Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)

I thank all the Deputies who contributed.

I congratulate Deputy Cleere and join him in his comments on the camogie teams from Kilkenny and Carlow. I note his heartfelt concern about Cork's defeat on Sunday and the sincerity of how he expressed it. The season is young yet.

There is a theme all around the House of the need to deploy as many gardaí as possible in rural Ireland as well as the big cities. It would be fair to say the majority of redeployment of new gardaí went to Dublin initially over recent years. That has had a manifest impact. Now, as more and more gardaí come through Templemore, we need to see that they are redeployed and spread more evenly across the country. We have to be patient in terms of roll-out, but I take the point Deputy Cleere made about rural towns and villages.

Deputy Ó Murchú was not to be outdone in congratulating the Louth ladies. Louth and Offaly are doing exceptionally well these days. We often use "per capita" as a phrase. Per capita, the sporting prowess of both Louth and Offaly is fantastic.

The rural housing guidelines are important in terms of sustainable living and rural communities. I will ask the Minister for housing about where we are on that. I know he is working on it.

Deputy Paul Murphy raised the chronic shortage of public health nurses. He said our nurses are leaving the country and so on, but the bottom line is that 28,567 extra staff have been recruited into our health service since the beginning of 2020. That is a 24% increase over the last four and a half years. About 10,000 of them are nurses and midwives. According to the OECD, Ireland has the second highest number of practising nurses per capita of any country in the European Union. I acknowledge there is a specific issue as regards public health nursing. The HSE is working in terms of recruitment of public health nurses, who provide a vital link in terms of identification of issues particularly among newborns and children in their earliest months and years. That is particularly important. We should not forget that the bottom line is that we have recruited more nurses than anybody in Europe or within the OECD in recent times and continue to do so.

Deputy Currie raised the same issue Deputy Cleere raised in respect of garda numbers, but in her case she was referring to urban villages. Again, we need as even a spread as possible. I note Deputy Currie's reference to Castleknock and other locations. Perhaps she should talk to the Minister for public expenditure. He might be able to find something in his treasure trove to facilitate the local area. I have no doubt that with all of them working together, they can pull something out of the hat.

Deputy Martin Daly raised a very important point about development within rural towns and villages, particularly the planning issue. The planning commission will be established shortly, as per the new Act. Wastewater treatment plants are critical. I have discussed this with Irish Water. My understanding is that new protocols have been developed to facilitate agreements between Irish Water and local developers or builders such that if they are building a new housing scheme, they would have permission to build a wastewater treatment plant in accordance with specifications laid down by Irish Water while facilitating regular inspection of same. I think that would unlock the problem for many rural villages and towns. With the best will in the world, Irish Water will not get around to every rural village and town in Ireland, but this could unlock a lot of housing potential cumulatively across the country. We will continue to focus on that. The Minister for housing is working on this with Irish Water.

In response to Deputy McCormack, well done to the Offaly minor team. As regards rural communities, he raised a very good point about the issue of ageing in rural Ireland. There are lots of vulnerabilities and insecurity around ageing in rural Ireland and we need specific policies on that. I will talk to the Minister for rural development, Dara Calleary, about that. In fairness to the outgoing Government and the former Minister, Eamon Ryan, and others, the rural transport link has been a very significant advance and has not got the recognition, perhaps, that it deserves. I hear very good feedback and reports in terms of its impact on rural Ireland. That helps our older people as well - housing adaptation, security issues, neighbourhood watches and all that - but we have to give greater supports for ageing. It is a theme the Deputy should continue to press on, as should we collectively as a House.

As regards Galway East, I hear Deputy Dolan. I think he is not the first Deputy to have raised the development levy waiver in respect of one-off housing, in particular. I will talk to the Minister for housing about that. I agree that there should be greater ringfencing of some of the revenues from development levies to specific locations where, perhaps, a significant revenue generation occurs. It could be a housing estate or a new area at the edge of a town that does not have the footpaths or the lighting. There is merit in that proposal.

Aontaím le Deputy Ó Muineacháin go bhfuil sé an-tábhachtach ar fad níos mó airgid, infheistíochta agus áiseanna a chur ar fáil do na bóithríní beaga ar fud na tíre, go háirithe i dtosach an turais agus i ndeireadh an tráthnóna. Admhaím - beidh mé ag caint leis an Aire - gur cóir níos mó airgid a chur ar fáil do na local improvement schemes. They need a push but they need consistent resourcing as well. There is a significant amount of work to be done in respect of this issue. The local improvement scheme is a valuable scheme.

Deputy Coppinger raised the issue of community development in Dublin West and the links between the suburbs. I do not understand fully why the 11 families could not get into the local school. Was it just capacity?

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