I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — farmers are angered by the Government's plans for tougher measures that will drastically reduce emissions in the agricultural sector, leading to downsizing and closure of otherwise viable farms; — Ireland has a proud tradition of clean and green grassland agricultural production, with farms often being managed by the same families for generations; — over the last decade, successive Irish Governments have recommended, promoted, and encouraged farmers to increase the Irish dai…

Donkey and cart farmers will not survive. This is the real world.

At the very beginning of the Minister of State’s speech, to which I listened in my office, he mentioned honesty. Of course, everybody else here decided to talk about agriculture afterwards. Honesty is the best policy. Irish Water, which is responsible for public water services, has not provided clear action plans or timeframes for improving treatment in approximately one third of priority areas identified by the EPA. In light of the recent EPA report on declining water quality, it is crucial to address the Governme…

We support the motion before us, as we have done on each previous occasion it has been before us. On the whole, the Special Criminal Court has been an effective tool against subversive elements and, in recent years, against organised criminal gangs. For this reason, it is worth retaining. However, the case for its retention is far from unanswerable. We need to be clear that the ultimate aim of the Oireachtas is for there to be a time where the shutters can be brought down on the Special Criminal Court. To believe i…

I welcome Tadhg Daly, chief executive of Nursing Homes Ireland, and other visitors in the Gallery who run family nursing homes the length and breadth of our country. Nursing homes all over the country, including west Cork, have serious concerns about the ongoing crisis in the funding of nursing home care under the fair deal scheme. For what is now a long-standing basis, private and voluntary nursing homes such as those about which I speak have been dealing with severe, sustained financial pressures in the provision…

The farmers know the truth.

I am calling for immediate ministerial intervention to help young people on the Beara Peninsula who have intellectual disabilities. They used to have daily transport to CoAction's rehabilitative training, RT, education programme in Bantry provided to them. From tomorrow, though, they will no longer have that transport due to lack of funding. The current transport provider is willing and available to continue the service, the young people availing of it are eager to continue their education and the families are desp…

Apprenticeships are a huge issue and we must provide encouragement in any way we can to make sure that apprenticeships are available to people. Many will have noticed the difficulty in hiring the services of skilled tradespeople such as electricians, plumbers or carpenters for home repairs, which are also in very short supply. There are, however, so many areas where we see young people being unfairly treated. I wish to address one of the issues that affects the younger population in rural Ireland, namely, the diffi…

The youth justice strategy for the period 2021 to 2027, produced by the group chaired by the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, is presented as a comprehensive plan to address youth crime and provide support for vulnerable young individuals; however, a critical examination of it raises concerns about its effectiveness and potential implications. We can produce all the documents we want on young people but we must look after the young people on the ground. They are trying their best, as I saw recently at the We…

We are told there is near full employment in the country but are the people who are employed - young people in particular - being treated properly? I have grave doubts about that. I also have serious concerns about putting an extra burden on the employer. The employer cannot take the hit every time we stand up here in the Chamber. Some feel the employer should take every hit and that they should go home with zero or minus amount in their pocket. If anybody is seen to make any little bit of a profit, some parties co…

For your own backyard.

For your own backyard; that is all.

I heard the Minister's opening speech and I had to pinch myself as the rural Ireland I live in is totally different from the one the she spoke about. Yes, there are a few green shoots but they are few. Funding for west Cork has been little and spread well apart. Our roads in west Cork are totally under-funded. Two bypasses in Bandon lie undone for decades. A bypass of Inishannon and Bantry lies undone. Not alone are these bypasses not being built, the main roads are starved for funding to be repaired. Rural living …

I attended a public meeting at Shannonvale last night. It is a little village and picturesque community just north of Clonakilty. We had a packed attendance in the meeting room in Phairs Pub where we listened to people talking about the raw sewage and the sewage crisis in their town. This means they have raw sewage in the community garden so children cannot play there. They also tell me they have raw sewage going down into the mains water in Clonakilty on a wet day, which is a serious health issue. The town was, se…

We need answers. This is very serious. It is a public health risk.

I thank Sinn Féin for tabling this very important motion tonight. I thank the fire brigade personnel who were in the Public Gallery but who have walked out in disgust at the Minister's speech which was shocking, after promising that he would come forward with something tonight. I thank the firefighters in west Cork, Schull, Castletownbere, Bantry, Dunmanway, Bandon, Kinsale and Skibbereen. The fire station in Clonakilty is run down and is in a shocking state, but that is another day's argument. These men and women …

Last week's homelessness figures proved that the Government had no right to lift the eviction ban. It was something I very strongly opposed and we now have full proof that things are going to get worse. We know it is going to get worse. Buying a house has never been an easy process but it has now become so difficult that the average age of a first-time buyer is now 34. It is no wonder when average rents in Ireland hit a whopping €1,733 per month in the final quarter of 2022 and an even more eye-watering €2,300 per …

The attack on agriculture and farmers in this country by successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments is relentless. It was bad enough until they brought the Greens on board and there has been a complete sellout of agriculture in this country. I attended a farmers' meeting recently where a farmer said to me that the attack by Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, the Greens, Social Democrats, Labour and People Before Profit had made farmers feel like environmental terrorists as these poorly informed Deputies pointed the fing…

A Leas-Cheann Comhairle, on a point of clarification, the Minister of State used my name inside in the Dáil on private information she must have got only from her husband. I am not an organic farmer.

I ask her to correct the record of the Dáil, please.