I thank the Rural Independents and welcome this rare opportunity to talk about inshore fishing. Despite being the largest segment of our fishing sector and providing the most employment, it is too often overlooked. This is a timely discussion as the National Inshore Fishermen's Association has finally, thanks to its members’ tireless efforts, achieved producer organisation status. I was delighted to be able to assist them in this process, and acknowledgement is also due to the Minister for his support. However, des…

The proposed partnership between Coillte and a UK-based investment fund is a bad deal for multiple reasons. It is also symptomatic of this and the previous Government's disastrous approach to forestry. The forestry sector has been in crisis for years. The Government is only reaching one quarter of its own afforestation targets and its agricultural policies are pushing farmers away from forestry. The planned Coillte deal has been opposed by the Irish Farmers' Association, called a scandal by the Irish Wildlife Trust…

I want to know what the Tánaiste's Government knows about Coillte's plan to sell off vast tracts of rural Ireland to a British investment fund and when it first learned about it? Last November, the Government announced €1.3 billion in new forestry supports. I welcomed the announcement and thought it was a good news story for farmers, who would be encouraged to diversify and begin planting trees in greater numbers. Conveniently, the Government forgot to mention that large swathes of this much-needed State investment…

In one way, the silver lining from this issue arising is that we are finally having more of a discussion about agriculture. We do not have a Sláintecare for agriculture or the kinds of closely monitored targets such as those in housing to see how much progress the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine is making, but exactly the same playbook is playing out in agriculture as that which has done in those other Departments, and that is allowing the privatisation of a public good. In the future, we will have ex…

It is a semi-State.

The Tánaiste acknowledged the deal needs to be looked at. Is he-----

Why are they so annoyed?

Vessels over 18 m continue to pair-trawl in inshore waters. They are allowed to do so due to the High Court overturning the policy directive in October 2020. We know this type of fishing is highly inappropriate. It not only damages the marine environment, but it also directly impacts on inshore fishers' livelihoods and tourism activities due to the reduction in stocks. Over two years later, this matter remains with the court. I have previously called on the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to restart t…

The court case was lost on a technicality.

There is nothing wrong with the policy.

Farmers, fishers and food producers have the most important roles in our society. Without them, we would have no food. Basically, everything begins with their vital work. Despite their significance, the primary producers and workers in this area, namely, the people who grow crops, rear animals, catch fish and make food, are often treated extremely poorly. While the Government pays lip service to them, the reality is that successive Governments have allowed and facilitated a massively inequitable system for decades …

Last week was the first anniversary of Ashling Murphy's murder. Since then, a further 16 women have been killed on the island of Ireland, including two already this year, namely, Bruna Fonseca, and Maud Coffey. NGOs and campaigners have rightly called this an epidemic of gender-based violence. More than 250 women have been violently killed since 1996 and in the vast majority of resolved cases, they were killed by a man known to them. In half the cases, they were killed by a current or former partner. We must call t…

I thank the Minister of State for her response and for outlining all the actions the Government has been taking. I also thank her for telling her story about what happened today. Well done. She is right that such behaviour absolutely needs to be reported. A key point she raised is that for too long only half the population have been having this conversation. Girls and women know this reality inside out. We need structures and resources to help men have these necessary discussions. The Minister of State spoke about …

Currently, a person who is abusing a partner can refuse to relinquish their rights under a joint tenancy in social housing. If a person has a barring order against a former partner for domestic violence, the partner's name remains on the tenancy and cannot be unwillingly removed. For example, if a person needs to transfer housing, this has to be agreed to as a joint tenant. The law is inadvertently facilitating that kind of abuse. Domestic violence is a very complicated issue and there are few easy solutions but in…

Needless to say, the Social Democrats knew this was a crisis and this is why we tabled this motion. Since then, however, in engaging with schools in Cork South-West and beyond, and through receiving messages on social media, I am realising how truly desperate the situation has got. Let us imagine being the principal of a primary school and getting a message late in the evening from a teacher to say they cannot come into work the next day. Let us also imagine that in this scenario it is possible for this teacher to …

It is quite shocking that we are only introducing maternity leave for politicians in 2022 and it is only at local level. We still need to address Senators and Deputies. Earlier today, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, commended this country on our progress in facilitating women to advance in employment. Unfortunately, looking around the room, she could not say the same of our public representation. Women make up less than a quarter of the Deputies in the Dáil and less than a quarter of the…

Another planning application has been submitted for development on the former Bessborough mother and baby home site, adjacent to the area known as the children's burial ground. More than 900 children died in the care of the nuns at Bessborough. The burial place of more than 800 of those children is unknown. The commission of investigation found that it was very likely that the remains of infants and children are on the site. I raised this point with the Taoiseach two years ago when a similar application was propose…

We have the Institutional Burials Act 2022, so the context is different.

Greyhound racing is in terminal decline, both here and internationally. It is only legal in a handful of countries, one of which is the US, where it started. Now it has been banned in most states there. This is a cruel industry that has no place in modern society. No matter where this industry is, it is plagued with animal welfare concerns. Of course it is, when it is based on the overbreeding of dogs solely for speed. While in jurisdiction after jurisdiction the industry is being banned, the Irish Government conti…

Both Sinn Féin and the Labour Party have tabled motions calling for reviews of this fund, which is unfortunately political speak for kicking the can down the road.