These are relatives.

This is a technical motion and it relates to capital carry-over from one year to the next. Sinn Féin will be supporting it. This year it represents money included in the 2020 voted allocation that has been unspent. Since the 2004 Act we have a facility to carry over unspent capital expenditure. Section 91 of the Act specified that the provisions would be up to a maximum of 10% of the capital allocation by Vote. This applies only to capital expenditure and not current spending. To allow for spending of the capital c…

Mar is eol don Aire, tá muidne i Sinn Féin tar éis tacú le fanacht agus dul chun cinn an EWSS go dtí an 31 Márta. Tuigimid cé chomh tábhachtach is atá an scéim seo i gcomhair na ndaoine atá ag brath ar an airgead seo. Ar ndóigh, an rud atá mé féin chun caint faoi ná na daoine sin atá ag iarraidh morgáiste a fháil agus nach féidir leo mar gheall go bhfuil siad ar an scéim seo. Impím ar an Aire labhairt leis na bainc faoi seo mar is rud uafásach é do na daoine sin nach bhfuil in ann morgáiste a fháil mar gheall air s…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire. He will find that, on Galway City Council, it is actually Fianna Fáil councillors who voted against certain public housing being built. I am glad that he wants to hear constructive solutions. I will get straight into them. A report released on Monday by the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland stated that the construction cost of two-bedroom apartments in urban areas of Dublin now stands at between €219,000 and €262,000. Despite this, the council's own figures for social housing apa…

Ba mhaith liom tacú le rún mo chomhghleacaí, an Teachta Ó Dochartaigh, maidir leis an scéim seo a leathnú amach. Tá a fhios againn ar fad, agus athbhreithniú ar an scéim á dhéanamh againn inniu, go bhfuil sé tábhachtach breathnú ar an méid a d'oibrigh an scéim ach caithfimid breathnú chomh maith ar an méid nár oibrigh sé. Ar ndóigh, tá roinnt gnólachtaí ann faoi láthair nach bhfuil i dteideal na scéime seo agus tá sé sin fíordheacair ar na gnólachtaí sin. Tá súil agam go mbreathnóidh an tAire air seo agus go ndéanf…

Last week, we found out that the Secretary General of the Department of Health is set to receive a pay increase of €81,000. In that same week, recipients of the PUP, who are on €350 per week, received their first tax bill. There are varying accounts as to how the decision was reached to provide for this increase and I would like the Tánaiste to outline the timeline of the decision-making process, including details on who was involved in the decision, when it was signed off on and who signed off on it.

Níl lucht iascaireachta na tíre seo sásta faoin droim láimhe atá tugtha dóibh arís eile. Chuir mé fáilte mhór roimh an gcinneadh Ros a' Mhíl a ainmniú mar cheann de na calafoirt ina mbeidh cead ag báid ó na Sé Chontae agus ón mBreatain teacht isteach ann agus iasc a thabhairt i dtír. Ní raibh ciall ná réasún leis an gcinneadh gan ligean d'iascairí an méid seo a dhéanamh agus, mar sin, is comhartha dearfach é an dul chun cinn ciallmhar seo. Caithfimid anois infheistíocht a chinntiú do chalafort Ros a' Mhíl agus cala…

Ba mhaith liom ar dtús an chrógacht agus an misneach atá léirithe ag na daoine a tháinig slán ó na hinstitiúidí seo agus a dteaghlaigh a mholadh. Ar an aistear fada, crua seo acu ar thóir na fírinne, roinn siad scéalta thar a bheith pearsanta agus trámach linn a bheidh greanta i mo chuimhne go ceann i bhfad. Thar aon ní eile, thug siad aird lom ar an tréimhse ghránna seo. Ní raibh aon rud sa tuarascáil seo a thabharfadh le tuiscint go raibh imní ar bith ar na polaiteoirí ná ar an bpobal faoi na leanaí nó na máithre…

I want to raise with the Minister the issue of children with severe to profound intellectual disabilities who attend Rosedale School. The children in question have lost everything. They have nothing. Their worlds have shrunk. One mother described to me how her daughter’s world has shrunk to a bubble in her head. While I welcome the announcement by the Minister, parents have told me that children with severe to profound intellectual disabilities deserve better. Currently, there is no appropriate education plan in pl…

Le bliain anuas, is minic go raibh mic léinn ó Ollscoil na hÉireann, Gaillimh, agus Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, GMIT, i dteagmháil liom agus iad trína chéile mar gheall ar bhrú airgid, ar fhadhbanna lóistín agus ar an mbrú meabhairshláinte atá orthu de bharr na paindéime seo. Tá a fhios againn ar fad gur buille uafásach a bhí sa phaindéim seo orainn ar fad ach ba bhuille ar leith í ar dhaoine óga. Chaill an t-uafás acu a gcuid phost agus, ar ndóigh, stop a saoil shóisialta. The past year has been difficult…

