I thank Deputy Michael Collins and Independent Ireland for giving us this opportunity to talk about these important issues. The carbon tax has to be got rid of. Fuel is dear enough. The purpose it was brought in for in the first place does not exist now. I want to talk about people in Kerry who use heating oil or kerosene. The cost of it has cone up from 90 cent to €1.68 this week. People just cannot afford that. They will only be able to purchase far less than what they need to keep themselves warm for the winter.…

They are losing money, hand over fist.

I am asking the Government to come out and do something about it.

I welcome the Disability (Amendment) Bill and any improvements it will make to the assessment of needs process relating to children. We have spoken at length here about children with disabilities and adult children with disabilities. In Kerry, their lot has not improved much. I am asking again for the Government to be more meaningful and to mean what it says. There are far too many families with additional needs and disabilities who are waiting far too long for their assessments of needs as well as other appointmen…

I am glad to have the opportunity to talk about this matter, as I have done many times in the past. I welcome that the social houses in Donegal that are damaged will have a scheme to replace them. I cannot understand why it has taken so long and why we are only at this now. Clearly, this must have happened at the same time as the private houses. Like Deputy Gallagher, I insist that the Department of housing cover the cost in full. It cannot be left to the local authorities to do so. As has been pointed out, they do…

We were able to give €2 billion - to borrow it, in fact - to keep the war between Ukraine and Russia going.

We borrowed €2 billion for that but we cannot look after the homes in Donegal.

Thank you, Minister.

I want to talk about the price of green diesel. It has gone up to €1.60. There is no package in place for construction works vehicles, even though the Tánaiste and the Taoiseach promised it in early May and the Taoiseach reiterated it where the Minister is sitting now. He said that construction vehicles would be included. They are involved in construction of houses and roads and everything. The vehicles involved include rollers, diggers, graders, dumpers and teleporters. None of those vehicles have been included ev…

Maybe that is what is wrong. If the Minister is not responsible for the construction industry, and Martin Heydon certainly is not because he is the Minister for agriculture, maybe that is where the problem lies. The facts are that the Tánaiste and the Taoiseach promised that construction and the vehicles involved in construction would be covered. Many of those construction companies were locked into prices they had for jobs at the start of the year and locked into contracts. The Tánaiste even mentioned quarries and…

It was 3 cent.

I thank the Ceann Comhairle. I, too, am very disappointed with the news that my brother was assaulted going out the road in the car. It is not on. He was just doing his work, or going wherever he was going. He was stopped on the road and someone hit him through the window. It is not good enough. I hope he will be all right. I hope his family will be all right. It is something that is hurting me as much as anyone else. These things should not happen to public representatives. We get elected to help the people and no…

I am glad to have a chance to speak. Neutrality is paramount for the people of Ireland. We still thank former Taoiseach, De Valera who told certain countries where to go when they were looking for Ireland to join the Second World War. The Taoiseach, Deputy Martin, said in 2013 that the triple lock was at the core of our neutrality. I do not understand how he can come in here and say the opposite at this time. I heard what the Minister said about changing times and all of that. The facts are that if we want to chang…

Too many people are dying from cancer all over the country. Many young people are dying just three to six weeks after being diagnosed, at very short notice. Young mothers and fathers are leaving behind young children at such short notice. Blood tests going back even for 12 months do not seem to have shown up anything in many people. Then it is too late when the cancer is detected. People are asking if a high-level investigation could be carried out by senior medics to see if there is any connection between Covid va…

I am glad to get the opportunity to talk about post offices. First of all, I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Charlie McConalogue, and the Government for giving them financial assistance this year because they do need it. Like every other Member, I appreciate our post office network. I am sad to think that so many post offices have closed around us over the years. I remember the previous postmasters in Kilgarvan, Denis P. O'Sullivan and his brother John O'Sullivan. Before them were Bridie and James Cronin. She u…

I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this Bill and giving us the chance to discuss the possibility of a united Ireland. Since I was a young fella, all I ever heard was that was what we needed and that we could not stop until it was achieved. There is so much involved in this. As I grew up, I saw the Troubles of the sixties, seventies, eighties and nineties. Every morning on the news you heard how many people had been killed during the night. There was The Miami Showband and all the people from the different sides…

I thank the proposers of the motion. I am delighted to get the chance to talk about the cost of living. The increased cost of living is in everyone's mouth, and everyone is saying that their wages are being eroded by the cost of living. I believe the main driver is the cost of fuel and energy. For every litre that is purchased, more than half of the cost, approximately 95 cent, is going to the State coffers. There is room for manoeuvre. It is time to get rid of carbon tax, full stop. Fuel is dear enough. I want to …

That is where taxpayers' money is going, not back to taxpayers, who are giving the Government the money.

I am glad to get the opportunity to welcome that Shannon Energy has got approval to bring in and store gas, and to give us another option. We have a duty to the taxpayers and the people in every county, including Kerry, to deliver energy to them at the cheapest rate possible. I have said here to the Minister of State on many occasions that since we closed Bord na Móna, the cost of electricity has gone up each day. The worst mistake that any Government made was to close it down in one go before we were assured that …

I said the 1740-----