I am glad the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, is doing an excellent job, as, of course, is the Government on many issues and we look forward to putting that case to the people in due course. On the important point that the Deputy has made on national parks, the progress that has been made and the need to look at legislative underpinning, I will speak directly to the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, as will the Deputy, I know, and the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, and we will revert to the Deputy.

I cannot do so but I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter. I will raise it with the line Minister and get an up-to-date answer for the Deputy on the date.

I share Deputy Carthy's view that we should have statements in this House next week with Palestinian representatives and with the flag flying. I note that the Ceann Comhairle has indicated that is his intention, and I welcome that fact. There will absolutely need to be justice and accountability in respect of the atrocities and the humanitarian catastrophe that is unfolding in Gaza; of that, there is no doubt. The immediate priority for the Government and for all governments and all peoples has to be for an immedia…

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. When it was raised with me recently, I committed to reaching out to some of the doctors and oncologists concerned who have voiced views on this as I would like to hear from them directly. We have allocated significant resources for additional new medicines in 2021, 2022 and 2023 and this has seen the introduction of 61 new cancer medicines. A further €30 million is available this year. The total spend on cancer drugs in the past three years is now over €600 million. This …

I share Deputy Tully's view that the staff are excellent and I also share her view that there are not enough of them. The relatively good news is that we have just completed phase 1 of a recruitment campaign into our child disability network teams which will see more therapists, more speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and physiotherapists. We are about to see the HSE launch a second phase of recruitment. I will get the Deputy a note on what that should mean for Cavan.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 8, inclusive, together. The Cabinet committee on social affairs and public services, which oversees the implementation of programme for Government commitments in the areas of social policy and public services, was re-established when new Cabinet committees were put in place following the appointment of the new Government in April. The committee last met on 20 November and will next meet on 4 July. It covers a range of topics, with a particular focus on equality and public servi…

I do not intend to rerun the referendum campaign. I have no doubt that people engaged in good faith on a variety of sides.

I was going to make a point with which the Deputy might agree. The issue of providing clarity on legal advice during a referendum campaign is important. When I was the Minister for Health, there was a referendum campaign on which the Deputy and I were on different sides. However, we had a précis paper that allowed me to share with the Dáil in some guise the legal advice that was available to the Government. There is benefit in that approach to informed debate. I make that as a separate but somewhat related point. O…

I know the Deputy has an interest in Meath. I am conscious of the fact that particular parts of the country have experienced significant population growth. Those areas include Meath, Kildare, my own county of Wicklow and others. I am concerned about the fair distribution of Garda numbers as we grow them. I will ask the Minister for Justice to give a view from the Garda Commissioner.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 9 to 13, inclusive, together. The Department of the Taoiseach prepares progress reports on the delivery of measures committed to under the climate action plan. These progress reports provide a detailed breakdown of completed and delayed actions and are published online, once considered by Government. The final progress report relating to the Climate Action Plan 2023, CAP 23, was published on 5 March last. It provides information on actions that were due to be completed in quarter 4 …

To respond to Deputy O'Rourke, yesterday the Government considered the climate action plan for 2024 which has now been published. Next year we will begin the process of the allocation of the unallocated emissions. We have given consideration, and the Minister, Deputy Ryan, has shared this with the House previously, to a number of ways this can be addressed, including technology. I am very happy to exchange further information on this in terms of where our thinking is at. I will also get Deputy O'Rourke a direct tim…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 14 to 17, inclusive, together. As the House will be aware, the ongoing conflict in Gaza and the situation in the Middle East is of great international concern. The phrase "ongoing conflict" does not in any way capture the scale of the humanitarian catastrophe we are now seeing in Gaza. Since my election as Taoiseach, I have had many discussions on the situation with my international counterparts. The issue was discussed at the special meeting of the European Council in April, when l…

The first thing I want to say, and I am very conscious of it on a day like today, but it is important to say this, is that what happened on 7 October was an horrific terrorist attack. It was a massacre of people at a music festival. We have seen people who were killed, assaulted, raped, taken hostage, including children, including an Irish-Israeli girl. We should never forget that, brush over it or jump over it. The impact that had on the people of Israel, on their sense of security, should never be underestimated.…

I am very pleased that we have an opportunity today to discuss one of the largest and biggest social issues we face in this country, which is the housing challenge and making sure everyone in Ireland can have a roof over their heads, the young generation can aspire to own their own homes and parents can see their adult children move out of the box rooms in their homes and into homes with the security and certainty that brings for them and their futures. It is important to say that any fair analysis of the situation…

Then, take actions. That is a good idea too, Deputy Collins. Does the Deputy know what the Government will do this week? It will publish the report. What the Opposition might do is read the report. Then, we might come into this Chamber and debate the report to see how we can actually make more progress. This Government is making progress when it comes to housing supply and homeownership. This Government is putting in place plans, schemes and incentives that are helping hundreds of couples every single week to buy t…

We are standing here today in a vastly different place when it comes to housing supply from where we were only months ago, and in a very different world when it comes to housing supply from where we were years ago when my party first came into government, which Deputy McDonald referenced.

We should not misrepresent what the Housing Commission was asked to do. The Housing Commission was asked to come up with recommendations about how to move forward with housing. That is what we asked it to do. We asked it to come up with recommendations. It has done the work and we thank it for that. We now consider the recommendations. The first thing we should do is publish the report. That will happen this week, and then the Government will respond to the recommendations. I find it peculiar, when a Government ask…

It is important to be fair, as the Deputy generally is. The Minister for housing, I believe, received this report on 8 May. That is 13 days ago, so let us not say that people have been sitting on reports for weeks. That is not fair.

It was 8 May, which I think was 13 days ago. Deputy Bacik's party has been in government. When one gets a report of over 400 pages, 83 recommendations and over 500 actions and subactions, one generally likes to consider them, work with one's team and develop responses. I do not think that 13 days is a long period of time to elapse. This is what a responsible Minister would do. We will publish the report this week. It is important that we publish the report because - I say this with respect to the Deputy - she asked…

First, we are not waiting for any targets. We have a target for this year. It was always very clear what the target was going to be for this year.