I will forward the details to the Minister.

We are not asking the Minister to look at every case.

We have had meetings and meetings about this. There was just nothing at the committee meeting regarding the amendments. No matter what the Opposition put through that evening it was not going to be accepted. I ask the Minister to listen to Deputies Sherlock and Cairns. They are telling the Minister, as are the foresters, that this kind of amendment will only improve the system we are all saying has failed at this stage. Since becoming a member of the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine, I have had o…

Deputy Carthy has outlined exactly why it is important that no more of these headlines appear in the Irish Farmers' Journal and so forth. To have trust in the sector out there, there must be trust here in the House. If we are not being informed of what is going on at the start, then the whole scheme or any scheme, whether it is that of the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine or of the Department of Health or wherever else, is doomed to fail. Like Deputy Carthy said, we ask that the Minister accepts the am…

The Minister knows the position of Sinn Féin and the Independent Deputies to my left on this Bill. We are not opposed to penalty points and neither is the fishing industry. We have stated that repeatedly but the system must be fair. This scheme is not fair and we have made that point previously. We have introduced this amendment because allowing the future livelihoods of fishermen to depend on the loose "balance of probabilities" is wrong. This would raise serious questions in any other area of a person's work life…

Like Deputies Pringle and Sherlock, I refer to the 30-day rule and how it compares with the rest of Europe. I was not in the previous Dáil. Those on the Opposition bench did agree to 30 days but they are surely entitled to seek an extension to help fishermen. The 30 days is not long enough. That is the idea we have been trying to change the Minister's mind about by tabling amendments. The Minister talked about money being spent in all the ports. That money should be spent. It is well-deserved and should be spent bu…

What we have seen in south Kerry recently indicated the challenges facing young people in securing the appropriate mental health services in a system that has not been designed around their needs. The lack of resources and the poor roll-out of mental health supports in general, but particularly for young people, has been well known for some time. It has been made worse by a lack of urgency on the part of the Government, which says it is difficult to find the psychologists, occupational therapists, speech and langua…

I would like to remind Deputy Michael Moynihan - although I agree with him that it has started to roll out - that for every place that he can name, we can name another place that is caught for broadband. We all agree that it should be in new housing estates, but the Government needs to start building those houses first. This week, the Tánaiste outlined the 13 reasons employers will be able to refuse requests to work from home. A company will be able to do so if it has concerns regarding the Internet connectivity of…

There has been much good news for County Tipperary with the establishment of the Technological University of the Shannon, which will host more than 14,000 students across six campuses, including Clonmel and Thurles. It is past time that we saw positive developments such as this for my county. Now that such changes and reforms are being made, the Bill is of extreme importance. Sinn Féin believes that all colleges should be given a greater degree of flexibility in terms of governance structures so long as necessary c…

Last year, Sinn Féin launched its online survey about the impact the increase in the cost of living was having on people's lives. Some 76% of people who responded to our survey said they were very concerned about the impact while 95% said they believed the Government was not doing enough. We have heard that the Government intends to take €100 off electricity bills at some stage in March. While anything that takes some pressure off people is welcome, the Government needs to do much more than this to address the plig…

I will begin by expressing my deep concern about the current situation at the Ukrainian border, where an estimated 100,000 Russian soldiers are gathered. I note among the conclusions of December's meeting that the European Council reiterated its full support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity and has warned that any further military aggression against Ukraine will have major consequences and incur a severe cost in response. I wish to reiterate Sinn Féin's opposition to the act of aggression against…

This week I received an email from a 16-year-old girl from County Tipperary concerning what she termed the mental health crisis in Ireland. Like so many others of her age, she has lost several friends to suicide. She related to me that when she was feeling that way as well, she presented to the hospital only to be sent home four hours later. She is still affected, and has since appealed to me to make the case on her behalf concerning the need for more funding to be allocated for mental health services and for more …

I send my deep condolences and those of the people of Tipperary to the family of Ashling Murphy and to her boyfriend Ryan. The horrific events that happened in Tullamore served as a wake-up call to all of us in this country about how the scourge of gender-based violence continues and the need for adequate measures to address it. This is why it is important that we have been discussing this matter at length in the House. Every one of us has a duty to ensure that no longer will violence against women slip off the age…

My heart sank when I saw how many of the most important recommendations of the Joint Committee on Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth were not taken into account when revising this Bill. An opportunity was there to address the injustices of the past that have been ignored or suppressed over the decades. We have seen this with the attitude that was shown to the survivors of the mother and baby homes like Sean Ross Abbey over the years but, despite the horrors they experienced through no fault of th…

I also want to wish the Minister best wishes for Christmas before we all fall out. I ask for an update on progress that has been made under the action plan for insurance reform. We hear a lot about reductions in personal injury awards. What effect is that having on insurance policies?

Given the 40% reduction in personal injury awards since the new personal injuries guidelines came into effect, reductions should have been passed on to members of the public and organisations and businesses that need them. Instead of reductions, the businesses in the entertainment sector are under huge pressure right now and have seen hikes in their premiums. Public liability insurance costs have also increased by 15%, according to the Alliance for Insurance Reform. There have been reductions in some sectors, but i…

I accept the Minister of State has met the insurance companies but he will forgive me if it seems like a kid-glove approach to the sector that has prevented community events from taking place during the summer and for the past 12 months. It has made driving, which is a necessity, costly. It is not a luxury any more. The public thinks the Minister of State is being too soft on the insurance companies. They are the ones that are profiting from the reductions in claims because the Minister of State will not implement …

Can the Minister of State tell this House the number of existing residential housing units that have been acquired by REITs and real estate funds in each of the years from 2018 to 2020? I would also like the Minister of State’s views on whether the tax advantages provided by the tax structures for both are justified with respect to the acquisition of existing dwellings, given the extreme housing crisis we have.

The Minister of State will be aware that the CSO residential property price index report for October was published today. It shows that house prices across the State have risen by 13.5% annually. Families cannot afford to buy homes. As I have already told the House this week, there are families in Tipperary whose landlords have given them notice. They are looking to a rental market that is either non-existent or overpriced. The Minister of State will be well aware of the price of this starvation of the overall resi…

I concur with Deputy Gannon that it is unacceptable that the Minister has not stayed in the Chamber to listen to the statements. It would be remiss of me not to welcome some of the Government Deputies but they have gone again. Last week when we were in committee they did not stay in the Chamber for their slots and we missed ours. In the new year, it would be good if Government Deputies would stick around for the Thursday evening slots. Throughout this pandemic I have raised on a number of occasions the fact that pe…