I apologise if I lost my temper earlier. I am a great believer in the conventions that rule this House, which are agreed by all, and there is a long-standing convention here. During Covid it changed, but post-Covid I thought we would revert to the Minister distributing his speech among colleagues so we have an opportunity to parse the words of the Minister in real time. It is unfortunate this is the second time this has happened on this issue, and that is a matter of record. If I drill through the verbiage we have …

How many local authority requests have been made to date under the Department's building acquisition measure to tackle vacancy and dereliction in rural Ireland?

I thank the Minister for her answer. I note the fact that it seems to be increasing from 29 properties to a prospective number of 35. That is testament to the success of the scheme. The reason I pose this question is because in my own constituency and specifically my hometown of Mallow, we have a hotel which has lain derelict for many years now. It is called the Central Hotel. It was a hub of activity but has sadly gone to rack and ruin. The question that arises in my mind is whether there would be scope, if the co…

The fact that the Minister quoted a precedent and an actual example in Boyle gives me some grounds for hope. The Minister of State will also be familiar with the Central Hotel. Buildings like that which become so derelict are in private ownership. There does not appear to be any clear intent by the owner or owners of the property as to what their intentions are for the property. The local authority and the taxpayers have spent a fortune on the upkeep of what is a derelict building in terms of safety measures and va…

I very much want to be associated with the Ceann Comhairle's words in respect of the two Ministers of State. We will hold them to account but we always seek to be respectful in doing so. I will go back to the Labour Party motion tabled last week, when we specifically raised the issue of assessments of need. I acknowledge the fact the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, gave a commitment in respect of assessments of need when she stated: If that is not done by 1 August, I will take to budget what the Labour Party ha…

I wish to speak for those families who cannot get access to respite care particularly when their child attends a special school under the patronage of an education and training board, ETB. The case of Julie Anne Cunneen and her 16-year-old son Liam was highlighted on the "This Week" programme on Sunday. Liam attends Carrigaline Community Special School. He cannot get access to respite services and neither can other students of this school. Cork ETB has no direct access to overnight respite services and no direct ac…

Well done.

Some of the Taoiseach's own colleagues want to do it as well.

We have just been talking about services.

Do not forget Cork.

I am sharing time with Deputies Kelly and Howlin. I welcome the debate. I am from Cork and I recognise the Port of Cork as strategic infrastructure that could deliver for the island of Ireland in terms of phase 3 projects, in particular, for floating offshore wind. When I look at the maps for the broad areas of interest, three copies of which I have to hand, many of those waters are less than 80 m in depth. I worry that in phase 3, there may not be the ability to facilitate floating offshore in such waters. Will th…

When we all speak in this debate, we speak for people who are decent. What I have witnessed in my constituency in the context of people coming in, whether under international protection or from Ukraine, is an overwhelming sense of decency and an outpouring of charity and of wanting to help people who have come to our shores seeking protection. I have witnessed that at first hand in my hometown of Mallow, where I live. It is a town where, for many years, we have welcomed people in and people have integrated. We have…

No.

I ask the Minister for Social Protection if she has had regard to a report by the Irish Hospice Foundation on the real financial impact of bereavement and, if so, her views on it. I thank and pay tribute to the Irish Hospice Foundation, which recently provided an Oireachtas briefing in which it highlighted its study on the importance of supports for people who are bereaved.

The Minister is correct; the report covers a broad array of subject matters. There is one recommendation, however, where there is a clear articulation of the view, through the surveys that were carried out, of the need to provide greater signposting regarding, in particular, access to the supplementary welfare allowance for funeral costs. That resonated with me because all of us, as public representatives, are proactive in assisting our constituents to access the supplementary welfare allowance for funeral costs, b…

I thank the Minister. Even having this interaction with her is one way for us to highlight the issue. I acknowledge the campaign, although I have some issues with it given it was effectively a cost-of-living crisis campaign for working families in the main. Nevertheless, while I have some reservations about what I perceive to be the centralisation of services, we all acknowledge it must move online and there is no question about that. I still fear the gradual and slow diminution of the CWO service, but that is for …

I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Butler, to respond to my query in respect of what I perceive to be the lack of special school places, and school places for children with additional needs in the north Cork area specifically. I raise this issue on the basis of the fact that parents have been in contact with me to say there is no certainty for their children in the north Cork area. I refer to the Mitchelstown and Fermoy areas specifically. While there is a willingness on the part of…

I thank the Minister of State for her response because it is the first time we have a real metric and set of figures in respect of north Cork, which is to be welcomed. I appreciate and acknowledge that a new special school will be allocated for Carrigtwohill. I am not striving for perfection here but I have a slight worry. We seem to accept the fact that children have to travel long distances to get to school of a morning when they are trying to access a special school. I reiterate my call for consideration to be g…

I support the motion. I will talk specifically about Mallow General Hospital, which is categorised as a level 2 hospital, but in our minds in north Cork, we think it is somewhere between level 2 and level 3 in terms of what it delivers for the people of the region that I represent. In 2007, we in Mallow underwent quite a difficult process, prior to people like myself ever being in government, where the sword of Damocles was hanging over the accident and emergency unit there. We sat down and we figured out what it w…

-----but to be fair to the man, he has always delivered for the people of Mallow through Mallow General Hospital. We have seen the outworkings of his efforts in that regard. We have had to push back on him on numerous occasions but I want to acknowledge that he had the best interests of Mallow at heart.