I have been dealing with local councillors in County Clare who have come up with a proposal that I would like to be considered. This is whereby a developer could build a private sewerage treatment plant. These would be used for the further development of small towns and villages. It is a good proposal. The key issue is that Irish Water would have to take the unit in charge.

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. This is an issue in rural Ireland and in County Clare in particular. Some 52 settlements in small towns and villages in the county just do not have the infrastructure. If the infrastructure is not there, it is not possible to develop a village further. This is an innovative idea. If the Department can work in conjunction with others and came up with a prototype or an agreed standard for a treatment plant, it could be provided in each of these smaller settlements and woul…

To clarify then on the taking-in-charge process, if a system was built to a certain standard approved by the Department, surely Irish Water should be in a position to take over a plant such as that. Is that something that the Department will give consideration to? As I said, there are 52 settlements in County Clare alone, not to mention the rest of the country, which do not have these standard basic facilities. This is an interim solution where a private developer can be brought in to provide this basic infrastruct…

I acknowledge the work of the Minister and the Minister of State on this valuable funding stream for sports. The Minister of State has visited County Clare on several occasions, where he met and spoke with representatives of clubs and in that way heard from the grassroots about the importance of this funding stream. I agree with the Deputy that it is important that more money in this regard is secured through the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. If more funding is secured for the programme, more clubs w…

I thank the Minister of State for his answer. Is it safe to say, though, that allocations of funding will be made by the end of the year? Can he envisage a situation where this process might continue into next year? If it were to happen, could he find himself in a situation where he might be using money from next year’s budget along with this year’s budget to make a more rounded sports capital block grant available for clubs? In addition, when does he expect that the next sports capital and equipment programme will…

Amendment No. 1, in the name of Deputy O'Reilly, arises out of committee proceedings.

Amendments Nos. 5 to 7, inclusive, have been ruled out of order.

I have been informed that the Deputy cannot speak to the amendments because they have been ruled out of order.

I thank the Deputy.

Does the Minister of State wish to speak on the Bill?

Does Deputy O'Reilly wish to speak to them?

I also want to recognise and welcome the Minister of State's presence for this debate. This is an evolving situation in Doolin which has resulted in six volunteers resigning earlier this week. These resignations have taken place amid claims of bullying and harassment in the service. I have serious concerns about the standing down of the service and the circumstances in which this happened. We have hard-working volunteers in Doolin and throughout the Irish Coast Guard, but unfortunately they are not being listened t…

I attended the inaugural meeting of the Irish Coast Guard Volunteers Representative Association in Kilkee a couple of weeks ago. There were current and former members of the Coast Guard - all volunteers from Waterford, Cork, Kerry, Galway and Clare - and they spoke openly about the challenges they face every day in terms of widespread harassment and bullying within the service. One has to ask the question of why so many people are leaving the service. Morale is at an all-time low. Volunteers are leaving. They are n…

I welcome the provisions in the Finance Bill and in the limited time I have available to me to speak, I want to deal with the challenges faced by the road haulage industry. This critical industry for our State is facing the double-double whammy of the pandemic, Brexit, driver shortages and soaring fuel prices. During the pandemic, the haulage sector provided a Rolls-Royce service to our cities, towns and villages. It kept our exporters happy and our supermarkets busy. Despite the challenges, homes were well stocked…

We now move to the Solidarity-People Before Profit slot. Are Deputy Mick Barry and Richard Boyd Barrett sharing time?

There are 20 minutes in the slot.

Regional air connectivity is vital for business and tourism on our island nation. The strategic Aer Lingus Heathrow route has returned to Shannon Airport on a temporary basis while the runway at Cork Airport is being refurbished. It is critical for business, tourism and regional development that the three return flights a day from Shannon to Heathrow are restored as soon as possible. I welcome the provision of €90 million in the recent budget to restore and underpin strategic routes. Will the Minister indicate to t…

This budget comes as we slowly emerge from a once-in-a-century pandemic. It is a positive, progressive budget which will underpin economic recovery and get people back to work. The solid economic foundations laid by former Minister, Michael Noonan, and the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, in establishing the national reserve, or rainy day fund, have played a huge role in enabling us as a country to bounce back. Who would have thought we would have needed this reserve so quickly? This reserve allowed us to introduce the mo…

The next slot is the Labour Party's and I call Deputy Sherlock now who has five minutes.

I ask the Deputy to conclude.