I am not trying to take away from the greater issue of the child and adolescent mental health service which I touched on as well.

What needs to happen is, there are drugs like Cariban that are not registered and which GPs can prescribe and they can be available under the drug reimbursement scheme. It happens with such drugs as Utrogestan and Androcur. We need to introduce emergency measures that will allow GPs to prescribe Cariban, as they already can, but then allow these women to be reimbursed for it under the drugs payment scheme. The women now impacted by this deserve it, their families deserve it, and it is the least we can do to help th…

In the first instance I welcome the Rural Independent Group motion. In doing so I note some of the accusations being levelled at the Minister that he has done nothing for the inshore sector, of ignoring the sector, of neglect and this constant mudslinging which we are seeing from the Opposition representatives towards him. It is completely ridiculous because-----

I can outline that he has given to piers in west Cork-----

Deputy Collins can sling mud at me all he wants, as I am well used to it.

There are accusations of ignoring the sector but the Minister outlined some of the investment which has been made for piers and harbours right from Kinsale down to Castletownbere. He has invested in the fisherman’s pontoon in Kinsale and in a pontoon in Courtmacsherry - there have been dredging works at Courtmacsherry - that is a pontoon that is used by the inshore sector. He has invested in the lower Aghada pier, which is used by the inshore sector, and in Cunnamore pier. There was an application in from Cork Coun…

I welcome the opening up of the spurdog fishery and hope that the small processors across Ireland can open up a processing industry in that regard. The Minister met NIFA at my request before Christmas in response to the collapse in the shrimp market, which he did at the drop of a hat, which I welcome. They had two asks. One was that the association would secure producer organisation, PO, status and we found out this week that this has been secured. The second ask was on the shrimp market and its collapse and we ask…

It was a feasibility study.

There was an application for a barrier which we all wanted to be rejected.

I welcome the Taoiseach back to the hot seat and wish him the best of luck. On solar energy, the Climate Action Plan 2023 has a new ambition of 8 GW of power from solar photovoltaic, PV, sources, which is up from 5.5 GW. A large portion of that is going to come from the farming community and farm buildings. Farmers are up for this. They want it and are very interested in it, as we can see. We have done a great amount. The planning exemptions and the targeted agricultural modernisation scheme, TAMS, grant has been i…

-----but they have been told that they can have a limit of 9 kW. That needs to be addressed and we also need to roll that out to as many farmers as possible.

I will speak about some of the difficulties that people are having in accessing home care supports in west Cork, but in doing that I must first acknowledge the incredible work being done in this whole area by the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, since she became the Minister of State. Year on year the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, has secured and allocated more funding for home care supports and has done more than any other Minister previously in securing that level of support. The Minister of State began the …

The Minister of State quoted a lot of the facts and figures. She has secured €700 million in funding this year for home care. There is an unprecedented provision of hours. She also mentioned the statutory scheme of 24 million hours. I spoke about her revolutionising the sector and I think that will happen. Of course, we have to give this time to settle in. We have to look at the circumstances now. I appreciate the efforts that are being made in recruiting non-EU workers to take up those positions and clear the back…

I congratulate the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, on his new appointment. As he did such an amazing job as Minister of State with responsibility for sport, I was thinking about whether I would be in touch with him as much as I used to be. Then I saw that he was taking on the National Driver Licence Service, NDLS, the Road Safety Authority, RSA and driving tests and I realised I was going to be in touch just as much. I have no worries about it. Obviously, he took up the role just before Christmas but this is st…

I thank the Minister of State. I am encouraged by the tone of his response and the fact he understands the urgency and that something needs to be done, and that he intends to look at this. I also welcome the fact that in his response he outlined the seriousness of the situation specifically in Skibbereen. He mentioned the figures there. The service level agreement is ten weeks, 19 weeks is the average and Skibbereen is facing waits of 25 weeks. That is exactly what we are hearing in the constituency office. Young p…

Since the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, is present, I would like to ask a question about the new agri-climate rural environment scheme, ACRES. For too long, we have penalised and docked payments for farmers for having bits of habitat on their land. For the first time ever, we have a proper agri-environmental scheme in ACRES that will actually reward farmers for working with biodiversity, with payments of over €10,000 in co-operation areas. Outside the co-operation areas there wi…

Tomorrow marks 100 years since the unlawful executions of Liam Mellows, Rory O'Connor, Joe McKelvey and one of west Cork's greatest sons, Dick Barrett. They were executed without trial or charge by the order of the Executive of the newly formed Free State Government. The executions were done as a reprisal for the sad and tragic killing of Deputy Seán Hales, a killing which these four men had no hand, act or part in. The event was described in a Dáil debate 100 years ago as, "Murder most foul, bloody and unnatural".…

I will discuss the very important issue of the urgent need for extra special needs assistant, SNA, allocation for Scoil Eoin in Innishannon, which is a village to the east of Bandon, between Bandon and Cork. It is a terrific national school which 306 students attend. It has a fantastic principal and staff. There is a great team. I visited in November and received a royal welcome from the staff and kids. It was fantastic. I went to visit the special classes and I spoke to the SNAs and the teachers who taught me a bi…

I thank the Minister of State for the response. I appreciate that the Minister has no role in determining the extra SNA allocation for a school. That is not what I am looking for. I am not looking for the Minister to make a determination but for an instruction or some communication with the NCSE to expedite the visit of the SENO. That is all I am looking for. The SENO needs to be on-site and to visit the school to see what I saw first-hand. As I said earlier, I have engaged with the NCSE as recently as today and I …

I have concerns about the plight of small businesses in small towns. I would like to see an action plan to prevent closures and protect them. They have experienced a perfect storm. They have survived Covid, largely due to the supports we in government provided, but now face an energy crisis, the increased cost of insurance and increased commercial rates in some counties. Added to that are some necessary measures we have brought forward, such as statutory sick pay and pension auto-enrolment. I would like to see some…