It has been positive to see the joint Oireachtas committee report on pensions has created debate around the retirement age and broader issues related to pensions and the funding of them into the future. A key issue for the committee in overcoming our pension challenge over the next 50 years is the introduction of legislation banning mandatory retirement in employment contracts to apply to new contracts and, retrospectively, to current work contracts. It would give people the option to go beyond their present retire…

Next month will be the 20th anniversary of the Taoiseach's meeting with Ms Margaret Best and I in the Department of Health on the introduction by the State of a no-fault vaccine compensation scheme. Over the past two decades, while the Governments of the day have been committed to the introduction of such a scheme in the interests of public health and the individuals concerned, we have always been one report away from action. Ireland is one of the few countries in Europe where children and families have to go to co…

There are 436 children awaiting physiotherapy appointments in County Galway, some of whom have been waiting 176 weeks for such appointments. There are 95 children awaiting these appointments in County Roscommon. On speech and language waiting lists, 971 children were awaiting initial assessment in County Galway at the end of January, with an average waiting time of six months, and 119 children in County Roscommon are awaiting initial assessment. With regard to the waiting lists for occupational therapy, 103 childre…

Every day I receive complaints from constituents about the dropping of mobile phone calls. Every day I ask people to move their location so that I can hear what they are saying because of the quality of mobile phone coverage. The Minister of State, coming from a rural constituency, will know exactly what I am talking about. On 1 February the Government launched the new national digital strategy, Harnessing Digital - The Digital Ireland Framework. One of the objectives set out in the framework was making connectivit…

There is big ambition for providing fibre but none for mobile services. I am talking about establishing a shared rural network with all the operators on it. This would be complementary to the national broadband plan. There are similar models already operating in other markets, such as the UK and Germany. In fact, such a shared rural network is currently being built out in Northern Ireland. The estimated cost of doing that in Ireland is between €30 million and €50 million. That is small money and it would also slash…

As the Minister will know, the Cabinet made a decision today on the compulsory use of face masks. This is causing a huge amount of anxiety, particularly among older people, who now say they are afraid to go on public transport because face masks are no longer compulsory. Can we have a debate in this House on the matter? Can we have the detail of the evidence provided to the Government and a debate to tease out the issues in this regard? There is a lot of concern out there among people who are immunocompromised and …

Carbon tax is supposed to be an environmental tax to drive behavioural change when it comes to the use of fossil fuels. In such circumstances the most effective tax is the one that brings in little revenue because it is doing what it should do, namely, driving behavioural change. Consider the plastic bag tax. It was so successful that it soon became a problem because one of the key concerns of the Government was what to do to get more revenue. The focus of environmental taxes should never be on revenue, it should b…

I was not aware the question had been grouped. The last two years have been a very challenging time for businesses due to the Covid-19 restrictions. While larger grocery, pharmacy, hardware and retail outlets maintained or increased trade during the pandemic, smaller retailers faced periods of closure and significantly reduced footfall. On top of that, the costs of energy, fuel and insurance have all risen significantly over the last 18 months. These increases are greatly impacting on the ability of many to continu…

Recent media coverage of robberies, burglaries and assaults on women in rural areas creates widespread fear and insecurity, particularly for older people in rural areas. We can only provide reassurance when the gardaí are given the resources. I accept we cannot have a garda at every crossroads but we need a visible community policing presence across the country.

I welcome the fact that 800 new gardaí will be recruited. How many of these will end up in Roscommon, Longford, and Mayo? As I raised with the Minister for Justice before Christmas, we have had occasions when in half of County Roscommon only one member of An Garda Síochána has been policing an area from Ballyleague on the Longford border to Ballinasloe on the Galway border. In the past three years, 25 gardaí have left that district through promotion, transfer or retirement and not one has been replaced. This situat…

The Garda units in the districts across this large division have gone from units of seven and eight members to units of three and four members. We have had instances where only one member of An Garda Síochána has been available for a large district. That is the reality and that is what is happening on the ground. The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice and Equality produced a report in 2019 which examined rural policing. One of the recommendations made was that a dedicated officer be assigned as an initial point …

Those convicted in our courts of sexual offences against women and children are having their online records wiped away following requests to Google under EU privacy law. It is completely unacceptable, for the sake of the victims who have had to live with the consequences of those perpetrators' actions and any potential future victims, that court reports are being wiped away online. Those convicted of sexual offences should lose the right to be forgotten permanently.

I accept the point made by the Minister, but the reality is that the court system is structured in such a way that convictions are published, decisions are made and judgements are given in public. Guilty parties should not be in a position where they can request and secure the erasure of this information. They are exploiting the privacy laws and this cannot be tolerated under any circumstances. The Minister is correct in that the European Court of Justice decision of 2014 gives the right to request it, but it also …

With all due respect, telling people that they can appeal a decision when the information is already taken down is no good. The Minister sits at the table of the European Council of Ministers along with her colleagues. I ask her and her colleagues to provide clarification and direction to the technology companies across Europe on this. In terms of convictions for the assault and rape of children and women and adults in this or any other country in Europe, those individuals should be refused point-blank the right to…

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 electricity, grid connections and backup supplies for existing and already planned speculative data centres. The Government decided in 2018 to stop the practice whereby those struggling to pay electricity bills were subsidising these speculative developers and instead make data centres pay their …

I am referring to the existing system, not the pie in the sky one.

Lockdown has been a terrible experience for us all, confined to our own communities for weeks on end. However, some people have effectively been in self-isolation in their own homes for the past 460 weeks. Sadly, there is no indication as to when these restrictions are going to be lifted. We want the Government to provide the funding to establish a comprehensive set of transport supports for people with a disability as a matter of priority. These people are effectively being marooned and isolated in their own homes…

As I stand here, people have been waiting three and a half years in acute pain for an orthopaedic appointment and a whopping four and a half years for a respiratory appointment. That is a 54-month waiting list for respiratory appointments and we are about to face into a potential avalanche of respiratory cases as a result of long Covid. According to research by the Oireachtas Library & Research Service, which I commissioned, an estimated 114,500 people and rising in Ireland have long Covid. It is rapidly becoming a…

I am not disputing that the Government is spending money - this year we will spend €40,000 every single minute on the health service - but just throwing money at our waiting lists does not work within the health service. We need to see structural reform. For example, take the rapid access haematuria clinic - the blood and urine clinic - at Roscommon University Hospital, where 10% of referred patients have been diagnosed with cancer. It treats 70% of patients in one visit and 100% of patients are seen within the 28-…

It would be nice to have the sterilisation facilities in the empty room there that the Minister went to see a couple of weeks ago.