The programme for Government commits to establishing "a dedicated new court to sensitively and expeditiously handle mortgage arrears and other personal insolvency cases, including through imposing solutions, including those recommended by the new service". I have been asking about progress on this for two years and every time I have asked about it on the Order of Business I have been told that it is being reviewed. The Minister rightly pointed out that, thankfully, thousands upon thousands of repossessions may not have happened, though even one avoidable repossession is one too many. However, many thousands of families, including families in our own constituency of Wicklow, are being dragged through the courts without representation. There needs to be a place that can deal with these issues and which can protect and enforce the rights and options available to mortgage holders. When are we going to see the legislation which would give effect to this new court?

I thank Deputy Donnelly. I understand that this is priority legislation for the Department of Justice and Equality this session. I expect the Deputy will see progress on it in this session. It is an issue which my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Kevin Boxer Moran, has been progressing through the programme for Government. The court and land conveyancing Bill is a priority for this session.

The programme for Government commits to working towards the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement and subsequent agreements. As the Minister will be well aware, the Good Friday Agreement has come under attack in recent days from the hard Brexiteer wing of the Tory party and other reactionary voices in Britain. In that vein, I welcome the comments of the Tánaiste yesterday during his visit to the United States. He said that Brexit cannot undermine the hard won gains of the peace process. That is very much to be welcomed.

As reported in the Irish Independent today, the British Government appears to accept the need to stay within the Single Market and the customs union for at least another two years. Will the Minister accept that the best way to safeguard the Good Friday Agreement is to ensure that the North stays in the Single Market and the customs union full stop? Will the Government now press for that as part of securing designated special status for the North within the European Union?

I thank Deputy Doherty. The Government has made very clear its preference for a continued customs union between Britain and Ireland. The best way to protect the interests of the people of Northern Ireland from Brexit is to re-establish the institutions in Northern Ireland. I know this is a view that the Deputy and I share, as do the Government and the Deputy's party. I note that the leaderships of both the Deputy's own party and the DUP met with the British Prime Minister yesterday. It is the Irish Government's priority that there would be engagement with a view to re-establishing the institutions in Northern Ireland to make sure that the people of Northern Ireland have a voice at this crucial time. I welcome the fact that, despite comments from some elements within the British establishment and media, the British Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland have been very clear in their support of the Good Friday Agreement, support shared by the Irish Government.

I wish to raise the issue of the Versatis pain patches debacle. Deputy Micheál Martin raised this issue on Tuesday only to be told by the Taoiseach that a process of appeals has been put in place. I have examples of specific cases. In one such case a person in Mallow named Catherine Carroll has gone through the appeals process. As we speak, she is in excruciating pain such that she has said, "It’s gotten to the stage where I’ve asked the doctor is it possible to cut off my nerve endings, because, even though I’d end up paralysed, at least I wouldn’t be in pain". That is a real person. I ask the Minister, Deputy Harris, if the Government will give time in this House to further discuss this issue. People have gone through the appeals process and been rejected. They have nowhere else to go to alleviate their pain. It is still very much a live issue. My request is simple. We need to have further deliberation on this issue. There were some deliberations on it in the Seanad yesterday but we need to have the Minister before the House because there are further questions to be answered on behalf of people such as Catherine Carroll. She is not an outlier or exception, rather she is within the range of patients who are suffering.

I thank Deputy Sherlock for raising that important matter. Obviously the ordering of business is a matter for the Business Committee. I have no difficulty with further debate or discussion in this House. There has already been discussion at the Joint Committee on Health, in which I participated. There was also discussion in the Seanad yesterday in which my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, participated. I must make the point, however, that this is a clinical decision. It has been made by clinicians in the medicines management programme of the HSE. I would like to make it clear that there is a process for GPs to appeal. These are real people too. More than 850 people who do not have shingles have now been approved, which means that more than a third of people have been completely approved. This is about the appropriate use of a medication which, in the view of the doctors and clinicians who advise me, can cause adverse effects if inappropriately used. I want to see compassion and common sense prevail. If it has not in respect of the case the Deputy raised, I would be happy to discuss it with him further.

The programme for Government commits to "Improving the lives of people with disabilities". It states, "we will support people with disabilities in maximising their potential, by removing barriers which impact on access to services, education, work or healthcare". How does that tally with the points raised by Deputy Seamus Healy during Leaders' Questions about the massive and rising waiting lists for access to all sorts of supports? To give one example, a seven year old in my constituency, Harry Whitaker, had an assessment of needs in June 2015. As a result of an error on the HSE's behalf, he was not placed on a waiting list. He made an appeal, which was successful, but he was then placed on the waiting list at the point at which the appeal was successful in March 2016 rather than the point at which he had his needs assessed. The result is that he is still languishing on a waiting list and may be languishing there for another year or more. He has multiple needs and while he waits, he does not have access to speech and language therapy or a special needs assistant in school.

