I will be opposing the legislation and supporting the amendment before us. Essentially, this legislation is asking the Dáil to give the Minister and Government a blank cheque. We should not give them that for one day longer than is absolutely required in the proposal before us. The reason I say that is because I do not trust the Minister. I do not trust this Government to bring forward regulations in a fair manner and one which will build upon community support. One of the phenomenal outworkings of the societal res…

I commend the Regional Group on bringing this motion before the House once again. I also commend the amendment Deputy O'Rourke has moved. As has been stated by many Members, the local post office network is in many respects the heartbeat of local communities. For many people, it is also their primary interaction with the State. It is where Government, business, communities and real living people can meet. That is why the closure of a post office can be such a devastating ordeal for a local community. It cannot be o…

When the Tánaiste accused Sinn Féin of promising free housing, he exposed the Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael ideology-driven agenda that lit the embers of the housing crisis and fanned the sparks, leading to the catastrophe we witness in every community in this State. This catastrophe means that most young people cannot even dream of ever owning their own home. I grew up in a council house. It was never a free house. Rent was paid in line with the income coming into the house. The State bought an asset and it was paid back …

I also wish to raise the EU digital Covid certificate. In particular, I ask the Taoiseach to provide some much-needed clarity with regard to Irish citizens who were vaccinated in the North and to provide an assurance, if he can, that those people will be able to avail of the EU digital Covid certificate. Before this morning, I understood that there was clarity on this matter. I made several representations to the Department of Health on behalf of people who live in my constituency of Cavan-Monaghan but who work in …

Perhaps the Taoiseach will have time to address the issue I raised earlier regarding the Covid passport. Just over 47 years ago in May 1974, 33 innocent people, including a pregnant woman, were killed in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. Those bombings were carried out by the Glenanne gang which included members of the Ulster Volunteer Force, UVF, MI5, the RUC and the Ulster Defence Regiment, UDR. The bombings were the crystallisation of collusion policy but nobody has ever been brought to justice and successive Br…

I wonder if the Taoiseach would give his opinion on whether he believes there is an inherent unfairness in the way that CAP funds are distributed in Ireland. Some beef barons, sheikhs and others can draw down hundreds of thousands of euro in CAP funds while most family farmers are expected to meet the same criteria on fractions of that funding. I ask that because it would be helpful for us to get the Fianna Fáil position on the matter. In the previous CAP negotiations, the then Fianna Fáil agriculture spokesperson …

I thought the Acting Chairman was going to give me four minutes of Fine Gael time as well. I welcome the strong remarks by the Taoiseach, the Minister of State and other Government representatives on the actions of the Hungarian Government. As the previous speaker said, it is never too late to do right. It is, however, disappointing it took so long for the Irish Government to take a stand against the Fidesz party, especially when we consider that one of the Government parties was in the same grouping in the Europea…

I want to clarify that Deputy Fitzmaurice wishes to speak in this section as well. Is he on the list?

I thank the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, and the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, for being here. I commend and thank Deputy Cahill for introducing this Bill to the House. As a member of the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine, I express my thanks to Deputy Cahill for his steady chairing of the committee. We do not always agree on everything, as I am sure the Deputy will acknowledge, but I have found him to be incredibly fair with all members of all political parties. This Bill is a good example…

Next week, we may have agreement on the next Common Agricultural Policy, CAP. I raised the CAP process with the Taoiseach two weeks ago and he accused me of being anti-European. I raised the CAP with the Minister for Agriculture, Deputy McConalogue, last week and he accused me of wanting all decisions to be made at European level. It would be appropriate for Fianna Fáil to learn that it is possible to defend Irish family farmers both at Irish and EU levels. Given that so many of the policies, standards and regulati…

I thank the Minister and Minister of State for attending, although I have to say that for the past 20 minutes, we heard pure rhetoric, with nothing new and no position being taken on the areas of substance. The word "flexibility" was used countless times in both the Minister and Minister of State's contributions. I cannot check exactly how many times it was used because their speeches have still not been circulated. Let us make no bones about it and let us be honest. When the Minister and Minister of State say "fle…

That €60,000 is without preconditions.

Is the Minister's position that the cap should be €60,000 without preconditions?

Is the Minister saying the position of the Irish Government is that the limit should be €60,000 per annum?

Will the Minister answer the question? Does he now support the upper limit payment being set at €60,000 without preconditions?

That is okay.

Let us see what flexibilities are there for that. My time is limited and I have a second question.

The difference between the Minister and I is that he is in a position to deliver on policy. What level of convergence does the Minister think should be in place? I ask him not to say he is waiting to carry out analysis. He was an Opposition spokesperson on agriculture for a term of government and has been in office for almost a year. What is his position? What should that figure be?

We have had a national debate for the past 20 years.

We have.