Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I support Senator Malcolm Byrne's call for a debate on the national children's hospital. I welcome that call. This is an extraordinary situation. With all due respect to the Senator, he is a member of Fianna Fáil, which is in Government. There is a Fianna Fáil Minister for Health. I thought the Senator would have an open door at any time to discuss overruns in the construction of the children's hospital. I share his concerns. This highlights the difficulty in communication some people have with the Minister and the Department of Health. However, I agree with the Senator on the importance of raising the issue and that we should have a debate in this House.

I acknowledge the increase in the social housing income eligibility thresholds by €5,000, which the Government approved yesterday. It is not necessarily enough but it is welcome news. It will amount to an increase of €5,000 but areas such as counties Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Longford, Mayo, Monaghan, Offaly, Roscommon, Tipperary and Sligo are in band 3. Counties Carlow, Clare, Cork, Galway, Kerry, Kilkenny, Laois, Limerick, Louth and Waterford are in band 2. Then there are the Dublin areas. There are three bands. It is nearly as expensive to live in parts of Clare and Kilkenny as it is in Cork and Dublin. We need a little levelling up if we are talking about the challenge of achieving regional balance and the importance of supporting people. This needs to be looked at again and I ask that we keep it on the agenda.

Today is the equine census day. This is a considerable undertaking by the Department. Some 29,000 registered equine keepers were notified yesterday of the census. Census day is an important day for equines, and a welcome measure. I look forward to the results. I commend the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, who has pioneered the equine census and is running it for the second year.