Peadar Tóibín

Gabhaim buíochas le Páirtí an Lucht Oibre as ucht an rúin seo. Is rún maith é agus is mian liom tacaíocht a thabhairt dó. I want to raise a couple of serious issues that are affecting both carers and people with disabilities. The children's disability service grant was announced with great fanfare by the then Minister of State, Anne Rabbitte, in October 2023. This grant was to urgently provide se…

It is in office since 2016.

Most Garda divisions now have fewer front-line officers than this time last year. That is a shocking headline currently throughout the country. In the 560 Garda stations that exist, the number has fallen from 12,045 gardaí to 11,928 gardaí. In County Waterford, the number of gardaí has fallen by 24. In counties Louth, Cavan and Monaghan, the number of gardaí has fallen by 48. In counties Roscommon…

That is not gardaí.

The Taoiseach has a more positive disposition than anybody living in those towns without a Garda station, in reality. The Garda Inspectorate report on public order policing that he mentioned was published seven years ago. I have asked numerous Ministers for Justice if the recommendations of that report have been implemented. Three months after I asked the former Minister for Justice, Deputy Helen …

Gardaí are taken out of Garda stations and put into a public order unit for a period.

When will the Government implement the recommendations of the Garda Inspectorate report in full?

I am talking about the 2019 Garda Inspectorate report that the Taoiseach mentioned.

They have not been implemented.

No.

He has briefed me in response to a parliamentary question.

You are mistaken.

Will you implement it?

It is 110 days since the general election. This Dáil has sat for 17 days, which is incredible. For 85% of the time since the general election, this Dáil has been off. This is a legislature that cannot legislate. This is a democratically elected parliament that cannot deliver legislation because there are no committees due to the dysfunction here. I wish to propose an amendment under Standing Order…

That is one month not three months.

Seventeen days even for the Taoiseach that must be a record.

There are seven wind turbines.

15. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Taoiseach to report on his attendance at the European Council’s informal summit on 3 February 2025. [5806/25]

Ireland is one of the most exposed countries in the world to the US trade tariff war. Ireland exports relatively more to the US than most other European countries. Last year, we exported €72 billion worth of goods, €58 billion of which comes under the heading of pharmaceuticals and chemicals. Obviously, the Taoiseach sat in the same room as President Trump, and pharmaceuticals are a target of the …

How?

How do we respond?

That we are having statements on housing is another example of the fact that we are not functioning properly as a Legislature. The very fact we are having statements instead of pushing through legislation is basically a Dáil trying to look busy instead of doing the work it is meant to do. It is a disgrace that, week after week, we have statements on this, that and the other. It is showing the Gove…

Soon.

70. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Health the number of persons diagnosed with cancer in the State in each of the past ten years; and the number of deaths from cancer in each of the past ten years. [9276/25]

The former Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, previously furnished me with data that showed the number of people diagnosed with cancer was increasing every year until 2020 when the pandemic hit. Then it went significantly down. This suggests that people's cancers went undiagnosed when significant elements of the health services were closed down in 2020. To what extent did this happen?