I am. I am proud to be organic but the Minister of State is letting down my neighbouring farmers who cannot afford the fertiliser.

The Minister of State does not understand.

The Minister of State is letting down my neighbouring farmers.

They cannot afford the fertiliser.

I am quite willing do so but there are real farmers out there who work their farms day and night-----

-----and they cannot afford it.

We heard nothing.

A Ceann Comhairle, it is a disaster.

At a meeting of Cork County Council's west Cork municipal district last Monday, the people of the Beara Peninsula were dealt a severe blow with the announcement by the council that the very popular Dursey Island cable car will be suspended from use for seven months from 1 April this year until November 2022. The council has carried out a structural review of the cable. It is deemed that the towers are unsafe at present due to adverse weather damage, including that caused by a recent storm. This is a major blow to l…

A rise in the minimum wage is a great idea in a perfect world but in a situation where many employers are caught tight, it is not such an ideal thought. Many employers are telling me they cannot afford it and this is something that needs to be factored in here. What will happen is that the employer will pass on the minimum wage increase to the hard-pressed public. The Government, instead, has to lower the tax and USC charge take on minimum wage workers. This will increase the take-home pay for minimum wage workers.…

The purpose of the directive is to empower the competition authorities of member states to be more effective enforcers and to ensure the proper functioning of the internal market. I have heard of a few problems from my constituents. One is a very serious problem that affects all industrial import and export businesses. As of July last year, all goods entering the EU from Britain and all British goods entering the EU are subject to VAT at the point of entry. This is totally pointless and just causes delays. All expo…

I am glad to get a chance to speak on this amendment, but it looks like it will not be accepted by the Minister. No amendments will be accepted, similar to what happened with the climate action Bill. It looks like it is going to be "my way or the highway" when it comes to the amendments. The discussion should be on the €100 subsidy. It goes nowhere near where it should have gone. As I said earlier, I do not know whether the Minister has ever been in the countryside, on a farm. When they are put out for the first ti…

Yes, I am too. The Government forgot about the home helps in all this. We keep pushing and pushing. The bottom line is that the €100 subsidy is by no means enough. I urge the Minister to take on board many of the amendments put before him. Certainly, I will support those amendments. Again, it is time for a mini-budget immediately in order to keep in touch with what is going on and with the reality on the ground because people are angered and in a difficult position financially.

At Cork County Council level there was shock and dismay at the announcement that the Dursey cable car will have to be suspended due to emergency repairs needed from 1 April until November 2022. This, coupled with An Taisce and some crowd called BirdWatch Ireland forcing a judicial review on planning given recently for a €10 million community development scheme, is leaving locals who have communicated with me in shock. There is a local solution. Unfortunately, we cannot question what is wrong with the cable car. Tha…

No, I am talking about the Dursey cable car being closed for the summer months.

Yes. There is a local solution that could be accommodated by all if there were funds for it.

I am quite happy to do that. There might be a ferry service provided while the cable car is closed so that tourism can continue in Dursey Island, which is of huge importance.

The members of the Women of Honour group must be respected after years of abuse in the Defence Forces and a full commission of investigation must be set up. These women were treated shockingly. A proper investigation is required. It should be one where no areas are hidden. A situation where people cannot get the truth out should not be allowed. To be quite honest, this matter sounds as bad as it gets. We are talking about people who work hard in their jobs and then to think that this type of abuse is going on. Whil…

Many farmers in this country are facing a wipeout this year due to the astronomical increases in fertiliser costs. A farmer who paid €300 last year for a tonne, or 20 bags, of the most popular type of fertiliser will pay €900 this year. This is an astonishing increase that will leave many farmers with a nightmare decision as to how they will pay for fertiliser this year. Experts estimate that a farmer with 100 ha will end up paying €40,000 more for fertiliser this year. In fairness, most farmers I know would not ow…

I thank the Tánaiste for his reply, but it was muddled to say the least. The most he said is that farmers will get an information pack. Farmers do not want an information pack; they want some of the relief of the sort that Mr. Santini of the EU agricultural committee told us two weeks ago can be given by the Government. We know of farmers who could not get credit and who had to pay upfront for fertiliser in November and December. They are not able to sustain this astronomical increase in the cost of fertiliser. The…