There were many despicable crimes on this island during the era known as the Troubles. Seventeen people were abducted, murdered and buried in secret and four of their bodies have yet to be recovered - Robert Nairac, Joseph Lynskey, Seamus Maguire and Columba McVeigh. A search is under way in my constituency, at Bragan Mountain in County Monaghan, hoping to discover the remains of Columba McVeigh. The Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains has repeatedly appealed to the public that anybody who h…

-----but those people just want a Christian burial.

I am sure, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, we all agree with the words-----

-----of Oliver, his brother, who said "We don’t want any incriminations or any investigations". He said they just want to find Columba and have a Christian burial.

I welcome the Taoiseach's statement that he hopes there can be a satisfactory outcome, without much delay, to the negotiations on the protocol and the issues arising from Brexit. A number of us who are members of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly had a useful engagement with a UK minister, Mr. Conor Burns, during August. He was in Dublin and met various groups, including parliamentary groups. He put the clear message to us that he was here to listen to our concerns and bring them back to London. We sincerely…

I thank my colleagues for assisting me because I have a meeting at 10 a.m. I hope that there is not an underspend on the capital side of the departmental budget at this particular time. If there is, I would like a reallocation of funding for the non-national road network. Our regional and county roads need more investment. Thankfully, there is an increasing in population in rural Ireland. If funding is available, I sincerely hope that it would be devoted to the non-national road network programme.

I thank the Minister for his detailed reply. He negotiated very well in his Estimates campaign last year. There is a substantial spend under each heading. I sincerely hope that he will secure increased funding for the regional and local roads and the non-national road network for the coming year. As I mentioned earlier, thankfully there is a growth in population in rural areas. My own county is very rural and there is few national roads because of our Border situation. We are heavily dependent on the non-national n…

A project that I have discussed with the Minister previously is the proposed east-west route from Sligo to Dundalk, via counties Fermanagh, Cavan and Monaghan. Parts of that road have been upgraded. It carries a large volume of traffic. It is an important artery in the Border region and the northern half of our country. I sincerely hope that dedicated funding can be provided in 2023 to ensure further planning, upgrading and the commencement of some works along that route, which is particularly important for towns s…

The Minister may recall I have been raising with him constantly in this House the difficulties arising for customers of KBC Bank and Ulster Bank due to their exiting the State. As he will be aware, the Border region areas, such as Cavan-Monaghan, had a heavy reliance on Ulster Bank, which had a great network of branches in the past that, unfortunately, diminished big time. The exiting of these banks from the State, in particular Ulster Bank, creates further difficulties for people in areas such as mine, where there…

I thank the Minister. His Department and the Central Bank have had more engagement with stakeholders since we debated this issue early in the process, and I welcome that. He stated that at the end of August, only 24% of customers had closed their accounts, which means 76% of people had yet to do so, with only 40% of the timeframe remaining. It is not practical to think this process of migrating huge numbers of accounts will be completed by the end of April next year. I accept that the Central Bank, which is in cons…

In the consultation the Minister and the Central Bank will have with the banks, I urge ongoing contact with the Financial Services Union, which has a great overview of what is happening at branch level and throughout the State. I compliment John O'Connell and his colleagues in the Financial Services Union on their advocacy on behalf not just of their union members but of the public in general in regard to banking and banking services. The Central Bank has indicated that staffing within the banks is not adequate and…

The Government brought forward proposals that were enacted by the Oireachtas, which have brought benefits to people buying insurance cover generally. The voluntary and community groups that take out public and employers liability insurance have not benefited from the changes to the extent that they should have. This is an area that needs to be addressed.

I will make a quick comment and maybe the Minister of State will reply to me in writing to enable other colleagues to get their questions in. Over the past 18 months public and employers liability insurance has increased by 16%. We need new insurers and the benefits of reform are not being passed on to business insurance of voluntary and community groups.

Ireland is one of the few countries that impose a high level of tax on print and digital newspapers. NewsBrands Ireland and Local Ireland, representing our national and regional newspapers, such as The Anglo-Celt and The Northern Standard , have cogently outlined the crucial need to reduce the VAT rate on newspapers, in print and digital formats, to 0%. Despite our differences with newspapers at times, they contribute enormously to democratic, social, cultural, sporting, economic and business life. The journalism p…

It is devastating for a farmer when his or her herd has to be partially or totally depopulated. We know that herds are built up over a considerable length of time. There is a big investment and big commitment by the individual farmer, and we do not switch on or off the breeding or development of herds. The current compensation levels do not reflect the reality of the prices paid in marts today. I appeal to the Minister to have the compensation levels for cattle that are depopulated due to tuberculosis, TB, revised …

Given the areas the Minister and I represent, we are aware of the importance of cross-Border co-operation. That continues and it is hugely important for dealing with animal disease on an all-Ireland basis. I sincerely hope that this co-operation, which has existed for many years, will work as robustly as it did in the past. The Minister mentioned the TB forum and the financial working group. I hope that will report without further delay. The Minister said it was established 15 months ago, but prices and costs for e…

I again appeal to the Minister to ask the working group to expedite its work. I have concern about the compensation being adequate for pedigree cattle. Those of us who were reared on farms and represent rural communities take great pride in looking at quality animals at our shows every year and in visiting individual farmers. I have a concern that valuable pedigree lines could be lost. I know of some individual farmers who win national awards every year and would have a number of substantive pedigree herds. If they…

-----is adequately compensated to meet all costs.

I hope that in his first opportunity to engage with Boris Johnson's successor the Taoiseach will prioritise legacy issues and remind the British Government strongly that it must take on board the concerns of victims and survivors. As all of us in this House know, the current British Government legislation would allow murderers to give themselves immunity from prosecution. It is absolutely deplorable. In a good interview, Ms Sandra Peake, the chief executive of Wave, spoke with Mr. Rodney Edwards. Ms Peake stated th…

I thank the Taoiseach for the update on the visit of the US delegation. I had the opportunity to meet with the delegates and I found all of them to be extremely interested in, and very focused on, the needs of our country and very well-informed on the politics of all of our island. It is not just when they are here that those individuals show interest in our country. On a regular basis, they pass unanimous motions in both US Houses of Congress in support of the Good Friday Agreement and condemning recent British Go…