The bombardment and total siege of Gaza in recent weeks has seen the death toll exceed 6,500 people. More than 17,000 are injured and the Palestinian ministry of health has officially declared the collapse of the healthcare system in the Gaza Strip. The people of Gaza face a humanitarian catastrophe. The call of the Taoiseach at today’s European Council meeting must be for an immediate and full ceasefire, for the universal application of, and adherence to, international law with the explicit condemnation of those who breach it regardless of who they are, including Israel. If European leaders refuse to grasp this opportunity, however, then it falls to the Government to show desperately needed international leadership. What actions will the Government take and bring to bear to alleviate the human catastrophe and ensure adherence to international humanitarian law?
Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation
The Government has been very clear, and I have been very clear, that adherence to international law is a prerequisite and an essential need and imperative. We have also increased our funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, UNRWA, in particular. I met other member states during the week, on Monday, bilaterally, specifically asking for additional aid for UNRWA. I spoke to the Israeli foreign minister on Monday and made it clear that we want a humanitarian pause. At the subsequent Foreign Affairs Council, FAC, meeting, significant and growing numbers of member states coming around to the view that we need a humanitarian pause. I hope that, this week, the Council will follow through on that. That is the real work. We can make all the statements we like but we have to persuade people to go in a definitive direction, and that is what we are doing at European level. It is to get people to call for a humanitarian pause to enable aid to get in. When I spoke to the Israeli foreign minister, I said we need to get fuel into Gaza. If you do not have fuel, you do not have water.
Thank you, Tánaiste.
It is unacceptable what is happening. Without question, the human suffering is unacceptable. Too many women, too many children are dying. We have asked for that humanitarian pause in the first instance to enable us to get fuel in there because fuel will fuel the desalination plants, it will get the water pumps going to get water going, and every human being is entitled to water and food.
The rise in the death toll in Gaza has been truly horrific this week. Last night, we learned again about more bombardments and bombardments of areas in the south of the Gaza Strip where civilians had been told to move and told that it was for their safety. We have seen more children killed. We saw horrific images last night of individual tragedies such as the family of the Al Jazeera journalist Wael Al-Dahdouh, who were killed, including his son, Mahmoud, who had been filmed earlier in the week appealing to western leaders to keep him, his sister and other children alive in Gaza. We are seeing such an appalling and unbearable catastrophe in Gaza. UNRWA says it will have to cease aid operations and cease hospital services if fuel does not come in. I know the Tánaiste and the Taoiseach are pushing at European level but they must push harder to ensure the calls at EU level are made robustly and clearly for a ceasefire to ensure aid can be brought in to alleviate the unbearable suffering of the people of Gaza.
We are pushing very hard for that. At the FAC meeting on Monday, I articulated very strongly the need for a humanitarian pause and for very coherent humanitarian aid, and that there be no obstacles to that or to development aid going into Gaza. For the first time in a long time, the European Commissioner of Humanitarian Affairs was at the Foreign Affairs Council and he gave a very clear, clinical presentation to all Ministers on the dire situation in Gaza. The EU has people on the ground in Gaza at the moment from the humanitarian side of the Commission. They are giving us a very clear account of the horror and the human catastrophe that is happening within Gaza itself. We are pushing very hard for a humanitarian pause to get agreement at the European Council meeting. That has been our focus all week.
Since the Government lifted the eviction ban, we have had record levels of homelessness month after month. Never in the history of the State has the number of children living and growing up without a home been so high. Homelessness for children can have devastating and long-term consequences in their education and development. One woman was in touch with me in the past week who has been living with her five children in emergency accommodation for two and a half years. There is no evidence of any Government action or strategy to get children and families out of homelessness. What exactly is the Government doing to get children and families in situations like this out of homelessness and out of emergency accommodation?
There are two fundamental facts the Deputy did not reference. About 2,500 tenant in situ purchases are now progressing at various stages from assessment, sale agreed to closed. That is 2,500 people who have been prevented from going into homelessness by direct intervention and action by the Government. We are building far more social homes than we have in decades. Last year, we provided more than 10,000. This year it will be closer to more than 12,000 social homes provided by the Government, and that is not counting the 2,500 tenant in situ purchases.
None of this is enough, is it?
Le do thoil.
The other key thing is to enable people to work and get them out of homelessness as quickly as we possibly can. We do not want people homeless. Our population is growing. There are many factors to homelessness and that has to be borne in mind. We are working very hard to shorten the time people have in homelessness or in emergency accommodation.
