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I am.

Tuesday.

I too declare that I am an employer for a long time - 41 or 42 years now - and I appreciate the right of Solidarity-People Before Profit Members to bring forward this Bill. However, it is a phoney Bill because we do not appreciate the workers and the people out there. They take an ideological stance and I accept that; it is their right. However, they do not understand or respect employers. They are the first people to arrive at a picket of an employer and support people despite it being a good employer. Work is a t…

This constant bashing of employers has to stop. I am not going to talk about Pat McDonagh or anybody else. They are good employers but there might be issues there; I do not know. However, employers should be respected because workers will walk away and work elsewhere if they are not paid. The market is there and there is the market value. People must be respected in work. However, I mention regulations and the National Employment Rights Authority, NERA. This should be changed to the national employers' support agen…

The response from the head of disability services in my area in south Tipperary makes for stark reading. We have two children's disability network teams, CDNTs, in Tipperary and the unfortunate reality is that these teams are not only falling apart but they are non-existent. I have raised this before with the Taoiseach and both CDNT managers posts are vacant, with a temporary appointment to try to cover both. Both team psychologists have left the teams and the only psychologists available are through an agency on a…

If the people in the Monaghan team are looking for a new manager, they know where to look.

While the Deputy is thanking people, I thank him for his co-operation with me and the members of my group in his time as Minister of State. Fíor fáilte go dtí an slua san gailéaraí from Tiobraid Árran active retirement, with Councillor Siobhán Ambrose. Céad míle fáilte rompu.

Is it a boggy place?

Ar an gcéad dul síos, I thank the Minister present here for all her good work. On a personal note, I also thank her for calling to a nephew of mine and his family when he had an accident recently, which I appreciate. Beidh fíorfháilte roimpi go dtí an Fiodh Ard i dTiobraid Árann an Domhnach seo chugainn. She will be welcome to Fethard and we do not need Deputy Ring to tell us about it. All of this is great as is everything the Minister does, but alongside all of this happening and the great money that is being spen…

I return to the gallant men and women of our fire services. The Taoiseach should imagine what it would be like if he were bound by restrictions that prevented him from travelling beyond 3 km of his place of work or home without permission and being on call 24-7 for 48 weeks of the year. He should think about the enormous impact this would have on his life and the lives of his loved ones and family. A person would expect such an involvement would be well remunerated. Now imagine the guaranteed income for this life b…

That answer is not satisfactory at all. The elephant in the room here seems to be the LGMA. It says it has not got the money from the Government. Cut out all the other engagements, movements and shapes that are going around. All the stations in Tipperary have staff shortages. We are three officers short in Clonmel and two short in Nenagh. Tipperary town cannot put out its second crew. There are many other small towns like that. Deputy Michael Collins is giving me cases from Skibbereen and places like that where peo…

I have a very important issue to raise. However, I cannot allow that attack on our independence and on our right to be here to represent our people and our views. We did not wait until Deputy Bacik was elected in a recent by-election to come here to tell us how to run our business and how to be respectful and mannerly. It is all one-way traffic as far as I can see. If a person has a contrarian voice or opinion, he or she is not allowed to talk at all, whether it be on rural Ireland, on immigration or on the many ot…

I will take no lecture from Deputy Bacik. She will be gone like the last leader, before it even gets dark. That is what happens with the Labour Party. It was founded in Clonmel. It was a proud party that represented rural Ireland and the people of Tipperary. Now what is it? It is languishing and in the doldrums. We will not take any lectures like that. I thank the House for its indulgence. The issue I want to raise concerns motorbikes, which I raised three weeks ago. Faugheen 50, which has been there since the 1970…

Go raibh maith agat. Déanfaidh mé sin, a Cheann Comhairle. I welcome this Bill that seeks to introduce a licensing system for retail sales of tobacco and e-cigarettes. It also seeks to introduce a range of restrictions on sales of the products. I could say much on this but my colleagues are in the Chamber, and they may not be here the next day. This is a big issue for young people with all the different clever advertising that goes on with this. We need to tackle this head-on. I hope this Bill will go some way towa…

I thank Sinn Féin for putting down this motion. Have the Minister and the Minister of State - an bheirt Airí - any shame? I know they do not have respect for many groups and organisations in this country and for our front-line workers across a plethora of areas, but the Minster's former colleague Noel Dempsey admitted 22 years ago that this was a problem and had to be sorted out. It has been going on since then. The Minister is here with pious platitudes, talking about an enormous surplus that the Government is goi…

The Minister has answered some questions today about the fire services. Whole-time retained fire officers earn only some €700 per month, which equates to 99 cent per hour. They are on call 24-7, 365 days of the year. They must stay within 3 km or five minutes of the station. They must do eight weeks of compulsory training in the first year. The Minister made a lot of promises to these people but now he is hiding from them. They are going on strike next week. The Minister said the Cabinet has signed off on a report …

Noel Dempsey, a ministerial colleague of the Tánaiste 22 years ago, said at the time that there was a crisis. It is time for the Minister to act and to make the LGMA toe the line.

I too am delighted to be able to speak to some extent on this Bill today. It is vital that we talk of early intervention for any of us who have children, teenage children or, in my own case, grandchildren and for na daoine óga throughout the community - mol an óige agus tiocfaidh sí. That old adage is a strength to us. There is a huge difference. It was a much simpler time when they were brought up in their homes with the meitheal. They did not have the Internet and we did not have these perpetrators of heinous cri…

I also opposed the removal of the eviction ban. We could see the devastation. Fianna Fáil used to have a proud record regarding home ownership but it has clearly abandoned that. There is dysfunction in the Department and county councils along with blackguarding. I will focus on people trying to build a house who are fortunate enough to have a site on family land or can get the site. They are able to get a reasonable mortgage to build a reasonable house - not a mansion - but the Government has put in layers of stopp…