He is a board member of a State organisation whose wages are paid out of the staggering €19.2 million the industry will receive in 2021. He is paid by the taxpayer, by all of us. I was not deeply hurt or offended by the man's comments - I will not say his name from now on. My initial reaction was to ignore it. I instinctively felt it did not deserve any energy or thought. Indeed, I did not want to waste my speaking time addressing it today. Yet, when a Fine Gael Deputy apologised for liking these sentiments I could…

I move: “That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — the Irish greyhound industry receives substantial public funding; — in 2021, the Exchequer will subsidise greyhound racing in Ireland by €19.2 million, an increase of €2.4 million from 2020; — the industry has received approximately €280 million in taxpayer funding since 2000; — the last two decades have seen significant falls in attendance and sponsorship for the greyhound industry; — as turnover from racing activities has steadily declined over the last decade from €32.9 …

I will start by addressing some of the blatant misinformation aired by Deputies this morning. Sinn Féin and the Government stated that €302 million is generated for the economy by the greyhound industry. There were 1,606 race meetings last year and the average attendance was 288. Are we to believe that every meeting generates €188,000? The other claim is that some of the money comes in from tourism but we all know that the vast majority of tourists do not come to Ireland to go to greyhound racing tracks. Another co…

I thank the Minister for this session in response to the alarming increase in domestic abuse and gender-based violence. Safe Ireland has rightly called it the shadow pandemic. During the first six months of Covid, there was a massive increase in people fleeing domestic violence and 3,450 women and 589 children contacted domestic violence services for the first time. The impact is being felt across the country. West Cork Women Against Domestic Violence saw a 35% increase in calls. We knew this was coming. Advocates …

It is so important that the approach to community and rural development is done with accessibility and climate action at the heart of it. Rural communities need to be consulted to best establish how this can be done. I will start with climate action and move on to disability. The only way we can get public support for real climate action is by communities wanting it and feeling a part of it. Therefore, the only way we can succeed in the face of climate change is if climate action helps communities. To find out how …

The gender pay gap in Ireland is currently 14.4%, which means that from this week women in Ireland effectively work for free for the remainder of the year. In 1975, Icelandic women went on strike to protest wage discrepancy. Some 90% of Iceland's female population did not go to their paid jobs and did not do any housework or child rearing for the day. Needless to say, Iceland's parliament passed a law guaranteeing equal pay soon afterwards. That was in 1975 and it is now 2020. Why are we so behind and what will the…

I thank the Rural Independent Group for bringing forward this motion. I do not agree with all aspects of it but I welcome that it is highlighting the issue of flooding impacting families, communities and businesses across Ireland. Last weekend we had the first of the winter storms, Storm Aiden, but west Cork has already been hit by wave after wave of flood events. Bantry in particular has been flooded multiple times, but so many other towns and areas have been affected as well, including Skibbereen, Dunmanway and R…

The Government's recent acknowledgment of people's rights to their own information through personal data access requests is very welcome. I and many others presume that this right applies not only to the data from the mother and baby homes commission, but to data relating to the Ryan report and the McAleese archives. These were sealed a very long time ago. Will the Taoiseach confirm that all survivors of institutional abuse will be able to access their own personal data?

I am asking about access for survivors.

Less than two weeks ago, we sat here in the middle of an incredibly difficult week for survivors of mother and baby homes. Based on the advice of survivors and human rights lawyers, I and other Deputies opposed aspects of the Bill and proposed changes to help those affected access their personal information. I welcome the change in approach taken but it is unfortunate that this did not happen at the outset. The delay caused immeasurable unnecessary distress for so many. Three main things, among others, were sought:…

I thank the Minister. I am sure he appreciates that there is considerable distrust among survivors and their representatives on this issue. Years of secrecy and denial, compounded by an adversarial system, have rightly left people sceptical about any Government announcement. That is understandable. I have to believe that the Minister was doing what he thought was right. However, it also seems that he was let down by his Department or, as the Irish Examiner put it, "left holding the bag". While the Minister is the p…

I commend Sinn Féin on bringing forward this well-considered and timely Bill. I am delighted to note as well that it is many of my fellow rural, female Deputies who are taking the lead on it. Flooding continues to cause irreparable damage to communities and businesses across Ireland regularly. We desperately need a proactive, whole-of-government and sustainable response to this issue. Ministers of State in previous Governments made progress in this area and the programme for Government outlines aspirations in respe…

In the past hour or two, I turned 31. I say this because, for one, it is ridiculous that we are consistently keeping staff here past midnight. I have a birthday wish, which is for a small bit of cop-on in regard to marts. I am wondering what the Minister's plans are to respond to the crisis in the sector. Given all the issues arising over online sales, could the Minister make plans to reopen physical marts?

I acknowledge that online mart sales have been in operation since early April and that hundreds of thousands of cattle and sheep have been bought and sold successfully through the various online platforms. It it is simply not feasible, however, to expect farmers to go online instead of to the mart when doing so is an essential part of essential work and when some simply do not have good broadband. We understand and agree, as do all farmers, that public health is the priority. Nobody is disputing that. I take the Mi…

What is the status of actions the Minister is taking as a result of the High Court ruling that overturned Policy Directive 1 of 2019 and will an external review of the consultation process-----

Apologies, I thought we had come to the end of it.

It comes back to the same issue. I completely accept everything the Minister said on how it is working, the prices and all of those aspects, but that does not address the question I asked originally and asked in the second round, namely, what do people, who cannot access broadband and do not have access to it on their farm, do. There is no solution for those people. Given that is the situation, will the Minister examine the reopening of marts in a different way that is safer and can prioritise public health but als…

This issue has arisen due to a recent High Court ruling overturning a 2019 fishing directive that excluded trawling by vessels over 18 m from waters inside the 6 nautical miles zone. I want to ask the Minister the status of the actions he is taking as a result of the High Court ruling that overturned that policy directive and if an external review of the consultation process which was found to be in breach of fair procedures will be conducted. This ruling was overturned on a technical issue. It has been depicted as…

Could the Minister please clarify from the outset if he intends to accept any of the amendments offered by me and my colleagues today?

A few weeks ago I sat through a three-hour debate on the forestry legislation and the Government did not accept even one of the over 100 amendments we submitted. It was only towards the end of the debate that I asked if the Government had any plans to accept any of them and it transpired that it did not. Therefore, I am just curious to know what the case will be here. The Minister seems to be indicating that he will not be accepting amendments.