The events of the past week have had a profound impact on our country. I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere condolences to Ashling's family and to her boyfriend, friends, colleagues and all who knew and loved her. I hope that they take some solace from knowing that a nation stands behind them and that at vigils up and down the country people came together to share their heartbreak and anger. Many people have talked about this as a watershed moment and I truly hope that is right because too ma…

I thank the Ceann Comhairle and all the staff for their support and patience this year and wish everybody a very merry Christmas. This week, Balance for Better Business reported that the target of 30% female representation on boards in our 20 most successful listed companies has not just been achieved but has actually been surpassed. That is a huge achievement. As the Tánaiste knows, I came to the Dáil from the corporate world and it is my firm belief that this progress needs to be replicated in all companies acros…

As we head into Christmas week, it is worth reiterating the value of antigen testing for anyone who has met up with or who plans to meet up with friends and family. I have been speaking about this a lot recently because, when used correctly, antigen tests are extremely effective, particularly in situations where people are asymptomatic. With the Omicron variant so transmissible and in our community, it is more important than ever that we use antigen tests before and after meeting with groups or engaging in indoor s…

On the topic of energy suppliers and the cost of utility bills, it is really important that we consider the number of people who, on the advice of the Government, are working from home. Working from home is having a huge impact on the cost of utility bills, as well as the general increases that we have been talking about today. Many people are spending a lot more time at home, which is contributing to increases in their bills. I have been contacted by a number of constituents who have taken steps to retrofit their …

I am really pleased to hear the Minister of State confirm that we have secure electricity supplies. It was not long ago that we heard the leader of the Opposition predict that the Government would not be able to keep the lights on this winter. Scaremongering like that can have a profound impact, especially when it happens in this Chamber. I am pleased to hear the Minister of State confirm that there are no planned blackouts and we are not preparing for that.

I want to use this opportunity to put a query to the Minister of State that I got through my constituency office from a couple-----

It is. This relates to a couple living in Lucan who wish to install a new solar panel system which is coming in at a cost of €9,000. They are hoping to apply for, and are likely to get, the grant for €3,000 towards that. That still leaves a shortfall of €6,000. Would couples like that be eligible for the no-interest loans that the Minister of State is speaking about or is there the opportunity to enhance the schemes of those grants to make these solar panels and renewable energy products more affordable to people?

My question is related to the previous one in that it concerns illegal dumping. Will additional money be made available next year to fund anti-dumping initiatives?

That update was really great to hear. Unfortunately, littering and fly-tipping have become bigger and bigger issues recently. I commend the work of Tidy Towns throughout the country and particularly in my areas of Clondalkin, Rathcoole, Saggart, Brittas, Newcastle and Lucan. They do tremendous work using some of the grant funding the Minister of State mentioned and working with local authorities to make a big difference on the ground. Fly-tipping is a particularly big issue in the rural areas I represent, such as S…

That is really good advice and I will certainly pass it on to the county councillors in my area. Councillors Shirley O'Hara, Kenneth Egan, Vicki Casserly, Baby Pereppadan and others are doing a great deal of work to respond to littering in particular. Turning to on-street recycling, I acknowledge we have invested substantially throughout the pandemic in new bins for parks, villages, towns and cities. With so much of our waste now capable of being recycled, is there a greater opportunity to consider on-street recycl…

I fully agree with the Tánaiste that we need to invest in innovation and science and continue to incentivise that, given we all rely on innovation and investment in science when it comes to the research and development of the vaccines that are saving lives throughout the world. This is a worldwide pandemic, which is why it is so important that initiatives such as COVAX are happening and that we are donating 1.3 million vaccine doses to poorer countries. None of us will get out of this until all of us get out of it.

The integrity of our planning system can be summed up in one word - transparency. This means transparency in our planning laws, consultation, decision-making and appeals process. Pre-planning is a lesser known but very important part of the planning system, especially when it comes to large-scale developments. It is also a very important element of this Bill, which will deal with those developments. We all accept that meaningful collaboration with communities and residents is key to good planning. It is how develop…

I thank the Minister for his reply on the specific question around websites, which was very encouraging. The websites worked very well when it came to SHDs, but there were some shortfalls. Part of that is the search engine optimisation issue. If one sits down and googles "Palmerstown + SHD" or "Lucan + SHD", one cannot automatically find the planning website for which one is looking. It is great that the Minister will now be introducing this requirement through regulation. Can he make sure those regulations, or the…

I agree with what the Minister said around the regulations and why they are so badly needed. Also on a couple of points that were made around consistency, the guidelines provide a huge opportunity to give consistency. The Department, through the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, is working at the moment on rural housing guidelines to replace existing guidelines. Things like that are so important. When you look at one-off rural housing in South Dublin County Council, for example, and how differently the local n…

In recent years, we have delivered significant improvements in our country's approach to women's healthcare. The repeal of the eighth amendment was a landmark decision and the recent budget announcement to provide free contraception to young women was welcome, but women's healthcare goes far beyond contraception and family planning. Menopause can be a challenging time for women physically, mentally and, according to studies, professionally. In 2019, the women's health task force recommended that we needed to improv…

I would like to use this as an opportunity to welcome the historic investment we have in the delivery of much-needed social and affordable homes in this budget. Young people, as we all know, feel locked out of the housing market. I do not want to live in a city or in a country where home ownership is something to which my generation cannot aspire. That is why I am glad that budget 2022 will help people in that situation. It allocates significant investment to local authorities to deliver affordable homes on public …

-----as is its opposition to Housing for All.

Budget 2022 will help provide for many families up and down this country in so many ways, but in particular on housing.

I just want to say to Deputy Doherty that I sit on the Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government, and Heritage. Day-in and day-out and week-in and week-out I am working cross-party with some of his colleagues to try to ensure the housing crisis is resolved, and I very much do not like him coming in here telling me that I do not care as I do not think that is a fair thing to say. It is going to cost €10 billion a year to deliver 35,000 homes, which is a minimum figure. We need different funding streams to me…

-----where they put forward some ideas as to how savings and cash flow could be utilised to help invest in things like approved housing bodies. It is unrealistic to say their savings, even if the Central Bank rules allowed it, would resolve this issue. It is a complex and multifaceted issue and problem and that is why we need a variety of funding streams to deliver a variety of homes, be those apartments, houses, rental or owner-occupier. There is no one solution, which is why Housing for All is so multifaceted and…