Yesterday's news of a case of BSE found in an Irish animal has halted valuable exports of beef to the Chinese market. This could not come at a worse time for Irish agriculture, which has been hit from every direction both from Europe but more alarmingly, from our own Government, which continues to treat farmers like environmental terrorists. This is from the farmers' mouths at recent meetings I have been attending. The fact that this case of BSE was caught shows the excellent surveillance system we have in this cou…

The budget for 2024 glaringly falls short of addressing the pressing housing issues that continue to plague our society, exposing a litany of deficiencies in its proposed measures. Most notably, the absence of any increase in voted capital expenditure compared to the level set in 2023 raises serious doubts about the Government's commitment to tackling the crisis. It is abundantly clear that the budget fails to take adequate steps to bolster the Government's social and affordable housing targets. Additionally, the G…

Our neutrality is of huge value to this country. More of late I have seen Ministers questioning it and kicking it around as if it is a political football. It is not a political football. It is of utmost importance to this country. I will look at two reasons. Number one is that our Defence Forces are poorly funded. In recent times we have had helicopters flying and losing doors and Russian ships floating over our communication cables that lie under the seas off the south-west coast and we do nothing about it. Irelan…

I cannot understand why the Government is giving electricity benefits at all. It is robbing the people with one hand and giving them little tokens with the other. The bottom line here is that people are paying through the neck at the filling stations because the Government continues to increase the price of fuel, the price of a bag of coal for a person trying to light a fire and the price of home heating oil for the ordinary person. It taxes the people on their electricity bills, car fuel and home heating oil and t…

I know that, and I am too, but-----

-----I am trying my best to get him to understand. He said to me last week that he was across the corridor. I have never personalised anything against a Minister, but I do have an issue with green policy that has pushed people into using electricity they cannot afford to use.

In the context of the budget, the largest cohort to suffer is working men and women. That is the way they feel. Some people have said to me that if they stayed at home and were on welfare they would come out a hell of a lot better off than they would than if they were working hard every day of the week. They are being hit in every which way with fuel increases and VAT increases for hospitality. They have to take the hit on everything, which is difficult. I would like to start with agriculture. The Government led us…

I understand. Last year, Cancer Connect in west Cork was promised at least €50,000. The service has delivered for the people of this country on many fronts over the past number of years and has received no funding from the Government. I was in Lisheen a number of weeks ago, which is raising tens of thousands of euro so the service can operate in a voluntary capacity. Where is the funding that was promised by Fianna Fáil to Cancer Connects? It is run out of west Cork and serves people throughout the country. Why has…

The question is where the money is going to. The funny thing was nobody except the Rural Independent Group was opposed to where the children's hospital went. We told Deputies it was in the wrong place and was running over budget. They voted us down and told us we were all mad and off our heads. Look at it now: it is a hoover of the highest order and there is not a head rolling anywhere. Some people are looking for a pat on the back for running a hospital completely and crazily over budget with no accountability. No…

I read it and I read it intensely, start to finish. You should have stepped in immediately when you knew those irregularities were there. You should have stood by the people of Belgooly, rather than turning your back and telling them to get out. That is what was told to them-----

-----and the staff. It is scandalous the way the staff were treated there.

Nobody stood by the staff. Aperee Living is a scandal and you stood idly by instead of kicking them out.

I have to answer the Minister of State. She should have stood by the people and did not. The beds are empty tomorrow morning.

Remember that. That is all that matters to the people of west Cork.

I have to fight for my people.

Sorry. She is over time too.

This is nothing personal, but I am disappointed. The Minister of State has responsibility for mental health and the elderly. My question relates to the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth and it is probably no wonder that the Minister, Deputy Roderic O'Gorman, is not present given the respect he has shown to date for people in early childcare. The way they have been treated is shocking and it is obvious that is why he is not showing his face today. It is painful for me to be before t…

I thank the Minister of State for her reply. The strike is not going to go ahead on Thursday, but there will be a collection of signatures, petitions and so on. However, the clock is ticking because there is going to be a strike on 1 January. At least now there is a chance for the Minister to wake up to this very serious situation. After the next couple of weeks, the clock will start ticking and there will be an all-out strike in January. All this is due to inactivity and no realisation as to how shockingly treated…

Flooding in the past few days has left many parts of County Cork devastated. People's homes and businesses and roads have been destroyed. Areas such as Glandore, Rosscarbery, Clonakilty and Castletownbere have been badly hit once again. Areas such as Midleton, I was told this morning, are like a disaster zone, with a shortage of professional help from anyone, leaving locals having to do the clean-up themselves. The underspend on the roads budget is coming home to roost, as rivers are blocked due to a lack of cleari…

I move: That Dáil Éireann: acknowledges that: — motorists in certain regions of the country are currently facing waiting times of nearly a year to sit their driving tests, as reported in the latest data from the Road Safety Authority (RSA); — figures released at the end of August highlight significant delays in nearly every driving test centre nationwide, primarily due to a shortage of testers; — the national average waiting time for a driving test has now reached 30.4 weeks; — the Dún Laoghaire/Deansgrange test ce…