I thank the Minister for being here today. It is very rare that one gets the actual Minister when one raises a Topical Issue. We have the OSCAILT network in Limerick and 12 schools are identified in that. It is very similar in the north east inner city where we have the North East Inner City initiative that works with ten of the most deprived schools in the inner city and operates on the same principles as OSCAILT. My understanding is that those schools were all identified and included in DEIS plus. I have a couple…

I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate. There is clear evidence of the need to reform and change the in camera rule. In practice, the rule restricts evidence and protects perpetrators rather than victims. It has created a culture of secrecy that shields abuse and effectively acts as a gagging order. While in theory it protects privacy, in practice it often prevents public accountability and hinders supports for vulnerable people through its misapplication. In the Minister's amendment, he mentions that a …

Oh, the Simon Harris line.

While we very much welcome the inclusion of Wexford and Fingal in the scheme - my colleague Deputy O'Donoghue, who will speak after me, has done a lot of work in this regard - it still does not cover the fundamental issues that exist with the scheme as it stands. While these changes may be necessary, they are still far too incremental. Because of the way the Government has designed it, the scheme has effectively been designed to fail. The fact the Act still requires rigorous case-by-case technical assessment by the…

Hear, hear.

We are waiting the bones of a decade for the Government to take meaningful action on short-term lets. Where is the Bill? Where are the guidelines? When are we going to see the national planning statement? Will the register be in force for the previous May deadline that was agreed? We need to have a debate on this.

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 John Paul O'Shea - To discuss the provision of bus connections to and from Charleville train station. Deputy Ged Nash - To discuss the fact that no schools in disadvantaged areas of Drogheda are included in the DEIS plus scheme. Deputy Naoise Ó Muirí - To discuss the issue of "ghost buses" and the rollout of the new NGAVL system. Deputy Louis O'Hara - …

Thank you, Deputy.

Thank you, Deputy.

Justice for Danny.

Would the Taoiseach live in a shed? The Government's plan to allow landlords to rent out modular units risks subjecting renters, vulnerable young people and migrants to this very phenomenon. This is potentially opening the door to the exploitation of vulnerable renters in the private rental market. Yes, we need more flexibility for exempted development but allowing landlords to rent these units out is not acceptable. This will lead to poor-quality expensive rental accommodation. It is absolutely outrageous, in my v…

They can be.

Some of them are.

I ask the Minister to outline when the Critical Infrastructure Bill will be enacted and how it is going to comply with our obligations, as they currently stand, under the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act, given that section 15 of this Act is going to be disapplied under section 7 of the new Bill.

First, I will go back to what I said on Second Stage. I am disappointed that we could not do even some limited, quick pre-legislative scrutiny on this Bill. I think we could have teased through some of these things. I want to go back to a point the Minister made there. He was talking about building the low-carbon economy but in his concluding remarks on Second Stage he referenced, for example, the ring road in Galway which, in my view - and I know there are many views on it - is hardly the best example of climate-s…

I do support in principle what the Minister is trying to do here, even though I may have some issues with the way he is trying to do it. There is a piece in the infrastructure task force report on the Minister for justice seeking to put the judicial review process on a statutory basis. Surely that would address the issue the Minister is talking about in terms of judicial review. I have concerns here, which the Minister did not address when he responded to me, on what exactly could be defined as critical infrastruct…

Hear, hear.

Chair.

It is so obvious it is only the women.

Cuirim fáilte i bprionsabal roimh an mBille seo. Mar a dúirt an tAire, tá moill ollmhór againn sa tír seo maidir le cúrsaí bonneagair. Ceann de na fadhbanna is mó atá againn maidir leis an ngéarchéim tithíochta ná an ghéarchéim nó an mhoill leis an mbonneagar. Sa tír seo, tá fadhb mhór againn i gceithre réimse thábhachtacha: cúrsaí tithíochta, sláinte, iompair agus leictreachas. I welcome this Bill in principle and I would like us to work constructively on it. I am disappointed, as a member of the infrastructure co…