Every family in this country has been touched in one way or another by cancer. It is a diagnosis that can send a person and their family into a state of shock, grief and despair. It is often the start of a very long and difficult journey for everybody involved. However, there is a second shock which people never expect and which comes as a complete bombshell to them and that is the shock of the cost of their cancer care. The people I speak to about this assume their care will be covered. They never expect to be hit…

Feel free.

I will raise the issue of the €100 electricity credit payment, which I understand is coming before the Dáil next week. Like many others, I share the concerns about it not being a targeted approach. I understand the administrative burden related to means testing something like that, but I cannot understand why this Government will also give 62,000 holiday homeowners that credit. A person who is wealthy enough not only to own his or her own home but also a holiday home will get an additional €100 credit on his or her…

I extend my sympathy to the family of Ashling Murphy and everyone who loved her, and many did, as well as to the other women who have suffered from domestic or gender-based violence, who have died from it or who have lived intolerable lives because of the impact of violence against them. Like everyone else in the country, I have had time over the past couple of weeks to reflect on the type of society in which we live in Ireland. I have used the time to imagine what kind of country we would live in if women were not…

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte. I know this is not her area, but I acknowledge that the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, is at an important meeting and could not make it. I want to raise the issue of the funding for the N11-M11 scheme. It was a project that was being funded under the Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, allocation announced recently. It was funded for phase 1 and phase 2. Phase 1 started in 2018. The project was to deal with the huge traffic congestion on the N11 we expe…

I am still confused because the Minister of State has said that the projects under TII are being allocated to align with the Government commitment to a 2:1 ratio of funding on new public transport and new roads. She also said that the upgrade is still included in a list of projects to be progressed under the NDP. I am not sure whether it means that project will still go ahead and it did not get funding this year or whether it has just fallen off. Perhaps the Minister of State could ask the Minister for clarity on t…

I welcome-----

-----the Taoiseach’s comments earlier about the cross-party approach to gender-based violence, his commitment to the strategy and his recognition that a cultural shift is required in this country. As one of the other Deputies mentioned, there are immediate things that can happen and that need to happen. A report at the end of last year from the Rape Crisis Network Ireland stated that in some instances survivors of sexual violence have to wait over a year before they can get counselling and those wraparound supports…

It is not sufficient.

There was a commitment under the programme for Government that a review of the National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS, would be conducted. That review has happened and is sitting on someone's desk at the moment. There was a report by John Mooney in The Sunday Times this week that gave a very bleak and stark analysis of what is in that report. Will the Taoiseach commit to publishing that report immediately, warts and all, so that we can see exactly how dire the situation is for our National Parks and Wildlife Ser…

We very much welcome the scheme for the regularisation of undocumented migrants and their families. I acknowledge the work of the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, and the advisory committee led by Ms Catherine Day, and all the NGOs that have worked tirelessly to ensure this happened. It will be life-changing for so many people, particularly those who live in the economic shadows of our society and in circumstances of pover…

I welcome the opportunity for this debate on this important and timely issue. Marie Donnelly appeared before the climate committee yesterday and she re-emphasised the importance of renewable energy in terms of our ability to meet our target. One of the issues she addressed was the speed at which that needs to be implemented because many things rely on renewable energy, such as EV targets, transport targets and the retrofitting of many homes. It is a critical part of our path to zero carbon and the speed of implemen…

Everyone wants the schools to remain open. We have seen schools, principals and teachers, parents and children doing their absolute utmost to make sure that happens. I think they will continue to do so but Government has a role to play as well. The Government has not taken its full responsibility seriously. I am talking primarily about the issue of filtration. The Minister for Education has said that natural ventilation is best but there are a few issues with it. It has proven not to be effective to date. Some scho…

Unfortunately, it appears that this year the Government is continuing its devotion to supporting a deeply problematic greyhound industry. What I find interesting while listening to the debate is that Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Green Party are not alone in this regard. They are joined by Sinn Féin and the Labour Party in their support of this very concerning industry. The Government continues year on year to prop the industry up. Despite the overarching concerns of standards of care and the loss-making nature in…

I would like to add to that. There need to be questions about how we are reaching out to migrant communities and other communities in which there has not been a good uptake of vaccinations. What measures are being put in place to ensure they are receiving the message that this needs to be done? That matter could be considered as part of those statements or questions and answers.

I raise the issue of civil registration offices. Many of them, throughout the country, are facing major backlogs. It is nearly impossible for people to register births, deaths, their intention to marry and stillborn babies. This has impacts when it comes to obtaining PPS numbers, passports, child benefit, GP cards, pension amendments and other items across a wide range of areas. People are finding that because there is no online facility or walk-in appointments available in some counties, they are spending hours ev…

I welcome the opportunity to debate the climate action plan. As the Minister of State said, it is very welcome we have opportunities like this to have these discussions. I welcome also the intention from the Government side and the talk of urgency, ambition and the need to actually get moving. I appreciate the comments from Deputy Leddin and look forward to working with him on the committee to ensure we put meat around those comments. I believe the climate action plan is ambitious. The difficulty with it is whether…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the National Standards Authority of Ireland (Carbon Footprint Labelling) Bill 2021 and I congratulate Deputies Bacik and Duncan Smith for drafting and proposing the Bill. The Bill, if enacted, would provide the carbon footprint on every product to provide consumers with carbon information and would place an obligation on the NSAI to define a standard approach to carbon labelling as well as to ensure consistency in labelling. Yesterday, when I introduced my Bill to ban car-idlin…

I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to provide, in the interests of protecting children’s health, for an offence relating to causing or permitting a mechanically propelled vehicle to remain idle in the vicinity of a school, and for those purposes to make certain provisions in relation to the powers of members of the Garda Síochána, the provision of traffic signs and the payment of a fixed charge as an alternative to prosecution for such an offence, and to provide for related matters. I…

I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."