I am glad to get the opportunity to talk about this proposed Bill. I have taken enough guff taken from people inside this Chamber condemning people who employ people. I happen to be one of those people for the last 40 years and more. My son is doing it now. Friday evening comes very quick when a person has a number of people to pay. The pay is one thing; there are people at home waiting for them to come home with the package of money to keep their household going. There are so many rules and regulations now. It is …

It is the truth. Do not deny it.

Businesses are struggling in Kilcummin and all around the place to pay the massive rates that is being demanded of them. Before the new rates regime, traders were able to pay in two payments per year. That has gone down to one payment. They must come up with all the money at the one time. There are all these things. I refer to the cost of electricity. I will remind the Government of the closure of Bord na Móna every day of the week and all the weeks in the years ahead. Every day since it closed Bord na Móna, the co…

We never interrupted Deputy O’Reilly when she was talking.

That is not right either because-----

-----it is a Government Department.

I raise the very serious issue of posts that are waiting to be filled in hospitals in Kerry. University Hospital Kerry has 50 vacant posts for nurses and carers. In Tralee Community Hospital, there are five vacant posts for nurses and there is no director of nursing in place. Dingle Community Hospital has three vacant nursing posts. We wish to have some Irish-speaking nurses appointed to that hospital. At Killarney Community Hospital, there are six vacant posts for nurses. Caherciveen Community Hospital has two vac…

Beds are closing.

This is obviously a very serious matter and we must treat it as such. When we are talking about mitigating the life sentence for the murder of some other human being, it is serious. You always have to think of the family whose family member was taken from them by someone else, whether it was with a knife, a gun or some other means. There are two sides to this. We cannot be seen to minimise the offence just because they are under age. I would like to think that people would be treated accordingly. We always knew "a …

I support Sinn Féin's motion. Like everyone else, I was horrified by Aoife Johnston's death. As I said at the time and since, I honestly believe that those culpable for her death or neglecting her should be brought to book – no question about it. They should pay a price of some kind, depending on the seriousness of their neglect, for what they did not do. I am very worried about issues with health services in Kerry. I have mentioned some of these today. Nurse posts are not being filled in Kerry. I have worked out t…

That is why we raised this question.

Is that why-----

I wish to make a point of order.

It is fairly hard for any Deputy in the House to get elected. For each Deputy, it is a difficult ordeal. Notwithstanding that, it is easy enough to come up from Kerry. There are no restrictions all the way on the road up but it is getting increasingly difficult to come into this building. On my way, I went out of the Dáil and I wanted to come back up through Molesworth Street. I was denied access to come up that way. I had to go around. I gave my identification. I would say they knew me anyway. It has gone beyond n…

Health services are totally underfunded and understaffed at the coal face. We need more GPs, residential care for people with physical and intellectual disabilities and hospital beds. People on waiting lists are suffering agony, pain and anxiety. Many people would have lost their eyesight were it not for the hundreds of people we bused to Belfast. Infrastructural work for sewerage and water schemes is critical for house building. It is not there at the moment. We need to make houses more affordable. There should be…

This is the most serious issue we have to deal with on the island of Ireland. CAMHS has a waiting list of over two years for appointments. As therapeutic supports are extremely hard to get, many doctors feel the only option available to them is to prescribe antidepressants. That is not fair on young children. Imagine a little girl of 13 years who is harming herself and whose parents have to take it in turn to stay with her 24 hours a day, seven days a week. CAMHS cannot get her into any place or get residential car…

I have to say this because it has been in my head for so long. Some years ago, a doctor and a family member could get someone in danger of harming themselves into residential care where they would be minded one to one all day and night until the person got better. We cannot do that anymore. It is not happening anymore, but it has to happen because so much of this is happening across the country, in Kerry, Cork and everywhere else. Family members know that something has gone wrong, but they cannot do anything about …

I will support this motion because it is very important. We need childcare professionals and we need mothers and women in the workforce. They need to work to keep their homes, so we need to help those people, along with childcare professionals. The motion calls for extending parent's leave and benefit schemes to ensure parents have the choice to remain with their baby in the first year of its life. No one can compensate for a mother in the home minding her children and bonding with them for a year or more, and if w…

I am glad to get the opportunity to raise again the proposed Killarney bypass. I have raised this matter several times in this Chamber since I was elected to it in 2016. The Minister was in the Black Valley in Kerry last Friday. It was good to see a Minister in the Black Valley because it is a very remote place and we are glad that connectivity has improved with the launch of broadband in that area. We need continued funding in this year's infrastructure investment programme to deliver the long-awaited Killarney by…

I welcome the assertion that the route will be defined by the end of the year, it is hoped by the end of October. This defined route would mean a lot to so many people because their lands have been sterilised all these years. I am concerned because we do need €1.5 million next year. I am sorry to say the Green Party spokesperson from Kenmare said that Killarney does not need a bypass and that we already have one. We have a ring road that was built more than 40 years ago and has not even been resurfaced during that …