We have had a review of and reports on the Offences Against the State Acts. Everyone supports streamlined legislation that is updated, that is fit for purpose, that is permanent and that deals with what this State faces as opposed to emergency legislation. A considerable number of my colleagues have spoken about the scourge of drug crime and organised crime and about what our communities are facing. An opportunity has been missed. The Minister should provide an update about the outworkings of the review. We need to…

What else can be said? We have the most expensive electricity prices across the European Union. They are two thirds higher than the average, with the typical Irish household paying nearly €700 more per year. That is really what it is all about. There is a certain acceptance of our being an island and at the end of a line, but there are some very specific solutions that my colleagues, especially Deputy O'Rourke, have spoken about and hardly for the first time in this House. It is fair to say the Government was very …

What are the Minister's plans to deal with the scourge of drugs and drug dealing? An all-of-government response is required but it is not an overplay to say this is a huge issue that is having an impact right across society. It is particularly difficult where it results in drug deaths and intimidation, particularly in working-class areas.

It goes without saying that I doubt that anyone is going to stand up here and not support what have been some of the major seizures and operations against organised crime. Whether these operations are local or transnational, we want to see more – quicker, better and faster. There is nobody who does not want to see this. The problem, however, is the huge drugs problem that exists. I get that it would be a lot easier if, on the average Friday or Saturday night, so many people were not willing to buy cocaine. Part of …

The Minister has dealt with my first two points. Obviously, we need to see greater use of the Criminal Assets Bureau, CAB. Locally, I have seen how it does fabulous work. It also means communities can see that action is being taken and we also need to see policing operations. Unfortunately, we are dealing with a large number of street drug dealers, and there is also the fact that the courts can be backlogged. This means it can be a considerable amount of time before somebody is actually processed and that lesson ha…

I would like to follow up on what Deputy Durkan has spoken about. Obviously, drug dealing happens from privately rented and privately owned houses, and houses that are owned by approved housing bodies. There is a particular issue with local authority housing owing to the lack of power the council may have to deal with this. Every two-bit drug dealer has seen "The Wire". They are not as stupid as we might think them to be. They can keep operating for much longer. At times they would have less pressure on them if the…

I also wish the Minister well in his endeavours in the near future. I also pass on my best wishes to the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, who has always been approachable. There is probably still an issue or two I could do with the Minister getting across the line before he finishes. He spoke about future plans and the impact of politics on family. I pass on those best wishes. This Bill is fairly straightforward on some level. I do not think there is anyone who does not recognise the importance of childminding and how …

In the last while, we have engaged on solving the huge issue with public liability insurance that has impacted on hospitality and, in particular, tourism and what we would call adventure tourism. It goes without saying that the issue is impacting the cost of business. I agree with what my colleagues have said. We need a review of the VAT rate to assess the implications for our entire tourism offering. We know the huge issues that SMEs are facing across the board, so we need to look at the introduction of a targeted…

The Sinn Féin position has been put forward already. We want Coimisiún na Meán to be able to fund its own work, but there is frustration at the bypassing of pre-legislative scrutiny in the enterprise, trade and employment committee. Everyone has details on what the issues are with that. I hope the Government will work with the Opposition on amendments so we find the most fit-for-purpose way to ensure funding is provided. Deputy Gould stated that when talking about broadcasting in general the issue of the TV licence…

A significant number of us have stated that we think it is crazy for Ireland to opt in fully to the EU migration pact. A significant number of these measures are not beneficial to us putting a migration system that suits Ireland. Sometimes it becomes trite. We all use similar terminology about fair, efficient and enforced but that is what people want to see. They want to see a fair and decent system but they want to see a sustainable system that actually works. We have to accept the reality regarding Ireland, the B…

A meeting of EU leaders in Brussels yesterday evening failed to endorse Ursula von der Leyen for a second term as the European Commission President. This should be welcomed by all right-thinking people. Through her offer of unconditional support for Israel, she provided political cover for the genocide that continues to unfold in Gaza. By continuing to block a review of Israel's human rights obligations under the EU-Israel association agreement, she is providing economic cover for Israel's genocide and failing to h…

I wish to ask once again about enhanced family supports, which are absolutely necessary for those children and families who are the most marginalised and, at times, the most chaotic. We have all seen programmes that have worked in recent years but sometimes the resources get spread too thin and they do not have the impact. We have seen they can do huge things in saving kids and families from what can be incredibly difficult lives. They can save many people from the criminal justice system and they can save a lot of…

I got a phone call earlier that I would have much preferred not to have got regarding the technological giant PayPal. There will be up to 85 redundancies happening in the next while. I received the usual commitments of enhanced packages. In or around 900 people work at the Dublin site and 700 staff now remote work but would have formerly been on the Dundalk site. They are saying that these losses would be almost half and half. We would like to see some kind of engagement from the Government to ensure that it would …

It is fairly straightforward what we are asking for here and I welcome the fact the Government is not opposing this. If we are talking about carer's allowance, it is quite straightforward. We need to have an element of flexibility, and whether we are talking about the time someone spends on education or working, 18.5 hours with no element of flexibility is not working for many. We know there has to be some element of loosening-up of the means test threshold and even beyond that, because we know this is the only dir…

Does the Minister of State have any plans for new therapies to be used? The question submitted stated "in the public health sector", but I mean across the board. We have spoken before about getting the best bang for buck. It is two things. We all know we need speech and language therapy, OT and other services. We need to put them where we get the best bang for buck along with any assistive technologies that can also be used.

I will break this into two parts. There is assessment and then ensuring there are therapies. We know a workforce planning piece needs to be done. I do not know how many times I have said that even if we get that piece right, it will take a number of years to have everybody in place, involving CDNTs, primary care and all the rest of it. We need to find the best means to provide the best service to the children and their families. There is that piece and also the assistive technologies particularly when we are talkin…

As it has been brought up, I commend the work of the Louth Disability Cycling Club. I should particularly mention Gary Shields, the chair, along with Paul Callan, Paul Newman and the rest of the guys who do great work. It is one of the most impressive things I have seen in a long time. It brings families together and is brilliant. They would always commend the work done by Variety and the Minister of State has her own connection there. That is absolutely brilliant and the more, the merrier. We can never have enough…

Personally.

I ask the Minister to provide an update on plans to house direct provision, temporary and international protection applicants in State-run reception centres. It is moving away from the issues that exist with the private sector, whether the loss of hotel beds as regards the D Hotel and other hotels throughout County Louth and across the State. There are probably other places that are not that suitable and I understand the issues in the Minister's Department. The sooner we can do this, the better.

Will the Minister provide further information on the timeline? We would all welcome that there needs to be a move away from the private sector. Some of the locations have been utterly unsuitable for all. It is fair to say we have to do whatever we can to look after people who are fleeing dreadful sets of circumstances and the rest of it. However, we need to get a system that works and that is sustainable. That also means improving processing times. The Taoiseach and others have used that term. When that happens it …