Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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The programme for Government contains a promise to create a food ombudsman to protect farmers and consumers from unscrupulous behaviour on the part of powerful retailers and processors. Farmers had sought a regulator with real teeth to tackle the cartel-like behaviour of factories and others, particularly in the meat sector. The Government's draft Bill for an office for fairness and transparency was roundly criticised for lacking the necessary enforcement powers. The Minister promised that the new office would be in place by the end of 2021. That did not happen. He then promised it would be in place by summer 2022, but that did not happen either. This Bill went to Cabinet only yesterday. When will it be progressed and, crucially, will the Taoiseach give a commitment to positively consider the amendments Sinn Féin and others will bring forward to address the remaining deficiencies in the Bill and protect our family farmers and consumers in the market?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The final Bill has been approved by the Government and will now be introduced in the Dáil. Last June, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine met with the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine for pre-legislative scrutiny of the general scheme of the agricultural and food supply chain Bill 2022. That general scheme was approved by Government in March. The Minister met with the committee, which subsequently met with other stakeholders on two separate occasions in July. The agrifood regulator that will be established under the Bill will be an office with real teeth and will be a strong advocate for farmers, fishers and all food producers. It will shine a light on the sector to help improve the position of the primary producer, will bring about greater transparency and fairness and will enforce those principles for agrifood suppliers.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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Yesterday, I raised with the Taoiseach the issue of crèche closures and the lack of childcare places. I have corresponded with the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, on the specific issue of a crèche closure in my constituency. This closure is indicative of a much broader problem, namely, that there is a real shortage of childcare and crèche places for families throughout the country. I was contacted by a family last week who were shocked to discover that their local childcare facility has a waiting list of in excess of 400. In the mums' WhatsApp group, the mother involved was advised that she should have reserved her child's place before she was 12 weeks pregnant if she wanted to secure a spot in the facility. This situation indicates the severe shortage of childcare facilities across the country. Will the changes being introduced by Government, which we have welcomed as they move us towards a more secure and publicly funded service, lead to a guaranteed preschool place for every child? Will we see the sort of equal approach to early years childcare that Labour has been advocating for so long?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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There has been a very significant increase in funding, particularly in the past two to three years. More than 4,000 services have signed up for core funding. That equates to 93% of all eligible services. The aim is to get to a position where every child will be able to access a place in a crèche or childcare facility. We want to continue to advance this agenda in next year's budget in order to increase provision and achieve the targets Deputy Bacik has outlined.

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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Another planning application has been submitted for development on the former Bessborough mother and baby home site, adjacent to the area known as the children's burial ground. More than 900 children died in the care of the nuns at Bessborough. The burial place of more than 800 of those children is unknown. The commission of investigation found that it was very likely that the remains of infants and children are on the site. I raised this point with the Taoiseach two years ago when a similar application was proposed. We now have the Institutional Burials Act 2022, which allows the Government to engage with survivors to examine the site or to ensure appropriate memorialisation. Will the Taoiseach please use the powers available under the Act to engage with survivors in respect of the site urgently, before any planning application is decided upon?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I actually walked that site with some survivors a number of years ago. Their main concern was that the site they feel makes up the burial grounds - as the Deputy will know, the site at Bessborough is very large - should not be used for housing. If I am right, a previous application was rejected. The planning aspect is obviously an operational issue for the council but we will certainly continue to engage with the survivors regarding their needs, their perspective and their objectives. At that stage, they were not focused on excavation or anything like that, although they wanted the site preserved for memorialisation.

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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We have the Institutional Burials Act 2022, so the context is different.

