I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate. Sinn Féin opposes the migration and asylum pact for very good reasons and we will vote against it. In our view, the majority of the measures contained in the pact are not in Ireland’s interests. Instead, we must retain our sovereignty on these matters if we are to have an immigration system that is fair, efficient and enforced. We must also recognise our particular circumstance in that we share a common travel area with Britain. Sinn Féin’s position is the sam…

If we are to judge a government by how it treats its most vulnerable, and in turn those who care for the most vulnerable, then how can we judge this Government? For far too long, the voices of family carers have been completely overlooked and ignored. Day in, day out, including on the doors before the recent local and EU elections, they tell us how they feel pushed aside and abandoned by the Government. They tell us they are burdened by enormous strain and pressure, with little or no hope for respite or relief. The…

I raise the issue of Bord na Móna's plans to sell off its waste management business, as was reported recently. This risks further concentration of waste management services, which is potentially bad for workers and customers. It is further privatisation when the opposite should be happening. Is the Taoiseach aware of the plan and has he or the Government assessed it in terms of competition, terms and conditions of employment, workers' rights and State provision of services?

In today's Ireland, hundreds of thousands of ordinary workers and families face an impossible situation. They are confronted with a housing crisis of unprecedented proportion. Successive Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Green Governments have utterly failed on housing. Bad planning, mismanagement and downright dereliction have resulted in one of the worst shortages of social and affordable housing in Europe. Where the stock does exist, very many residing there are living in substandard conditions. These are draughty, col…

I ask the Minister to report on the measures his Department is taking to implement the recommendations of the report from the Oireachtas committee on renewables and offshore wind and if he will make a statement on the matter.

I want to ask specifically about recommendation 8. It refers to Wind Energy Ireland and the Skills for Zero Carbon report. Regarding ports specifically, there is a recommendation for investment in our ports. This is an issue that comes up consistently. I hear the response from Government regarding applications for European funding but we have seen in the past that our ports have been unsuccessful in applications for European funding. We also see in France and elsewhere where the state has found a way to directly in…

What are the plans for Thornton Hall? Last week, we received notification from the community engagement team that it will be used as emergency accommodation and that this accommodation will be brought on stream in the near future. That is all of the information we have. I have spoken to the two Ministers involved. It has been reported that this will take four to six weeks and that it may require planning, depending on the units. There is a lot of other speculation, as the Minister might appreciate. There seems to b…

I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to amend the Electricity Regulation Act 1999 to give the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities (CRU) the legislative remit to effectively monitor wholesale and retail prices in the energy market; to increase the frequency and level of reporting; to effectively monitor and regulate hedging practices; to strengthen the Commission's powers to monitor anti-competitive behaviour of gas and electricity suppliers; to expand the Commission's role in con…

I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this issue and I also thank the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth, for being here to take it. I raised the issue very briefly with him during priority questions last week but I am glad to have some extra time here to focus on it. I am concerned that people, who are isolated, have exorbitant bills related to heat pump use. I have spoken to members of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and they referenced an increase in calls in that regard. I have a number of cases in m…

I thank the Minister of State for his reply but I have to say, while it is useful information, it does not address the issue I am raising here today. My sense of things is reflected anecdotally and I can give some examples in my own area. A lady contacted my office who moved into a new one-bedroom unit in December. Her first energy bill for six weeks in the house was €615. That is in excess of €100 per week. I met one resident in a complex in Donacarney in east Meath who talked about being under severe stress due t…

I want to raise the issue of the number of gardaí, specifically the resource allocation model, because there is a shortage of gardaí right across the State. It is very pronounced and no more so than in my county, Meath. County Meath has the lowest number of gardaí per head of population in the State, at in the region of 142 per 100,000 people. The next worst is County Kildare, which has an additional 30 gardaí per 100,000 people. The best is Waterford, which has more than double the figure for Meath. The problem is…

Electricity emissions reductions are significantly contributed to by imported electricity. That fact should not be lost. There are carbon budgets and sectoral emission ceilings out to 2030 but there is no plan to deliver emissions reductions to meet those targets. In fact, including the 5.25 megatonnes unallocated on an annual basis with all of the measures proposed by the Government would take us to only 42% reduction. When will the issue of the unallocated emissions reductions be sorted? When will a plan be prepa…

I ask the Minister for an update on the 103 Bus Éireann service which services Ratoath and Ashbourne to and from Dublin, its performance standard and plans to improve it, and if he will make a statement on the matter.

I received a similar response directly from Bus Éireann earlier this week. It stated that so far in 2024, over 97% of scheduled route 103 services have operated fully. Anybody who uses that service will hear that as an insult to their intelligence. I will give today as an example. Three services have been cancelled, namely, the 8.58 a.m., the 9.22 a.m. and the 10 a.m. services. It is now 11.05 a.m. That will likely continue for the rest of the day and that is the pattern. While I acknowledge that the service is not…

Representatives of the service providers appeared before the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications last week. One of the asks they had of the Department, the Minister and his ministerial colleague was that a co-ordinated approach be taken to address the shortage of drivers and craft workers, involving SOLAS, the education and training boards, ETBs, and the National Apprenticeship Office. That could be appropriately anchored in the Minister's Department. Perhaps it is something he can pursue. I have a ques…

This question relates to the number of heat pumps installed to date relative to the 2030 target of 400,000. Will the Minister of State outline the challenges he has identified with heat pump installation and his plans to address these, if alternative technologies are being considered and if he is aware of the high number of calls made to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and others regarding high electricity bills associated with heat pump use.

The first part of my question was straightforward but I do not think the Minister of State answered it in his response. To reiterate, there is a 2030 target of 400,000 heat pumps. To date, how many of those pumps have been installed? By my estimation, on the figures I have received, it is in the region of 10,000, or 2.5% of the total. The Government is behind its own targets by 30%, which is a significant amount. By all accounts, from listening to people and engaging with those who are having retrofits done or who …

On the second part of the question, what engagement has the Minister of State or the SEAI had in regard to the practicalities of operating heat pumps when they are installed in existing properties? I am thinking in particular of the energy poverty strategy as it relates to social housing. I have heard on a number of occasions of heat pumps being incorrectly installed or operated. For example, one constituent who has a recently installed heat pump is reporting electricity bills in the region of €1,000 - to be precis…

I ask the Minister of State the total electricity generating capacity that has been energised since February 2022, broken down by fuel source and year; what percentage of Ireland's electricity was imported in each of the years since 2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter.