I thank People Before Profit for bringing this important motion before the House this morning, which gives us the opportunity to focus attention on the lack of affordability and availability of energy. I agree with the central thrust of this motion. It is about driving down the cost of energy and every person inside this Chamber, all 160 of us, would be in favour of that taking place. I listened to the debate this morning and have found it very useful and informative, particularly the views from all sides of the Ho…

I wish to raise a matter from the Minister's constituency that has national significance. I refer to the crisis in the Naval Service, which I accept the Minister is fully briefed on because he is relatively local down there. I thank the Minister for the constructive engagement over the past two and a half years while he was in the role. Has there been major progress? I would say "No". Has the foundation for potential progress been laid? I would say "Yes". I acknowledge five measures. The fact that PDFORRA and RACO …

I thank the Minister for that useful response. It is good to know that the business case is with the Department. I again emphasise this is a unique group of workers. They are the only workers who have no access to the Labour Court and the WRC and they cannot go on strike so they do need political and ministerial intervention to ensure a level playing field. In the grand scheme of things €6 million is small money in respect of solving the crisis and that is the headline figure. I encourage the Minister to look favou…

I am grateful for the opportunity to comment in advance of the European Council meeting in Brussels next week. It will be the final European Council meeting the Taoiseach will attend as Taoiseach and I wish him the best of luck in that regard. I welcome a number of recent events. President von der Leyen's address to a joint sitting of the Houses of the Oireachtas last week was very good in terms of both content and delivery. I welcome her cast-iron commitment that there will be no hard border on the island of Irela…

I hope I can shed some light on the issue Deputy Clarke raised with the Minister. I completely accept that the Minister can only use the information he is given. Having been a medical officer, I probably have slightly more accurate information that may be able to shed some light on proceedings. First, there should be approximately 32 medical officers in the Defence Forces. I am not sure where the figure of 28 came from. Without splitting hairs, however, approximately one third or 30% of medical officer posts are va…

I want to double up on Deputy Clarke's comments by fully accepting the Minister's bona fides with regard to the figures. He mentioned that there are two pathways into the medical corps, direct entry and the military medicine training scheme. There is a third lesser known pathway. It is the one through which I joined the medical corps and one of the current medical officers is in a similar situation. He is a GP who came back from Syria where he had been for the past six months. He joined the artillery corps 20 years…

I thank the Minister for those figures. I accept he is equally concerned at the shortfall of 283. Most parts of the public service are expanding apart from the Defence Forces. I agree that retention is a massive issue. The Minister may not be aware that there are six married quarters in Casement Aerodrome in Baldonnel, which members of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence visited about ten days ago. It is an excellent model. If the pay issue cannot be resolved immediately, perhaps accommodation could …

I thank the Minister for his reply on housing. If he has not visited the small campus of six houses, perhaps next time he flies out of Baldonnel, he might ask to see it and eyeball it himself. It is an excellent model that could be expanded upon. I agree that a policy decision on housing in the Defence Forces was taken a couple of decades ago, but that was prior to the housing crisis. It is appropriate that the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage takes the lead, from a national point of view, in ta…

I welcome the Taoiseach and the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Simon Harris. I very much welcome the €1,000 reduction in the student contribution fee that was announced in the budget. It is relevant for this academic year. On balance it is a good thing and is making a very positive difference downstream. Unfortunately, it is only relevant to students who are eligible for the free fees initiative. The Taoiseach may or may not be aware that there are two groups of …

I bid good afternoon to the Minister of State, and I thank the Taoiseach for his opening statement. I will start on the pack of cards and the Russian announcement in the past couple of hours of the sanctioning of and declaring as personae non gratae 52 Irish politicians. I am not sure if the Minister of State made the cut. If he did, congratulations; if not, commiserations. I am not sure if I made it. If not, I should probably try harder. There can be no greater accolade for an Irish politician than to be on that l…

I wish the Taoiseach a good afternoon. It is appropriate that we focus on healthcare reform for the day that is in it. There can be no better way of honouring the memory of Vicky Phelan than to focus on and accomplish what she was advocating for, namely, healthcare reform. We want to fix our broken health service to minimise errors and maximise excellence in all its forms. As the Taoiseach and colleagues are aware, I am not interested in HSE bashing in any shape or form. On the contrary, I recognise there are small…

The RHAs, in particular, are vital. It is very unusual to have six hospital groups and nine CHOs and for them not even geographically to align so I hope that will streamline the process. It is also reassuring to hear about the consultants' contract. If that can be done by Christmas it would make a massive improvement downstream because you are not just hiring managers or people with clinical governance; you are hiring expertise as well. The old medical adage that prevention is better than cure is an appropriate one…

I welcome the Ministers of State. I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this important debate on long Covid. I would like to commend my good colleague, Deputy Naughten, and Cáit Nic Amhlaoibh, our group administrator who, in fairness, did all the heavy work in preparing the motion. I acknowledge and welcome the presence of patient advocates and long Covid patients in the Gallery, who are very welcome. I also acknowledge the constructive contributions from all Members. Long Covid is too important to lea…

I am sharing time with Deputy Shanahan. I thank the Minister of State for his opening statement. I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate on the Bill. I share the concerns that have been articulated and echo them. This is not the way to do business and I think both the Minister of State and the Minister will appreciate that. There is little time for debate or scrutiny when a Bill is due to be guillotined. We are being asked to set aside important planning legislation and environmental assessments. It r…

We all appreciate the importance of local government. My constituency, Kildare South, spans three local authority areas, which are Kildare, Laois and Offaly, with a total of 78 councillors. I hear on the ground that some councillors find it increasingly difficult to get release from their full-time jobs to attend crucial council meetings. Interestingly, it is not private sector employers that are causing this difficulty but public sector employers, particularly in the health and education sectors. I would be gratef…

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate in advance of the European Council meeting tomorrow and Friday in Brussels. I begin by welcoming the creation of the European Political Community. It is a good idea and a good initiative. It is appropriate that EU and non-EU countries across Europe can sit around the same table and discuss the pressing matters of the day. It was good that Belarus was not invited. We have no cribs at all with the Belarusian people - quite the opposite in fact; we are supportive …

My question has to do with the citizens information service and, in particular, what the plan is to deal with volunteer staff. There have been rumours and concerns floating around over the past couple of months. The Minister might use this opportunity this morning to clarify the Government's position in that regard.

I thank the Minister for her response. I agree entirely that it is an excellent service. It is independent, valued and, crucially, it is accessible. I use it myself. I refer many constituents to the service and I presume every Deputy in the House does the same. I have the Newbridge office on speed dial if I want to run something by it on a complex case. I take the point on the importance of the autonomy of the service. There was a press release about five weeks ago from the board in which it mentioned it would set …

That is good to hear. I appreciate the update. My view, which is shared by most Deputies, is that the citizens information service is excellent not in spite of the volunteers but because of them. Many of them have a wealth of knowledge from their careers, be that in tax or social welfare. They also have a crucial accessibility function. I welcome the review and I look forward to reading its findings. I recommend making the maximum use of this crucial cohort of volunteers as much as possible. They are half-men and w…

I wish the Minister "Good afternoon" and thank her for her detailed opening statement. I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this debate on the Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022 and I very much welcome it. It is long overdue. I am happy to support its passage through the Dáil and I do so for the following reasons. First of all, it brings Irish domestic law in line with international best practice. Finally, we are becoming consistent with our obligations and commitments under the Ist…