What we ask for the people of Meath West is equal treatment, fairness and respect. The Minister's constituency received 15 times more funding than the people of Meath West. That is not fair. This has gone on and on for years. The people of Meath have been let down by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. We are constantly at the bottom of the pile. It does not matter what the funding is; Meath West and Meath in general are at the bottom of the pile. I ask the Minister to be fair with us and to give us what we are entitled to.…

Applications were put in, and the Minister is well aware of that because I myself raised this with her before the funding was announced. I do not care if the Minister does not like Sinn Féin or does not like me, but she should show a bit of respect and fairness for the people of Meath West.

I congratulate Joe Biden on being inaugurated today as the 46th President of the United States. As somebody who availed of a Morrison visa, I raise the issue of the thousands of undocumented Irish people in the United States. We have never had a better chance of getting these people some help, now that there is a Democratic House of Representatives, a Democratic Senate and a Democratic President. The visas we availed of over the years I spent in America were Donnelly, Walsh and Morrison visas, all of which came fro…

In my constituency of Meath West, in north-west Meath, is the Castlepollard mother and baby home. The Castlepollard home opened in 1935, but without a purpose-built maternity unit initially and with widespread overcrowding, it recorded an alarming rate of baby mortality in its first five years, with 60.2% of all infants dying. There were 4,559 babies born in Castlepollard between 1935 and 1971 and 247 of those infants died. Several women told the commission of investigation they witnessed nuns leaving the hospital …

I want to bring to the attention of the Minister a number of things I came across in the past couple of months that he could, perhaps, take on board. I am the father of two children who attend third level education. I know from experience what it takes for people to put their children through education. Many families across the country struggled before the Covid-19 virus arrived to put their children through college, particularly as there are bills for accommodation, food, travel, expenses and college fees. All of …

I raise the question of poverty. There were 160,000 people who needed support from St. Vincent de Paul last year and 50,000 of those people were in food poverty. Food poverty means the most basic need is not met in this rich country, where politicians, judges and former taoisigh get regular pay rises. There is no doubt the figures will be worse this year. This is just one charity and there are countless charities, with every one representing a failure of the Government to provide the basic needs of our people. Pove…

First, I thank all the people working in mental health services. Mental health in Ireland has always been treated like a headache, the flu or something a chemist might fix but it is a much bigger issue than that and the signs have been apparent for years. Between 2009 and 2019, we had 5,426 people, 4,370 males and 1,066 females, die as a result of suicide. In fact, one person dies every 21 hours in Ireland as a result of suicide. Stigma is a significant problem for people who experience mental health conditions and…

I want to tell the Tánaiste about a young boy from Navan in County Meath called Conor Jordan, who is six years old. In November of 2016, his parents were given the news that Conor has autism. Conor has had many obstacles thrown at him but his parents, Louise and Declan, said he has made much progress since starting school. This fun-loving child makes them laugh and smile every single day. Last year, Conor was partnered with a canine friend called Koby. Koby is not just any dog; he is a canine companion that will be…

It costs €10,000 to train a canine companion. As they do not receive any State funding, families go through the burden of trying to raise costs through GoFundMe pages. Were it not for the help of family and friends, we would see these beautiful kids growing up without a companion. I ask the Tánaiste to consider funding for the likes of My Canine Companion and other organisations that do great work so families do not have the burden of raising the money.

There is a nationwide dispute involving dentists. People with medical cards have been told that, as of 1 January, their cards will not be accepted as payment. Many of them cannot avail of dental treatment otherwise. Will the Tánaiste provide an update on the negotiations with the dentists and is the dispute close to being resolved?

At the wind farm construction site in the Finn Valley in Ballybofey, County Donegal, there was a large-scale bog slide recently that, as Deputy Pringle mentioned, polluted a salmon and trout river and a fish farm. This happened because of the disturbance of lands during the wind farm's construction. In south Galway, the State has incurred fines of €10.5 million, and rising, because of a massive landslide during a wind farm's construction. The European Court of Justice found that Ireland had failed to assess properl…

We did not hear much from the Minister of State about other wind farms. I listened to the Taoiseach yesterday when he stated that the future of wind energy was offshore. I agree with him. If turbines need to be 180 m to 200 m tall, which is twice the height of the Spire in Dublin, to get the requisite wind speeds because of the low-lying nature of the lands in question, surely these areas are not right for such developments. The turbines in the Delvin, Raharney and Ballivor areas will be up to 150 ft taller than th…

Community policing should be at the heart of every town and village in Ireland, with gardaí walking the streets, talking to local people and aware of what is happening on the ground. As the Minister will know, our own county of Meath has the lowest number of gardaí per head of population in the country. As Deputy Catherine Murphy noted, there is one garda for every 580 people. That is a shocking figure and I hope that she will be able to address that. If a crime takes place in Athboy or my own town of Oldcastle, it…

I raise the issue of IDA Ireland site visits to my county of Meath and IDA Ireland grants. In 2018, the organisation's staff visited County Meath six times whereas they visited our neighbouring counties more than 20 times. In 2019, they visited our county three of four times and visited neighbouring counties more than 30 times. In 2014, there were zero IDA Ireland grants for Meath; 2015, €300,000; 2016, zero; 2017, zero; 2018, €182,000; and 2019, zero. That is less than €500,000 since 2014. In County Meath, there a…

What plan has been put in place for small-time retailers who may be opening sometime soon? While we promote, tell and encourage people to shop online, most of these small-time retailers in my constituency of Meath West do not trade online. Even if they did trade online, they could not compete with the corporations and big companies. I spoke this morning to a small retailer in Oldcastle who pays €2,500 each year to Meath County Council for rates. There are hundreds of such businesses in counties Meath and Westmeath.…

While I welcome this Bill, it does not go far enough. The least the Minister could have done would have been to give renters some certainty over Christmas and into the new year. We all know that most landlords will not evict tenants over the Christmas period but there will be a tsunami of notices to quit in the new year, as there is every year. It will be a lot worse this year, however, as a result of Covid. Many people are in very difficult situations. We in Sinn Féin would have extended this ban for another six m…

Meath County Council has 3,300 units in its housing stock. The disabled persons improvement grant announced on 9 September was €260,363 and last year it was €269,500. It is a very small grant given the amount of housing stock Meath County Council is dealing with. Can it be increased? Local authorities must come up with 20% matched funding for grants with regard to older people and people with disabilities. This is an awful drain on resources and is crippling local authorities. Last year, Meath County Council receiv…

I wish to apologise for speaking on the Bill in English. I am not one of those who has any fluency in our native tongue and I regret that. Like many others, I am a product of an education system which did not help me to get a grasp of Gaeilge. I would love to be speaking as Gaeilge and am committed to learning and using the cúpla focal inside and outside the House. In my county, there are two small Gaeltacht areas, namely, Ráth Chairn and Baile Ghib. People were relocated to those areas from the western seaboard be…

In my constituency, Meath West, I have spoken to many artists who have been affected by this pandemic. The arts and events industry has been shut down since March. I have listened to stories about how the affected have been dealing with the stress during this time and about how they do not see any future owing to the closure of their business. Musicians are being forced to sell instruments and businesses are being forced to close shops for good as they cannot survive. Some may believe it is just artists, musicians …

People in my constituency of Meath West have contacted me regarding the primary care medical certificate. They have applied to the HSE and have been told that they will not get the certificate pending a court case. The court case is not due before the courts until July 2021. These are some of the most vulnerable people. Some of them have no use of arms or legs and cannot get from A to B. Will the Taoiseach put a temporary scheme in place for these people until the court case is sorted to allow them to purchase vehi…