As Minister with responsibility for local authorities, Deputy O'Brien will be well aware of the role that local authorities play in reducing emissions and achieving our climate action targets. An important part of that is the installation of electric vehicle charging points across different parts of Ireland. A specific fund has been set up, the electric vehicle public charging point fund, for local authorities to avail of to install these electric vehicle charging points. I was astonished to learn, in response to a…

I thank the Minister of State and I welcome the review and restructure of the NPWS. I welcome the €55 million worth of funding that will be put into the service and the announcement of 60 additional staff who will be recruited urgently. I want to thank the Minister of State for that because I know that since he has taken up his position he has put biodiversity front and centre and that is important on this National Biodiversity Week. It is not just this announcement of the review and restructure of the NPWS that wa…

This may seem like a small matter but for the people of Kinsale, Piper's show wagon is a big deal. It is iconic. Despite over 2,000 people signing a petition for the show wagon to be returned to Short Quay, Cork County Council is refusing to allow that to happen. It had been there since 1932. For the people of Kinsale, the show wagon is iconic and has sentimental value. There is tradition associated with it and there are fun memories associated with it. More importantly, it has over 90 years of history. I cannot be…

I note the presence of the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Fleming. I am sure he will pass my sentiments and contribution on to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, and that the Minister will be notified of what I have to say. I raise the issue of Keelbeg pier in Union Hall. I will put the matter in context. We had very welcome news a number of weeks ago with regard to €33 million from the Brexit adjustment fund being provided to local authorities to carry ou…

I thank the Minister of State. The first 30 seconds of the last minute of his contribution were very encouraging, in that he said the tenure and focus of the funding was for diversification of use of the pier. What is more encouraging is the reason the application was not successful is it was for security works, as the Minister of State said. That tells me that if Cork County Council reapplies, it must do so for something entirely different, not just barriers but actual repair works. I am aware there will be furthe…

Like Deputy Cowen, I wish to raise the issue of the rising cost of energy. Due to inflation and an over-reliance on fossil fuels the cost of energy has skyrocketed. The rising cost of energy for households has been well documented and we have introduced measures. However, what has been less documented is the rising cost of energy for businesses, particularly small businesses. I have the example of a bill that a small business owner, a hotelier, showed to me. One part of the bill was an energy market adjustment char…

It has been suggested in this Chamber that the answer to our energy needs is drilling for more oil and gas off the Irish coast, which would take years before an appropriate location was found. It has been suggested that LNG might be the answer to our energy needs. It has also been suggested that perhaps we should reopen the bogs. I am not talking about the turbary rights where Deputy Cowen has fought for the rights of individuals to burn turf in their homes. It has been suggested that we should open the bogs for th…

Deputy Calleary represents an area of County Mayo that is very similar to west Cork. They are two regions that rely very heavily on tourism. One could draw many parallels between the two regions. Westport is a bustling town in County Mayo; Clonakilty is a similar town in west Cork. Belmullet in County Mayo is similar to the Beara Peninsula in west Cork. There are many similarities. The point I am trying to get at is that there are many regions around Ireland, both on the coastline and inland, that rely heavily on t…

I want again to highlight the challenge. There was a feeling within hospitality that once the PUP was reduced recruitment and staff shortages would be less of an issue but that is not the case and unfortunately it is still a big issue. I will give the Minister of State an example of some of the issues. I spoke to one business recently that advertised for a chef position in June of last year and by October it had only received one CV, despite being quite a reputable business and that challenge is ongoing. Another bu…

He was talking and walking. That was pretty impressive.

I seek an update on the Croí Conaithe aspect of the Housing for All plan, particularly as it relates to towns and villages.

The reason I brought this up is that in west Cork the two aspects of the Housing for All plan on which I get quizzed most regularly are the affordable housing element, including when we will see affordable housing schemes and the Croí Conaithe fund. I am regularly asked when Croí Conaithe funding and finance will be made available, particularly by single people who really see this as an opportunity to get on the property ladder or get a house for themselves, as well as by young couples. What we are struggling with …

As the Minister has said, one of the reasons this is such an exciting scheme is that it has the potential to breathe new life into towns and villages, particularly in the regions. It could increase footfall on our high streets. At the moment, there are some villages and towns experiencing 50% to 60% vacancy rates on their high streets. Another important issue is the fact that a lot of over-the-shop premises can be quite difficult to work with. I have seen many that are in quite a state of disrepair and access can b…

I would like an outline of the policy across local authorities as to what point their homelessness services or officers kick into action. I believe that policy needs to be reviewed within local authorities such that people on the brink of homelessness can access those services. At the moment that is not necessarily always the case.

The reason the question is phrased in the way it is is that there seems to be an issue in my constituency in dealing with the local authority down there and the accommodation finding officer. The officer will offer full, proper assistance only when a person or family find themselves without a home. Cork County Council has been to the fore in bringing voids back into the social housing stock and in delivering social housing in general. The Minister will visit Skibbereen next week and the 50 social houses there and t…

Again, Cork County Council is at the forefront when it comes to voids and bringing them into the delivery of actual social houses. The council would be at the very top if there were a league table. The Minister of State has quite correctly read out the policy as to when the place finder mechanism should kick in. I am saying we do not always see that on the ground. Quite often we see instances in which people are two, three or four weeks away from having to vacate a property and the place finder mechanism that local…

The Minister and I both share a firm belief in the provision of affordable public transport, including bus services. However, we must also acknowledge that private operators have to form a part of the solution. Recent measures, including the 20% fare reduction for public transport and the 50% reduction for those with a student Leap card, are absolutely welcome, but we must include private operators in the process because, outside urban areas, these operators transport 54% of the people who need to be transported. W…

This time last year, the Government announced a €5 million fund to deal with littering on beaches. Unfortunately, that barely scratched the surface of the littering scourge affecting beaches around Ireland. Littering is also not the only issue. A major issue is the lack of provision of toilet facilities at beaches. The Taoiseach is very familiar with the beaches of west Cork, such as Long Strand and Barleycove, which are some of the more popular beaches and do not have toilet facilities. Furthermore, there is going…

I acknowledge this morning's events in the Chamber. President Zelenskyy's address was extraordinary. Leaders have addressed this Chamber previously, including John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Nelson Mandela. This address was as powerful as, if not more powerful than, any we have heard previously given the context the address was made in. It is unbelievable that in 2022 a leader of a western democracy is appealing to the Government and Parliament of Ireland for help because of an inva…

It is only in the most extreme and exceptional circumstances that I bring individual cases up on the Dáil floor. I have full permission to use the names of the individuals in question - Gerald and Norah Orpen and their two children, Gerald and Gavin. The children were adopted from Russia when they were aged one and two, respectively. At that point they lived in the US but in 2010 the family moved to Ireland, at which point, through an oversight, they did not register the adoptions. Since then they have had a battle…