That is okay too. I am not saying that there cannot be future housing development on that site and as part of a planning permission for that site that cannot involve social and affordable housing. They are genuinely different points. Deputy Murphy raised the apartment and duplex defects scheme. I need to get him a note on that because I do not have the information to hand. My understanding is there was a meeting between the Minister, Deputy O’Brien, and the LGMA in recent weeks on the issue of interim funding and w…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 16 to 18, inclusive, together. I was delighted to host the child poverty and well-being summit on Thursday, 23 May in Dublin Castle. I welcomed the former UK Prime Minister and Chancellor, Gordon Brown, who shared what he had learned from his experience of reducing child poverty rates in the UK in his keynote address. My colleague the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O’Gorman, also gave a keynote address. Children’s participation was an impo…

I thank Deputy Alan Farrell for raising the school meals programme. This is fundamentally important in tackling child poverty and child hunger but it is also a measure above and beyond that for all parents. It is an assistance in respect of both cost and convenience. People are time poor as well. It is also enables us, because we link it to our healthy eating guidelines, to make sure a child is getting a healthy and nutritious meal too. It has been a great success. We will have an ability to roll it out to all prim…

I move: That Dáil Éireann approves the nomination by the Taoiseach of the Minister of State, Deputy Jack Chambers, for appointment by the President to be a member of the Government. I wish to inform the House that the President, acting on my advice, has accepted the resignation of Deputy Michael McGrath, as a member of the Government. I also wish to inform the House that I and the Government are nominating Deputy Michael McGrath as Ireland’s next member of the European Commission. I intend to assign the Department …

I thank the Ceann Comhairle. At his invitation, I want to begin by acknowledging the passing of Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh. It is with the heaviest of hearts that I, like people across this country, today learned of his death. The word "legend" gets used too often in Ireland but, for Mícheál, it is a word that is almost not good enough. His voice, his colour, his excitement, his love of sport and his turn of phrase were often as exhilarating as the action he was describing on the pitch as the audience held its breath…

There absolutely is. It is one I take very seriously. It is a responsibility I do not shirk from at all. To touch on some of the issues the Deputy raised, in the case of an enlisted member of the Defence Forces, I am told that, following a conviction where imprisonment or a suspended sentence is awarded or an appeal has been heard or not submitted, the process for discharge commences upon receipt by military authorities of the certificate of conviction. What does that mean? We need to start speaking in plain Englis…

I thank Deputy Cairns for quite rightly raising this issue. I also thank her for her words in relation to the Minister, Deputy McGrath - who I join her in congratulating - and the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers. I want the Deputy to know that we do not just say, "Never again". Never have I uttered those words. What we need to do is to adopt a zero-tolerance approach in Ireland when violence does occur. Violence and attacks and brutality will happen. How our systems respond, how they are victim-centred, how they…

That is not fair.

Fair point.

I am absolutely furious about what has happened in this country - just to be very clear. There is nobody in this House more disgusted than anybody else. Nobody. I am not just a Taoiseach. I am a father. I am a son. I am a husband. Everybody wants to live in a country with zero tolerance, and nobody suggests zero tolerance is some sort of slogan or platitude. Zero tolerance is the cultural change we need to bring about in this country. It requires every single person in this place, in the Judiciary, in the Defence F…

At the outset, I want to say I am sorry for getting a bit passionate in the last answer, but I think everybody in the House is just so angered. I thank Deputy Cairns for raising the important issue. I thank Deputy Murphy for highlighting this issue relating to the RTB. I know she is highlighting a broader issue but if she wants to send to my office the details of the case, as an example of some of what she describes as the dysfunctionality being experienced by people using the RTB, I will be very happy to take a lo…

I will do my best. First, I remind Deputy Murphy that I, too, am a Deputy. I have been elected by the people of Wicklow on three occasions and I am grateful for that. I do not need the media or anyone else, with the greatest respect to them, to let me know what the issues in my community are, and neither does anybody on the Government benches. The constant suggestion that those outside political parties are more in touch will be tested in due course with the electorate. We will see how we all get on. We take these …

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I very much enjoyed his tribute to Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh. The idea that listening to a match on the radio was more enjoyable than watching it on the television probably captures the essence of many people's experience and memory. Everybody, or certainly most people in this House, wants to see a balanced approach to rural housing. The Deputy is pointing to people who are doing their best to put a roof over the head of their family, son or daughter and provide for themsel…

I thank Deputy Danny Healy-Rae. I will ask that the points the Deputy has made are fed into the consideration being given to the Minister for the updated rural housing guidelines, which are currently being prepared by the Department of housing. The draft rural housing guidelines set out the relevant planning criteria to be applied in local authority development plans for rural housing and that is based on the high-level policy framework set out by the national planning framework. We will have a new national plannin…

If it is any consolation, I often feel the Business Committee seems to be one of the most important things around here. I thank the Members who have raised a number of issues. I thank Deputy Bacik for raising the very serious issue of gender-based violence. I fully understand and comprehend that women are exhausted, fed up, angry and frustrated. Her suggestion regarding the issue of suspended sentencing has real merit. Trying to find a vehicle to consider how best to explore that is likely to be the role of the Jud…

I am happy to be helpful. I said what I said not because I do not care, but because I do. We cannot have a debate in this House on an individual case where legal proceedings may not yet have concluded. It is a different matter if the House would like to have a broader debate on gender-based violence, a zero-tolerance strategy and the likes. That could be raised at a meeting of the Business Committee and the Government would respond positively.

I join Deputy McDonald in expressing sympathy on the sad and shocking news of Tommie Gorman's passing. As she rightly said, there will be time to pay more wholesome tributes in due course. I met Tommie in recent weeks at Sligo Rovers, his beloved football club, and at the European Movement Ireland event that the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, was at. Tommie made an incredible contribution not only to broadcasting but also to peace on this island. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis. I know everybody is in a state of shock…

I note the High Court judgment. SIPO is an independent body established by the Standards in Public Office Act 2001. How it proceeds in respect of any individual matter is a matter for the commission. It is important that the commission is independent of Government and the Oireachtas. It will need to respond to the findings of the High Court in the context of how it wishes to proceed. More broadly, there is a commitment in the 2020 programme for Government to reform and consolidate the ethics in public office legisl…

No member of my parliamentary party has a conviction for domestic, sexual or gender-based violence. If they did, they would not be in it. The Defence Forces need to adopt the same approach. I am so proud of the men and women who serve in our Defence Forces. We need to have the zero-tolerance culture embedded in everything we do. We to set up a tribunal of inquiry to investigate the serious cultural issues there. I take the point the Deputy makes about the regulations, and I will liaise with the Tánaiste, who is als…

On the issue of information, there are liaison people, community liaison teams, community engagement teams-----