I welcome the Minister back to the House and I congratulate her on the new addition to her family. The members of the Regional Group of Independent Deputies will be supporting this Bill. We will all probably remember that not very many years ago, the then Minister, Senator McDowell, suggested when he was in government that Ireland should have a café culture and society. Little did we know how we were going to arrive there, but here we are. The extension provided for in this Bill is correct in that it is going to he…

I thank the Rural Independent Group for tabling the motion and exercising this debate. It is important we recognise the increased difficulties that are arising for our population as part of our new climate action policies and the fluctuations occurring in international energy prices. Indeed, further motor fuel, electricity and gas price increases are on the way, and we may yet have also to contend with additional Brexit breakdown matters. This is putting further economic pressure on vulnerable families in the State…

As a member of the Regional Group, I would like our group to be associated with the comments of the previous speaker, Deputy Devlin, in respect of Mr. Currie. The purpose of the Bill is to ratify amendments to the European Stability Mechanism and the introduction of the common backstop to the Single Resolution Fund. The policy paper suggests that the agreement represents a significant political breakthrough and is a crucial stepping stone on the path to strengthen Europe's economic and monetary union. Based on the …

The extension of emergency health legislation is a serious matter and so too is our progression through the Covid pandemic, with all of its associated challenges. At present we know there are approximately 3,500 healthcare workers and professionals out of work, which in itself is putting a burden on our community and hospitals. We know that 40% of those in hospital are doubly vaccinated, but I think that figure is higher. At the weekend, out of 18 Covid patients in University Hospital Waterford, 15 were doubly vacc…

I am happy to join colleagues in supporting this Bill regarding autism. I know the Minister of State is very proactive in this area. We know that boys are three times more likely to suffer from autism than girls. In Ireland today more than 14,000 students have an autism diagnosis. That is one in 65 nationally, so the condition is quite prevalent. It is also a lifelong condition, as has been highlighted and, without significant support, coping mechanisms and self-education, many sufferers can find that their conditi…

I understand that. I am highlighting the fact that things have been changed. I believe a year or a year and a half was given to implement the change, but the understanding is that services will have to migrate to Dungarvan. I ask the Minister of State to examine that.

I thank the Minister of State for clarifying that, because I had not heard that. People have told me the position has not been clarified for them. I ask the Minister of State and Minister for Education to re-examine the number of special educational needs, SEN, and special needs assistant, SNA, positions. It is a significant problem across the board. Schools in Waterford are suffering because they are not getting additional SNAs. They cannot look after children with autism properly. I want to read into the record s…

As a historian, long before he became our Taoiseach, the Taoiseach must have thought about what his enduring legacy might be. I used to think the oft-quoted Fianna Fáil reflection on Government as "senior hurling" was about political competition, the training and effort taken, the resilience and gumption required and the skill of our national sport, not that our Cabinet members tog out in their individual county jerseys. The mean-spirited question I have for the Taoiseach, for which I apologise in advance, is wheth…

The Taoiseach has spectacularly failed to answer the question I asked. What I take from that is that his hard answer is "No" and that he will leave office in December 2022, in 14 months, without that promise to the people of the south east being kept. Other promises in the programme for Government are being kept, despite the incredible challenges of Covid but if the Taoiseach's promise on 24-7 cardiac care for the south east is not kept then politics in this country is broken, frankly. There are huge swaths of the …

What about 24-7 services?

Make the commitment. We want to see the commitment.

We are speaking about the hospital, not the North Quays.

My question relates to the package of aviation supports announced of €126 million in total in grant assistance. I compare that to the withdrawal of stopgap funding of €375,000 to Waterford Regional Airport per year. There is a stunning absence of detail on this massive state aid to the sector. I have brought this up before. How is the Oireachtas expected to discharge our duty of budgetary oversight when we do not have the scantest information on this expenditure? We are always being told the airport sector does not…

I congratulate the Minister and his wife on the new addition to their family. My question relates to the national student accommodation strategy and its status, given that the last report was in the third quarter of 2019. Why has this accommodation strategy died? If it is not dead, it has certainly been let wither on the vine. We had an action plan. Why has it been dropped? Looking at Waterford, the plan appears to be to take no action. The goal of the Government appears to be to have no additional student accommod…

Affordability will certainly be a problem if there is no supply. I have looked at the report and there was no additional student accommodation for Waterford in it. The reason that WIT was one of the premier institutes of technology in the country was because it was able to borrow until the technological university was brought to the Committee of Public Accounts and had its feet held to the fire. There was much smoke but no fire. There was nothing to be seen. The Minister could have reinstated WIT's borrowing capabi…

As I said to the Minister, the key here is access to borrowing. The Minister says that he wants to do it through the technological university. We had the capability until the Department removed it from us. WIT was progressive. It was the first institute of technology in the country to provide its own student accommodation. That capability has been removed. We are waiting for the present accommodation strategy. The last report was in January 2019. It looks as if the strategy is withering on the vine. I cannot see an…

This budget has been eagerly awaited to help us chart our way out of Covid, position the economy for the future, ensure we transition to a zero-carbon economy over coming decades and we bring the whole population with us. To that point, the €17.5 billion provided in Covid supports has been most welcome. Employment is expected to grow by 275,000 jobs in 2022, with an unemployment rate of 6%. That is welcome news, but it is all dependent on the return of many businesses to full trading and profitability. Many SMEs an…

Like one of the previous speakers, I, too, wonder whether we have reached a tipping point in the context of the price of cigarettes. Yesterday, I was in a queue in a shop behind a lady who I could tell was suffering social disadvantage. I saw her trying to buy a couple of small sweets for her child. She then paid out €14.50 for a box of cigarettes. What struck me was that I knew she did not really have the money to buy cigarettes and I knew it was putting incredible strain on the family. How are we helping her by p…

My constituency office is also across from the courthouse in Waterford and I reiterate exactly what Deputy Fitzpatrick has said about that. It is terrible to see the number of young people involved in the courts. It is a fact that people in our general community feel vulnerable and unsafe at times, particularly when they are outside their homes. However, it is a fact that people who live in disadvantaged areas certainly feel vulnerable, for themselves and their children, whether they are inside or outside their hom…

Covid-19 has challenged the country, our society and our economy like never before. With this disease, the country has travelled on a roller coaster journey. It has been a journey of high consequent mortality in the elderly, a hospital intensive care crisis that has tested staff to the limit, deferral of significant other health procedures and activity and lockdown of our population to suppress disease transmission. In addition we agreed to eye-watering economic measures to stabilise our economy and prevent a whole…