I am glad to hear that work is continuing apace. I am glad to hear there is an agreement in principle. We have an opportunity here and one of the things we are lucky to have as a State is a team of committed people, not just in Óglaigh na hÉireann but specifically in the Naval Service. We do need to make it into a navy. We need to give it the equipment and the personnel necessary to operate as a navy, thereby allowing it to serve the people of this country and patrol our waters. More than most countries in the Euro…

Will the Tánaiste give us an update on the preparations for the Irish Presidency of the EU Council next year?

We have a very good history of having strong, well-organised and productive Presidencies in this country, and I look forward to the same thing next year. I particularly welcome what the Tánaiste has said about the public consultation around the priorities for the Presidency. That is very welcome and very important. Could he give us details of how the public will have an opportunity to contribute to that? Obviously, it will be done at national level, but will it be done also in schools, for example? Many children ar…

I look forward to that as well. One of the important things we will look at during our Presidency is the multi-annual financial framework, a really important body of work to be done during the Presidency. Are there any specific preparations for that? Second, as regards the enlargement agenda, there are many accession countries looking to become part of the European Union. Many of them feel that the enlargement process by the Commission has somewhat stalled. I know the Commission would not agree with that terminolog…

Tá ceist agam ná faoi na men's sheds agus an t-airgead atá curtha ar fáil dóibh. I ask about the value of multi-annual funding for men's sheds to give them certainty with regard to what they can do year on year, rather than depending on budget-to-budget and year-to-year decisions on funding. It would give them much greater certainty regarding what they can and cannot do and I would be grateful if the Minister could address that issue.

I acknowledge the work being done and the funding that has been made available. I agree with what the Minister said about the value of men's sheds and women's sheds. I do not really understand why we cannot put a multi-annual framework in place for funding for them. It would give them huge assistance in delivering and providing the services they do, which, we can all agree, are really positive for communities all over this country. I accept what the Minister has said about the lack of a national organisation or ass…

I appreciate what the Minister has said. I understand the importance of making sure the money is spent correctly and appropriately. Nobody has any difficulty with that. I also appreciate what he said about the value of the associations and the value of an association that can act as an umbrella body. My suggestion is that where we provide multi-annual funding for various organisations in other areas of the budget, is it not open to us to make that multi-annual funding available to a particular association so that t…

I very much welcome the presence of the National Training Fund. It is important. In the aftermath of the Cassells review in 2016, the identification of the need for an extra billion euro per annum in funding for higher education by 2030 is laudable and something we should strive for. I will be honest with the Minister of State. I am a little bit disappointed by the Bill. It is clearly short. I expected there to be a greater exploration of the manner in which we can expand the remit of the national training fund, wh…

I wish to raise the S2S, which is a coastal promenade and cycleway around Dublin Bay, from Sutton to Sandycove, which is where the name comes from. I am particularly concerned about the bit between Merrion Gates and Dún Laoghaire Harbour. I was first elected to Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council in 2009, but before I was ever elected I was in favour of this plan. It existed long before I ever got involved. I credit people like Michael Collins in Blackrock who have kept this idea alive. It has been singularly the…

In the Minister of State's response, he said the "Sutton to Sandycove cycleway, also commonly referred to as the east cost trail". It is not. They are different things. This is the frustrating thing I am dealing with in regard to management at local level, this notion that they are the same thing. They are not. The east coast trail, as the Minister of State has just described, comes inside the DART lane at Merrion Gates. When cyclist come over the Merrion Gates and onto Merrion Road, they are battling with buses, c…

It is said that these things should always be done like sandwiches, so I have both criticism to make and praise to give. First, I acknowledge what Deputy Jim O'Callaghan has done as Minister for justice. I have long campaigned for the restoration of criminal legal aid rates. It has been a myopic approach by the Department and my Government not to restore them. Criminal barristers and solicitors appear to have been the last sector not to have rates restored after the FEMPI cuts that reduced payment for providing cri…

I raise an issue relating to ancillary grants for schools. This affects many schools in my area. Last week, I met the principal and treasurer of St. Mary's Boys National School in Booterstown. It is by any measure a fantastic local parish school. It provides a service for the community and does so in a way that contributes much to provide for special educational needs and children from the IPAS centre in Blackrock. It does a good job and does it well. It gets an ancillary grant, as the Minister of State will be awa…

I thank the Minister of State, to a point. An awful lot in that response is not relevant to this particular school. What made my blood boil, to be perfectly honest, was when the Minister of State said, "Schools should be in no way disadvantaged by this [meaning the changes in respect of the secretaries' payment] as the grant is reduced only by the amount they previously paid to their secretaries." He spoke about a review in respect of this particular school in which the Department decided that the amount paid to th…

I wish to ask the Minister about the merits of increasing support for independent producers in relation to Irish language productions for television, particularly for online media and streaming services, where there is a real opportunity for us to grow the product that is available through the Irish language.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire. Mar is eol dó, aontaím go hiomlán leis an ráiteas atá ann sa chlár Rialtais, go háirithe maidir le rudaí trí mheán na Gaeilge. Tá sé sin thar a bheith tábhachtach. We know as well that through the Official Languages Act, there is now an obligation on State agencies to produce at least 20% of their advertising through the Irish language. That is something we hear on the radio and see on the television every day. It has created a tangible improvement for those who wish to live their liv…

I appreciate what the Minister is saying and agree entirely with him. He mentioned "An Cailín Ciúin". It is a fantastic proof positive of the strength of Irish-language productions and the benefit that comes with it. Mar dhuine a d’fhoghlaim a chuid Gaeilge sa Rinn, bhí an-áthas orm an blas sin a fheiceáil agus a chloisteáil sa scannán sin. Mar a dúirt mé, tá sé thar a bheith tábhachtach do dhaoine go mbeidh siad in ann é sin a fheiceáil agus a chloisteáil. I appreciate what the Minister said about the increased fu…

Tá mé chun an cheist seo a chur ar son an Teachta Keira Keogh as Maigh Eo.

I particularly welcome what the Minister said about liaising with other Departments. The cross-departmental nature of this funding is hugely important. It is not just the Minister's Department but also the Department of Health, the Department of Transport and the Department of Children, Disability and Equality that need to come together to make sure this funding is effective in how it relates to people with disabilities. I want to specifically address the accessibility retrofit programme for public transport. We op…

I appreciate the work that is being done. It is hugely positive and benefits us all, albeit many of us indirectly. One of the issues with grants, particularly where they are means-tested, is that when they work and the person who is a recipient of that grant makes more money or has more resources available to him or her, they then fall outside the criteria if it is means-tested. This applies across the board in relation to grants for people with disabilities. The reality is that even if they have more money or reso…

Tá roinnt ama caite agam i nGaza agus bhí seans agam a bheith ann in 2000. I visited Gaza for the first time in 2000. At that time, believe it or not, it was possible to get a bus down through Israel to the border at Rafah and cross into Egypt. That happened for a brief period. I was also there in 2005 after the disengagement from the Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip. These are, therefore, people and places I actually know. What is happening there defies description and certainly defies justification. It is no…