Micheál Martin

First of all, I invite Deputy McDonald to talk to political parties in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. She should ask them if our position is somehow going to ease their concern and anxiety. I do not think she gets it and I think she needs to engage more widely in terms of the perspectives of others on the European Continent. They have bitter experience of what happened to their people over many de…

In terms of Gaza and the Middle East, let us be clear. We want to consolidate the ceasefire and will be making that point very strongly. We want a surge in humanitarian aid into Gaza. The Arab peace initiative and the Arab proposals in respect of Gaza have come through, which have a lot to commend themselves.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue because it is very important and one I am determined to deal with in the short term. I want to ensure there is a proper system in the years to come whereby parents will know in the previous academic year where their child will attend second level for the subsequent academic year. Parents are going through too much in terms of endeavouring to find a school …

On the assessment of need, I said earlier that we are looking at the legislative framework. We will have to introduce legislation to deal with the issue around assessment of need.

There will have to be forward planning and that will be made clear to the agencies and the Department. There will have to be proper preparation in the coming years, looking at the demographics and the need and making sure there is a much more seamless system for parents and children with additional needs. That is the bottom line as far as I am concerned. Every child is entitled to an education. No…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. To clarify, funding is not an issue here. The Deputy spoke about planning and so forth. I am aware of the case highlighted by Sheila Casey Jones in respect of her son Patrick. In Cork alone, we now have about 16 special schools, as well as Cork University Hospital School, educating approximately 1,000 children in the Cork area. Three of those schools, nam…

It is wrong that parents have to be the proactive person in securing a place for their child. I believe the State should be doing that. The National Council for Special Education should have a proactive role in identifying the demand and need, and then agreeing the proper placement for a child. That is what I believe and it was the case before the establishment of the NCSE, when inspectors used to…

I thank the Deputy for raising what is a very important issue, of which I am aware. As he knows, Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan has been raising it for quite some time, along with Deputy Gould and others. There have been ongoing issues with the quality of water in Cork, predominantly on the northside of the city. I have met with Irish Water on a wide range of issues and I have specifically raised this …

As I said, Uisce Éireann is working proactively to address the issues with water supply in Cork. The planned flushing of the network took place in the first week of July last year in the Ballyvolane area, including Ballyvolane Shopping Centre, Ballyvolane new road, Riverview Estate and Meadow Park Lawn, over a seven-week period. Those flushing works are part of Uisce Éireann's network improvement …

I have no difficulty engaging with the Deputy on this issue. There had been reforms of the bail laws. People are very intolerant of people who are awaiting trial, etc., and who then go out and commit crimes again. I do not know whether the Deputy is proposing wholesale internment of everybody who is a suspect because that is another side of the story. The point is, the figures are huge but that is…

We have to focus on those who have a history of crime and who are again brought before the system. The bail laws have been reformed. They will be reformed further. The Minister, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, is looking at this, but there are limits to what can be done, as I am sure the Deputy would appreciate. If you take the politics out of it, we have no issue. We want to stamp down on crime. We are…

I hope that is not what we are talking about.

That is why there is prioritisation in the tenant in situ scheme that has been announced by the Minister for housing with approximately €325 million allocated, which is a substantial sum. There should be prioritisation because the original idea of this was to prevent people from falling into homelessness. Additional to that, of course, there is significant investment under way in the Housing First…

My understanding is that a clinical audit is being conducted by an external international expert on surgery for children with developmental dysplasia of the hip across CHI and the National Orthopaedic Hospital at Cappagh. Development dysplasia of the hip is a problem with the way a baby's hip joint forms and some children with DDH may require surgery. The purpose of this audit is to assess that su…

Deputy Doherty raised this yesterday and I answered it comprehensively in terms of the information that I had. There is a new school nearing completion, as the Deputy says, and there are some proposals in terms of additionality to try to facilitate children who need places there. It seems the new school is already at capacity. I can get the note to the Deputy on the up-to-date position.

I am disappointed with the Deputy's approach in the sense that the PUP was essential for people.

You do, actually.

Sorry, you do. You are just playing it all ways.

I just want to make the point. I am not making a different point; it is a very important point. If the State did not intervene in the emergency fashion that it intervened, businesses would have gone under and people would have been destitute and impoverished. That does not excuse fraud but if the State had been more cautious and slower and went through every single case, people would have been in …

The State took people on trust. The State said we have to intervene comprehensively and decisively and help people in their hour of need. That is what we did.

You come back four years later and you say, "You are wasting money and you are full of it," etc. That is just disingenuous distortion. That is what that is.

I want to say this: we will go after the overpayments.

The Department will go after the overpayments.

Fraud must always be pursued and dealt with-----

-----but there is always a balance in life. Let us give people credit. A lot of people did the right thing during Covid-----