Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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10. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on the strategic goals of his Department's strategy statement 2021-2023; and if he plans to update them. [5647/23]

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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11. To ask the Taoiseach when the annual report of his Department for 2022 will be published. [6847/23]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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12. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on the strategic goals of his Department's strategy statement 2021-2023. [8114/23]

Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail)
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13. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on the strategic goals of his Department's strategy statement 2021-2023; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8143/23]

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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14. To ask the Taoiseach when the annual report of his Department for 2022 will be published. [8207/23]

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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15. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on the strategic goals of his Department’s strategy statement 2021-2023; and if he plans to update them. [8377/23]

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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16. To ask the Taoiseach when the annual report of his Department for 2022 will be published. [8378/23]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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17. To ask the Taoiseach when the report on the strategic goals of his Department’s strategy statement 2021-2023 will be published. [8421/23]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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18. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on the strategic goals of his Department’s strategy statement 2021-2023; and if he plans to update them. [8573/23]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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19. To ask the Taoiseach when the annual report of his Department for 2022 will be published. [8574/23]

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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20. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on the strategic goals of his Department’s strategy statement 2021-2023; and if he plans to update them. [8576/23]

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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21. To ask the Taoiseach when the annual report of his Department for 2022 will be published. [8577/23]

Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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22. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on the strategic goals of his Department's strategy statement 2021-2023; and if he plans to update them. [8630/23]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Tógfaidh mé Ceisteanna Uimh. 10 go 22 le chéile.

The priorities set out in the Department's Statement of Strategy 2021-2023 reflect the role of the Department to assist me, as Taoiseach, and the Government to ensure a sustainable economy and a successful society, to pursue Ireland's interests abroad, to implement the Government's programme and to build a better future for Ireland and all its citizens. In accordance with the provisions of the Public Service Management Act 1997, the Department of the Taoiseach is currently developing its new statement of strategy for the three-year period from 2023 to 2025. This will reflect the central role of the Department in advancing national whole-of-government priorities over the coming period.

On housing, we will drive the implementation of Housing for All and seek to reverse the trend of rising homelessness and falling home ownership. I know that many of our citizens are still struggling with the cost of living across many facets of their lives and the Government is implementing a range of measures to improve that or to at least ameliorate it. We must ensure the best start in life for every child. With this aim in mind, preparations are under way to establish a new unit in the Department of the Taoiseach, before the end of March, tasked with reducing child poverty and improving well-being with a strong co-ordination and leadership role across Government.

Climate change is the most pressing long-term global challenge of our time and Ireland is facing up to that challenge. We have set the ambition to become energy independent by harnessing our untapped renewable energy resources and will continue to progress and develop capacity across Government on climate action. Another ambition is to build safer communities and streets and to improve our national security. We will build on the work under way to reduce crime and antisocial behaviour. We will provide additional resources to An Garda Síochána, the Defence Forces, the Prison Service and the court system, as well as passing new laws to ensure we apprehend criminals and deal with them appropriately.

Working with the Tánaiste and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, we will work to re-establish the Good Friday Agreement institutions in the North.

We will also ensure balanced regional development, be it through the national broadband plan, the regeneration of our rural communities or by ensuring a better future for those involved in farming and fishing. We will continue to adopt a town-and-village-first approach.

Cross-government work will continue to source the accommodation and other requirements for the high numbers of people seeking protection from the war in Ukraine and elsewhere. The Government has recently agreed the establishment of ten Cabinet committees to reflect these cross-government priorities, which the Government will continue to advance during its lifetime. The Department will also provide progress reports under the strategic priorities set out in the statement of strategy through the normal annual reporting cycle. The Department's annual report for 2022 will be published and laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas in the coming months.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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The Department’s strategy statement makes no reference to domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, DSGBV, despite the commitments made by the current and former taoisigh of their office's significant role in the implementation of the third strategy. When will this be rectified?

