Micheál Martin

I thank Deputy Dempsey very much. I understand the case she is making. This has been a long-running scenario where successive governments have endeavoured to try to harmonise existing systems. The long-term illness scheme has survived numerous attempts by officialdom to eliminate it. However, in the past number of years, we have concentrated on reducing the level of the drugs payment scheme to €80…

Some elements of the planning and development Bill relating to judicial review have been commenced but others in respect of costs have yet to be commenced. Very significant progress has been made on that and that should be imminent. We are waiting on amendments to come to Government on that. On a broader level, Government is looking at all options, and I have asked the Attorney General and the Mi…

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue and for the manner in which he raised it. Aisling's cousins have been in touch and have emailed me. I have spoken to the CEO of the HSE. It seems again to have been a kind of historic clinical issue about a certain age threshold for the application of CAR T-cell therapy or Kymriah, which is a specific type. In any event, there is an urgent clinical review u…

I thank Deputy O'Sullivan for raising the issue. I earlier articulated our deep sense of loss on the passing of Councillor Patrick Gerard Murphy. He was a kind person who made such an impact on his community. I extend our deepest sympathies to his family. In terms of the large-scale solar farms, first of all, on the energy mix, we do need more solar. There has been a welcome acceleration and grow…

I appreciate very much the points the Deputy has made. He will recall that the national development plan, published before the summer, prioritised the energy grid. The CRU will engage with EirGrid. A combination of the two will result in investment which will probably be triple the level we had in the previous five years. That is necessary because of the population growth and the industry and hous…

The Minister has provided additional funding to local authorities.

Some of it is for tenant in situ.

I will bring the Deputy's case back to the Minister.

I engaged with the Ministers of State, Deputies Dooley and Christopher O'Sullivan, on this issue following the consultation. Legal advice was also sought. I understand a year was required to implement the policy. I will come back to the Deputy on the actual-----

I will come back to the Deputy on the specifics of what she has asked, in terms of the instrument and so on.

I understand about 170,000 children avail of services under the school transport scheme. I do not have the specifics of the case the Deputy raised but I will talk to the Minister in respect of the issue.

In response to Deputy Farrelly, there is no U-turn. There will be targeted measures in the budget in respect of children, in particular financial supports and the prioritisation of the issue of child poverty. In relation to Deputy O'Gorman, I fully accept that we have a lot more to do in terms of special education. I went through this earlier in a longer reply. We need to ensure that every child …

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 9, inclusive, together. The Cabinet committee on housing last met on Wednesday, 3 September, and will meet again in the coming weeks. The committee works to ensure a cross-government approach to the implementation of our commitments regarding housing policy. Housing supply has increased significantly over the past number of years, with almost 148,500 new home…

There are a lot of questions there. At the outset, I will say that Cork City Council has a good record generally in terms of regeneration. Particularly in one half of that Togher area, there was very successful early regeneration but, in fairness, it did not cover the Cherry Tree Road side or the Clashduv Road Flats. I would, of course, support the regeneration of those flats and, indeed, Noonan's…

Deputy Daly is also correct in terms of the development of the grid and off-site and modern methods of construction. We are driving that because that will also be key in accelerating the construction of housing. On the rezoning issue, there are legislative options available to the Minister to mandate - he has already instructed, but to go ahead and get it done - but, ideally, the councillors, wit…

It was never meant for the landlords to sell. The focus was always on tenants who were in danger of being made homeless. Examples have emerged. For example, in some local authorities, no sooner was a house acquired than enormous funds were immediately put into retrofitting it and so on. That was never the original objective of the scheme. It was to get houses acquired to stop them from being sold …

There are issues that the Minister has examined. He found things that, in our view, were not in accordance with the original objectives of the scheme. The scheme has not been shelved or dropped, as has been suggested.

Many cases were raised with regard to city councils and I tested this with one or two. In some cases that were raised in the House, they got sorted.

Hold on a second. They got sorted because the council could sort it. They are not helpless either.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 10 to 16, inclusive, together. The Cabinet committee on children and education oversees the implementation of programme for Government commitments in the area of children and education. It receives detailed reports on identified policy areas, such as child poverty, well-being and education. The membership of the Cabinet committee on children and education comprise…

Which commitment? Was it childcare?

In response to Deputy McDonald, the issue with Gaelscoil Choláiste Mhuire was a contractual one. It was not a case of the Government pulling the plug or anything like that. The Deputy and I know that. I will ask the Minister to communicate directly with her. I presume she has been in touch with the Minister for education on the matter and also on the use of Cathal Brugha Street. It is an interim s…

That is how the party goes about it.

Everything is bad.

I am not putting words in his mouth.