Micheál Martin

First, on Ghaelcholáiste Reachrann I will come back to the Deputy. He is looking for the current status and that there will be ongoing communication with the school, which should be happening, and with the parents community in particular. In the case of KRC, the Government has been favourably disposed to any applications for coeducational schools. I will certainly ask the Department and the Minist…

The Minister for Health is here but the Deputy asked me about the public inquiry. I did not jump to the conclusion. It has been a view of mine for quite some time. Of the last two inquiries published, the inquiry on Project Eagle found nothing in the end. Do not get me wrong, that in itself can be a finding, but it cost millions of euro and took years. We need to be honest with advocacy groups and…

We know the essentials in that something unbelievable and incomprehensible happened and it should not have happened. Yes, there are issues around that. We then need to deal and engage on the governance issue. Let us work through. There have to be better ways than the formula of public inquiries, which are not giving people closure or satisfaction.

I will come back to the Deputy on that.

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. It seems all roads lead to Killarney at the moment. There are a lot of requests in. I will follow that up with the county council. There are a lot of requests in from different local authorities in respect of roads. The costs of them are increasing in terms of when they go to tender and so on. There was a major investment yesterday of €450 million. I will …

I do not disagree with the Deputy. We have a problem in the Cork area. I have a well-informed Minister and Minister of State here who confirm that. Notwithstanding the fact that 24 million hours were allocated for home care packages this year, which is an increase of 7 million hours compared with four years ago, that does not help the Deputy's experience and that of people in his constituency. The…

The Minister will engage with all concerned. Curriculum reform, generally speaking, has worked well in Ireland through the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, NCCA. There have been many innovative and good and positive developments. I will talk to the Minister in respect of the issues that have been raised. I have no doubt the Minister will engage with the social partners on this matte…

Just to say to the Deputy, I am not aware of the specifics of what he has said.

I am not going to comment on individual cases, but if there is anything untoward - and the Deputy clearly believes there is - there are authorities to which all of that can be reported and properly investigated.

This is an issue with which the Department has been dealing with in recent years with regard to how one exits the unique circumstances that pertained in Covid-19. It has not been easy and it is not easy. There is no easy way to phase out the predictive grades system. I will communicate to the Minister that the Deputy has raised this issue. I have no doubt that the Minister is engaging with all con…

Táimid buartha faoin mhéid atá tar éis tarlú go dtí seo ó thaobh an gheilleagair de agus na taraifí go léir atá ar an bhfód faoi láthair. Is é bun agus barr chúrsaí geilleagair na tíre seo ná a bheith ag trádáil ar fud an domhain, go hoscailte agus go forleathan. Níl aon amhras ach go mbeidh drochthionchar ag na taraifí seo ar chúrsaí eacnamaíochta i gcoitinne agus in Éirinn. I am sharing my time…

Tá sé dochreidte an méid atá laistigh den tuarascáil seo, go raibh dochtúir ann a bhí sásta springs den saghas seo a cheadú in obráid do leanaí. Ní raibh aon cheadúnas ann. Tá sé dochreidte an méid atá tar éis tarlú. My thoughts are with the families, the three children and the trauma they have gone and are going through. It is beyond comprehension that springs which are not permitted were used in…

If I want to be blunt about it, it actually is fundamentally about decision-making within the hospital setting and within the operating theatre. Too often within this House and across the political world, we immediately go to the political domain. There comes a time when we equally have to stand up for what is right and proper, and I know the Deputy wants to, but let us call a spade a spade here. …

People talk about well wishing. It is as plain as night follows day. One does not use unauthorised devices on any child. That is at the heart of it.

First, I want to join with the Deputy in expressing our very best wishes to Deputy Boyd Barrett as he goes through treatment. We have had many a good joust in the House-----

----- as has the Deputy, as she says - and his voice will be missed over the next couple of weeks. We wish him the very best in the treatment he is about to go through and we wish him a full recovery. There is some distance to travel here yet on the issue of tariffs and trade wars. It is very serious and grave. The initial focus has to be on whether we can get this onto a negotiation pathway. The…

Whatever we do has to be financially sustainable over the long term. It is just far too early to be venturing anything on that front just yet. This is not the same as Covid-19, as the Deputy has acknowledged. Therefore, our response has to be one that is sustainable, but also we must have some sense of where this is going to settle, if indeed it settles at all. I believe it will in time and we wil…

I condemn without reservation the attacks by the IDF on Gaza, the bombing and the continuing slaughter within Gaza, in particular the murder of emergency responders that the Deputy has referenced. That has been confirmed, essentially, in terms of what happened on 23 March, in terms of 15 emergency responders being murdered. I say that without hesitation. It is quite shocking that something of this…

I will make three points in response to what Deputy O'Callaghan made reference to earlier. On overflights, there are set regulations and legislation governing that. I will ask the Minister for Transport to again pursue the issue the Deputy has raised with regard to Lufthansa. We cannot physically stop planes but we can certainly take actions subsequently. There are no planes landing at Shannon w…

I thank Deputy Collins very much for raising the issue, which is of grave concern to those who have been depleted of their resources. Towards the end of his contribution Deputy Collins, in some respect, provided the answer. The Central Bank is responsible for the regulation of financial advisers. I do not know whether this person was registered with the Central Bank in the first instance. Perhaps …

I will indeed. I might discuss it with the Deputy if he has case studies that he can bring to our attention. I will also talk to the Minister for Finance, who I think will be happy to engage, because it is awful for this to happen to anybody. There is the old adage that if it is too good to be true, then it is too good to be true, in terms of potential returns from investments. That said, the Cent…

There is no need for a vote. We are going to set up the committees as quick as we can.

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. We have about 3,000 schools in this country. When schools find themselves in financial difficulty, there is a structure and system in the Department of Education to respond to such schools. I will refer the matter to the Minister for Education. I ask the schools involved to engage with the section in the Department that deals with schools that have financi…

It is very disappointing-----

-----that only two orders have made any sort of meaningful responses, one being the €12.5 million from the Bon Secours order, which has been accepted. This is what was recommended by the Nunan committee. I pay tribute to Sheila Nunan for the work she has done. The other response concerned a building. I will have to get greater clarity in terms of its value and so on. The Minister has gone back to …