I reiterate that there has been no proper sustainable job creation as a result of what happened. This process will not be seen as just by me and many others in the county until we can actually see jobs being created. Job creation will be highly dependent on the investment that comes in and the fact that we have only received €500,000 out of an €18 million pot is scandalous. It is a national scandal and it has to be looked at. We need this type of money to be able to create jobs. The applications that went in from O…

I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: - Ireland requires a migration system that is not only well-managed and fair, but also stringent, efficient, and effectively enforced to safeguard our borders and our communities; - the Government imposing large-scale immigration on a local population without consultation is inappropriate, considering the complexity and potential instability of the absorption process, and the necessity of local support for sustainable and successful integration; - Ireland, already at a tipping…

I am happy to speak on this motion. I support the principle, but it is difficult to take lessons from a party that supports the carbon tax. That being said, the Government should consider scrapping its plans to increase the price of petrol and diesel on 1 August and 9 October and reverse the increase that took place on 1 April. Just six weeks ago, I made the same request to the then Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, who insisted that it would not be possible to review or postpone planned hikes prior to the next budget. N…

I commend the Regional Group on bringing this motion forward this morning. I fully support it, particularly its call for the Government to establish a high-level officials group to scope out and develop a roadmap for the delivery of a non-means-tested participation income for family carers. Many of us have repeatedly called for greater levels of support for carers, even while accepting that a significant amount of Government funding is allocated. That being said, I make the comparison with the Government's acceptan…

I am sure the Minister is aware of the correspondence we all received yesterday from the Association of Farm and Forestry Contractors in Ireland, FCI. It outlined that the knock-on impact of the recent weather is that less than one third of the normal spring work has been completed. Against this background, the FCI is requesting that the Minister postpone the planned introduction of the next round of carbon tax increase on agricultural diesel until 1 October, when there will be some cash flow returned to the sector…

Anti-democratic.

The Restaurants Association of Ireland has raised serious concerns about the fact that 212 restaurants have closed. This equates to a loss of €288 million to our economy. The Irish Hairdressers Federation has also expressed serious concern and raised the need for the VAT rate to be reduced to 9% again. This would protect jobs in restaurants in our small towns and villages and in hairdressing salons. We need to do it and I call on the Taoiseach to ensure that in the forthcoming budget the VAT rate will be reduced to…

I wish the Minister of State well in his new role. I welcome the opportunity to speak on the motion. I commend the invaluable work done by cancer support service volunteers and staff in counties Laois and Offaly, in my constituency. They are the most dedicated people, and I acknowledge that on the public record. The National Cancer Strategy 2017-2026 recognises cancer support services as a valuable resource to cancer patients and their families outside of the acute care setting, as indeed is the HSE's national canc…

When will the new guidelines on wind turbines be published? There have been draft guidelines since 2019 and nothing has moved since then. There are many communities like mine in County Offaly, where there is a rich heritage bog, Lemanaghan bog, which is rich in monastic heritage and has links to Clonmacnoise. There is a proposal to put a wind farm there which is absolutely ludicrous and against the wishes of many members of the community. Communities feel disillusioned, frustrated and angered that there are no prot…

I acknowledge that today is a very important day for the Taoiseach and for Ministers old and new. I wish them well in their new portfolios and in the future. I also acknowledge the Taoiseach’s role as Minister for higher education and commend him on the work he did on apprenticeships. We might not agree on many issues but I want to acknowledge that the focus he put on apprenticeships and traineeships was very welcome and stood out for me at the education committee. I hope that focus continues because we have a seri…

There are some of us in this Chamber who could rightfully stand up and say "I told you so". I told the Government and the Minister's colleague, the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, in the Dáil 22 months ago that we were heading towards a totally unsustainable and chaotic social catastrophe, and here we are. I said it would bring about more human misery than we could possibly deal with as a small country. Did the Government listen? No, it did not. Were those of us who asked for reasonable measures such as impact as…

We have unvetted immigration. The Social Democrats need to cop themselves on. They are the facts. The Deputies might not like them but they are the facts.

The hard left is jumping up and down being reckless, naive and gullible.

I will take no lectures from Deputy Ó Ríordáin, who said in 2014 that there were limits on the numbers of people we could take in.

I will take no lectures from the Deputy or his communist party.

I am now going to conclude. It is tough if the Deputies do not like it. They will hear it from their constituents anyway. I will take no lectures from a communist.

The high moral ground now.

I also wish the Taoiseach well for the future. As he will be aware, in just over ten days from now, the Government will push ahead with the first of four hikes in the cost of petrol and diesel over the next 12 months. The four increases will add around 15 cent per litre to the cost of petrol and around 12 cent on a litre of diesel. This has led to many people and consumer groups such as the Consumers Association of Ireland to suggest that this is punishing motorists and pushing up the costs of living, as higher fue…

I support this motion, which in many ways replicates some of the points that my colleagues and I have raised recently about local access to healthcare. In particular, I support the motion’s call to establish a multidisciplinary working group on the development of primary care and for the Government to launch a pilot programme in areas where there is a shortage of GPs for out-of-hours services and leave cover. In my constituency, we are finally seeing the development of the Birr primary care centre after a long wait…

As I am sure the Minister is aware, there is chaos in many schools because of the proposed changes to the SET teacher allocations. A school principal in my constituency wrote to me about what he described as the fiasco of the new SET teacher allocations and the removal of the complex needs criteria. The school was confident it would see its hours being increased. However, because of the removal of the complex needs criteria and because the criteria for a new model was introduced, their hours were actually cut signi…