I remind Members that there are only 15 minutes allocated for questions on promised legislation. I ask all Deputies, including leaders or their representatives, to confine their questions to promised legislation or the programme for Government.

There is a firm commitment from the Government to publish detailed sectoral reports in response to Brexit. When we raised this issue with the Taoiseach two weeks ago, he informed us that no deadline for the publication of any of these reports had yet been released. Brexit started a year ago. The Irish food and drinks industry estimates that trade has fallen by about €570 million in the past year and that it could fall by twice that amount this year, yet not only do we not have detailed sectoral reports from any Minister, we have not even had a release date or an indication as to when they might be expected. At this point, are there dates for publication of the detailed sectoral plans in response to Brexit?

I thank the Deputy for observing the time.

I do not have access to any schedule of publication but in my own area of skills, which is a very important one, we had a meeting this week with the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and our own delivery agencies to identify the areas of pressure. We will be pursuing those within the National Skills Council to make sure our provision and planning for next year incorporates concerns that have arisen specifically out of the Brexit report. We will not be publishing a particular element of that, but we will be focusing on the priorities. I will bring to the attention of the appropriate Ministers the matter of whether a date has been agreed for these sectoral reports to be issued because they can help people frame their own response and planning. To be fair, Enterprise Ireland is providing a very good framework across sectors to which companies can respond.

Deputy O'Reilly might preface her remarks by indicating whether she is asking about promised legislation or the programme for Government.

The programme for Government contains a commitment to reopen six Garda stations on a pilot scheme basis. Recently, it was mooted that Rush Garda station would be one of those. The Minister's colleagues in Fine Gael and his very best friends in Fianna Fáil were tweeting about it, but we are, in truth, no wiser as to what Garda stations will be reopened other than the station in Stepaside. We all know that Stepaside Garda station will be reopened. When will people throughout the country know what other Garda stations will be reopened? Can the Minister give us an assurance that equity and equality will be applied to that in terms of a rural-urban split and a geographic spread?

I thank the Deputy for observing the time.

The idea of opening six Garda stations on a pilot basis was part of the programme for Government. It is for the Commissioner to select those that are most appropriate. I understand Stepaside Garda station was indicated as being appropriate and is in the course of being opened; the planning for that is being done.

The others will depend on a report to Government from the Commissioner, which I believe is due shortly. I know Rush Garda station was one that was signalled as being a potential one. The Government expects that report shortly.

I want to ask about the social welfare and pensions Bill. We were informed today that there is yet another bilateral agreement between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil on the passing of that Bill. Our party spokesperson, Deputy Willie Penrose, sought to engage with the Minister on it. For the information of the other Members of the House who are not part of this arrangement - any pretence now that there is not a formal coalition between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil is becoming strained - when will the social welfare Bill be published? Why, as announced today by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael bilaterally, is a threshold of €5,000 for disclosures being applied to social welfare fraud when the threshold for Revenue fraud is €30,000 before disclosures happen?

I understand that Bill will be published shortly and the Business Committee has agreed that it will be taken initially next Thursday.

How can it be taken before we will have seen it?

It is being published this week and will be taken next week.

I call Deputy Ruth Coppinger. Is the Deputy's question on promised legislation or the programme for Government?

It is on promised legislation. When will the passenger name record Bill be introduced? Will it take up the issue of a sinister and chilling experience of a US based academic, Catherine Kelly, in an Irish airport last week? She was stopped in the airport by two plain-clothes gardaí, asked her name, if she uses social media and if she had written an article about the Minister, Deputy Regina Doherty, and her business dealings. A complaint had been made and she was cautioned not to tweet the Minister or any material relevant to her again.

When will the legislation be introduced?

This question relates to legislation. She was told to sign a statement that she-----

What is the Deputy's question? This is like a Second Stage contribution.

Obviously, her name was given by an airline to the gardaí. She was told to sign a statement or she would not be allowed proceed to the gate.

The Deputy is out of order.

In the blog she merely raised issues-----

The Deputy is taking advantage.

-----about the Minister's dealings in a bankrupt company in 2009.

If it is a matter of promised legislation, the Minister will answer, but this is not a Second Stage debate.

This is about promised legislation.

What legislation is it?

More censorship.

A Leas-Cheann Comhairle, can I finish my point?

Deputy Barry, withdraw that comment that this is censorship.

I am referring to Deputies on the Fine Gael benches.

Will the Leas-Cheann Comhairle let me speak?

I am complying with the regulations that I have to implement to which the Deputy's group is a party.

I was referring to the comments of the Fine Gael Deputies.

Deputy Coppinger, please co-operate.

I will just finish.

