The Deputy needs to ask the Minister of State whether I asked questions. Of course I did.

The Deputy is factually incorrect.

There are acute challenges with regard to public transport in the late-night economy and they need to be addressed. Last week, the Tánaiste pointed to Uber and Lyft as a possible solution. He said they are just not available in Ireland in the same way and maybe we need to look at that again to see if we can liberalise that. Those comments caused significant concern, not least with the National Transport Authority, NTA, which stated it would undermine the regulated taxi market, that we would lose both drivers and ve…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the motion. The HSE's plan is very clear, and it was spelled out in black and white, but it is just a plan. This is surprising because it has had 13 years to prepare it: nine years if one starts the clock from the small hospital framework. We are still none the wiser as to the Government's plan, and this includes the Minister's amendment here tonight. Frankly, this is disgraceful. We are aware the HSE has a plan and Deputy Cullinane outlined some of the detail of that. It state…

On Monday, Oireachtas Members from County Meath heard that the HSE intends to move imminently into the final stages of implementation, as it calls it, at Navan hospital. By September, the HSE intends to close all intensive care unit beds in the hospital and to close the emergency department and replace it with a medical assessment unit. This clear intention was restated yesterday at a meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health by Mr. Paul Reid, despite no additional capacity in place in Drogheda and no add…

I am grateful for the opportunity to raise this issue, which is of deep concern to residents in Ratoath, as the Minister of State might imagine. There are regular outages there; we had in the region of six significant outages this year and many more instances of low pressure and everything that goes with that in the return, dirty water and the service being unavailable for a period of time. Ratoath is a big and growing community with in the region of 10,000 to 12,000 people living there and with 18,000 people in th…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit. I will leave the following with the Minister of State. He did not come back to me on the opportunity, if any, to speed these things up and move more quickly. To bring that Q4 of 2024 back to mid 2024 or late 2023 would make a significant difference. I made points on the contingency, the response, the supports for vulnerable customers and users and the quality of the communications. I will situate the frustration for residents of Ratoath in the context of it being an area identif…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion and report. I thank the previous speakers, the Chair and the Minister of State for being here. I also thank the witnesses, the committee secretariat and the committee members for their input to the process. We know that the current emissions situation is not good. After a fall in emissions in 2020, we are back to business as usual and our national emissions are rising. Total greenhouse gas emissions are estimated to have increased by 6% in 2021. They did not decreas…

The Rural Independent Group has identified a problem but, unfortunately, it has looked in exactly the wrong place for the solution. We have an energy security crisis and the Government has significantly contributed to it. We have an energy cost crisis and the Government has significantly contributed to it. The Rural Independent Group suggests, however, that the answer is new fossil fuel infrastructure, which would be hugely damaging to the environment and would do little for energy security, particularly considerin…

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate. Although the annual transition statements framework was abolished and replaced with a new process under the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021, this gives us a good opportunity to reflect on the Government’s progress to date on reducing our greenhouse gas emissions and take on board suggestions from the Opposition on actions that need to be taken. I will pick up on one of the Minister of State's final comments that "we must consider …

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this timely and important motion. I commend Deputy Ó Laoghaire on bringing it forward. I also commend FUSS Ireland on its activism on these issues. As Deputy Ward said, its members were out across the country, including in Dublin, on Saturday. I had an opportunity to meet with Rachel Martin of FUSS Ireland in my constituency on Friday. The activism and energy that are committed by parents of children with disabilities, who have so many caring responsibilities, is to be commende…

I ask the Minister of State what measures she will take to address the challenges in the taxi sector, including rising fuel and running costs and driver shortages. Has she assessed the likely impact of a further exit of vehicles from the sector due to the ten-year rule? To what degree has she engaged with the National Transport Agency, NTA, and taxi representatives on these matters? Will she make a statement on the matter?

There is a crisis in the sector and I am not convinced from the Minister of State's answer that there is a full appreciation of it. I acknowledge the aspect regarding the fare increase and the weighted element in that regard, but there has been a significant exodus of drivers from the sector. It was reported just this evening that one of the taxi apps had 17,000 requests in a one-hour period over the weekend. We are hearing many stories about people, including women, waiting an inordinate time because of the lack o…

How many vehicles will be impacted by the ten-year rule in 2023, for example? How many vehicles are we likely to lose from the sector? My estimation, based on the figures presented to me by taxi representatives, is that the number is greater than 5,300. These are vehicles that have not been used for a couple of years. Most of them are in mint condition. Drivers have been struggling to get finance for new vehicles. They cannot get electric vehicles because there is a supply chain issue. The likely impact will be tha…

I want to ask the Minister of State the year-on-year timeline for the delivery of the Connecting Ireland rural mobility plan, the budget she intends to provide in each year to deliver this plan, the routes which will be commenced in 2022 and if she will make a statement on the matter.

This is an ambitious plan. We have submitted questions on the opportunities to expand on it. I understand there are 23 settlements with populations above 300 that have been excluded from the plan; all of the rest have been included and are promised a service three times daily, which would be a significant improvement. There are opportunities to expand the scheme, and that is something my party is trying to tease out. The bigger issue is the implementation of the plan. The €5.6 million allocation this year is 10% of…

The Minister of State mentioned a number of places. Does she have the figures on how many routes are now up and running? I welcome the services and understand the prioritisation of routes where there is demand from incoming Ukrainian refugees. Of the 40 routes at design stage, does the Minister of State have an indication - I will be parochial about this - as to where in County Meath they are? I have a particular interest in one route, namely, route 163 in the consultation, which is to run between Athboy and Droghe…

The Chair will have an interest in this question. When does the Minister of State intend to publish an updated national aviation policy? Will she outline the policy options being considered to deliver a more even distribution of air traffic between Irish airports in order to support the objective of balanced regional development? Will she make a statement on the matter?

A number of members of the transport committee are here. Aviation has been a particular focus of our committee right throughout this period, since the committee was established under this Dáil, whether during Covid or, more recently, in respect of the issues at Dublin Airport. We are undertaking a series of visits to a number of our airports. We have been at Dublin and Shannon airports and are due to visit Cork Airport, although I have already been there with my colleague, Deputy Ó Laoghaire. We hear about the chal…

We are constrained by state aid rules. The lack of State influence in Aer Lingus is a limitation. It is not one my party supported but it is one we have to live with. The transport committee continues to meet with representatives of regional airports. Members of the committee make the case that we want to hear from them and that they need to engage with the review of the national aviation policy. It is important that there are stated commitments and objectives in respect of that policy to seek to maximise the oppor…