I am sure the Tánaiste is aware that a recent poll in The Irish Time s is showing that nearly 90% of people are finding it hard to manage financially. I am hearing directly from families and parents across my constituency that go leor daoine are struggling with bills at home. Many of them are also being asked for voluntary contributions or to hold fundraisers just to keep the local school that their kids are attending afloat in the context of paying for heating, electricity and cleaning. I have introduced legislati…

Gabhaim míle buíochas leis an Teachta Ahern for bringing this Bill forward. I agree with him about the fair question. The LEUs across our grid need to come up with solutions as to how they power themselves, how they are benefiting communities and how they are actually contributing. That is where I agree with him in the context of the Bill I brought forward, but there some parts of this Bill I will not be able to support. It is generally just the threshold and how I think the Bill might, in its current form, not onl…

Good. I look forward to working with the Deputy on my Bill. I like what the Deputy is trying to do with the Bill. What we really agree on and always will is that section 34 needs to amended. The CRU needs to be at the centre of this. As the Deputy and I know from our work on the climate and energy committee, there is a finger-pointing act going because no one wants to be responsible. Giving more powers to the CRU is something both our Bills are trying to do. I commend the Deputy on the fact that the principle is de…

I thank the Deputies for bringing this forward. I really love talking about energy and savings. Last year, the Minister of State confirmed an underspend of €120 million. I understand that since then the SEAI has been spending it. The Minister of State will have no doubt heard me talk about plug-in solar. I want to imagine how that €120 million could be used immediately for the Irish public. Let us take a ballpark figure - back-of-the-envelope stuff - of €120 million. If we could bulk buy plug-in solar systems, whic…

I move: That the Bill be referred to the Select Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration pursuant to Standing Order 187.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta Toole. Bíonn sí i gcónaí ag teacht isteach sa Teach seo chun solutions a thabhairt. I commend her on her work on the disability committee. I also commend the Minister of State and her staff on the Bill and the sensible measures it contains and on the work that has been done. I will always support anything that makes the process faster, clearer and more consistent for every parent and child across Ireland. There are definitely good provisions in the Bill. I commend the standardising …

Agus mé i m'oifig, bhí mé ag éisteacht le go leor daoine ag caint faoin ábhar seo. Mar is gnáth, táim an-bhuíoch de dhaoine a thagann isteach anseo le solutions. Níl na daoine atá ag tabhairt amach ag rá aon rud a bhfuil muid in ann a dhéanamh faoi láthair. Táimidne sa Teach seo anseo ar son daoine na hÉireann chun a saol a fheabhsú. Tá daoine áirithe sa Teach seo ag díriú isteach ar political point scoring seachas ar solutions. I think everyone in this Chamber knows that the current price of oil and fuel is being …

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit ar ais tar éis an tsamhraidh. Is deas é a fheiceáil. There are parts of this Bill I really welcome, particularly moving towards better digital records. That is something I have continuously pushed for in this House. I congratulate the Minister of State and the Department staff for all the work that went into this. However, it will be better if I say what I do not like and what I want to see improved - namely, enforcement. I spoke in this House yesterday about supporting gardaí befo…

I thank an Teachta Gogarty for describing me as eloquent. I thank People Before Profit for bringing this issue before the Dáil. Electricity and electricity affordability is probably my favourite topic to discuss. I studied engineering in DCU for five years and my thesis was on waste heat utilisation from data centres. Sometimes I hear people in this House speaking about data centres and the water they use. They are not looking at the statistics. I am not defending that they do use a lot of water but I note the rece…

Ba mhaith liom chomh maith a thabhairt don Teachta Michael Healy-Rae agus a deartháir, atá anseo anois, my support. I wish Michael a speedy recovery. The Healy-Rae brothers have been nothing but welcoming to me since I was elected to this House and I see how hard they work. It is not fair that any public representative, male or female, should face violence, and my thoughts are with Michael's family. I welcome the Bill. I never stop telling the Minister that my dad was a garda, my grandfather was a garda and my grea…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an bPáirtí an Lucht Oibre. This highlights what many families are experiencing right now. Many people have been in contact with me. Even today, I met parents who were under enormous pressure because of the cost of uniforms, books, transport and school activities. Many families are being told that they must now spend hundreds of euro on a Chromebook, laptop or other digital asset, and it is still not something that they can afford. Over recent weeks, one parent told me that their school insiste…

