I welcome this excellent motion on the need for the Government to begin a full public inquiry into the scandal of the neglect and deaths in nursing during the Covid-19 pandemic. Some community hospitals must also be brought into this public inquiry. At the outset, it is important to commend the many nursing home staff who worked hard under considerable pressure and stress, as well with as a lack of resources during the pandemic, to do their best to look after those in their care. However, it is clear that the secto…

I thank the Regional Group for putting forward this motion, which we fully support. The Post office network is facing collapse due to Government detachment. Our Rural Independent Group has seen a depressingly familiar fight against the Government’s failure to protect rural post offices. The serious warnings by the IPU about the inevitable collapse of the network and up to 200 branch closures are being ignored by the Government, despite it controlling the entire issued share capital of An Post. Tangible State interv…

I will try to cut to the chase. At Keelbeg, Union Hall, the Department funded the construction of a new pier in 1994 and 1995 under the then fishery harbour development programme. The pier has served the fishing community well, and landing values rated the pier above Howth and Rossaveal. The pier reached capacity in recent years but it has not been possible to advance plans for future growth in the way it has been for other harbours. A sum of €210,000 is needed for a feasibility study. The Taoiseach was in the area…

I am sharing time with Deputy Danny Healy-Rae. Although the tribunal was established as an alternative to bringing a compensation claim to court, to date very few claims have been submitted to the tribunal. On 22 March 2021, no claims had been made to the tribunal. On 30 June 2021, the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, stated that five claims had been received. In contrast, to date 199 legal proceedings relating to the CervicalCheck issue have been issued, of which 195 are claims received since 1 January 2018 a…

Like the previous speakers, I believe this is a nice cosy deal for the vulture funds and cuckoo funds. It allows them to come in and purchase houses using the stamp duty break. It will not help the ordinary people on the housing list, some of whom have been on it for up to a decade. Unfortunately, this is certainly not going to help matters. In the past number of months, we have seen the scandalous situation whereby these funds were buying up houses all over the cities, with ordinary people left unable to get anywh…

It is terrible that we are only getting 30 minutes for the debate tonight. It is shocking, to say the least, that this is going to be rushed through without any great scrutiny as such because it does need a lot of clarity. We are talking about the extension of planning permission. As I have been saying to the Minister for months, there is a massive crisis in my county regarding the extension of planning permission. Is it once-off planning permission for which people will get an extension of time? Is it existing pla…

Tackling violence in domestic situations can be difficult for local gardaí. It helps when the local garda has some knowledge of a person. This is why we must encourage gardaí to settle into our communities and become involved in the area. A worrying recent development has seen Ireland being placed on a watchlist by the US Government due to failure to combat human trafficking. The trafficking in persons, TIP, report 2021 confirms that for the second year running, Ireland will remain on a watchlist due to its inadequ…

This is a very short Bill which seeks to prohibit any rent increases for all existing and new tenancies for three years. I will cut to the chase. In my constituency of Cork South-West we need more investment in social housing. We need to sort out our planning laws, which are completely outdated at best. It is time for rank-and-file change in the planning system. It is full of negativity and Government policies steering the planners to negative results on so many planning permission applications from our young peopl…

When I was a member of the Oireachtas Special Committee on Covid-19 Response at the beginning of the Covid crisis, it was the only Oireachtas committee operating at the time. I was lucky enough to represent the Rural Independent Group on it. From the word go, I called for both PCR and antigen testing. Every time I called for it, the Tánaiste, who was Taoiseach at the time, and other Ministers were against it. Everybody was against something that eventually proved to be a help. Nothing is ever 100% but certainly ant…

I appreciate the opportunity to speak in this debate. The Workplace Relations (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2021 proposes to amend the Workplace Relations Act 2015 and the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 in response to the judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of Zalewski v . Adjudication Officer and others. The court upheld the constitutionality of the WRC's adjudication service but held that section 41(13) of the 2015 Act and section 8(6) of the 1977 Act were incompatible with the Constitution. These sections re…

It would not be the first time I wandered but the Ceann Comhairle might bear with me because I was angered greatly by the Member from People Before Profit making that statement and not coming back here. It does relate to workers' rights and workers being treated badly. I do not mind. We all say things here for which we might have to make an apology. I would certainly do so if I said so but it was very wrong to do that. I had been talking to individual owners of trawlers and the Irish South and West Fish Producers O…

I, too, ask that the Ceann Comhairle give us the opportunity to speak.

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for giving us the opportunity to speak. It is very difficult for us to watch our time slots. As has been mentioned, often, Government politicians do not turn up for their slots. They fail to turn up, even though it is hugely important for them to speak on these issues for the people they represent. You could easily lose a speaking slot even if you are in a safe place watching the debate and trying to do your constituency work at the same time. I wish to focus on a number of issues in rel…

I am delighted to get an opportunity to speak about banking reform on behalf of the Rural Independent Group. It is a huge issue, especially in light of two banks wanting to leave our country and having their minds made up but also in light of Bank of Ireland recently closing branches in Dunmanway and Bantry, in west Cork. That has been a devastating blow to those towns, which had been loyal to Bank of Ireland, and to the people who live in the surrounding areas: on the peninsulas, in the surrounds of Bantry, Castle…

I fully agree and support this Bill. This Bill strengthens the rights of retired workers regarding their occupational pension schemes and covers issues arising from any proposed changes to these schemes after a worker has left the employment concerned and retired. The Bill does this by providing for retired workers' organisations to be consulted in the case of proposed changes to members' and pension schemes' entitlements and, further, to permit these organisations to take cases to the Workplace Relations Commissio…

Tourism continues to be a shining light throughout County Cork. Walking tourism in west Cork is worth €14 million to the local economy and is growing from year to year. There are some spectacular walks, including the Beara way, Sheep's Head way and Seven Heads way, as well as Mizen Head, to name but a few. Some 695 landowners, mainly farmers, maintain these west Cork trails for the public to enjoy and benefit from. West Cork Development Partnership has successfully administered this walks scheme for many years but …

I appreciate being given the opportunity to speak to the amendments before us. I will speak about housing, an issue I have spoken about since 2016. I do not point the finger at the Minister because he has been most helpful with housing issues in west Cork that I have approached him about. I raise urgent issues which need to be addressed on the provision of homes for young people and people of all ages who call me daily. It was said earlier that it was unfair to say that nothing is being done on housing. I hear abou…

I thank my colleagues for giving me time to speak to this Bill. I have been vocal over recent weeks in the Dáil with regard to planning. The Minister's extension is something I support. Planning in my constituency now is an absolute no-go area, however. It is an outrageous attack on the young people who are trying to get planning permission in different areas in west Cork. They are trying to get on with their life and, as I said to the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, last week, they do not want to be any burden o…

Tourism continues to be a shining light throughout County Cork. Walking tourism in west Cork is now worth €14 million to the local economy and is growing from year to year. We have some spectacular walks, including the Beara way, Sheep's Head way, Seven Heads walk and Mizen Head walk, to name but a few. A total of 695 landowners, mainly farmers, maintain these west Cork walks for the public to enjoy. West Cork Development Partnership has successfully administered this walks scheme for many years but it has only two…

The Government has failed. Despite all of the rhetoric it brings here, the truth is that it has failed on housing. The Minister has missed every deadline that he set. The Minister said he would have an affordable housing Bill in September, then it was by the budget, then it was by the new year. Week after week we have heard more infuriating stories about home buyers being locked out of ownership. The Government talks about ownership, but thanks to the Fine Gael policy of throwing the doors wide open to the wrong ki…