Micheál Martin

That is a fair presentation. I will talk to the Minister for justice, reflecting on what the Deputy said. There is an absence of consequences within that space before formally referring people to the juvenile justice system - which we are reluctant to do, to give young people a chance - and, on the other hand, ensuring people cannot just behave with abandon and no consequences. I take the Deputy's…

I thank the Deputy for raising this very important issue. The Government accepts there are genuine maintenance backlogs in terms of roads across the length and breadth of the country, particularly in south Kerry and Kerry more generally. We have allocated additional money to Kerry County Council for the regular maintenance of the network. In respect of the Killarney bypass, I tend to call it the …

It is the Cork-Kerry economic corridor. The Macroom and Baile Bhuirne bypass has been extraordinarily transformational environmentally, on public health grounds in terms of the air, on a road safety basis and also in terms of access and opening up Kerry to the economy of the wider hinterland right across the south west. Cork people are always anxious to benefit Kerry people as much as we possibly …

I am sure the Minister for public expenditure, who is sitting beside me, has heard the plea that the boys of Barr na Sráide once again be able to walk newly paved streets and a regenerated town for the benefit of the entire country and all who visit.

It is very hard to keep up with the poetic qualities of Kerry Deputies. There are a lot of allocations going on at the moment, including €1.8 million to the N70 Creamery Cross to Kenneigh phase 2 paving scheme that is under way, the Blackwater Bridge to Sneem project, the Waterville to Ballybrack project and improvements to the N72 between Tralee and Dingle. A total of €13 million-odd has been all…

The testimony of Paul Guy has been very impactful. As I said earlier to Deputy Bacik, who raised this question on Leaders' Questions, it is very traumatic for families generally with loved ones in nursing homes but particularly for the Guy family. Legislation is already in place to deal with what happened in these nursing homes. We do not need new adult safeguarding legislation to deal with what h…

It was abuse. We have a regulatory authority and legislation there. A lot of work has been done in the past year on adult safeguarding, the policy is near completion and there will be legislation. What happened should not have happened and there are already laws there to deal with it. Implication and oversight are required.

Quite a significant number of economists, along with the Housing Agency, are saying that measures taken by this House in 2021 restricted supply, so a lot of people are saying there is a clear need for reform of the rent pressure zones. The vast majority of commentators have said that. The key objective is to protect existing tenants and create certainty so that if someone invests in the future, at…

There is a lot of evidence already. The Deputy can read the Housing Finance Agency's report and other reports. The Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, has said this as well.

Deputy Bacik wants to keep the existing system going forever. The legislation ends at the end of the year so, therefore, we have to give a period for the introduction of new legislation.

It is a very serious issue. The National Shared Services Office, NSSO, is responsible for payroll for civil servants and officeholders. The Minister has commissioned an external audit to go into the NSSO to examine in a much more comprehensive, forensic and detailed way the issues that have arisen. There needs to be further validation of what has emerged, particularly in terms of the 13,000 civil …

It is not the central issue about this legislation.

Deputy O'Gorman asked a question so he should have the good manners to listen to the answer. It is not central.

If it is included or extra, the Deputy should not make it central because, fundamentally, the impact of the Bill will be symbolic. About €600,000 worth of goods alone in the past six years-----

The Deputy is not going to listen. I am saying that the figure for goods over the past six years was €600,000. The Minister is examining that aspect of it in terms of services. The Deputy knows as well that the legal ground here is extremely narrow anyway. I read the entirety of the Attorney General's opinion about this and it did not change fundamentally from the opinions of previous Attorneys Ge…

I do not know. I do not deal with the operational practices of An Garda Síochána. I do not intervene in those. I was very surprised to see this. This is not Government policy but I will revert to the Deputy and ask for communication to be sent to him. I will talk to the Minister for justice about this.

The sufficiency of the number of gardaí across the country, in Cork city and county in particular, is an ongoing issue. As of 31 April, there are 1,281 gardaí working in Cork city and Cork county. Of these, 664 are assigned to Cork city and 616 to Cork county. Since 2015, more than 300 probationer gardaí have been assigned to stations in County Cork, including seven from attestation in March and f…

I appreciate the Deputy raising this very serious issue for the community. As he says, the services were delivered in clinics located in the corridor that was part of the designated centre, I believe, and the residents' environment. This necessitated restrictive, controlled access to the community nursing unit and resulted in restricted movement for the residents. As part of the compliance plan fo…

I thank the Deputy for raising this. I appreciate that the school is open to and wants to develop a special class. That is good because some schools are less proactive in respect of this, so I appreciate the efforts by the board. The school will be kept under consideration, I understand, for a special class for 2026-27. I will talk to the Minister of State, Michael Moynihan, who is with me here. A…

I think we will need a regulatory framework governing drones. We have to have a common-sense approach to the use of drones. Did the Deputy refer to 300 food deliveries?

We have to examine all of that because that potentially clearly leads to significant congestion, security issues, safety issues, noise issues, amenity issues and the need for physical activity. There might be certain cases where people need such a service or it could be effective if you are infirm or elderly. I can understand that. The Deputy has raised a lot of issues. We need a policy framework …

Again, I will work with the Minister to raise the issue the Deputy has raised. Obviously, there is a very extensive school building programme. There was a need for additional capital to be allocated to education. The Minister for public expenditure has agreed with the Minister, Deputy McEntee, and that capital has been allocated now. Hopefully that might result in further completions this year, bu…

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. EnergyCloud is a significant community-based organisation providing a significant service to the community, to the public at large and to the national effort. If he can send that to me, I will forward it to the Minister for climate.

We will look through the detail and get the Deputy a comprehensive response.

I was in Galway recently. I met the county and city managers. I have agreed to meet both of them for a more detailed discussion around development issues-----