Have respect for the Chair.

We have heard a lot about social media this week. Is it now Government policy to attack, in this very sinister way, anybody who criticises anyone in the Government on social media-----

This is not appropriate.

-----in a very legitimate article, which was not abusive, that raised questions about-----

There are Members who have waited here patiently all day and the Deputy got to speak by virtue of the fact that she is representing her group. There are other Members behind her who want to speak.

It is a legitimate question.

I understand preparatory work is being done on the Bill that was mentioned in the Department of Justice and Equality.

I call Deputy Mattie McGrath on behalf of his group. The same rule applies to him.

I understand that. I obey that rule. I am here all the time.

We will see.

The programme for Government specifically commits to supporting the agriculture industry. Farmers have been in Agriculture House since yesterday evening because they have not been paid the compensation they were meant to be paid following a debate in this House and a commitment made to pay them from a distressed fund. They should be at home now-----

Thank you, Deputy.

-----preparing for their own missed harvest, as it were. The Minister would not meet them. There will be a sit-in for the whole weekend. I ask the Minister if he, the Taoiseach or the Tánaiste will direct the Minister, Deputy Creed, to meet these farmers.

A number of Deputies have indicated they wish to raise the same topic.

I was first.

No, I have the list. There are no priorities with me when I am in the Chair. I call Deputy Jackie Cahill. I want Deputies to keep their questions short and concise because the Minister will reply to them all with one answer.

Last January Fianna Fáil moved a Private Members' Bill that would allow a fund to be set up to deal with farmers who were severely affected as a result of the 2016 grain harvest. It would allow €15,000 be paid to each farmer, which would be some step towards restoring some of their losses.

Does this relate to legislation?

Earlier this week there was a leaked report in the media-----

Does it relate to promised legislation?

------that stated that there would be only-----

I am going to move on.

-----a maximum of €5,000 paid to each farmer and €1.5 million allocated to the fund. I would like the Minister to comment on whether this is the exact situation? If it is, it is a totally inadequate response to the financial crisis that these farmers have faced. It would not be in the spirit of the motion that was passed here in January.

I call Deputy Michael Healy-Rae. I want him to be very precise-----

I most certainly will be. It is a disgrace that last night these farmers had to stay overnight in Agriculture House. They were promised a compensation package of €15,000. They are looking for an envelope of money to be shared out. It does not involve all that many farmers. They had the worst harvest ever last year. They stayed up all night last night in Agriculture House-----

Thank you. I have the same question for the Deputy.

-----when they should have been at home running their businesses. I call on the Minister, for God sake, to stand up and-----

I call Deputy Anne Rabbitte. I have the same question for the Deputy. We will not get beyond this issue.

I ask that the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to meet the president of the Irish Farmers' Association, IFA, today to discuss what Deputy Jackie Cahill is just after discussing.

I call Deputy Aylward.

I would like to add my voice to those of the other Deputies who have raised this issue. I thought the day was long gone when the farmers of this country would have to protest and-----

Is this on promised legislation?

It is on promised legislation. It concerns the payment of this money.

Deputy, please-----

The allocation of €5,000 funding as a maximum is a insult to any man who lost his livelihood last year owing to bad weather. The Minister needs to meet this group, discuss the matter with them and give them a fair package.

In all fairness, I think Deputy Danny Healy-Rae's two colleagues have represented him very well.

There will be no time for anybody else.

A Leas-Cheann Comhairle-----

No. I have to look after other Deputies.

There will be no time for anybody else to raise a matter.

Is the Deputy's question on the same matter?

No.

I want to ask the Minister to meet-----

The Minister is an intelligent man.

-----these people and let these honest people go home.

Do any other Deputies have a question on agriculture? I call Deputy Kevin O'Keeffe. Is the Deputy's question on promised legislation?

Yes. I want the amount of the compensation increased from €1.5 million to €4 million. I presume that would require legislation.

I understand that the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine received a request from the IFA for him to meet it yesterday. He is happy to meet it but it seems-----

When?

This request came in yesterday. I am sure the Minister will schedule this. He is quite happy to meet the IFA in the normal course and he meets it frequently. He has been seeking to develop the outline of a crop loss compensation scheme, as the Deputies are aware. He is in discussions with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to develop the terms of that. He will meet with the IFA ahead of any such final decisions. As the Deputies will be aware, he has already announced plans for agri-cash loan scheme and I understand 90 tillage farmers have availed of that. There is the targeted agricultural modernisation scheme, TAMS, and there has been a very significant take up of that. The Minister is responding-----

-----and is happy to meet the IFA regarding this specific proposal.

I call Deputy Joe Carey.

