I want to address youth emigration, but before I speak on that it is important to note what happened yesterday outside our Houses of Parliament with the far-right attacks on Deputy Paul Murphy. That should be condemned by everybody in the House. We all need to be very careful, particularly on social media and of the accounts that we tweet and retweet that endorse threats of violence against Members of this House. It is up to all of us to stand up for democracy and to make sure that the far right does not grow any f…

People's lives are not open to negotiation.

People’s existence is not up for negotiation.

I am sorry, but the Senator cannot debate people's right to exist.

I thank the Cathaoirleach and welcome the Minister of State. I will speak today about energy. While many people are terrified at the thought of their energy bills landing on the doormat, families must also contend with the prospect of blackouts. It is a long time since we had blackouts in this country. I remember having them when I was a child but most people will not remember them because they have an expectation of a functioning energy system as part of the social contract they enter into with the State. I will l…

I thank the Minister of State for his response. The issue is not showing solidarity with other member states. What I think many households would like to see is the Government showing solidarity with households as well and asking businesses to do their part in reducing our demand on the electricity system. We know that we are buying in gas-powered generators and that we have a particular issue around the crunch times of 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. and the early morning. The Minister of State said that the measures should be pr…

I move amendment No. 1: To delete all words after “acknowledges that the Government:” and substitute the following: “- has failed to protect households and business from energy price rises adequately; - has failed to adequately target the response to those who need it most and instead gave an energy rebate to owners of holiday homes, vacant properties and millionaires; - has failed to ensure Travellers living on halting sites received the electricity rebate, with many families splitting the rebate with several othe…

While I am going to speak mostly about the issue of the cost of electricity, it is important to address some of the points that were raised today, particularly around LNG. There is a lot of misinformation out there and a lot of people are exploiting the current situation to try to argue the case for an LNG terminal in Shannon. What they are not saying is that LNG will do nothing to address the costs that people are facing. Those of us who follow this closely and understand the energy wholesale market will watch the…

I hope the Cathaoirleach will give me a bit of latitude, because there is a lot I want to say.

I welcome the motion and thank Senator Pauline O'Reilly for tabling it. Animal welfare is a really important issue. It does not receive the attention it deserves. Part of the reason for that is that the issue, particularly canine welfare, falls across a number of Departments. I was very pleased that the agriculture committee, in fairness to it, agreed to my proposal for post-enactment scrutiny of the animal welfare legislation. We had very lengthy hearings on issues of dog and horse welfare. I hope that work will c…

I do not like greyhound racing. I have been very honest about that with the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine and with the greyhound industry when its representatives have come before the committee. Nonetheless - and this is a little like what Senator Pauline O'Reilly said about live exports - we can certainly tighten up the regulation. We need vets at every trial, regardless of whether it is an unofficial or official trial. That has to be standard. It is the law in Britain; it should be the minim…

We will just keep going.

I move amendment No. 52: In page 29, between lines 24 and 25, to insert the following: “(9) Within seven weeks of the passing of this Act the Minister shall lay before both houses of the Oireachtas a report on the implications of this section on relevant owners whose initial grant was for demolition and rebuilding of a relevant dwelling and whether, by way of amending legislation, an ancillary grant option should be made available where further damage has been discovered, for example in the foundations or infill ag…

I thank Senator Keogan for outlining why it is not actually a 100% scheme, because she has just said "if there is a shortfall". We know there is a shortfall. The woman attended the committee and outlined her case. There is a shortfall in her case of almost €40,000. As anybody who has tried to deal with the SEAI will know, the backlog is enormous. It is difficult to get a house assessed and then you have to apply for an adaptation grant. These homeowners just want to have their homes rebuilt. They did nothing wrong …

I can respond-----

This amendment relates to double recovery and relates to people who are taking a case against the supplier of the defective blocks that is currently under way. Section 29 will prohibit people from taking cases in the future. The amendment addresses people who will benefit if they successfully take a case against a supplier and they have already received a grant. Nobody is arguing that anybody should have double recovery or make a profit from taking a case, because the grants involve public money after all. If peopl…

On a point of order, a Chathaoirligh.

Meaning no disrespect to Senator Dooley, it is ironic to talk about the accessibility of the courts given what we are going to be discussing in the next session and what the Government is trying to do with judicial review and railroading through the barring of people from access to justice. There are two parts to the issue around section 29. One is the idea of preventing people from taking cases in future if they have not already initiated legal action. Nobody is arguing. We understand that this is public money as …

The amendment is self-explanatory. It relates to the Public Appointments Service, PAS. In fairness to the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, I know he has used the PAS in making appointments and gave a commitment yesterday that it will be used in order that appeals will be completely independent. The issue, however, is that Ministers change. One cannot future-proof against ministerial changes. I speak from experience on this issue. When we were debating the climate Act, we argued about the PAS and were given a guara…

I will speak to the grouping. Amendment No. 66, in my name, is similar in effect to amendment No. 65. An appeals process is generally based on new information. The amendment would allow material relevant to the appeal, such as scientific or engineering evidence, to be submitted. It is interesting. In the social protection system, if a person wishes to appeal a decision, he or she is obliged to submit new information, yet, in the context of the Bill we are talking about massive amounts of money but a person seeking …