The Deputy is right; this is genocidal activity. There are no two ways about it. The Israeli Government is rather upfront and blunt in outlining its military and political objectives for Gaza, which are abhorrent and clear breaches of international law. As I have been saying, and as I want to continue to say, the Irish people have, through their taxes, sent a significant amount of aid to the people of Palestine. That aid has been effectively, not to be flippant, parked in Jordan for the past four months. It is enou…

I thank Deputy Ward for raising this matter. I had the pleasure of meeting the Raphoe Community Playgroup during a relatively recent visit to Donegal. It keeps in touch with me directly, as I know it does with Oireachtas Members from Donegal. I see the Minister of State, Deputy McConalogue, in the Chamber as well. I know it also keeps in contact with the Taoiseach, the Minister for children and the children's ombudsman. I appreciate the Deputy referred to more than the Raphoe Community Playgroup, but I may use it a…

I take the Deputy's point and his position with regard to the broader mica scheme and whether it can be changed. The Deputy knows the programme for Government includes a commitment to review it. The Deputy may correct me if I am wrong, but my sense of it when I meet playgroups and others affected is that they just want a solution. They are understandably less fussed on how that solution comes about, but want to know that there is a way for them to continue to provide the very excellent service that they do. What I …

Does Deputy Tóibín know why I am in my job? It is because we had an election and I got elected. Some 458,000 people gave their first preference votes to my party. An overwhelming majority of people gave votes to the parties and Independent Deputies who make up this Government. It is called a democracy. Aontú ran and got two seats. Congratulations. The Deputy does not lecture me and does not hire me, thank you very much. I answer to the people of Wicklow. They elected me with one of the highest votes in the country,…

-----of course the buck stops with me. Does the Deputy know what else-----

I am going to tell the Deputy what it means. Calm down. He asked his question and I get an opportunity to answer it. It is how this place works. The Deputy asked a question about the children's hospital. I am responsible, of course. I am responsible for bringing the proposal to the Cabinet and for recommending that we proceed. The easiest thing to do in politics if you do not want to ever get into any challenging situation is to never make a decision. Does the Deputy know what else I am going to be responsible for,…

I will just point out first of all that the Deputy is very well paid himself. This country spends roughly €110 billion on its annual budget. We made a decision to invest €2.2 billion over several years in a project that will transform children's health and deliver a world-class children's hospital that will not just serve people for the lifetime of this Dáil, the next Dáil and the one after that. Long after we are all dead and buried and gone from this Earth, children will still be being served in that hospital. Th…

Pardon the pun. Not only is this children's hospital not the most expensive in the world, as the Deputy has said in the past, but it is not even the most expensive children's hospital being built on the island of Ireland per square metre according to the budget office of this Parliament.

The Deputy can shout me down if he wants, but we are going to transform children's healthcare. The Deputy can keep correcting the homework and we will get on with doing the business.

I thank the Deputy for her question. Her taking us through that is a reminder of the scale of challenge and crises that not just Ireland but the world has gone through. If any one of these things had happened in somebody's lifetime in the past, it would have been viewed as extraordinary. We have had financial crises, the global pandemic, the impact of Brexit on our country, very significant migration flows and, of course, war on the Continent of Europe again. We are living through truly extraordinary times, which, …

I accept the challenge that Government must always do more on communication and talking to communities because if we do not, misinformation and disinformation spreads mostly by elements of the far right who come to our communities, spread their lies, spread their fear and sow division. We have all seen that happen. I, as a centrist politician, have always believed that the centre must get involved in the migration debate because otherwise we leave a vacuum that is filled often by the far right with misinformation. …

The Deputy is right to highlight housing, which is the biggest domestic challenge we face. There are many young people, both here in Ireland and Irish young people abroad, who want to see and need to see more progress made on housing. I would point out some progress has been made. The Deputy quotes headline figures which are perfectly acceptable to quote. However, of course we have put in place a number of schemes like help to buy and the first home scheme that make a real meaningful difference in the amount of mon…

I join the Deputy in absolutely condemning Hamas and Hezbollah, which offer no future positivity to the people of Palestine. That is not just my view on that; the President of the Palestinian Authority has been clear that the future of Gaza needs to be a Hamas-free future. I am also Minister for Defence. I have seen the utter destruction and death Hezbollah can bring to members of the Irish Defence Forces, and I think of Private Seán Rooney. I am conscious with regard to the British Government, recognising the sepa…

I agree with the Deputy in many ways on the description she has given of the horrific situation in Gaza, but the reason that is happening is not because we have not passed the occupied territories Bill; it is because Benjamin Netanyahu's Government is engaging in war crimes, and it needs to stop. It needs to stop right now; it needs to stop today. The aid, including aid funded by Irish taxpayers, needs to get into Gaza. I am meeting Senator Black today for a follow-up meeting on the occupied territories Bill. I fin…

I thank Deputy O'Flynn for raising this matter. I assure him that there are structures in place between our Department of Justice and the Home Office in the United Kingdom in terms of the monitoring of the integrity of the common travel area. Obviously, we do not overly discuss all of those matters publicly for obvious reasons, but I can assure the Deputy that there are very good links at official level. I would also say more broadly that the decision taken this week by the UK Government and the EU to have closer c…

I thank Deputy Ó Muirí very much for raising this issue. He is right; the rationale, for better or worse, is around state aid rules. They are intended to ensure that subsidies provided by member states operate in accordance with the same basic rule book and, in the context, grants provided under the Common Agricultural Policy are intended to support farming activity. There is a view as to whether this ends up being a double investment. If we come up from the weeds, though, the broader point the Deputy is making is …

I thank the Deputy for raising an issue that is very real and comes up quite a lot across the country. I will ask the Minister for Health to respond to her on her plans, if the Deputy wants to provide her with examples of some of the issues she referenced in her constituency. We are very committed to increasing the number of training places for GPs. We have already begun that work and the trajectory will continue and accelerate. We have engaged with GPs on a number of occasions in recent years on their contract in …

I thank Deputy Connolly, who makes a very compelling case. Any transport strategy will have to be multifaceted, as the Deputy correctly said. I will not cut across the decisions pending in An Bord Pleanála on the N6 and I know the importance of that in Galway. Regardless of what decision is made, there will still be a requirement to do more on the public transport network. We are very proud of the all-island rail review and we want to make progress on that, as well as other areas, over the lifetime of the Governmen…

I thank my colleague Deputy Noel McCarthy for raising this important issue. I can only imagine the degree of frustration being felt by his constituents in Ballyhooly, which he is giving voice to today. I am due to meet Uisce Éireann tomorrow and I will raise this issue with its representatives and come back to Deputy McCarthy directly.

I thank Deputy Daly. I have known the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, to be described in many ways, but silent is a new one on me. I will ask him to engage directly with the Deputy. I have heard about the challenge this has created, the impact it is having on the livelihoods of people and the vacuum or lack of clarity on the position. On foot of the Deputy raising this issue today, I will ask the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, to contact him directly to discuss the matter.