I move amendment No. 6: In page 7, lines 19 to 21, to delete all words from and including “to” in line 19, down to and including “necessity” in line 21. In this section, following the reference to the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015, the words "to the extent that they consider practicable, taking particular account of the said exceptional circumstances and urgent and compelling necessity" are added. Already, this Bill is giving a significant amount of leeway and power to the Minister and this is …

I move amendment No. 8: In page 7, between lines 25 and 26, to insert the following: "Reports 12. The Minister shall, six months after the commencement of this Act, provide a report on the likely CO2 emissions from the 450 megawatts of temporary emergency electricity generation plant and shall thereafter provide a report, as soon as practical, detailing actual CO2 emissions in subsequent years from these generators.". The amendment basically seeks a report. It is important that we get some measurement of the CO2 em…

It is a disgrace that the Government can sit stony-faced, having done absolutely nothing to help the 100,000 apartment and duplex dwellers who are listed in the defective apartment report. In my constituency, dozens of people have just received a demand for €8,500 within 30 days and yet here we are, in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. The Government gives people a little bit here and a little bit there but what is it going to do to address the question of defective apartments and duplexes and to give these pe…

I move amendment No. 1: To insert the following after "reduce the cost of travel for commuters currently excluded": "— public transport fares to be abolished from the start of 2023, including for commercial bus and rail operators, and investment to ensure free public transport is also fast and frequent". I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this motion. It is good to have the opportunity to talk about this hugely important issue. It is evident, from the contributions of all of the Deputies who have spoken, that w…

I thank the Social Democrats for tabling the motion. It will be a comfort to survivors and campaigners that these issues are again being raised in the Dáil. There is an attempt by the Minister and the Government to say that outstanding issues and concerns of survivors have been dealt with, but that is not the case. It is a gross injustice that these issues are outstanding. I wish to briefly address three of the outstanding issues and how painful they are, and show how the State continues to fail survivors and the w…

The Citizens' Assembly on Biodiversity Loss heard this weekend that Ireland is not losing its biodiversity; it is haemorrhaging it. An expert told the assembly that we are one of the most nature-depleted countries on the planet. Anyone crossing Ireland will see Sitka spruce plantations and biodiversity deserts everywhere. Basically, hedgerows that should be a refuge for biodiversity have been wiped out. We have learned from the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, that our rivers and oceans continue to be of poor …

You’re a gas man.

It is not balanced.

It is clearly failing so it cannot be balanced if it is failing.

The other evening in the debate around disability services, the Minister said on the optional protocol under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities that ratification of the protocol is being scoped out and considered. Some seven years after we signed this protocol we are scoping out and considering. I find that to be an incredible answer to that question and I ask him please to explain what exactly he is going to do about this.

Can I ask the Acting Chairman the arrangements for these questions as we are sharing time?

I thank the Acting Chairman. I do not know what the Minister of State’s view is on this and I am aware that she was not the Minister of State back in 2015 when the UN treaty was ratified, but I find it extraordinary that after seven years, we are still at the point of scoping and of looking at what else needs to be done. If the Minister of State finds it extraordinary or unacceptable, please say so. She is the Minister of State for the Department and if she does not say so, we are going to assume that she thinks th…

I am looking back on the record of the debate around this and see it has been going on since 2015. When former Deputy Finian McGrath was Minister of State, he made the same commitment in 2018 that the Minister is making here today. That is four years ago. Four years might not seem a long time to a Deputy or a Minister, but it is a long time in the life of somebody who has to live with a crippling and often crucifyingly painful disability, and who is not getting the services that the State should be obliged to give …

I have just 30 seconds to ask the Minister an important question. His decision not to engage an international expert to review the report on mother and baby homes has been met with widespread anger across that community. Will he make a comment on the fact that this report will remain the official report of the State, despite its outrageous conclusion and misleading slant on the testimonies given? I am sure the Minister will probably have to give me a written answer but the issue is very important and it is creating…

Imagine how they feel. The Taoiseach is disappointed. They are waiting for the €1,000.

They put their lives on the line for us.

I note that the Taoiseach said in the past that the report was worthwhile. I agree insofar as it has shone a light on how things really work, how the business elite can take themselves off to a Swiss resort for a bootcamp and then not discuss what they really went away to discuss. Seven years later and having spent millions of euro of public money, we end up with a report that states that this was not a solid or sound transaction. There are 37 additional transactions by IBRC with a net loss of more than €10 million…

In less than a month, COP27 will take place in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. It is hard to believe it has been almost one year since Greta Thunberg famously described COP26 as "blah, blah, blah". I have just read an article by Naomi Klein describing COP27 as "blood, blood, blood", because it is taking place in one of the most brutal and oppressive regimes in the world, in Egypt, where about 60,000 political prisoners face brutal torture daily by this oppressive regime. Many of them have been censored in silence from even…

Has the Taoiseach no objection to the location of the conference, given the seriousness of this situation?

Can he not voice an objection as a leader?