I recently met a group of people affected by long Covid. It affects many people across the State, as does post-acute Covid syndrome, although they should not be treated as the same condition. The roll-out of units to support people with long Covid has been quite slow. There is a budget line for Cork but I understand that the unit is not yet open. It is also very much focused on the respiratory without taking into account some of the other disciplines needed to support people. What is the update on the operation of …

I believe people have an inherent sense of fairness as we have seen with various issues. What is affecting this at the minute is conflict, war and multiple other things. That has undoubtedly been a significant factor in everything has happened with energy. When people see energy companies making very significant super profits that offends their sense of basic fairness. It is for that reason that we in Sinn Féin and other parties on the left advanced the case for a windfall tax when the big spike in energy prices to…

I apologise that I must leave as soon as I have made my contribution to rejoin a meeting with a group from my constituency so I will not hear the Minister’s response. The Minister will be very aware of the issues in relation to Beaumont nursing home. The motion is about the sector generally. It is facing potentially an existential crisis. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, will be very aware of my concerns on this. Some of my colleagues have given examples of some of the people who live in these homes. It is wor…

From a Sinn Féin point of view, apprenticeships are something we have been pushing for a long time. I believe the Minister and the Minister of State get it, but there is a difference between getting it and delivering it. I think they understand the cultural shift that is needed, as well as the fact that significant policy shifts are needed. The Minister, Deputy Harris, touched on it himself earlier: some of the most significant challenges exist not only among young people themselves leaving school but also among th…

Mahon is a very proud, strong community. Incidentally, it is a community which has welcomed a number of people fleeing the conflict in Ukraine. I take this opportunity to extend my apologies to Mahon Community Centre, the Mahon Family Resource Centre and everyone involved in the Mahon Welcomes event happening today. I am here because I have a piece of legislation later on. It is a resilient community and has responded well to this crisis. In 2009, there were 31 gardaí in Blackrock Garda Station. In 2017, there were…

I appreciate a substantial element of this comes back to the Garda Commissioner, but there is a feeling in Cork that as new gardaí have come out of Templemore over the course of the past few years, Cork has not had a fair shake compared with the other significant urban areas. There are a number of stations - I am sure the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach can think of examples too - that are either at or below the numbers they were at seven or eight years ago, despite the fact Garda numbers have increased overall. It has to …

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, for his attendance. This legislation is somewhat peculiar. I am sure Deputies looking at the Dáil schedule will have wondered what it is and why we are discussing a local area. The reason is that this issue arose as a consequence of the way in which previous legislation was drafted. The Bill affects only two areas, to my knowledge, both of which are referenced. They are Carrigaline in my area and Clogherhead, County Lou…

I appreciate the sincere approach to this legislation. I hope that we can build on this and that the officials from the Minister of State's Department might be willing to meet me to discuss this. I am very familiar with the process of expansion of the city boundary and it certainly caused plenty of headaches and challenges, in my experience. It was something that needed to happen and it did end the partition of my own native Togher, which was split across two local authorities for 40 years. The intention was that t…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the youth justice strategy. It is a vitally important area of work. Previous speakers have spoken of the role the community and voluntary sector plays in keeping young people active and busy, whether it is through sport, drama, music and different things like that. That is vitally important. We are very fortunate in this country to have a such a strong voluntary spirit and so many people who are willing to give of their time to assist with that. I want to pay tribute to that, a…

I commend Deputy Clarke and Deputy Mairéad Farrell on bringing this motion forward. The summer months are meant to be a positive time for parents. They are meant to be a time to spend with their family and children and where good memories are made. Unfortunately, for a lot of parents the summer months are a very stressful and worrying time because they are looking to September and are looking at the lists of uniforms, workbooks and so on coming in, as well as at lists of textbooks at secondary school and fees at th…

I have previously raised the issue of the Beaumont Residential Care home in Cork, where there are 50-odd residents who are very worried. Their families are very worried. Care Choice deferred its decision to pull out of the fair deal in light of the fact that, as I had asked, the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF, would meet with it. There have been meetings.

There will be another meeting next week. While the meetings have happened, there is not full satisfaction in relation to the engagement. It is not for us to negotiate rates, etc. I ask the Ministers to urge the NTPF to approach that meeting with an open mind and a willingness to move to resolve this and ease the fears of those at the residence.

I thank People Before Profit-Solidarity for bringing forward this Bill. We support the Bill and look forward to teasing through the issues on Committee Stage. This is a very important issue. The Government has a duty and responsibility to abolish sub-minimum rates of pay that are used to exploit young workers and have no place in our society. Equal pay for equal work is fundamentally what this is about. The State needs to recognise this principle and end the exploitation of young workers. My colleagues, Senator Gav…

I do not come from Aghabog. I come from a place that is quite different from Aghabog. I am encouraged by the progress of the club.

An Tóchar would have been the causeway through the bog once upon a time. I am encouraged by Aghabog's progress. As a next step, perhaps we can stick in hurling with any teacher with the hands for it and they can emulate their county heroes who did so well last weekend. In the community I come from in Togher on the south side of Cork city, we would have been a rural community until a few decades ago. My work is with rural communities in my constituency in Ballygarvan, Ballinahassig, Tracton, Raffeen and places like …

I will start with something that the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, will not disagree with. The men and women here in the Gallery and across the State are heroes. There is no question about that. I know the Minister will agree with that. They put their lives on the line. They risk life and limb. They are the people who I, the Minister or our loved ones could call upon in our hour of need in the most terrible of circumstances. The risks they take are enormous. They do this on top of other jobs, on top of other ca…

Very often for good reason, the regulations in a whole variety of areas mean it can be very challenging for community organisations to ensure their affairs are run correctly. It is not necessarily that we are rolling back any regulations but it is about how we can assist organisations to ensure they are compliant with a whole variety of issues on which I will expand in a minute.

We are lucky in this country that the community and voluntary sector is truly a community and voluntary sector. In many other countries, there is not the same proportion of genuine community and voluntary people who are not paid. The participation of people who are not paid is much more significant than it might be in other places. I am and have been a member of a number of boards in my local community. If an organisation is looking for new trustees, on top of the significant responsibilities people have when they …

It is not necessarily just about the time and effort, although those are considerations. There is also a cost implication to some of this stuff. People are trying to ensure boards or community associations are properly run. There may be three, four, five or six people employed. Some organisations would not even have that many and a lot of them might only have two or three employees. Those organisations are trying to ensure they have the correct policies and all that kind of stuff. Perhaps they have to have some sor…

The community recognition fund is a significant initiative to support communities hosting people from Ukraine and other countries. Will it be possible to get an update on whether the fund is on track to allocate the target of 60% funding in 2023?