If Deputy Gould could give me the details on that I will follow up. Emergency accommodation-----

-----is there for that particular reason. If people have nowhere to go, regardless of their income, and they require State emergency accommodation, that should be made available to them.

As the Deputy knows, we have had a number of announcements from technology companies in Ireland about global redundancies. This has had an impact on Ireland but, in most cases, the percentage impact here has been considerably less than the percentage global reduction because Ireland continues to be a favoured location for many technology companies. In the cases of the redundancies that have been announced in Ireland, of course there are statutory obligations with regard to notice periods and redundancy payments. In…

We had a discussion on this at Cabinet yesterday and my understanding is that the census figure for vacant properties is 167,000 but the actual, real, likely figure for vacancies, given the fact that many people are simply away from their property when the census form comes in or do not fill it out-----

I ask the Deputy to hear me out. My understanding, and the figure we were given by the Department of Finance, is that approximately 57,000 is the real figure in terms of habitable vacant properties right now. However, when looking at the different exemptions that are in place for the tax, for example, works going on, the property being up for sale or stuck in probate, and a whole range of other things, the actual number of vacant properties that are habitable - not derelict properties - and that this tax is likely …

Having been in the Department of Foreign Affairs, I know how complex and difficult some consular cases can be. I will raise this issue with the Department and remind officials of the urgency of the case the Deputy has raised.

As the Deputy knows, this Government set up a task force to look at the potential of the Shannon Estuary. My understanding is that in the next couple of months its report will come in. I have met that group on more than one occasion. It has a fantastic chairman who is very ambitious for the Shannon Estuary. A big part of that report will be around offshore wind and redeveloping the Shannon Foynes Port, which is going to involve hundreds of millions of euro in investment to make it ready to assemble some of the larg…

That was a lot of questions. I am not sure how much time I have to respond to them.

Maybe 17 minutes. As Members know, I am quite interested in the energy debates. These are serious questions. Obviously, the Government is watching closely where energy prices are at now versus international wholesale prices. We see petrol and diesel prices at the pump, for example, falling to their lowest level in a number of years, which is a good thing, and likewise in regard to home heating oil and gas into people's homes. There is always a delay in passing on reduced wholesale prices but we will make sure that …

As we have discussed many times in the House, individual cases often require individual answers. There are both local authorities and housing bodies with significant funding from the State there to work with families in vulnerable situations. From what the Deputy said, this is a very vulnerable situation - five children and very stressed parents, and one of the children with a disability, facing real concerns around an eviction notice, which I assume is a valid eviction notice.

Many of them are not, by the way.

We learned from reports this morning that up to half of eviction notices are not valid and should be challenged. If this one is then of course we have an obligation through the housing departments of local authorities primarily to try to find accommodation and solutions for cases such as this one.

I wish first to recognise the role of the Deputy in building that connection with the Irish diaspora throughout the world when he was Minister of State with that brief. He made a significant impact. He and I discussed many times the commitment that the Government has made to extend voting rights to Irish people living abroad for presidential elections. I am still committed to this. It is part of the programme for Government. It requires a referendum, of course, which is not straightforward. In some ways, we have be…

Nobody is being persecuted here. My understanding is that the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage will give guidance, if it has not already, to local authorities in this space regarding the planning considerations involved. In some parts of the country the role of Airbnbs is particularly important, particularly this year when many of our hotel rooms are not available for the tourism season. In other parts of the country where there is inappropriate short-term letting of premises that should be avai…

Of course they do. The State needs to continue to add more and more special needs places as well as special needs assistants and increased staff in schools and other educational settings in regard to autism and indeed other disability areas as well. I am quite familiar with that from my constituency and some of the pressures we are trying to deliver on. I will have to get the Minister of State to come back to the Deputy on the specific geographic area of Dublin 15 he referred to. I will raise it with the her and ge…

If I were to take that question I might be upsetting the plan here somehow, so I will leave it to the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne.

I want to give a clear message that if someone has a political issue they want raised in terms of the availability of certain books and content within books, there are ways in which they can raise that without intimidating children and staff who are simply doing their job, normally linked to a local authority running library services that are fantastic across the country. My children use the library service a lot, and it is no place for protest and intimidation. I will raise this with the Minister with responsibili…

I am familiar with the pressure CAMHS are under in my part of the country as well across Cork and Kerry. We have seen a significant recruitment effort to bring in the skill sets needed to help young people who need that help. In most cases funding is not the issue here. It is about getting the people we need and the challenges we face in recruiting people with the necessary skills that are in demand across this country and across many other countries as well. I will ensure the specific issues the Deputy has raised …

That is a very tragic case and I am more than familiar with many cases like that. That is why, from a homelessness perspective, the support the State needs to give is more than simply accommodation, though that is of course hugely important, but it is about other support structures like healthcare, advice, counselling and supports for children too. We have dramatically increased the financial support for that range of services over the last few years. We need to continue to do that while people are in emergency acc…

Deputy Paul Murphy's question is a fair one. The Government has given a commitment in this space and that needs to be followed through now. I will try to get the detail from the Minister for the Deputy. It is a fair question and many people are waiting for that detail. On the question on the 30% tax rate, this will be a topic of debate in the build-up to this year's budget. As the Deputy knows, in last year's budget there was a big focus on widening tax bands to try to give middle-income earners a break. These are …