The Taoiseach knows that it is the intention of the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth that victims will avail of a reduced amount of pay for the five days that they may need to take domestic violence leave in a 12 month period. This pay will be reduced by up to 30%. In one breath the Taoiseach agrees that there is an epidemic of domestic abuse and violence, particularly against women, yet in another completely dismisses modest additional asks that can and will protect victims and their children. It is inappropriate to align domestic violence leave with sick pay. Domestic violence is not and should not be a normal occurrence, nor should political leaders accept it as such. There is still time for the Government to pull back from this punitive provision within the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill. Women's Aid has set out in very stark terms the way in which cutting a victim's pay will alert their abuser. The National Women's Council of Ireland has called for domestic violence leave to be paid at the full rate of pay, as has Fórsa, the national secretary of which has written to the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth outlining its view and its serious concerns with the proposed rate of pay. As head of Government with overall responsibility for delivery of the third strategy, will the Taoiseach convene an urgent meeting this week with the Minister, Women's Aid, the National Women's Council of Ireland and Fórsa to resolve this issue before Report Stage?

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Taoiseach's reference to his ongoing work, and that of the Tánaiste and the Government, to have the institutions established under the Good Friday Agreement, the Assembly, the Executive and the North South Ministerial Council, put back in place again. One welcome aspect of the work of the Department of the Taoiseach since 2020 has been the establishment of the shared island unit. As we know, the work of the unit is very much underpinned by the Good Friday Agreement. Thankfully, in my constituency we have identified projects that meet the requirements of the shared island unit initiative for funding. Working with others and with many voluntary groups over the years, we identified projects on a cross-Border basis that had no readily identifiable parent Department that we could get funding from. I very much welcome this initiative. It is very important that it is driven forward as strongly as possible because people from all traditions on this island, who were critical initially when it was established, are now welcoming it. It is a project that should be referred to in all analysis and review of the Good Friday Agreement.

Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail)
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We have to prioritise a strategy on how we can recognise Ireland's potential to become a global powerhouse in movies and TV. Of course, it could be argued that we already are a powerhouse when we see record-breaking nominations for the upcoming Oscars and performances at the BAFTAs etc. However, in order for that to be fair and equitable right throughout Ireland, we need to fix the regional film development uplift maps. The regional film development uplift maps are unfair at the moment. It means that production companies in counties like Limerick and Kerry can avail of tax credits, but companies in counties like Clare and my own county of Cork cannot. It is not a fair playing field. With a west Cork hat on, west Cork is home to Jeremy Irons, David Puttnam, Paul Mescal and Saoirse Ronan. They are not even the most talented people from the movie sector living there. There are art designers, set designers and make-up artists there. There is a huge opportunity to turn west Cork into a movie and TV capital, but we need to fix the regional film development uplift maps.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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We welcome the establishment of the citizens' assembly on drug use, but I ask the Taoiseach about the status of the commitment to establish a citizens' assembly on the future of education. Is there a timeline for its establishment and will it examine both the future purpose of the education system and the issue of separation of Church and State within the education system? Second, building a better society is a strategic priority of the Taoiseach's Department. In that context, I ask whether the Taoiseach is aware of the OECD Observatory of Civic Space, which is led by an Irish woman, Claire McEvoy. A civic space scan is a qualitative assessment of the laws, policies, institutions and practices that support civic space in a country. Designed to protect fundamental freedoms and promote good practice, these scans are accessible studies that provide recommendations to help governments respond to challenges and help to protect and promote civic space. Such scans have been carried out in Portugal and Finland. I have put in parliamentary questions on this matter previously. Would the Taoiseach consider the carrying out of a civic space scan in Ireland? I should say that I got a non-committal response on this from the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform.

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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Adult education tutors are public servants employed by the education and training boards, ETBs. There are more than 3,000 of these workers employed across 16 ETBs, many of whom are fully qualified and registered teachers, but they are paid the unregistered teacher rate. Their hours are capped at 22 hours of class contact time per week and they are not paid for any preparation, research or work they do to prepare lesson plans. They are unpaid during holidays, meaning many are forced to sign on to the dole during summer, Christmas and so on, for up to 17 weeks in the year. This and the cap in their hours means they are not entitled to the full public service pension. They seek pay parity. Tutors employed after 2011 are paid at a lower rate. They are also seeking proper contracts of employment and an end to precarity.

