We lost the beet. This is our time today. I appreciate that the Minister and the Ministers of State are here listening to us, and I have seen them listening to everyone who has spoken.

This is our time to ensure that we do not lose the tillage men-----

-----or any more grain men. This is our time and the Ministers' time and it is your time too, a Cheann Comhairle.

I am glad to have a chance to mention a few issues. Housing, as we all know, is so important. There is so much talk about it and so many people are not able to be housed. I understand the Bill is to borrow more money to build more houses and to provide more housing. If this is the case, I welcome it. I have stated here in recent weeks that many people are leaving our shores because when they are between the ages of 25 and 32, they realise they cannot buy or build a house for themselves. They are at a stage when the…

I want to thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this very laudable motion on the cost of disability. We all know it costs any person who had a disability more just to survive and carry on. They have a lot of issues. For people with serious disabilities respite in Kerry is practically non-existent when it is needed. We are very short of residential care places for children with intellectual and physical disabilities. I can highlight one case where a person in her 30s in serious need of residential care was offered a …

The overhaul of residential tenancies legislation was intended to protect tenants through changes to rent controls and the expansion of tenant protections. However, it is very clear that, since the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2025 updates were introduced in June 2025 with the intention of stabilising rent prices, they have created a bigger problem as many tenants have been given notice to quit. It is getting completely out of hand. I am contacted every day by tenants who have got notices to quit and who a…

I thank the Minister of State very much for being here so late at night. I know she will relay my concerns to the Minister. Many people, including me do not believe it is fair to lock a landlord into a rental agreement for six years. This failed in Scotland, where the authorities have gone back to the arrangement they had in 2016. I am concerned about the Minister of State’s figures because, to me, having been a public representative in Kerry for over 20 years, I have never seen the like of what is happening, inclu…

I am glad to get the opportunity to speak this evening. I want to clarify something in relation to the carbon tax. A question was raised here yesterday about the carbon tax by Deputy Doherty. It was stated that there was to be a vote held last night. There was no vote. I never voted for the carbon tax. Subsequent to that, another Sinn Féin Member put up a question on his phone to see what way would the Healy-Raes vote on the carbon tax last night. They knew as well as I knew that there would be no vote on the carbo…

Never in my life.

There was no vote on the carbon tax last night.

The Deputies might be having a bit of fun. It is grand to have fun, but it is not fun for me. I never voted for the carbon tax.

I am not under any whip from the Deputies about what way I vote. I will vote for the people of Kerry who elected me here. I am very sorry, a Chathaoirligh Gníomhach,

I am glad to get the opportunity to talk on this budget, which has been awaited by many people around the country to see if they will benefit from it. All of us here might do it differently but we have to go by the amount of money the Government has to spend, and the choices it makes about how to spend it is what we have to go through. There are many things that are welcome and a good few things that I am disappointed with. We welcome the capitation grant for schools because we know many principal teachers are fund…

I did not interrupt other Deputies at any time. I will not interrupt them when they are talking, but I am telling the truth.

I will do that in spite of anyone interrupting me. The facts are that I never voted for it. That tax will be coming in tomorrow morning without any vote here tonight.

There is no vote about it tonight. It will go ahead in the morning because Sinn Féin voted for it before. That is God's gospel truth.

They do not understand their place. I never interrupted them. In any event, I am disappointed with the way some of the carbon tax is spent. In the name of active travel, the road into Killarney is being narrowed. The footpaths are now wider than the road and the carriageway. Wide vehicles are having serious trouble passing each other at Fossa, where the great Cliffords who shook Croke Park in the middle of the summer come from. Sadly, our road is being narrowed in the name of active travel and climate change. What …

By helping the clubs, we will be helping the players.

I am glad to have an opportunity to debate this issue. I thank the Social Democrats for putting the motion before the House. It certainly is very timely with the budget happening next week. I have been and am appealing to the Government to get rid of the means test for people who are caring for loved ones. We are talking about human beings. When people become carers, they must, in many instances, live the other person's life. Whether someone has Alzheimer's disease, a disability or whatever else, their carer has to…

I am glad to have this opportunity to raise with the Minister the matter of young fellas, boys and girls, leaving our shores to go to Australia simply because they cannot buy or build a house in this country no matter how good a job they have. I attended an event in Barraduff in east Kerry a couple of weeks ago for ten local youngsters who are departing our shores. Some of them have already gone and the rest will be gone before Christmas. In other words, they will not be sitting at their parents' table for their Ch…