I thank the Deputy. I accept the Government needs to make a timely decision on this and I accept it is an issue that has gone on for many years. In fairness to the Minister for Health, she is proactively engaging on this issue. The point the Deputy makes about population is really key. He is correct that the population of the mid-west region is growing faster than the population of many other regions, including other regions that have a greater hospital capacity. That is absolutely factually correct. When one looks…

We all agree with expanding capacity. Then there is the question of whether we further expand the UHL campus but also develop it on another site - that is what it says - or, for want of a less colloquial phrase, do we start from scratch and develop a new model 3 hospital? Both options recognise that there will have to be significant new healthcare capacity above and beyond the current Dooradoyle site. How quickly we can narrow down the pros and cons of each of them is very important. The Minister will be in UHL wit…

First, I share the Deputy’s condemnation of what happened to our five Irish citizens. I have just received confirmation that Deputy Heneghan is back in Ireland. I had a brief message from him to that effect. It seems Israel released parliamentarians first. I know he is Deputy O’Callaghan’s constituency colleague. He is back in Ireland but the remaining Irish citizens will be engaging with our embassy team today. Obviously we are calling for their swift release. We believe it was illegal in terms of how they were de…

It is absolutely what I said in the manifesto and I talked about it an awful lot. Every party in this Dáil gave that commitment and we stand by that commitment. However, we have outlined a record budget for childcare of €1.5 billion. The national childcare scheme is now funded for an additional 35,000 children next year. There is a 14% increase in the number of children benefitting. In the coming months, the Minister will set out plans for a new maximum fee-cap set from next September. That will benefit people with…

We are already acting. That is why it is important that parents know. If the Deputy is saying that parents do not follow this, then I completely disagree. Let parents watching know this: the budget we just delivered provided funding for 35,000-----

The Deputy said that people do not read election manifestoes in detail but I think people watch these things very closely.

The Irish electorate are sophisticated. Funding for an additional 35,000 places has been provided. A cap will be put in place for next September for those with the highest fees. We are extending the footwear and clothing allowance for the first time to children in preschool. I am sure this is something that the Social Democrats must support but did not fund in their alternative budget. The electorate do listen to what people say in elections.

They listened when the leader of the Social Democrats promised that VAT for the hospitality sector would be set at 9% and then walked away from it.

This is because the Social Democrats do not believe that cafés in my constituency - in Greystones, Delgany or Bray - deserve the VAT cut that they promised during the election and which they are now walking away from. There is a pub-----

I can produce the image. The Social Democrats are going to vote against a measure to help with jobs in towns and villages across Ireland and I do not think that was a very good thing to do.

I will not accept that at all. I will accept that we will do what we promised the people we were going to do in the general election. Not too many of us in here, including myself, have had to lie awake at night wondering how we are going to pay the wage bill. Not many of us have to wonder that if we get sick and cannot run the café where our income is going to come from. Not too many of us have had to worry about the insurance cost of running a small business. In general, people come in here with good ideas about h…

We have very different economic ideology and I will not debate that in the two minutes available to me. As the Deputy rightly said, 75% of the businesses in the hospitality sector employ fewer than ten people. If I walked around the Deputy's constituency with him, which I would be happy to do some time, it would be a brave politician who stood on the floor of the shop, café, restaurant or pub that is opening to do a bit of lunch for the local community and tell it that everything is flaithiúlach and grand and that …

No, it would not. To be clear in case Deputy Newsome Drennan has not read her own party's alternative budget, Sinn Féin proposed this as well, so Sinn Féin is in favour of this and agrees with us on this one. The rate of 9% is supported by Sinn Féin as well, so I thank her for that support. Deputy Healy does not support it and that is his right. On balance, we think this is the right thing to do. Some 191,000 people are employed in this sector directly in 20,000 businesses. The Deputy is right, some of them are lar…

We are not going to agree on this, so no, the Government does not intend to reverse the commitment it gave and is delivering on, but it needs to be seen in context. This is an important measure to back business and jobs in regional and rural Ireland. It is also just one of a number of measures. The budget allocated a hell of a lot more to childcare, disability, education and health than it did to this measure. In addition, we have also taken very important measures to protect those most in need. The minimum wage wi…

Please do not mislead carers. Family carers deserve to know the truth and this is the truth. We have frozen VAT at 9% for gas and electricity for the next five years and we are making sure an extra 50,000 households throughout the country will benefit from the fuel allowance. We are extending the renter's tax credit. We have the back of Irish people and the back of businesses. Crucially, the measures in the budget most proportionately favour the most vulnerable in our society and that is the way it should be.

I thank Deputy Neville for raising this issue. It is fair to say he raises these issues on a very ongoing basis. Recently I was at Kildare Chamber of Commerce with Deputy Neville and the Minister, Deputy Heydon, where we had a good chance to sit down and talk with the Kildare Chamber of Commerce. What I heard very clearly from it was the growing frustration that the county, not dissimilar to my county, is seeing a growing population and infrastructure that really needs to grow to keep up with the extra population. …

I agree with Deputy Neville. It is important that local government, national government and State agencies work in partnership to try to drive forward the delivery of this infrastructure which is much needed in north Kildare. It is stark when Deputy Neville makes the point that when we look at Leixlip, Celbridge and Maynooth together there is a population of 53,000 people. As he says, it is almost the population of some cities in our country. I am satisfied the budget we have put in place has provided significant f…

I thank Deputy Doherty very much for raising this issue. I had the opportunity to visit Donegal in the not-too-distant past and I met some of the fishing organisations and fishers in Killybegs. I know what a worrying time this is for people, as do the Minister, Deputy Heydon, and the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, who has specific responsibility for the area. There is no doubt that the proposals are deeply concerning. They will significantly impact on the Irish seafood sector. Ireland has repeatedly raised the o…

That is disgraceful to hear. I am not going to endeavour to justify it. It is not acceptable. These sorts of things drive any right-thinking person absolutely berserk. That is appalling. I suggest that anybody who thinks there is not a clinical need should go spend an evening with Josh, as his family does in caring for him. I will ask the relevant Minister to follow up with Deputy Lawlor and the HSE immediately to see if we can make progress in this regard. I am very sorry to hear about this.

Deputy Hearne is captured by an ideology that believes private investment in the housing market is bad.