It is good to hear that a number of horse projects are being looked at nationally, but the problem is the horse project in Cork was talked about ten years ago. It has been in the pipeline and it seems to be stalled. Will the Minister and his Department look to push this forward? Cork city and county councils initially came on board and, to be fair, people such as Valerie O'Sullivan, who was on Cork City Council at the time, really tried to push this. However, we need a champion for this horse project and horse proj…

The final part of my question was about funding provided for the Control of Horses Act in Cork in 2022. The same year saw an 80% cut in funding spent on the control of horses compared with 2017. Only €1,895 was spent in 2022 whereas €11,000 was spent in 2017. This can be seen on the ground, with horses that are not being cared for and some cases of unbelievable cruelty against these animals. My office is contacted by people who are crying out for the control of horses and enforcement of the Act and refer to graphic…

There are major issues with our court system at the moment. Delays have had a massive impact on everyone involved. Is it any surprise when this State has an average of 3.27 judges per 100,000 people compared with an EU average of 17.6 judges per 100,000 people? I want to explicitly discuss delays beyond the District Court and the Circuit Court. The family courts deal with safety orders for victims of domestic violence. They are often sought under extremely difficult circumstances and when situations are at crisis p…

I send my support and solidarity to everyone who has been forced to sleep on the streets in this State because of this Government's continued mishandling of the crisis in accommodation. We believe this is wrong. We know it is a direct result of poor Government policies. These failed policies are now attempting to pit the most vulnerable in our society against each other. There is no excuse for leaving those who are fleeing war to sleep on the street. The Government cannot continue to leave vulnerable people in this…

We face a perfect storm in our health service: a lack of community care and increasing pressure on already overburdened hospitals. In the first three months of the year, in Cork hospitals almost 6,500 beds have been lost because of delayed discharges. This has led to 1,900 cancellations in hospitals and that figure does not include CUH. Each one of these is a human being suffering because of the Government's and Minister’s inability to do their job. I am supporting a constituent who for three and a half years has a…

Will the Minister provide an update on the review of the maximum grant allowed under the adaptation grant schemes?

I thank the Minister of State for his response. In November of last year the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, gave a commitment that the review would be published at the end of 2022. Where is the review? It is now six months late and we still do not have it. Two days ago the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, said he was looking at the review. The Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, now says he is looking at it. Everyone seems to be looking at it but people are not getting it. Last year there was a budget of …

While we are giving commitments, will the Minister of State give a commitment that once the review is announced, both the funding and the thresholds will be increased for this year? To give an example, Wicklow County Council found that five of the 11 possible adaptation grants under the mobility aid grant are now priced at a standard above the threshold. Cork City Council had to return €500,000 of the €1.5 million it received because, and this is my reading of it, local authorities do not have the extra funding to …

That is what is happening

To follow on from the point made by Deputy Boyd Barrett, the local authority in the area where I live, Cork City Council, does not build extensions for people and its criteria for housing allocation are very tight. I am dealing with a number of families. One man has a notice to quit and the house he is in is not fit for his family. Local authorities should be able to build extensions or convert attics so that families do not go on the transfer list. Cork City Council does not do that. As a result, hundreds of peopl…

I thank the Independent Group for tabling this important motion. There is real fear among people about attending emergency departments because they are looking at spending nights on trolleys and long waiting times in overcrowded emergency departments. In 2022, more than 12,000 people waited on trolleys in Cork University Hospital. As for the Mercy University Hospital, its emergency department is in prefabs and Portakabins and has been for the past couple of years. How can it be right that a hospital would have its …

What about Germany?

The Government is just the Tory Party.

If the farmers start a party, the Government will be in trouble.

It is today they cannot give it, not next month or next year.

The Minister cannot-----

Be honest.

It is-----

We are in favour of it, but the Government should have delivered it six months ago when it was supposed to-----

I ask the Minister of State to rein in his party's councillors in Cork, if he knows what he is talking about.