I join with the Deputy in acknowledging the ruling from the High Court in Belfast issued earlier today by Mr. Justice Colton. It is a long ruling of approximately 200 pages but it seems positive from the perspective of the Irish Government, which wants to work to ensure that all families get justice, which is what they deserve. Officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs are in close contact with organisations assisting the plaintiffs in this case. Many families in Northern Ireland stand to be impacted by the …

What we will do for Kylie Ann, children right across the country, parents and families is get this back on track. We saw the progress that could be made in 2017. We saw the fall in wait times, the extra children getting their services and the Ombudsman for Children's report welcoming some of that. We now have an extra €19 million. There are additional staff. I am very clear on that. There are 193 more staff and a new theatre due to open. New diagnostic equipment, an MRI scanner, is due to come on stream in Our Lady…

Hang on a second. I am not planning on doing that at all, to be honest.

With respect, as Deputy Cairns said in a reminder to the House yesterday, "Show me your budget and I will tell you your priorities". I have here Sinn Féin's alternative budget. I ask the Deputy to direct me to the page that references scoliosis, spinal surgeries or any additional funding. This Government is absolutely determined to deliver for these children. It is working night and day. There is a task force in place and engagement with the advocacy groups. Consultant surgeon David Moore has been appointed to head…

I thank Deputy Cairns for raising this important issue. I will begin by paying tribute to my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, for the leadership he has shown within Government throughout this process. This deserves to be commended. Yesterday was a significant day. The Deputy rightly acknowledged that Government MEPs voted in favour of the nature restoration law in the European Parliament. I am sure she noticed that the main Opposition party's MEP voted against it. That is of particular importance to…

Just because someone does not agree with you it does not mean they do not accept the science. I am a Minister for science, for the record.

I very much accept the science and we very much accept the advisory structures we have set up. We very much accept that the challenges and targets which have been set are really difficult. I very much accept that every day, every week and every month it requires the Government to do new things. If we take agriculture, for example, as an area that has a significant focus on it-----

No, I accept-----

It would be lovely to answer it. The Government is absolutely bound by the targets and is working to achieve them. Do I accept the targets are extraordinarily challenging? I do but I am pointing out that in this House it has been said, for example, that farming will never reach its targets. This is not true. We are seeing emissions from farming and agriculture drop. We are seeing farmers do their bit and make the difference. We are seeing investment in technology through Science Foundation Ireland to help farms in …

I thank the Deputy. I hope she is asking a question to which she knows the answer is that we are not dragging our heels. The commitment we have given to the people of Wexford, to the Deputy and to the people of the south east is real. It is very real because we have invested an awful lot of money in it already. To be crystal clear, it is our intention to develop a state-of-the-art campus in Wexford. As the Deputy knows, we, and specifically SETU, have been working very closely with the local authority to try to sec…

I am a firm believer that having access to a university in your county and community makes a real difference. I met a number of the students at the Wexford campus. Similarly to the Deputy, they told me that they could not have accessed third level education were it not for the provision of a campus in Wexford. We must now ask what more we can do in Wexford and what the benefits would be in terms of foreign direct investment, job creation and playing into the strengths of the south east, complementing the work in Wa…

At the outset, I will call out and condemn what happened to the Deputy’s constituency office. I am thinking of her and her staff and would encourage anyone with information to come forward to the Garda in Offaly. It was an utterly despicable act that should be called out and condemned by all. I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. She has made a number of constructive suggestions and interventions on it. The first action we need to take is to make our health service as safe as it can be. That requires…

I assure the Deputy that the HSE, the Department, the State Claims Agency and, I believe, the Department of Finance are represented on the group chaired by Dr. Mahony. I have the terms of reference with me. The group will assess why the costs of claims are continuing to rise, develop a plan to implement risk management, recommend measures to address patient concerns, and receive updates on the implementation of recommendations that were set out in previous reviews of the law of tort. Fundamentally, the group needs …

I thank Deputy Doherty for raising this very serious matter. I spoke to the Minister for children this morning. He was in contact with the CEO of Tusla, Ms Kate Duggan, today. My understanding is similar to Deputy Doherty's, that Tusla has put in place a new internal compliance unit. The purpose of this unit is to enable it to examine evidence from providers of special emergency accommodation that their staff have Garda vetting and adequate qualifications. It is so important that we have that compliance structure w…

I thank Deputy Kelly for raising the issue. I am somewhat familiar from our time engaging on this in my past roles of the importance of the Nenagh community nursing home and the construction now being completed at the facility. Obviously, the State has invested significant funding in trying to bring this project forward. I will ask the Minister for Health to come back to the Deputy directly and to note his very serious concerns.

I will ask the Minister for Health to provide the Deputy with a further update and to liaise with the HSE chief executive on the matter.

I thank my colleague Deputy Whitmore. It is an issue we are both familiar with in our constituency, as are many Deputies across the country. I welcome, as the Deputy does, the review of the school transport scheme which came to Cabinet yesterday. It is the largest review of the scheme since its establishment in 1967. We both acknowledge there are some good things in it relating to expansion of the current eligibility criteria, current operational challenges, charges, grants and how it can move to a better integrate…

I note Deputy Barry's support for a "Yes" vote on both questions. I believe it is really important that we pass both of these referendums, which will take place on Friday week. A "Yes, No" vote would leave the sexist language about women in the Constitution. We are trying to place a value in the Constitution with regard to care. The Government already has a very active programme of work under way with regard to people with disabilities. We have given a commitment in recent days about implementing the optional proto…

I thank Deputy Berry. The first thing that I hope is on the minds of everyone in this House and people right across the country is a need to see an immediate cessation of violence, of killing and the horror the people in Gaza and of Palestine are experiencing. It remains the position of the Irish Government that there needs to be an immediate cessation of violence and of course the release of all hostages. I think Ireland has shown real commitment when it comes to humanitarian aid. The Tánaiste obviously announced …

I know the Deputy well enough to know she does not like wiffle waffle. I do not know the answer to her question but I will take it back directly to the Taoiseach to point out that she raised the matter and to see where the status is.