Micheál Martin

I mentioned the extension of the free schoolbooks scheme to all students. If you have one income coming in, we all know that every September and every summer, schoolbooks, going back to school and the cost of schoolbooks was the bane of most parents' lives. That is gone, eliminated. The Deputies did not have the good grace to acknowledge that. I do not expect any acknowledgement, but they just ign…

I did acknowledge, and have spoken a couple of times today about, the elevated level of grocery prices and the impact it is having on households. Please do not say I did not acknowledge it. I did. It is the Deputy's standard practice now to make assertions that are not true. Of course prices are impacting on families and households but the taxation measures we took last year in the budget benefite…

We are looking at every aspect of cost and price with a view to getting prices down.

I assure Deputy O'Callaghan that we understand fully the degree to which this is impacting on people, households and families, but we have taken very effective measures. They include ones that even the Social Democrats did not advocate for, such as free schoolbooks, notwithstanding the position that party adopts on so many issues.

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue of primary care and GP provision. Undoubtedly, in rural Ireland in particular and in some urban areas, over recent years there have been challenges accessing a GP and getting a GP. On the other hand, there have also been significant developments and growth, particularly in terms of the number of places at third level. That has increased very significantly o…

The new programme in Galway will be specifically focused on rural GP medicine. A huge investment is going into primary care and this area.

Practices in receipt of the rural supports receive the maximum rate of practice staff subsidies, significantly reducing possible staff costs for smaller practices. They also receive the maximum rate of locum support for leave-taking. A new locum support initiative commenced in May, providing GPs in receipt of rural practice supports with access to a streamlined locum-sourcing service. The annual i…

I think the Deputy's initial instincts were correct. "Brilliant", he said.

It is rare that an Opposition Deputy would say we were "brilliant" when he got out of bed first thing in the morning.

Ireland is number one in the world in terms of participation in third level education. That is the measure of this Government's commitment to students in third level education in terms of supporting students with reduced fees over the last number of years, improving the various maintenance and SUSI schemes for students, and building more accommodation, which is currently under construction in a wh…

The Deputy said 70% of services trade with Israel.

The Bill only affects the occupied territories so I think the Deputy is conflating two different things there. The Tánaiste has asked the Attorney General for legal advice in respect of services. Obviously, there is a clear difference between services and goods in terms of tracking, tracing and manageability. It is quite a good Bill in terms of linking it to the customs legislation, which can make…

-----in terms of asking if the European Union is compliant with the ICJ opinion in respect of the illegally occupied territories, and then the EU-Israel association agreement, where we are also pushing strongly.

First of all, I would like to point out that the European Union is the single greatest donor to Palestine. It is an important point, although it never gets said.

In real terms, the most effective contributor now to Gaza is the European Union.

I am not happy with the fact that we cannot get unanimity across the 27 EU member states.

To abolish or put into abeyance the EU-Israel association agreement would require unanimity among the 27, and the Deputy knows that. About ten members-----

We have asked for a review. We asked over a year ago for a review. There may be opportunities to suspend elements of that agreement that would not require unanimity. That is being pursued by Ireland and other like-minded states in respect of this. The Deputy knows that countries like Germany, Hungary, Czechia and others have a long-standing historic position of support for Israel. I regret that, I…

First of all, I anticipate that the advices will be available to the Government as the Bill is going through. There is a pre-legislative process and that will be the first instance of this. The Deputy-----

I am saying it will be available to the Government in terms of whether we can include it or not. The Government will make its position, based on that advice, clear to the committee before it concludes. The Bill is vastly improved from what it was. I pay tribute to Senator Black for her initiative on this issue and her constructive engagement with the Government. Deputy Murphy is good at pontific…

Sorry, Deputy McDonald, why is what I said pathetic?

The Deputy has not spoken to me about this case before now. Perhaps he can send the details to me. I am not clear whether the local authority has been approached in respect of this case and whether Jennifer was on the social housing list. It should be very possible to accommodate an 88-year-old in a council house. I do not know the background but it seems to me there is an obvious solution.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue, which he has raised with me previously. I certainly am open to doing as he proposed. The Government would be very positively disposed to working on such a proposal.

I thank the Deputy for raising this very important issue. I fully subscribe to his analysis of the importance of this programme. I will liaise with the Minister for Health, who is sitting beside me, and other Ministers to see whether we can free up some resources to commence the development of a team in the midlands.

First, I did not strip Monaghan hospital of anything. It was the North Eastern Health Board that was in place at the time.