Tá mé ag roinnt mo chuid ama le mo chomhghleacaí, an Teachta Ó Dochartaigh. Gabhaim buíochas leis an Leas-Cheann Comhairle agus leis an Aire. Tuigim gur Bille fíorthábhachtach é seo chun a chinntiú gur féidir le Ranna Rialtais airgead a chaitheamh ag tús mhí Eanáir agus nach dteastófar Vótaí breise chun é seo a dhéanamh. Tá bunús bunreachtúil leis an mBille seo agus beimid i Sinn Féin ag tacú leis. I understand that there is a constitutional requirement for this Bill, as it legislates for the financial resolutions …

Gabhaim mo bhuíochas le mo chomhghleacaí, an Teachta Eoin Ó Broin, as ucht an Bhille fíorthábhachtach seo a chur os comhair na Dála. Homelessness and the threat of homelessness is undoubtedly the main issue that I deal with every day in my constituency office. I am sure we have all met people who have received a notice to quit and are unable to find alternative accommodation. Unfortunately, that is the reality in my home city of Galway, where time and again no properties are available in Galway city centre within t…

Mar a dúirt mo chomhghleacaí, cuirimid fáilte roimh chuid den Bhille seo. Is rud fíorthábhachtach é ionas gur féidir leis na AGMs tarlú agus tá sé sin fíorthábhachtach do na daoine atá ag brath orthu. I welcome this Bill, which makes provision for the holding of certain meetings by credit unions via remote access. We have discussed in this Chamber the importance of credit unions being able to hold their AGMs. It is something that has been raised with me by a number of constituents and several credit unions. It make…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as an méid a dúirt sé ansin. Tuigimid ar fad gur in amanna eisceachtúla a táimid mar gheall ar an bpaindéim. Bhí dea-scéal mar gheall ar an bpaindéim inniu le daoine ag fáil an vacsaín don chéad uair. Tá súil againn ar fad go gciallóidh sé sin go mbeidh deireadh ag am éigin leis an bpaindéim seo. This motion authorises the Minister for Finance, in accordance with section 6(1) of the National Surplus (Reserve Fund for Exceptional Contingencies) Act 2019, not to pay the prescribed amount…

Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil le mo chomhghleacaithe, na Teachtaí McDonald agus O'Reilly, as an mBille fíor-thábhachtach seo a chur os comhair na Dála. Dá n-achtófaí an Bille seo, thabharfadh sé ceart reachtúil ar shaoire oibrithe maidir le foiréigean baile agus tá sin fíor-thábhachtach. I thank my colleagues, Deputies McDonald and O'Reilly, for tabling this important Bill. I am delighted to see that the Government will support it. This is an issue that we can all say has reached pandemic proportions in Ir…

I echo the sentiments of Deputy Doherty. I am concerned. We had a lengthy debate on Committee Stage in this regard. I was quite surprised at this amendment because I am concerned it could lead to this section not being implemented for a long time. When we had the discussion on Committee Stage, it was our understanding that it would come into effect on 1 January 2021. I have been concerned about the perceived weakness of this. Even with the enactment of the Bill, there could still be possible arbitrage opportunities…

I will be speaking in support of amendments Nos. 72, 76 and 77. It is very clear that we are in a climate emergency and we need to act now. We need strong decisive action and leadership by the Government to deal with this climate emergency but we need progressive policies if we want to deal with this it. I am deeply disappointed at the regressive nature of the carbon tax. I spoke at length about it on Committee Stage but I want to again highlight my anger at the regressive nature of it. Simply put, this is a regres…

I commend Solidarity-People Before Profit on bringing forward this motion. It is scandalous that student nurses are not paid at the best of times. It is even more outrageous in the middle of a global pandemic. These student nurses have been central to our front-line response to this pandemic but have been left in financial hardship by the Government. Many students nurses from Galway have contacted me telling me how hard they have had it. One woman told me: I have done 15 weeks unpaid placement each year. This consi…

I echo the words of my colleague, Deputy Doherty, about all the assistance that was given in the smooth running of the discussion on the Bill on Committee Stage. It was my first Finance Bill. I thought it ran very smoothly because of the great work put in by a lot of people. I also thank them for that. It has been said that we had a very lengthy debate on the scheme, and I expressed my views on it. I think that this scheme is inflationary and does not benefit the people it is supposed to benefit - the first-time bu…

We are stating very clearly that we do not believe the help-to-buy scheme is doing what it is supposed to do or what it says on the tin, so to speak. It is not helping those who need it most or who are looking to buy a house for the very first time. It was mentioned earlier that we believe there is a need for proper social or public housing as well as a proper affordable housing plan, which we have yet to see. The reality is that where I am from in Galway city, there was a ten-year period in which not a single unit…