Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I support Senator Kyne's proposal for the Minister for Health to come to the House to discuss staffing levels throughout the HSE. There is a particular issue within the disability teams throughout the country in regard to occupational therapy, speech and language therapy and the lack of qualified people coming out of the colleges to fill positions. It is an important issue. We are going to discuss it at the Joint Committee on Autism in the coming weeks.

With regard to the budget, as media spokesperson, I welcome the reduction of the VAT rate on newspapers to zero. The report of the Future of Media Commission, which was published just prior to the summer recess, highlighted how trusted our media are compared with social media, which carry a great deal of disinformation. I thank the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, for her support in making sure that VAT rate was reduced to zero.

Delving through the budget documents, there are lists of road projects that will be funded through capital expenditure. When I noticed one that is important was not on that list, it tweaked my nerves. The Minister for Transport needs to come to the House to discuss the capital projects going forward. I reiterate my comments last week regarding the N4. The only region in our country that is not serviced is the entire north west. The N4 is not on a list of road projects While the list is not exhaustive, it is not on it. It should be one of the top priorities in the country for investment to get it across the planning permission stage. We fought tooth and nail last year - my colleague, Senator Ahearn, had issues with a road in the south - to get it back into the capital programme and get an identified route picked but we need to put funding and planning permission in place so that the road project proceeds at some stage in the future.I ask that the Minister for Transport come to the House to give positive answers to my query.