Micheál Martin

Where is the Deputy's plan?

Chancer.

No.

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I recognise that this is a very sensitive issue. There are a range of opinions and perspectives in this House and, indeed, among the public. The people voted to repeal the eighth amendment in 2018 and to provide free, safe and legal access to termination services. We have made a lot of progress since then on the implementation of the Act. I am aware of the…

First of all, councils have not been gutted.

That is a ridiculous statement and a stupid statement to make.

There have been very significant investments made. There has been very significant allocation of resources to local authorities.

There has been very significant allocation of resources to local authorities and we have increased funding on a whole range of fronts. The bottom line is we are moving to Revenue to impose a tax. A lot of work has to be done to do this properly. That work is under way and will be resourced. It is very important that we do this with good precision and we do it comprehensively. I believe that this m…

-----and the Deputy cannot use the lazy excuse of resources.

First of all, I agree that every fatality on Irish roads is one too many. For well over a decade or two, we had seen dramatic reductions in road fatalities and injuries, but in the last number of years, post-Covid in particular, there has been an incremental increase with some moderation of that. We have a clear road safety strategy. Progress has been made to deliver on phase 2 of the action plan…

There are three points. First, we are acutely aware of the pressures and anxieties in families in relation to a number of drugs pertaining to rare diseases. There was good news last week in terms of the HSE drug group approving givinostat and sending it forward to the senior leadership group, which will now consider it. Hopefully we can get this progressed as quickly as possible. There are other d…

The Deputy was a long time a councillor. He knows the intricacies of this more than anybody does in terms of the application and enforcement of derelict site levies. There has been very significant progress in Cork in terms of housing. There needs to be more and we need to do more but in terms of the housing schemes that have started, been developed and are continuing, particularly along the dockl…

I thank the Deputy for raising what is a very important issue for many people across the length and breadth of the country. We have a target for 2026 of 26.7 million home care hours. Additional hours will be delivered through a mixture of public and private provision, with a focus on addressing persistent waiting lists in certain areas of the country. Preliminary data shows that as of 31 March, 6.…

I thank the Deputy for raising this very important issue. I will raise the points he made regarding Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore with the Minister for Health as to whether there are specific issues there. There is a lot of work under way in terms of development of surgical hubs, the National Treatment Purchase Fund expanding its programme in regard to particular specialties - the public-onl…

I will raise this issue with the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, and the Minister for education, Deputy Naughton, in respect of that new school for Balbriggan. I do not have the specific details here, but we are working flat out to get as many places available through classes and new schools as quickly as possible to make sure pupils have places in September.

There were about 15 questions there but I think the Deputy started with the 199 Bray to Glendalough route, which I understand is a significant issue; other Deputies from Wicklow have also made that point to me. Obviously, there has been a significant expansion in transport services in recent years, with considerable public expenditure allocated to it. We are continuing to look at other services th…

Aontaím leis an Teachta. Tá géarghá go dtuigeann na daoine a bhíonn ag obair Domhnach is dálach go mbeidh faoiseamh le teacht. I am confident that in the forthcoming budget we will have a comprehensive framework to try to programme decisions on tax and other areas to help middle-income and low-paid workers with their tax burden. We have significantly reduced the tax burden for the low-paid. In pa…

We need to be careful on all fronts in the sense that the Minister fully recognises the critical role played by the legal profession in the effective administration of criminal justice. There is no intention here to reduce the cost to the State of providing criminal legal aid. I will just point out that expenditure on criminal legal aid in the District Court has nearly doubled, from €19 million in…

I will raise the issue with the Minister. Garda vetting is an important mechanism but, from my understanding, the legislation provides for or obliges repeated securing of vetting for different functions or roles. There is a case to be made for some streamlining of that. If a teacher or escort, for example, receives Garda vetting, then I take the point that there is a need to look at whether they s…

Is it that the existing service has been closed?

I will raise the matter with the Minister to see if any intervention can occur there.

I welcome the raising of the issue. There has been work done and the review is under way, as the Deputy has said. The Minister for energy has engaged with the Minister for housing on this. One Department has the responsibility for the planning statement under the Planning and Development Act but the energy Department has significant responsibilities here as well. A further public consultation proc…

I appreciate the Deputy’s raising the issue. It is a very serious issue and it has dragged on for a number of years between different Departments and Government agencies. I have intervened. I spoke with the National Park and Wildlife Service to see if it could take a stronger role in terms of the Curragh because it is an important landmass in itself. The Department of Defence has obviously had a k…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 23, inclusive, together. I joined leaders in Cyprus for an informal meeting of the European Council on 23 and 24 April. The main focus of this meeting was to discuss the geopolitical situation including in the Middle East and Ukraine, and to discuss the next multi-annual financial framework for 2028 to 2034, which is essentially the next European Union budget…

The first question was from Deputy Malcolm Byrne. The additional staff in the Department of foreign affairs are focused on the Presidency and that is why they were recruited. As I have said before, it will mean a very significant additional workload all round but the Government is absolutely determined to maintain its focus on the domestic agenda, both within the Dáil and in terms of policies and …