I am grateful to Deputy Gannon and the Social Democrats for giving us the opportunity to discuss this. Obviously, I do not agree with many parts of what the Deputy has said. He said that modern Ireland needs to stop using religion as a method to deliver relationship and sex education. The country, the parents and the children have been managing for decades and for generations without any direction that says religion should not be involved. I am proud to be a Catholic and will openly admit to it but I also respect e…

There are hundreds of lorries and drivers outside Leinster House at the Merrion Street end today. Surely the Taoiseach is not oblivious to what is going on and the trouble that they are in. The Taoiseach must realise that they cannot carry on for much longer. This day last year, diesel fuel cost €1.15 a litre. Today, it is €1.60 for the same amount. The increase is 33%. They are not able to carry that. A levy of 2% of taxes on a litre at €1.60 yields way more than when it was €1.15 last year. I am asking the Govern…

You see------

Just one other thing. On the rebate, I am asking the Government to increase the diesel rebate from 7.5 cent to 15 cent or 16 cent.

There are doing something in other countries and Biden is doing something in America.

We must do something here for those fellows because there will be no food on the shelves and we have to realise that that is going to happen.

The Government is taking more.

I, too, wish the Ceann Comhairle, Deputy Ó Fearghaíl, all the best. I am sure he will be back in action very shortly. Up to 9 September 2021, planning permissions were for five years. Prior to that date, it was possible for young people and other people wishing to build a one-off house to apply for an extension of a further five years. Under Housing for All, brought forward by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, this aspect of planning has been changed and people are no longer able to get an ex…

What the Minister is doing in Ireland will not even move the global greenhouse gas scale, yet our people are being taxed out of existence and targeted financially because of a Green nirvana agenda that is more fanatical than realistic. Our small island country produces just 0.13% of all the worldwide emissions. That is all. Yet our farmers, who produce the highest quality food from fresh grass, are being blamed by the environmentalists. Deputies in this House and the media, including RTÉ, are blaming the transport …

I thank Sinn Féin. I was too late to sign the motion, but my heart is in it. This has been a terrible time in the history of our State. It is 11 months since the commission of investigation delivered its final report. The payment scheme was finally published on Tuesday, 16 November. The payment involves an €800 million redress payment for 34,000 survivors of mother and baby homes and county homes. However, we know from the response of the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth in the Dái…

Is there any availability of qualified members of the Defence Forces to help medical teams in hospitals, to operate additional ambulances or to help with the care of the elderly in their homes in light of the extra demands that are placed on staff due to Covid and other illnesses? Hospitals in Tralee, Killarney, Kenmare, Bantry, Cahersiveen and Listowel are under immense pressure.

It all depends on what constitutes an emergency. The consultant body of University Hospital Kerry has serious concerns and is worried about the safety of patients in hospital. It says it has lost confidence in the ability of the HSE locally, regionally and nationally to provide safe, timely and effective care of patients. Our hospital is in crisis since the second week in September, with elective surgery cancelled, high numbers of patients on trolleys in emergency departments, staff shortages and staff burnout. We …

I again thank the Minister. We have a crisis in Kerry. I hear what the Minister is saying about testing but people can die from other causes as well as the coronavirus, and elderly people are vulnerable. When I requested home help for a 91-year-old woman, they told me she may not get it for six months. People cannot get home help at weekends or on bank holidays. I am coming to the Minister in desperation. The thing has got out of hand completely. I have already raised all of these issues with the HSE and in the Hou…

You could not make it up. As I look around me, I see a few people who I know are sane but this House is the most lunatic place in the world at the present time. This is a good piece of blackguarding, to try to get people to pay more for their produce and to try to get producers to get involved in intricate actions to try to account for their carbon footprint. At the same time, this Government cannot put a process in place to measure the carbon that farmers are sequestering. The Government has said that this will no…

We are producing the most economical and safe food-----

We are producing the most economical food and agricultural produce in the world-----

It is the truth. The Labour Party is trying to blackguard the people-----

They are trying to blackguard them again. They did from 2011 to 2016-----

They made a right job of it when they cut the pensions on the women-----

-----and they took away the death grant as well. When they could not get it from the living, they got it from the dead. They tried to get it from them as well.