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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I express my solidarity and that of International Socialist Alternative with the young protestors in China. In the face of police repression, thousands of young people are protesting against the dictatorship of Xi Jinping by holding up blank A4 sheets of paper, as I am now doing. They are demanding freedom of speech, an end to a rigid and extreme Covid policy and democratic rights. China's capitalist dictatorship is facing its most serious challenge in more than 30 years. One of the groups that is trying to co-ordinate international solidarity, Chinaworker.info, reports that the revolt began with a workers' protest at the world's largest iPhone factory. I agree with the group's argument that a general strike of workers and students would be the most powerful weapon available in the context of protest. Here in the West, capitalist governments have been keen to a fight a new cold war. Socialists stand for a class war against the capitalists, east and west. Will the Taoiseach voice support for the Chinese protests and for the solidarity protests planned at embassies internationally?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I do not believe in a war at all. The Deputy used a very interesting term, "class war". That would not be my vision for this country or for Europe. We consistently raise with the Chinese Government the need for human rights to be affirmed and for the citizens of China to have access to the same human rights as people in the West. Those rights were nurtured and developed by the liberal democracies of the West. We particularly call for people to be allowed to protest peacefully and to articulate their viewpoints without those perspectives being suppressed.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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It is taking more than a year for people to access the long Covid clinic at St. Vincent's University Hospital in Dublin. Despite a growing body of research evidence indicating that many patients with long Covid have neurological issues, the HSE has recruited only one neurologist for long Covid patients throughout the country. The only other clinic managing patients with neurological issues, based in the Mater hospital, is set to close at the end of next month due to the HSE's failure to even respond to the business case submitted to it last July. This clinic has already treated some 1,500 people this year. I ask the Taoiseach to intervene to keep this clinic open.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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My understanding is that €2.2 million was allocated for the development of long Covid services in 2022. An additional €6.6 million will be invested in 2023. The HSE has an interim model of care to provide long Covid services nationally with the first priority being to ensure that both long Covid and post-acute Covid clinics operate with each hospital group in order that there will be a national service. I am informed that the long Covid clinics that have been established are based in St. Vincent's University Hospital, Tallaght University Hospital, St. James's Hospital, Beaumont Hospital and University Hospital Galway. I will bring the points the Deputy has raised in respect of the two locations he has identified, namely, St. Vincent's and-----

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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The Mater.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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-----the Mater, to the attention of the Minister and ask him to come back to the Deputy on them.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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The HSE has confirmed to me that there have been no new residential services for people with disabilities developed in south Tipperary since 2017. That means it has been five years since any additional capacity was added to the residential services children with disabilities can be referred to. In the same response, the HSE confirmed that 13 families have requested residential services for their children while there is also a cohort of children in the care of Tusla who will need these services. South east community healthcare is operating with limited resources and is not getting any extra. In this same letter, the HSE confirms that respite services are at capacity and that families requiring urgent respite are waiting longer than six months for a single night. That is an appalling legacy for the Taoiseach. He says he has only been in office for two years but he was involved in a confidence and supply arrangement for five years before that. In fact, he has always been involved because he set up the HSE. That is what we have now.

The Government has failed the children with special needs and it is shocking. Waffling answers are no good. The Taoiseach has money for everything else but has no money for these desperately needed services.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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We have provided very significant resources for services for people with disabilities. I do not mean to be facetious, but I do not operate or run every service in every area of the country. There is a responsibility on the HSE and the people working in the local authorities to ensure that the necessary respite care is provided.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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The HSE was set up by you.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Government has provided resources for disability services for respite and residential care. If the Deputy wants to forward the details we will take up the matter.

Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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On that issue, the Taoiseach's response to the cost overruns at the national children's hospital is to provide the hospital and then we will argue about the cost of it.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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No.

Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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In any event, it is in marked contrast to the provision of services for children with disabilities. This week I was approached by the parents of a young man who is doing his leaving certificate this year. He is a high academic achiever but he is going nowhere because he can go nowhere without supports. In 2020 he was assessed and none of the interventions that was recommended has been provided. He will soon reach his 18th birthday and after that he does not have a legal right to supports and he cannot go on to third level education without some of the supports. Those parents are in the very east of the county. On the western seaboard of the county I was approached by the parents of a young child in infant class. They struggle every day to get him to go to school. It is a major struggle. They get him to school and he stands inside the gates alone, locked in his own world and he stays there for the day. They cannot even get him assessed. They are being referred from pillar to post, and from one service to another, despite the fact that early intervention is key to dealing with autism and is key to unlocking the potential of that young child, as it is for his leaving certificate counterpart. Supports are key to unlocking the potential of his leaving certificate counterpart on the other side of the county. Whatever moneys are provided they are not trickling down and services are not being provided. What hope will the Taoiseach offer to the parents of those children and to parents right across Clare and the country?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The supports are there. There are issues, and I do not doubt what the Deputy has raised, but there is a problem with whoever is organising stuff there.

Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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A huge one.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Let me please answer the question. Every university now has very strong disability supports. They are very strong and funding is provided to the universities and third level colleges for services for students who are visually impaired and right across the board,including technological services, to enable people with disabilities to access education.

The Deputy raised the matter of a specific individual and he can bring me the details.

Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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I will.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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That young person, if in a position to do so, should complete the leaving certificate, perhaps through the DARE or HEAR programmes. There are two programmes that will facilitate access to college and the backup supports in the relevant third level college. That support is there and I do not understand why the pathway has not been outlined to this young person. I will take this up with the Deputy afterwards.

The Deputy also raised the issue of a younger child. No child should be standing alone in the yard in any primary school and there is no necessity for that. I was in schools recently where children with severe and profound disabilities are in the classroom and are in the school. I can follow this up with the Deputy again.

Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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More than 17,000 people who are on illness benefit will now qualify for the Christmas bonus. That is a good move and is an acknowledgement of the financial pressure they are under. I acknowledge that. They should also be able to access the means tested fuel allowance. Up until now they have been precluded from the means tested allowance on the basis that they are on a short-term payment. Really, people just want to recover their health and get back to work and a somewhat normal life. In the meantime, however, when they are off work with their health condition, they still have financial commitments: the mortgage must be paid, the car loan must be paid and so many commitments. Unless the employer is giving them a top up they are in a difficult financial position. Given that the acknowledgement is there now for the Christmas bonus, and given the pressure that people are under, can this be taken a step further so people who are receiving illness benefit for more than 12 months will get the means tested fuel allowance?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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To be fair, the Deputy has acknowledged the significant move in including illness benefit in the Christmas bonus. That was on top of a whole range of additional payments that have been made since the summer and since autumn began, right through to Christmas with the cost-of-living package. Of course, once we make additional moves the call is to go further again and further again. It is all within a very substantial envelope of more than €11 billion. It is, however, an issue we will keep under review. The Deputy has suggested that people on illness benefit from more than 12 months could be considered. I will revert back to the Minister on this but I think we have made a lot of progress so far.

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I wish to raise a serious issue that has horrified the nation and has terrified parents of young children in recent days. A nine year-old boy suffered what can only be described as horrific injuries on Sunday afternoon when he was savagely attacked by a pit bull dog while playing football with his friends in the green area at the estate where he lives in Wexford. The little boy remains in a serious condition in hospital following the attack by a dog that was not under the control of its owner. Nor was it muzzled.

There has been a significant rise in the number of dog attacks on humans in the past five years, with more than 1,700 of these attacks reported from 2016 to 2021. They have had difficulty in finding the dog's owner. The full forces of the law need to be applied where an incident such as this that alters a child's life occurs. Do we need to do more to target the owners of these dogs that are listed as dangerous breeds, and which continue to be in public areas without a lead or a muzzle? Does the legislation need to be strengthened to make dog owners accountable for these dangerous breeds that pose a risk to humans?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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All of our thoughts are with Alejandro and his family and friends following the horrific ordeal for that young child. It is quite shocking and all of us are very disturbed by what has transpired here. There is also a degree of anger. I do not understand why there is a need to own such dangerous breeds. I think that we should go back to the drawing board. I do not have the full panoply of legislation in front of me but we do need to go back to the drawing board. What has happened is one child too many. We all have pets but there is no need for this and it needs to be seriously examined. I will revert to the Minister to examine whatever cross-departmental approach we should take. The first thing to do is make sure there is enforcement. The second issue is the whole area of what is driving this and why there is a necessity for it.

Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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On 28 Dr. Una O'Halloran notified the HSE that she will be leaving her GP practice in Blarney. She notified the HSE that she was leaving and here we are more than two months later and the HSE still has not advertised the post. Dr. O'Halloran is finishing on 31 December. The practice has almost 2,000 patients, between medical card holders and private patients, and it will mean the loss of a GP service in Blarney. Will the Taoiseach instruct the HSE to put a locum in place in the current clinic? I know of a GP who has offered the HSE to take over that practice as a temporary measure until someone is appointed. At the moment we have the closure of a GP practice in Blarney, when somebody is willing to keep it going. Will the Taoiseach notify the HSE and instruct them to do that? These 2,000 patients could be sent to Ballincollig. The Taoiseach is a Cork man, as is the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath, who is sitting next Taoiseach. There is no link between Blarney and Ballincollig. How can we justify sending 2,000 patients from Blarney to Ballincollig?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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As I understand it, the HSE is endeavouring to get an interim GP in place-----

Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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We have got one. I just want to get the Taoiseach to ask the HSE to do it.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy asked the question. If he has got one so what is the problem and why did he raise this? It is my view that the HSE should sort this out. That is its job. I cannot sort out every appointment in the entire HSE. It employs hundreds of thousands of people.

Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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They might just listen to the Taoiseach.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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It is my understanding - Deputy O'Sullivan's understanding is like the Deputy's, and others have said it also - that an interim GP is what they want. It should also advertise. The Deputy is saying this but it has not happened yet. It should advertise and It should appoint somebody. I will follow it up with the Minister for Health and with the HSE.

Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Taoiseach.

Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Taoiseach will be aware that the Garda and private security organisations have been calling for the introduction of body cameras to improve safety and transparency.

The general data protection regulation and other data protection rules, regulations and related guidelines limit or prohibit the use of body cameras. There was some revised guidance from the data protection officer recently. However, uncertainties remain and primary legislation is required. Will the Taoiseach advise as to when he expects Second Stage of the Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) Bill 2022 to be taken? Will he ask the Minister for Justice to examine extending the use of body cameras to private security staff?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. The Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) Bill was published in August. The Government asked the Minister for Justice for more information on the potential inclusion of facial recognition technology, FRT, by means of amendments on Committee Stage. A report has been prepared for the Cabinet and will be published in the near future. The proposal to provide for An Garda Síochána's use of FRT is in line with the proposals contained in the report of the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland, which recommended the digital transformation of the Irish police service to enhance front-line policing capability. It is hoped that the report will be published shortly and that it will shed some light on this and get matters moving.

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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I want to ask the Taoiseach about Garda presence in our rural communities. We know from recent data released by my colleague, Deputy Martin Kenny, that Garda membership across the State has fallen since 2009 while the population has grown by over 11% in that time. Since 2009, Garda numbers in Galway have increased by just 19. The wider division of Mayo, Roscommon and Longford has got 17 additional gardaí in the past 13 years. Those are three mostly rural counties. Crime is on the rise. Burglaries are up 47% in Roscommon and Longford, which is a really frightening statistic. Antisocial behaviour, not just in our cities but also in many rural towns, is on the rise as well. Some towns are really suffering and people are living in fear. We need a deliverable policing plan in conjunction with our communities, and it needs to include additional gardaí on the beat, especially in rural towns. Will the Taoiseach commit to that policing plan?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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In recent years there has been a substantial increase in resources for recruitment of gardaí. That will continue. I accept that there are challenges, particularly in the context of antisocial behaviour and in rural Ireland. We want to strengthen and support An Garda Síochána. Funding for 1,000 gardaí to be recruited next year was provided in the budget. I am informed by the Garda authorities that, at the end of August of this year, there were 14,283 Garda members, supported by more than 3,117 Garda staff. That is an increase of about 12% since 2015, when we had 12,816 Garda members throughout the country, so there has been a significant increase since 2015. The budget this year is €2.14 billion. We have to get the recruitment campaign going. About 11,000 people applied to join the service in 2022.

