Yes.

It is mainly the gas bills.

The establishment of a Citizens' Assembly on Drugs Use is long overdue. Hopefully, this April we will have in position the necessary 100 people to look at this and to consider all aspects of drug use, including recovery facilities, legal and policing issues and the roles of task forces and policing committees. I am a long-time member of the Finglas-Cabra drugs task force. Drugs task forces have done marvellous work with very poor resources. I hope the citizens' assembly will be in a position to look at the financin…

In this housing crisis, no one should be made homeless or be put under that threat. If the eviction ban ends in the coming months and if it is not extended, this threat of homelessness will become a reality for many families. Renters are stressed, anxious and fearful for their future and parents are fearful for the future of their families. It is just not sustainable that people should live with the prospect of being evicted hanging over their heads. We know landlords are leaving the rental sector in large numbers …

My constituency, Dublin North-West, has a varied socioeconomic demographic. Those areas of the constituency that are more economically disadvantaged are vulnerable at the moment to the escalating costs of energy and basic foodstuffs. People are justifiably fearful and anxious about their future. There has been a deluge of rising costs across the board, from increased mortgage rates and spiralling rents to rising energy bills and food becoming more expensive, all of which have made it very difficult for many househo…

I thank the Labour Party for bringing forward this timely motion and I am glad to have the opportunity to speak on this important issue. Many renters now find themselves in a precarious position as the deadline for the end of the eviction ban is fast approaching. It is set to end on 1 April 2023. People are feeling fearful and vulnerable and for many the uncertainty as to whether they will have a place to live after March is putting them under undue stress and anxiety. Without question, there needs to be an extensi…

My constituency of Dublin North-West is unfortunately an area with a very high suicide rate. According to statistics provided to the Joint Committee on Children and Youth Affairs in 2019, one third of young people were struggling with mental health issues. This is a very high figure, particularly as the services are severely underfunded. In the last few years, not much has improved. In fact, the provision of mental health services has gotten much worse. The pandemic has taken a toll on the mental health of young pe…

Tens of thousands of homeowners throughout the country are faced with the prospect of having to find large sums of money to pay for essential remediation works on homes and apartments that have a range of structural defects, including fire safety issues, with either poorly installed or no fire stopping with fire resistant materials in openings or joints between walls and floors, water ingress leading to leaky roofs and water running down the inside of windows leading to mould and dampness in rooms. Campaign groups …

Toll roads and the toll bridges over the River Liffey operate as virtual monopolies. As councils impose restrictions on access to alternative routes or to roads adjacent to toll roads, it is more likely that the individual driver will be diverted, by design, to the toll road. The price increases do not appear substantial but they soon mount up as drivers make multiple trips over the course of a week, month or year. Price increases are happening across the board with the ongoing cost-of-living crisis. Drivers are st…

Under the Government's housing plan, a review of the housing adaptation grant scheme for older people and people with disabilities is under way. Grant limits and income thresholds are being considered. Does the Tánaiste know when this review will be done? Inflation has gone up considerably and has eaten into this.

Good.

I take the opportunity to speak about a couple of concerns of mine. One, in particular, relates to the ability of the fire services to tackle fires in high-rise buildings. There are nine habitable buildings in Dublin above 13 storeys. There is the Alto Vetro, a 16-storey residential complex on the west side of Grand Canal Dock which reaches a height of 51 m; the Capital Dock, which is a mixed-use building with a height of 79 m and 23 storeys; Liberty Hall, which is almost 60 m high and has 16 floors; and, in my con…

The Ombudsman for Children issued a damning report in May 2021, which said that the rights of Traveller children were being violated at the Spring Lane halting site in Cork. The report details what was described as failure after failure to improve living conditions, with children being left in filthy, overcrowded, rat infested, cold and damp living conditions. It was concerning to say the least that families and young children were living in such atrocious and unsafe conditions. The site required a radical overhaul…

The Minister stated that €1.4 million has been allocated to Spring Lane since 2015. I wonder how much of that ended up as an underspend. That is what has happened across the country. We have seen underspend on many projects relating to the Traveller community. I was impressed by the resilience of the community on the halting site. They greeted us and brought us into their homes. Even though the conditions there were so bad, they were still in great spirits and very welcoming. The Minister of State mentioned the tha…

I welcome the firefighters in the Gallery and thank them for bringing this to the Dáil. They are the courageous men and women who put their lives on the line for us daily and we owe them a debt of gratitude. Fire services face huge challenges when it comes to keeping their firefighters ready for the dangerous tasks they face each day, in their response times and in ensuring they can keep communities safe. It is clear there is a developing crisis in the fire service, however, particularly with regard to retention. I…

Maybe he does not understand how the Assembly runs.

I am delighted to speak to this excellent report and I commend the Chair, Deputy Michael Moynihan, and the members of the Joint Committee on Disability Matters on their work in compiling this important report, all the staff who also did Trojan work and the various groups and organisations that contributed and helped put this report together. They were fantastic. I hope that Government takes note of the recommendations and implements them to help improve the lives of those with disabilities who face many struggles a…

Finglas has a long history that needs to be told and displayed for all to see. At the heart of Finglas village are the ruins of the old St. Canice's church, with its ancient graveyard beside Barrack Lane. Despite being at the heart of a busy modern suburban town, framed by housing estates and a dual carriageway leading to the M50, the old church and its grounds and graveyards are full of trees, greenery and birdsong and a haven for wild animals. The old church offers visitors a surprisingly quiet and tranquil place…

I know that the graveyard has received funding but the funding is running out and the works are nowhere near satisfactory at present. I appeal to the Minister of State and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to talk to DCC about the need for further funding. A substantial amount is needed for this property. If it were not for local people who look after this, such as the Lynch family who have done decades of magnificent work on the graveyard, Finglas tidy towns, volunteers and the Finglas histo…

I welcome this Bill, which amends the Mental Health Act 2001 to provide for the right of minors over the age of 16 to consent to mental health treatment. It corrects the anomaly whereby minors aged 16 and over have the right to consent to treatment in general healthcare but do not have similar rights in consenting to mental health treatment. The Bill brought forward by my colleagues, Deputies Ward and Mythen, will ensure a minor aged over 16 will be recognised before the law and will be able to make informed decisi…