Micheál Martin

Nobody is happy with this. I am certainly not happy with it and I know the Minister is not happy with it. The Minister is meeting with the board and the HSE regarding these issues. The two further reports, one of which is about dysplasia, need to come in. The three reports will be assessed in totality. We need - over time because we do not want to create any further disruption - to get to the bott…

A lot of progress has been made and that does not get acknowledged. The HIQA report is a good report insofar as it clearly lays out what happened. What happened was wrong. It was incomprehensible. I said that yesterday. It is beyond belief that one would insert devices into a child that are not CE approved. It is very hard to comprehend that. That is unacceptable. In terms of spinal procedures mo…

First, we will implement the recommendations of the HIQA report. Second, there is a task force on the broader issue of paediatric spinal surgery headed by Mark Connaughton with which the Minister will meet tomorrow. In terms of governance issues, we will engage with those from now on. Instead of waiting for further investigations we will proactively look at the structures and governance framework …

We will meet and the Minister is open to meeting and engaging with the advocacy group. We would like to work through these issues with the advocacy groups and give our perspective as to what would lead to more immediate and quicker results that everybody wants in relation to all the issues the Deputy outlined in the question.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue which is very serious. I would make the overall point, and I do not want to go into the history of provision, that there has been dramatic exponential growth in the level of investment and provision both on the education side, in terms of special needs, and on the health side. On the education side, it is much more clearly to be seen in the transformative …

I do not disagree with the Deputy at all. I agree with him that there is an issue with the budget going in and the services coming out. That needs to be constantly interrogated. There is no question about that. I am chairing a Cabinet subcommittee meeting on disability and we are establishing a disability unit in the Department of An Taoiseach to work hands-on with all the various Departments and …

Aontaím leis an Teachta go bhfuil géarghá ann i bhfad níos mó infheistíochta maidir le huisce a dhéanamh sna bailte beaga ar fud na tíre, go háirithe sna háiteanna iargúlta. Níl aon amhras ach go bhfuil easpa infheistíochta sna bailte beaga ag an mbabhta seo agus tá drochthionchar aici sin ar chúrsaí tithíochta agus ar an infheistíocht go ginearálta. I agree that there is a very significant issue…

I refer to our engagement with Uisce Éireann, and I will be meeting with it. Given the scale of what is required in the country, we have to be a bit more innovative as well. It is not on that 132 houses cannot get built or are waiting for years for connection. I know there has been a resistance to the private sector developing some of these systems and I understand why, by the way, because in the …

I pay tribute to the family of Sean Browne for their advocacy and for pursuing this case to seek justice and full transparency and truth surrounding it. In my engagements with the British Government, both as foreign Minister and now as Taoiseach, I have already sought an inquiry. The Court of Appeal has ruled and I think that the British Government has to respond to that ruling. I hope that we c…

First of all, I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. Yesterday, in response to a similar question, I condemned unreservedly the Israeli airstrikes on Gaza. There has to be an independent, prompt and thorough investigation into the killings of 15 emergency responders. As far as I am concerned, they were murdered. The UN Secretary General, António Guterres, tweeted about the matter this morning. …

That is the ESRI, figure, as Deputy Hearne well knows. All Members will be aware that a figure of 50,000 homes a year was identified as being required over the next five years. Very few of the Opposition Members identified how to get there. The tenant in situ scheme does not build houses.

Yes, but it does not build houses. Let us not conflate the two. It is important to prevent homelessness but that scheme does not build houses. The focus has to be on how we get houses built faster and as quickly as we possibly can. I note that Deputy Hearne is quoting Sherry FitzGerald. When the Government used similar private sector bodies last year to identify projections, his party subsequentl…

I am absolutely focused, however. As far as I am concerned, it is a crisis. Young people need to be able to afford to buy houses and be able to rent houses at affordable prices. That is the Government's agenda and we have already allocated an additional €800 million in the first two months of this Government over and above what the provision was for housing.

First of all, I listened to that interview from Kate this morning on "Morning Ireland". It was absolutely horrific what Kate had to go through. The behaviour of those involved was beyond any comprehension that such violence and violation of a young woman could happen in modern society. We have to deal with that on a whole-of-society level, through programmes in education, through the social, perso…

I want to pay tribute to the previous Minister, Deputy McEntee, who did a lot of work in this area over the past number of years. The current Minister, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, is absolutely focused on this and will be hosting a national forum on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence at the end of March.

I will ask the Minister and I will engage with the Deputy on that.

It is on the way.

It is on the way.

I know Newport. I have visited Newport. It is a beautiful town. When a treatment plant is on the way there should of course be full engagement with the business committee or the people living in the town, through the various structures, to identify the progress that has been made and the timelines. This is what Deputy Lawless's question is about. I will check with Irish Water. Deputy Lawless is sa…

It is in a lovely corner of the town. There is a lovely café there with the little manufacturing unit for the black pudding there also. Am I right?

That is a fair point. For some time I have been hearing Deputies in the House articulating the problem with the delays in getting driving tests, which are crucial for people seeking a job. For the want of getting a test they can be stymied and undermined in this respect. I will speak to the Minister about what we can do in the interim. I appreciate Deputy McGrath raising the issue because it is a …

I thank Deputy Brennan for raising this issue. There was what was perceived to be a big breakthrough two or three years ago when the then Government allocated substantial funding to enable the first-ever agreement between unions and employers in respect of childcare and a JLC was established. I take Deputy Brennan's overall point. Compared with primary education we are still not anywhere close in …

I accept fully what Deputy McGreehan is saying. The existing sustainable rural housing guidelines date back to 2005. The national planning framework fully supports the sustainable development of rural areas. The updated rural housing guidelines are being prepared by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. We are looking at the guidelines to change them and make them more amenable…

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue, particularly on national slow down day. I do not have an up-to-date position on where the working group is at. I will talk to the Minister about the Deputy having raised this issue and will ask him to come back to her directly on both issues, namely, the technology and the working group. We are losing too many lives on the road. We changed the dial signifi…

I thank the Deputy for raising the matter. Flood relief schemes are taking far too long. There is a structural issue in terms of permits and various planning procedures. All across the country the delivery of flood relief schemes is snarled up. There are planning objections, and while people can object, it is taking far too long, with judicial reviews. It is serious because climate change is now. …