Will the Minister of State extend the scope of scheme of sceptic tanks for local authorities? It was announced to great fanfare last September that the grant would be extended. Can the Minister of State expand on this and on the geographical areas where the scheme can be operated and the grant availed of?

Therein lies the problem. The Department increased the grant from €5,000 to a maximum of €12,000 and they do not have to be registered but getting a grant is the issue. I had a lady last week on to my office. She was in a bad way with her septic tank, rang the county council and was told she was not in the right geographical area. That is ridiculous. I question the Minister of State's figure of 160,000 tanks. I would say it is double or treble that. I live in the country and work in that area and I know every house…

I do not accept the figures. Because they came from the EPA, they are gospel, but that agency produced a report recently about areas with no pollution and gave the whole county of Tipperary a clean bill of health, when there are 30 plants - I visited one in my village last week with about ten officials from Irish Water - spewing raw sewage. The figures are thwarted, anti-farmers and pro-local authorities. They are not honest, fair or correct. The Minister of State needs to look into that seriously. Neither I nor an…

Could I get the figures that have been inspected?

This has been going on for decades.

€2.4 billion.

The home help system is chaotic. There are huge anomalies in it. The changes that are in it now are very disturbing. A couple of years ago, we were all here looking for extra home helps and extra hours and we could not get them, but now the system has changed it is a bit of a trick of the loop. One is being allocated the extra hours but one cannot get the home help people. The ones who are visiting are not allowed to work extra hours. I had a family from Cahir on to me this morning about their elderly mother. They …

Adult education tutors have been campaigning for a public service contract with a common, sector-wide incremental payscale for many years. The campaign finally bore fruit when in May of last year the Department of further and higher education published a contract proposal. However, that proposal was full of ambiguity and was not acceptable to the tutors. As was said earlier, they will be outside the gates of the Dáil today. Tutors do the same work as their full-time colleagues in the further education and training …

I, too, am delighted to speak on this issue. It is long awaited. I salute those involved in the peace process, none less than former Minister, and a colleague of mine in Tipperary, Martin Mansergh, and, indeed, the late Fr. Alec Reid, John Hume and all the people who tried. We got the peace process and then we saw Stormont stop and start repeatedly, but anois ag dul ar aghaidh, buíochas le Dia. I compliment the First Minister, Michelle O'Neill, as well as Ms Little-Pengelly and all the team. I especially congratula…

I wish to highlight again the fact that the Government is not properly controlling immigration at Dublin Airport, and at all other entry points, which has grave negative consequences. Arriving at an Irish entry point without documentation breaks the law, and no one is being prosecuted. The Government is misleading the public by praising the benefits of immigration while allowing people without proper ID into the country through a flawed system. This intentional confusion aims to silence criticism. While we all supp…

Ask the Minister.

I would be delighted if the Taoiseach answered my question but he answered a totally different question. The figures I quoted were by the person sitting two seats away from him - the Minister for Justice - only last week, yet the Taoiseach said the figures are dropping. In 2021, despite ongoing restrictions, 2,082 individuals arrived without travel ID in Dublin Airport. In 2022, 4,968 undocumented arrivals were allowed in and last year, 3,285 were allowed in. Are the figures quoted by the Minister for Justice dropp…

The figures are there. They came from the Taoiseach's Minister and he should ask her about them.

What about the other years?

I am talking about the overall numbers.

It breaks the law.

Is it a crime or does it break the law to come in with no documentation?

On the same issue, this Bill is 700 pages long. The number of amendments is enormous and we are to push it through with so little time. It affects every man, woman and child, urban and rural, in the country. People are taobh amuigh and talking inniu from the Gaeltacht area protesting at the way they are being mistreated by the planning regulations. A lot of people had hope for this new legislation but it is so enormous and there is so little time to tease it out that it will be fraught with problems. It will only m…

No.

We are currently seeing a significant decline in rural health services across Ireland. A recent survey by the Irish Independent showed that more than 50% of GPs nationwide cannot accept new patients. The situation is worse in rural areas where two thirds of GPs are not taking on any new patients. Some patients have to wait up to three weeks for an appointment. In spite of our increased national health budget, we are witnessing a slow deterioration of health services, especially in rural communities. Last week, both…