The devastating news was announced to the Aer Lingus employees on 7 August last. Eighteen of them work in the cargo facility in Shannon. Despite what the Aer Lingus hierarchy will say, namely that cargo volumes in Shannon have been on a downward trajectory for some time, the reality is quite the opposite. There was growth of 23% between 2018 and 2023 and the facility handled 16,752 tonnes of cargo last year. It is a very important facility. It is strategically important as it is not just a matter of the 18 jobs. Th…

I am somewhat worried that many people may underestimate the scale of this. It is not just about the 18 jobs but also about the domino effect around Shannon. There is genuine fear that the closure will have a contagion effect. I would like to hear what supports the Government can put in place to stymie it. Eighteen jobs are directly affected but there is much more at stake. It is a question of the volume of cargo and the supply chain industry in the mid-west and western region, which we are very concerned about. Th…

Will the Minister be introducing a new wave of supports beyond the power-up grant announced on budget day to support businesses that are struggling at this time?

I thank the Minister of State. On budget day, I think the power-up grants were certainly a positive announcement. I know from talking to people in Clare County Council and constituents who have businesses that there is some cause for hope. They also feel that the last few years have loaded an awful lot on employers and people who own businesses. One the things they will say, and we have all met them in our constituency clinics, is that everything has come at them, from auto-enrolment to the minimum wage and the cos…

The legislative framework is there. We have had the budget. The budget was now a few weeks ago. I often hear from people in HR that the sick leave, in particular, is causing quite a lot of problems. One employer in County Clare provided me with a spreadsheet showing the sick leave his company has at the moment and how much it is costing. It is very worrying that you can phone some of these online doctors for appointments. One business was able to tell me that their employees can phone up, tell the doctor via a Zoom…

My apologies, I thought I was the speaker after next. I was tuned into something different. My sincerest apologies.

A Cheann Comhairle, thanks for calling me to speak. Like other Deputies I welcome the Bill. This is one of those pieces of legislation each year that is up there with the Social Welfare Bill and the Finance Bill. It is very important. It needs to go through the Houses. It is about ensuring that older people in society will end up with insurance cover, that there is risk equalisation, that it all works out and all things are equal. I want to join with the sentiments expressed by others. I hope this will not be too c…

I have a letter here from a senior management official in Clare County Council. I will just read the beginning of it. It is written to Government. I am writing to you regarding the deepening focus on migrant accommodation in north Clare, specifically in Lisdoonvarna and Ballyvaughan. I am urging you to reduce the numbers of migrants in these settlements to reasonable levels as I have serious concerns about the health, safety and welfare of the people in these communities. To make it very clear, these are two very w…

They are Ukrainians and international protection applicants. They have been welcomed. I want to make it crystal clear that there has been no hassle. The council, the county management team, the HSE and people in education have pointed out that when they represent 125% of the settled population, something has to give. We are asking for better management. A simple thing would be not to renew all the hotel contracts in the town.

No other town has played a role like it.

I commend Deputy O'Connor for his very important question. He mentioned that the situation could be at crisis point. I would say that in many corners of Ireland, it already is. I can tell the Minister of State, following contact I have had from the Garda representative organisation, that there is a functional policing area, I will not say where, that straddles two counties and covers a population of 50,000 people. It had two gardaí on duty on Wednesday night of last week, just two gardaí in the entire area going ar…

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for accommodating me. I agree that the only way to deal with this is to hit them where it hurts, that is, in the pocket. CAB has done a lot of good work on it. It seems to me often that the focus of CAB is on the people whose names feature on the front page of the Sunday World every weekend. However, there is a need to get involved at a community level as well. Across the broader community where I live, I can think of several people who openly and unashamedly deal drugs and do so i…

With regard to ACRES, what systems does the Department have in place in terms of processing the applications that came in this year and, in particular, making payment? What is the Department doing about those that are still outstanding with regard to receiving payment, scores and so on? For the purpose of disclosure, as a farmer, I am a participant in ACRES and I want to put that on the Dáil record.

There are 8,000 farm families in County Clare and 85% of those families are involved in the suckler beef enterprise. I am one of those. County Clare is the heartland of the suckler system. Ennis mart and Sixmilebridge mart on Saturdays or mid-week are teeming with families and farmers bringing their cattle through the system. It will be very busy this winter with weanlings. The ACRES scheme is all-important but many farmers do not yet trust it or believe it can work. The ideals of it are good but payments did not r…

The whole point of the scorecard is to lead farmers to make informed decisions around their NPI. Many farmers, including myself, are being contacted by farm planners. They are giving us the menu of options and most of us are standing back because we do not have a scorecard and are not sure what we are doing. Should we go off and invest this if it will not change things materially? It would offer comfort if the Minister were to say that when scorecards are eventually issued to everyone, the potential increased payme…

Will you backdate it?

While the zero-trolley policy is putting a certain gloss on trolley numbers in UHL, it is absolutely failing Ennis Hospital. In any year, although we bemoan it, we expect elective surgeries to be cancelled for a few weeks around the Christmas period in Ennis Hospital. This year, however, elective surgeries were cancelled from 27 July onwards. In nine weeks, there has only been elective surgery in Ennis Hospital for four days. That is unforgivable. It means the theatre nurses are reassigned to the medical wards of t…

A Cheann Comhairle, 80602 is a seven-year-old Hereford cow I have on my farm. Her entire health record is on the Agfood website from the moment she was born up to the current time, including every vaccination withdrawal period and her annual BVD test. Everything is there. I drive a Honda car. Every detail about my car, including every NCT report setting out the percentage performance of the brakes and the wear of tyres, is recorded electronically. Everything is there for my car and the herd of cattle I have at home…

I thank the Minister for taking my question today. I wish to raise the issue of the difficulty people in Kildysart and adjacent communities in west Clare are experiencing in accessing GP care. For the past several years, the Saffron and Blue clinic has had the medical card contract for the village. Hundreds of people live in it, or thousands when you take in the wider hinterland. The quality of care is fantastic – no one is faulting it – but at a meeting I attended on Monday night it was overwhelmingly clear that p…

I am seeking the Minister's support for neamhspleáchas, or independence, for Gaelcholáiste an Chláir, which is operating as a unit, or an aonad, of Ennis Community College. That comes under the auspices of Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board, ETB. I was chairperson of that entity for many years and it was something we always strived for. There is once more a huge campaign for this to happen. Inniu, táim lán i bhfabhar an fheachtais agus ag iarraidh tacaíocht an Aire a fháil chun neamhspleáchas a thabhai…