Parliamentary questions

Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements

Paul Murphy

44. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his latest engagement with the social partners. [24670/21]

Horse Racing Industry

Paul Murphy

184. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he has approved the resumption of point to point racing which is now taking place with large crowds in attendance; and if he will act to stop it in view of a Government request that it be discontinued under current Covid-19 regulations. [26796/21]

Vaccination Programme

Paul Murphy

8. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach the membership and terms of reference of the vaccine roll-out group chaired by the Secretary General of his Department. [24668/21]

Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements

Paul Murphy

14. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his recent engagements with church leaders. [24255/21]

Youth Unemployment

Paul Murphy

103. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Social Protection her plans for youth unemployment; and if a commitment will be given not to introduce JobBridge-style activation schemes targeted at young persons. [26227/21]

Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment

Paul Murphy

112. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Social Protection the cost and the staff employed in the employer reporting facility established by her Department in March 2020 to enable employers to make notifications regarding staff they claimed were unwilling to return to work while they continued to claim the pandemic unemployment payment; and the number of employees on the payment who subsequently had their payments reduced or terminated on foot of employers contacting her Department. [26228/21]

Transport Infrastructure Ireland

Paul Murphy

267. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Transport if his attention has been drawn to the fact that Transport Infrastructure Ireland has an agreement with a company (details supplied) in respect of its development; his views on whether this agreement removes objectivity in the feasibility studies and indicates that the NTA and TII have already decided the outcome and will proceed with their preference of Charlemont-Beechwood; if he will instruct the NTA to promptly publish the feasibility studies and demonstrate that they were fully objective regarding the three possible options; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26408/21]

Middle East

Paul Murphy

423. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if, in the context of ongoing steps by the Israeli state to expel Palestinians from East Jerusalem and replace them with Zionist settlers and the killing of 22 Palestinians in an Israeli attack on Gaza, he will expel the Israeli Ambassador from Ireland to express Ireland’s opposition to these killings and to the threatened expulsion of 13 families comprised of 58 persons including 17 children from Sheik Jarrah in East Jerusalem; if he will immediately prepare a Bill to go before Dáil Éireann to impose trade sanctions against Israel in response to these killings and threatened expulsions; if he will prepare a proposal from Ireland to the European Council calling for the imposition of trade sanctions by the EU against Israel on the grounds of these killings and the breaches of the human rights of Palestinians; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25926/21]

Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment

Paul Murphy

529. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Social Protection if a person can still qualify to maintain the pandemic unemployment payment (details supplied) in circumstances in which a person has a part-time PAYE employment which provides income of less than €960 over eight weeks. [25512/21]

National Economic and Social Council

Paul Murphy

557. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Social Protection if she read the recent NESC publication on the position of the self-employed; and her views on the matter. [1490/21]

Departmental Investigations

Paul Murphy

559. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Social Protection the cost of her Department’s special investigation unit to date including the wages of the 20 gardaí involved; the number of individual cases investigated; the number of individual cases investigated on foot of employer reports; the number of employer inspections carried out; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26349/21]

Social Welfare Benefits

Paul Murphy

566. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Social Protection the reason foster parents are required to be available for work in order to avail of jobseeker’s payments when they are not allowed to leave the child with a childminder under the terms of fostering; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26499/21]

An Garda Síochána

Paul Murphy

672. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Justice if she will provide the breakdown by Garda district of fines and arrests in relation to the Covid-19 legislation. [26330/21]

Special Educational Needs

Paul Murphy

87. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Education if additional special education teacher hours will be allocated to a school (details supplied) given that her Department previously recognised the need for increased hours and the fact that the number of pupils attending the school has increased further since that recognition. [24893/21]

Special Educational Needs

Paul Murphy

144. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Education her views on schools which need additional special education teacher hours which will not be allocated to them given the decision not to re-profile allocations until September 2022. [24894/21]

Covid-19 Pandemic

Paul Murphy

189. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Transport if he has authorised Transport Infrastructure Ireland to authorise a company (details supplied) to require ticket inspectors to commence ticket inspections on the Luas trams; if the HSE has approved this; the safety protocols and procedures that are to be applied to protect the health of the inspectors and of the passengers and to stop the spread of infection; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25197/21]