The Tánaiste will be aware that Mallow will be added to the constituency I represent at the next general election. As a socialist, I will do my very best to represent and fight for the interests of ordinary people in this area. While I was happy to recently visit Mallow and introduce myself, I was disappointed to see a large derelict site halfway down the main street. On inquiry, I discovered that the old Central Hotel site has been in the hands of various private owners down the years and has been vacant and derelict for 16 years. What an insult to the people of Mallow. This could be a community centre. It could be turned into a park. It could be used for affordable apartments, shops or a hotel. I understand the owners bought it cheap and I think Cork County Council should use its compulsory purchase powers to buy it back cheap, take it into public ownership, put something useful in there for the people of the town.
Thank you, Deputy.
Would the Tánaiste agree there are far too many derelict sites in towns and villages throughout the country and councils should be doing more with their derelict sites powers?
We cannot start rehearsing lists of derelict buildings in the country. This is a matter the Deputy should take up with the local authority, not here.
The Deputy has been a long time in Cork.
Not long enough, if he has not seen that already.
I am surprised it has taken the Deputy so long to introduce himself to Mallow. I have been in and out of Mallow an awful lot.
We have to deal with derelict sites and we are very focused on doing that. I believe the Deputy was in Mallow for the opening of the 49th dementia daycare centre. It was good for him to bear witness to the industry and hard work of the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, who really has made a big difference in dementia care in the country with the increasing number of these dementia care centres that are being provided. I will follow up with the Minister on that site and see what the state of play is. The local authority should be working on that.
The Circular Economy and Miscellaneous Provisions Act became law in July 2022 providing for the GDPR-compliant use of CCTV for waste enforcement purposes by local authorities.
The Act requires the Local Government Management Agency to draw up and submit a code of practice for the use of CCTV by local authorities to deter and detect dumping. Yet, almost a year and a half after the Act became law, there is still no sign of the required code of practice. This is preventing local authorities from using CCTV for this purpose. Illegal dumping continues to be an enormous problem across Tipperary and the rest of the country. Will the Tánaiste check as to why, after 18 months, the Local Government Management Agency has failed in its duty and as a result, prevented local authorities from tackling the unsanitary and unsightly problem?
That is unacceptable and I will follow up on it. People need to implement laws when they are passed. This issue has been aired in the House for quite some time. We want to crack down on illegal dumping and litter and in my view, CCTV should be used for that purpose to get the culprits.
The Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, has issued another report today. Its last report blamed farmers for polluting our waterways. Farmers have implemented huge mitigation measures and are continuing to do so but need time to show results. I have been raising the issue of sewerage plants in every part of the country. This EPA report does not mention one plant in County Tipperary. In my own area, I could name the lovely village of Caisleán Nua, Burncourt, Grange, Mullinahone, Grangemockler, Lisvernane, Golden and Monard, to mention a few, that have no treatment plants. There is a map in the EPA paper to say that Tipperary is all fine. The EPA is not doing its job and this report is not accurate. Why have a half-baked report that states there are three Olympic-sized swimming pools of sewage going into waterways from towns and cities? We know there are. The EPA then blames the farmers. Every farmer wants to keep the environment. Householders have septic tanks. The EPA needs to be honest. I have invited its representatives to my county and village to see what is happening but they will not come. They come to test water from the plants. The EPA is not being honest. It is a publicly funded body. I am calling on the Government to deal with the EPA and ask it to do its job properly.
I am not clear what the issue is in Tipperary.
God no, do not start it up again.
It is the EPA. It is not doing its job as regards the public authorities, Uisce Éireann, looking after treatment plants.
The EPA published its report, which states that the impact from wastewater has decreased. Uisce Éireann is going ahead-----
The EPA did not mention a whole lot of places in Tipperary. That is the Deputy's issue.
It has not been to any place in Tipperary. Tá an map anseo agam.
The EPA is very aware that those places will be mentioned anyway.
That is a glib answer.
I will follow up with the EPA.
On the same issue, there has been a lot of emphasis this year on the requirement of agriculture to improve its impact on our water quality. I agree that agriculture has a role to play and needs to improve the impact it is having. I fear that after the derogation has ended, we will come back in five years and water quality in Ireland will not have improved enough unless the other actors also improve their game. I have spoken to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine about forestry with the usual impact I have when I speak to him about something.
