The high and mighty-----

That is incorrect. I was there at the debate.

I was at the debate. How dare you. Correct the record of the Dáil. That man does not have a clue what he is on about.

He cannot be allowed to say that in the Dáil-----

I was there last Thursday and I spoke on an amendment-----

Deputy Bruton has misled the Dáil. I spoke on the amendments on Thursday for as long as the debate continued.

There is no need at all. He has been shouting lies. He has misled the Dáil.

He needs to correct the record.

The point of order is that I attended one of the days of the meetings. Deputy Bruton says we never attended, only Deputy Michael Healy-Rae. I attended on the Thursday, as did Deputy Nolan. Deputy Bruton needs to correct the record of the Dáil. He may not have been in attendance. I do not know but I will not speak on his behalf. I will speak on my own behalf. How shameful he is.

Deputy Bruton is saying we did not turn up. Can he be honest and say he made a mistake and move on?

That is not true.

Deputy Bruton made a statement and he does not have the decency to withdraw it.

The Minister has been speaking in a sort of conciliatory tone but the bottom line is that he is saying ask for help and we will all work together. That is basically what he is saying. However, he is not working with us. He has his mind made up. As I said to him, I met with the climate action groups in west County Cork on numerous occasions. This is a huge insult to them, forget about me as an elected representative. The Minister has decided that the decent amendments put forward by elected representatives were not …

Obviously, we are pushing forward with our amendments. They are of huge importance to the people we represent. I have spoken at length already on our amendments and other amendments, in fairness, that we would give serious consideration to. I am disappointed that 238 amendments have been rejected, including our 75. Our amendments are very fair. I would not mind if the Minister rejected some of them. That is understandable. However, one of the amendments called for a 0% VAT rate on insulation products. That is what …

I think four colleagues, and two minutes each, if you do not mind. Thank you, Ceann Comhairle. Like many other Deputies here in the Dáil, I have been inundated with emails and calls regarding this mica crisis. I wish to add my support and say a few words on the horrific situation in which these homeowners find themselves. There is a misconception that builders should cover the cost. The reality is that this is not a builders' problem. The builders built the houses on the assumption that the blocks met the standards…

The Government is bringing this Bill forward having once again undergone no prior public consultation with no prelegislative scrutiny or regulatory impact analysis accompanying this Bill. At this stage I am not one bit surprised, however. We have seen first hand the acts of the Taoiseach in the Dáil when I questioned him on the incidents that happened off the coast of Castletownbere last Friday morning. I rang the Taoiseach's office in Dublin and I was told I would be put through to the Cork office as this was a Co…

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for giving us the opportunity to debate this very serious matter, which I tried to do during the week in other fora. I really appreciate this matter being bought before the Dáil. On Friday morning last, a Castletownbere trawler, the Lours De Mers , was fishing ten miles outside of Castletownbere. At approximately 8 o'clock in the morning, a Spanish trawler three times the size of the Castletownbere fishing trawler attempted to ram the Irish vessel. Bear in mind that the Spanish trawler w…

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. He said a Spanish boat was detained by the navy. In fact, it was not detained until last Monday, even though this incident took place the Friday before. The report to Valentia Island went in at 8 o'clock on the Friday morning. What would have happened if the Spanish fishers had decided to ram the Irish boat and sink our fishermen? Is there any protection for Irish fishermen when a foreign vessel is illegally fishing in our waters and attempting to ram them? Is there any …

Last Monday week, Cork County Council published findings from a comprehensive independent report compiled by the All-Island Research Observatory at Maynooth University. This research proves that County Cork has been underfunded by successive Governments for decades. The independent report states clearly that Cork County Council have received the lowest CLÁR funding per capita in spite of having the highest population. The report states that we have the fourth lowest LEADER funding in spite of being the largest coun…

On a point of order, excuse me, that is a disgraceful comment. I can prove it from the records of my phone that I rang the Taoiseach’s office in Dublin last Friday. He also misled the Dáil yesterday by saying that I rang him looking for favours from him as I never did. He will have to prove that but this matter is going through the Ceann Comhairle’s office at the moment.