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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I understand that the Taoiseach will visit Macroom on the Friday after next to mark the opening of the Macroom town bypass element of the €285 million contract to build a new motorway from the county bounds to east of Macroom at Coolcower. This project is a game changer for the region and one for which I was delighted to get Government approval in 2019, when I had the honour to serve in Cabinet. As the Taoiseach will no doubt be aware, in order to facilitate the early opening by him, a temporary roundabout at Carrigaphooca has been installed at an additional cost of €1.2 million. The plan is to remove that temporary roundabout in a few months when further progress is made on the remainder of the road. Instead of the roundabout being dismantled, will the Taoiseach take the necessary steps with Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, to ensure that a permanent on-off junction is provided at this location, thereby facilitating the local communities at Mons, Carrigaphooca, Lissacresig, Kilnamartyra, Reananerree, Ballingarry and beyond to Bantry and the Beara Peninsula in order to facilitate their easy access to the new road?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I will have that examined, but I am not familiar with the details of what the Deputy has just said. The opening is very good news. It is a very good development. The bypass has been long awaited and will be of significance to Kerry as well as to Cork and to all who travel on that route. We will engage with the county council and TII in respect of the Deputy's suggestion.

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I have met the soon-to-be former residents of the unauthorised structure on Liberty Lane, in Dublin 8, and I have spoken to the fire officers who checked out the place. They have very serious concerns about this unauthorised structure. Planning enforcement from Dublin City Council, DCC, has ordered it to be closed, and 27 people will be without homes in the week before Christmas. My question to the Taoiseach is what consequences in respect of criminal negligence there are for a landlord like Cathal Garrad, who rented this unauthorised structure to 27 tenants knowing that it was a fire danger? Will the State move against landlords who exploit the housing crisis to profiteer from it in this way in order to prevent anybody else doing what this landlord has done? If there are no consequences, why would others not follow suit?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The authorities are pursuing this matter. It was because of the local authority, in this case DCC, enforcing the legislation on fire safety that action has been taken to protect those who were in that unacceptable accommodation.

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I asked about consequences for the landlord and criminal negligence.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The consequences are in the legislation, but it is a matter for the council to pursue that. I am not going to prejudice any potential case that may arise.

Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent)
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I raised with the Taoiseach a few weeks ago Zenith Energy Bantry Terminal Limited's proposed redundancy of its entire permanently employed maintenance workforce at Whiddy Island terminal in Bantry. The works carried out by this workforce include emergency maintenance to the terminal and surrounding areas, where qualified personnel can respond day or night at short notice. These redundancies will have a severely negative effect on the local economy and on the economy of west Cork in general. The State cannot idle as these workers are railroaded in the context of their rights. Whiddy Island is our national oil storage base. I ask the Taoiseach to call on Zenith Energy Bantry Terminal Limited to step back and to do all it can to save these jobs. A full strike has now been called for 13 December by SIPTU members, who served notice this week to the company. This action results from the decision of the company to dismiss workers with long service from today. Strike action is always a last resort, but it is now obvious that the compulsory redundancies Zenith Energy is seeking are not necessary. Since I raised this matter with the Taoiseach a few weeks ago, what efforts have the Government made to help to save these jobs?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy said that SIPTU or had been engaging but that it has now called a strike. We hope the existing industrial relations mechanisms can be deployed to resolve the issues in Bantry. I did not fully pick up what the Deputy is asking the Government to do in the case of-----

Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent)
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I want the Government to save the permanent jobs that have been there for decades. Those jobs are being taken out-----

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I will engage with the Deputy later on the matter.

Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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In 2019, when I was a councillor and mayor of Clare, I put down a motion asking that the Wild Atlantic Way host a stage of the Tour de France. That motion got unanimous backing from all parties. It took off and made its way to the Government. I was delighted on election to the Dáil to be able to meet with the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Deputy Catherine Martin, and Fáilte Ireland and to keep a bit of momentum going on this matter. I have been speaking with the famous Seán Kelly about it. We really want the Tour de France to go down the Wild Atlantic Way. I am delighted the Government is pursuing this. The Taoiseach is surrounded by many west of Ireland Deputies. We will count the Taoiseach in that bracket as well as a Cork man. We would love to see the Tour de France go down through Galway, Clare, Limerick, Cork and Kerry - down the Wild Atlantic Way. I hope the Taoiseach will turn around and ask our friend and colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, that a Tour de France grand départon the Wild Atlantic Way in 2026 or 2027 become the Government's position. We do not want it going from Dublin to Belfast this time. We want it in the west of Ireland. The Leas-Cheann Comhairle might agree.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy will be glad to know I raised and discussed this issue last week with President Macron, who is acutely aware of the needs of the west of Ireland. To be fair, Jeffrey Donaldson, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, has raised this issue with us also in the context of an all-island approach to a Tour de France event. An all-island focus would be particularly important. We are working on with Northern Ireland political representatives, the UK Government and the French Government to see if we could put-----