Deputy Mattie McGrath mentioned wastewater treatment plants. Half a billion litres of raw sewage are being pumped into our waterways every year. That is happening every day. It does not even include wastewater overflows that happen when there is a storm event that flushes the whole system into the waterways, as we saw happen to the unfortunate people of Midleton. The issue is not in any way confined to Midleton and it also happens in other areas.
I thank the Deputy. Time is up.
The report never mentioned unsewered areas, such as Spanish Point and Miltown Malbay-----
I thank the Deputy. Time is up.
-----which is the area where Uisce Éireann pleaded guilty to five of 21 charges. The EPA only mentions the worst cases. It does not mention the other cases.
Please, the time is up.
What is the Government going to do? It talks about its environmental credentials.
Please, the time is up.
Yes, a Cheann Comhairle.
The Deputy has just one minute, the same as everyone else.
I know, a Cheann Comhairle. The Ceann Comhairle would also acknowledge that cycle lanes make for better photo opportunities than sewage treatment plants. What is the Government going to do about this?
The bottom line is that the EPA is acknowledging that an awful lot more needs to be done. It is acknowledging that.
It is not.
It deals with that in the report.
It does not mention unsewered communities at all.
Will the Deputy listen?
It does not mention them at all.
I am trying to answer the Deputy's question.
The Tánaiste is trying to avoid answering it. I am sorry. Let us hear what the Tánaiste has to say.
Some 26 towns and villages discharge raw sewage into our seas and rivers every day because they are not connected to wastewater treatment plants.
There are 226.
We need more wastewater treatment plants but we are making progress. Duncannon, Arthurstown and Ballyhack in County Wexford were done in 2022. Inchigeelagh, County Cork, Clarecastle, County Clare, and Kilcar, County Donegal, were done in 2023. A €500 million upgrade of the Ringsend treatment plant is under way. That will increase treatment capacity and bring it up to EU standards. That is due to be completed in 2025.
I thank the Tánaiste.
This is a work in progress. We know there is still raw sewage going into the water and that is terrible. No one is saying otherwise. We have to get delivery and get things moving fast.
There was no mention of unsewered settlements.
I have for a considerable length of time been raising the unacceptable delays in getting driving tests in the Cavan test centre. These delays have caused real difficulties for people who need to travel for work or to study and impact adversely on rural communities, such as those throughout County Cavan. If a person were to book a test in the Cavan test centre today, he or she will not receive an invitation for a test until 8 April 2024. It will be the end of that April before that person takes the test. People who booked a test in February and March last are only now receiving notice of their test dates.
I welcome the announcement by the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, of the recruitment of additional driver testers. I again emphasise the absolute need to allocate some of those new recruits to the Cavan centre on a permanent basis. Cavan has one tester in some weeks and perhaps two in other weeks. At other times, such as next week, we have no testers at all. That is not acceptable. We need an adequate complement of driver testers to be permanently assigned to the Cavan test centre. We have endured delays for far too long.
I accept what the Deputy has said. The Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, is very conscious of this issue. As Deputy Brendan Smith knows, sanction was given for the recruitment of 75 additional driver testers, in addition to the 30 permanent testers who were sanctioned in July 2022. As of Friday 6 October, 29 additional testers have joined the Road Safety Authority and are either employed or in training, while another 13 are lined up for November. The net increase anticipated for the organisation by the end of December is 42 personnel.
However, as the Deputy has said, the current average waiting time for a candidate is 28.5 weeks. That is down from 30.4 weeks but is still far above the accepted target in the service level agreement of ten weeks. Demand is up and continues to go up. There are now 5,000 applications per week. Those are 5,000 people per week applying and looking for driving tests. We have to move on this.
I again bring to the attention of the House the urgent need for reform in respect of family law. To what extent are procedures in hand to accelerate reform through the House? I bring to the attention of the House the fact that expert witnesses in that area have been questioned in the past and seem to have taken upon themselves the role of the whole administration of family law. What is the progress in respect of the promised reforms?
In fairness to the Deputy, he has consistently raised this issue. I do not know if he has met the Minister for Justice or the Attorney General on the topic. It might be useful for him to talk to them.
I have met both.
There are separation of powers considerations in respect of how the judicial arm conducts itself. We observe that separation. If there is a legislative dimension to the issue, the Minister would meet the Deputy and seek the advice of the Attorney General.
