I ask that the Minister speak with the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment regarding the current crisis in the hospitality sector, especially for the smaller, independent-led cafes, restaurants and pubs that serve food. Every week, more and more of them are closing their doors permanently. They are being hit by a wave of extra costs including an increase in the VAT rate, wage inflation, increasing supplier costs and their warehoused taxes. There is also additional and increasing pressure in many towns, in…

I will support both the Government's amendments to the Constitution. I will do so with reservations but sometimes you have to look at the bigger picture and the greater good. All my political life, I have campaigned for adequate support for family carers and all that entails. Family carers, I have always said, along with volunteers, are the glue that holds our society together. They allow our societies, as we have constructed them, to function. That should never, ever be taken for granted. I want to recognise the c…

I thank Deputy Pringle for bringing forward this motion. The principle on which this motion is based, which is increased fossil fuel divestment, is certainly one I fully support. While, unfortunately, the final document from COP28 falls far short of calling for the phasing out of fossil fuels, it does call for an irreversible and accelerated transition from fossil fuels. At a global level, that is positive. This motion is not just worthy but also timely. It is a follow-on from a Private Members' motion put forward …

I welcome the fact that the Taoiseach visited Leitrim village earlier this week. Those who were with him on the day saw that he spent time there, saw the damage for himself and listened to people. He said that assistance would be available quickly. He said it would be available "today or tomorrow". I know that the Department of the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, has humanitarian assistance available for households. I hope it is available straight away. However, my specific question is about what interim funding - not …

I know the Minister of State partly answered this in responding to Deputy Ó Laoghaire but I want a further update on the progress made in the claim for pay parity by Tús and RSS supervisors. This has been going on a long time and people feel they are being stonewalled. The fact there are two priority questions on it this morning gives an indication of how important we think it is.

I thank the Minister of State. He stated there is a difference in the scope of the work being done. We recognise the work is not identical but it is broadly similar. I have spoken to a number of supervisors and there is little difference. Many workers from RSS and Tús progress onto CE schemes. A supervisor on a CE scheme after ten years gets about €42,000, while one on an RSS or Tús scheme gets about €35,000. There is a huge difference in pay. Furthermore, those on CE schemes, as the Minister of State mentioned ear…

I am glad to hear the Minister of State continues in good faith but he does not want to speak about figures. I understand that but that is the reality of people’s pay packets. That is what is in their back pocket at the end of the week or month and that is why I and others are asking these questions. The Minister of State will be aware a number of successful public meetings were held earlier this year. There was one in Athenry, one in Castlebar and one scheduled for Sligo, which was put off in order that these trip…

I thank the Tánaiste. He has answered the question that we have posed several times today. Like Deputy Haughey, I warmly welcome the release of Emily Hand and the information we have been given about the Irish citizens who have been able to leave Gaza. Will the Tánaiste clarify how many Irish citizens remain in Gaza and how many of those wish to leave, if any? I am not sure of the precise numbers. Of those who have left, have all their dependants been able to travel with them? Like Deputy Haughey, I want to commend…

I fully support the Tánaiste's statement and the wishes of the Dáil to see the humanitarian ceasefire extended, with the aim of making it permanent. I too want to extend the question a little to the issue of the EU-Israel trade agreement. I put down a question and I got a response from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, which tells me that this agreement between Israel and the EU does not apply to territory occupied by Israel in 1967. In other words, this is not within its remit. However, if we loo…

I thank Deputy Shanahan and the Regional Group for bringing forward this important Bill. I am more than happy to support it. The Bill above all will provide an enhanced and hugely necessary level of transparency to ensure the details of capital spending by each Department are prepared and laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas five or four years after the financial year concerned. Those details will include the amount of each capital supply service and public allocation expended by or on behalf of a relevant Depa…

This afternoon our first thoughts are with a little girl and her carer who are gravely ill in hospital following a horrific knife attack. Second, we extend our heartfelt thanks to those who intervened, and to all the services for helping protect our capital city from mindless violence, and far right-fuelled hatred and fury. However, I want to raise the broader issue of migration policy in Ireland, both at national and local level, and to ask him as our Taoiseach to lead that discussion and communicate with and list…

I agree with most of what the Taoiseach said. I certainly have not heard anyone in the Chamber today conflate terrible crimes with migrants. There is no evidence to support that. I am also not grandstanding and looking for the head of the Minister. As I said to the Taoiseach at the end of my initial comments, this is the time for cohesion and we need to see how we can work together. However, there is also a reluctance to grasp the nettle sometimes and to be honest with people. It is not enough to say Irish people a…

Once again, I raise the issue of the significant inequitable financial treatment under the fair deal scheme meted out to public nursing homes on the one hand and private, community and voluntary nursing homes on the other. As a result, many small, family-run, often rural nursing homes are finding themselves in real financial trouble. Last week, two former TDs, Dr. Jerry Cowley and Dr. Michael Harty, who are both chairs of community, voluntary, not-for-profit nursing homes located within a few kilometres of public n…

Last Thursday was a dark day for our capital city and our country. It was not an isolated event but the culmination of events as this State lost complete control of Dublin city for over two hours. For whatever reason, we were completely exposed and unprepared for the violent onslaught that escalated into mob rule, as gardaí, bus drivers and others were attacked, shops were looted, and trams, buses and Garda cars were torched. Ordinary workers and anybody who was unfortunate enough to find themselves in the city cen…

The division on PBP-Solidarity's amendment to the Tánaiste's amendment is postponed until the weekly division time tomorrow evening.

Today, for the first time, there is some glimmer of hope, a faint ray of light as there seems to be an agreement between Israel and Hamas for a four-day ceasefire and the release of hostages. Every hostage released and every hour of a ceasefire is a positive. It is not a solution but it is a start and we have to start somewhere. As this process continues every hour of every day must be used to try to find a more long-term solution. We call on the Government to dedicate every ounce of energy and to use every diploma…

I raise the crisis faced by a number of childcare providers, especially the smaller, independent ones, in my constituency and elsewhere. This relates to the fact that the Department will not accept the set of accounts from these providers that Revenue has already accepted. The Department wants much more detail and requires the accounts to be prepared by a chartered accountant, at an extra cost of between €1,500 to €2,500 per provider. These accounts are for 2022. One provider told me that a supermarket receipt from…

This motion from Sinn Féin highlights many of the critical issues facing our health service. The Government's amendment, on the other hand, outlines much of the work undertaken by the Government and indeed, there is some progress. However, it is from a very low base in that the number of inpatient acute beds per capita in Ireland was one of the lowest in Europe and just to start redressing that situation, we needed to employ significant numbers of staff to support those beds. I note that the amendment quotes the nu…

Just over a year ago, I raised the crisis in the dermatology service at Sligo University Hospital, SUH, with the then Taoiseach, now Tánaiste, Deputy Micheál Martin. Back then, Dr. McKenna, the consultant dermatologist at SUH, had contacted all healthcare providers to inform them his clinics would be cancelled as there were more than 3,500 new patients waiting for their first appointments and 100 new referrals each week. According to Dr. McKenna, one year later his service has fewer nursing hours than it did 20 yea…

Who would ever have thought that Science Week would generate such energy and excitement? As a former maths and science teacher, I am personally excited to see this, mainly because Science Week is primarily about making science fun, accessible and interesting, particularly to our young students. Earlier we heard the Minister list off the work of his Department. He promised not just to publish the independent review of our PhD research ecosystem but also, in parallel with its publication, to publish the action plan t…