Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the Deputies for the different issues they raised. To begin with the issue raised by Deputies McDonald and Bacik, the Minister, Deputy Martin, is going to be in front of an Oireachtas committee for many hours this evening. She will then be in the Dáil tomorrow afternoon making a statement, hearing the views of Deputies and responding at the end to the questions that are being put to her. The appropriate place in which this matter should be dealt with is the Oireachtas committee that is responsible for the media. For all the party leaders, Deputy Ó Ríordáin and others who are raising this issue, they have party representatives on that Oireachtas committee. Their colleagues will be putting questions to the Minister tonight. Is that how little faith they have in those colleagues who will be raising issues at that Oireachtas committee this evening, where the Minister will be for many hours? She is going in front of the committee to answer the questions that will be put to her by their own party colleagues. That is where those issues will be raised and it is where the Minister will, I know, respond to all of them.

Of course we are aware of all the concerns that are there regarding the future of RTÉ, its stability and the issues that developed there last week. The Government is committed to the steps that are needed to continue with the efforts to regain public trust in RTÉ, to appoint a new chair, to implement changes in governance that will be made on foot of reports we believe we will receive in the coming weeks, and to support the director general in his efforts to bring about change. While I know it is a difficult argument to make given the events of many recent months, we will continue to insist on the value of paying the television licence fee and providing the funding and support that is needed to RTÉ in the valuable work it does.

In respect of the question put to me by Deputy Bacik, I too want to extend my condolences to the family and friends of Ann Delaney. I know she was known to our health and homelessness services that engaged with her and worked with her over many years, and she was well known, I believe, to the community in the Deputy's constituency. I offer my condolences to her family and friends. The Deputy asked what the Government is doing in relation to this. It is the reason €242 million of funding has been made available for homelessness services in 2024. While we know the numbers who are being referred to our homelessness services are going up and the pressure on those services is increasing, it is also the case that we are successful, but we want to be more successful, in preventing people who are at risk of homelessness becoming homeless and also in minimising the length of time our fellow citizens are spending in homelessness services and without a secure roof over their heads.

In respect of the point put to me by Deputy Whitmore regarding the really important vote at the European Parliament, I must say it is very good to see the European Parliament being covered in the way it has been by our media today, recognising the central importance it now has to the development of law at a European Union level. Of course, the Deputy neglected to say the Government MEPs voted in favour of that law-----

See this speech in context