I should have been in before Deputy Shortall.

I was.

I will focus on the medical card aspect of this Bill, given the provision to exclude income relevant to the rent-a-room tax relief for consideration for a medical card means test. I cannot help but take issue with the fact that, as a measure, it does not treat all people equally in that property owners who participate in the rent-a-room scheme can have that income disregarded when it comes to medical card assessment. What about workers and families who are living in overcrowded accommodation and who do not have a s…

I thank and commend Deputy Kathleen Funchion for bringing forward this Bill. Like the speakers before me, I hope the Government will support it. The Bill is important because it seeks to ensure that certain members of any future commission of investigation, into whatever issue it is established to explore, cannot simply discharge their duties upon submission of its final report without a certain level of Oireachtas scrutiny. Unfortunately, that is what happened with the Commission of Investigation into Mother and B…

Communities across the country are seeing the closure of restaurants and other small businesses. In Tipperary town, we recently saw two such restaurants closing down. It is worrying that such a situation has been allowed to arise in a town that has been allocated a task force because of its level of deprivation. We have seen similar closures in Carrick-on-Suir and other towns around the country. Small businesses are the backbone of each of our communities. According to the RAI, 280 cafes and restaurants have closed…

Every community has its own tragic story to tell about road accidents and, more sadly, road deaths. No more so than last year which saw a 20% increase in fatalities, and a dreadful 12 months in my county, Tipperary. Yet the Government saw fit to cut the road maintenance and safety budget by €150 million. Does the Government see this opportunity here today to whitewash that and disguise that fact? Is it using it to disguise the fact that the N24 project, which aims to make that notorious road fit for purpose, has be…

I thank the Minister of State for taking this Topical Issue. I had hoped that the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications would be present and, therefore, I hope that the Minister of State will bring back any questions that we raise here, and those of the people of Tipperary town. Last Thursday, we received an email from An Post to say that it was changing Tipperary post office to a contractor-run post office. I was shocked and so was the town of Tipperary. A meeting took place that evening with st…

I thank the Minister of State, but I will return to the fact that Tipperary town needs a guarantee that, in the event that it fails to choose a postmaster or, if down the road it chooses to opt out, An Post would resume responsibility. I am asking for the Minister to examine this and respond to us. The Government speaks about how the town is in need of revitalisation and it has funded a task force, but it then took a decision like this. That is absolutely crazy as far as we are concerned. It flies completely in the…

I thank Deputy Gino Kenny for bringing this Bill forward. Progressive Bills enable us to have a debate in which we consider drug use and possession of various kinds in our society are to be welcomed. It is clear that the current response to drug use and drug possession needs reform. How that reform is approached and structured is complex and has a fundamental importance from health, rehabilitation and criminal justice viewpoints. The Bill focuses on a particular aspect of reforming the current system and that is to…

The Bill provides for the merger of the existing Science Foundation Ireland and the Irish Research Council. The two agencies in their current form have similar roles for different arms of research, with the former providing for research based on STEM subjects and the latter aimed at more humanities-based subjects. I see no problem with this as long as the intentions that are promoted by the Department are maintained and carried through and that a path is plotted to ensure parity of esteem between academic disciplin…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this, because amidst the discussion happening nationally we need to remember the humanity involved. We need to remember that many people in need of asylum are coming from situations we cannot imagine. Migration has an important role to play in this country, but this debate is not about migration. It is about the co-ordination of services to support those fleeing war and persecution and, importantly, services to support the communities these people are to become part of. Our his…

I welcome the fact that we are moving forward with a tribunal of inquiry. There are many matters that need to be addressed. The survivors' groups, including the Women of Honour and the Canary Movement, have done huge service in bringing to light various allegations against the background of a historic failure to address particular matters. Sinn Féin recognises the importance of this and the importance of placing survivors and their voices at the centre of the tribunal's work. Amendments have been submitted by Deput…

Data from the 2022 survey on income and living conditions shows that those living in one-adult households with children under 18 years were among the groups most likely to experience enforced deprivation, at over 43% compared to nearly 18% of the population as a whole. The treatment of child maintenance payments within the Department of Social Protection as means, and the requirement to make efforts to seek maintenance as a condition of eligibility for the one-parent family payment and jobseeker's transitional paym…

I also commend the Independent Group on bringing the motion to the floor. It is timely we are discussing this on the same morning an agreement seems to have been reached at a global climate summit that nearly lost credibility due to the attitude adopted by some states. If we look at the main stories that emerged from the climate summit, we see the encapsulation of the key problems that have been holding the globe back from radically addressing the emissions issue. Excluding fossil fuels from that effort has been a …

Just over a year ago, when we were discussing similar matters, the homelessness figures were in the region of 11,000. They now stand at 13,179, including 3,911 children. Those figures are conservative. In June, July and August, 208 people presented to Tipperary County Council as homeless. At the beginning of September, 57 adults and 25 children were using the emergency accommodation available to the council. That is far more than the official figures indicated. The unfortunate fact is that the housing list in Count…

This is one of the lengthiest Bills to face the House and I can understand why. Our planning system is beset with issues that delay the process and cause much-needed environmental and commercial projects to time out. This frustrates and causes undue hurdles for communities that are faced with challenges of all types, whether through developments or the impact of climate change. The question is whether the Bill addresses this and a range of other matters that need attention. A Bill so complex will require considerab…

The Minister has just shown that the Government's maths are the reason we are in this crisis. This morning, in reply to Deputy McDonald, the Taoiseach spoke about 4,000 new homeowners. In less than 12 hours the Minister has brought that figure up to 5,000. We will have the problem solved by the end of the week if that keeps going. The yearly increase for new tenancies in Tipperary has hit a staggering 10.4%, bringing average rents to €939, while for existing tenancies the increase is 5.9%, bringing their average re…

I also welcome the opportunity to discuss the Bill and thank Deputy Shanahan and the Regional Group for bringing it to the House. It deals with transparency and how public money is used, what funding is distributed for capital projects and how that funding is used. It includes a requirement that each Minister will report annually on large capital expenditure in his or her Department five years after the expenditure has occurred. There is an onus on the House to ensure that public money is spent wisely and, if distr…

Right now, a five-year-old girl is fighting for her life. I know everyone here has that young girl, her family and the other children in Thursday’s attacks at the front of their minds. We thank those who stopped the attack. What happened afterwards on Thursday evening should not have occurred. Those who took part represent only a small minority. Control of the situation was lost, and the Commissioner must take responsibility for that. The Minister must take responsibility for the confines in which our gardaí had to…

There is no doubt that many people here and across the country were stunned last week when the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs announced his intention to abolish the triple lock. I am sure that many of the Tánaiste's own party members were also shocked at the revelation, given that the Fianna Fáil 2020 general election manifesto gave a commitment to fully maintaining our neutrality and the triple lock. There are some, and the Tánaiste is a case in point, who seek to dismiss the concerns we have raised abo…