The Deputy is over time.

Deputy Cullinane has indicated he wishes to come in. He has 30 seconds.

Deputy Stanton wishes to come in briefly.

Question No. 86, in the name of Deputy Ó Murchú, will be taken by Deputy Ó Laoghaire.

I wish the Minister of State well in his new role. Communities across the State are in serious need of proper investment with many people left without the facilities one would expect in any thriving community. Doctors, banks, schools, youth facilities, primary healthcare centres and childcare facilities are some of the amenities one would anticipate being at the heart of any small town or suburb that has been planned in a way that properly provides for its population. Large-scale housing is needed but we must remem…

The latest Mental Health Commission report into CAMHS must be a wake-up call to the Minister for Health and the Government. The issue of access to mental health services for young people is not a new one. It is time for the Government to get its finger out and look at proper solutions to fix this instead of us constantly fumbling around in the dark. The aim of this motion is to provide some solutions for the future of mental health services and to present Sinn Féin's plan for a better future for service users. The …

I again thank the Minister of State and the Department for the work they have done on this, and I look forward to working with his team in the future. As he acknowledged, we still have a way to go. I thank also my party colleague Councillor Joanna Byrne, who was a member of the Minister of State's working group that helped get the Bill through. I look forward to working with him to get the other issues over the line.

I welcome this legislation. It is a really progressive step. I thank the Minister of State and his officials. I take the opportunity to commend both the Association of Irish Local Government, AILG, and the Local Authority Members Association, LAMA, on all the work they have done as representatives of the voice of councillors. They have kept this issue on the Minister of State's agenda for many years. While I have the opportunity, I also thank my party representative, Councillor Joanna Byrne, who sat on the Minister…

I wish to advise the House of the following matters in respect of which notice has been given under Standing Order 37 and the name of the Member in each case: Deputies Thomas Gould and Mick Barry - to discuss the loss of jobs at the Butcher's Block in Cork. Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin - to discuss the proposed reconfiguration of primary schools in Raheny. Deputy Dessie Ellis - to discuss incorporating the suitability test into the national car test, NCT, for small public service vehicles, SPSVs. Deputy Paul Donnelly -…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. I also welcome the fact the Government made increases to core social welfare rates. However, it is important to note that they are not the solution to keeping people out of poverty. For some time now, the Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice has been calling for a working age payment based on the minimum essential standard of living, and we support these calls. The consumer price index rose by 9.2% between October 2021 and October 2022. Even after these increase…

Fine Gael took office on 9 March 2011 and has been in power ever since. Fianna Fáil has been in bed with Fine Gael and facilitated four years of confidence and supply before forming a government alongside the Green Party at the last election. For years, we have listened to housing Minister after housing Minister and Taoiseach after Taoiseach tell us that the housing crisis cannot be fixed overnight. Budget after budget has been branded as being the budget that would fix the housing crisis. Eleven years on, we know …

The austerity years saw previous Governments introduce devastating cuts to vital services, which left many communities across this city feeling like they had to fend for themselves. The fallout from cutbacks in Garda numbers can be seen on our streets. Although Garda staffing has been restored to close to the levels we had in 2008, gardaí are still not visible in our communities. Those numbers have begun to drop again, with the latest Garda figures now showing we have 200 fewer gardaí than we had in 2020. The day-t…

The Ombudsman for Children launched a report in May 2021 detailing the very serious concerns for residents in Spring Lane, Cork. It found that the living conditions were deplorable. The ombudsman’s report had ten recommendations, with 17 actions which needed to be taken. Last November, Deputies Ellis, Joan Collins and I visited the site as part of the committee and, to be upfront, we were absolutely appalled at the conditions the Traveller community had to put up with. They raised concerns with us on the day and we…

I thank the Minister of State. I agree with her. Although the response from the Department speaks to looking to the future, we have to support the families on the halting site in the now. I appeal to her to go back to the Department and ask it to look at the issues this community is experiencing in the context of maintenance. The Department needs to ensure that, for now, the roof is fixed and the concrete bay put in, and then we can go forward with the other plans. The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Key Issues affec…

I ask Members to extend a warm céad míle fáilte to the Right Honourable Leo Docherty, MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, who is in the Distinguished Visitors Gallery. He is accompanied by H.E. Mr. Paul Johnston, British ambassador to Ireland.

Is that agreed? Agreed. Is that three minutes and five minutes?

Before we move on, the speaker from the Independent Group has not arrived yet. I propose we go to the Minister of State. If the speaker comes in, with agreement, we can allow the Deputy in before Deputy Mattie McGrath. Is that agreed? Agreed.

This Bill has been talked about by the Government for a long time. It is something that many stakeholders who work with minorities have been talking about for years. It is important to note some of the criticisms and concerns around the impact of the Bill on people's rights to freedom of expression. My party has reservations too. It is important that we get this Bill right and do not rush the process. We have seen significant changes since the heads of Bill were published. It is far from perfect and needs a lot of …

Moving on to the Rural Independent Group, there are four speakers who have two minutes each. The first speaker is Deputy Michael Collins.

I ask the Deputy to stick to the motion.