I thank the Minister very much. I have great concerns. I have said repeatedly that I very much want the Minister to succeed in government because we need him to do so. I have worked in this sector for 20 to 30 years and I am becoming increasingly downhearted by the fact that I do not believe this Government will meet the targets or achieve what needs to happen. My biggest fear at this moment is that the Minister does not recognise that, that he thinks everything is still on track and, as he said earlier on, that he…

There are 500,000-----

I agree with the Minister that there are Deputies in this House and councillors who do not fully grasp the reality of climate change, what will be and what is coming down the track to us. People and communities need to understand, and the Minister needs to help them make the changes they need to make. The Social Democrats have sent a proposal in respect of solar to the Minister, and I will keep on talking about it because it will reduce people’s household energy demand by 40%. For some reason, the Government is not…

I thank People Before Profit for tabling this motion. I am happy to say that the Social Democrats will be supporting it. It is a very timely and important issue to which many people are giving more consideration in the face of our ongoing issues regarding energy security, the national grid, the rising price of fuel and of course the climate emergency. While reading a number of sources in advance of today's debate, I found myself thinking about the Irish adage, "If I was going there, I wouldn't start here." The best…

A group of protesters stood at the gates of Leinster House yesterday calling for the immediate publication of Dr. Geoffrey Shannon's report into historical child sexual abuse allegations within St. John Ambulance Ireland, SJAI. It has been reported that the organisation's board received the report a number of weeks ago, yet it is not expected to be published until some time in 2023. It is reasonable to arrive at the conclusion that if the reports findings were favourable to SJAI, it would have been published by now…

The cold snap has recently resulted in significant difficulties for people in being able to get out and about. Local authorities grit the roads but there is no provision for them to grit paths and cycleways. Ironically, over recent days, I have seen parents driving their children to school because it is not safe for their children to walk to school. Considering that the stated policy of the Government is for active travel, is it time to direct councils to ensure high-priority paths and cycleways are gritted?

The plan to suspend teacher career breaks was apparently signed off on at an incorporeal Cabinet meeting on Tuesday night. Incredibly, the Department and Minister for Education believe the best way to recruit and retain teachers in the system is to reduce their terms and conditions. Does the Tánaiste agree with the proposal to suspend career breaks for teachers?

So this is not a Government proposal.

Three and a half years ago I was chairperson of a primary school in Greystones, County Wicklow. Even then, we were finding it difficult to hire teachers. Even though it was a growing and good new school that was being built, it was so difficult. The reasons were accommodation and rental issues. If we fast-forward to today, we are at a crisis point with this issue. This is not something that has happened recently; it has been building for many years. My constituency of Wicklow is being particularly impacted as one o…

I want to raise the matter of the House sitting on 17 December. No consideration has been given to the families of staff or Members in coming up with that date to facilitate the switchover in respect of the position of Taoiseach. Has consideration been given to providing childcare facilities? To expect that staff can just drop their families on the Saturday before Christmas and come in to facilitate that sitting goes against everything we talk about when we discuss having a family friendly Parliament.

Primary schools all over the country are finding it difficult to get teachers, with the issue near crisis point in Wicklow, Kildare and Dublin. In fact, principals are finding it nearly impossible to provide the most basic educational service and that is just keeping classrooms open. This is causing significant problems for all pupils but particularly those with special needs. Earlier throughout Covid, those children were left behind because classrooms and education were not available to them. What measures is the …

But they are not-----

Absolutely, but it is not happening.

I am glad the Minister Deputy Ryan is back in the Chamber because I want to take a moment to congratulate him and his political staff and the civil servants and NGO representatives who accompanied him to COP27 on the work they did. In particular, I congratulate him on his role as the lead EU negotiator during the negotiations regarding the loss and damage fund. It was meaningful work and it deserves recognition. COP27 and the commitments made there, especially those relating to the loss and damage funding, are welc…

I wanted to come in on the proposed new section 103. I am not sure if the Acting Chair wants to go back to-----

Can I come in on that now?

This amendment relates to a report on corporation taxes. It states: "The Minister shall, within three months of the passing of this Act, bring forward a report on Government plans to reduce and mitigate the reliance of the public finances on windfall corporation tax receipts." If we have learned anything from the past two years, it is that very little can be predicted and, often, the things that shake our country up most are global shocks and things over which we have no control, such as Covid, the war in Ukraine a…

We asked for a report to be brought forward on those plans. We looked for analysis of the risks and mitigation - all the different measures the Minister is looking at to deal with the reliance of public finances on windfall corporation taxes. It is important that not only is this report undertaken and brought forward, but also that a discussion is facilitated on it in this House. One of the criticisms of the rainy day fund measure last year was that only two minutes were given to each party to discuss the saving of…

As someone who has worked in the environmental sector for 20 years, I find tonight's debate quite concerning. Due to the Government's approach to many of these things, we are seeing a divide between rural and urban communities really come to the fore. The reality is that if we do not address climate change and deal with all the issues that are coming down the road, those in rural areas will be most impacted by the effects of climate change. We will see the cost of food increase. Flooding will increase and farmers w…

It is disappointing the Minister for Health is not here because I was hoping for an answer to this question. I want to raise the issue of Miley McKee again. I raised it three weeks ago. Miley is a 12-year-old girl from Greystones. She has been waiting two years and four months for her scoliosis treatment. She has a curvature of more than 100° and is in constant pain. As a GP, the Tánaiste knows the impact having a curvature of that degree would have on a child. She has been waiting since August 2020. She was meant …