In 2019, when I was a councillor and mayor of Clare, I put down a motion asking that the Wild Atlantic Way host a stage of the Tour de France. That motion got unanimous backing from all parties. It took off and made its way to the Government. I was delighted on election to the Dáil to be able to meet with the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Deputy Catherine Martin, and Fáilte Ireland and to keep a bit of momentum going on this matter. I have b…

What about the Wild Atlantic Way? Stage 2?

As of yesterday, there were 3,459 Ukrainian refugees in County Clare. This represents approximately 3% of our county's entire population. In the early days, when refugees arrived in places like Doolin and Lisdoonvarna, they were given personal public service, PPS, numbers and staff from Intreo services and the Department of Social Protection came out to assess their skill sets, language skills and so on. This resulted in some getting into employment but there are many more who are hungry to work in Ireland. I met s…

I put down a question as well. The Deputies opposite cannot just dictate everything here.

A Leas-Cheann Comhairle-----

They cannot dictate-----

Friends of the Kremlin. Not one of them on the blacklist.

The Deputies are on Putin's Christmas card list; we are just on the blacklist.

We are on the blacklist; the Deputies are on the Christmas card list.

There are 17,000 aircraft on order by Irish aircraft leasing companies. We have a position of world dominance in this regard. More than half of all aircraft in the world are Irish-registered, and there are assets of €130 billion or thereabouts registered to Irish-based leasing companies. This is a colossal sector. Bearing in mind that 17,000 planes are on order, and just like Ireland pursued the biopharma, smart tech and social media sectors and there was a strategy to get them to come to headquarter here in Irelan…

In the recent budget our colleague the Minister, Deputy Norma Foley, secured a budget of €5 million for in-school counselling supports in primary schools. It is fantastic. I hope it will go some way towards beginning to deal with anxiety and the mental health issues that very much came to the fore in our country's young people during the Covid pandemic. A couple of weeks ago I visited Gaelscoil Mhíchíl Cíosóg in Ennis. It is a fabulous school run by Dónal Ó hAiniféin and Sinéad Ní Éigní the deputy principal. Enda M…

It is good to see the Ceann Comhairle back in the hot seat again.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill, which gives effect to the measures announced on budget day back in September. What a good budget that was. It had €4 billion of measures to address the cost-of-living pressures people are facing, and €900 million was allocated to permanent increases in social welfare payments. There were a lot of really good things. I know the double payment of children's allowance has helped many people in recent weeks. There were huge increases in the social welfare budget this time…

They would want to look at how they are governing in the North because everything they have done in the North has been about suppressing people and keeping a lowest common denominator that feeds a voting base. That is wrong; it is immoral. Springboard has been a revelation and it is a fantastic pathway back into employment, but there are still too many people locked out of it, including people on invalidity pensions. Several people have come to my office whose circumstances have changed somewhat and they now want t…

The Deputy is fooling nobody apart from maybe a few people down home.

Amendments Nos. 15, 21 and 72 are related and may be discussed together.

We are on amendments Nos. 15, 21 and 72. Amendment No. 72 is in the Deputy's party's name.

Yes.

Amendments Nos. 18 to 20, inclusive have been ruled out of order.

Amendment No. 26 in the name of Deputy Nash has been ruled out of order.