The fact is farmers are paying carbon tax. They do not have an alternative to diesel for their tractors. We have an opportunity here to support innovation in the growing of grass and in carbon sequestration on farms. The Minister refuses to accept this amendment but I am pressing it.

I move amendment No. 2: In page 6, to delete lines 15 to 21 and substitute the following: “(a) in subsection (1)— (i) by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (a): “(a) maintaining, in accordance with Part 4, oil stocks, including measures to reduce the demand for oil within the State,” and (ii) by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (c): “(c) (i) collecting and recovering the levy, and (ii) paying into the Climate Action Fund, out of the proceeds of the levy collected and …

I am disappointed. We were told there was a very green hue to this new Government, and here we have an opportunity to look at a reduction in oil demand in the country and to use expertise that is available to us. This is related to amendment No. 4, which we will come to in a moment. I will press amendment No. 2.

I move amendment No. 3: In page 7, between lines 29 and 30, to insert the following: “(d) by the insertion of the following new paragraph: “(j) costs through the Climate Action Fund to support measures to reduce demand for and the consumption of oil within the State;”.”.

I move amendment No. 4: In page 8, lines 9 to 13, to delete all words from and including “month.”,” in line 9 down to and including line 13 and substitute the following: “month.”.”. For technical reasons, on the Opposition benches I cannot table an amendment that incurs a cost on the Exchequer, even though it would bring in additional income. What I am doing is deleting this particular subsection in the hope that the Minister will see the light and come back, following his discussion in Seanad Éireann tomorrow, wit…

Absolutely not.

You can start.

This is a levy on the fuel distributors and what the Minister is doing by rejecting my proposal is giving a free pass to the fossil fuel energy and I am disappointed that a Green Party Government would do this. I will press the amendment.

I move amendment No. 5: In page 11, between lines 37 and 38, to insert the following: "(e) The Minister shall lay such directions or guidelines under this subsection before each House of the Oireachtas.".

On my behalf and that the Regional Group of Members, I congratulate the Minister, Deputy Calleary, and the Ministers of State, Deputies Chambers and Fleming. I know all three would not like being appointed in the manner they have been appointed but I congratulate them nonetheless. I particularly congratulate the Minister, Deputy Calleary, on his accession to a full seat at the Cabinet table. Very few people have secured the opportunity to sit around the Cabinet table and it is a great honour and a huge responsibili…

The last Government and this Government committed to the reform of the nursing home fair deal legislation. It has been promised for the last four years to prohibit the forced sale of farms and businesses across the country of older people resident in nursing homes and to remove the effective ban on the option for older people of leasing out up to 9,000 vacant homes. At present, those people are being charged three times under the fair deal rules if they lease a house out, rather than just once if they leave it vaca…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important Bill. On my way to the convention centre, I remembered that it is now three years since I originally put forward this particular concept. I want to thank the current and former management and board of the National Oil Reserves Agency. They put in a tremendous effort to deal with a deficit, outstanding debt and the fact they did not have oil reserves available to them. Since the establishment of the fund, they have dealt with all of that and, as a result, have cre…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion and thank my colleague, Deputy Kerrane, for bringing it forward. One thing we all must accept is that Covid-19 has changed things utterly and we simply cannot dismiss matters that would have been rejected out of hand by Governments in the past. Who would have thought that a Government would introduce a one-tier health system overnight or ban rent increases, a policy that had been opposed so hard previously? The same approach is now needed with regard to childcare an…

I welcome the opportunity to address the Minister. I wish her the best of luck in what is a challenging Department. I think the acronym relating to her new Department will include every letter of the alphabet. I wish her and the Aire Stáit the very best of luck. I will turn to the Aire Stáit initially to say that the communities across the Gaeltacht are deeply disappointed that the Gaeltacht portfolio has been sellotaped on to what is already a very large Department. As the Minister knows first hand, the Gaeltacht …

There is one minute left for the Minister to reply. I know she is anxious to reply.

With all due respect, I did leave one minute for the Minister. It was a simple question and one minute would have been sufficient to answer that question.

The Minister has indicated twice that she wishes to answer.

The Acting Chairman is doing well up there today. We will take note of that.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this legislation and I congratulate the Minister of State on his appointment to this particular Department. I have no doubt that he will do exceptionally well there. I wish him the best of luck in the Department. The big focus for many of us is local business. These are the companies that are not exporting. They are not big American multinationals but they are the lifeblood of the economy in places right across the regions. These companies employ 58% of the total workforce, or …

This week, it has been agreed that the Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Tony Holohan, is to be awarded the freedom of the city of Dublin, an honour he deserves. Together with the now Tánaiste and the now Minister with responsibility for further and higher education, he was the steady hand we needed as we navigated our way through the pandemic, and the nation drew reassurance from his calm demeanour during his daily briefings. The time is now right to recognise also the work of all front-line health workers. Many of our d…