Let them go home for the weekend.

Deputies have had their time, there are others behind them, please. Show respect for all.

On promised legislation, will the Minister update the House on the status of the Family Court Bill?

I do not have a detailed update. Work on it is ongoing within the Department but I will get a report on this for Deputy Carey.

I call Deputy Niall Collins. I know he will observe the rules.

The programme for Government, particularly under health, has a commitment to treat all our people equally and uniformly across the country. Late last week and earlier this week, it came as a huge surprise to survivors of breast cancer to learn the HSE had changed its policy on providing supports to post-mastectomy products to women who had been through a breast cancer procedure. There was a great outpouring of concern that future supports available to women who have survived breast cancer will be significantly reduced. The HSE and the Minister have said this will be suspended until August but we need clarity on this. Will everyone receive the same level of support post-breast cancer procedure and will it be at the existing amount, not the reduced amount which had been flagged by the HSE?

This week, the Minister for Health published a ten year strategy for cancer which seeks to build on the very significant progress which has been made in much longer survival and better recovery, which the strategy seeks to consolidate and progress. I will ask the Minister to respond specifically to the concern which Deputy Niall Collins raises. I do not have that answer to hand.

I call Deputy Moynihan and ask him to be brief please, time is running out.

There is a huge crisis in respite care for adults, particularly with intellectual or physical disabilities. This has been mentioned for the summer in the case of children. Is the emergency funding put in place this year for respite only to pay off the emergency funding for last year? Is there any funding there for respite during the summer months for the families that desperately need it?

Again, I do not have a detailed response for the provision of respite care but I will seek to make the information on this available to the House.

The next three questions are from Deputies Scanlon, Martin Kenny and Fitzpatrick. I will review any more that arise after that.

The programme for Government gives a commitment to provide funding to IDA Ireland and local authorities for job creation. Currently in Sligo, IDA Ireland has not a square inch of land on which to build a plant or factory. This is because Finisklin industrial estate is full. The IDA has other lands but they need to access them. The local authority has applied for funding for an inner relief road in Sligo which will cost around €14 million. I appeal to the Minister and to the Minister of State, Deputy Phelan, who is seated behind, him to expedite this.

I understand IDA Ireland has committed to an advanced facility in Sligo. Land acquisition is an element in that. I will draw IDA Ireland's attention to the Deputy's concern over progress but this was one of the significant elements in the new regional enterprise strategy, that the regions would be supported through the IDA as well as Enterprise Ireland. It is something to which the Government is very strongly committed.

On page 89 of the programme for Government, in a section about education, it says that in three months the Government will commence a review of the teacher appointment thresholds in schools where there are four teachers or fewer. Kiltyclogher school in north Leitrim is a two teacher school. Next September, the numbers have fallen-----

Questions on the programme for Government.

This relates to the programme for Government, page 89.

I have no doubt.

Next September, the pupil enrolments in this school will fall one pupil below the threshold for a two-teacher school. The numbers are expected to recover the following year so that the school will have sufficient numbers to retain a second teacher. Allowing a situation to develop where Kilyclogher school would become a one-teacher school for that year could jeopardise enrolment numbers in future years and endanger the sustainability of the school in the long term. I understand that this review of teacher appointment thresholds in smaller schools has not happened. Will the Minister use his good offices to keep the two teachers in place in Kiltyclogher school next September in keeping with the spirit of the commitment in the programme for Government that no small school will close?

The Government is committed to no small school closing. Ahead of last year's budget, we conducted an initial review of initiatives. Some initiatives were included in last year's budget to try to protect smaller, isolated, and island schools. Each year, in the context of the budget, we take a fresh look at initiatives that we might take in this area but ahead of the budgetary deliberations, I cannot give any indication of initiatives in this area.

Regulation is a key rule of approved housing bodies, of which there are 520, with over 26,000 units. They are private, non-profit and relieve housing needs. Regulation provides assurances for tenants, and both Governments and potential investors-----

Which legislation does this relate to?

It also demonstrates that the Government is delivering on its key priorities and policies.

A question, Deputy.

When can we expect a housing Bill to provide a regulatory framework for approved housing bodies by establishing a housing regulator for approved housing bodies which include every housing association-----

The Deputy is taking advantage now.

It is hoped that will be published in the next session. It is on the Government priority list.

If I might continue. I have so many more questions put down, for the record the names on the list are those of Deputies Curran, Murphy, O'Loughlin, Nolan, Durkan, McLouglin, MacSharry, Madigan, Heydon and Neville. They have all requested and I will ask that next week we might consider a longer period on a Thursday. That is not a matter for me, but for the reform committee.