I thank Deputy Ó Laoghaire for his significant work on this anomaly. I am afraid to call it an anomaly after what Deputy Ó Broin said. Deputy Ó Broin's point was that the rent pressure zone legislation and the rent pressure zones are a piecemeal solution that has failed to work across the board anyway. If we are serious about dealing with the problem for those in the rental sector and providing them with protections, it is exactly like Deputy Ó Broin said. We really need a three-year ban on increases. We need to ma…

It is not the first time we have dealt with home support and home care packages. I thank the Regional Group for putting this vital issue front and centre. It is a pity we are still talking about this. We all speak about how we want to facilitate people to be able to live in their own homes. The problem is that we are not very good at putting in place those pieces that allow this to happen. I will throw out, and not for the first time, that housing adaptation grants could facilitate people to leave step-down hospita…

I previously brought up the issue of Carlinn Hall and the communal heating system fed by gas. There is a particular issue with these designs. The district heating steering group would need to compile a report. I like to think that report would contain that sort of information. A geothermal feasibility study has been carried out in Carlinn Hall. In fairness, as I said, the Taoiseach's office came back to me about a timeline and it has been updated since. The first part of the report is to be at the end of June and t…

I spoke earlier about the issue of geothermal. If it is feasible to carry out some of these schemes, we need to make sure we have a support scheme for renewable heat, SSRH, grant scheme in play. Have any thoughts been given since Deputy Brady's proposed legislation on the banning of the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, ISIF, which is obviously a State entity, from investing in companies involved in the annexation of Palestinian lands? The Government sounded somewhat receptive to coming up with a solution. I would…

On ISIF, the occupied territories and the companies, have we any update on finding a solution to that?

I appreciate it.

We live in a world of threats, including those associated with hybrid warfare, cybersecurity, weaponised social media and disinformation. In this regard, we must also consider the positives and dangers of artificial intelligence. At the conference, the Taoiseach spoke about an EU- or NATO-led mission that he would welcome to strengthen the protection of undersea cables. Are there any proposals on this at this stage? We need co-operation and capacity but cannot let these sorts of conversations be a stalking horse or…

I agree with an awful lot of what my colleagues have said about the youth justice strategy. Some good points are being made and we are making some journey points at present. We know the level of intervention that is required and that starts from very early family supports. We have pilot schemes and programmes at times and I note representatives of Archways, the Changing Lives Initiative and early family support services appeared before the Joint Sub-committee on Mental Health. A pilot is being operated in my own pa…

We have spoken before on the importance of getting the Executive up and running. The drift that we are experiencing at the minute cannot continue. Obviously, that will need to be dealt with. The British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference met yesterday at the Mansion House. A joint communiqué was issued after the meeting, stating that the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill 2022 was discussed, as were the Irish Government's concerns in relation to it. There was also mention of concern in respe…

The well-being framework for Ireland obviously has to take into account the disability sector. The voluntary sector provides about two thirds of disability services on behalf of the State. That enables people with disabilities to live independently, further their education and avail of much-needed respite for themselves and their families. The HSE previously reported that many voluntary disability services are not financially sustainable and identified this as a major risk on its corporate risk register. The Irish …

Staff are in limbo.

The Women's Aid annual report was published and makes for very stark reading. We are talking about nearly 34,000 disclosures of domestic violence. We know this is right across Irish society, including public bodies. We need to know what plans are in place to ensure we can provide the rights and protections these women deserve. To these figures I will add a number of figures which Women's Aid Dundalk has provided, taken between January and October 2022. There were 1,489 calls to the helpline and 310 requests for ref…

I also follow up with our support and solidarity, particularly at this time as we look forward to Pride. We accept that huge strides have been made over the past 50 years but there is still a hell of a lot more to do and we need to ensure that everything is done to ensure absolute equality for all those in the LGBTQI+ community. I wish to raise an issue relating to Outcomers. The Minister and I have attended a number of events there and he sees the quality of the work it does and the supports it provides, particula…

I thank the Tánaiste for the answer he has given. Obviously, the loss of Private Seán Rooney was a huge loss to his family and the 27th Infantry Battalion in Dundalk. We all want justice done. Some of my questions are the same as those of Deputy Cowen. I accept that the Tánaiste might not be able to go into sufficient detail but we want to be sure that his interactions with the Lebanese authorities are up to the standard he would like, that he believes there is a free flow of information and that he is reasonably h…

I absolutely agree that we want to see justice. We also want to see a fair trial. Based on what the Tánaiste said, there will be plenty of interaction and eyes on this from our point of view. It was necessary that UNIFIL carried out its particular investigation. Obviously, our Defence Forces have their piece of work to do. This needs to be followed up with a Garda inquiry. All of this is about making sure we get justice for Seán Rooney, a young man who lost his life peacekeeping. He was from a family who have given…

There has been a considerable amount of conversation about passports. That goes with this time of year. There are issues in respect of the need for a garda to witness an application and old-style communication. Those issues need to be dealt with. A considerable number of my Northern friends contact my office, which sometimes uses up an awful lot of our slots and that is a particular difficulty. The Government is going to facilitate elected representatives from the North. What is the timeline for that? I will also m…

When is that going to happen?

It is not available through a telephone.

Will they get the phone line?

I am looking for a timeline and information as to when the planning-led system in respect of offshore wind will be completely in place. I refer to the entire framework, including all of the individual parts and the DMAPs. We are moving from one system to another and the stakeholders involved in possible proposals for offshore wind projects are not entirely sure where they will be able to build, propose projects or anything like that. We need that delivered as soon as possible.