It is a very serious matter.

Thanks to Deputy Stanton, who is not in the Chamber, we had a hearing this morning on the issue of shoplifting, which is costing each family in the country €1,000 every year. A very high level of frustration was expressed at the hearing, with massive under-reporting of the problem and a sense that there is no deterrent when people are caught. I welcome the Minister's announcement of an initiative in this area, but one thing that needs to be done is the barring of repeat offenders from certain areas of cities or towns so there is an effective deterrent that can be quickly applied.

When will the applications for the mother and baby homes scheme open? The redress scheme for survivors of mother and baby homes was signed off last July. Many of the survivors have contacted me. As the Minister knows, these survivors are not getting any younger. It is now important that this scheme is up and running as soon as possible. That needs to be done. Can we have a timescale for it? That will be so important. We are going into another new year in January.

Shoplifting is obviously a matter for the courts. Some decisions are taken where there is post-monitoring, or areas that certain individuals cannot go into after they have been prosecuted. More broadly, retail theft is up approximately 14% since the Covid pandemic. That is why we are working with the Department of enterprise; with the Minister, Deputy Coveney, and the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond; and closely with An Garda Síochána on a new retail theft operation. Operation Táirge was launched this week. It will operate on the same premise as Operation Thor, which has seen a 75% reduction in burglaries in rural areas over the winter months. We obviously hope it will have a similar effect and reduce theft in retail shops overall.