I fully appreciate that the roll-out of such a large plan has to start somewhere and has to end somewhere. The switches in the Carriganimmy, Ballingeary and Dunmanway area are towards the latter part of the plan. Residents in those areas could reasonably expect that things that would have been learned from the earlier deployments could be put in place to speed up the later deployments, such as in the area west of Macroom. Is that actually being done? Is it possible to get it done faster in the later deployments tha…

I thank the Minister. He raises a very reasonable point about the way it was when we came in here, when it was a much bigger issue, but for the people in the Ballingeary, Carriganimmy and Dunmanway area, it has continued to be an issue. They were in the later part of the deployment and in fairness to them, they have been very patient. There is a level of frustration and people need to see that headway can now be made, and that possible lessons that would have been learned from earlier parts of the deployment can ad…

Auto-enrolment is a significant change for people who are in employment and preparing for pensions. It has been up and running since the beginning of the year, as the Minister will be aware, and the first pay packs are arriving in. It is very visible there. Can the Minister give an outline of the number of people who are registered at this point, and, in particular, the figures for Cork?

With more than 760,000 people to be enrolled across the country, and I hear the figure of more than 75,000 people in County Cork, are they all registered and up and running on it or are gaps emerging in places where employers have not registered and people are not yet registered for various reasons? If gaps are emerging, can the Minister outline where they are and if they are in particular sectors or concern large or small employers? Can the Minister please give an overview on this?

In relation to the gaps emerging, it would be interesting to know if these are in particular sectors or geographical, if there is a little bit more information on this, as well as how quickly, or otherwise, the gaps might be closing. The Minister might not have the information now, so it is okay if he is able to send it on afterwards. I have been discussing this with people locally and a number of different issues have been emerging. For example, where people are not registered but will be at some stage in the futu…

Next is the Independent Technical Group, beginning with an Teachta Michael Collins.

Tá go maith. I call Deputy Ken O'Flynn.

We are on Irish Water infrastructure, a Theachta.

There are two issues I wish to raise with the Minister of State on Irish Water infrastructure delivery. The first issue relates to connection fees and the second relates to pollution in waterways. Irish Water has a fee structure for connections that fails to take into account that community groups have to fundraise and get grants from Government and various sources to build community services. They are still treated as commercial entities when it comes to making a connection to water and sewerage. In Rylane, for ex…

I wish to advise the House of the following matters in respect of which notice has been given under Standing Order 39 and the name of the Member in each case: Deputy Michael Cahill - To discuss the tackling of coastal erosion and flooding in County Kerry. Deputy Peter 'Chap' Cleere - To discuss the new Kilkenny Institute of Further Education and Training campus. Deputy Pat Buckley - To discuss ongoing water outages affecting the community of Knockane, Castlemartyr, County Cork. Deputy Joe Cooney - To discuss the em…

Seanad Éireann has passed the Finance Bill 2025, without amendment. Seanad Éireann has passed the Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks (Amendment) Bill 2025, without amendment. Seanad Éireann has passed the Social Welfare and Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System (Amendment) Bill 2025, without amendment.

I congratulate the Minister on her appointment and wish her every success in the role. Will she outline what engagements she has had with UNIFIL about the security of Defence Forces personnel in Lebanon? Has she identified any additional security threats in view of the decision to end the mission there?

Irish men and women have served with such distinction over many years in Lebanon. The Minister is right: it is such a regrettable decision that the mission would not continue. Nonetheless this decision of UNIFIL and the mission not going on leave a void once the force starts to scale down its numbers and the possibility of a scramble to fill that void, whether from one side or another there. That is a threat both to people locally there and to the troops themselves. Has the Minister identified particular threats in…

I need to return to the original question. Has the Minister identified additional threats locally there, particularly in view of the changing situation and the reduction in the numbers of Irish troops there over the course of days, weeks, months or whatever length of time that will take? There is likely to be some level of additional threat there. Have any threats been identified from either side? To return to the point about Irish troops having been fired on by the IDF and the challenges the Minister may have made…

The recent visit of President Zelenskyy highlighted the threat from drones and the gaps in our defences in respect of how we deal with drones. Will the Minister outline efforts to deal with drone threats and hybrid conflict?

One of the issues that was highlighted arising from that incident was where the Irish vessel was not able or did not feel it could engage with the drone because there were no rules of engagement in place. Will that be dealt with? Will they be put in place and how quickly will that happen? There is a whole range of policies that would be needed to support dealing with the drones, I imagine. I understand the Minister is looking at the possibility of investing up to €1.6 billion in a radar system which would be in pla…

Drone technology is typically used as part of hybrid warfare, where there are various techniques including online, physically on the ground or indeed under water. I have raised repeatedly the threat to the cables offshore and the danger there as well. It seems we do not have underwater capability so the view was to have wireless or remote-controlled visibility under the sea as well. Is the Minister advancing drone technology to defend the underwater cables as well? Is the drone defence entirely a radar of the skies…

Will the Minister outline the progress that has been made on the introduction of the rank of lance corporal? When will it be introduced to the Army?

As the Minister has said, the Commission on the Defence Forces recommended the creation of the new rank of lance corporal in the Army and the Air Corps. It also recommended that consideration be given to whether there is a need for an equivalent rank in the Naval Service. The qualification course for this rank should be of short duration and conducted in the home unit. The commission believes the creation of the rank of lance corporal would allow for earlier rank progression for enlisted personnel with leadership p…

The first thing I take from the Minister's response is that a decision has not been made to put such a rank in place. When my colleagues and I had the opportunity to meet with PDFORRA recently, the association was very clear that this was needed. The Commission on the Defence Forces has also been very clear on it. Why is there uncertainty as to whether this rank would be created? Time can be spent trying to develop the course and bring it to fruition but the decision as to whether it should be introduced or not sho…