks and whatever else that we will be facing in t…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire and I welcome the answer. There will be general agreement on the necessity involved in this. When I spoke of the Russian manoeuvres I did so from the point of view that it highlighted the issue in the public domain; I get that they told us about them beforehand. Following that we had the Irish Aviation Authority before the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications and there is the scenario whereby it is given certain information by its equivalent in Britain, which is informed by …

I will allow the Minister to expand on that. The only question I have is on the wider issue of cyber-meets-hybrid and the new world in which we are living and the new threat we are facing. I accept that he cannot go into absolute detail on it, but will he give whatever information he can about the preparations being carried out? Deputies Brady and O'Rourke and I went to a conference about hybrid and cyber attacks, which I was delighted to attend. It was at the time of the invasion and the head of the NCSC decided n…

I again want to bring up the issue of Carlinn Hall, which is a communal district heating system. It was meant to be biofuel but, unfortunately, has ended up being gas. Domestic users are supplied by Frontline Energy, which is supplied as a corporate entity from Energia and is, therefore, charged at corporate rates. There is no protection for these domestic users. It is an utterly inefficient system; 100 units of gas to gain 50 units of heat does not work in any way, shape or form. A wider issue needs to be dealt wi…

There are a number of these throughout the State.

I agree with much of what has been said and we need a legal framework to deal with the idea of hate crime and hate speech. We support this motion and there is a need for a significant amount of due diligence to be done so we can get a system that is fit for purpose. We all agree there are major issues when it comes to hate crime and hate speech and we see them far too often in society. Unfortunately, the online world provides a large forum for this too. We are talking about online safety and we need to do some real…

It is unlikely I will be able to get all my points in within that time.

I probably will not be quite as eloquent as other speakers. We are in an incredibly difficult situation. All Members accept the difficulties that led to the supports being introduced. We all know that none of us had any part to play in the creation of the pandemic. Rather, it was foisted upon us and a determination was made that we needed to protect the people and, beyond that, businesses and families, so supports were introduced. All Members welcome the €1,000 special recognition payment. I know there are issues r…

The situation has obviously got worse since these questions were tabled. Some of us met the Ukrainian ambassador earlier. She is calling for the Russian ambassador here to be given his marching orders and, beyond that, to cut off seaports and such to the Russians. This creates difficulties, particularly for Germany. What conversations have there been in that regard at EU level? I also accept Deputy Boyd Barrett's comment with regard to Saudi Arabia and the fact that the west has failed to deal with other sets of op…

Will the Minister report on the low number of apprentices that became fully qualified tradespersons in 2021, the plans for the apprenticeship system and the demands to deliver on housing, retrofitting and other infrastructure? Perhaps he could speak to needs beyond that. Will he detail the dealings of his Department, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the regional skills forum in delivering what we need into the future?

I suppose the question is whether we have the throughput we will require into the future to provide us with the needs we have. We are talking about building and retrofitting and beyond that we have been talking specifically about work on renewable energy etc. Even beyond that we are looking at apprenticeships in non-traditional and non-craft training, even taking in training that might previously have happened in colleges. There is also the question of the post-leaving certificate route and whatever other routes ar…

I appreciate the answers from the Minister and in fairness, I probably threw enough down that it would have taken him another ten minutes to go through everything individually. I request a wee bit of leeway, as I am sure many of us have been asked questions about moves that will be made to facilitate people coming from Ukraine. The Minister is on the record speaking about this. I am talking about tradespeople doing apprenticeships and I have been contacted about people doing medical studies. Where is the lie of the…

I thank the Minister of State for making herself available for this issue. We are talking about the day hospital services for mental health in Navan, which as Deputy O'Rourke has said, provided group therapy, individual therapy, assessments, and a clozapine clinic. Unfortunately, only part of this is happening at this point in time. Before March 2020, this was happening properly and was fully functional. The fact is that we did not have the same pressure then in Meath as those on the services at the department of p…