I thank Sinn Féin for giving us the opportunity to talk about this very important matter. Banks, of course, never lose. When they did, the Government bailed them out with taxpayers' money. When people put their money into the banks, they get very little interest for it. In fact, if they leave it there long enough, it depreciates in value. People with mortgages are suffering. I am adding to the pleas for an interest relief scheme to help those people. The Government could help more with the costs of electricity and …

I thank the Independent Group for bringing forward this motion on levies. Levies are always a contention. There are different aspects of levies but they are contentious for people who do not see the benefits of the levies after paying them. We all know now that levies, service charges and connection fees make up almost half the cost of building a house. This is stopping young fellas from building their own houses. It is costing €140,000 to €150,000 between levies, connection fees, VAT and you name it. This is stopp…

It does not worry all of us.

It is actually Kerry.

I am glad to get the opportunity to say a few words on this, although my time is short. It appears the Government is deliberately blocking the public from having any voice when it comes to the Government's immigration policy, which is all over the place. This is clearly being dictated to us by unelected bureaucrats in Brussels and we cannot have a debate in here because we are held back from doing so. I too want to talk about the energy policy we have. We shut down Bord na Móna in the middle of the country when we …

I thank Sinn Féin for tabling the motion because it is pertinent to what has happened in south Kerry and now in north Kerry as well. Many young children have been damaged by the lack of proper care from CAMHS. The HSE blamed a junior doctor in south Kerry, but what is the cause of the problem in north Kerry? It seems that there is a problem all over the country. It is very clear that when these boys and girls needed attention and help, it was not there for them. I do not think it is there at present either. I am ve…

I thank the Chair.

I thank the Minister for recognising that we were the only group that tabled a motion representing inshore fishers. They have been left behind in many ways. The Minister spoke for ten minutes, but he did not say whether he would accede to our request for €12 million for inshore fishers in our coastal communities. They are on their knees. The situation has been spelled out for the Minister. For example, the season for shrimp fishing is September to March. Since September, the situation worsened badly because there w…

Hear, hear.

When there is no ambulance in Clonakilty where do they come then only take the ambulance from Kenmare? Kenmare and all that area is then without an ambulance.

The retention of the post offices we have left in rural Ireland is vital if communities are to survive. We saw what happened in the UK. They got rid of a lot of their post offices, more than half of them, and now they are trying to bring them back into existence again. We must do our best to retain the post offices we have left because they are vital to local communities. Elderly people go to the post office for their pensions and social welfare payments. I ask the Minister of State, as I have asked previously, to …

They are not agreed to. We could never agree when the Taoiseach will not give an answer. It was all over the news and everything.

I am glad to have the opportunity to talk about this very important topic here this evening. We all know that organ donation is so important. It can make a difference and ensure that someone's life is saved. It can save the lives of people who are suffering from organ failure, be it a heart transplant, a lung transplant or a kidney transplant. We must recognise also where a family member gives one of their kidneys to ensure another family member can stay alive and have a normal healthy life. Transplants can reduce …

Those were the people who took the death grant away and left so many people disenfranchised. I am glad to say that the undertakers-----

The undertakers in Kerry have not let the people down-----

They have buried them all without any money, some of them.

The people of Ireland are paying a high price for this conglomeration of a Government. I blame Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael for taking the Green Party on board and doing this to the people of Ireland. It is all right for them to say they know nothing about it. We know the Minister of State knew about this as far back as March 2021. She knew about Coillte plans to use such a private vehicle to acquire lands. That is why the Government is not granting licences for anything and confidence in the forestry sector is lower …

The Tánaiste is aware the 2023 tourism business is beginning to open up currently and should be well under way by St. Patrick's Day which is only seven or eight weeks away now. To that end, I want to make him aware that up to 40% of hotel and guest house accommodation, 2,404 rooms I believe, or more, are taken up with refugees and asylum seekers. Some 400 men, asylum seekers, have been in one centre in Killarney since 12 October. I ask the Tánaiste two separate questions. First, what alternative accommodation will …

-----should be deported when they cause trouble and they should not get asylum here when they cause trouble.

The Tánaiste has obligations here to the people in Ireland as well, to the people in Kerry, to the hotel and tourism sector and to all the people involved in tourism in Kerry. Is he going to free up the 2,404 hotel rooms in Killarney and Kerry and ensure the livelihood of all these people with craft shops, pubs, coach tours, jarveys, boatmen, cycle tours and heritage centres? Is he going to jeopardise all these people if we do not find other accommodation? I asked the Tánaiste about this last November. What has the…