I welcome our guests in the Gallery. I know that some of them have spoken out publicly about this. Sometimes, that is not very easy to do. I welcome the fact that they are here. Hopefully, with their support and that of others we can get legislation in place. I hope it is this Bill. I hope we do not have to wait for 12 months or two years or any longer, because this is overdue. I thank Deputy Coppinger for bringing forward the Criminal Law (Prohibition of the Disclosure of Counselling Records) Bill 2025. The Bill i…

There are a lot of things I could say about housing, but because of the announcement from Government I feel compelled to comment on the new rent proposals. The new restrictions, such as they are, or rather the changes, will mean there are no controls for new builds and no controls for new tenancies when tenants change. This is going to drive up already sky-high rents. This is really going to increase them further. They are going way beyond what ordinary people can afford. Most tenancies end voluntarily. People move…

Having vacant homes in the middle of a housing crisis is a scandal, particularly when they are local authority houses. There are more than 2,700 vacant at the moment. A third have been vacant for more than a year. This is simply not on. Reletting times average more than eight months and are much more in many cases. The cost of preparing a home for reletting has increased in five years by almost €10,000 per unit. It is now more than €28,000. I want to give the Minister of State the message - if he looks around at va…

This matter relates to nursing homes and the lack of enforcement of standards. Last week, we witnessed shocking scenes in the Residence nursing home in Portlaoise and the Beneavin nursing home in Dublin. I am sure the Minister of State is aware that there are other cases as well. What we saw was: a shocking level of neglect; abusive behaviour; residents told to soil on incontinence pads; elderly, vulnerable residents left lying in urine for hours at night, calling for help but getting none; rough handling; shortage…

I thank the Minister of State. I would like an explanation for a whistleblower having, after two years of inaction on the part of the chief inspector and HIQA, to go to the media to highlight all of this. Surely that is a scandalous situation. They say you judge a society by how it treats its weakest. The weakest are the elderly and the very young - infant children. The Minister of State said the chief inspector will carry out a review. The chief inspector has failed in relation to three nursing homes, and possibly…

There are three flood relief schemes in Laois, in Clonaslee, Mountmellick and Portarlington. I welcome that they are progressing and I hope the Minister of State puts some fire under them, but the facts are that the schemes and the processes are too slow. I welcome that money was approved recently for the Clonaslee scheme. The council has approval to go to planning there with the OPW for that, and that is to be lodged with An Bord Pleanála very soon, but that could take a year and then a further three years to buil…

On a daily basis, we are seeing the latest version of the absolute horrors visited on Palestinians and the sheer loss of life. The estimates for those who are missing and crushed under buildings escalates every day. There is bombing of hospitals, schools, clinics and homes and the total destruction of Gaza and its infrastructure, roads, wastewater plants and everything else. It is clear what the Israeli game plan is here. It is the fragmentation and occupation of the West Bank. The news today was an escalation and …

My hearing is not 100%. I wanted to ask about the Tánaiste's conversation with Senator Black and the tail end of that. I am not trying to be awkward but would he mind repeating that again, please? I was not able to pick up correctly what he was saying. There are obviously different opinions out there and different legal opinion. This crisis puts a weight on us and many people are depending on us as a neutral company to act and show an example. The Palestinian ambassador will tell the Tánaiste this. People out in th…

What pressure has been put on the British Government regarding a public inquiry into the murder of Sean Brown, a GAA official, on 19 April 1997 at Drumanee Road in Bellaghy when he was closing the GAA club? This was a hard-working member of the local community who had done significant voluntary work on behalf of the GAA and in the community and was highly respected. I know from people living on Drumanee Road at the time that there was shock and horror in that area and the wider Bellaghy area at what happened.

I am happy to hear about the Tánaiste's engagements on this issue. I mentioned that Sean Brown had a great reputation locally as a hard-working member of the local community and throughout the country with regard to the GAA. I commend the GAA on taking up this issue and the thousands of people who filled the roads and streets around Bellaghy in recent weeks. There was evidence of collusion. He was abducted and carried in a convoy that passed under cameras at Toomebridge RUC station. This fits in with the British co…

Constituents and people across the 32 counties of Ireland are watching on in horror. They depend on us to take action with regard to what is happening in Gaza. There is merciless bombing of hospitals, clinics, homes and tents, with families, children and men being slaughtered. There is forced starvation and famine while convoys of food are a mile or two away. Men and women are being tortured. What the Israelis are doing in the prisons is absolutely shocking. Israel stoops to ever lower depths of cruelty and inhuman…

Yesterday, we had a well-attended presentation from SMA Ireland in the audiovisual room. Its priority is to secure access to the life-changing treatments and medicines for people with spinal muscular atrophy issues. We were told this is caused due to a loss of motor neuron nerve cells. It is an important issue. SMA can have life-limiting effects. It can cause difficulty for swallowing, breathing, walking, etc., and some of these people are confined to wheelchairs. The HSE approved three treatments a number of years…

It involves a small amount of money and requires a ministerial directive from the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, who was sitting beside the Taoiseach. Maybe she will address the matter.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this issue of workers' rights. Over the past 40 years, I have long been involved in campaigns, with workers and as a worker myself on many occasions, trying to get basic rights. I broadly welcome the Bill. It makes the necessary changes to the insolvency payments scheme but it is coming late. I welcome that it will cater for the situation at present regarding wages, sick pay, holiday pay, minimum notice entitlements and pension contributions. While they are in the insolvency pa…

The issue I am again raising with the Tánaiste is the bar on over-70s being allowed to drive under the school bus scheme. Drivers should be able to continue working within the scheme until they are 75 provided they pass a strict medical test and a strict eyesight test annually. The situation whereby they are arbitrarily forced to retire at 70 is wrong. We already have a shortage of school bus drivers, and more will be forced out. We are losing drivers every week. More will be forced out between now and the end of A…

Both the Tánaiste and the Taoiseach have agreed with me on the floor of the Dáil that we need to change this. A review has been carried out by the Department of Transport. That is now complete. The Government is now talking about an independent assessment according to a parliamentary question reply I received this week.

The Government has the review done.

That should be enough. We need to fix this and sort it out because we have only 13 weeks left to do it. We have 13 weeks until 25 August.

I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to regulate wind turbines to provide limits on the exportation of product generated from wind turbines, to protect nearby dwellings from noise and shadow flicker by providing minimum set back distances, to allow access to public consultative processes; and to provide for related matters. I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for the opportunity to introduce this important Bill. It provides for the regulation of large wind turbines and large wind farms. A…

I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."