Like many Deputies, I wish to raise the issue of the near desperation of many local businesses due to the cumulative impact of so many different increases in the past year. We have heard about the increase in the cost of energy. All businesses are impacted. I listened to the Tánaiste's responses this morning to oral questions. The Government has taken some steps in this regard. The temporary business energy support scheme is a good scheme, but it is worth taking a closer look at its impact. The owners of the local …

What I am talking about here are not small businesses. Even a small supermarket employs ten to 15 people. Those at the larger end in small towns still employ perhaps 50 or 60 people. The money that goes into the local community from the wages is significant. I hear what the Tánaiste says about subsidising businesses that may find it hard to get staff but I ask him to think about what will happen to those staff if they lose their jobs and those communities if they lose their local supermarket, their local café and t…

How does the Tánaiste decide?

Will the Tánaiste give me some definite word for the people who contacted me about providing accommodation for Ukrainians in my constituency both on a commercial and a non-commercial basis? One lady from Grange, Sligo pledged a room last March. She was Garda vetted in the summer. The house was inspected in September. She was asked to install smoke alarms, carbon monoxide alarms and a fire blanket. She did all of this and she was approved. There is still no word. Somebody from Boyle, County Roscommon, wants to provi…

The challenge for Ireland's energy security is in the present, not the future. That is where we find ourselves this evening. I agree with what was said at the beginning of this debate. We need short-term, immediate measures to help guarantee energy security. The Minister is proposing one of those measures here this evening. That is to exempt the provision of emergency generation of 450 MW of electricity from the provisions of the Planning and Development Act 2000 for designated developments and to exempt it from th…

While the budget sets out the fiscal parameters for next year, it is much more than that. It also provides the framework that finances the delivery of Government policy. This is what I want to focus on in my short contribution, namely, how this budget shaped the delivery of Government policy. Given that my time is limited, I will concentrate on the impact of this budget on people with disabilities and on families affected by disability. Internationally, Ireland is seen as one of the better countries when it comes t…

We are facing a crisis in the nursing home sector because 16 private nursing homes have already closed this year and 450 beds are gone. Unfortunately, too many owners are at their wits' end in reassessing their current financial position. The escalation in the cost of energy and the cost of living is certainly a factor, but the underlying cause is the fact that the fair deal funding model is not fit for purpose. This is not something we are only discovering now. It has been flagged time and again in many different …

I acknowledge what the Taoiseach said in that there are various initiatives in the pipeline but two nursing homes closed in County Roscommon and one closed in Athlone, County Westmeath last week. The lady was on RTÉ and the figures are public knowledge. She said that her nursing home received €950 per person per week but the local public nursing home received €1,915 per person per week. That is not tenable. No private nursing home could survive that black hole in funding provision. The Taoiseach spoke about money g…

Earlier, I raised the issue of nursing homes closing. In his response, the Taoiseach mentioned the increase in home care. In that context, we see that care workers employed by private, not-for-profit companies are walking away from their employment because of low income, not having pay for their travel, not having sick pay and travel time not being counted in the number of hours worked. Those are just some of the poor working conditions that they endure. It is no wonder that they are leaving. The advisory group mad…

Yes.

My time is limited but I want to say a few words on energy prices and energy supply. We are aware that Russia is using drones to target people in their homes - killing, maiming and destroying - and now we see the systematic and targeted bombing of energy installations across Ukraine. This is further evidence, not that we need it, that Russia is blindly determined to destroy Ukraine and to use energy as a weapon of war. We need a cap on gas prices and we need to be at the forefront when it comes to pushing for this.…

I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this motion, which contains a number of very sensible and doable proposals. I want to address some of the remarks from the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, who has left us. He quite rightly informed us of the global and European situation which is worsening day to day as Russia not only sends drones to murder people in their homes, but also deliberately and systematically attacks energy installations in Ukraine. He also told us of the many supports put in place in the budget. They…

I am pleased to see this legislation before the House because I worked on the directive for many years in the European Parliament, not just in its final stages when it was a draft document, in committee and in the Parliament itself, but in trying to ensure it got on the Statute Book in the first place. When I was first elected to the Parliament, Kathy Sinnott and I founded the carers interest group and that was one of its first recommendations the group made. I remained as chair of the group for between ten and 15 …

I thank the Labour Party for bringing forward this motion regarding the fact that workers in the community and voluntary sector have not had a pay rise for 14 years. When you say it quickly, 14 years slips off the tongue, but that is a very long time. As somebody said at yesterday's briefing on the issue, they are tired asking for equity, justice and a bit of respect, and for an acknowledgement that their work matters. All of us in this Chamber and throughout the country know how much their work matters. There are …

There is a severe shortage of radiation therapists in the HSE. I put down a number of written questions asking for a progress report but the only response I have got is that there is a review ongoing in the Workplace Relations Commission. Despite a real crisis in the sector, very little progress has been made in getting this review up and running. Approximately half of people with a cancer diagnosis will require radiation therapy and this can only be delivered by a radiation therapist. For the north west, that serv…

I heard the Minister of State outline some of the specific measures taken in the budget to help alleviate the cost of living and increased energy costs for some people and specific sectors. Those were very welcome but they were the targeted measures. Tonight we are looking at universal measures, or the safety net for the general public. All the payments we are speaking of tonight are welcome but they fall far short of what is needed. That is the case for those who are on low or middle incomes and for family carers,…

I am very happy to support this motion from Sinn Féin. It forensically looks at some of the major gaps in our system of supports for people with disabilities and it asks some of the hard questions. In many ways, the context is set by the failure to publish the capacity review action plan. It is already badly delayed. I listened to some of this debate in my office but I did not hear whether the Minister of State gave a commitment as to when this review will be published. If he did not, perhaps the Minister, Deputy O…

I am pleased to support the motion to make public transport free and accessible. It is certainly ambitious but I believe its time has come. The Minister of State said we cannot afford it and suggested it does not work as well as they thought it might elsewhere. The argument of not being able to afford something is not a good argument if the objective is positive. I will come back to that later. We are in a crisis at the moment and sometimes a crisis is an opportunity to do things differently and look at things diff…

Yesterday, Monday, 3 October, dermatology clinics were cancelled at Sligo University Hospital, SUH. A letter was sent on 22 September by Dr. McKenna, the consultant dermatologist at SUH, to healthcare providers telling them the clinics would be cancelled. The reason we have got to this point is more than 3,500 new patients are waiting for their first appointment and there are 100 new referrals each week. That is a four-year waiting list. We have a long-standing unfilled consultant post at SUH with no locum. The str…

I raised it already