Without the lecture, I came here this morning with a valid point about the projects contained in the national development plan. It is a bit ironic that the national development plan has projects in it that are being brought to court and then subsequently being blocked because of our climate action targets. What has happened in Galway has created a precedent that will impact other areas of the country if the planning process is not done right. I know there is an error within the documentation from a planning perspec…

I would like to ask about the proposed section 21(3) of the sale of the alcohol Bill 2022, which deals with the issues that are facing publicans in this country around the value of their licences. I am hearing repeatedly from publicans in my own area, particularly those I met recently in Mitchelstown in north Cork, about the huge concerns within the Vintners Federation of Ireland and within this trade about the future value of their licences. Unfortunately, the proposed changes will have huge impacts on family publ…

I welcome the extraordinary hard work that has been done by the Department of Justice and the Minister of State, Deputy Browne. I have worked and engaged with the Minister of State on a number of issues related to this Bill. Many of the points made about the importance of this legislation in the short time I have been here are valid. I was particularly struck by a point made by Deputy Verona Murphy on the issue of problem gamblers and that 60% of gambling revenue comes from 5% of those people who engage in online g…

I am here today to represent the constituency of Cork East, which I share with Deputy Sherlock. What is quite interesting about our constituency is that we are very fortunate to have a large number of commercial forestry operators in the region. They provide very valuable employment to communities, in particular in areas like Fermoy and rural hinterlands surrounding some of the mountainous regions in the constituency. Many agricultural landowners in those areas are very fortunate to have engaged in the forestry ind…

I raise an important issue in relation to lending rules. As the Taoiseach will be aware, it is an exceptionally important issue given that thousands of people who are paying high rents are, unfortunately, unable to acquire a mortgage as a consequence of not being able to acquire a deposit. This is a major issue in high demand areas, such as Cork and Dublin, where first-time buyers are unable to attain some supports as a consequence of buying properties that are not new. They are locked out of supports. Will the Tao…

I join other Deputies in asking similar questions. When will the next round of sports capital grant funding be out? I acknowledge the enormous success of the previous round and its benefit. It is fabulous as a local representative from Cork East to see the projects under way in a number of sports clubs. We are looking forward to welcoming the Minister and Minister of State from the Department at some stage. It is important that we get an indication of when the next round will come down the tracks. Many clubs have p…

The questions we are asking this morning are to get a picture of when we will know about the next round of sports capital grants. As I outlined earlier, it is very important that we have forward planning. The Government, I hope, has slightly more than two years left prior to the next general election. I would love to be in a position while we are in government be able to visit, with my constituency colleague, Deputy Stanton, the sports clubs in our constituency to ask what help and assistance they want with sports …

I welcome the Ceann Comhairle back. It is great to see him and I wish him well. I will make a few points concerning my interpretation of the situation with our water supply. My report in this regard is not very good. Moving away from the parochial and putting a more national focus on the subject for one moment, this situation stems from continuously devolving responsibility away from democratically elected individuals to independent State agencies. Although there are many merits to doing this, when it comes to resp…

In the 30 seconds available to me, I will communicate my point as efficiently as I can as somebody from a farming background. At the moment, there is absolutely nothing for commercial farmers in Ireland when it comes to getting sufficient levels of financial support to install renewable energy infrastructure on their farms. A clear indication of this is that, as of last year, only 2% of dairy farmers had taken up photovoltaic, PV, solar schemes. Will the Department look into this and draw up a plan to allow Irish f…

I asked about farms.

They would probably talk more sense than some of us Members.

I have competition for the position of baby of the House this evening. I welcome Deputy Whitmore's family and their friend to the House. It is fantastic to see young people having an interest in politics. I welcome the Minister back to the House. Obviously, he was undertaking important Government business elsewhere. We are here to discuss the extremely serious issue of Ireland's energy supply. Unfortunately, the ten minutes I have been allocated are not enough to go through the issues in that regard. One problem is…

I wish to ask the Taoiseach about CERN. I raised the matter with the Taoiseach a number of weeks ago on what is the Government's position on joining the international research programme. As the Taoiseach may be aware, 23 member states across Europe are members of this organisation, with Ireland being the exception in terms of membership in western Europe. Will the Government give some consideration to joining CERN, given the multiple benefits? We welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, back to the House. Unde…

I wish to ask the Minister about the national development plan. We recently saw a major project effectively being delayed or shelved in Galway with the announcement on the ring road. Is the overall plan worth €165 billion in capital spending at significant risk due to new climate targets and what happened with An Bord Pleanála? As Senator Crowe asked, is green the new red tape?

With the kind consent of an Leas-Cheann Comhairle, would it be possible to share with Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan?

Okay.

I acknowledge the presence of Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan, for whom this matter is of huge importance. I am sure he will also raise it in his own right. I would like to discuss the significant and troubling work that the Office of the Planning Regulator, OPR, has been undertaking over the past 18 months in respect of the ongoing development plans of local authorities in Ireland. I want to raise this matter because in today's society we are living in an era of independent State agencies, which, though merits were huge…

I thank the Minister of State for the information he has brought before the House but wish to raise the fact that the manner in which the OPR has dealt with the attempts of Cork county and city councils to provide a retail outlet centre in their development plans raises serious concerns about its judgment and understanding of its role in this particular process. The OPR's attempt to quash a variation of Cork's plan was rejected by the courts not on one but on two occasions. This indicates why I feel we are right to…

Covid-19 had many knock-on impacts across public services in the country, but the Government will be familiar with one particular area where there was an impact, namely driving tests. Unfortunately, people are waiting an extremely long period to get driving tests across many areas of Munster. In places like Wilton, Mallow and Dungarvan, which are very important centres in my constituency of Cork East, it will be well into December and even January. What proactive measures are being taken by the Government to deal w…

I thank the Minister for being present. It is important to note the impact this legislation will have on the future of media and how we interpret all methods of communication. There has been extraordinary change in the past three decades in how people communicate on a daily basis. I am probably part of the first generation of elected representatives, from the 2019 local elections to the general election in 2020, who have grown up as children, teenagers and young adults with social media platforms. I have seen at fi…