At four community gardaí, west Cork has the lowest number of such gardaí in the entire country. Driving from Kinsale in the east of the constituency to Dursey Sound in the west takes approximately two and a half hours. It is a huge geographical area. I appreciate, as the Minister of State indicates, that the chief superintendent has the responsibility in this but it is a resourcing matter. If the chief superintendent must put gardaí into the community garda division, he or she will have to take them from the drugs …

I apologise to Deputy Costello if I put him off his train of thought. His contribution was well made. I am just finished an online call with Safe Ireland. Speaking to groups in my constituency, such as West Cork Women Against Violence, has very much underlined for me and painted a picture of some of the horrible, horrific and terrible experiences women in particular have gone through. This has been exacerbated over the course of this pandemic, but it is something that has existed for a long time and continues to be…

The Sheep's Head way and Beara way are two of the most iconic, stunning and popular walkways in Europe. Their contribution to the local economies of Sheep's Head, Beara Peninsula, Bantry and the entirety of west Cork is immense. The two trails have a combined length of 400 km and involve more than 600 participants. They are an enormous success. However, those 400 km of trails and the 600 participants are administered by one full-time equivalent rural recreation officer. That is unsustainable. The workload involved …

I thank the Minister of State for his response. It is welcome that the Minister will meet representatives of the West Cork Development Partnership. I am sure she will hear first-hand the challenges they are facing in west Cork but also the considerable potential that exists. That is what this is about. At the moment, the single full-time rural recreational officer is struggling to deal with the enormous workload of running the two schemes about which we have talked. We should not just look to maintain what we have …

The Dáil recently passed the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021, which is among the most important legislation ever to come through the House. It is a response to the thousands of young people who marched throughout the country looking for change. It sets fairly ambitious emissions targets and I want to touch on two of the ways we will get to those targets. One is by way of a proper retrofitting programme, such as the warmer homes schemes, which allows old dwellings to be made more effi…

I refer the Taoiseach to an article published in the Irish Examiner in 2017 which estimated that in the region of 23,000 homes, that is, houses and apartments, were vacant in County Cork. I could bring the Taoiseach to many towns and villages in west Cork in my constituency which have a vacancy rate of more than 50% for many on-street houses. It is even worse again when it comes to those over-the-shop premises where a higher percentage are vacant. In fairness to the Taoiseach, he said that the provision of housing …

The Taoiseach estimated we need 40,000 units per year. Such a move would also reinvigorate and revitalise town centres. Can we have a concrete plan to tackle that issue?

I thank the Minister for facilitating this debate. I express my disappointment at the lack of attendance in the Chamber for a debate on one of our most important sectors and the future of our coastal communities. That illustrates the challenge we and the fishing sector have in highlighting the huge obstacles, barriers and challenges it faces in making the sector viable. That is why a number of weeks ago, more than 70 boats from around Ireland sailed into Cork Harbour up to the Cork City docks to prove a point and m…

In fairness to Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan, he has quite eloquently covered many of the issues that have been raised with me in my constituency, so I will not duplicate that or cover the same ground. An issue I wish to raise that is particularly relevant to the role of the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, who has responsibility for disabilities, is the need for accessibility, particularly wheelchair accessibility, at beaches throughout Ireland. I constantly make the point that something wonderful happened during l…

In his opening statement, the Minister referred to the fact he grew up in this world and this life, and I know he has the best interests of farmers at heart and will do his best to ensure the right balance is struck. What is often left out of this argument and debate is the value of farming and farming livelihoods to the local economy. The Pillar 1 basic payment we are discussing goes back into local communities, villages, towns, co-operatives and hardware shops as farmers buy fencing and farming materials. It real…

I will start on a positive note. We fought hard to get two vaccination centres in west Cork. There is one in the GAA grounds in Clonakilty and one in Bantry. The staff, volunteers and everybody involved are doing an incredible job. They have ramped up the vaccinations to five days a week in both Clonakilty and Bantry and they are now down to the cohort below the age group in their 50s, which is brilliant. I commend all the staff, the Department and the HSE on getting those centres up and running as effectively as t…

Yes.

I would like to follow up with the Minister of State on the question regarding TAPS. Many local nursing homes have contacted me about this issue. The TAPS was vital to them in keeping their staff safe but, most important, in keeping residents safe. They were able to invest in extra PPE and additional safety measures. The date of 30 June is too much of a cliff edge. All we are looking for is an extension beyond 30 June and a phasing out of the scheme. It is important for nursing homes in order to keep their resident…

I am deputising for Deputy McGuinness. The Ceann Comhairle's office should have been notified I am to take his slot.

This relates to the online driver theory test. There was an announcement during the week that it was possible to apply for the theory test online. That is very welcome. Some 3,000 slots were taken within minutes. There is a lot of frustration. I know individuals whose appointments have been rescheduled six times. For a young person living in Cork and applying for a theory test, the nearest appointment is in Donegal in July. The online process for the theory test will be a great success, I have no doubt. Can we get …

I will keep it short to give the Minister time to reply. Cork South-West is very lucky to have two vaccination centres covering the region at the GAA complex in Clonakilty and the primary care centre in Bantry. It is absolutely fantastic to have them and I thank the Minister for his work. I also thank the HSE and the local community healthcare organisation, CHO. The question people now want answered is when vaccinations will begin in them. People have seen footage of how they are set up and now they want to see vac…

We have to acknowledge that the Government supports for businesses have been good, so much so that even Deputy Boyd Barrett acknowledged in his contribution that some of the supports have been good. That is a little highlight reel that I will keep for myself but I also agree with some of his statements on those sectors that have been left out. They have been good and the star of the show for so many has been the CRSS. It has been the lifeblood and support that has meant survival for so many businesses so to see it …

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate. I would like to address some of the concerns people have with it and the misinformation and false claims that are being put out there in terms of what it is about and what we intend to do. It was claimed that the intention is to reduce the size of the national herd by more than 50%. That is simply not true. It was claimed that the aim is to curtail international tourism and flights into and out of Ireland. That is simply not true. I would like someone to point …

I thank the Minister. I want to speak up for and ask questions on behalf of the hundreds of teachers who have contacted my office over the past couple of days. They are looking for a greater explanation for the reasoning behind the change to the vaccine roll-out programme and their removal from the cohort of key workers. They have some very fair requests. Their main request is simple, namely that after all those with underlying health conditions are dealt with, they be included among the category 9 cohort of those …

I am going to change tack slightly, but I will still bring my contribution back to the European Council meeting. During that meeting, there were discussions about societal well-being. That is an aspect of this pandemic that we do not talk about enough in the House. There is a mental health epidemic across continental Europe and in Ireland. That epidemic needs to be addressed and resources and funding must be provided in order that we can find solutions and address people's deteriorating mental health. The latter is…