On Monday, 130 people were on trolleys in University Hospital Limerick, which was the highest number ever recorded. It was confirmed by the hospital on "Morning Ireland" that completion of the new 90-bed unit will be delayed for another year, from 2024 to 2025. Some 18,012 people were on trolleys in University Hospital Limerick in 2022. The figure will surpass 20,000 this year. The Minister for Health is clearly failing in Limerick. He has put up the white flag. The Government has abandoned the people who have to use the emergency department in Limerick. I have said that to the Tánaiste in the past. Will he confirm why there is an additional delay for the 96-bed unit? I ask him not to tell me he does not know because this is most pressing issue in the mid-west region.
The Deputy must know.
The issue has been raised by me and by Government backbenchers.
The Deputy must know himself. Surely he is talking to the hospital manager.
I am meeting him again tomorrow.
I would always engage with the local health service to find out what is happening on a particular project and if there are delays. I am not building every project. I do not mean that facetiously. I do not have the specific background.
The Tánaiste is being facetious. This is the most important project, as the Tánaiste is well aware.
Please let the Tánaiste answer.
I know University Hospital Limerick is important. I think the Deputy knew the answer before he asked about the reason for the delay.
I do not know the answer.
I will find out for the Deputy and come back to him.
Our Lady of Hope school in Crumlin caters for children with autism and general learning disabilities. It was opened after a long and gruelling campaign by local parents. However, when capital funding was made available for the establishment of the school, it did not provide for any indoor physical education, PE, space and the school still has no indoor space for PE. We are dealing with young people who already face challenges in accessing services. They are now being denied the ability to have any sort of physical education. I ask the Tánaiste to ask the Minister for Education to intervene directly here to ensure that these children, who already face challenges and exclusion, are not excluded from getting PE classes.
Just to clarify, when was the school built?
The school was newly established a number of years ago in an older school building. Capital funding was made available for the refurbishment of some of the classrooms-----
It is not a new school building-----
No, it is not a new school building.
I asked because in the design for any new school building there would be a PE hall. That is why I was seeking clarification as to whether it was a brand new school because there has to be provision for PE. I do not know the circumstances of the building and the refurbishment. I will talk to the Minister for Education in relation to that but PE is very important.
We need direct intervention from the Minister in this case.
Deputy Matt Shanahan: While there is much to admire in the Shared Island initiative as it gingerly tries to figure out how we can all live on this island togetherbut givent ,he demographic destiny that is beating like a Lambeg drum now, it might prove to have been a little too slow and too careful to get the well-meaning enhanced co-operation and connection and mutual understanding in place before events take over.
There is much to admire in the shared island initiative as it gingerly tries to figure out how we can all live on this island together. Given the demographic destiny that is beating like a Lambeg drum now, it might prove to have been a little too slow and too careful in getting the well-meaning enhanced co-operation, connection and mutual understanding in place before events take over. Citing personal experience of the undisciplined carnage of the UK's Brexit process, the Minister of State at the Northern Ireland Office, Mr. Steve Baker, suggested that major constitutional upheavals like Brexit, Scottish independence, or a Border poll should require a so-called super-majority. I ask the Tánaiste for his view on this.
I do not agree with Mr. Baker on this. I made that clear yesterday in media comments that I made. The Good Friday Agreement is very clear in the provision in respect of the constitutional future of Northern Ireland. I do not accept Mr. Baker's suggestion at all. If one has a referendum, it has to be by a majority in my view. Even though I disagreed totally with Brexit, it was a majority decision, and a narrow majority at that. That said, Ministers are entitled to reflect. Maybe Mr. Baker is reflecting on the Brexit decision and the impact it has had more generally. The British people were entitled to make their decision but it is no harm for people to reflect on decisions made, to inform the future.
I ask the Tánaiste to get involved with the Office of Public Works, OPW, in the context of its actions in relation to the acquisition of lands at Castletown House in Celbridge. The community of north Kildare has rallied behind the acquisition of the lands and is dismayed at how it is being publicly pilloried by the OPW. That office needs to focus on engaging professionally and energetically with the landowners and the community rather than releasing over-the-top statements about closing Castletown House. We do not want a big house farce here. The lands with N4 access should be the focus. In fact, there always has been access for OPW workers to Castletown House through the Batty Langley gates and this should be maintained until the avenue issue is resolved. I am concerned that I have been misled by an OPW official on this. The fact is that the restaurant at issue always closes for the winter months. The community, which is made up of workers including public and civil servants and private sector workers, is upset that the great people working there have had to finish their season earlier than usual because of the OPW's intransigence. Frankly, the Minister must see to it that the OPW gets its act together before it loses the lands again, not to mention all of the backing and goodwill of the community. I ask the Tánaiste to try to turn this lose-lose situation into a win-win for the people of north Kildare.
