I refer to a reply to a previous parliamentary question on the same issue so I can give the Deputy accurate information. In response to a question to the Minister for Finance on the rent credit, the reply said: The intention is that, in order for a person to be in a position to claim the credit in a year: - the rent paid must be in respect of the person’s principal private residence, - the person living in the rented property themselves, or their spouse/civil partner, must have paid the rent and sufficient tax to a…

Where the parent is paying the rent the parent can claim it but the property must be registered with the RTB.

The rent-a-room scheme is covered but in general, and I presume the Deputy's party would agree with this, it is important that landlords register their properties with the RTB. This is a protection for tenants and is often sought by Members on all sides of the House.

I thank Deputy Troy for this question and for keeping in touch with me on the issue. I am very committed to making sure we deliver an EV centre of excellence at Columb Barracks, Mullingar. As the Deputy will be aware, I visited there previously. As recently as in the past two weeks, the chief executive of SOLAS visited there also and met the local education and training board, ETB, about this project and on a number of other issues. As the Deputy will be aware, the Government is fully committed to achieving our amb…

It is certainly an interesting proposal from Deputy Troy. I share his view that it is appropriate for any space to be handed over in an emergency humanitarian situation, such as these refugees fleeing from Ukraine and for people needing international protection. I am conscious that it is a very large site. I am not a terribly technical person, but I do not see this as seriously disrupting the plans there. The plans are at an advanced stage but there is still a bit of work to do in order to get to the actual deliver…

I will certainly feed that back to my colleague, the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, and to the Cabinet committee on Ukraine and the major humanitarian crisis. I visited the Columb Barracks site. We were accompanied on the visit by a local historian who took us around the site, the history of which is fascinating. It is a massive site. Far be it from me to say, but I think the right approach is to try to have a mixed-use development where we can put what was a th…

I thank Deputy Connolly for raising this matter. On Thursday, I am due to meet the new director in SOLAS of the further education and training, FET, college of the future. I may have a further update in which case I am very happy to revert to the Deputy post Thursday, but I will exchange what I have with her now. As Deputy Connolly rightly said, Galway and Roscommon Education and Training Board, GRETB, did superb work, which I acknowledge, in a very exciting plan for Galway city. It wants to establish a FET college…

I visited Galway to make the announcement on 28 November 2022. I appreciate the point that the overall fund was announced. I did not realise it was a year ago today, but there you go. It was 28 November when Galway was officially selected as one of the ten. We have now identified these ten projects. There will be more in the country, but these are the ten we want to proceed in phase 1. We do not give out the specific figure now. That is not to be difficult, but it is subject to tendering and the likes. The question…

Yes.

Money has been earmarked. The Deputy should please be impatient, because I am impatient. These ten projects are key to creating a unified tertiary system that will give Galway the last piece of the jigsaw - a traditional university, a technological university and a major modern further education and training college. I accept the Deputy's point about the year. It has been less than three months since I made the announcement that Galway has been chosen. I was in GTI on that day. I was quite blown away by what they d…

I am glad we got to this question because I am pleased to give an update. In November, I indicated to the House that my Department would prepare a proposal for the Government to consider joining CERN. Officials from my Department have been liaising with CERN regarding the total cost of membership, the application process and membership options. One option is for Ireland to join CERN as an associate member for a period of between three to five years and then assess the appropriateness of further membership options. …

I will be slightly cheeky and inform the Leas-Cheann Comhairle in respect of the previous question that the business cases are due to be completed by quarter 3. I had that information that I wished to share. Pretty much everything Deputy Conway-Walsh said is a statement of fact. I obviously cannot get ahead of the Government process. I said in November that I was directing my Department to prepare a submission for me to bring to the Government regarding Ireland's willingness to join CERN and an application to do so…

I agree. Not to stray into the Department of Education's role - there are two Departments involved - but one of the structures under Impact 2030 is to bring many Departments together that have an interest in this and for my Department to have a co-ordinating role. I will certainly feed the Deputy's comments and suggestions, with which I largely agree, back into that.

I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter and I take the point he makes about multifaceted approaches and solutions. I know he believes in community safety partnerships, diversion programmes and all of that, as do I, but we will take that as read and for another day because he is raising a specific issue, that is, the policing and criminal justice response to issues where antisocial behaviour and crime can emerge in a community. In this case he is highlighting issues in the Cabra part of his constituency…

I thank Deputy Gannon for highlighting what is an important issue to his community. More broadly, the issue of antisocial behaviour and feeling safe in one's community is one that applies to his constituency and to all our communities across the country. On Cabra specifically, I am pleased to confirm to the House that the Garda has informed me that additional gardaí have been allocated to Cabra recently and that it has the new Garda vehicle attached to Cabra Garda station. The Garda is telling me, and I appreciate …

I thank the Members of Seanad Éireann for affording me some time, and affording this House some time, to talk about the extensive work that we all are doing, and wish to do, to combat all forms of violence against women, including by changing the social and cultural attitudes that can often underpin such horrific crimes. Ending sexual and gender-based violence and abuse is an obligation. We simply must do it. There is no other option and we need a zero tolerance approach. That is not to say it will not be challengi…

I thank Senators for their contributions to what has been an excellent debate. If we thought we were where we needed to be as a society, we would not have produced a strategy that calls for a zero-tolerance approach. It is a recognition that we have a hell of a lot of work to do together. I use the word "together" intentionally. There is a role for my Department from the criminal justice point of view, which I will talk about presently, but there is also a role for every individual, which is a point that came up ti…

Not to interrupt, but I did reference my intention to perhaps put it-----

My apologies.

Do not be too disappointed.