Everybody in this place knows what a district electoral division, DED, is. A district electoral division is usually half a parish. Everybody in politics knows about them and how they work. When the Central Statistics Office does an analysis it does an analysis of how many people there are per square km. It looks at them in DEDs. In many of the parishes around me, there are approximately 20 people per square km. That is the average. When we look at international statistics, they all tell us that if there are fewer t…

I commend everyone who has brought forward this motion and all the speakers so far. We have an issue in this country with workers' rights. While I understand the Government may be in denial of that, the fact of the matter is we do not have collective bargaining as a right and that is something which needs to be established as a right. Of course, we enjoy pretty good employment. A lot of employers cannot get workers. That is one of the issues we have across our economy, but we also have an issue where we have a very…

I wish to raise the issue of the HSE discharging people from hospitals without the consent or co-operation of the families and in breach of the HSE's own protocols. I have an example of a man in south Leitrim who had a stroke and was in the care of the HSE. His sister in Dublin got a phone call saying, "He is going home today". She said there was nobody at home and that the house was under reconstruction because of the situation. She was told that he would be put in a taxi and sent home. That is it. A similar situa…

As the Minister of State knows, we are living in very uncertain and volatile times across the world, in particular with conflicts in so many places around the globe. We are all very aware of the impact this is having, in particular on fuel prices and other commodities in Ireland. It is all having a knock-on effect on food prices and the food chains in the European Union. I am sure these are issues that are to the forefront of everyone's mind. I want to concentrate on the beef industry. The volume of Irish beef expo…

I understand that, but that is the view people have developed from all of the talk about more and more militarisation. The cut in the CAP budget needs to be reversed. People need to be reminded that CAP payments or subsidies, as Leo Varadkar would now call them, are not free money for farmers. CAP was established to ensure food security, increase productivity and guarantee fair living standards for farmers across the EU. It was designed to stabilise markets, harmonise competitiveness and have rules across every mem…

This Bill is very welcome. It is very clear. The intention of it is something that I fully and totally support. It is very clear from a public policy perspective that we must do everything we can to protect children from nicotine addiction. That is what is intended here. It is set out very clearly. Last year, girls going to the debs were trying to get vapes to match the colour of their dresses. That is the mentality we have to try to deal with. I welcome the proposals within this legislation to deal with the colour…

I want to raise today the issue of St. Cecilia's School, Sligo. It is a special school that takes children with special educational needs up to the age of 18, and it is a lifeline for many children. However, we have been contacted by parents, many of them very frantic and frustrated because they are unable to get a place in the school. This is because the necessary funding cannot be sanctioned. I spoke to the principal of the school. She is very frustrated. It is the first time this has happened. There is a feeling…

You did nothing for decades.

Following a week of protest.

The depth of disappointment was evident in people across the length and breadth of the country over the past week, and that developed into anger as time went on. People say the Government is out of touch, but for some reason, it seems to be choosing to be out of touch and to walk away and not listen to ordinary, decent people. People can throw up all sorts of stories that some of the protesters were this, that and the other, but the fact of the matter is the vast majority of people who went out to voice their conce…

The situation with regard to infrastructure around the country is poor, to say the least. In rural areas and the north west it is extremely poor. I will mention a few of the issues. The south Leitrim water scheme, which provides water for more than two thirds of the population of County Leitrim, is currently operating at more than 100% capacity. It is meant to operate at 80% capacity so there is little spare capacity, but it is operating at over 100%. If someone in the region looks for planning permission to build …

She is not telling us.

As the Minister is aware, we fully support what the legislation we are discussing here today is trying to achieve, which is to form a situation where the State can co-operate fully with the Omagh inquiry to ensure there is a complete transparency around what happened in Omagh. I remember that incident very well. In my home area of Cloone, County Leitrim, we were commemorating 200 years since the French came through it in 1798. There was a weekend of commemorative events but there was this shadow over it because of …

I thank Deputy Cullinane for bringing forward this motion this evening. The national cancer strategy is due to be reviewed. As has been evidenced by the Deputies who have spoken before me, while the targets that are set are very logical and would ensure that people get the treatment they need within an appropriate timeframe, in many cases, they are clearly not being met. That is not the case just in one place in the country but across the entire country. I know of a gentleman in my own constituency who had a cancer…

I would like an update on the position regarding bluetongue. As we know, unfortunately, the disease has been detected at a number of sites throughout the country. Testing is ongoing. This situation is having an impact on trade, particularly the live export trade. I would like to get an update on where the Minister and the Department are on this, and the progress that has been made. Today, we are talking about the temperature possibly going up to 18°C. If we see an increase in temperatures, that will be a significan…

I appreciate that a lot of work has been done in respect of this, and that the Department is doing a lot of testing to try to ensure we detect the places where this has arisen. The Minister gave a list of counties where bluetongue has been detected. Are these antibodies that were a consequence of previous infections going back to last autumn or summer, or is any of this potentially a new spread of the disease? That is something we really need to get a handle on. With regard to the symptoms, certainly, in the early …

A historical case.

I understand that vaccines are approved and available but it will cost farmers to vaccinate. Will there be any assistance in that regard, as there could be quite an outlay for farmers? TB is the other big vaccination programme we have in the country at the moment for animal disease and wildlife is obviously a serious issue. If bluetongue becomes a disease that we have to deal with across the State, will the problem arise that it will also spread? Could it potentially be hoarded within the wildlife sector, in partic…

The previous question dealt with the CAP budget to some extent. A number of issues are very concerning for Irish farmers. Obviously, the budget being reduced is the big one. That is a serious problem because we need to see a decent budget in place for CAP to maintain productivity and to ensure we protect the family farm. The Minister mentioned generational renewal in a previous reply. There is talk farmers who are pensioners would not get any payments. That is a serious fear that farmers have. In previous generatio…

I thank the Minister. I appreciate we are at an early stage in negotiations and they have to take a route through all of this. The budget, as I said at the outset, is the key and what most farmers are concerned about, in that we see the budget being eroded. In every CAP negotiation for the past number of decades, we have seen that happen and that needs to be very firmly fought against to ensure we keep the budget in place so farmers can have reliability into the future. That is one of the big things for a lot of pe…