Micheál Martin

Certainly, and as the Deputy said, help-to-buy is probably the most significant intervention we have taken in the last number of years. We will, at Government level, give consideration to this issue, and to whether there is anything further we can do to help alleviate the pressures on first-time buyers, particularly in terms of the application of stamp duty.

As I said earlier to Deputy Bacik, who raised this issue on Leaders' Questions, we are extremely concerned about this issue of forged letters, which is completely unacceptable and very serious for the care of young people who are taken into care. The numbers referred to Tusla have expanded to an extraordinary degree, which reflects wider issues within society of different kinds. We have substantia…

I know the Deputy has raised this on a number of occasions and I commend the survivors on the work they are doing. It is very courageous. We do not have access to the State Department files at all but we would encourage the full release of all documentation and files in relation to Jeffrey Epstein and, if there are files referencing Ireland, that those would be released.

I will discuss it with the Minister for justice again. I also received a very late request to meet, when I was in Washington. It was very late in the day that I received that request. People said I did not bother meeting. I will say no more. I can talk to the Deputy about this but the Government has no files. To our knowledge, there is nothing in the Department of justice and so on. I will discuss…

I take a different perspective in terms of how the Deputy put it. I do not think the State today or the Government today is complicit in anything that happened over 50 years ago and right throughout that period. I actually do not. It is easy language to throw out there or to say that we are ignoring-----

Personally, I think what happened is reprehensible. I have never understood it. What happened in earlier eras is that the poor homes evolved into the county homes, which evolved into the mother and baby homes. Some people-----

The Deputy knows the Minister is bringing in six substantial-----

I was not able to speak more than four words and the Deputy interrupted me. This is ridiculous. The Deputy is either serious about raising an issue or not.

The Deputy knows the answer to it. She has made assertions that are false about the Minister for justice. He is going far as the Constitution allows in terms of access to counselling notes. The Deputy knows that.

Do not be so disparaging and negative about the bona fides of the Minister for justice on this issue.

The retirement age was 55 and it is now 62. We actually have made very significant progress on extending the age at which somebody retires in the Garda, the Army, the fire services and across the board in emergency services. The original reason was the nature of the work. Obviously, because of the investment in health services over the past two decades and better lifestyles and so on, people are l…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. Material hauliers are covered but I accept some contractors in specific sectors may not be. I will engage and ask Ministers to engage with the relevant groups there because we want the packages either for transport or for the agricultural contractor area to be inclusive. We do not want people excluded. The proposals have been worked up in the Department o…

The Deputy said he was concerned about a growing divide. His solution would actually widen that divide for those on the lowest incomes. We have taken measures. The excise duty reductions help everybody by definition.

We will deal with electricity costs. Three tankers were attacked this morning in the Strait of Hormuz. This is a very serious war. The Deputy keeps talking as if the war did not exist. We do not know where this might lead to. We were all hoping, two or three days ago, that we were heading for a peaceful resolution of this war. Three ships were attacked this morning in the Strait of Hormuz so nothi…

I appreciate that the Deputy raised this issue of the impact of the war and increased fuel prices on farmers and agri-contractors more generally. I welcome the people of Fermoy, who are right in agricultural country as well. The need for a detailed package to be announced quickly is accepted. My understanding is that within the next week or so a package will be outlined by the Department of agricu…

For the first time the State is moving beyond funding alone and directly supporting the creation of childcare places. Under the early learning and childcare capital programme, up to eight facilities will be delivered this year, providing about 800 additional places, focusing on under threes as well as rural and disadvantaged areas. There are very significant planning frameworks governing the devel…

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. The Minister of State responsible for the OPW is solid citizen. When he says things, he generally means them. I will discuss the issue with him and try to get clarity. In all of these developments, site acquisition is always the key enabler and sometimes the absence of a site can be the cause of a project not developing. I will ask him and come …

That is not the panacea for this issue, but there is an issue here. Of that there is no doubt. I have been in touch with the Garda on the specifics of the areas the Deputy has identified because there is a lot of concern and anxiety among residents. It is not because of Government failure on drug policy, by the way. There is individual responsibility here too. There are bad actors as well in terms…

Is it all sporting organisations?

I recall that about two years ago we looked seriously at tax relief for gym membership. As part of the budget preparations, I will discuss what suite of taxation measures we will adopt to try to alleviate pressures on people. There had also been tax relief in respect of philanthropic donations to clubs and so on, but that all sporting organisations would be covered by a tax relief is a new one. S…

I thank the Deputy for raising this. That sounds like an excessive journey across. I do not know whether he has engaged with An Post on this, but perhaps he should. I certainly will alert An Post to the fact that he has raised it here and get its plans and background. Normally it does not do stuff that would result in a deterioration of a service. We had similar issues in another location and it w…

More generally, my understanding is that the Minister for justice has powers, and the Deputy should raise the case with the Minister because the Minister for justice has the capacity to deport people who have been convicted by the criminal justice system of crimes. I understand quite a number of deportations have happened in respect of others, but, again, that is all subject to clarity. That is my…

I thank the Deputy for raising a very fair question. I would be equally intolerant of overly lengthy periods for paying contractors, particularly small to medium-sized enterprises, which need to be paid in a timely manner. I know that in the recent discussions with the Irish Road Haulage Association in which the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, and the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, were engaged, issu…

I did not quite get the specifics of Deputy Ward's contribution, but the mica scheme is progressing fairly significantly now. Hundreds of millions of euro have now been successfully allocated and invested. The Deputy says in respect of children but-----

I will have a chat with the Minister about that.