Based on research that I commissioned from the Oireachtas Library and Research Service, we have somewhere between 145,000 and 300,000 cases of long Covid in Ireland, with a surge of these cases presenting to our already overwhelmed health service as a result of the spread of the Omicron variant late last year. I am concerned that our health service is sleepwalking into a potential avalanche of chronic illness cases as a result of long Covid.

I welcome that these post-acute and long Covid clinics are being established, but we have been a long time waiting for that. I was promised last September that they would be put in place. We are being told that, until they are put in place at hospital level, there will not be a network back to the GPs. The Minister has provided advice this morning that people experiencing long Covid should go to their GPs. GPs are overwhelmed and it is impossible to get an appointment. When someone goes to a GP, the GP does not hav…

The difficulty is that we are experiencing an avalanche of these cases. Somewhere between one in ten and one in five people who have Covid end up with long Covid. They are presenting at GPs' surgeries at the moment but there is no referral pathway in place for the majority of them. We are looking at a minimum of 145,000 people added on top of the 1,610 people already within hospitals suffering acute Covid today. In the numerous responses that I have received from the HSE, it has stated that it will build on the exi…

The blockchain in the beef industry is tomorrow's offal. Whoever controls the blockchain controls the sector. This must be publicly owned and should not be let fall into the hands of one or two vested interests. This is the last throw of the dice for beef farmers in this country to have the opportunity to have some element of control of the market and it needs to be led by the Minister.

I welcome the measures the Minister is taking in respect of market transparency but I am deeply disappointed with his response. As he will be aware, primary producers in Wyoming and New York have gone down this road because it provides an alternative route to market for a premium product that can have a direct financial return for the primary producer. The only way this will work here is if it is led, owned and controlled by the State. The Minister stated he will allow matters to continue as they have been for gene…

The difficulty is that if this is not led by the Minister, it will not happen and we will not ensure there is an alternative route to market. We have handed over €6 million to Bord Bia to promote suckler beef, even though that body publicly advised the Minister's predecessor that it does not believe there is resonance in the market for suckler beef. I do not know, therefore, why we gave it €6 million. If that money were to be invested in a publicly owned and controlled blockchain, it would provide a significant fin…

Last Friday, the European Council took the decision to reduce our dependence on Russian gas and to address high energy costs. As natural gas is such a key element of electricity generation here in Ireland, that decision has the potential to reduce costs here. However, we have no way of storing natural gas in the short term. We cannot capitalise on this Council decision, even though we have two potential facilities off the Cork coast, namely, the decommissioned facilities in Kinsale and the Seven Heads gas fields. T…

I welcome this legislation. It is positive that we are debating it. One thing that we should set as a benchmark is that no child should ever go to bed hungry. The reality is that no children will ever reach their full potential if they are sitting at a school desk, hungry. According to the State agency, Safefood, 10% of our population in Ireland lives in food poverty. As a food producing country and a major food exporter, we dump nearly 2 tonnes of food every single minute. As a country, we dump more than 1 million…

The childcare sector, like every other sector, is looking at increasing costs right across the board. The cap that is in place for some of them is going to be inoperable because of the dramatic rise in costs. The Minister needs to look at that issue specifically. He also needs to look at the broader issue of affordability. Even in a county like my own, a rural county constituency of Roscommon and east Galway, we have very significant problems on the availability now of childcare because many providers are pulling o…

I want to use my 30 seconds to recognise the passing of the late ambassador, Jim Kelly, who acted on behalf of the State and our people in an exemplary manner during a career that straddled both sides of the Atlantic in the EU and UN, providing him with a unique perspective. He acted as a role model not only for our own missions but many other missions also. I extend my condolences to his wife Anne and his daughters Orla and Ciara, and to the Minister and Jim's colleagues in the Department of Foreign Affairs. Ar dh…

It is estimated that every parish in Ireland has an average 20 undocumented Irish citizens in the US. In reality there are far more from every parish along the western seaboard and in the west of Ireland. We have a unique opportunity with President Biden and his cabinet, which has more members from the west of Ireland than the Irish Cabinet. We need to use these connections. Many Irish citizens have made the United States their home. They have family, children and good jobs there. They are good citizens contributin…

The Minister is correct. It is not just about focusing on the executive branch of government in the United States. The House of Representatives and the Senate are very important in this. The previous Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, appointed the former Deputy John Deasy as a special envoy to the US Congress to work on the issue of the undocumented. He worked very closely with the Minister. He worked very closely with the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin and our mission in Washington to prioritise the passage of …

Hear, hear.

Inflation makes everyone poorer, particularly those on fixed incomes. In Ireland, energy costs have a far greater impact on inflation than in anywhere else in the EU. I want to put three practical suggestions to the Minister. Our electricity prices are among the most expensive in Europe, with Irish families paying, on average, €180 extra for electricity annually. This is partly as a result of Irish families being forced to subsidise the cost of green electricity, grid connections and backup supplies for existing an…

There are reports that the Government is considering a swing mechanism on fossil fuel taxes to address-----

-----oil-price volatility, but this seems to have been shelved. Why is that?

The point I am making on data centres is that families that are struggling to pay electricity bills should not be subsidising the cost of electricity going into the centres. It is immoral and needs to be stopped. May I make a final suggestion to Deputy Donohoe in his role as Minister for Finance and chairman of ECOFIN. We need to see, across the EU, a review of the commodity-trading rules for both oil and gas. While oil production has been maintained in recent times, we have seen price fluctuations in the commodity…

This is Ireland’s first Neurodiversity Celebration Week. Its purpose is to celebrate and raise awareness of the different ways those who are neurodiverse experience and interact with the world around them. Neurodiverse conditions include autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, ADHD, dyslexia and dyspraxia, to name just a few. With the growing waiting list to access supports, we are clearly not doing enough to support those who are neurodiverse. In Roscommon and Galway there are more than 500 children wait…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this legislation. I welcome that we are going to put a statutory interest rate cap in place. It is long overdue in this country. The difficulty is the interest rate cap that is being introduced is far too high. To accept the prevailing interest rates and to enshrine that in law is not acceptable. The legislation will provide the Central Bank the power to recommend future reductions, but the starting point needs to be considerably lower than where it is at the moment, particular…

I move: That Dáil Éireann shall take note of the Report of the Joint Committee on Social Protection, Community and Rural Development and the Islands entitled "Response to the Report of the Commission on Pensions", copies of which were laid before Dáil Éireann on 3rd February, 2022. I am a full-time athlete, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle. I am looking forward to participating in the world indoor games because I have definitely qualified after coming up and down those stairs. I thank the Ceann Comhairle and the Business Co…