Those ideas-----

Gabhaim buíochas le Holly Cairns as an reachtaíocht seo a thabhairt chun cinn. I thank Holly Cairns for bringing forward this legislation. I thank all the Deputies who have spoken during this debate. I take the earlier contribution by the Minister for Health in good faith. However, what is missing from what the Minister said is any commitment to bring forward legislation to address the very serious flaws in the existing legislation that were identified in the review. Also missing from what the Minister said was any…

Hear, hear.

I move amendment No. 1: In page 5, to delete lines 22 to 26 and substitute the following: “(4) A draft of the designation order shall be laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas, and the order shall be made only after a resolution approving the draft has been passed by each House of the Oireachtas.”. I want to talk about the concentration in the hands of the Minister of huge power under this Bill. I am generally supportive of the intention of this Bill and what the Minister is trying to achieve. However, there is …

The intention of my amendment is that it could go through the Houses of the Oireachtas in a matter of hours. That is the amount of time that would be needed. It should not be causing any delays. It could happen within a matter of days. Indeed, if the Minister has made a designation, it is not as if the project just stalls in its entirety until the designation order is ratified by the Houses of the Oireachtas. There is still work that can go on in the project. I wish to press the amendment.

It is 18 years since CIÉ pensioners received an increase in their pensions. There was agreement between CIÉ and the unions in May of last year. A year later the Government has still not signed off on this increase. When I asked the Taoiseach about this in February, he said that the sign-off was imminent. We are now in May, and it has still has not been signed off. When will the CIÉ pensioners get the increase for which they have been waiting for 18 years? It is absolutely necessary that we look at the fact that Iri…

Ireland is the largest exporter of alumina, the key component of aluminium, to Russia. We are exporting almost 1 million tonnes of it a year. This is being used by Russia to make the drones and missiles that are being used to kill Ukrainian men, women and children. Ukrainian civilians are being murdered with weapons and missiles made using materials supplied by Ireland. Why is Ireland supplying this key war component to Russia? Was the Taoiseach aware that the Irish State has lobbied for these exports to be shielde…

Tá gealltanais bhriste. There are broken promises. Ar fud na tíre, tá daoine tuirseach de níos mó agus níos mó gealltanas briste. Bhris Fine Gael roinnt gealltanas a rinne sé sa toghchán deireanach. Fine Gael has broken promise after promise that it made in the most recent general election. Parents, students and disabled people were all told that help was on the way, but those election commitments were swept under the rug once the Government was formed. There is palpable anger and frustration with the Government’s …

We have to act because the situation is too extreme not to act. It is absolutely horrendous that school children are being murdered standing outside their school. That is taking place while Ireland still trades with companies that profit and operate in the occupied territories. That has to stop and it has to stop now. This Bill was initiated more than eight years ago. Fine Gael has been in government for all of that time. It has had ample time to get legal advice and do all of that. Eight and a half years later, it…

When will the Bill be brought forward?

First I want to mention the Northside Home Care workers. This is a group of low-paid workers, earning just above the minimum wage, who do incredibly important care work. As the Government has failed to intervene and make sure they get paid the going rate the same as HSE care workers and failed to ensure there is a sectoral pay agreement for care workers, they are a group that is particularly vulnerable and disadvantaged during this cost-of-living crisis. I urge the Minister of State and his colleagues to back them …

Is mian liom ceist a chur ar an Taoiseach faoi thaighde an Bhainc Ceannais. Research from the Central Bank published today shows that one in three adults has experienced fraud or scams. At the same time, social media companies earned an estimated €32 million last year from scam advertisements aimed at people in Ireland. These social media giants are turning a blind eye in order that they can profit off the misery of their customers. One couple from north Dublin were preparing for their dream wedding. They booked wh…

Cuirim ceist ar an Tánaiste faoi Ospidéal Beaumont. Despite the very best efforts of nurses and doctors in the emergency department it is often severely overcrowded. For over a decade, the Tánaiste's Government has been promising a new emergency department at Beaumont Hospital. What is causing the delay to this much-needed new emergency department? When is it actually going to be delivered?

Answer the question.

Ba mhaith liom ceist a chur ar an Aire faoi thionscadal tógála poiblí. When multiple parties contribute to a project but only one still exists years later and when something goes wrong, that party can be held liable for 100% of the cost even if it is only 1% responsible. Developers nearly always use special purpose vehicles and then wind them up, which means they are let off the hook, meaning architects and engineers are sometimes left to pick up the bill that could put them out of business. Has the Minister looked…

I know this issue has been looked at and some work has been done on it, but it has not been addressed to the degree that is necessary for architects, engineers and small firms. They are still being caught by this. They are still not able to go in for projects, cannot get insurance and insurance costs are prohibitive. I recently met with representatives of the Association of Consulting Engineers of Ireland who told me how this is driving up costs and driving small firms away from public projects. As the Minister kno…

I think, based on the Minister's comment, that he accepts there is a problem here and I ask him to look into it further. The engineers are not raising this for no reason; it is because they are experiencing a very real problem. There is a solution to this which is to insert net contribution clauses into public contracts. That would not increase risk for the State and would simply prevent smaller contributors from being forced to absorb the full cost of defects caused by others. It would not remove any liability but…

Is there an update on the provision of a much-needed new Garda station at Northern Cross in Dublin?

It is welcome that we are making some progress in that there is a commitment that construction will start in 2028. Is the Minister of State confident that timeline will be adhered to? If construction begins in 2028, what is the timeline for finishing? I am concerned that we are still talking about identifying a suitable site for this new Garda station when it was announced not by the last Government, but by the Government before it in 2019, and when a site had been identified for it at that time. I do not really un…

I welcome his work on this, his commitment to it and his interest in it. That is very welcome. It is also welcome that genuine attempts to move this on are now being made. The Minister of State is right that this is a growing community with a huge population. That community was bitterly disappointed that this was announced in 2019 and that nothing then happened for seven years. The fact that we have the date of 2028 is positive, as is the fact that the Minister of State is engaging with the Department of justice on…