The Minister mentioned a minimum of 20%. What is his range? The Department issued figures recently on the impact of 85% convergence on Pillar 1 payments. He started out with 100% of the payments, comprising 70% for the basic payment and 30% for the greening. However, the figures used to illustrate the impact of 85% convergence only included 70% for the basic payment and the 30% greening was left out. Those figures were completely misleading. I am not saying anybody set out to mislead, but that was the outcome. We m…

To follow on from what the Deputy has said, what we are asking here, certainly what I am asking, is for the Government's position and the Minister's position on convergence. Is the Minister looking at a minimum or a maximum of 75%? As he knows, the Council put forward 85% and that was rejected by the Parliament, so we may be looking at more than that. What is the Minister's position and the Government's position? I may be wrong but my view was that the Fianna Fáil position was to move towards full convergence. We e…

I will take Deputy Pringle's question and, with the Minister's permission, I will incorporate aspects of a question of my own on the same issue. Deputy Pringle asked about the plans in place for the development of LYIT. That is, obviously, in the context of the submission from the Connacht-Ulster Alliance, which includes Sligo IT, the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, GMIT, and LYIT. I ask the Minister for the most up-to-date timeline as to what is happening.

I thank the Minister. That was a lot of information in two minutes. As he said, we are in the final stages. The TUI is voting at the moment and nobody wants to pre-empt the result of that ballot but we can all be hopeful that we will have white smoke, perhaps by tonight or tomorrow morning. It is my understanding that the three governing bodies will meet tomorrow to submit their application, if we have that approval from the TUI. I will ask the Minister a question in the context of St. Angela's College. Assuming th…

I thank the Minister for saying there will be a cross-party approach that will include all Oireachtas Members from the area. Everyone is on the same footing here. Everybody recognises the considerable potential that the Connacht-Ulster Alliance could realise for the region. The Minister said that he cannot be clear on the timelines with regard to St. Angela's, and I understand that. However, it is positive to hear that the Minister feels that St. Angela's has a role to play and can be a part of the technological un…

I am sharing the last three minutes with Deputy Fitzmaurice. Yesterday, at the start of my intervention, I welcomed this Bill and I thanked the Minister of State for bringing it forward. It is good legislation which protects the productive income from the farm or business and that is what is most important. My understanding is that if someone has been in care for over three years, once he or she appoints a successor, he or she will no longer have to pay the 7.5% contribution based on his or her asset. If someone is…

I thank the Acting Chairman and wish her good luck in her new role. As a Member of the European Parliament, I received a constant stream of complaints from all over 15 counties about a totally inadequate system of water and wastewater provision. Ireland was dragged kicking and screaming to the European Court of Justice and heavily fined for basically allowing its own people to be poisoned. Subsequently we handed over a seriously underfunded and wholly inadequate water and wastewater system to Irish Water, which doe…

I welcome the Bill and I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, for her work to improve the legislation. The Bill seeks to update the legislation so the viability and sustainability of farms and small businesses are protected where the productive income from the farm or business is the principal livelihood of the appointed successor. This is a common sense approach.

Sligo County Council has written to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, stating that several hundred homes, mainly in rural Sligo, are affected by pyrite. As the Tánaiste knows, this has a catastrophic effect on the stability of homes. Sligo County Council has asked that Sligo be included in the defective concrete blocks grant scheme, which covers 90% of the remediation costs. This scheme currently operates in Mayo and Donegal. Homeowners in south and west Sligo look acr…

Before and after Christmas, I was contacted by many students, in particular, from the Irish Second-Level Students' Union. They were concerned about the plans or lack of plans for the leaving certificate at that point. As a former teacher and a parent, I could fully appreciate their panic because of the ongoing uncertainty. At that time, before any decisions were taken, I suggested a hybrid model, which is basically what we have here today. This approach gives students some choice, flexibility and certainty. I belie…

I am pleased to have the opportunity to say a few words on the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021. I was a member of the European Parliament when the Kyoto Protocol entered into force in 2005. Its objective was to stabilise greenhouse gas emissions from 2008 to 2012. Then, of course, its successor, the Doha Amendment, was in operation up to 2020. As a member of the European Parliament, I supported the agreed proposal from the Parliament and all member states that the EU would commit to …

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for his explanation of what happened earlier. The Minister is aware of the Shass Mountain landslide at Drumkeeran. Approximately 55 ha of land was affected, with approximately 170,000 tonnes of peat on the land. It was an extensive landslide. Subsequent to the landslide, which was ten and a half months ago, the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, organised a meeting and the then Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Cowen, came to Drumkeeran and made a commitment that all f…

It is always positive to get a good response from a Minister. I am pleased that officials are contacting affected landowners to advise that force majeure will apply in respect of the 2021 scheme. That is a positive outcome and many people will be happy to hear that this evening. However, I have spoken to a number of affected landowners in recent times and they had heard nothing but the Minister's word is good enough for me. That deals with the immediate issue of the application for the basic payment scheme, BPS, an…

This is my third time to raise the issue of payment of moneys to Sligo Airport for completed, essential safety works required by the Irish Aviation Authority. Since 2011, Sligo Airport has not received €1 of public money and yet it operates the busiest coastguard service in the country. At a meeting last December, which I and a number of public representatives attended, a mechanism was proposed whereby funding could be channelled to the airport for the cost of these essential safety works and subsequently Sligo Air…

I am happy to start my contribution by wishing the very best to the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, and her lovely new family. My time is brief and I have a specific question for the Minister of State but I will first make a brief comment. I am really pleased to hear of the new investments and allocations in mental health provision. They are all very welcome. However, all Members recognise that mental health provision has been chronically underfunded for many years. The report of the Mental Health Commission …

I am referring to the report of the Covid-19 nursing homes expert panel. It was published last August and contains 86 recommendations.

I thank the Labour Party for bringing forward this most important motion on autism strategy and services. I fully support its recommendations and I am pleased to hear the Minister of State say she is supportive. All of us know from speaking with parents and carers the intolerable burdens that have been placed on families and caregivers over the last 14 months. On top of that, waiting lists have increased for many services during that time. As politicians, we all receive heart-rending emails and phone calls but perh…

I want to ask the Minister if, even now, she will put in place Covid-specific supports for the local print media sector. The Government rightly put Covid supports in place for the local radio sector. It was badly needed and it has made a real difference. Why has a similar Covid-specific fund not been put in place for local newspapers, many of which are hanging on by their fingernails?

The Minister and I do not disagree on the value of the local print media. It provides independent and quality journalism, but we are in danger of losing it. The Minister spoke of the need to avoid the perception of interference by Government that would result if it were to fund the local print media. That is an excuse; it is not a reason. The Government helped to fund local radio, and rightly so. Nobody is accusing the Government of trying to interfere, editorially or otherwise, as far as local radio is concerned. …

I first record my thanks to all those who have been involved in the very effective roll-out of the Covid vaccine up to now. I suspect that vaccine centres are happy places in which to work at the moment. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, told the House that those most vulnerable to Covid-19 would be the first to be protected, along with healthcare staff. In that context, I make a strong case, as have other Deputies, for kidney patients. Many such patients in my constituency have contacted me. We now know that t…