It should be split, Taoiseach.

We said it should be split.

That is not true. We clearly called them out.

In January of this year, Storm Éowyn hit Ireland and left the country reeling. We were not prepared for it and the havoc it wreaked on communities was devastating. Some 750,000 people were left without power and it cost over €300 million to deal with the damage. We were actually quite lucky in that storm because it could have been a whole lot worse. The Climate Change Advisory Council has today been quite critical of the Government's response. At the time, the Government promised it would prepare Ireland for any fu…

I welcome the opportunity to discuss the Bill. At this point, we are looking at it on a high level. As we go through the remainder of the process, a lot of the details will be discussed and elements of it will, I hope, be improved. A few points strike me in the first instance. In principle, I absolutely welcome statutory limits and timelines. What will be really important is what they mean in practice. We do not want to see any watering down of environmental protections as a result of those timelines. That will be …

My colleagues will talk about the wider issue of vapes. I will take this opportunity to talk about another product that in a very similar vein is causing huge problems for teenagers, namely, nicotine pouches. I do not know whether the Minister of State is familiar with them. They are small white pouches you can buy in any corner shop. You put them on your gum, underneath your lip, and they directly and very quickly give you a very strong hit of nicotine. They can be bought in packs for I think €5 or €7. They are ve…

Year in, year out in Wicklow we have problems with the school bus service. It usually happens two or three days before school starts, when the emails start to arrive from Bus Éireann to tell parents - who have already paid for and secured tickets for their children and made plans on the basis that they will have a way to get to school - that, for whatever reason, there is no bus available. This is usually because there is no bus driver, the contractor has pulled the bus or that a bus could not be secured in the fir…

-----have the Department carry out a review analysis of the school transport system in Wicklow? If it does so, it will identify where all of the challenges and barriers are. I reckon that those challenges and barriers apply cross the country as well.

A study by UCC over the last number of years has identified that over 1 million homes in Ireland are suitable for solar and that one quarter of all electricity needed could be produced for those homes. It would have huge saving costs for homes. Unfortunately, though, low-income homes are often locked out of the ability to have solar because their households simply cannot afford it. The costs can run into the thousands. Will the Minister of State expand the warmer homes scheme to include solar and make a statement o…

The Minister of State will be aware that in 2022, approximately 30% of households in Ireland were considered to be at risk of energy poverty. We are continuing to see the extraordinary stresses that are being put on homes because of the high cost of living, of which a huge component is energy costs. Over recent days and weeks, companies have again been increasing their electricity charges, despite the fact that Ireland has the third highest electricity charges in Europe, which is approximately €350 extra on each ho…

I know that is the argument that has been put forward over the last number of years but the majority of electricity units in someone's home are used to heat water, so there will not be any leakage from that. That is where a lot of the expenses are. If we can actually heat someone's water, we are going to save them a lot of money on their electricity bills. In relation to all those companies that are hiking their electricity charges, the Taoiseach said yesterday that there needs to be a focus on them and I absolutel…

Sometimes, politics is not just about what you say and how you say it. It is also about what you do not say. What I have not heard today from the Minister, or anyone in the Chamber, is that compared with most other European countries Ireland has a relatively normal level, or even low level, of migration, particularly on the international protection side of things, at 1.2% of all applicants across the EU. The reason it does not feel like that to many people out there is that the Government has completely failed to p…

He needs to wake up, take responsibility and make sure that he provides the leadership we need to see so that we can deal with this issue properly and fairly.

Electricity costs are out of control, and we already have one of the highest electricity prices in Europe. We are approximately €350 more than the average. Now costs are being jacked up again. We have seen double-digit hikes by many of the electricity suppliers. That is putting even more pressure on families who are really struggling. It should not be that difficult to keep the lights on and to afford the basics such as food. So many families are struggling at the moment and there has never been a focus from the Go…

What if you do not have children?

I am not sure the Minister of State quite understands the depth of feeling out there in relation to this issue. What the Government, Ministers, the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste have said and are saying, always with heartfelt commitment and promise, is that children with special needs will get the support, school places and SNAs they need and that they will have all of the services they need. It is repeated all of the time that this is a priority for this Government. However, the reality on the ground is very differen…

People looking in on this debate today will have their heads in their hands.

They are worried about putting food on their tables and turning their lights on. We have this kind of behaviour going on. I do not think either of the Deputies gets it, to be honest.

There are economic clouds on the horizon and there is a growing sense of worry about what the future holds. Coupled with that is a lot of frustration with the Government's moralising about this budget. Having splashed the cash in an attempt to buy votes last year, its message has suddenly changed. Now that an election is no longer on the cards, one-off payments are a bad idea. The Social Democrats told the Government that last year. We told it to invest in sustainable measures that would assist people and their lon…

We are doing a party solution.