Departmental Data

Paul Murphy

258. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if information (details supplied) will be provided. [25351/21]

Vaccination Programme

Paul Murphy

445. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Health the requirements regarding mandatory hotel quarantine for Irish citizens returning to Ireland from the UAE in July 2021 who have been working in the UAE and have been vaccinated there with a vaccine (details supplied). [25345/21]

National Economic and Social Council

Paul Murphy

7. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the National Economic and Social Council. [24254/21]

Departmental Functions

Paul Murphy

9. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the social policy and public service reform division of his Department. [21776/21]

Departmental Records

Paul Murphy

341. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage further to Parliamentary Question No. 795 of 21 April 2021, the date the missing file from his office was found; the person who found the file; the location in which the file was found; the person who misplaced the file within his office; and if the file was missing within his Department from the Minister's office from 1 September 2014 to at least 29 September 2014. [24175/21]

Departmental Communications

Paul Murphy

342. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his views on whether it is appropriate that his Department published a non-determination of facts naming persons in the reviews carried out into the CPO at Three Trout Stream, Charlesland, Greystones, County Wicklow given that both the reviewer and his Department have accepted that these reviews are not statements of fact and that the reviewer has subsequent to the publication stated that they did not receive relevant documentation from Wicklow County Council in the carrying out of their reviews; and his further views on whether the reviews should be removed from publication on all Government websites. [24176/21]

National Parks and Wildlife Service

Paul Murphy

353. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if species of birds (details supplied) will be removed from the list of birds that may be shot currently included in the Open Seasons Order published on the website of the National Parks and Wildlife Service; if he will cancel the derogation which allows the continued year-round shooting of wood-pigeons; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24466/21]

Legislative Measures

Paul Murphy

366. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if the upcoming Land Development Agency Bill 2021 will be revised at committee stage to prioritise traditional council housing and to ensure that the affordable housing is defined in relation to incomes and not in relation to market prices; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24649/21]

Covid-19 Pandemic

Paul Murphy

394. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the amount of vaccines that the EU plans to give to Palestine given the extended state of emergency in Palestine to prevent the spread of new variants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24396/21]

Middle East

Paul Murphy

395. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs his views on a recently published report by an organisation (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24397/21]

Child Abuse

Paul Murphy

466. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Education further to Parliamentary Questions Nos. 170 of 21 January 2021 and 1014 of 21 April 2021, if as part the examination by her Department of the ex gratia scheme for compensation for school victims of child sexual abuse (details supplied) she will consider opening a compensation scheme for school victims of child sexual abuse who did not previously initiate legal proceedings against the State and although they were grievously hurt while in loco parentis care by the State they were not eligible for compensation under the ex gratia scheme as specified in the July 2015 scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24181/21]

School Accommodation

Paul Murphy

521. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Education the timeline for the installation and completion of temporary accommodation on the site of a school (details supplied); and if the school and the parents will be informed of the plans and arrangements for the return of the children to the school at the end of August 2021. [24613/21]

Healthcare Infrastructure Provision

Paul Murphy

686. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Health if the State will be a party to contracts currently being drawn up in relation to the new national maternity hospital including contracts involving St. Vincent's Healthcare Group and the National Maternity Hospital; if he will specify the obligations the State is or will be assuming in this regard; the latest timeline for the conclusion of these arrangements; if the finalisation of these arrangements requires legislation; if so, the nature of the legislation; when it is to be brought forward to Dáil Éireann; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23651/21]

National Maternity Hospital

Paul Murphy

804. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Health the measures he is taking to ensure that the new national maternity hospital to be built at St. Vincent's Hospital, Elm Park will comply with the Sláintecare objectives of removing private medical care from public hospitals; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24182/21]

National Maternity Hospital

Paul Murphy

805. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Health if the full range of IVF services will be available in the new national maternity hospital to be built at St Vincent's Hospital as part of the public healthcare system; if surgical sterilisation procedures will be available to women in the new hospital as part of the public healthcare system; if funding will be provided by his Department or the HSE to the new hospital for IVF services; if funding will be provided by his Department or the HSE to the new hospital for surgical sterilisation services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24184/21]

