I wish to start by asking the Minister some questions. Can he confirm why the report was delayed for so long, prolonging the suffering of the families and their loved ones? Can he also confirm if CHC was the interested party that objected to the report's findings? In addition, can he clarify whether this report was altered or amended in any way as a result of those objections? The families have rightly said that the crew was let down badly, and this is true of CHC and of the IAA. The family of Captain Dara Fitzpatr…

As we speak there is a major crisis in our hospitals. There is the term "bed blocker", which is very offensive and derogatory, used to describe people who have no choice but to stay in hospital because there is no social or care package in place for them. As we speak, Ms Mary Corrigan, a woman in her 60s from Ballyfermot, is discharging herself against medical advice from St. James's Hospital. She has been there for eight months and was told in June that she is perfectly fine to go home but a care package for her m…

What do you do about bringing in workers?

They are not included.

No, it is not.

I move amendment No. 1: To insert the following after “but cannot return to frontline emergency roles for health reasons”: “and — direct the Health Service Executive to recognise the National Ambulance Service Representative Association, who are members of the Psychiatric Nurses Association, as a trade union with full collective bargaining rights for its members employed in the NAS.” I thank the Sinn Féin Party and congratulate it on a very good motion. It is good to hear that the Government will not be objecting t…

I am sharing time. I often feel as though I am in an echo chamber here, particularly on this issue. In 2019, at a meeting of the all-party Joint Committee on Climate Action, we passed a motion committing the Government to conducting a review of energy poverty throughout the population. As the Society of St. Vincent de Paul research that is mentioned in the motion before us shows, energy poverty is much greater and deeper than what is accepted by the Department of Social Protection and the Government. Only last mont…

On 1 January 2022, the legislation governing the termination of pregnancies will be three years old and the Minister will be obliged to conduct a review of its operation. There are approximately seven weeks left to the end of the year, yet I have been told in the reply to a parliamentary question, as I read it, that the lead person who will conduct the review has not yet been appointed. There are three sections that must be focused on, namely, service users, service providers and a public consultation. How is all o…

This is not good enough.

We need that review because there are violations of human rights embedded in the legislation.

Nothing happened.

People Before Profit has consistently called on both this and the previous Governments to conduct a survey of energy poverty among the population. It has never been done by the Government and must be done. However, I wish to point to an anomaly that exists in the recent budget. Budget 2022 widened slightly the eligibility for fuel allowance, but it will only benefit a few thousand people. There is huge cohort of people over 70 years old who are in receipt of the household benefits package who got no increase in the…

Stop the nonsense.

People over 70 years old got no increase.

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I wish to share time with Deputy Paul Murphy.

If he does not arrive, I will continue to speak. Three years ago I introduced the Petroleum and Other Minerals Development (Amendment) (Climate Emergency Measures) Bill to amend the Petroleum and Other Minerals Development Act, that sought to ban oil and gas exploration in the State. We did so because of the simple fact that the science of climate change was screaming at us that the globe could not support more exploration and we were exceeding thresholds and hopes of limiting global temperature rises to 1.5°C, and…

I want to make three points, the first of which is on the planning process. I was alerted to this line from Fine Gael, as an opponent of this Bill, through a Friends of the Earth email campaign and I thank Friends of the Earth for doing that. Thousands of emails were sent to Deputies and Senators in support of this Bill from the environmental movement. The Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, replied just as the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, did but the planning process has never been neutral. It has always …

An féidir liom fanacht i mo shuí?

I want to return to the question of data centres and the threat posed by power cuts to thousands of households, including some of the most vulnerable people in the country, this coming winter and beyond. Those affected face losing their heating on freezing cold nights. As warned by Professor John FitzGerald, who heads up the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, there is potential for hypothermia among old people. This is not just to do with the limitation on energy; it has very much to do with the increase…

It is never that crude.