Deputies O'Dowd and Duffy said they want to protect renters of indefinite duration. If they support this Bill, they will not be doing that.

I support the thrust of this question. The one thing we have learned from Covid is that we are going to do things differently. We have seen that young people need supports, particularly after Covid. Unfortunately, we could be living with Covid for a long time, so we need to enhance facilities, schools, GAA and soccer clubs. I have noticed in my community that many of the youth facilities finish at 5 p.m. and do not operate in the evenings, at night or at weekends. That is when young people need to be engaged with. …

As the Minister will probably know, today is International Day of Persons with Disabilities. I want to know how he plans to address the slow pace of implementing progressing disability services, and children's disability networks. I want to know how he plans to address the challenges this presents for parents of children with disabilities. Finally, I ask him to make a statement here on the matter.

Last month, figures were released to me that show the following: 853 children await occupational therapy in Cork north Lee in my own constituency; over 200 children have waited two years or more; and some children have waited three and four years. I have also had it confirmed for me that out of the three funded occupational therapist positions in Cork north Lee 1.5 persons have been on maternity leave since June 2020 and 0.5 of a person has yet to be recruited. This means that for the past 18 months one occupationa…

The Minister of State made a point about a reduction in the backlog of assessments of need for children. They are getting their assessments of need done, but then there are no services. I am dealing with families who have had no services for their children for years. We are talking about the children's disability network teams. I am dealing with a mother who is doing a 12-week course to educate herself to enable her to provide occupational therapy to her son. The course is a good idea for that parent, but not as a …

I ask the Minister what the status is of the new elective hospital in Cork.

I apologise to the Minister but I am looking for the status. I am looking to see where we are.

The Minister is saying he received a proposal in September. This is December and it still has not been approved. This is urgent. A site should be specifically set out in the PBC. Why is there a delay in announcing it? It should say where the potential site is. Where is the information for people? I ask that this hospital be based on the north side of Cork. The people of the north side have no hospital. Fianna Fáil closed down the North Infirmary. Fine Gael closed down St. Mary's Orthopaedic Hospital. I am asking fo…

What is being proposed is 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. from Monday to Friday.

We know the figures in CUH and Mercy University Hospital are at crisis point. We have people on trolleys and waiting lists. This is not just about Cork wanting or needing a hospital. Hospital services are at crisis point in Cork. This hospital has to happen. It was proposed that it would be operational by 2024. There is no way I can see that happening. I am asking the Minister a direct question. Does he believe that this hospital will be operational by 2024? This is a commitment given by his Government, his party a…

Will it be delivered by 2024?

A commitment was given to 2024. I am looking for an answer on that.

I commend my constituency colleague, Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan, on bringing forward this Bill. It is vitally important that we make medicines as accessible and affordable as possible. We need to remove barriers to medicine and this will be a positive step in the right direction, albeit not the final step, in achieving this. Given my portfolio, the epidemic of crack cocaine comes to mind when talking about orphan drugs and new medicines. A great deal of work is being done at the minute to find a pharmaceutical treat…

Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan bringing forward this Bill today shows that action was not delivered. I hope the Minister for Health will finally deliver for people. I know people who have been waiting years to get the drugs they need on the reimbursement scheme. I congratulate my constituency colleague on bringing forward this Bill.

This is a huge missed opportunity. We were optimistic that with this Bill, the Government would finally tackle the issue and support renters. In the past four weeks, 14 families have come to me with notices to quit, which are really eviction notices. In one day in my clinic, which is held every Monday, five families came to me with notices to quit. They will become homeless in the new year. Where in this Bill is the protection for families like that, when landlords say they are going to sell a property or that they…

Last night, the Minister was asked about HEPA filters in schools. He pointed to opening windows and doors. Teachers have contacted me. I was sent a photograph of a teacher who was teaching in a school last week and it was 3°C in the classroom. The Government was asleep during the summer and for the past six months when filters and CO2 monitors should have been put in. The whole area of area filtration in schools should have been tackled. For 12 months we were told schools were safe, but then at 6 p.m. yesterday eve…

I will let the Minister of State in first.

This was actually discussed on Committee Stage, was it not? We were expecting it to be corrected. We have to be very conscious in anything we publish and any Bills we pass going forward. I should not say "going forward"; we should always have been conscious in that way.

There are serious concerns over mining, extraction and exploration. We know there are companies out there that want to take advantage of our marine environment. That is why it is key that this Bill puts the protections in place to ensure that cannot happen. Sinn Féin has taken the position that no more fossil fuels should be extracted. We talk about climate change. We have to get away from the use of fossil fuels. That is why we have to be very sure about what we are putting into this Bill. We talk about climate ch…

The Minister of State made the point that it is not believed that mineral extraction and mining will happen in the near future until the data are there and until we know more. That is very vague. Maybe I am picking the Minister of State up wrong and he can clarify this for me, and I hope he can, but putting something in the Bill to deal with something that might happen down the road - it may be a decade or years away; we do not know - seems to me very loose and very open. Deputy Boyd Barrett made a point about deve…