I welcome this motion about carers. I have been vocal in my support for carers in west Cork, especially in the times that we live in with Covid-19. Carers are unsung heroes. Many carers give up their everyday lives so that they can care for their family members. This often means leaving them with no time for themselves. The very least that we can do is support them in every way possible. The Government has failed to prioritise carers in the roll-out of the vaccine. Last night, it changed the goalposts yet again. In…

I want to raise the fishing deal the Government agreed to which is now seen as the greatest political sell-out of any industry that any Government has ever agreed to in the history of our State. This sell-out has angered fishing communities beyond words from Union Hall to Castletownbere, all along the coast to Donegal. New evidence in replies from a series of parliamentary questions confirms that the Government blindly supported the EU negotiation mandate in respect of the Brexit negotiations. In doing so, the Gove…

I thank the Taoiseach for his reply. He said he consulted with the industry but he obviously did not listen to it or to the fishermen's groups. Listening to his reply, it is clear he has no future vision for the fishing sector in Ireland beyond decommissioning. He has no honest answers for the Government's shambolic handling of the Brexit negotiations, from which we came out the worst in Europe. I welcome the Taoiseach's sudden change of heart in setting up a fishing task force in February. A few months previously,…

I completely support Deputy Connolly in what she said. There is and continues to be a great deal of confusion among the public about many of the announcements that have been made. There is now a change to the vaccine roll-out. We are told that we can visit people if we have been vaccinated but we cannot if we have not been vaccinated. People are angered by that. The feedback on social media yesterday was to express anger, annoyance and frustration. Carers are ringing us asking if they have gone down the list in ter…

The objectives of the original Bill are well-meaning. It aims to address the profound negative impact the ruling of the Court of Appeal on this matter is having on grieving parents who are unable to remember their deceased child's death, name or legacy. That is very clear. It aims to give power back to those parents in order that they can remember their children or their family members in the way they want. This Bill, when enacted, will allow grieving parents to speak publicly about their deceased child. I fully ag…

I have raised numerous questions from my constituents about Covid, as have Deputy Mattie McGrath and others, but we never receive a reply from the Minister's Department. I hope that the Minister will come back to me about the questions I ask today. I have done my best to raise the concerns of those who want to have the vaccine offered to them but I am not forgetting those who have said that they are worried or will not take the vaccine. They also need a voice and to be respected. Besides the issues with supplies, I…

We have an ideal opportunity to give some sort of hope to people next week. The roll-out is really shambolic on the vaccination side. I was speaking to doctors in Clonakilty and in Bantry last week and they were getting less than half of the vaccines that they were promised. We need to look at a county-by-county reopening because counties like Cork have one of the lowest rates. It has had 14 cases of Covid-19, which is 14 too many. Next week being Holy Week is an opportunity for churches to reopen. Is the Governmen…

I am afraid that this Bill may not protect the majority of people who are facing eviction. I do not think we fully comprehend the difficulties people go through when they are facing eviction. Some people have been fighting for years to try to hold on to their homes. They are willing to pay, have tried to pay and tried to negotiate. They are unfortunately facing the courts, which seem to be hell-bent on falling on the side of the banks. They are not willing to listen to people who are desperate to hold on to their h…

I certainly support this legislation because we need insurance reform. It is long overdue. I was elected in 2016 to the Dáil and it is embarrassing to face my constituents time and again when they ask me what I have done about insurance. These are business people working their butts off, whether in a garage or elsewhere in west Cork. They are murdered by having to pay huge rates of insurance without any mercy. We have spoken about this time and again but nothing has changed. The young people out there trying to get…

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for giving us the opportunity to speak on this Topical Issue matter. Next week is one of great importance in the church calendar as it is Holy Week with its associated celebrations. It is upsetting for people to think they cannot go into their churches in a very careful manner. When they were allowed to open, the churches were safe. Large number of volunteers and members of the clergy made serious efforts to ensure people could attend in safe numbers. I guarantee that nobody contracted C…

