Could the Minister provide an update on the creation of processing hubs for community welfare and other services and whether she is aware of any administrative difficulties caused by the creation of these hubs? I spoke to her about this issue on a previous occasion. A number of constituents have been affected by this. I sent some sample cases to the Minister. Some have been sorted but others have not. When some people provided the necessary application forms and information, it appears materials were lost and there…

In fairness, I understand the Minister has given a Civil Service answer. I do not buy the claim that there are no delays because I have seen too many of them. I accept what has been said in terms of the logic of removing the administrative burden from individual officers and operating hubs. I have sent information on particular cases to the Minister. We need to examine this issue. There are hold-ups. As I said, I have multiple examples. On 9 January, a conscientious lady I know got new accommodation through a local…

I appreciate the Minister following up on these issues because some people are in constrained circumstances, to put it simply. That is obviously beneficial. I see the logic around streamlining. We need to make sure we catch whatever issues are happening regarding materials being lost. I have previously raised the issue of one lady who is raising kids with a number of disabilities. I am also dealing with someone who is going through cancer treatment and was dealing with the local authority about two exceptional need…

Yes. It concerns the launch date of the reformed reasonable accommodation fund. The Minister dealt with some of this earlier in respect of reviewing the entire process, particularly facilitating those with disabilities to enter the workplace. At times, there was a requirement on them or the employer, and it probably did not work perfectly regarding assistive technologies and so on. We need something that works to help the people in question to get into work, thereby benefiting society across the board. We want it a…

Will the Minister give his views on the recent report submitted to his Department by Teagasc about the impact on farmers following damage to their farmland as a result of the flooding on the Cooley Peninsula in November 2023? We have discussed this a number of times. We spoke about the fact that there is not an off-the-shelf support scheme. I am very glad this piece of work was done. I would like to think we would come up with something that can compensate farmers and even deal with some of these circumstances in f…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire. I welcome the fact that work has been done. Obviously, we need that analysis to happen as soon as possible. I welcome the fact that the Minister says he will be following through. I will take that as his expression of support for the scheme that is needed by these farmers. Along with many Oireachtas Members and local councillors including Councillor Antóin Watters, I attended a number of meetings with farmers and one in particular. A huge amount of their worry relates to the remedial …

I appreciate that. We need to see this happen as soon as possible. If I could get further clarity on the timeline, I would appreciate it. We all understand the significant damage that was done by the storms to these particular farmlands. In doing this piece of work, maybe it will be possible to put together something that could provide an off-the-shelf support scheme that will be necessary, unfortunately, when dealing with the type of weather events we are having more regularly now. We need to make sure we can prov…

As has been said, is rud é atá an-chiallmhar agus táim ag tacú leis. I think it falls into two brackets. First is people’s engagement with the State, which historically has not always been brilliant. That aside, we know it can be difficult at times and there are things we should do to streamline things. Beyond that, people have to be given the ability to do things through digitalisation and to have dealings with the State through electronic communication, thus simplifying it from everyone’s perspective. We want to …

I realise that-----

Tá mé críochnaithe anois.

We are all very glad of the work that has been done by the joint committee in respect of politically exposed persons. We could all tell stories about the impact of the nuisance on us from banks and so on, but I do not think anyone is interested in listening to politicians saying how hard a life they have. A number of people, including the Ceann Comhairle, have summed up how what we do impacts on our wider families. We all support the European directive, but we have an issue with its application. We need to make sur…

We all know the situation because we have all dealt with farmers across our constituencies. They have spoken to us about the difficulties they have had to deal with lately. To some extent we knew from January that we were going to have a fodder shortage and that particular issues would need to be addressed. I cannot let this moment go without bringing up again the serious floods in north County Louth, particularly in the Cooley Peninsula. In fairness, Teagasc has been to the area, has surveyed a number of farms, as…

We can allow an extra supplementary question because these questions are grouped.

Can I find out the timeline for the necessary legislative amendments to facilitate an extension of the mandatory age of retirement? Specifically, I am asking about retained fire service personnel to the age of 62 years. I am really asking about John Molloy, who is the station officer in Dunleer. Unfortunately or fortunately, he will turn 60 on 24 May. The plan is to introduce this and I am trying to make sure Mr. Molloy is not impacted and that Dunleer fire station is not impacted, because it has a very minimal cre…

That is good but the problem is this man turns 60 on 24 May. Is it possible to get a circular or something between the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, and the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, so we could get this sorted?

No, he is not going to be affected in his pension.

He could give it to me.

Déanaim comhghairdeas leis an Aire Stáit as a phost nua. He will not die of shock when I once again bring up the case of Dundalk FC. As regards soccer, things are not going particularly well for us at present but we will hopefully see a turnaround in the near future. The League of Ireland is absolutely flying. Dundalk FC has submitted a regional sports capital application that is supported by the FAI. It relates to doing up the club's floodlighting, which has not been done up since 1967 or something like that, and …

-----that is closely looking at ladies' football and all the added costs related to that.

I welcome what the Minister of State said. Assessment on the basis of disadvantage is obviously a necessity. A number of the clubs I mentioned fall into that bracket, as do the kids that go to them. If I were to name every club, or even every club in disadvantaged areas in Dundalk, we would be here for a considerable time. I should have mentioned Clann Naofa Boxing Club, where I boxed very badly. I might not be forgiven if I did not mention that club. I will go back to the matter of large-scale sports infrastructur…