This time last year the Canadian Parliament passed a unanimous motion designating the month of March as Irish Heritage Month. Will the Taoiseach and Ceann Comhairle acknowledge that this was done? It is the only country in the world that has done this. It did it to mark the contribution of Irish people to Canada in the past and in the future. It was unanimously passed by the Canadian Parliament as a gesture of acknowledgement of what Ireland has done for Canada over the years. I want to make that known and to ackno…

On the same topic, it could even be the same people in the same constituency. I have a young family that built a house recently. Fibre had already passed the house before they could get connected. They have been informed that it could be months before they can be connected. The house has to be surveyed by NBI before it can be connected. The houses on each side are already connected. This man wants to work from home and cannot do so. He is frustrated as to why NBI cannot survey his house in a shorter time. He is bei…

Will the Minister comment on reports at the weekend that floating wind generation may be placed on the long finger? Many companies are worried about this. This question is about fixed-bottom offshore wind infrastructure for power generation, and the ambitions and development timescale for same. The Minister might also address the really topical matter of the floating offshore wind turbines. There is genuine concern they are being put into a so-called phase 3, with a very long timescale. It is crucial this be addres…

I thank the Minister of State for his response. There is alarm because the Department has done a U-turn on phase 2 projects. Phase 2 involves the next tranche of projects to help deliver on the climate targets for 2030. The industry was assured it would include floating offshore wind projects off the south and west coasts. These have been primed by credible developers who have committed to invest considerable resources in preparing for the opportunity. Will the Minister of State confirm the current situation? Is th…

The issue concerns floating turbines versus fixed turbines.

I thank the Office of the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this issue and the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, for being here to take it. I am sure I am speaking to the converted as far as he is concerned when I state we live in a beautiful country. It is fabulous. There are lovely hedgerows, fields, mountains, lakes, rivers and coastlines throughout the country, but the amount of litter and fly-tipping is increasing all the time. It is particularly evident on rural roads. Now that the vegetation has died back, all t…

I thank the Minister of State for his response and the work he, the people in his Department and the local authorities are doing. We are lacking passion on this issue, however. He stated that under the Waste Management Act 1996, the Minister, Deputy Ryan, cannot interfere with local authorities and is precluded from exercising any power or control in respect of their performance. What if a local authority does not perform? What happens then? The Minister cannot do anything in that circumstance. We need to revisit a…

The Minister is always welcome in Cork, and I for one appreciate the work she is doing and the money she has been making available to communities there, even if others do not. How is the Minister supporting men's sheds, women's sheds and sister sheds, which are a positive development? The work they are doing is amazing and the impact they are having is fantastic. I am aware the Minister supports the sheds and is a great advocate and fan of them. Will she inform the House of the ways she is supporting them and the p…

I thank the Minister sincerely for the work she is doing. I also compliment the Irish Men's Sheds Association, its chief executive and others on the work they are doing, their professionalism and the way they go about their business. In a very short time, it has grown into a large organisation that impacts on many thousands of men, and now women, across the country. It is a really good news story, which perhaps some of the people in the fourth estate might pick up on, promote and acknowledge. It really is very impr…

Again, I join the Minister in acknowledging the work the men's sheds are doing for their members and also for their local communities. They often get involved in local projects and help other organisations and community groups by offering the woodworking and other skills their members have. This is having a big impact. We have an impressive men's sheds group in my home town of Midleton and there is also one in Glounthaune which is involved in Harper's Island wildlife sanctuary and so on. They are really impressive.…

I compliment the work the Minister and her Department are doing in this area. The Minister is right when she says that local communities should have a voice. However, there are areas where local communities do not have a voice because there is no local organisation or community council or whatever established. If that is the case, that community loses out and quite often it might be the less prosperous communities that are involved here. Can the Minister tell me whether or not her Department or herself are looking …

The Department website identifies intracompany transfer employment permits as being invaluable and very important in bringing highly skilled people and personnel into the country. However, spouses, partners and dependants of intracompany transfer employment permit applicants are not eligible for a dependent, partner or spouse employment permit and must apply for a separate employment permit in their own right. Large companies tell me this is acting as a deterrent to people with high skills coming into Ireland and t…

The Minister will be very aware of the IDA Ireland site in Ballyadam in Carrigtwohill, which is known as the former Amgen site. It has been lying idle now for the last 17 years. It is probably one of the best resourced and serviced sites in the country, with a motorway on one side, a rail line on the other, and Cork Airport, the Port of Cork, plenty of third level institutions, employment and so on nearby. It has been lying idle for 17 years. Why is it not being developed? How many site visits have there been in th…

I thank the Minister, but he did not tell me how many inquiries about the site had been made in the past while. I was told in 2015 by the then Minister, Deputy Bruton, that there had been four significant inquiries, but these did not come to anything. Is it not a fact that the road infrastructure deficit is the main reason the site is not being developed? Does the Minister agree with Mr. Martin Shanahan, the former head of the IDA, who told me at a committee meeting more than a year ago that this was the case and t…

I thank the Minister for acknowledging that the road infrastructure is a major problem. That a significant amount of money was spent on planning its upgrade but it was pulled at the last minute is of concern to me and local people, not only because of the Amgen site, but because of the dangerous road and the fact that the plan for thousands of more houses in the area could be put at risk because of the poor road infrastructure. How many inquiries were made into the site in each of the past number of years? There we…

I thank the Ceann Comhairle's office for selecting this matter. I also thank the Minister of State for attending. While she is not a Minister in the Department of Transport, it is great she is here. I have raised a number of times the need to upgrade the N25 between Carrigtwohill and Midleton, County Cork, and will continue to do so. The House just debated housing. The good news is that there are plans to build over 2,500 housing units just outside Midleton. The process is well under way and planning applications h…

I thank the Minister of State for her encouraging response. I am very grateful for that. As I said, we need housing badly. I am concerned that the delay in upgrading this roadway could put many of these houses at risk. That is very important. This site is bounded by a rail link at one end and a dual carriageway on the other side. There is an airport that is not so far away at only 20 minutes, a seaport, two universities and, if the housing goes ahead, plenty of houses. It also has water and wastewater facilities fr…

The Minister of State knows well, as she has visited east Cork quite often, that we have no special school at all. As Deputy O'Sullivan has said, children have to travel long distances if they can get a place. East Cork is as big as some small counties but there is no special school. I note the need for special classes and all that but special schools are a set apart. Would the Minister of State ask her officials to look at east Cork, in particular Midleton or Youghal, and establish a special school there where the…

I raise an issue I raised with the Tánaiste before Christmas. The old Amgen site in Carrigtwohill is still sitting there 13 years later. It comprises 188 acres of fully serviced land. IDA Ireland has tried to market the site but because the road infrastructure is so poor, it cannot get anyone to go in there. What is the Government doing to unlock the site and what are its plans and policies in respect to it?

I thank the Minister of State for his response. Has he any idea of how many vacant homes there are per county? Some work has been done in this regard in County Cork. Does the Minister of State agree that having one full-time vacant homes officer in each county is a good thing? For a county the size of Cork, though, does he also agree with its chief executive's recent statement that one full-time officer would be needed per town to make the scheme effective? There is one officer in County Louth, another in County Wa…