I have seen very few people engaging in a retrofitting scheme and everybody who has looked at it tells me it is not affordable for them.

Regardless of whether the Minister of State might think it is affordable-----

-----I can tell him that for the people I am speaking about, it is not. That is one thing. Second, HVO deployment, which is not really happening around the country to any great extent, would be some way of mitigating the cost of fuels. Beyond that, many people have raised the issue of solar farms in this House. Every farm in this country has some kind of round top or flat top hay barn and we expect farmers to step in all of the time to provide that solar power. Why would the State not do that in a far greater way? …

I am sharing time with Deputy Naughten, who will be along shortly. It is often said that you can judge a society by how it treats its most vulnerable. That observation can also be applied to how a state treats those who provide care to its most vulnerable. One could say that we know the cost of everything and the value of very little. In her opening remarks, the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, stated that extending carer’s allowance in the way we are proposing could cost the State up to €600 million per year, but…

I concur with the Ceann Comhairle’s remarks regarding Deputy Paul Murphy's contribution. I am not sure where in the country - never mind what part of the planet - what the Deputy had to say related to. Farming is heading fast to a crossroads and that intersection includes farm unviability, farm loss, future consolidated factory farming and economic loss to regional and rural communities. My county of Waterford has a mix of farming. All parts of the sector there are under extreme pressure. This pressure is most evid…

We are into the realm of unintended consequences here, as other speakers have pointed out. In my own GAA club in Waterford we held a fundraiser last year. Tickets were €100 and the prize was a house in Dungarvan. The draw raised €600,000 and that money is going exclusively into underage sports development. I can guarantee that the people who were buying the €100 tickets for a house were not really gambling. They knew what they were doing; they were giving money to their club and if they were lucky, they might get s…

I note the Minister of State's frustration and I acknowledge that the Bill is on Report Stage, but I think he has conflated some of the issues and it is only right that he should reflect on them and maybe look to change them. A serious problem has been highlighted to him. As for problem gambling, as others and I have spoken about, fundraising for clubs is not where that is occurring. That has been highlighted and the Minister of State must recognise it. He wants to solve one problem, but let us not create another. …

How will the Government control ISPs that are outside the EU?

My question relates to the scope for increasing funding for recommendations from the Report of the Future of Media Commission. When will funding be rolled out, given we have future elections on the horizon, not least the local elections and the directly elected mayoral elections coming up in June this year?

The Future of Media Commission report was a welcome step in safeguarding the public interest in journalism and media in Ireland. We have never probably had a more important time to promote and fund quality journalism, especially with the proliferation of misinformation and disinformation across the Internet. It is needed to address the severe threats that we are seeing from these multiple angles. I would advise the Minister - I am sure she knows - we are seeing experienced and passionate journalists moving from the…

My local radio station, WLR FM, is offering media training for five voluntary groups across Waterford in the coming weeks. WLR FM has been running a broadcasting course for up-and-coming journalists in Waterford for the past 25 years or so. It is the type of initiative we need to see more funding for. Given that we have elections on the horizon, we need to look at the scope for increased funding. Some months ago, the then Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, said the €6 million being provided for courts and public service r…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCeann Comhairle. Similar to a previous Fianna Fáil Cork leader, senior hurling politics is a game the Tánaiste plays well. First the ball, but if unsuccessful then the player. This is not about me but it is about a critical life-saving service for 600,000 people with whom the Government is playing politics. Consider for instance that having commissioned the national cardiac review in 2017, seven years later it is still sitting unpublished on the desk of the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, or th…

There you go again, Tánaiste.

I hope in the future, when the Tánaiste comes in and starts quoting statistics, that he will refer to money rather than percentages. I remind him that University Hospital Waterford, which has one of the largest patient catchments in the country, has the lowest funding and lowest numbers of staff and beds of all model 4 hospitals in the country. It is a case of taking a hospital that was left moribund for two decades, bringing it up some amount and then telling us that we have had amazing delivery. We certainly have…

The seven-day service is not there.

Staff numbers are still among the lowest in the country.

It is the lowest resourced model 4 hospital.

Correct.

Publish the national report on it.

The Tánaiste should publish the national report on it.