My colleague Deputy Lawless and others have been in touch with me in relation to this issue and Deputy Durkan raised it last week on the Order of Business. The OPW is very conscious of the desirability or importance of reuniting the historic demesne and acquiring those additional lands. One always has to be careful, if such a potential acquisition is on the cards, that public debate on it does not create a favourable position for one party to the negotiations. Apart from that, the refusal of access to the public is very worrying and unacceptable. The Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan, met with all of the Oireachtas representatives for Kildare North and also met community representatives from Celbridge on 10 October. The community council subsequently issued a press release saying that it was now fair, reasonable and appropriate to scale back the protests to allow unhindered vehicular access to staff. We are engaging with this and will continue our engagement on it.
Approximately 4,500 children are waiting for their first appointment with child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, including hundreds in my constituency of Wicklow. Thousands of children are struggling every day with anxiety and with going to school. They are self-harming, have suicidal ideation and are struggling with eating disorders. Thousands of parents have to sit and watch their children go through this. We heard this morning from Families for Reform of CAMHS and it is clear that the CAMHS system is not working. It is not just me or these parents saying this; the head of the Mental Health Commission said the same at an Oireachtas committee recently. The CAMHS report has 49 recommendations. What progress has been made with that? Will the Government task the Mental Health Commission with the role of independently monitoring the implementation of these recommendations?
I thank Deputy Whitmore for her question. I met that same group yesterday and we had a really good collaboration. I also met with AsIAm representatives yesterday in relation to the challenges for children with a dual diagnosis of mental ill health and autism, which is becoming more prevalent. It is important to note that over the last couple of years there has been a 33% increase in referrals into CAMHS and the teams have dealt with 21% more young people. Last year alone, 225,000 appointments were issued through CAMHS. A huge amount of really good work is being done on the ground but unfortunately, CAMHS teams have taken a huge amount of criticism over the past year and a half. My job at the moment is to build confidence in the CAMHS teams. As Deputy Whitmore knows, we have made two significant changes. We now have a new clinical lead for CAMHS, Dr. Amanda Burke, and we also have, for the first time in the history of the State, a youth mental health office within the HSE. We are looking at all of the recommendations and many of them are in train. I will continue to work with the Mental Health Commission and all of the different stakeholders. We all want to reduce the waiting lists for these young people
It was a straight question and it would be good to get a straight answer.
I want to raise the issue of disability services. Sooey National School is a small rural school about 13 km from Sligo town. The school has 117 pupils and for the last year or more it has been engaging with the National Council for Special Education with the intention of providing two autism spectrum disorder, ASD, classes because all of the ASD classes in Sligo town are full. The school is making progress in respect of that. It has also applied to the building unit in the Department of Education to build a new general purpose room and the two ASD suites. To its dismay, the response the school received was that it would get a modular unit into which it could relocate one of the mainstream classes and then it could put the ASD unit inside the existing mainstream building. This does not suit at all because there will be no ASD suite, no sensory room, no proper facilities for the children and no hall or general purpose room. It is an inadequate response. I ask the Tánaiste to do something about this. I have a letter from the national school here and can give it to him. I ask him to ensure that adequate and proper facilities are put in place for these children.
The important thing is for the school board to re-engage with the Department, which it is probably going to do.
It has done that.
That is important. I will raise this with the Minister for Education. What is the name of the school?
Sooey National School.
Sooey National School. I do not need the letter because letters come and go-----
The roll number is on the letter.
I will follow it up with the Minister. There has been a positive response in terms of providing the ASD classes but obviously additionality is being sought as well. The nature of these issues is such that ultimately, they have to be resolved between the board of management of the school - the diocese, if it is a diocesan school - and the Department.
Last week we all saw the devastating floods in Cork. I have to say that we were very lucky in Carlow because we have a great flood relief scheme. There was only a small amount of flooding in Carlow and Kilkenny.
