I certainly support Deputy Ó Snodaigh. It is hard to say that we are debating this here. Debating is about scrutinising and passing it. The Minister said it is before committees and always accountable. That €2 million can be in this area and we do not know what it is about. I am picking up on what the Minister said in reply to me when I spoke to him first about the carryovers and the overruns and then the lack of money for roads and the lack of money to continue planning and development. The Minister tried to say i…

Maybe after the election.

Sit over here.

I, too, support the calls for the occupied territories Bill to be passed. If necessary, we can sit on Friday, if the Government does not otherwise have the time. When to call the election is in the Taoiseach's hands. He has dithered about it for long enough. I also call for a debate on the scandalous situation throughout Tipperary regarding the lack of Garda numbers. It was never worse. The gardaí we have are suffering from burnout. They do their very best. The numbers are just frightening. The issues that arise ar…

Not a single one.

I welcome Councillor Richie Molloy, a manager of Family Carers Ireland in south Tipperary, and the group from Clonmel to the Gallery. My office has been inundated with calls about ophthalmology services in Clonmel in south Tipperary. I pay tribute, first, to Dr. Hillery who has retired. My office has received numerous complaints. We are informed that Dr. Hillery gave her notice of retirement in July and retired on 5 October. She has not been replaced and I also understand that the position has not been advertised. …

I move amendment No. 1: In page 9, between lines 18 and 19, to insert the following: “ “investment undertaking” includes a retail credit firm as defined in section 28 of the Central Bank Act 1997 and any other person who owns credit which is being serviced by a credit servicer as defined in section 28(2) of that Act.”. I am very concerned about the lack of time allowed for this debate. While I know there is a big event taking place, that does not give the Government impunity to enact this Bill with such indecent ha…

What happened to Fianna Fáil's promise before the last election that it was going to abolish the USC? Its members will go out canvassing on the doors again and make more promises. What credibility do they think they can have with people? Fianna Fáil and other parties promised they would abolish it. I remember when it was, to quote the late Albert Reynolds, "a temporary little arrangement". It was a temporary tax that came in after the reckless behaviour allowed to carry on by the Fianna Fáil Government. I was a bac…

I agree. The public who are watching, if they are watching, see these funny arguments between Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin, but the real thing is that the Government promised that it would abolish the universal social charge. Abolish means finito, gone, not tinkering around with the bands and raising them a bit and everything else. The Minister's party made the promise in its manifesto and made a commitment in the programme for Government that it would abolish it. How can they now have credibility when they move someo…

Fianna Fáil said it would abolish it.

They are all the same.

I move amendment No. 2: In page 10, between lines 10 and 11, to insert the following: “ Report on abolition and replacement of universal social charge 3. (1) The Minister shall, within three months of the passing of this Act, produce a report on abolishing the universal social charge for all those who earn less than €70,000 per year. (2) The Minister shall, within three months of the passing of this Act, produce a report on abolishing the universal social charge for all employees in the State.”. We are back to the …

We can spend hours talking about this. USC, as I said at the outset, is a disingenuous, heinous and cruel tax that was brought in as a temporary arrangement after the crash. The coalition Government promised to abolish it. The Minister might shake his head and say that Fianna Fáil did not but they are one and the same now - totally hybrid. The Green Party members are hanging around there as well and they do not know what they are doing but Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are all the one and are more and more alike. How w…

And so say all of us.

I would like to be associated with the tribute to an Teachta Shortall. Thirty-two years is a long time. What is the song? Twenty-one years is long but 32 years is much longer for a female. Well done to the Deputy. I wish her the best of luck. We have been around the Houses and the Minister has had his backbenchers in to praise his fiscal policy. If any ordinary businessperson operated that way, they would not be in business. I mean no disrespect to the Minister in saying that. The problem with the Government, as I …

Can I continue? Many of them are coming in here for refugee status and many are economic migrants. They will be coming back in. If the Government members are honest with themselves, they know from knocking at the doors they are meeting parents who have tears in their eyes because their brightest and best and loved ones are abroad. They have married, settled down and are having children and grandchildren abroad. That is the reality because they cannot afford to get a house. They cannot afford to buy a house. They ca…

I said to the Leas-Cheann Comhairle-----

Mar fhocal scoir. I did. I said the major bondholders went off scot-free, although they had insurance bonds, so the Irish people were doubly robbed by the bailout and the USC the Government promised it would get rid of.

It flip flops.

I, too, welcome any efforts made to reform the family law courts. Courthouses like those in Clonmel, Tipperary and Nenagh do not have the facilities for separation of families from criminal law, so they are all in the one building. That does not make for good, pleasant or easy management for anybody, but most importantly for the family. The Minister will say I am always critical but I welcome that the Clonmel Garda station, which was bundled, along with one I Cork I think, with the new child and family courts has b…