Keep going, because if the Minister of State waits for the translation system, he will be waiting.

We need to stress that planning permission was given. It is the same operable planning permission for Inis Oírr in 2008. This is 2021 and I have to stress that this pier is incredibly dangerous, because of overtopping and because boats cannot tie up safely in the severe winter weather. I ask the Minister of State to clarify whether after getting the foreshore licence it will take nine months to do the tendering. Has he a timeline for when he expects contractors on site? The fastest thing in construction nowadays is…

On that basis, we will not have the pier in 2022 and we are talking about 2023. I am just trying to get clarity.

The Minister of State is giving a good indication that it will not happen before 2022.

I thank the Minister of State and I appreciate that.

Ní raibh.

Níl aon chluasáin ann.

Go raibh maith agat.

I move: That the Bill be referred to the Select Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage pursuant to Standing Orders 95(3)( a ) and 178(1).

It is utterly wrong and unjustifiable that this directive was passed in Europe on 5 December 2011 and we are here now, in 2021, ten years later, having been prodded by the European Commission by way of referring Ireland to a European court for not implementing this directive. I cannot understand the reason for or the logic of our representatives going over to the European Union agreeing directives if they have no intention of implementing them. Maybe we agree to too many directives but if one agrees, one should the…

Is údar díoma dom nach bhfuil agam ach seacht nóiméad. Cuireann sé iontas orm nach bhfuil ach an méid sin ama agam chun Bille atá 247 leathanach ar fad a phlé. Tá i bhfad níos mó sa Bhille ná fuinneamh gaoithe. Tá an fuinneamh gaoithe thar a bheith tábhachtach ach tá go leor rudaí eile ann a thiocfaidh chun cinn de réir mar a bheidh an Bille seo á phlé. Beidh tionchar ollmhór aige seo mar baineann sé le chuile shórt sa bhfarraige ón leibhéal lán-mara. Is é sin an leibhéal a bhíonn ag an bhfarraige nuair a bhíonn an…

This question relates to the number of people admitted to direct provision since January 2020, the number who have left it since then, and the independent living arrangements that have been made for those who remain in direct provision in line with the programme for Government. The Minister might let us know what is happening in this regard and whether the numbers are going down.

Would I be right in believing that the number who entered in the past year and a half is lower than in previous years? Am I correct that the number leaving has been matched by the number coming in? I would have believed that there was an opportunity in the past year and a half to radically reduce the number in direct provision, no matter how good that provision is. I recognise the progress being made, particularly on independent living but not so much on own-door facilities, although I acknowledge 33% have own-door…

I am very disappointed to hear the Department of Justice could not do what the rest of us had to do and continue processing the applications. Most of these processes lend themselves to being completed online. All sorts of services have been provided very effectively during this period. It seems cruel that people are being retained in direct provision because of the inability of the service to deal with the applications. I wish the Minister all the best in his meeting. When will the Minister have the number or what …

I ask the Minister, in respect of the accommodation arrangements made for applicants for international protection in Galway City and county who are working as front-line workers during the Covid-19 pandemic, whether he will make a statement on the matter. This is a matter which lies somewhere between the IPAS and the HSE but it is the ultimate responsibility of the international protection system.

The Minister seems to be saying that these applicants for international protection, because they have become front-line workers, are no longer the responsibility of his Department and are purely the responsibility of the HSE but has the Minister insisted that the HSE provide these applicants with suitable accommodation because I have received complaints as to their accommodation, particularly taking into account that these are front-line workers providing front-line services in our country?

On 19 April 2021, a virtual meeting was held with the Oireachtas Members, the ambulance campaign group in Conamara and the National Ambulance Service, NAS. The clear understanding of everybody at the meeting is that a report was to be prepared on the optimum location of an ambulance waiting base that would be located centrally somewhere in Conamara. On 13 May I tabled a parliamentary question which received a reply stating the matter was referred to the HSE and the NAS. I asked when the report on the optimum locati…

Does anyone ever feel they are going backwards at an alarming rate? During the term of the previous Dáil, people came out from the National Ambulance Service to look at a location in Conamara and, at that stage, there was really no question but that a base was needed. The idea that it does not have bases such as this and that, while waiting, it moves an ambulance into a central position is incorrect. It has a number of those in County Mayo, for example. The problem with Conamara is this. If the National Ambulance S…

There is a Government Deputy other than the Minister present.

Just the one, yes. There are two of us present out of a party of 37 Deputies. Deputy Barry can work out the percentage. There are not many Deputies in general present in the Chamber. I thank former Senators Colette Kelleher and Grace O'Sullivan and Senator Ruane for introducing the Bill in the Seanad. I thank the Ceann Comhairle for agreeing to set up an Oireachtas joint committee to deal with issues relating to the Travelling community when he was asked to do so by former Senator Colette Kelleher after a discussio…