Fergus O'Dowd, TD

It is always important that we have this exchange prior to a European Council. As the Taoiseach outlined, this Council is perhaps even more important than usual as it concerns the leadership of the Commission for the next five years. Even more important still, it is about setting the strategic priorities for that new leadership’s term in office.

Minister for Justice & Equality Frances Fitzgerald and Minister for Transport, Tourism & Sport Leo Varadkar held a constructive meeting with the PARC road safety group today to discuss a range of legislative and administrative issues in the broad area of road safety.

Fine Gael Dun Laoghaire TD, Mary Mitchell O’Connor TD, has today (Wednesday) welcomed a number of key recommendations in the Report of the Internet Content Governance Advisory (ICGA) which sets out what steps the Government can take to help address cyber bullying and deal with the range of issues posed by social media and our ever growing presence online.

To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if the shared visa system between Ireland, China and India also includes Taiwan; if this is not the case can it be extended to include Taiwan in view of the success of previous visa initiatives with that country; and if she will make a statement on the matter?

To ask the Minister for Finance the degree to which his Department monitors the working capital requirements of the various manufacturing and services sectors on an ongoing basis...

I want to begin by congratulating and thanking the authors of these two excellent reports. The detailed research of difficult and often secretive and even criminal subject matter, as well as their thoughtful conclusions, is impressive.

To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the measures his Department is taking to ensure that citizenship and human rights education is a priority under the new CSPE junior cycle curriculum at post-primary level; and if he will make a statement on the matter?

Fine Gael TD and member of Oireachtas Health and Children Committee, Peter Fitzpatrick, today (Tuesday), welcomed the news that €14 million worth of tobacco has been seized by customs officers at Drogheda Port.