This question has arisen from what was broadly a good news story and comes from my colleague, Deputy Matthews, whose office dealt with the case. The family, whom I will not name, lived in direct provision in Wicklow. They were offered own-door accommodation in Galway. The way in which this was handled was, unfortunately, problematic. I am not blaming the Minister personally. The family ended up being extremely distressed as they did not speak English and therefore did not understand why they were being moved. Event…

No, but I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle.

This Bill is important. It was nobody’s intention that the forestry licensing system would become blocked and unfit for purpose. However, that is the situation we have, and we will continue to have saplings rotting in nurseries and jobs in rural areas at risk unless we, as legislators, do something about it. I am my party’s spokesperson on climate action and I want firstly to address the Bill from the perspective of our climate crisis. We do not have any time to waste. We have spent years and years talking about th…

I will talk about rail transport, and how it can contribute to balanced regional development as we deal with the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic. We are beginning to see a new model of working, which could be a significant driver of regional development if we can continue to develop our rail transport infrastructure to service our regions. This is the model of hybrid remote working, where employees mostly work remotely but come into the office perhaps once a week, or a few times a month. Companies and employe…

I want to talk about the challenge of climate action in the term of this Parliament. I am pleased, but not surprised, to hear statements from representatives of other parties in this Chamber confirming how urgent it is that we take action on climate change. No one party has a monopoly on the topic of climate change. I look forward to hearing the contributions of Deputies in the remainder of this debate to hear their perspectives too. It is incumbent on us all, from all parties and political traditions, to apply our…

I will speak about mobility impairment. We do not treat disabled members of society fairly. There is much evidence to support this claim but I want to focus on how we have failed to create towns and cities that all of our citizens can get around and enjoy. We park vehicles on footpaths. We allow dogs to foul our streets and do not clean up after them. We install gates that people with disabilities cannot get through. We tolerate these things individually and collectively and that makes life more difficult for those…

As Deputy Costello is unable to attend, I will use his time to raise matters I discussed with him a short while ago. I also take this opportunity to congratulate the Minister, whom I have not had the chance to address in the House yet. I wish her well in her new role as Minister for Education and Skills. When schools closed and the country went into lockdown, many schools kept working in order to feed pupils who relied on the school for meals. Credit should go to these schools and teachers for keeping a vital servi…

I acknowledge the effort made by the Minister and the Department in recent years. Our task to reduce our emissions significantly is gargantuan and will require a significant and sustained effort from all members of society and sectors of the economy. Effort should not and does not equate to burden. Often we tend to forget this. If we were to look at the benefits of acting on climate change, such as cleaner air and water, warmer homes and greater energy independence, on the whole our country stands to gain. While my…

Is deas dom an deis seo an tAire a cheistiú don chéad uair sa Dáil seo. These are certainly testing times for the Minister and I wish him well in his responsibility to oversee the leaving certificate in 2020. Today, students should be sitting English paper 2, which would include their comparative studies, but that is not the case. I wish the State Examinations Commission, which is working in unison with Dr. Harold Hislop in the Department, and the various teams of teachers that are collaborating with their colleagu…

I will be sharing time with Deputy Noonan. I want to talk to the Minister about Limerick. There is concern in my city and county at the rise in trolley numbers at University Hospital Limerick, UHL. While I acknowledge the Minister's response to my constituency colleague, Deputy Quinlivan, many people locally have questions about the spare capacity in Barrington's Hospital and why it is not being used. I do not want to make a political issue of it, but I plead with the Minister to give this House and the public some…

I welcome the opportunity to ask the Minister questions in the Thirty-third Dáil. I acknowledge his hard work as Minister in recent years and thank him for it. He has always shown my colleague, Deputy Eamon Ryan, respect and courtesy in the Dáil and I will endeavour to engage constructively with him and his successor in the very important work carried out by the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment. The first issue I wish to address is the potential of wind energy in our seas. As has been st…

I have four questions for the Minister on behalf of the Green Party, about testing, tracing, isolation and funding for our community and voluntary sector. We all agree that being innovative and effective in each of these areas is key to our continued success in suppressing Covid-19. There has been a lot of discussion, including in this House, about testing capacity, volume and turnaround time. I would like to discuss how we can increase our testing capacity and reduce our wait times by considering alternative testi…

I offer my condolences to all who have been bereaved so far by the Covid-19 pandemic. I share my sympathies, as Members across the House have expressed theirs. I would like to revisit my colleague, Deputy Ossian Smyth's, and I am sure the Minister's, favourite topic, namely, the Covid tracker app. I thank the Minister for the publication of last week's document. Although it is not a technical specification that an engineer would recognise or use, it provided helpful and confidence-building information. We were plea…

I am sharing time with Deputy Noonan. We now know that our tourism industry will not have a summer season this year. As a result, we urgently need to plan for the following year instead. We have a chance right now to redefine our tourism strategy and how it will work for us in the future, especially for areas outside Dublin. Ireland is divided in the country, with a few high-profile tourist attractions which are isolated from the nearby villages and towns where many of us live. It was great last year to see the Des…

I support Deputy Cahill's call for opening allotments in urban areas. These fulfil an essential function regarding food production and provide an outlet for urban dwellers to carry out physical exercise in a safe and socially distant way, while also allowing positive interaction within communities. The Covid-19 health crisis and the associated financial crisis have focused the minds of many worldwide on the importance of food security and the agrifood sector, which employs 173,000 people in this country. The United…

It is our duty as parliamentarians to not only keep our citizens safe during the immediate crisis, but to ensure that we plan for the future. The Irish people have never lost faith in their future and that of Ireland. It is at our toughest times that we must hold onto and safeguard this faith in our future. As a nation we have endured hardships but we have prevailed and will do so again. It is with this faith that I address this House. The framework for recovery already exists in Ireland. We already have the resili…