I am very disappointed with the response of the Minister of State. This was an opportunity for the Government to show it respected people for the careful manner in which churches were opened. Clergy and volunteers had carried it out but unfortunately the Government has turned its back on them once again. It is incredible to say the least. As I said earlier, and the Minister of State did not address this in her speech, I have no issue with schools being open because it is important that they are but if schools can b…

I support the Bill as well. The UK property group, Hammerson, owns a six-acre site stretching from O'Connell Street to Moore Street and Parnell Street. It is to seek planning permission next month that will involve knocking down buildings and changing the streets. I am in full agreement with the measure in the Bill to put a preservation order on the terrace and curtilage of the premises from 10 to 25 Moore Street. While speaking about history I would like to mention my area of Lowertown, Schull and the Michael John…

I agree with my colleagues about the tourism and hospitality sector. West Cork is one of the top tourism spots in Ireland and it is particularly badly affected. The lead-in to Easter would have been a boom time for the hotel sector, restaurants, pubs and cafés. They need further supports. They are continuously in contact with me and they feel their voices are not being heard. Their doors are not reopening and some of them may not reopen for months. They need us to look at bringing the VAT rate for tourism back to 5…

Speaking at the European Committee of the Regions on 18 March, the EU Commissioner for Health, Stella Kyriakides, said that vaccine alone would not eradicate the virus. She also stressed the importance of tests and contact tracing. According to the Commissioner, tests are particularly important for member states that start reopening after lockdown. The Commissioner also mentioned that more than 20 million rapid antigen test kits were bought and are to be delivered by April using €100 million from the emergency supp…

I am happy to speak to the Bill, which will give adoptive parents the same rights as every other couple who have a child, which I fully support. This is a move in the right direction at a time when so much negativity has been shown to mothers and babies in this country by the Government. Adoptive and single parents should get leave to experience the same joy of having a loving baby in their lives and the Bill will provide for this. While this country is slowly improving in respect of parents' rights, we are still l…

I will concentrate my efforts on the Garda. I will be making statements and I would appreciate it if the Minister would give me a written reply. I have asked a lot of fair questions about the vaccines and I have never got a reply. Shop assistants are asking me when they will be considered. They have been on the front line for quite some time. Many people on islands off west Cork are infirm and are not able to leave the island. Will a doctor travel to the islands to look after them? I encourage the Minister to incre…

I fully agree with Deputy Duncan Smith. I raised this issue with the Taoiseach in the House three or four months ago with reference to facilities in County Cork and throughout the country. The number of special disability toilets in Northern Ireland is double if not quadruple the number in the Republic. The lack of provision is not fair. There are people travelling hours with a person with a disability and there is nowhere they can take that person. When will we be in a position whereby disability toilets are freel…

I will be very brief. I support the amendments because they are made in good faith to ensure that the Bill is strengthened. As Deputy Mattie McGrath stated, everybody is innocent until proven guilty. Young people are sometimes convicted for small-time crimes. Crime is bad and many great community groups such as Business Watch are trying to help to fight crime. In no way do I condone crime, but many people's lives have been ruined because of a conviction from 20 or 30 years ago and they could have lived an excellent…

I will be brief. I fully support this amendment. We talk about careful pre-legislative scrutiny of proposals here in the Oireachtas and that is certainly the way it should be. I have seen some cases where that has not happened, and that is unfortunate and something which should not have been allowed. In general, we must change the way in which some criminal proceedings are carried out. Many cases would not go before the courts if the local garda had been left in local communities. It is unfortunate that local garda…

I fully support the motion. There are so many issues of serious concern to students in higher education. Even last week I raised a matter with the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science in the Dáil concerning motor mechanics apprenticeships with SOLAS. Although the students completed phase 2 of their apprenticeship in December 2020, they are still awaiting the official results of exams and cannot progress to the next phase. The course was supposed to take four years, but it now …