I thank Deputy Murphy for raising this specific issue. If he wishes to provide me with the details, I would be very happy to look into the case. On fulfilling the commitment in the programme for Government, measures we have taken in recent months have included a significant increase in funding for respite and home help, more special needs classes around the country, an automatic entitlement to a medical card for people in receipt of the domiciliary care allowance, extra speech and language therapists working in our early intervention teams, and more than €3.8 billion being spent on illness, disability and carer payments - an increase of almost 4% on the previous year. We are making progress, but we have much more to do. I would be happy to look into that individual case.

I call on Deputy Mattie McGrath and remind him that we are dealing with promised legislation.

My question is very much on promised legislation. It is on the whole debacle around recruitment to the Citizens' Assembly by the polling company RED C. At the outset, Ms Justice Mary Laffoy, whom I respect, was full of praise of how the people were recruited. However, we have now found huge flaws in the process. One recruiter recruited seven people who were personally known to him. It raises fundamental concerns about the Citizens' Assembly. Eleven counties, including my own, were excluded from it. How could that be fair or reasonable demographically? The Minister has a lot to answer for. This was the start of his charade. We then had the stuffed-up committee of the Oireachtas which got him his desired answer. The genie is out of the bottle. Without disrespect to any of the assembly's members, the way in which the membership was chosen was a stitch-up. It has been found out now. The hem has fallen down on the dress and needs more stitches. We need answers from Ms Justice Laffoy.

We are dealing with promised legislation.

We need an independent evaluation which should not be carried out by RED C, which has already carried one out. In fact, RED C has accepted that 99 citizens could not represent the whole country in any case. That is its own admission. It is a failure. What is the Minister going to do about it?

We are on Questions on Promised Legislation.

I am happy to answer if the Leas-Cheann Comhairle wishes me to. On this matter, it would be entirely disingenuous to try to conflate the issue of a referendum on the eighth amendment with the issue of the error on the part of RED C.

It is a shambles.

This error affected a discussion on climate change rather than abortion. I do not know why the Deputy fears letting the people of Ireland have their say. That is all I want.

I do not fear it.

Let the people of Ireland have their say.

They will have their say.

They will have their say in May.

This is a stitch-up.

Deputy McGrath was not interrupted.

It is a total stitch-up. It is a total farce.

The Deputy will not have a second intervention.

I answered the question.

It is a stitch-up.

I have no control over the responses from Ministers.

The Minister needs to get his sewing machine out.

I raised this same issue with the Taoiseach early last year. At that time, nine counties were not represented on the Citizens' Assembly. We have now seen what has taken place. We hear it on the radio, see it on television and read about it in the papers. We have 26 counties. Surely the sensible and most democratic thing to do would be to select two per county. After that, the other 47 could be weighted in favour of the----

It is not a laughing matter.

I am not finished.

The Deputy is talking about 26 counties, not 32. That is the issue.

We will have Deputy Scanlon without interruption from any quarter. The Deputy will address the Minister through the Chair.

We have seen what happened. Of those who joined the Citizens' Assembly, 13 were replaced.

Seven were appointed in an unapproved manner. I think this is wrong. I genuinely believe this referendum should be postponed and that the whole process is compromised.

Hear, hear.

I will call for a full and immediate audit of the Citizens' Assembly's entire recruitment process over the last 18 months. I think it has been compromised.

On the same issue, this is utterly ridiculous. The matter has got absolutely nothing to do with the referendum on the eighth amendment-----

Deputy-----

Get rid of them. Get rid of the whole lot.

This is the citizens' assembly in here that we got elected to. We will not be dictated to by Sinn Féin bullies.

Get rid of the whole lot of them.

This is an insult to every member of that committee who sits in this Chamber and I will not have it.

All the Deputies are out of order except Deputy Scanlon and it is a matter-----

The Citizens' Assembly is out of order. That is the problem. No-one is listening. This is the citizens' assembly; anseo.

I will take action against Deputy Mattie McGrath if he continues like this. I am quite serious. There has to be some decorum in the House.

Of course there has, and in charades as well.

You are contributing to this.

A small bit of manners is needed from Deputy Mattie McGrath.

