Deputy O'Gorman is continuing his dogma of trying to pit one part of society against the other. The Government has to do more than one thing at a time. We have to continue to improve public transport and we make absolutely no apology for trying to help people in terms of excise cuts. If it was up to Deputy O'Gorman, he would not reduce the cost of petrol or diesel. In fairness, unlike some, he is very honest in relation to that. We believe people, including in his constituency, need assistance in the here and now a…

I thank Deputy Neville for raising this issue. I also thank him for his ongoing work on infrastructure and for being my party's spokesperson on infrastructure. I was pleased that we visited Intel recently in his county. Intel has shown a real vote of confidence in Kildare but also in the Irish economy. Deputy Neville is right that we are investing an extraordinary amount in capital. More than a quarter of a trillion euro will be spent on infrastructure in this country in the timeline the Deputy outlined. With that …

I fully agree. The housing activation office and Garret Doocey are doing a very good job, along with the team and the seconding in of people from other State agencies. The Deputy is right that we have allocated a lot of money and communities now want to see those projects delivered quickly. Each of those projects are enablers for housing right across the country as well. I personally believe there are two ways the Government should operate: the Government should help when it can and get the hell out of the way when…

I thank the Deputy. I spoke with his party leader on this issue yesterday. I am very much aware of the concerns of residents in the area. I too remember the scenes on our television screens and the likes of the real, painful, traumatic and extraordinarily upsetting and divisive scenes that community lived through and experienced. I am also conscious that we are all working for a better future for this island and a shared island and shared future and, I hope, ultimately, a unified island as well. I need to be mindfu…

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue and acknowledge her ongoing work on this. I obviously have not seen the programme but I have seen the promotional clips for the programme and I will of course watch the programme and also discuss the matter with the Minister for education and Minister of State with responsibility for special education. Objectively, we have seen a very significant increase in special classes, with 587 new classes sanctioned for the year. We have seen new classes established in every county. W…

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue of the need for additional train carriage capacity serving his hometown of Athy on that Waterford to Dublin line. I thank Eimear for contacting Deputy Wall and providing that live lived experience from a train service this morning. I will certainly speak with the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, and ask that he engage with Irish Rail on the matter and come back to the Deputy directly.

I deplore the ongoing genocidal activities that we are seeing in Palestine. I am conscious, in making these comments, that it is the UN General Assembly's high-level week and that the Taoiseach, the Minister for foreign affairs, the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, and a number of other representatives of the Government are present at the United Nations. The Taoiseach, the Minister for foreign affairs and others are prioritising engagements on i…

I will make two points. First, in the context of the final detail of the scheme, we will have an opportunity to thrash all of that out in the debate on the Finance Bill post the budget, including how the new accounts will interact with other investment opportunities. I will be happy to consider all of the issues the Deputy raises then. On deemed disposal, I am on record in this House - I am certainly on the record in lots of places - as stating we need to move beyond deemed disposal. It was of a different time. It …

I thank Deputy McGreehan for raising this really important and timely issue. The Government is very conscious, as the Deputy is, of the pressure on farmers and fishers and is determined to provide supports. Today, the Ministers, Deputies Heydon and Chambers, will meet. The Taoiseach, the Deputy and I were all at the ploughing last week. We heard very clearly three issues, namely fuel, fodder and fertiliser. I call them the three Fs. There will be support for farmers with fodder and fertiliser. I am pleased to infor…

We will work with the Deputy on this. I acknowledge his sincerity and his work on this, as I have said before. This is a serious issue. I would characterise the Government's position slightly differently in the sense that there was some work that was ongoing in relevant Departments. However, the Deputy's legislation will now obviously go to pre-legislative scrutiny. That is an opportunity to put all of this information and evidence together to look at the Bill in the round. Certainly, we have very much an open mind…

I thank Deputy Carrigy for raising this issue. I must say that Longford is really making big progress in the tourism sector. So many people are now heading to Longford and there are a number of tourism facilities there as well. I thank the Deputy for his work and passion around Corlea and the bog and trackway centre. It is a remarkable piece of our heritage. I share the view that there is real potential to make it a visitor attraction for Longford but also for the wider midlands. I know the Deputy knows through his…

I thank the Deputy very much for the invitation but I will be working here on the budget in relation to fuel and energy, so I do not need to attend a protest meeting. What I need to do is make sure that people in this country do not feel the need the protest because they feel that we are making policy decisions that will help them. By the way, I have also spoken to a number of the people who were involved in the fuel protests. I met many of them at the ploughing. I met many people at the ploughing and at the Longfo…

I see the Deputy linked two issues. I see them as somewhat separate. The idea that anyone is living in a home owned by the State that has mould and damp and that children and the likes are there is not an acceptable situation. I fully agree with that. If the Deputy wants to provide me with the information, which I know he will, I am happy to pursue that with the Minister for housing and with the local authority too. Local authorities have a duty of care to their tenants too and just like governments at a national l…

I thank Deputy Guirke for raising this issue. I am sorry to hear what Bradley and his family are enduring. I am not going to comment into the record of the Dáil on an individual case on which I do not have all of the information but the Deputy is entirely right to highlight the issue in relation to the orthodontic system and care in his constituency. On foot of him raising it, I will send a transcript of what he said, plus a broader query, to the Minister for Health and to the HSE and ask that they come back to the…

I thank Deputy Dolan for raising the issue. He is right on the broader issue. When you look at the cost of energy, it has risen across the board, of that there is no doubt. However, when you look at the cost to fill a home heating oil tank, it has risen in quite an alarming manner. Roughly speaking, it was €950 to fill the tank last winter. It is anywhere between €1,500, €1,600, €1,700 and rising to fill the tank this winter. This is an extraordinary rise for families. We are working through this as a Government to…

I thank Deputy Donnelly for highlighting this issue in relation to the Dunsink Observatory and the views of the community there as well. My understanding is that the public consultation process has concluded. The local authority is duty bound to consider all of that feedback. From what the Deputy says, it sounds like it has received quite a lot. It will then be for the local authority to come forward with the next steps. The Government stands ready to assist in any kind of modality or with suggestions the local aut…

I thank Deputy Kenny for raising this issue. I am familiar with the greenway issue from my engagement with the Minister of State, Deputy Feighan, and various TDs, including the Deputy, in relation to Sligo. This should not be an either-or situation. Any decision in relation to the greenway needs to preserve the railway. My understanding, from local discussions, is that the greenway will be done in such a way as to preserve the railway line. We have, as the Deputy said, already started on the western rail corridor w…

I happened to see some of the news coverage of the committee discussion in relation to this yesterday. I say this very respectfully, but sometimes there is a misrepresentation of the role of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. It is not an executive function; it is a role to act as an honest broker in terms of bringing forward the various views raised by the 27 member states at meetings, often of officials through Coreper structures and the likes, as well. It is not a position of the Irish Presiden…

I thank Deputy Ennis for raising the issue of child poverty and for raising it in a very real way in relation to his community and his constituency, including Sheriff Street and the area he represents in Dáil Éireann. What I am not going to do is get into a back-and-forth on statistics and reports, etc. The point is that child poverty is still too high. I agree with that. It is true that the ESRI data probably has not yet seen the benefit of some Government measures that we took, most particularly in the previous b…

First, I will not jump over the constructive contributions the Deputy has been making on private wires legislation and the likes. I thank him for that and for his expertise and interest in that, which is valuable to Government. We look forward to working with him on that. The Deputy will understand that frustrating thing I am going to say about not being able to get into every specific of the budget, other than to say that we did increase capitation last year. That was important and was welcomed. We are listening a…