I appeal to the Taoiseach to stop; to stop that side of the House from trying to make us look like we do not give a damn about the maternity and reproductive care of women, that somehow we are delaying it through misinformation, that we are Opposition for the sake of opposition and that we are playing politics with this. Please stop. This is not helping the debate for the ordinary people out there who are interested and who want to know what the hell is going on. Poll after poll has shown that the vast majority of …

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Let us move away from the historical legacy of the religious order's involvement and the mistrust and take at face value what the Taoiseach is saying, that we will effectively own the hospital. The St. Vincent's Healthcare Group fact sheet, which is very useful, asks on page 2: "Who owns the NMH?". It states: "The new NMH DAC will be part of St Vincent’s Healthcare Group." It asks: "Who owns the land where the NMH [new maternity hospital]...facility will be built?" The reply is: "The land is owned by St. Vincent's …

On the day that the World Meteorological Organization, WMO, has warned that the planet has a 50-50 chance of average global temperatures soaring 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels at least once in the next five years, will the Taoiseach agree that this means the shot across the bows that we have received from the WMO means that we absolutely must move away from burning fossil fuels, that we cannot develop Barryroe or any other fossil fuel infrastructure and, indeed, that we must now commit not to import LNG into thi…

We should move together not to develop Barryroe.

I would like to read out the first few lines of the People Before Profit amendment. I always do this because any debate or conversation about climate change and climate policies has to start by recognising the stark facts that are constantly being put in front of us by the United Nations, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, and the conference of the parties, COP. However, we seem to be able as an economy and society to ignore them and continue on our merry way. The amendment states: - recent extrem…

The glaring visual tonight is the absence of the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan. That is a big mistake on his part. Most of the measures listed in the motion are to do with the Department of the Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath. However, the question the whole country is discussing is that of ending turf cutting. We will be talking about carbon tax again tomorrow. It is a massive issue that my party spent a lot of time studying. I have to say Deputy Bacik of the Labour Party is completely wrong on it. There is not a h…

In June 2020, CIÉ workers in the regular wages pension scheme voted to accept changes to that scheme. Since then, on at least a dozen occasions I have asked the Minister and his Department the same question that I am asking today. When will the Minister sign the statutory instrument to give effect to those changes in their pensions?

I acknowledge that the ballot took place in June 2020 and that the changes were agreed by the workers, but this is the end of April 2022. Why is this important? It is because it says a lot about how, at senior levels, the Department and the State view bus drivers, train drivers and transport workers generally and about the priority they are afforded. They will get an increase of €30 a week in the pension from a meagre €130 to €160 and they will get an increase in their lump sums of €20,000. This will make a huge di…

I am sorry for labouring the point but it needs to be laboured. In early 2021, the Minister told me, and it is on the record, that he hoped to have this statutory instrument signed by the third quarter of 2021. It is now the second quarter of 2022 and there is no sign of it being signed. I hope I do not have to explain to the Minister or to anybody else who has any sense of how workers survive and thrive after many years in a job what that increase would mean to them on a daily basis. I get regular inquiries from b…

We have had much discussion about rural Ireland today, but my question concerns bus services in rural areas run by private operators and how accessible they are to users of the free travel scheme. About five years ago, the National Bus and Rail Union, NBRU, warned that the significant cuts then being made to services would lead to many areas being neglected and there are now many areas where private operators do not accept free travel passes.

This is exactly my question. I wish to know if the Minister will raise this issue "with the Minister for Social Protection and the National Transport Authority". People in rural Ireland are facing difficulties in respect of their free travel passes not being accepted by some private bus companies. To reiterate, this is more disadvantaging of the people of rural Ireland. Those who live in our cities are likely to be able to catch a Bus Éireann bus, a Dublin Bus, a Luas or a DART and those who qualify for the free tr…

There is a degree of discrimination here because in parts of rural Ireland people have no choice but to avail of privately-run public transport not supported by the PSO levy. Many people find they cannot access this great scheme providing free travel for people aged 66 and over, and others, as the Minister outlined, such as carers or those with disabilities, etc. The problem is they cannot access the scheme. Therefore, surely this is a form of discrimination against them. I ask the Minister to attempt to close this…

The Minister was quoted in The Irish Times last week as making an astonishing statement in which he left open the door for the introduction of LNG or nuclear power in order to deal with this crisis. Is it his position as Minister and that of the Green Party in government to allow this country to be tied into the use of LNG, which would basically mean a reliance on another type of fossil fuel for approximately 30 years?

I tabled a question on the Question Paper and I would like the Minister to answer it, rather than answering the question that is in his head.

A couple of things arise from the Minister’s comments. It will come as a major surprise to many of the Minister’s party members and the climate movement that he has said over the years that we have to keep all options open, including nuclear power. Over the years, what I have heard from the Minister, particularly as he considers himself a leader of the climate movement, is that we have to keep fossil fuels in the ground and that we must do this in order to reach Paris Agreement targets, to reduce our emissions and …

With all due respect to the Minister, and it is not my intention to insult him as I love debate and this is part of that debate, he has changed his position fundamentally by saying that we will leave the door open to LNG and to other forms of gas storage importation and the possibility of nuclear power. This is an extraordinary position that the Minister is presenting as a Green Party leader and a Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications with responsibility for energy in a climate disaster. We will …

I am not talking about prices but supply.

I did not ask the Minister about prices; I asked about supply.

I am sorry the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, has left, because this is really his business. Yesterday he repeated that the core funding model for early childcare and education would benefit 99% of childcare providers but I have met and talked to smaller providers who represent a cohort of 1,500 small childcare providers and they are not seeing any benefits from the new scheme. Many are deciding to leave the sector because they cannot survive. Overwhelmingly, the funding is going to the bigger providers and branches of…