Tá áthas orm labhairt ar na ráitis a bhaineann le printíseachtaí inniu. Tá sé soiléir go bhfuil béim i bhfad níos mó curtha ar phrintíseachtaí agus cuirim fáilte roimhe sin. I welcome the fact more of a focus is now being put on apprenticeships. It is long overdue. There are certainly many positive developments with apprenticeships, their promotion, the work WorldSkills is doing and the competitions it is involved in. I commend WorldSkills because it is putting high-calibre apprentice from this country on an intern…

We have a crisis here. It is absolute chaos. Some 195,000 applicants are still waiting for their passports, as the Minister of State knows. In my constituency offices in Laois and Offaly the volume of correspondence coming in is on a par with that related to housing and health, which I thought I would never see. Housing and health, in that order, have always been the main issues coming into my office. I acknowledge that 300 additional staff have been taken on in the Passport Office since last June, bringing the tot…

I wish to raise some concerns I have around the Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, grant scheme for third level students. I do this, however, while acknowledging the good work the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, has done and the fact he has initiated some much-needed reform in this area, particularly around the regulations to increase the maintenance grant by €200 and to increase the income threshold for the standard rate of grant by €1,000. That is …

The real problem is that the cap of €4,500 relating to student earnings is extremely low. There is inflation and people are struggling to cope with the cost of living. Students are no different. We have spiralling rent costs, as I have already outlined. It would make sense to do something that would act as an incentive to ensure that we invest in students in this country and that there would not be a situation whereby they are emigrating because they are being forced to leave education here. Unfortunately, the stud…

My position on the so-called just transition has been clear since the process was announced. My major concern is that Government policy is destroying jobs by escalating a process that simply cannot and will not deliver what it promises without significant damage to local economies, particularly in Offaly and Laois. This is reckless of the Government, not least in the absence of alternatives or permanent, sustainable jobs. I have made a detailed submission to the consultation on the EU Just Transition Fund and the d…

I welcome the progress this Bill has made, especially as it is primarily concerned with providing a new compensation scheme to repeal and replace the current expensive and slow approach that has not been fit for purpose for some time. It is clear from experience that the legitimate claims of members of An Garda Síochána were not being addressed in a fair and timely manner. We know, for example, that the current Acts make a distinction between the injuries of a minor and a non-minor nature. The Bill before us remove…

We still have ongoing challenges in the private forestry sector. The target for licences for private landowners was reached in only one month out of the past 11. The Social Economic Environmental Forestry Association of Ireland has highlighted the fact there is a queue of 400 licences, none of which has been approved in the past five weeks. I ask the Taoiseach to take urgent action because this is very unfair on the private forestry sector. We need urgent action. What actions will he take to improve this situation?

Tá áthas orm labhairt ar an mBille seo. It is a very wide-ranging and complex Bill, seeking as it does to consolidate and to update the legislative provisions that regulate the main types of consumer contract. Sections of the Bill are very welcome and will make a real and practical difference to people in everyday life - for example, section 19, which deals with the provision of remedies for the incorrect installation of goods. The Bill makes it clear that an incorrect installation of goods will result in a lack of…

Private coach operators are currently struggling for survival and need urgent financial assistance or to be included in the fare reduction scheme. Many of these operators have stated they may not be in a position to provide school transport for children come September, such is the need and urgency for them to be given some assistance. Will the Taoiseach take action to ensure these operators are included in a fare reduction scheme and are given much-needed financial assistance? We also need to ensure we have school …

I did not get a response.

This young generation of Irish people is being failed by Government. They are being failed by the lack of affordable housing and constant barriers to planning permission when they try to build houses on their own land and are impeded. It is very unfair. It is a no-win situation for young people in particular. We need to see change. My point today is really to draw the Minister of State's attention to the fact that we have approved housing bodies, AHBs. I have raised issues with regard to these approved housing bodi…

The announcement of the ban on the commercial sale of turf created a fiasco, and that fiasco was of the Government's making. I have listened to statements made during the debate blaming the media, Opposition Deputies and everybody else instead of the Government holding up its hands and saying it got it wrong, and seriously wrong. It shows the arrogance and the fact the Government thinks it can walk over people in rural Ireland and fool people. It will not wash. The ban on the commercial sale of turf will be strongl…

It is profoundly disappointing that we heard the announcement for third level and the supports available to third level students yesterday but nothing was done in terms of increasing the cap on the amount students can earn in part-time work. That cap should have been increased because students are facing a crisis in terms of spiralling rents. That was definitely a missed opportunity by the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and I want to put that on the record. We have a cri…

I welcome this opportunity to speak on the important carbon tax issue. The Rural Independent Group of which I am part is the only group that has been consistently opposed to the introduction of a carbon tax. We did not enter into playing any games or calling for a stop to be put to the increase in the tax.. We called for the whole carbon tax to be scrapped because it is an unjust tax that will cripple families. For instance, this year alone it will cost the average household €500 on top of all the other costs that …

We are the Rural Independent Group.

There is a serious problem with disability services in Laois-Offaly. I refer to the children’s disability network teams, CDNTs. In one area, for example, which serves Edenderry and Mountmellick, one of the teams has seven full-time vacancies. Another team has four vacancies at Riverside in Tullamore, while the highest level of full-time vacancies is in the Spraoi Centre in Portlaoise. I gather these are vacancies that have existed for some time. Children are being failed and they are not getting access to vital the…

It appears the panic light finally lit up in the Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil headquarters when they realised they had crossed a line with the Irish people, who are absolutely fed up with the nonsensical and detached policies the Green Party is imposing on us in rural Ireland morning, noon and night. The Green Party is acting as if it is the conscience of the country. It is high time for the rural Deputies in Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael to stand up for their constituents. The Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, has no right to …

Our postmasters urgently need clarity on the timing and intention of Government regarding the publication of a plan for additional services at post offices, including the greater use of post offices for offline Government services, which was worked on last year. However, the date remains unpublished. We need a date. When will the plan be published? Our postmasters also need clarity on Government plans to ensure support for them in light of the commercial challenges facing An Post and assurance that no costs will be…

I firmly believe there are major problems with the idea and delivery of carbon budgets. If they were merely indicative targets, that might be one thing. However, these budgets are legally binding, inflexible and punitive. The concept behind them is to support our movement towards a so-called zero-carbon society in 2050. That is a fairy tale which will punish people in the process. The Minister will be aware that Professor Michael Kelly of University of Cambridge recently delivered an eye-opening lecture to the clim…

They are punishing people who want play their part. It has been announced that the ESB will increase the price at electric charging points. That news was released today in an RTÉ report. People who are trying to play their part are being punished, including the farmers on microgeneration schemes that the Government has not honoured. They cannot get onto the grid despite having invested heavily. What the Government is doing is disgraceful and needs to stop now. Government Members need to wake up instead of going aro…