Richard Bruton, TD

Today (Tuesday), Charlie Flanagan TD, Minister for Children and Youth Affairs briefed Cabinet on the interim report of the Cross Departmental Review Committee. The Committee, comprised of senior officials from eight government departments and a number of State agencies, was asked to scope the issues relevant to a Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes and to report by the end of June.

Fine Gael Wicklow TD, Simon Harris, has today (Tuesday) said that it is high-time that we radically alter how the State interacts with people with disabilities. Deputy Harris added that the State must recognise that this relationship must go much further than the simple administration of a social welfare payment.

Fine Gael Dublin Rathdown TD, Olivia Mitchell, has welcomed the signing of the contract to construct a new 16 classroom gaelscoil at Ballyogan Avenue, Stepaside.

Fine Gael Roscommon/South Leitrim TD, Frank Feighan, has warmly welcomed the OPW’s allocation of €202,677 to Roscommon County Council for flood mitigation works to be carried out in Four Roads in South Roscommon.

Fine Gael Cork South West TD, Noel Harrington, has today (Monday) welcomed the series of announcements made earlier which will result in hundreds of new jobs being created in Cork city and county. In the largest of the announcements, 260 new jobs will be created at SouthWestern, which is headquartered in Clonakilty.

Fine Gael Wicklow TD, Simon Harris, has today (Monday) questioned Fianna Fáil’s motives and accused the Party of trying to scare older people over the free travel pass.

I am delighted to join you here today to launch the Fourth Annual Monitoring report on Integration 2013. I would like to begin by thanking Killian Forde, CEO of The Integration Centre, for his kind invitation to me to launch the report.

Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Leo Varadkar has announced that Dublin Port Company has paid a dividend of €8 million to the State based on its financial results for the year ended 31 December 2013. The payment is in line with the company’s commitment to making a dividend payment of 30% of profit after tax, annually.

Fine Gael Waterford Deputy Paudie Coffey TD has welcomed news that NuVasive will create 30 positions in Waterford over the coming period. NuVasive is the third-largest spine company in the U.S., and the fourth-largest globally and this is a massive boost for Waterford and the South East Region and follows on from the investment of Nypro earlier on this year.

Fine Gael Cork Senator Colm Burke has today (Saturday) proposed a major reform to our medical education system here in a bid to encourage more newly qualified doctors to remain in Ireland after graduation. Senator Burke was speaking at the Intern Conference at UCC.