I again want to raise with the Taoiseach the legislation on lone parents and the treatment of child maintenance for social welfare payments. This is not complex legislation but it is now a year since the child maintenance review group reported. It is very short legislation. Given lone parents and lone-parent families are consistently at the top of the table when it comes to the highest rates of deprivation, the highest risk of poverty and the highest consistent poverty rates, this should have been prioritised. We h…

It is so important when we talk about big rents that we remind ourselves that it is not just in urban centres and big towns, the rental crisis is right across every rural constituency, including my own of Roscommon-Galway. The increases are consistent and they are continuing to rise month on month. Although it comes as no surprise, the biggest disappointment here this evening is that both the Minister and the Minister of State said nothing to people who are renting today whose rent is increasing and who cannot affo…

The RTB report showed an increase of 9.5% in the last year for existing tenancies in County Roscommon, and 8.8% for new tenancies. In County Galway the increase for new tenancies is 13.5% and 4.3% for existing tenancies. As many colleagues have said, there is nowhere to rent. The worst thing is that when someone comes to us who has an eviction notice that there is literally nowhere for them to go. There are zero properties to rent in Ballinasloe, zero in Castlerea, one in Ballaghadereen, two in Strokestown, and one…

I again raise the need for additional practical supports for rural communities that are welcoming refugees and international protection persons. I have a public meeting in Ballinasloe tonight and another in Boyle tomorrow. The communities raise the same issues: the lack of services, particularly health and medical services. I have raised this many times and I cannot understand why, when additional people are going into an area, it cannot be understood that doctors are under pressure and no one asks what the HSE can…

Not GPs.

I acknowledge the horse and greyhound sectors and the positive impact they have in rural communities, particularly economic. Having said that, €95 million is an awful lot of money. It is an increase on last year. I put the point to the Minister last week in the committee that there is no rationale for €95 million. I do not understand how that figure was come to. We need greater transparency and accountability concerning that amount of money, given that it is public money. For that reason alone, there should be grea…

I also welcome this year’s social welfare Bill. I will take the opportunity to raise a couple of issues. I understand the legislation around lone parents and the treatment of child maintenance and social welfare payments is to come. I ask that it be done as quickly as possible. I have made the point many times that child maintenance is for the upbringing of a child or children. It should never have been treated as household means and to have an impact on lone parents’ income, which they very badly need. Many of the…

Hear, hear.

It is now a year since the child maintenance review group published its report. It made a number of recommendations around child maintenance and social welfare, all of which we have called for for many years. The timelines for the legislation that is needed to remove the provision that child maintenance is counted as means for social welfare payments have come and gone. It is now said to be before the end of the year. I ask that the Taoiseach prioritise lone parent families and that this be done as quickly as possi…

The Minister knows the importance of increasing apprenticeship capacity right around the State, especially in the context of housing need. He is well aware of the proposal made by Galway and Roscommon Education and Training Board, ETB, to SOLAS in respect of an apprenticeship centre in Roscommon, really well located, bang in the centre of Roscommon town, with really good public transport links. Of course, the site the board has selected and identified has the benefit of having buildings in place, so there is the im…

The suspension of beef exports to China is a real blow, especially when the market had only reopened recently and was building back slowly. What is more worrying is the last time we had this same situation the suspension lasted three years and that cannot happen again. While I appreciate this is a matter for the Chinese Government, what engagement has the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine has had with the Chinese authorities and what specifically will he be doing to be proactive in ensuring the speedy r…

I ask the Minister about the Brexit adjustment reserve, BAR, fund. There is approximately €150 million remaining in it. The Minister might be able to confirm that figure in his response. Given the importance of the fund and the many crises that farmers are facing across the board, does the Minister intend to spend any more of the money in the fund before returning it to Europe at the end of the year?

I thank the Minister. I share his good wishes for Mr. Dillon. After a very long career, I wish him the very best for a long, happy and healthy retirement. Perhaps the Minister could confirm in his supplementary response the amount of money that is left in the BAR fund. Does he intend to spend anything further on agriculture for farmers? I met representatives of the Irish Grain Growers yesterday, as did the Minister. He will know they are looking for a package of approximately €2 million for unharvested crops. As ti…

Again, I make the point that sending about €150 million back to Europe to a REPowerEU fund is really unforgivable in light of the challenges that farmers are facing. The Minister will have heard yesterday from the Irish Grain Growers of a once-in-a-generation wipeout for a lot of farmers in a sector that we want and need to grow and for which we have targets to meet. I understand that the deal has already been done as regards sending this money back to the EU at the end of the year but will that €150 million be rin…

I want to ask about the national liming programme. While I welcome the fact that the deadline for lime to be spread has been extended, receipts have to be submitted by farmers by Tuesday next. Can there be flexibility in that regard? Many farmers cannot spread lime on their land right now. I do not see why they should have to buy lime at a time when they have had high input costs. The BISS was paid just this week and many of them are under financial pressure. Can there be a level of flexibility in respect of receip…

I welcome the fact that the deadline for spreading has been pushed out to next year. I do not see why a farmer would buy lime now that they potentially will not be able to spread until next year, particularly when many of them do not have the money to do so. The BISS payments will make a big difference but they have just hit farmers' bank accounts. In some cases they have not hit accounts due to satellite imaging and the changes thereto. Some farmers will have to respond with more information in that regard before …

In light of all that, I ask the Minister to check with the Department how many of the more than 38,000 farmers who applied to the scheme have submitted receipts. Farmers are under pressure and input costs have never been higher. There were delays to the BISS, as the Minister acknowledged, due to this being the first year of the new CAP. It is fine for the Minister to say that but farmers are under pressure to buy lime before next Tuesday and leave it to sit it in a yard where it cannot be spread in the first place.…

I have raised many times in this House the number of children in my constituency of Roscommon-Galway who are on waiting lists for therapies and psychology services. It is very clear, right around the country, that the numbers are getting worse and the waiting lists are getting longer. Children and others on whatever lists they are on - and there are many - are waiting longer and longer and suffering as a result. I must mention the children's disability network teams, which are also referred to in the motion. Many C…

I raise the issue of the summer flooding that took place at the Shannon Callows. Once again, farmers and their lands have been absolutely devastated by flooding over the summer months. Farmers are under huge financial pressure. They face absolute wipe-out. They have no silage, hay or fodder for the winter months. They urgently need support from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. The Save our Shannon organisation has written to the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, three times and still awaits his respo…

I listened to the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, speak about all the opposition to the agriculture budget yesterday. Much of the conversation I heard in opposition to the budget was actually from the farm organisations. Much of what they had to say was probably more negative than anything anyone in here said yesterday. That is a fact. When looking at the budget document yesterday, I thought a page was missing because there was so little detail on what was actually being announced. We had to wait until yesterda…