I thank Deputy Doherty for raising the question on children's disability services. I want to begin where he began by welcoming the special rapporteur from the United Nations for the occupied territories to Ireland and thank her for her work. With a representative of the United Nations in our country, I want to join with all Members of this House and with the Secretary General of the United Nations in expressing our deep sadness and shock to learn of the death of a United Nations Office for Project Services staff me…

I am not rowing with Deputy Doherty today. He seems nearly disappointed that I am saying I am going to resolve the matter. He is right to highlight this issue. He is right to call on us to resolve the issue, and we are going to do that. I am not going to stand up and defend something that cannot be defended. A scheme was announced in good faith, people applied, and the funding now needs to be provided. The HSE has a level of funding that is almost eye-watering, and €8 million is a rounding error. The idea that that…

I thank Deputy Bacik for the common-sense suggestion she made regarding a briefing for the Opposition. I apologise but with various international travel and the like over the last while there has been a bit of a lacuna. I suggest that on Monday we have that briefing for Opposition parties either with me or, if my diary does not allow, with senior officials because we need to get that flow of information going. I am very happy to do that and to come into this House to keep it regularly briefed and to put a structure…

I, too, welcome that. On the occupied territories Bill, my office was in touch with Senator Black yesterday to arrange for me to meet with her. I will come back to the Deputy once that has happened. In the vein of controlling what is within our control, and we can talk about this more when we have our briefing and engagement, it is imperative that we look at what is within our control and what continues to bring jobs and investment to this country, such as competitiveness, refocusing on costs, improving the stock o…

I thank Deputy O'Callaghan for raising what is one of the most serious issues we face in the public service and in the lives of children with disabilities, namely, access to therapy provision and the process they go through to gain that access. To be clear, the waiting lists for assessment of need are far too long. This is having a significant negative impact on the lives of children and their families. I accept the point the Deputy has made and I believe it is the right one, in that we need to look at the system. …

That is a fair question but the Deputy would rightly ask me a different question if I came in here and said the State was going to contest the cases, as that would not be a compassionate or decent approach to take on this issue. The law is clear on the 2022 High Court judgment. I am saying three things to the parents. First, we need to reform the system, potentially including the law, and the Minister, Deputy Foley, and the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, are looking at that. Two, we need to move beyond parents…

That is not what I am saying.

We are not.

I am so sick and tired of the Deputy misrepresenting my position and demeaning all that we do as sweet words. I would really love - I am not sure I would actually - if some time she were in Brussels with me at some of these meetings where we are working extraordinarily hard on these issues. She could ask any other member state, or indeed the Israeli Government, if they feel Ireland is not taking action to support the people of Palestine. She asked me not to talk about what we have done in terms of recognition so I …

Sure, the Deputy does not trust me.

So dismissive.

It is not in our name.

It is a disgraceful slur. It is not in our name. How dare you.

The Taoiseach is entirely correct to meet representatives of the Jewish community, as do I. Antisemitism is disgusting and despicable. There are hostages who have been taken from the people and families of Israel and they need to be freed. The carry on of Hamas is utterly despicable, parading children's caskets like some sort of sick, twisted act of propaganda. Hamas needs to be condemned and we here in this Government will always engage proudly with the Jewish community at home and abroad but we will also speak th…

We condemn it. If the Deputy wants to talk about genocide, read our submission to the ICJ.

It must be exhausting for Deputy Connolly to think she alone carries responsibility and care for this. We care passionately and we are acting. I am proud of the actions of the Irish Government, and so are many people across the country and so is the government of Palestine.

That is just objectively not fair or true. The Government is committed to further reform of the insurance sector. We have demonstrated this with clear commitments in our programme for Government and in developing a new action plan for insurance reform that would build on the actions delivered in previous reforms. Since the establishment of the Injuries Resolution Board, we have delivered direct savings of more than €1.26 billion in avoided legal fees through the assessment service where these awards have been accep…

-----and 95% of the actions were delivered by the previous Government under the action plan on insurance reform. That included the strengthening of the Personal Injuries Resolution Board, rebalancing the duty of care, the establishment of an insurance fraud co-ordination office and the introduction of the personal injury guidelines.

No, we are not.

I thank the Deputy. I am sure it is a proud day for him to have his former students from St. Joseph’s Secondary School in the Dáil. Déanaim comhghairdeas leis and I welcome them. I will follow up on those two issues with the relevant Ministers in regard to the progress on the new school build for St. Joseph’s Secondary School and how we can move that forward and expedite it. Second, I will talk to the Minister for Transport, Deputy O’Brien, regarding the bus capacity issue both for the students and commuters in his…