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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It can still be on the west coast, though.

Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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What about the Wild Atlantic Way? Stage 2?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I will say no more. I was going to be a bit humorous. They want an eventful trip, certainly. I will not get into precise routes. I will defer to the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, in that respect.

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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Last year, there were 7,000 call-outs of gardaí to deal with mental health crises around the State.

In effect, gardaí are managing mental health patients outside office hours. That is 340 per Garda division or almost one per day. The Mental Health Commission recently referred to a 2009 report recommending 24-7 social work services and enhanced training for Garda members. Will the Taoiseach implement the report and improve services, especially in the larger towns on a 24-7 basis, and expand the pilot project in Limerick where community access support teams were in place to deal with this crisis?

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Before the Taoiseach responds, we are out of time and we have three speakers left. Again, I ask Members for their co-operation and we will take the four questions together.

Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein)
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Kildare and Laois have some of the lowest Garda numbers per capitain the country. Some 55% of the Gardaí in one station in Kildare are out sick, mainly due to injuries sustained in the line of duty. Will the Taoiseach personally intervene to address Garda numbers in Kildare and Laois and to address morale and conditions in the wider force so that people can feel safe on the streets? I did hear what the Taoiseach said to Deputy Kerrane about the 1,000 budgeted for next year. How many are for Laois and Kildare?

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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I have been in contact with the Department of Health and the HSE on the closure of Dunkineely health centre in Donegal. The HSE has still not responded. The response from the Department referred me to the HSE, which has not responded. My constituents are, understandably, very worried about the future of the health centre and of their town. Dunkineely has seen closure after closure in recent years, including the post office and the Garda station, so the town is understandably anxious about the sudden closure of yet another service. However, this does not seem to be a priority of the HSE. It is just another example of the lack of concern or care for our national service and another example of the lack of concern or care the Government has for rural communities. Patients have nowhere to go as doctors in surrounding practices of Killybegs, Mountcharles and Donegal town have been unable to take new patients for a while due to high demand and a lack of GP services in south Donegal. What will the Government do to make sure these services are restored and available?

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Since June I have raised the cancellation of public health nurse check-ups for babies and children in community healthcare organisation, CHO, 7 and in particular the areas of Rathcoole, Lucan, Clondalkin and Newcastle. I have been told repeatedly that the HSE has a pipeline of students due to graduate who will become public health nurses. However, this has not materialised. In particular, it has not materialised for us in Dublin. That means parents are still stressed out about this and children and toddlers are still missing milestone developmental checkups. It is simply not good enough. Will the Taoiseach commit to looking at the recruitment process to see if policies and procedures need to be changed so that we can get public health nurses more quickly, especially into Dublin, because something has to change?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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In response to Deputy Daly, I mentioned the significant increase in Garda numbers since 2015 and that funding had been put aside to recruit a further 1,000 gardaí in the 2023 budget. That impacts on the pilot schemes Deputy Daly wants extended, particularly the relationship with mental health, dealing with mental health call-outs and so on. The overall aim of the Government is to increase significantly the number of gardaí in order that the Commissioner can operationally deploy them in accordance with his priorities.

I will engage with the HSE in respect of Deputy Pringle's question. I do not think he outlined the reasons the centre is closing. There must be some background to it but I will check it with the HSE and that the Deputy raised it.

I will also check with the HSE in respect of Deputy Higgins question. That is a recruitment and retention issue in the HSE more generally. More specifically, the CHO 7 area is not one I am au fait with but I will raise the matter with the HSE.