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

I will be as brief as I can. Deputy McDonald asked about the implantation group. I think it is not established yet but I will double-check and come back to the Deputy. When it comes to climate, we produce a climate action plan every year and quarterly progress reports.

Deputy Smith mentioned the all-island economy, and is often the case in the House, drew my particular attention to the central Border region. He is absolutely right. When we talk about the all-island economy we cannot just talk about the Dublin-Belfast corridor or the North-West Derry to Donegal area, we must take account of the central Border region too, which has huge potential around tourism, agriculture and food production.

The IDA property programme is very successful too in constructing advance factories and advance buildings, in which investors can then invest to create well-paid jobs. We have the technological universities too, and we need to improve infrastructure, including the roads. One thing that can be transformative for the region is the national broadband plan. I saw some statistics at Cabinet during the week. Some 200,000 homes, farms and businesses are now passed, of which 60,000 have taken up the service, which is ahead of expectations. We now know we will have 300,000 passed by the end of next year and all primary schools covered by the end of this year. The islands are being connected at the moment. This is now expected to come in on schedule and probably under budget with a revised date in 2027. I am really glad that those who opposed that project have been proven wrong in their opposition to it.

The four elective hospitals are in planning and design. They will take years to build - that is the truth of it - so the surgical hubs are the interim solution and are funded in the budget. We have added 1,000 beds to our acute hospitals since the Government came into office and we will add more. I join Deputy Ó Cathasaigh in recognising the contribution of Michael Ewing to the NESC. I pay tribute to him and express my condolences to his friends and colleagues.

On the recruitment embargo across our health service that Deputy Boyd Barrett mentioned, that is not the case. It does not apply to GPs, it does not apply to medical consultants, it does not apply to doctors on training schemes and it does not apply to graduate nurses. It is also not permanent. The HSE will be able to increase its total staffing levels by 2,000 next year, and next year is only a few weeks away. However, the free-for-all recruitment we have seen in recent years cannot continue. It has to be the right people in the right place doing the right jobs.

Finally, Deputy Paul Murphy mentioned two crèches in his constituency. I do not know the details of them. If he wants to pass them on to the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, I am sure the Minister will provide him with a detailed reply. While there are crèches opening and closing all the time, the rate of closures is at its lowest in five years and there has been a net increase of 150 childcare facilities so far this year.

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