I invite the Minister to respond, if he feels it is appropriate to do so.

I will endeavour to respond. The Citizens' Assembly has taken place and made recommendations. Our colleagues in this House, people whom I respect regardless of what jersey they wear or do not wear in terms of their politics, have carried out a process and soon every citizen in every county will get their say on this issue. The job of work we have to do is to give the people their say at the end of May.

Hear, hear.

There have been a lot of promises and reports to do something about homeless people and building houses. However, what reason or what gripe has the Government with people in rural Ireland wanting to build their own homes? In this new 2040 plan, that never mentioned Kerry by the way, the Government is saying that houses can only be built in the open countryside if they do not detract from the capacity of our larger towns and cities to deliver homes more sustainably. That is saying they will not grant or allow planning permission in rural areas. What has the Government against people in rural areas building their own homes? Government Deputies are in here propagating that they are going to do this and do that. There is one report after another to deal with homelessness and to build houses. Why are they trying to stop people who want to build their own homes? What blackguarding is this and why is the Government against people in rural Ireland?

The Minister has got the question. Planning in rural Ireland.

We have absolutely nothing against it and that is why the-----

It says it here on this page.

That is why the national planning framework specifically recognises not just the economic need for a house but also the social need. It is an issue that my party colleagues pursued very extensively, as did the Minister, Deputy Ring, as this issue was going through Cabinet. I can let the Deputy know that the population is growing in rural Ireland under this Government-----

It is doing so in spite of the Government

In spite of it.

The Deputy cannot have his own facts. He can have his own opinion but not his own fact.

Alternative facts.

The population is growing and under this Government we are going to invest more in rural Ireland, including Kerry.

So are the Government Deputies going to come down on their buses?

We can all go to Sligo.

Deputy Danny Healy-Rae knows all about the buses.

Page 28 of the programme for Government commits to conducting a review of national building standards. The residents and owners of businesses in Brú na Sionna in Shannon town have become the latest community to join the list of those who have discovered fire safety problems in their homes and they are now facing substantial bills due to bad planning. Brú na Sionna is a complex of 240 units consisting of houses and apartments. Local Shannon councillor Mike McKee told me this morning that the management company is looking for sums ranging from €7,000 to €28,000 from each owner to address these issues, even if there are no actual problems with his or her own individual unit. This is disgraceful and follows numerous other issues with core building standards and fire problems across the country.

Will the Government commit to bringing forward legislation to enact the key recommendation in the "Safe as Houses" cross-party housing committee report, which calls for a redress fund funded by industry and State to support those residents in homes with latent defects where the builder has gone bust and access to HomeBond has expired?

On the same issue and very briefly-----

I presume Deputy Ó Broin has a card. We are going to review this system.

I have indeed. Yesterday the Taoiseach gave an indication for the first time that he is willing to look at a redress scheme, particularly where developers have gone bust and HomeBond has expired. Will the Minister bring it to Cabinet to actively discuss the Taoiseach's comments and to implement the recommendations of our joint committee report?

The best thing is for me to ask the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government to reply to the two Deputies directly. Our hearts go out to anybody in Brú na Sionna or anywhere else who has found deficits with their houses. We have taken a number of measures including the introduction of the Building Control (Amendment) Regulations 2014 and a number of other steps. I will ask my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, to revert to the House on the matter.

The programme for Government commits to a humane approach to discretionary medical cards. It also commits to reviewing the way that people who are undergoing cancer treatment can get medical cards. At the moment, I am dealing with two cancer patients who are undergoing treatment and both are being obliged to fight to get or hold medical cards. Charles is an older man and has recently been refused, even though he is undergoing treatment. Nora, much younger, has already fought off breast cancer and is currently fighting throat cancer. Her card has been taken from her and she is having to fight for a new card. There should be some humane way of allocating medical cards to people who need them. If anybody should have one, surely Nora and Charles should. Has the review been conducted? If not, when will it be conducted? Worse still, if it has been conducted, is it the reason these two people are being refused?

On the same issue-----

Very briefly; no repetition.

I had the same issue with many constituents who are suffering from cancer. They are being asked to get a letter from their consultant stating that it is terminal. It is a terrible situation for any family to be asked to do this in order to get a medical card. Really I think the Minister needs to intervene and ensure that the practice ends.

There has been a huge increase in the number of discretionary medical cards. I made the figures available to the Oireachtas health committee. Certainly there is no review or change of policy in any way, shape or form that should alter that fact. A number of years ago we introduced a provision such that every child who has cancer automatically gets a medical card now. I will certainly take back the concerns of both Deputies in this regard. It should be a very compassionate approach. I ask the Deputies to forward me the details. I do not want to comment on individual cases on the floor of the Dáil.