In March 2020 the Labour Court recommended that they be given proper employment contracts. In July of last year, they were told that this would be done by September. They are still waiting. When will we see action on this issue?

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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Today, thousands of teachers and healthcare workers in the North of Ireland are on strike. They are on strike because there have been real-term cuts to their salaries in the last number of years. The education sector is in a massive crisis in the North at the moment, with the former Minister of Education, Ms Michelle McIlveen, admitting that there was a £750 million hole in the education budget. Health, education, housing and transport are all in crisis. One of the reasons they are in crisis is because there is no Executive. We are all waiting tentatively for this particular deal to be made and for the DUP to accept it, but is it not wrong that the whole of the democratic process and the ability to invest in public services is actually being held to ransom by the DUP? Will the Taoiseach support calls for the reform of the Good Friday Agreement system so that no political party, Sinn Féin nor the DUP, can hold the Executive to ransom again?

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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People Before Profit was very centrally involved in organising what was an amazingly broad and diverse coalition, the Ireland for All coalition, that put tens of thousands of people on the streets, including community groups, trade unions, anti-poverty groups, housing campaigners, Traveller organisations, Opposition parties and many more. The first objective of that enormous demonstration was to send a clear message to the far right and those who want to use racism and want to scapegoat asylum seekers and immigrants that we reject their racist, poisonous and divisive message. The other message repeated again and again by those speaking at the demonstration was their anger at the failure of the Government to deliver housing for all and public services for all, and to take action on the cost-of-living crisis that ordinary people are facing and the far right is exploiting. What does the Taoiseach have to say to the protesters?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputies for their questions. In relation to domestic and gender-based violence, as I said in my initial reply, we are writing the strategy now for 2023 to 2025. I will certainly give consideration to referring to that specifically in the new strategy. Action on this is very much led by the Minister for Justice, particularly Deputy McEntee, who will be returning from leave quite soon. I do think the introduction of leave related to domestic and gender-based violence is a step forward. I want to recognise Deputy O'Reilly's role in pressing that legislation through a Private Members' Bill. However, I think we are running into a bit of a difficulty with leave in general. There are lots of different proposals at the moment for different forms of leave. Even now, different forms of leave come with different forms of pay. There is full pay for annual leave or public holidays. Sick pay is 70% of pay up to a certain amount. There is unpaid leave and leave where the Government pays the benefit and the employer does not. I know that the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth and the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment would rather look at it all in the round, rather than adding new forms of ad hocleave with different terms and conditions.

On the shared island initiative that was mentioned by Deputy Brendan Smith, as provided for in the programme for Government, we are continuing our shared island initiative to achieve benefits for the whole island, working with all communities for a shared future as underpinned by the Good Friday Agreement. The initiative is taken forward by Ministers and Departments on a whole-of-government basis, driven by and co-ordinated through the shared island unit. Over the past two years, the Government has allocated just under €200 million from the fund for projects and investments that respond to common interests and concerns for people right across the island, including on climate action and biodiversity conservation, regional development and innovation and deepening our societal connections. The Government will seek to undertake significantly more all-island investment co-operation with the new Northern Ireland Executive and with the British Government. The civic engagement and research programmes of the shared island unit are also continuing and we remain committed to the New Decade New Approach Agreement of 2020.

So far, significant allocations have been made from the shared island fund to long-standing infrastructure projects, such as the Ulster Canal and the Narrow Water Bridge. We continue to work with our counterparts in Northern Ireland to advance these and other New Decade, New Approach commitments that will increase and improve all-island connectivity, co-operation and opportunity.

The Government set out in December the priorities for this year. Those priorities are to honour our commitment on greater access to higher education in the north west, particularly around Derry and Letterkenny; to step up co-operation on educational attainment; to do more to assist all-island enterprise development; to develop a bioeconomy on an all-island basis; to progress a cross-Border green hydrogen pilot corridor; and to scope an island-wide greenway network by linking the current cross-Border routes.

I could be totally wrong, but I had thought that the change to the regional uplift maps for film was a temporary measure that is due to expire. I could absolutely be wrong about that.

Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail)
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There was talk of extending it.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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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.