No place to hide.

The Minister has no place to hide.

Businesses are disappearing by the hour.

There is currently no special needs education officer assigned to south Tipperary. The special educational needs organiser, SENO, in north Tipperary has been covering the area to the best of her ability. Given the rising number seeking special needs education and supports and the importance of access to SENOs for parents, will the Minister have this situation rectified? It is shocking that we do not have a SENO in south Tipperary. The last SENO did a great job. Given that Tipperary is 115 miles long, it is just not…

I was premature earlier in issuing a céad míle fáilte to our guests. I welcome to the House Mr. Momodou A Sise, Clerk of the Gambian National Assembly, and his officials, who are on a study visit to Leinster House. They are most welcome. Tá fáilte romhaibh go léir.

Former Deputy Neville is not here to defend himself, so please refrain from naming him.

I am pleased to be able to contribute to this debate. We have a very significant issue. We are known as Ireland of the thousand welcomes or céad míle fáilte and we just welcomed visitors from the Gambian Parliament here a few minutes ago but we have a very significant problem with delays in employment permits. I do not understand the reasons. We never get the reasons. I know of one person who has worked here, has a partner here and wants to come here to work, and it is going on for nearly four years. That partner i…

It was with great sadness that we learned ten people perished because of the tragic explosion last Friday, with eight still in the hospital. Our hearts go out to their families, loved ones and the entire local community who are reeling from this incredible loss. On my behalf and on behalf of the Rural Independent Group, I wish to express our sincerest condolences to the families and the people of Creeslough for those who died in this tragedy. We also send our prayers to God for a speedy recovery of the injured. For…

There is huge angst over the LEADER programme going forward. Notwithstanding the increase in Exchequer funding for the overall CAP 2023-27, there is a significant cut in LEADER funding for rural areas, with the proposed allocation for the programme falling from €425 million for the 2007-13 programme to just €180 million for this programme. This is astonishing. The co-funding element of 56.72% falls well short of the 80% permissible under the EU regulation. This reduction in funding will have a huge impact on rural …

It was.

It is down by more than half.

Not for here.

We are talking about LEADER.

I asked about LEADER.

The idea is to close them down, is it?

The Electricity Costs (Domestic Electricity Accounts) Emergency Measures and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2022 - Second Stage. What a mouthful. The Government does not intend to do anything for the hard-pressed people. Households are facing annual gas and electricity hikes of €6,000 from early next year. That is more than triple the €1,900 they were paying at the start of 2021. Figures have been quoted and I am not going to quote any more of them. What is going on is pure gouging. I have great respect for the ESB,…

It is a very old saying in Gaillimh and Tiobraid Árann.

It looks like that to me, if we put in 10 newton concrete that will probably be the strongest batch, but we will never again use that pipeline. If that happens, I will call it an act of treason. I ask the Minister of State to clarify immediately, or tomorrow, whether this is poppycock or a wild dream someone has had. Could the Minister reach so far as to sign an order to instruct people to carry out that kind of State vandalism, national sabotage and cutting off our nose to spite our face? We might never be able to…

The snakes are all around Deputy Bruton over there.

All the snakes are over there.