Micheál Martin

I refer to the clerks, security staff, cleaners, catering staff and all who quietly go about their business and create what is essentially the community that underpins our nation's democracy. I also thank all the TDs in the House. We may differ on matters - we do not agree on everything - but I believe we are all here for the right reason, which is to advance the interests of the people of this co…

As for judging any government, there is a whole range of issues and I will get back to some in the supplementary response.

We are doing more for children now in terms of our investments.

Deputy McDonald did not want us to do targeted measures for child poverty in the budget, but we did it.

That is a bit silly. The bottom line is that we are prioritising children and we want to do that. It is accepted that there are issues facing children in this country, but we provided for a major 20% increase in investment in disability services. As the Deputy knows, we are now developing a new education therapy service, which will be transformative. It will start in special schools early in the n…

A total of €3 billion has now been invested in special education, and rightly so. It will continue.

The Deputy has identified a number of issues, ranging from public transport and the M50 to road safety. For me, the latter is the most significant issue. There is very significant traffic congestion on the M50. It is a vital piece of national infrastructure. Growth in our economy and in our population has added significantly to the traffic. Overall levels on the M50 have grown by 11% since 2019. T…

An Garda Síochána will be very active over Christmas in particular. It is conducting a dedicated road traffic enforcement operation throughout the Christmas period, which began on Monday, 1 December and will continue until Monday, 5 January. The Deputy is correct. Investing in better and safer roads, continued enforcement of the law and increasing the allocation of gardaí to front-line duties are …

From the Deputy's perspective, that is the short-term popular answer, is it not? All that would do would depress supply. The fundamental answer to homelessness is supply. The Deputy's party has never got that. All its proposals, in my view, would actually depress supply and reduce it. That is the fundamental difference between us. I am not going for the short-term popular thing, to ban this and al…

They are great old slogans. Dusting down the old policies: it is all just rhetoric and jargon.

The Deputy is saying we keep doing the same thing. We have built over 50,000 social homes, or delivered over 50,000. The new plan will deliver 72,000. That is substance.

That is building houses. You are not leader yet, Deputy.

That is real substance. We are building houses. We need to build more and build them as fast as we possibly can.

That is our approach. It is something I initiated back in 2020. We have resurrected social house building in this country through the local authorities and approved housing bodies. We have also leased and acquired housing for the social housing portfolio.

We need to develop affordable housing as well. We all know we need to get to 50,000 per annum overall in terms of house building and 60,000 if we can. That is the answer to it.

We are intervening and have been intervening all of the time. Local authorities are intervening all of the time-----

----- and exiting families from emergency accommodation.

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I know that a number of Deputies in his constituency, including Deputies Ryan O'Meara and Michael Murphy, have also been focused on this. This is a project we have been endeavouring to progress. I know the last Minister for Transport was probably not as enthusiastic about road construction as others, and the idea was possibly bypasses and so on.…

I again thank the Deputy for raising this important issue and confirming that the Minister is relatively positive and optimistic about the continuation of funding for the section from Cahir to Limerick Junction. The Deputy made an important point, which sometimes gets overlooked when it comes to road construction, about the road safety dimension. That is critical. My understanding is that Tipperar…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I know he has been a long-time advocate for health services in the Limerick region, in particular in light of the huge challenges that have faced acute services in the mid-west. I join him in paying tribute to all the staff working in our hospitals in the mid-west under difficult circumstances. The Government's decision to support the Minister's memo tha…

On the ambulances, we want to continue to improve and revamp our ambulance service. It is a national service. It causes a lot of challenges for the public and people generally in trying to understand the methodology or framework governing it. We will continue to engage with the National Ambulance Service, particularly in respect of its manifestation and how it works in the Limerick region. The is…

First of all, there is huge uncertainty as to when that vote will be taken. It was meant to be taken last Friday and was not because, as the Deputy said, a number of countries were anxious that it be postponed. The Deputy referenced Italy and France. The Irish position has been that we have been working with like-minded countries in respect of Mercosur, in terms of-----

-----first of all making sure there are substantial safeguards, which have happened. The situation has changed since last year. What the Commission has now brought forward is different. That has to be acknowledged. The European Parliament voted for the additional safeguards. We said we would continue to work with like-minded countries on this. We have concerns with this agreement.

To get the best outcome for Irish farming.

I acknowledge what the Deputy said. There is a challenge here. There is a shortage of pathologists all over Europe. It is a significant challenge. I know the Minister is doing everything possible to try to deal with the situation and the challenges that have arisen from this. He will continue to use every lever that can be used to ensure we can cover and provide the service that is required.