-----and, as a small neutral country, we need to stand up and say, "Stop the madness".

I welcome the proposal in this motion. Unfortunately, the incidence of cancer is increasing. Many cancer patients are being failed. There are roughly 42,000 people diagnosed with cancer per annum in the State. That is a huge number of people. The State has the third highest mortality rate for people with cancer in the European Union. Poorer former eastern bloc countries are doing better than we are. For example, in County Laois, approximately 270 people were diagnosed each year. That does not include non-melanoma s…

I am glad the Minister and two Ministers of State are here to take the question. Will the Minister provide details of the initiative to increase the amount of milling flour produced in the State and the necessary increase in acreage of wheat to be grown for that? I say this in a positive way. I hope with the Minister and two Ministers of State that we can have some good news on this now.

An-tábhachtach.

I thank the Minister for the reply. I welcome the news of the plan to develop four flour mills. There is huge financial potential here and gain for producers and jobs and employment. A total of 80% of our flour is coming from Britain, as the Minister knows. During the crisis with the beast from the east, the freak freeze, we almost ran out of flour and bread. The total cereal production in the State, while it was up last year by 10%, that was mainly due to good weather at the start and end of the season, as opposed…

We have a strong tradition of milling flour in Laois. Odlums in Portarlington is one of the few places in the country now doing it. That is there. There is potential for it to be developed in the county. An economic report was published this morning by Alan Ahearne, former adviser to the US Federal Reserve and a former adviser to Micheál Martin, as I understand it. He stated that foreign firms are producing six times more than Irish firms in this State. They produce three quarters of all exports. He stated that the…

It is important that the review to which the question relates be expedited fairly quickly.

I am trying to figure out the length of time it will take. The Minister said that it will start with procurement and that the review will begin by the end of April, is that correct?

It will begin by the end of April.

That is better again. That is good news. It is obviously a concern because it is fair to say there is a confidence issue there. There has been a big breakdown in relations and that needs to be addressed. Bord Bia is central as a body to promote the quality of Irish food and quality is the key word here. In any outcome, we cannot have a food safety and promotion body that promotes the high standard of food produced here because of high regulations and standards and have someone at its head who is importing produce t…

The Minister said that the end of April is the completion date, and that is very welcome. Normally when we hear about reviews, they to go on forever and a day. As a result, I welcome the fact that there is a bit of urgency about this. Farmers' participation will be central to it. We have to learn from the fiasco that we have had over the last few months. We all need to look at what happened there and try to move forward in a more positive way.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this today. In doing so, I recognise the role women have played in bringing about revolutionary change in this country. Indeed, they have been to the forefront of it on many occasions, including the fight for independence, the right to vote, social changes, workers' rights, trade union rights, economic changes and in every area of politics. In recent decades women have fought in the campaigns for divorce, contraception and gender equality. We need to acknowledge the cruel manne…

Prior to the imperial oil war in the Middle East being waged by the USA and Israel, we already had a cost-of-living crisis. We are now really in a difficult situation. In County Laois the lowest price for road diesel is €2.10 per litre and it continues to increase. In this State, the increase in home heating oil is eight times the average increase across Europe. It was €480 for 500 litres. It is now €585 from suppliers in the midlands. It has almost doubled in price. Of course, once fuel goes up, everything goes up…

I ask the Government not to go ahead with the planned increase in it in March. There should also be targeted energy credits and supports for middle-income and low-income households.

I agree around the cost of living and particularly the cost of energy to households at the moment. That has obviously escalated further this week. We have one of the highest gas and electricity prices in the European Union. Added to this is the fact that householders are paying almost double the cost of electricity that data centres are paying. The average cost per household is 36 cent per unit while for data centres, it is 19 cent per unit. They are clearly using their financial clout to get their way but househol…

I thank the Tánaiste for his reply. He said the Government will make an informed evidence-based response. That is fine but the evidence is there. There are in excess of 320,000 households in serious arrears and we are only talking about electricity there. It is one in four is in arrears with gas. There is a real problem. I have constituents contacting me - people who are on middle incomes - who just cannot make it all go around. I am sure the rest of the Members are hearing this as well. I wish to highlight one ext…

The staff of the ambulance services are currently balloting for industrial action. The ballot will take place over the next four weeks. Should this develop into strike action, the impact will be catastrophic. The reason for this ballot is that changes have been implemented unilaterally by the HSE and the management of the National Ambulance Service. One of the changes will mean that trainee paramedics who have completed their degrees and have been working with ambulance crews over the last three years will no longe…

It is four weeks.

I thank People Before Profit for taking the initiative and bringing this important Bill forward. Is it necessary? Of course, it is necessary. I saw the repeat of “Prime Time” last night, which dealt with the experience of a young woman, Caitlyn, in UCD. She is roughly the same age as my granddaughter, who is also attending UCD. It stopped me in my tracks to see that people could have such attitudes. Where does that come from, and how did it develop? What is the role of online in this regard? We hope that Caitlyn ca…

I welcome these timely proposals from the Social Democrats. We must accept that the bedrock of any health system is having good primary care in place, and to have good primary care we need GPs. The ratio of GPs in this country is completely out of kilter with what it should be. The World Health Organization says there should be one GP per 1,000 of population. In County Laois, we have one GP per 1,700 population. More than 60 GPs are practising at any one time. In south Laois, the ratio is 1 per 2,300. The populatio…