I welcome this Bill. It is a necessary Bill to achieve better affordability in housing. I want to pay tribute to our party colleague, Deputy Duffy, and thank the Minister, Deputy Darragh O’Brien, for the openness he has shown in working with him to improve this Bill. I want to thank the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, for coming in to hear the debate. In particular, I want to welcome the introduction of cost rental on a statutory basis. It has been a long-term aim of my party to introduce this, not just to achiev…

I want to address the issue of vacancy in our towns and villages. The previous encouragement over many decades of one-off housing has undermined retail in our towns and villages as once people are in their cars, many choose to visit out-of-town retailers near the large urban centres. The Government has taken a progressive approach to rural development. The promised legislation I wish to ask the Taoiseach about is the commitment in Our Rural Future to examine the feasibility of introducing what is called “meanwhile …

I will keep my points brief, as my time is limited. While the negotiators continue to work towards a consensus on CAP, it is worth highlighting that the current state of play is demonstrative of the divergences within and between the agricultural sector and policymakers. There is a misalignment between policies, funding mechanisms and the views of people who manage and work on farms. On the one hand, we want to support smaller farmers and young people involved in farming, but on the other hand, CAP payments chiefly…

We must recover from the pandemic in a way that increases the resilience of our country. I am proud of the role my party has played in government to achieve this. Over half of the €1 billion investment announced yesterday will be spent on climate projects, exceeding the EU's target of 37%. Responsible governance seeks to leave things better for future generations. We should invest in a way that tackles climate change, protects our natural environment, encourages regional development and makes life better for people…

Will the Minister tell me the measures he is taking to ensure Ireland has the electricity grid and infrastructure that will support the development of offshore wind off the west coast, and if he will make a statement on the matter?

I thank the Minister for his response. This is a very significant opportunity for the west coast and indeed also for my home city of Limerick. The ESB-Equinor project that was announced earlier in the year will be the first of many similar projects costing €5 billion and representing 1.4 GW yet it is only scratching the surface of the potential that is there. Indeed that potential could be up to 50 times the size of the ESB-Equinor project if one factors in the size of Irish territorial waters. To harness that pote…

I agree that the Shannon Estuary certainly has a unique role to play with grid connections and, as we know, Shannon Foynes Port has a railway connection as well, which could be part of the development of the industry locally in Limerick and the mid-west. As well as the Minister doing what he can at a national level, we in Limerick need to ensure we recognise the scale of this opportunity for our city and the mid-west. It will be very significant in terms of jobs potential and we need to prepare to grasp the opportu…

I raise the issue of safety on our rural roads because another family has suffered an unbearable loss this week. Another innocent life has been taken, that of Aoibheann Duffy, an 11-year-old girl from County Kerry who was out for a cycle on a summer evening near her home. We have failed this young girl and her family. We have failed in our duty of care towards people living in rural areas. We have failed because we are willing to tolerate roads that are simply no longer safe for the people living along them. This i…

As the Minister of State has acknowledged, we have made progress on road deaths, and fatalities have decreased significantly in the past decade. Paradoxically, however, by making roads safer for those in cars, vans and trucks, we have inadvertently made them lethal for those who are not in such vehicles. It is a questionable success if it relies on our roads being so dangerous that our young and old are too terrified to walk or cycle along them because of the high risk they bring. There is one area that could be ex…

Four years ago, 99 women and men set in motion a train of events that has led to the introduction of this climate action Bill. The 99 women and men of the Citizens' Assembly were representative then of the people of Ireland but they reflect the many voices we have heard over the years. These were voices from all corners of this island and the world, of people who have asked, demanded and persuaded us to do our level best to stop the destruction of the natural world. In this Thirty-third Dáil, we are taking up the b…

I thank the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, for his efforts in the Department. His leadership in working together with the Ministers of State, Deputy Malcolm Noonan, who is present, and Deputy Peter Burke, is a good example of the cross-party co-operation, respect and hard work that is at the heart of this Government. The Department has an ambitious work programme for the next few years in the areas of marine planning and development for offshore wind, electoral reform, protecting our natural and built heritage a…

Today is World Engineering Day. After this contribution, I will be speaking at an Engineers Ireland event to celebrate the role of engineering in building Ireland's sustainable future. The Tánaiste has a personal interest in the issue of innovation. I commend him on the work he is doing in his Department. As an engineer, I recognise the significant contribution Irish engineers will make to our economy and society as we tackle the challenges of energy and mobility, in particular, and also the contribution they will …

I pay tribute to the Taoiseach for his approach to Northern Ireland since the Government was formed. We support the shared-island approach. We have a duty in this Parliament to do whatever we can to support the Assembly and the democratic process in Northern Ireland. I am a member of an all-island party, a party that rejects labels like unionist, nationalist, loyalist and republican. We reject the false binary that is written into Northern Irish politics, whereby Northern Ireland Assembly Members must choose to des…

The Tánaiste has a deep commitment to entrepreneurship. We share a hope that once we have finally brought the pandemic under control, we will see a new generation of entrepreneurs come forward with innovative ideas to strengthen our economy. Entrepreneurs and small businesses played an important role in the previous economic recovery and they will play an equally important role in the recovery ahead. My hope is that domestic tourism will take place at some stage this year and that we will gain a new appreciation of…

I would like to address the use of peat as a growing medium in the horticulture industry. The court case in 2019 which removed the exemption from planning permission for peat extraction is having, and will have, a significant impact on the industry. I thank representatives of the sector for highlighting this issue. Theirs is a very important industry. It provides employment and a safe, sustainable food supply for this country. We need to expand our horticultural industry and we need to take any threats to it very s…

Yesterday, the Government agreed to begin work on an overarching well-being framework for Ireland as a way of establishing a better view of how our society is performing beyond the existing economic measurement tools. Quality of life needs to be at the very heart of our policies and transport mobility has a significant part to play in that regard. We must change how we think about transport projects and, in that regard, people should be at the centre of what we do. Our priority must be focused on moving people in a…

I ask the Minister about the level of funding available for LGBTI+ services in 2021.

I thank the Minister for that. It is very welcome news. I want to raise the issue of LGBTI+ services in the mid-west. Following the suicide of two men in Limerick in the 1980s, a group of volunteers set up the Gay Switchboard in 1986 in the St. Vincent de Paul building, later joined by the Limerick AIDS Alliance in the same building. Those two services, with other services in Limerick, merged to form GOSHH, which stands for gender, orientation, sexual health and HIV, in the past decade. GOSHH provides a vital range…

I thank the Minister for that answer. I will finish by asking about the status of the gay men's health service. I know many gay men, trans men and men who have sex with men have been waiting for the resumption of that service since it closed in March. Can the Minister given any clarity on when services will resume and what he is doing to expedite the opening of that much-needed service?

What steps will the Minister take to ensure that persons being moved from direct provision are provided with sufficient notice and adequate translation services to ensure that this transition is as seamless as possible?