Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We might talk about that again later with the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael McGrath. I had thought those regional uplift maps were to apply for approximately three years and were coming to an end. I might be wrong. Perhaps we will talk about that matter again.

We do not yet have a date to establish the citizens' assembly on the future of education. We want to establish the citizens' assembly on drugs policy up and running by the middle of the year. It is hard to run two at the same time, as we learned earlier this year. We expect the citizens' assembly on drugs policy to finish towards the end of this year. If I were to give an educated guess, I would say we will have the citizens' assembly on the future of education up and running towards the end of this year or in early 2024. The terms of reference have not yet been determined.

I am not familiar with a civic space scan, to be honest, but I will try to inform myself when I get a bit of time. It sounds interesting.

I am aware of the industrial relations dispute that is happening between tutors and ETBs. I would be keen to see that resolved sooner rather than later. There are, of course, industrial relations mechanisms by which we can achieve that resolution. I would certainly like to see a conclusion soon. Perhaps the Labour Court recommendation can help us reach a conclusion.

Deputy Brendan Smith asked about the formation of the Executive and the Assembly. We are at a very sensitive time at the moment, given the negotiations on the Northern Ireland protocol. Now is not the time for me to be expressing my views on the mechanisms in the Good Friday Agreement. They are what they are and they are as they stand. We would like to be in a position in the coming weeks to have an agreement on the protocol. We want to be talking to the parties in Northern Ireland about how they can all come together and take part in a cross-party coalition.

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