Anois sa choiste fuinnimh táimid ag caint faoi plug-in solar. In 2024 there was a consultation done by the Department in which Bord Gáis Energy said that plug-in solar systems should be mounted on roofs where possible and hardwired into a dedicated circuit. The whole reason for plug-in solar is for people living in apartments who do not have access to rooftops to be able to install a system that costs €500 and has a payback period of two years. If there was a Government grant, it could be less. When a semi-State co…

I refer to the hundreds of vacant spaces over shops in Dublin, the capital city in which I grew up. I welcome the above-the-shop grant but could we re-examine it in terms of microcompanies or SMEs availing of that grant? It can be difficult for them to avail of the above-the-shop grant. The jump between what can be given for the first, the second and the third floors is not acceptable. If we are trying to bring people into the city for passive surveillance and into a liveable city, we need to examine making it easi…

On my way into the Dáil today, I walked into my local shop and I could buy an apple-flavoured vape. I could inhale it. I could also buy 20 cigarettes. I cannot, however, go in and buy raw milk easily. I know I am out of my depth as a Dublin TD asking this question, but why is it not possible to get raw milk in a Dublin shop? Why do my constituents sometimes have to travel to the North to get raw milk when adults should be able to make decisions on what we want to consume? I understand that the Minister is going to …

My granny drank raw milk and she lived to 98. We need to look into alternative ways to have locally sourced food. In that regard, I will point to what is happening at EU level and how it ties into this. Brussels is trying to harmonise the upper limits of food supplements such that parents or adults should be allowed to decide what they have. Individual needs are, as they say, individual. If vitamin D is harmonised, that is unfair to stores in Ireland because someone in the south of Spain will not need as much addit…

I appreciate that. I look forward to having some tartare and raw milk with the Minister some day. A lot of people these days are getting very sick and very obese. We allow multinationals to come here and sell us cans of carbonated drinks with 40 g of sugar but we do not allow someone to get a glass of raw milk. There is something fundamentally wrong in that sense. I am very grateful for Irish food standards. They are world renowned. I had not known about the increase in value from €10 billion to €20 billion, which …

Gabhaim buíochas leis na Social Democrats as ucht an rún seo a chur os comhair na Dála. I thank the Minister of State for coming out to my constituency and visiting some of the service users in the Irish Wheelchair Association, IWA, and the Central Remedial Clinic, CRC, and for the work she has done since in her role. I met many families living with constant uncertainty about what will happen to their sons and daughters. I met a lot of them personally in their kitchens. Looking into the eyes of those parents, you c…

Mount Temple Comprehensive School in Dublin Bay North, my constituency, is more than just a regular school. It is one of Ireland's greatest success stories. U2 began there and the school is synonymous with creativity, culture and opportunity for students. Today, its arts and performance hall is facing demolition as part of redevelopment. Nobody opposes development of the school building or hall, but the concern raised with me by past students and parents is whether the hall can be retained for refurbishment or adap…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit as an obair ar fad atá déanta aige agus as an obair a rinne sé le cabhrú liom nuair a bhí mé sa phriosún. This is a very important amendment as it gives that guaranteed timeframe for the implementation of the postcodes and allows people to know it will be done. I have no doubt from speaking to Minister of State that it will be done but it would be great if it could be brought in in order to guarantee that when we bring in this law, it will be implemented and has the desired effec…

I am delighted to have this opportunity to talk on this. On 18 June 2026, I raised a Topical Issue about the proposed closure and relocation of Harmonstown delivery sorting unit. I welcome the work in the Bill but I would appreciate if the Minister of State could look into this for my constituents. I have started a petition that has over 1,200 signatures online and there are over 800 in relation to post offices and the uncertainty that this has brought to my constituents. I welcome the engagement on this and that t…