Deputy Paul Murphy: I want to ask about a pretty pressing issue for underfunded community drugs projects, namely, the extortionate cost of insurance. I will give a couple of examples from Tallaght to show just what an impact this is having. One project was paying €2,500 six years ago for insurance. That increased to just over €6,000 three years ago. For 2023, the insurance company wanted €21,000. There were no claims against the project and the insurance company blamed the increase on medical malpractice insurance attached to the harm reduction clinic. There were no needle stick injury claims made in Tallaght or in the context of any community programme. In order to get the insurance, in the end they had to suspend the needle exchange service and point clients elsewhere. Another programme got a staggering €7,000 increase on its premium, again having not submitted any claims. I tabled a parliamentary question to the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, in respect of this matter. I received the regular reply about funding, the level of which is completely inadequate. We need action on this issue...

...The Taoiseach: As Deputy Boyd Barrett said, housekeepers and cleaners do essential work in our hospitals, especially in the context of infection control. I am not familiar with the issue of the appeal on the job specification. If the Deputy passes on some more information to me, I will make sure he gets a proper reply. I am advised that the average business or average community service pays less than €5,000 per year for insurance, but that varies from business to business, from service to service and from risk to risk. It can depend on the different circumstances that may arise.