I want to ask the Minister of State the way in which she will support transport workers and business, specifically taxis and hauliers, in view of Covid-19 restrictions and runaway fuel and operating costs, the detail of her engagement with the sectors and plans for the introduction of relief measures.

I will start with taxi drivers, if the Minister of State does not mind. She will be aware that taxi drivers are back to square one in relation to this pandemic. I raised this with the Taoiseach and he pointed towards a booming economy in quarter 3 as some sort of defence of the Government's position on support for taxi drivers and the industry generally. Taxi drivers have been put to the pin of their collar and beyond. The night-time economy is gone. The daytime economy is 50% or less. Taxi drivers who are on the p…

What I would say on that, to conclude on taxis, is that the Ministers - the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, and the Minister, Deputy Ryan - need to meet urgently with the taxi representative groups. The Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, is outlining the supports there but she knows as well as I do that the real question here relates to the PUP, and that needs to be resolved. It is not working the way Government says it is and I would like them to meet. On haulage and truck drivers, will the Minister of State …

I ask the Minister of State the amount that has been spent in 2021 on active travel projects, the value of the 2021 underspend, the number of kilometres of cycle lanes, segregated and unsegregated, that were constructed in 2021, and if she has considered designating one agency to spearhead the delivery of cycling and walking infrastructure.

The Minister of State outlined many figures, but I did not hear a figure for the underspend. How many millions of euro were involved? She indicated that €290 million will be available next year. Why does that fall short of the commitment of €360 million? I am conscious that last week's annual report by the Climate Change Advisory Council, CCAC, stated there is a significant discrepancy between the ambition and policy and the implementation. That is what I see in regard to cycling and walking infrastructure. It is v…

I want to raise the point of the lead agency. The Minister of State referred to the NTA. To go back to the CCAC’s annual report and that implementation gap, the policy and ambition are not translating into action. One of the pieces that came through very strongly in that regard was the fractured nature of existing service delivery and project implementation. I see the annexe of actions for the climate plan as they relate to transport, and I see the Department of Transport, Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, the…

When does the Minister of State intend to update the national ports policy? When will she designate ports on the east, south and west coasts for the construction and development of offshore wind projects and allocate investment for the upgrades required?

The Minister of State said there would be a policy statement in the near future. What sort of timeframe is involved and how soon can we expect to see that? She will know that Carbon Trust and Wind Energy Ireland identified more than 12 months ago that no Irish port was ready to support the construction of offshore wind farms. They indicated that in the region of €50 to €100 million would need to be invested in one port and the Minister of State is talking about multiple ports. When will the policy statement be read…

I will go back to the CCAC report about the intention, ambition and policy and the gap between those and implementation. We hear from the sector itself that the window of opportunity is narrow and that we need to act urgently to grasp the opportunity to reach our targets for 2030. We hear from the offshore wind sector, particularly the floating offshore wind sector, that it is concerned with the scale of ambition and the stated ambition in that area. We should act quickly on this, designate those ports and invest i…

I wish to ask whether the Minister of State has read the recently published Navan rail line assessment report, if she will now prioritise this important project and if she will make a statement on the matter.

I thank the Minister of State for her response. As she said, thousands of people from right across County Meath made submissions in support of the proposed extension of the rail line to Navan via Dunshaughlin. The evidence base has now been built for this project. It was contested for some time but anybody who recognised the opportunity that was there knew that the business case for the proposal would stand on its own two feet. Indeed, it does that and more. I ask the Minister of State to outline the opportunity, w…

We welcomed the initial consultation. We engaged extensively in it and encouraged others to do so. We are doing the same for tomorrow's deadline. There is serious frustration in the community that the project has been delayed to the extent that it has been. We understand the process but it is incredibly frustrating that the Government is moving from one review to another to a framework to a strategy. The case has been made in black and white. The project needs to be delivered. People want to see a date where rather…

Oireachtas Members were briefed yesterday on the subject of global vaccine equity and access by Irish academic and scientific experts. They were told that a waiver on the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, TRIPS, is essential. They told us the EU tactic is to use its counterproposal as a stalling tactic. This counterproposal focuses on existing provisions and compulsory licensing and does not go anywhere near far enough. Compulsory licensing only deals with the patent aspect of inte…

I wish to ask the Minister the actions he will take to reduce energy bills for households this winter and if he will make a statement on the matter.

It is quite incredible a week out from Christmas that we are here with nothing more than an outline of a plan to do something on runaway electricity bills and nothing on home heating oil or fuel. Everyone could see the trend. As far back as 3 February Sinn Féin brought a Private Members' motion on the issue. The Government said its hands were tied. Wholesale gas prices increased by 400% and electricity by 200%. The Government said its hands were tied. Over the course of this Dáil term, every time we met in this for…

To what degree has an assessment been made of alternative ways to introduce this legislation or regulation in the quickest way possible? What does quarter 1 of next year mean? Is it the case that we will be dealing with this legislation for the first three months of next year? When will people see this impact on their bills? That is the real question people have. They want to see it before Christmas. This has been on the agenda for months at this stage and the Government has failed to act on it. The toolbox from th…

Whitegate is one of the power plants that was shut down, which, as I understand it, contributed to some of the difficulties relating to the supply of electricity. Further delays in the return to operation have been reported in the past number of weeks. Has testing started at Whitegate? When might the plant be back up and running?

I will literally be five seconds, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle. If the Minister has not got them, can he provide us with the up-to-date figures on the amount of retrofitting that has been actually completed this year?

I ask the Minister about the climate action plan targets for forestry. First, what are they because it is not entirely clear and we have not seen the annexe? What is his understanding of the commitment? Is the figure 8,000 ha per annum and, if so, will that be enough? When will the annexe be printed? How many hectares have been planted this year?

I will quote directly from the climate action plan, which states: "Afforestation is the single largest land-based climate change mitigation measure available to Ireland." That means that this is incredibly important and that we have to get it right if we are to have any hope. The plan states that land use, land use change and forestry, LULUCF, emits a net total of 4.8 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent a year, although there is work still to be done on those figures. We are entering a period of carbon losses from for…