I want to raise an important issue which has been spoken about in every community across the country. It is the deal between Coillte and Gresham House, the venture capital fund, on the acquisition of 100,000 ha of forestry across this country. It is raising huge concerns among members of the public. They want to know what is going on, what has been agreed, what the Government was aware of, whether this was signed off by Cabinet and when the Cabinet was made aware of these particular proposals. We need not only a fu…

The grim news that we all heard this morning has had a big impact right across this country, in every single home, as we come up to Christmas. On my behalf, on behalf of members of the Regional Group, and of Deputy Cathal Berry, I extend my heartfelt sympathy to the Rooney family and to the community of Newtowncunningham on the tragic death of Private Seán Rooney. Seán's death reminds us all of how difficult and dangerous the work is that our Defence Forces personnel carry out in such volatile regions on behalf of …

According to a survey which I commissioned from Ireland Thinks, there are 230,000 people in Ireland who are suffering from conditions associated with long Covid, yet we have failed to establish a network of clinics to treat patients that has been promised for the last 15 months. It is now taking more than a year for people to access the long Covid clinic at St. Vincent's University Hospital, Dublin, and the only dedicated clinic for management of neurological issues associated with long Covid, based at the Mater ho…

Thanks to the Covid pandemic, there is now a realisation that delivering broadband to every home in Ireland has the potential to transform our economy, nowhere more than in rural Ireland. We have witnessed a spike in local house prices as tech jobs have relocated from the Dublin docks to rural townlands, but this happened by default, not design. It is now time to act strategically to bring foreign direct investment, FDI, jobs to every village in Ireland.

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. The reality is that the State is investing significantly in building communications infrastructure right across this country. By the middle of next year, 58% of households in Ireland will have access to a pure fibre connection but the difficulty is that we now need to exploit the investment to bring high-value jobs into every single community. This happened by default during the Covid pandemic. As we know, IDA Ireland is now redoubling efforts to bring the jobs back to t…

We can play around with words all we like. While 50% of the jobs are outside Dublin, there are very few of them outside the cities. If we are going to get a proper regional spread, it must be outside centres such as Galway The Minister of State is aware that in our region this is where all the jobs are going currently. We spent a huge amount of public money on broadband infrastructure. We spent a huge amount of public money, which is being allocated at the moment for urban and rural regeneration, to make our towns …

The Government has set out a target of having 50% of jobs outside Dublin. While it is achieving that, the difficulty is that the vast majority of jobs are still located in cities and that the provincial towns are losing out, in particular on foreign direct investment. What are we going to do to address that?

In Project Ireland 2040, we set out a hub and spoke strategy. Athlone was one of the towns designated for growth to become a potential new city and to help attract IDA Ireland and FDI jobs into the region. That is happening successfully in Athlone, which is fast becoming the silicon heartland. It now has more tech jobs per capita than anywhere in northern Europe. However the difficulty is that the other towns in the area, namely, Longford, Roscommon, Ballinasloe, Mullingar and Tullamore are not benefiting. The spok…

I am glad the Minister of State mentioned that because as I have said to the Tánaiste over the past two years, 15 minutes up the road from Athlone is the town of Ballinasloe. As we know there is a limited ability to expand or bring a large investment into Athlone either on the Roscommon side or the Westmeath side because the industrial lands are not there. There is a 50-acre land bank available in the town of Ballinasloe that is in public ownership. IDA Ireland has point-blank refused to acquire those lands where t…

We have plenty of very successful hubs in Roscommon.

Tá fíorfháilte roimh Uachtarán an Choimisiúin Eorpaigh go dtí Teach Laighean inniu. I thank the President of the Commission, Dr. von der Leyen, most sincerely for addressing the Oireachtas today marking our 50th year as a member of the European Union. Over those years, Ireland has developed both socially and economically with the assistance of the European Union. As a people, we are proud members of the European family, a relationship that many of us had taken for granted until Brexit challenged it. We must all now…

Tá fíorfháilte roimh Uachtarán an Choimisiúin Eorpaigh go dtí Teach Laighean inniu. I thank the President of the Commission, Dr. von der Leyen, most sincerely for addressing the Oireachtas today marking our 50th year as a member of the European Union. Over those years, Ireland has developed both socially and economically with the assistance of the European Union. As a people, we are proud members of the European family, a relationship that many of us had taken for granted until Brexit challenged it. We must all now…

It is taking more than a year for people to access the long Covid clinic at St. Vincent's University Hospital in Dublin. Despite a growing body of research evidence indicating that many patients with long Covid have neurological issues, the HSE has recruited only one neurologist for long Covid patients throughout the country. The only other clinic managing patients with neurological issues, based in the Mater hospital, is set to close at the end of next month due to the HSE's failure to even respond to the business…

The Mater.

I move amendment No. 5: In page 5, between lines 26 and 27, to insert the following: “10. Section 69(1) of the Principal Act is amended, in the definition of “medical examination” by the insertion of the word “virological” after “bacteriological,”.”. I will speak to amendments Nos. 5 and 6 because they are the same. I do not wish to tick tack back and forth on the same set of amendments. I tabled amendments Nos. 5 and 6 on the issue of long Covid, about which I spoke at length during Second Stage of the Bill. I wan…

I thank the Minister for her response. I would love if we had a situation where we could amend the legislation. We cannot propose that, as the Minister knows. She is meeting me halfway and I acknowledge that. I accept this is not a black and white situation. Covid-19 was widespread. My point, however, is that, in all probability, the vast majority of those front-line workers contracted that virus through their employment. We have the position where, on the basis of probability, the State has paid in respect of medi…

I move amendment No. 7: In page 6, after line 33, to insert the following: “Report 13. The Minister shall, within 6 months, lay before both Houses of the Oireachtas a report on the application of the provisions contained in this section to TÚS and Rural Social Scheme Supervisors and Assistant Supervisors.”. The amendment seeks equality of treatment for community employment supervisors. There is provision in the legislation under sections 12 and 17 for the ex gratia scheme for community employment scheme supervisors…

Neither do I, but it is the only way I can table these amendments.

I move amendment No. 32: In page 30, between lines 25 and 26, to insert the following: "(13) The Minister shall within 180 days of the passing of this Act lay before the Houses of the Oireachtas a report on provision for a reduction in the levy in recognition of the public information service provided by independent radio stations.". I thank the Minister for facilitating engagement with her officials on our amendment since we discussed it on Committee Stage. When I was the Minister responsible for communications an…

The Minister should know we are concerned about country music as well as soul music.