Like colleagues, I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate on the consultation process relating to Our Rural Future. While this policy is often spoken about in the context of counties far from Dublin, the truth is that many of the challenges it seeks to address are felt just as strongly in parts of my constituency. Two fifths of Dublin South-West is rural. The constituency stretches out beyond Tallaght towards Brittas and the border with Wicklow on one side and through rural Rathfarnham out the Old Mil…

What were they going to do?

I thank the Minister of State for his presence tonight. I wish to focus in on one particular aspect as well, that is, serious concerns regarding the credibility of the review process that was initiated. In the absence of nursing provision in the school, the school engaged in what was an extremely detailed and arduous SNA review process in an effort to secure additional SNA support. Deputy Crowe referred to this. Parents were asked to complete extensive questionnaires outlining in detail the significant and complex …

I thank the Minister of State for that and I would be very positive about meeting him. The first issue is the complex and high-risk needs of pupils, which were not considered by the review panel prior to the decision. That raises the credibility, transparency and integrity of the review process, unfortunately generally, because if it happened there, as previous Deputies said, where else has it happened? The school has been formally requesting access to nursing support since June 2025. During this time, the needs of…

I welcome the publication of the final report of Operation Kenova. It brings me back to a different time many years ago when I was a younger man and became aware of collusion suggestions, British spy networks in the North and the report by former inspector John Stalker, whom the younger generation may not remember. It is worth using search engines to see the work he did, how that work was impeded and the resulting measures that were taken. In summary, in 1986, just before John Stalker, who was chief constable of Ma…

As you have used 20 seconds of my time, a Cheann Comhairle, you might be nice to me at the back end of it. I echo your welcome. The Order of Malta would absolutely take priority if I was in the Chair too. I echo the comments made by all previous speakers and by the Taoiseach and the Minister in recent days. I offer my sympathy to the family of Grace Lynch on their unbearable loss. Unfortunately, sometimes it seems to the public that events like this coax Government and politicians into action. When I first came in …

The Ceann Comhairle took some moments of my time welcoming people. I can say that because she is gone. That power to destroy scramblers existed under previous laws because of a lack of insurance or a lack of tax. If we do succeed, and I hope we do, they will be replaced by something else. We have to prepare for that. This is not the end of the story. We need to remain really vigilant. I welcome the work the Minister of State and the Ministers for justice and Transport have done.

I echo the sentiments expressed regarding the loss of life in the city today at lunchtime in the public transport accident. I echo what the Minister of State said about people not posting images of it on social media. Our thoughts are with them. There has been one fatality and a number of injuries. Our best thoughts go from this House to the people involved. I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill. I support the legislation because it addresses two realities that we cannot afford to ignore. First, renters ne…

I want to reinforce the message from a previous speaker in relation to scrambler legislation. As the Taoiseach knows, I worked particularly hard in opposition, with his support, to draft a Bill around scrambler legislation between 2016 and 2020. In government, we introduced legislation which senior gardaí in Tallaght in my constituency have described as game-changing. Because senior gardaí were reluctant to engage in pursuit of people on scramblers, we asked them what laws they wanted. As far as we were concerned, …

-----to pursue them to confiscate them. That is where our laws came in.

I am grateful and welcome the opportunity to comment on the Bill. To remind people how we get to a stage like this in a democracy, people bring forward ideas, concerns or observations regarding how our criminal law system operates. In a political party like mine, Fianna Fáil, we try to take these on board and prepare position papers on them and put those out to expert and stakeholder groups to get their views on them. They then eventually form part of a party political manifesto. Those expert stakeholders will also…

Never before have we more needed adults in the room than at this time in our history, and in what the Taoiseach has described as uncharted territory. We also need to not lose sight during this debate, which I welcome, that the greatest threat to the Union we are part of is Russia. Military neutrality has been raised here and I am a stout defender at every opportunity I get internationally as chair of the foreign affairs and trade committee, or here at home talking to anybody prepared to listen in any forum. I suppo…

I thank the Minister of State for her presence. I raised this issue with the Minister for Transport last night. I understand that at short notice he cannot be here, but I would be very much obliged if the Minister of State can convey the importance of this issue, which I know he is aware of. There is going to be industrial action by taxi drivers or as close as they can get to it today either outside at Merrion Square and at the airport on an issue they feel strongly about. I support them on this. I hate to see Dubl…

The piece of the reply that the Minister of State did not reach states that the Minister for Transport issued a letter to the NTA on 19 November last asking it to clarify the regulatory position on the Uber fixed price fare for the information of taxi operators and public representatives alike. We await that clarification because the taxi drivers who have been in touch with me and with colleagues across the House and who have come to my clinics do not recognise the part of the reply which asserts that there is a ma…

While I agree with much of what the previous speaker said, this Chamber is the citizens' assembly for discussion of this issue. We need to be courageous. Unfortunately, a previous speaker has left the Chamber. There are a couple of points I would have liked to respond to but perhaps that is for another day. The Minister of State will understand if I focus my comments locally or parochially on Citywest. Some of the points I will make could already be subject to action by the Minister, the Minister of State and the D…

I thank the Minister of State. I echo the comments that were made about her tenure in charge of mental health policy and delivery in the Government. I also echo what the previous speaker said about the role of men's sheds and give a shout-out to ExWell. Dr. Noel McCaffrey has been very involved in sport for many years. I am recovering from a pretty important medical intervention. ExWell is an exercise or kind of physical rehabilitation programme for anyone who is recovering from heart issues, cancers or chronic dis…

Will the Leas-Cheann Comhairle please repeat that?

Is there another speaker? I apologise. I did not realise Deputy John Connolly was after me.

I want to finish with the positive line that the doctor is your friend. I will have to leave it to another debate to finish the other thought.

A delegation from the foreign affairs and trade committee is going to Canada in early December. I welcome the new ambassador. Deputy McGreehan is convener of the Canada-Ireland Inter-Parliamentary Friendship group, and hence her particular interest in it. There is some resistance to waiving pre-legislative scrutiny on the CETA agreement from some quarters in the House. There is a little bit of romantic notion about where Ireland is in the world in some quarters and maybe there needs to be a more realistic appreciat…