Deputy, I need to move on.

Deputy, please. You had a full two minutes. I call Deputy Boyd Barrett.

The Minister of State deserves a medal. I call Deputy Cullinane.

I thank the Tánaiste. Before moving on, I say céad míle fáilte do na cuairteoirí inár gcomhluadar inniu. I extend a very special welcome to the visitors who are with us today in the Gallery. I move back now to the speakers from Sinn Féin.

My question relates to the renewable electricity support scheme. I have a particular interest in it because having community involvement is an essential part of the solution to being sustainable in Ireland. What is the status of the community-led projects under the renewable electricity support scheme 2? How many remain in the process, and when will they be energised? Will it be 2024, 2025 or 2026?

I welcome the last part where the Minister of State said the new SRESS scheme will be announced in the next few weeks. A climate emergency was declared in 2019, as he well knows. The renewable electricity support scheme was introduced in 2018. It is now six years later, and we seem to be limping on and limping on. I am really trying to find out information about the first RESS scheme. I did not ask about that specifically tonight, but my question is based on a series of questions trying to get a handle on the commu…

I do not share the same faith with the Minister of State, although I share the importance of community involvement. I will repeat that this has been going on from 2018 to 2024 and we are limping on and limping on. I have no handle on which communities have been successful. I want to share that with my own constituents in Galway. The private sector has a huge offshore plan in Sceirde that is causing great community division with the scale and size of it offshore. We will come to that another day. We are here talking…

Baineann mo cheist le polasaí na n-oileáin arís. Tá súil ghéar á choinneáil agam ar an dul chun cinn atá á dhéanamh leis an bpolasaí sin. Thart ag an am seo anuraidh a foilsíodh an polasaí sin. This time last year came the welcome news that we had the policy for the islands. I am keeping a very close eye on the implementation of that. It is a ten-year policy with rolling three-year action plans. What progress has been made in that regard?

I welcome the fact there is a monitoring committee and that the islands are represented on it. My difficulty with the monitoring committee is that it is inputting into a report. I would have thought the monitoring committee would carry out the report as a body outside watching the progress. Is it the Department that will carry out the report and the monitoring committee will input into that? I welcome the electric bus on Inis Oírr and the other progress being made, as well as the ring-fenced funding. However, the b…

The Minister takes a hands-on approach, and I welcome that. I have always said that. With regard to the islands policy, it was dragged out, was it not? Eventually we got it. It is not based on legislation. It includes timescales and objectives that must be adhered to. I have less than 40 seconds left. I repeat that the matter relating to Caladh Mór pier has been going on for 20 years. I do not expect the Minister to provide an answer in that regard because it is a very specific issue. Then we have Inis Oírr, which …

Gabhaim míle maith ag an gCathaoirleach Gníomhach and I thank Deputy Harkin for putting the spotlight on these two issues. In four and a half minutes, I cannot do justice to this matter but I fully support the concepts behind this motion and, indeed, the Deputy has drawn attention to the ESRI report published in January last and she has read out the consequences of the policy that was brought in by the Progressive Democrats, PDs, and Fianna Fáil - with the PDs leading Fianna Fáil - if we go back in time. I note to …

Yes, 13 beds at a time when the regional hospital is at absolute breaking point. I know that a Commission on Care for Older People has been set up and it is sort of pushing things. I welcome it and I look forward to its report and its recommendations but there is great urgency to that. We need to do something. Generally on what is happening with regard to privatisation, it has led to huge problems with no continuity of care or with continuity in home care and, of course, we have never got the statutory right to car…

Faraor, tá orm ospidéal an Chlocháin a ardú arís. Tá sé ardaithe go mion minic agus tá sé fós dúnta. I again raise the issue of Clifden hospital. I am aware that the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, has done her best on this but I really want the Taoiseach to answer. I have raised the issue so often and despite the Minister of State's best efforts the hospital remains closed and looks like it will remain closed for the foreseeable future. The hospital in Galway city is absolutely at breaking point, with trolleys e…

I remind Members that we are back to the one-minute contribution. Deputy Ring was a little bit more generous in the Chair. I am not in the same generous humour.

Is the Bill opposed?

Since this is a Private Members' Bill, Second Stage must, under Standing Orders, be taken in Private Member's time.

Seanad Éireann has passed the Employment (Collective Redundancies and Miscellaneous Provisions) and Companies (Amendment) Bill 2023, without amendment.

The Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform and Taoiseach has completed its consideration of the Future Ireland Fund and Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund Bill 2024 and has made no amendments thereto.

I speak today as a committed European. I deplore what is being said in our name, as a woman, a mother and an Independent TD. I have just looked at the report of the European Ombudsman, Emily O'Reilly. She tells us about soft corruption and the revolving door of officials going out and then becoming lobbyists. What really struck me in addition to this was her comment on the tragedy last year of the Adriana , when 600 people died in the Mediterranean. She spoke about a shrug of the shoulder being the reaction of Euro…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this and I thank Sinn Féin for the motion. Although I have great difficulties with the concept in the motion, I welcome the opportunity to speak to it and to focus again on the problem of housing. In Galway city, people are waiting 20 years. I do not need to exaggerate. People are 20 years on a waiting list in Galway city. The last time we built a house there was in 2009. I keep saying this. An otherwise very good article in The Irish Times by Cliff Taylor and Shauna Bowers set…