I want to ask the Tánaiste about the fact that we do not have a live national flood warning system and it is my understanding that we have no plans to make one publicly available. I contacted the Department about this and the latest update I received is that the Guide to Flood Emergencies by the Department of Housing, Heritage and Local Government was last updated three years ago and that the odds of a one-in-100-years flooding event was at 1%. This is a huge concern for me. Will the Government consider providing public access to the beta version of the live flood warning system? Will the Tánaiste put together a new working group to review weather events on a seasonal basis and produce learning for public and local authorities?
I am bringing this up because I had a really good meeting with our Carlow weatherman - I am sure the Tánaiste knows of him - Alan O'Reilly.
He gives excellent weather forecasts. He believes the Government needs to consider this. I ask the Tánaiste to look at that and come back to me.
I was listening to the Deputy for a full minute, wondering how she would turn the national picture to Carlow. Bingo, she did so at the end of her contribution in terms of the Carlow weatherman, Alan O'Reilly. I will feed that back to Met Éireann in particular.
It is important.
Met Éireann does give warnings. Some of the challenge relates to more localised warnings. In the situation in Cork, much of the county would still have been orange but there was clear red in certain locations. The micro understanding of weather patterns will probably require more work. If the Deputy emails me the full details of what the honourable gentleman, Mr. O'Reilly-----
I will.
In fairness, he has done-----
He is excellent.
A lot of people follow him. If he makes a submission, we will follow it up.
We are out of time but there are three remaining Deputies. I will take a 30-second question from each of them.
Some 650 Tara Mines workers are facing a bleak and uncertain winter. Their income has fallen off a cliff. Another 1,000 jobs in County Meath are in serious trouble. Shops have reported a collapse in their turnover in recent times. The workers have been listening for a long time to the Minister for Social Protection speaking about income supports but according to current plans that will not happen for several years. Can the Government bring in emergency legislation to help the workers in Tara Mines? The issue of electricity is key. It is the elephant in the room. Other zinc mines in Europe are still operating because they are dealing with lower electricity prices. Will the Tánaiste ask the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, to meet with the management and unions at Tara Mines?
According to the most recent census, the population of County Wexford reached more than 160,000 people. Wexford General Hospital has a capacity of only 280 beds. A 96-bed unit was promised and included in the capital plan. What capital has been allocated this year to progress this project? Is there projected capital to progress it in 2024? Can the Tánaiste guarantee that funding for the 96-bed unit at Wexford General Hospital will be available next year?
I raise with the Tánaiste the issue of the public counter of the Probate Office having been closed since Covid. As he is aware, the death of a family member and the processing of probate can be a difficult experience for many families. It is not acceptable that a public counter is not available. Delays are being created because people have to put documents into a drop box and wait for the office to respond and emails to be sent. These things could be resolved much more quickly, as was often the case for a long time previously. Unfortunately, my questions on this issue have been disallowed because the service is not directly accountable to the Minister. We need the Minister to send a message that the service should reopen, however.
The Deputy is correct in what he says about the number of questions. There is an inordinate number of questions now appearing in respect of the Probate Office.
On the matter raised by Deputy Tóibín, the Minister for Social Protection is actively working on the issue of pay-related benefit and will be bringing proposals to the Government and before the House in due course. When I say "in due course", it will be done in a reasonable timeframe. It is a matter for the Minister to announce that. I am conscious of the pressure on Tara Mines. It is a world market price issue. The Minister, Deputy Coveney, and others have met with the company and unions on a number of occasions and will continue to engage with management to give any supports we can in respect of it.
As regards the issue raised by Deputy Mythen, I do not have a specific figure before me but a capital project of that kind takes design, working through and so on. That will all proceed. The capital allocation plan has yet to be determined but the project in question will not be drawing down capital immediately. If it is a 96-bed unit, there will be design and so on. I will come back to the Deputy on that.
On the Probate Office, I hear what Deputy McAuliffe and the Ceann Comhairle are saying. I will take that up with the relevant Minister. During Covid and in the aftermath of Covid, a number of agencies took the opportunity to pull back on services that were there prior to Covid but have never re-emerged. I had that in my domain in terms of swimming pools and various things. It is not good practice. What was there before, serving the public, should have been continued post Covid. Covid should not have been used as an excuse to stop things.
Hear, hear.
That concludes the morning's business. Before we suspend, I am told by Deputy Devlin that we have German guests in the Gallery. James, Anika, Liam and Alvin Martin and Peggy Kearns are all very welcome.