What options are there for multi-annual core funding for the Family Addiction Support Network, which is based in Dundalk and operates throughout counties Louth, Meath, Cavan and Monaghan? The organisation provides an important service to families of people suffering addiction. It also provides a service to the Garda and helps to deal with the absolute disaster of drug debt intimidation.

The Family Addiction Support Network was probably late to the game in seeking funding. Back in 2008, the north-eastern regional drugs and alcohol task force, like every other body, had its money slashed. It then had to try to keep a skeleton of its service in play. That is what happened across the board. We all know the issues that exist at this time in regard to drug addiction and drug crime. We have not seen the sort of funding that is required. A lot of positive stuff has happened under the Drogheda implementati…

Let me be clear. The Family Addiction Support Network has had a huge amount of engagement with the drugs and alcohol task force. In fairness, the latter has put in business plans and requests for funding that have not necessarily been met at this point. However, the requests that have been put in probably would not cut the mustard in regard to the particular issue we are dealing with, namely, the drug addiction crisis and the pressures families are under as a result. As I outlined, State agencies use this organisat…

We are talking about existing services that are not being sufficiently resourced.

One of my colleagues brought up the fact that all of us do clinics, or most of us in this House do. A considerable number of people come to us during those clinics. I have always found the Minister of State to be a reasonable man, but I am not sure what he can say to the people who come through his door. I am not entirely sure what I can offer to them when they come through my door, other than to do my best and promise them we will be a government that will, if given the opportunity, have those people's backs. That…

What will be said today will be somewhat similar to what was said here last week about biodiversity. It goes without saying that all the indicators on biodiversity and climate change have been going in the absolute wrong direction for a considerable amount of time. I get that kind words and saying the right thing in here will not move the indicators in the right way. One of the most frightening statistics I have heard is that 1 million species are facing extinction. Whatever this may tell or reek of, it is certainl…

The Minister of State will get general support for this legislation. We all know about the engagement of children in criminal activity. We can call it what we will, whether grooming or whatever else. We know this particular issue exists concerning drug crime in particular and that we have many streetwise criminals at this stage who are only too willing to circumvent the law and to use and abuse people. At this stage, we are talking about kids, even before they are teenagers, operating as runners, lookouts and whate…

Okay. Go raibh maith agat.

I wish to revisit the disaster that is public liability insurance. We are hearing that the likes of Beyoncé and Coldplay will skip Ireland because of this insurance disaster. We know the damage that is being done, the danger for anyone involved in adventure tourism businesses and the issue for community centres and community organisations. We all know we need to see that duty of care legislation. Can I get a timeline for when that legislation will be through the Seanad and enacted? We know IDA Ireland needs to attr…

We are told we are moving from a developer-led to a planning-led system for the delivery of offshore wind. Many of the companies and those involved in the industry are speaking about the difficulty in shifting from one system to another. They are asking what the timeline is and when we will have a sufficiently resourced Maritime Area Regulatory Authority, MARA, right through to An Bord Pleanála; when the designated maritime area plans, DMAPs, will be up and running; and when we will have a system that is fit for pu…

We have formulated our society, industry and economies in a particular way, which it would not be unfair to say is anything but sustainable. It is about increasing what we can all get and use. There was talk about going back to the time of our grandparents. I can think of conversations had in the 1980s about "waste not, want not" and if we had more consideration for the likes of those things that we would have laughed at as kids we would definitely be in a better place than the consumer society gone mad that we hav…

How can we ensure that children, people and families can have access to a No Wrong Door system in the context of being able to access the autism therapies and assessments they require? This needs to happen, because we know there are silos in operation, particularly in the context of primary care, children's disability network teams or CAMHS. People are not worried about where they access the service, once they can access it. We all accept that there is an issue in regard to workforce planning and that positions rem…

This is another situation where we are largely supportive of the legislation. We will all make some of the same comments such as justice delayed is justice denied. We must ensure that we have a system that is not only fit for purpose but that also responds in the swiftest way possible. If there is a need for leverage for the particular mechanisms, such as the compensation provided for in the Bill, we must ensure that we have a system that works in order that it will not be necessary to pay compensation. We have had…

I add my voice to the issue relating to the lateness of the leaving certificate results. It impacts on such institutions as Dundalk Institute of Technology, DKIT, in being able to offer positions to those coming from the North who may already have their offers of United Kingdom Accreditation Service, UKAS, positions. We need that to be dealt with. I also have a question in regard to children’s autism services. We know we do not have the speech and language therapists, the occupational therapists and the psychologis…

Public liability insurance is a significant issue for those involved in adventure tourism, community centres and community organisations, many of which are facing possible closure. They are very lucky if they can get ridiculously high premiums. When will the Courts and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022, which will address the duty of care and occupiers' liability, be dealt with in the Seanad and enacted? We need IDA Ireland and others to bring more players into the market. We then need to ensure we can…

What of the public liability insurance?

Will the Taoiseach give some sort of information on what we are hearing regarding the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, talking about flotels being used to house refugees? I was going to ask what engagement happens on ensuring we have the resources from an education and health perspective across the board but, on hearing about that, it takes precedence.

What is the position with hotels?

We have crisis and chaos in some of our hospitals and across our health service. We have staff who are under severe pressure doing their utmost to keep the show on the road. Patients are on trolleys. There are record cancellations of appointments and the ensuing increasing waiting lists. All these issues affect people with real lives and families who are watching their suffering. I will relate some of their real-life stories. A 73-year-old woman who has been having problems with a suspected prolapsed womb for appro…

The Irish people have not moved. They are utterly committed to what we might call military neutrality or non-alignment. They are committed to that position. We are shown respect across the international scene as a fair player and a moral authority on the basis of our neutrality and non-alignment. It is also on the basis of our history of being the colonised rather than the coloniser. It is also fair to say that during the brutal invasion of Ukraine by Russia, when others started talking about weapons and all the re…