I want to raise the issue of waiting times as per the programme for Government, page 60. I had a case recently of a lady who was waiting for a simple eye procedure to improve her quality of life. She received a letter on 19 February stating that she will not get an appointment for three years. Can the Minister look into this? The other options are still not improving the waiting times. We had a similar case about 12 months ago and the waiting time at that stage was 24 months. It appears the waiting list in this area is disimproving. Can the Minister assist on this?

While I cannot comment on individual cases, in respect of cataract procedures - the Deputy mentioned eyes - in July of last year there were 6,060 people waiting on the cataracts list. That fell to 3,753 in December and is now 3,273. We now have nearly 55% of people receiving a cataract procedure in less than six months and I expect that to continue to improve. If the Deputy sends me the details I can have the HSE look at the individual case.

On page 19 of the programme for Government, leadership on housing, there is a simple anomaly in the new rebuilding Ireland home loan scheme. An applicant cannot lodge an application or get approval in principle on a loan to buy a site and build a home without first getting planning permission on the site. This is further evidence of the bureaucracy that has caused every other housing initiative up to now to fail. How can we expect a couple to spend money on securing planning permission for a site they do not own, so they can apply for a home loan for which they might ultimately get a refusal? Surely it should be possible to get approval in principle and then require full planning before drawing down the actual loan.

This is proof that the Government has more interest in rules and regulations than in getting a fully functional and workable scheme. This requires a simple change. I would like the Government to commit to it today.

The Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, is introducing a number of schemes to assist people in building and purchasing their own home. I will ask him to look at the issue Deputy Cahill has raised and to revert to him directly.

The cybersecurity Bill will be the first piece of EU-wide legislation on cybersecurity. It will transpose the security of network and information systems directive. It is very important that we are upgrading our defence against new threats that are developing all the time in cybersecurity.

While the threat to Ireland is low, I believe that because of our place at the heart of Europe, it is key that we work with our European colleagues to ensure we have a combined and co-ordinated approach to make sure that our citizens are protected as much as possible.

I thank Deputy Heydon for raising this important matter. Preliminary work has begun on that Bill, and I will ask the relevant Minister to give the Deputy a more comprehensive update. As the Deputy is probably aware, the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Zappone, the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Naughten, and the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Flanagan, attended an Oireachtas committee on this important issue yesterday. It clearly requires that Departments work together in the interests of protecting our nation, our industry and our children, as well as those who rely on and use the Internet.

I seek an update on the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman Act 2017. The Pensions Authority wrote to the Committee of Public Accounts this morning to say that in 2009, it told CIÉ that its workers' pension schemes were no longer in compliance with statutory instruments. Despite that, the Pensions Authority allowed CIÉ to ignore its statutory requirements and gave it permission to leave the workers' pension schemes in deficit. Does the Pensions Authority have the power to overrule a statutory instrument? Surely only a ministerial order can do that. Is CIÉ deliberately underfunding the defined pensions schemes in order that the Pensions Authority can declare it insolvent? Does this forthcoming Bill give the Pensions Authority greater powers to protect defined pension schemes?

My understanding is that the Bill became an Act in 2017 but, considering the importance of the issue Deputy Munster has raised, I will ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Deputy Regina Doherty, to revert to her directly.

The Government's programme on innovation, Innovation 2020, commits to a target of 2.5% GDP spending on research and development this year. The figures released by the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation last week suggest that we have spent about 1.4% or 1.5%, which is about half of what was committed. Can the Minister advise when the Government might reach that target? It announces grand initiatives such as Project 2040 but it cannot even manage project 2018 or its own Innovation 2020 strategy, which makes it very hard to have confidence in other programmes.

That is a matter that the relevant Minister would be best placed to answer. The Government is committed to continuing to increase our budgetary spend in this area. I will ask the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation to revert to the Deputy.

Under the programme for Government heading of courts and law reform, there is a proposal to reduce excessive delays in trials and court proceedings, including trial hearings. Part of that is to improve the infrastructures of the Courts Service. In Tralee town we have a very centrally located courthouse which is in dire need of upgrading. I believe that the possibility of moving that service out of the town is being investigated. I ask the Minister to engage with the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Flanagan, to ensure this courthouse stays within the town centre as it is a central part of the town's life.

I will certainly bring that to the attention of the Minister of Justice and Equality, Deputy Flanagan.