The effect the pandemic has had on tourism cannot be overstated. It has been devastating. It has been said many times but it is worth repeating that tourism was among the first sectors to shut down when the pandemic hit and it will be among the last to resume normal activities. Before the pandemic, tourism was one of the most successful indigenous sectors in the State. It had a very successful year in 2019 when approximately €9 billion in revenue was generated. Almost €7 billion of that was generated by overseas vi…

As my colleague, Deputy Cullinane, outlined, he drafted this Bill in late 2019 in response to the blacklisting of journalists by Communicorp Media, which banned those journalists from appearing on its radio stations. In October 2019, a cross-party letter was sent to the company calling for an end to the ban. Since then, a great deal has changed. Denis O'Brien's position as a media tycoon in this State, controlling large swathes of print and broadcast media for several decades, has come to a close with the sale of b…

The Minister will be aware that the childcare crisis has been ongoing for years. It has been ignored by successive Governments, which have been more than happy to leave the enormous burden of paying for childcare to parents while the sector struggles with low pay for childcare professionals and providers struggle. Fine Gael has been in power for ten years now and nothing has changed. With all due respect to the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, and the Ministers of State, Deputies Madigan and Rabbitte, I do not have much …

I ask the Minister for her views on the current situation in which tour operators whose businesses are based in Ireland and who offer day trips to tourist destinations up North have not been eligible for State supports despite the fact that Northern Ireland tourist attractions generate international tourism to Ireland, and given the importance of cross-Border co-operation in terms of attracting tourists to Ireland; and if she will make a statement on the matter.

We recognise that the issue relates to eligibility, and particularly under the scheme, but it seems to me that Fáilte Ireland has decided that this particular business does not drive tourist traffic into the State. We need to look at tourism on an all-island basis. As the Minister has said, Tourism Ireland has done a great job and the island is marketed abroad as one country. These inbound tour operators operate from this State - from the South. They offer packages of seven to ten days. The people who go on these t…

The Minister will be aware that Tourism Ireland was set up under the Good Friday Agreement. I have said already that these tour operator companies are based in the South. The only wrongdoing they might do is to go across the Border for a night or two during a tour of seven to ten days. I will certainly see what we can do from our end. The Minister has said that it is in the Act but Acts can be amended. Given that in the Good Friday Agreement we want to market the country as a whole and invite people to go North, So…

The Government gave a commitment to support independent living for elderly and disabled persons, yet waiting lists for housing adaptation grants and housing aid for the elderly continue to increase in every local authority. Louth County Council alone has 743 older people waiting on grants to adopt their homes. Of those, 481 were carried over from last year. The Government gave the council an increase of €50,000 this year. That is the equivalent of two wet rooms when there is a waiting list of 743 people. Will the T…

Both the Minister and his Government are sleepwalking our country into a catastrophe. In the past week we heard from Dr. Patrick Bresnihan of NUI Maynooth who warned that if all the proposed data centres go ahead, they will account for up to 70% of our grid capacity by the end of the decade. In the same week the Tánaiste, Deputy Varadkar, sounded like a spokesperson for big tech when he was quoted in the newspapers announcing plans to update our data centre policy, having been directed to do so by Google, Amazon an…

It is completely reckless that the local authorities responsible for giving planning permission do not take account of any of this. I said earlier that the Tánaiste was out talking on behalf of the tech companies and changing our policy. Obviously, others seated behind the Minister are also in favour of that.

This madness has to stop. When the lights go out in Drogheda and people are forced to wait for water tanks, the Deputy can speak because he will be directly responsible for it.

Will the Minister put an end to this madness before it is too late? He needs to do something before it is too late.

The Deputy is a spoofer.

I am curious about the case of Sarah from Wicklow that the Minister has cited. It reflects part of the frustration over the HSE's management of funding and so on. He stated the funding to purchase the replacement joints Sarah needed was gone but the State was nonetheless paying for overheads and staff, with theatres closed. Was that changed there and then? The Minister is nodding. That is a start, because that would be the most frustrating aspect of all. We have talked about 900,000 people, a figure I heard all the…

As stated by my colleague, Deputy Martin Kenny, my party will be supporting this Bill. We do, however, have some significant concerns, especially around the move away from community policing and the fact that some areas, particularly rural areas, will likely lose out on Garda resources. I will focus on my area of Louth and east Meath. Under the new model, Louth will be amalgamated with Cavan-Monaghan, whereas east Meath will be an entirely separate division. The Minister is aware of all of the problems we have had …

Most of us know there are serious issues with freedom of information procedures in this State. I have had difficulties accessing information and have been denied access to information that ought to be obtainable under FOI, as has been the case for many Deputies, journalists and members of the public. Nevertheless, the events surrounding the recent Katherine Zappone appointment controversy have shone a light on these issues and the need for clear legislative reform. A proper, functioning freedom of information regim…

This latest Covid-related legislation has to be the most convoluted, confusing and unworkable yet. That sure is saying something. The Bill was cobbled together in a rush. There was no advance planning whatsoever. That rush is reflected in the contents of the proposal. We have had no pre-legislative scrutiny. The debate on the Bill is restricted to one day. There has been no proper time for reflection, and the Minister needs to reflect. There was no time for amendment or debate. This is not how a Government should c…

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on this important motion. I support the calls that Care Champions have been making for a public inquiry into what happened in our nursing homes throughout the pandemic. We all know there were catastrophic failures in governance in our nursing homes. We saw very high levels of infectious disease and the sad loss of more than 2,000 people. Staff were put into a nightmare situation where they were not given adequate supports and were left totally unprepared. Many of them also…

I acknowledge the fact the Minister of State said the Minister for Finance announced a fund would be created to provide additional money for investment in community safety projects, the community safety innovation fund, from the proceeds of CAB. We also need additional funding for social services to build resilience in communities. It is vitally important that they are community-focused and based and are in communities. They need to come from within communities that have been directly affected. I hope the idea is n…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill, which seeks to ban rent increases for all existing and new tenancies for three years. It is not news to anyone that we have a housing crisis and, within that, a private rental crisis. Rents have skyrocketed over a number of years. In my home county of Louth, the average rent is now €1,311 per month but, in reality, the cost is between €1,400 and €1,600. Rents have increased by 4.7% in the past year. In County Meath, the average rent is more than €1,400, which is an i…

I have been contacted by numerous publicans over the past few weeks, not just in Drogheda but in my entire constituency, who obtained section 254 licences for outdoor dining. They have been told by local authorities that alcohol cannot be consumed in these areas under the liquor by-laws, however. I have contacted the local authorities for clarification. They said it is up to the Garda to interpret and enforce the by-laws. I contacted the Garda chief superintendent's office in Louth to be informed the Garda will con…