Every Member of this House is welcome to go to the justice committee, make contributions and put forward their views in relation to it.

In relation to the EU migration pact, there is a motion to refer it to the justice committee. The justice committee can scrutinise it. It will come back here, and the Government will give it ample time. Deputy Murphy can make her contribution both before the justice committee-----

-----and here in the Dáil.

There were a number of other suggestions for debates. I am happy to facilitate a debate in this House at the appropriate time on abortion services. We should take that issue to the Business Committee. I am sure Members will want to discuss that matter. Similarly, some of the other issues around land use and Shannon, etc., can be explored at the Business Committee. Deputy Shortall raised the important issue of long Covid payments, as well as the importance of that to the workers we applauded in this House. I am plea…

I do not have any donors. Stop it with your slurring of people.

I share Deputy McDonald's view on the importance of apprenticeships. I was very pleased as Minister for further and higher education to see the highest number of newly registered apprentices ever in the history of the State last year. That is a good thing. We have also seen the expansion of the number of apprenticeship programmes. That is also a good thing. The Deputy is right that some people are waiting too long. The numbers are now falling, though, and SOLAS has produced a plan, which I know Deputy Mairéad Farre…

I thank the Deputy.

I thank Deputy Bacik for her good wishes. I look forward to working constructively with her in this House. I really appreciate her raising this issue. I will watch the RTÉ documentary very closely this evening because I share the views and concerns that she has echoed and that the Tánaiste echoed at the weekend on the impact of social media on the mental health and well-being of our young people. We now have Coimisiún na Meán established and we have regulations and laws from Europe on digital media. We also have Cy…

I assure Deputy Shortall that I appointed people both to Cabinet and as Ministers of State based on their ability. Obviously, leaders and taoisigh can consider a variety of issues. I would point to gender. Every female Fine Gael TD seeking re-election is now a Minister or Minister of State, so that is a commitment to gender. Geography does have an important role to play in politics - it is not all just the greater Dublin area - and having different perspectives brought to the Cabinet table and decision-making table…

I thank Deputy Lowry for raising this important issue as regards carers. My colleague, the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys, has increased the income thresholds for carer's allowance such that from June a couple earning up to €900 per week and having €50,000 in savings will still be able to qualify for the full carer's allowance payment. The Minister has also established an interdepartmental group with the Department of Health tasked with looking at the area of means-tested payments to family carers…

I thank Deputy Murphy for raising the issue. I will seek an update for him from the Minister and the CEO of An Post.

I will seek an update on that situation. The Government's perspective is that it wants to increase autism classes. I do not mean this in relation to Deputy McGrath's comments but we should not just use the term "ASD" because autism is obviously not a disorder. The Government is committed to increasing the number of autism classes. I will ask the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, and the Minister, Deputy Foley, to engage with the Deputy directly.

I will, and I have because this is an important issue. There is a scarcity of specialist-trained paediatric nursing staff. This has posed significant challenges to the continuity of paediatric services at the regional hospital in Mullingar in recent years. My understanding is that the hospital has maintained the provision of existing services catering to more than 12,000 children. I think there is some positive news on this matter. An interim plan was discussed with the clinical lead at a meeting last week. Hospita…

-----needs - hang on one second - and avoid any impact on paediatric diabetes patients and their families. I will keep a close eye on this. I will talk directly to the Minister for Health and come back to Deputy Fitzmaurice directly.

I thank the Deputy.

I thank Deputy Crowe for his good wishes and for highlighting the issue of flood insurance and the challenge in accessing it for his constituents. I know this is a very real and sensitive issue in his part of the country and a number of other parts as well. Just last week, I appointed Deputy Richmond as Minister of State at the Department of Finance with responsibility for insurance. I will ask that he arrange to have an early meeting with the Deputy on this matter.

I certainly will. I have been listening to reports on this issue in the media in recent weeks. I know it is an extraordinarily frustrating situation for people relying on accessing the railway line from Galway to Ennis and Limerick. I will ask the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, to keep a close eye on the issue and to encourage the stakeholders to get on with the plan. I will come back to Deputy Leddin directly.

What Deputy Andrews will not do is slur my home town. We should not be divisive on these issues. There are real challenges regarding Mount Street; the Deputy is quite correct. There are real challenges concerning international protection, the International Protection Office being located in the vicinity of Mount Street. The Government is working around the clock to try to find alternative solutions, some of which-----

-----by the way, are in my constituency. Rather than seeking to divide the House or pit one community against the other------

-----it is the people of County Wicklow, as Deputy Whitmore and I know, who are now trying to assist in providing responses. This is about a whole-country response. I very much take the point about the need to continue to invest in the inner city. We will very shortly set up a Dublin city task force. I would welcome the Deputy's thoughts and input into that.