Chronic underfunding in our health service left us on the back foot when it came to this pandemic. We recently heard that there is no date in sight for when a planning application might be lodged for the new accident and emergency department at University Hospital Galway, UHG. In the past two weeks, UHG has consistently been the most or second most overcrowded hospital in the State. We cannot return to pre-pandemic overcrowding in our hospitals. We know we have an infrastructural deficit in this area. What will be …

There is no date for the new accident and emergency department for the hospital.

I am sharing time with Deputies Guirke and Stanley. I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. Sinn Féin is opposed to local property tax and the reasons for this are clear. The tax, as designed, is not only a tax on assets but a tax on debts, such that many people who are liable for it may have debts worth as much as 90% of the value of the property against which they are charged. This concern should not be readily dismissed as it is a real and immediate concern for many citizens. On 6 July, the Joint Commit…

It is not agreed. It was proposed yesterday-----

There was no request for a waiver at the Business Committee either. We were discussing this in the finance committee yesterday and there was no agreement on it. Now it is just being railroaded through. That is absolutely unacceptable.

We have a long, dark history in this State when it comes to the treatment of women, especially when it comes to our healthcare. However, the devastating reality is that this is not just something that happened in the past; this reality still hurts women today. While we regularly hear Government politicians lament the treatment of women in the past, those words ring hollow when we consider the CervicalCheck scandal. The fact that women with cervical cancer were told that smear results, which showed them to be clear,…

I commend my colleague, Deputy Ó Broin, on bringing forward this Bill. It is timely and necessary. Government policy continues to drive up the price of rents. They are now in excess of anything anyone can afford, as are house prices. In many senses, it seems to be mission accomplished for the Government. In my home county of Galway, rents have increased by 6% on last year, while rent for a double room in Galway city has increased by a massive 16%. The rent pressure zones, RPZs, the Minister's predecessor introduced…

Cuirim fáilte roimh an díospóireacht seo agus roimh an deis labhairt ar thodhchaí na mbanc, earnáil atá ag éirí amach as an ngéarchéim agus atá ag dul trí athruithe móra. Sa bhealach agus go bhfuilimid ábalta dul i ngleic leis seo, tá páirtithe leasmhara ar nós the Financial Services Union agus mo pháirtí féin, Sinn Féin, ag iarraidh go mbeidh fóram ann ar thodhchaí na baincéireachta. Thabharfadh sé seo na páirtithe leasmhara le chéile le plé a dhéanamh ar an earnáil, na dúshláin atá roimpi agus an bealach chun tos…

Tá muintir Chonamara ag fanacht le blianta i gcomhair sheirbhís otharchairr chuí. Tá a fhios againn ar fad cé chomh tábhachtach is atá seirbhís otharchairr agus muid i gcás éigeandála. Níor chóir go mbeadh aon duine ná pobal gan an tseirbhís seo. Bhí cruinniú againn cúpla mí ó shin, áit a ndúradh go mbeadh tuairisc déanta. Níl sé seo déanta go fóill. Tá a fhios agam go raibh go leor cruinnithe ann thar na blianta ach teastaíonn gníomh anois. The people of Conamara have been waiting for years for an adequate ambulan…

I too thank the Minister of State for her honesty. The reality is that we can all work together on this, and we see that from the fact the three of us are working together, with many other Oireachtas Members as well. What we have at the moment is just not working for the people of Conamara. That is why there is a campaign group, although that is not to take away from any of the work the Minister of State outlined in her statement. The reality is it is just not good enough for the people of Conamara and it is not wo…

Affordable housing is badly needed in Galway city. Residents in the Mervue area have raised concerns that the build-to-rent nature of the proposed development at Crown Square will result in sky-high rents that ordinary working people, including the children of locals, many of whom want to continue to live and raise families in the Mervue area, will be unable to afford. Build-to-rent development goes against the Government's national planning framework, which encourages sustainable living in town and city centres. T…

The Minister states that the Bill will bridge the affordability gap for first-time buyers and contends that it will help the squeezed middle, but the whole thing has become something of a squeezed muddle. "Affordability" has become a word that, in many instances, no longer means "affordable". In Galway, there have been no affordable builds for many years. People will hear the word "affordable", believe it is positive and look forward to perhaps being able to buy their own homes. Many people constantly get in contac…

The economic recovery plan rests on four pillars. Pillar four provides for strategic investment in infrastructure and reforms that enhance our long-term capacity for growth. Capital expenditure is something I feel very strongly about, but I am concerned that the EU fiscal rules, as currently constituted, could serve to stymie badly needed capital investment and our efforts to achieve a green new deal and just transition. The European Commission is set to reopen its public consultation on reform of the fiscal rules …

My colleague spoke to the incoming leader of the DUP yesterday evening and Sinn Féin will continue to work in partnership with the DUP and the other parties in the Assembly. As Sinn Féin and others have consistently stated, this work includes delivering on existing agreements. Labhair mo chuid comhghleacaithe le ceannaire nua an DUP tráthnóna inné. Leanfaidh Sinn Féin ag obair i gcomhar leis an DUP agus le páirtithe eile sa Tionól. De réir mar atá ráite agam féin agus ag daoine eile go mion minic, is dlúthchuid den…

Under the new climate Bill, Ireland will need to reduce its emissions by approximately 7% per annum. We have been told that capital expenditure is set to increase significantly in the coming years. I expect a sizeable chunk of that will be for green capital infrastructure. I would be interested to see a clear roadmap for how capital investment will be used to reach our targets. I have raised this issue previously but have not been given any exact details. Will the Taoiseach confirm whether this has been discussed b…

I want to discuss two issues. The first is the upcoming review of the EU's fiscal rules and the second is the reforms Ireland was requested to make as a requirement of accessing the recovery and resilience facility. In March last year, the European Commission suspended the fiscal rules by activating the general escape clause. Those rules place limitations on member states' deficit and debt levels and, as such, have a significant impact on the economic performance of member states and the EU as a whole. There was so…

Ar an gcéad dul síos, tréaslaím le mo chuid comhghleacaithe, na Teachtaí Kerrane agus O'Reilly, as an rún tábhachtach seo a chur os comhair na Dála anocht. Ba léir ón toghchán anuraidh cé chomh tábhachtach is atá ceist aoise an phinsin don ghnáthdhuine. Bhí an cheist seo i mbéal an phobail, agus ba bheag teaghlach a labhair mé leo agus mé ag stocaireacht nár ardaigh an cheist seo. Níl sé féaráilte, agus mothaíonn daoine nach bhfuil, go mbeadh daoine ag obair a saol ar fad agus iad den tuairim go mbeidh sé de dheis …

The ESRI recently issued a report stating that major public investment in housing finance through additional borrowing is needed to address the State's housing crisis. Ireland will be facing another decade of a housing crisis unless the Government doubles capital expenditure on housing to the tune of €4 billion per annum. Will the Government commit to the doubling of capital expenditure on housing?

As the Minister knows, I have been raising the need to increase capital expenditure over the past year, not just due to the fact that this State has historically lagged behind our EU peers when it comes to capital investment, and not just due to the fact we have a massive housing and infrastructural deficit which we badly need to close, but because capital investment is seen as the best possible route out of this crisis. Not only will it help us to turn things around in the short term but, in the medium to long ter…

In my brief time here, I have lived to see the likes of the International Monetary Fund, IMF, the EU, the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, Social Justice Ireland and now the ESRI all highlighting our chronic infrastructural deficit. I take on board what the Minister is saying in regard to increases in housing supply and so on but the reality is the ESRI is literally telling us that we need to double this in order to deal with the major crisis of the time that people are facing. The real ideological position is to hol…