I am glad the Minister mentioned McAuley Place, which is in my constituency, and Newbridge, which is in the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach's constituency. We are all-inclusive in this business. A huge amount of local voluntary effort and general effort that is grant-aided in one way or another has been undertaken by people like those in McAuley Place. There are challenges that come forward in respect of immigration. I do not approach this, nor does the Minister, from the point of view of any antipathy towards immigrants, …

I raise the question of antisocial behaviour, which is increasing to an alarming extent, with all-female and lone-occupant households being particular victims. This type of bullying takes various forms, for instance, playing loud music long into the night when people who have been at work during the day expect to be able to relax and get a night’s sleep. I ask that local authorities be contacted with a view to ensuring that people with a history of antisocial behaviour are warned when they have the luck of being aw…

I thank the Minister of State.

Before you proceed, I have indicated a wish to speak on this important subject. Several other of my colleagues have not spoken and could not be here on time, but will be here to speak on the subject. I welcome the proposal put forward by the Government Whip.

I do not wish to prolong this debate. If a Member or Members wish to speak, they are entitled to speak and have their wishes adhered to. There is no game in this House like the old political game of trying to seize an opportunity when somebody seizes an opportunity. That is not what this House is about. This is about democracy. This is a very serious subject that needs full and adequate discussion and debate in the House. My feeling is that sufficient time was not allowed in the first place and I welcome the extra …

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise this issue again and for permitting me to raise it on many occasions in the past. I also thank the Minister of State for coming into the House to reply. I thank him for his work since his appointment in attempting to resolve this particular issue. Despite his best efforts, the Castletown House saga continues. It is a bit like "The Forsyte Saga", a programme on television once upon a time. Every time a solution is identified, there is equally an obstacle that crea…

I thank the Minister of State for going to the efforts he has gone to and I again thank the Ceann Comhairle for facilitating this debate. I understand the problem but, unfortunately, some of us have been around Castletown Estate when it was in its previous ownership, in Connolly-Carew's time. We got to know all the people who worked on the estate and we listened to their queries over a number of years. We got along with them and they are decent, nice people. There is no need for anybody to impose a restriction on t…

Amendments Nos. 6 to 9, inclusive, are related and will be discussed together.

I thank the Tánaiste. In the same order, I call Deputy Cronin.

Is the Deputy deferring?

I call Deputy Howlin.

Deputy Cronin has the right to reply. She has two minutes.

We have come to the end of the debate.

We cannot continue a cross-chat in the House. We now have to put the question.

Once again I raise the continued use of the parental alienation clause in family law, which is causing continued and ever-increasing hardship to mothers, some fathers, and particularly to children, who are the victims in this entire matter. The Minister has promised to deal with this and has done a lot of work, as have a number of Ministers on the Government side of the House. I ask that urgent action be taken to bring this to a head.

I seek to ascertain the extent to which the Minister might be able to improve the levels of payments made to various recipients. This could arise from a variety of reasons such as lesser contributions in old age pensions or any other issue that is at present seen as a glitch in not allowing the payments to be equal with the highest.

I thank the Minister for that reply. It is well acknowledged that substantial improvements have been made in relation to the delivery of social welfare payments throughout the country and this is greatly valued. Is it the Minister's intention in the course of preparation for the next budget - which is in some months' time - to examine family situations whereby a large family may have a lot of outgoings and whether there could be a general test or overall template in order those who come in under the level of paymen…

One issue that has come to my attention in recent times - and at all times - is in relation to family law disputes where the mother of the children may be forced to pursue the partner in court in order to get a validated payment, which is a very dangerous thing to do if there is violence. This happens in many cases and puts huge hardship on the mother of the children and creates terrible fear in those cases. It places the mother at a disadvantage to such an extent she sometimes does not want to pursue the case at a…

I thank the Minister.

I very much agree with the previous speaker about this valuable scheme. It has helped many people to readjust to situations that face them at a particularly difficult time. It has helped local voluntary organisations tremendously at a time when it has been quite difficult to get sufficient staff to meet their requirements. Anything that can be done to make the scheme more attractive and accessible from the point of view of extended years of service in a particular project, whatever the case may be, would be greatly…