Hospital Procedures

Paul Murphy

806. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Health the number of surgical sterilisation procedures that were carried out on women and men, respectively, in each of the past five years in St. Vincent's University Hospital and in the Mater University Hospital; the number of IVF procedures that were carried out in each of the past five years in St Vincent's University Hospital and in the Mater University Hospital; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24185/21]

Live Exports

Paul Murphy

990. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of horses exported from Ireland to China in the past ten years; the method of transport of those horses in tabular form; and if he has concerns in relation to the fate of these animals in a country with no animal welfare laws. [24468/21]

Horse Racing Industry

Paul Murphy

991. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of horses injured and killed in horse racing, horse training, point-to-point racing and show jumping in the past ten years and to date in 2021 by racecourse in tabular form; the names of the horses; the nature of their injuries; and the method used to kill horses at tracks. [24469/21]

Covid-19 Pandemic

Paul Murphy

992. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the protocols in place to prevent the spread of Covid-19 at racecourses; if jockeys and track staff are required to wear masks and observe social distancing at all times; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24470/21]

Horse Racing Industry

Paul Murphy

993. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of permanent or temporary medical staff and the number of ambulances and ambulance crew members in attendance at racecourses and point-to-point meetings nationwide; the dates such staff are in attendance; if these staff are paid for out of public funds via the Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund; the costs involved; his views on whether medical resources would be better deployed away from racecourses during the Covid-19 pandemic (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24471/21]

Horse Racing Industry

Paul Murphy

994. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of horses that were injured and killed at the 2021 Punchestown horse racing festival; if an investigation will be carried out into the high level of fatalities; if consideration will be given to ending State funding to Horse Racing Ireland in view of the growing number of horse deaths; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24475/21]

Covid-19 Pandemic

Paul Murphy

21. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Transport if he will consider lifting the restrictions on motorcycle advanced driver instructors to allow them to return to work as they have no close nor indoor interactions with their clients. [23505/21]

Covid-19 Pandemic

Paul Murphy

223. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Health if he will consider introducing provisions to allow persons over 60 years of age who are certified as having been vaccinated in Ireland to use swimming pools and gyms; and if so, the related certification and monitoring provisions that may he put in place. [23506/21]

Covid-19 Pandemic

Paul Murphy

224. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Health when attendance at weddings of more than six persons will be permitted. [23517/21]

Covid-19 Tests

Paul Murphy

225. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Health the number of additional staff the HSE has employed to carry out Covid-19 test and tracing activity; the number of additional staff the HSE has subcontracted through employment agencies to carry out Covid-19 test and tracing activity; the number from each agency; the number of staff the HSE has transferred from other HSE roles to carry out Covid-19 test and tracing activity; if he plans to request the HSE to carry out 14-day backward contact tracing as is done in Australia and Japan in order to protect against the spread of Covid-19 and new variants of the virus as the current restrictions are lifted; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23518/21]

Cabinet Committees

Paul Murphy

4. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on the environment and climate change last met; and when it will next meet. [21774/21]

Cabinet Committees

Paul Murphy

9. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on Government co-ordination will next meet. [21775/21]

National Economic and Social Council

Paul Murphy

116. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the National Economic and Social Council. [23262/21]

Programme for Government

Paul Murphy

117. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach the status of the Programme for Government. [23263/21]

Vaccination Programme

Paul Murphy

536. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Health if he will instruct the HSE to instruct the vaccination centre administrators to accept either a birth certificate short or long, long-term illness card, social services card, travel pass and proof of address as adequate identification to vaccinate the person and not refuse to vaccinate them (details supplied) in cases in which older persons who are scheduled for Covid-19 vaccination may not have photo identification. [22720/21]

Covid-19 Tests

Paul Murphy

621. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Health if he will address a series of matters in relation to testing and contact tracing (details supplied). And if he will make a statement on the matter. [23122/21]

Drugs Payment Scheme

Paul Murphy

127. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Health if drugs for the treatment of hyperemesis gravidarum will be included in the drugs payment scheme or medical card; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22467/21]

Cabinet Committees

Paul Murphy

5. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on Europe will next meet. [20146/21]

Citizens' Assembly

Paul Murphy

11. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach the expected timeline and order of citizens’ assemblies committed to in the programme for Government. [20145/21]