If Fine Gael loses seats, it will be because of the Minister.

Between 1969 and 1999, roughly 3,500 people died as a result of political violence in Northern Ireland. The conflict, often referred to as the Troubles, has its origins in the 1921 division of Ireland and has reflected the struggle between different national, cultural and religious identities. The latest controversial plans by the British Government to introduce a Troubles amnesty could be postponed until the summer of 2022. These plans will rob victims and their families of any hope of receiving justice and transp…

I do not agree with this legislation. I ask the Minister to go back to the drawing board with this half-baked Bill in order to try to get it right. The Whiddy Island disaster happened 42 years ago. I suppose I am the only Deputy who was unfortunate enough to see what happened that night. I was 11 years old and standing on our doorstep 20 miles away, west of Schull, and looking at the ball of fire in the sky. It was a ball of fire in the sky that could not be described. There were no mobile phones and poor contact a…

Not agreed.

Two weeks ago, I raised with the Taoiseach in the Dáil the crisis that the residents and landowners of Dursey Ireland are facing with the closure for seven months of the world famous Dursey cable car for repairs. Since this announcement two weeks ago, I have raised the urgency of getting the Department of Rural and Community Development involved with the council and locals to find a temporary solution to aid residents and animal owners. Cork County Council failed to get any response from the Department to date, aft…

I appreciate that.

The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, recently launched a tender process for co-operation projects as part of the new €1.5 billion flagship agri-environmental scheme. The detail of this new scheme sets out the locations of areas for 20,000 farmers to earn the highest proposed payment, of up to €10,500, in acting for the environment. I wholeheartedly support this but I am seriously concerned because many areas of high environmental value along our coastline in west Cork are excluded …

This Sinn Féin motion is calling on the Government not to introduce planned increases in carbon tax in May this year and I agree. My question is why in God's name Sinn Féin is putting this motion forward when it had a chance to vote against the carbon tax Bill and did not do so. That question needs to be answered. Sinn Féin cannot change its mind as the wind blows. It has to pick a side. It is either on the side of the Government or on our side, the only Opposition in this Dáil. I stood in the Dáil during a previou…

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing us to speak about this very important issue. There was a shocking announcement at council level two weeks ago that the Dursey Island cable car service would be suspended for repairs from April to November this year. This affects residents on the island, farmers on the mainland who have cattle on the island and tourism. It affects the whole of Allihies, Eyeries, Ardgroom, Castletownbere and many parts of west Cork which depend on tourism. Councillor Danny Collins put forward …

I thank the Minister of State for a detailed response. He is right that there was no consultation, even with the council. This decision must have been made well in advance of the announcement two weeks ago, considering where we are. We need to find a solution. Would the Minister of State believe that since last Friday, islanders have been left without electricity? No one is speaking on behalf of the islands here anymore. I respect that the Minister of State is here. He has often come to west Cork. The Minister for …

The principal of Kilbrittain National School in west Cork has been informed by the school's special educational needs organiser, SENO, that the National Council for Special Education intends to phase out early intervention classes nationwide, which means that Kilbrittain's early intervention class is to close this year. That is a significant loss to the people of Kilbrittain and the surrounding areas, even though it has sufficient numbers enrolled for next year and has accommodation and staff already in place. It c…

People with disabilities remain at a disadvantage in this country in spite of our having signed up to the UNCRPD. The state of footpaths in west Cork that facilitate access for disabled people is shocking. It is very unfair on them. As late as yesterday, a person with a disability and a motorised unit rang me to say he cannot go through one of the towns in west Cork because of the state of the footpaths, specifically because of the height of the steps. This is an issue that local authorities should have dealt with …

The Defence Forces have been under-resourced for decades. It is astonishing to know that Ireland’s Defence Forces could not adequately protect itself from the risk of an attack should one happen. The recent report was probably the most significant report on the Defence Forces in 50 years. It looks like the Minister has inherited a total mess from his predecessor which raises serious questions. Was he asleep at the wheel for a number of years leaving the current Minister and our State to clean up huge messes with th…

The general scheme of the Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Bill 2021 was published last summer in advance of the 17 December deadline for transposition of EU Directive 2019/1937, known as the whistleblowing directive, into Irish law. However, the 17 December 2021 deadline has been missed by over two months at this stage. I ask the Minister to clarify whether any fines have been issued by the Commission and if so, the cost of any such fines to the taxpayer. People have come to me from big organisations like the HSE…

Last week's announcement by the Government of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party showed that it is alarmingly out of touch with people in this country. It is astonishing to think the Government could go ahead with so-called cuts to help people and still be so blind to the real crisis whereby we see working families in such a mess. People cannot pay their rent and are struggling to pay their mortgages. Others are struggling to put food on the table. Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party have left most f…

As soon as I started, the Minister went out the door. It is very disrespectful.

Farmers are on the cusp of losing farms, due to the financially crippling fertiliser costs, which are burying local farmers in debt, mainly due to crazy, green policies. The average price of fertiliser a year ago was a costly high of €300 per tonne. Today’s prices have skyrocketed, with CAN fertiliser costing Irish farmers more than €600 per tonne and urea costing more than €900 per tonne. Consequently, for a typical, mid-sized farmer feeding 120 tonnes of ration and using 30 tonnes of fertiliser per year, the rise…

I thank the Minister of State. She says her Department is closely monitoring the fertiliser crisis. In the name of God, it has been going on for the last seven or eight months and there has been nothing from the Department. Mr. Santini of the EU agriculture committee said that this country can intervene on this matter but the Government has failed to do that. Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party are going to wipe out the farmers of this country. The Government has had an opportunity to help and it has failed.…

I asked the Minister of State what the Government is doing.

We need them quick.