Micheál Martin

The Deputy makes a good point. There has been a lot of different strategies used to get horses off roads. There is an animal welfare issue very much involved here, in addition to the danger and health and safety issues for children, young people and humans more generally. There are laws governing this but they require review and a stronger approach.

These school have not been removed from a priority list. Indeed, the Deputy's colleagues, Deputies John McGuinness and Peter 'Chap' Cleere, have raised these two schools with me. I will engage with the Minister. We are expending more money than ever on school buildings and we want to continue to prioritise school buildings. I fully understand the pressure that both these schools are under and the …

I will alert the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, to this issue because it is a specific one in terms of the approved housing bodies, Sophia Housing and the Department. It is frustrating when a site has been identified and there is the prospect of getting it off. There is a need for a refuge centre in Laois, and I acknowledge that. I will talk to the Minister. Perhaps I will ask him to contact the De…

I did more than that. When I met people in June, I advocated and intervened to get it extended to December.

As the Deputy knows, it had not actually been decided.

No, it had not. I understand it is a genuine case but I do not-----

The Deputy always has an attitude of trying to put a sting and have a go at people all the time. The more important point is that the Labour Court recommended a final extension in June and we extended it to December. Like others, I met people, survivors and those with long Covid. This does not mean supports end. Rather, staff who remain unfit to return to work will move into the public service sic…

Frankly, the Department has responsibility to ensure the fulfilment-----

-----of its contracts. I cannot get involved in every single contract in the country, nor would the Deputy expect me to, but I will talk to the Minister for education, Deputy Naughton, in this regard. If there is contractual non-fulfilment - what the Deputy is saying clearly points in that direction – then the Department should rigorously pursue the company. It should also ensure the basics in the…

In my city, I recall when joyriding, as it was termed, was all the rage in the 1980s and different strategies had to be pursued. There was always a challenge with pursuit because it involves pursuing young people driving very-----

-----speedily on vehicles. Very often, some pursuits could result in unintended consequences and some other innocent person being injured or killed because vehicles are out of control, particularly vehicles that are being chased or pursued. There is always a balance here.

Other mechanisms then were deployed in those communities, which did not involve pursuit but traffic calming and other measures that rendered those bikes and so on unusable. That worked over time. There were also a lot of other measures, including community policing and getting that-----

----into the communities.

There is a wide range of training.

If the Deputy knows the answer, why did he ask the question? I will ask the Minister for justice to talk to the Deputy about this issue.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 22, inclusive, together. The programme for Government, Our Shared Future, sets out a series of ambitious commitments across social, economic and environmental policy. The Department of the Taoiseach's Statement of Strategy 2025-2028 puts the implementation of the programme for Government central to the mission of the Department and the Cabinet committee struc…

I thank all the Deputies who spoke in relation to this question. Deputy Connolly raised the issue of affordable housing and the local authority affordable scheme in Galway. I will certainly engage with the county manager and the city manager there on the low progress in respect of the application of that scheme in the Galway context. Certainly, as part of the housing action plan, we want to do mor…

Yes. That is a school I helped enormously when it was starting. The only challenge is that it produced an awful lot of high-quality Kerry footballers afterwards who won All-Irelands against us, which was pointed out to me with glee by some of the Deputy's colleagues. I have visited St. Brendan's College. A lot of people raise school issues. We are spending a lot more money on schools. A lot more s…

Again, I will talk to the Department of education in respect of that matter. I will talk to the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, about the CFRAM issue in Dundalk. Others have raised flood relief as well, including Deputy Quaide. Flood relief programmes are complex. They take time. That is just the reality. In the interim, we should be providing interim works that can be of assistance.

I have seen some of the works in Midleton, either embankments or gates. We can be doing more and we should work with the local authorities. The OPW wants to work with the local authorities on interim measures while the schemes themselves are being developed. I think that is the direction of travel we intend to work on. Deputy Mark Ward raised the regulation of e-scooters. The Minister got sanctio…

I know but we would then need an alternative to having an independent Director of Public Prosecutions. That is the core issue here.

I fully accept that families and people in specific situations may be very angry and annoyed at the absence of a prosecution. I fully understand the concerns of the Nkencho family in respect of what happened but, whatever way you look at this, I see having an independent Director of Public Prosecutions as a strength in our system. I see other systems. The Deputy talked about the United States. Pro…

The Minister has received about €100 million in additional money specifically to deal with the issues affecting families in emergency accommodation who require housing that the Deputy has referenced. The Minister is working on that. To respond to Deputy Cian O'Callaghan, yes, there is a delay. I am pursuing that with the Minister of State responsible for post offices, the Minister for Transport a…

First of all, the Government is absolutely clear on the need to deal robustly and very firmly with antisocial behaviour. An investigation is under way and that restricts what I could say but we are very conscious of the very grave consequences that can arise from antisocial and unacceptable behaviour by people, the degree to which communities are under pressure, and the degree of anger out there i…

-----and also in regard to theft from shops and businesses and so on. People basically want to go about their normal lives with a sense of safety and security. Greater numbers of gardaí on the streets will help that. That is happening and it will continue to happen.