I support this Bill. One issue officials are wrestling with is how to protect the privacy of birth parents who do not wish to be known or to be contacted by children who were given up for adoption many years ago. The change that is almost certainly coming is that their rights of privacy will no longer trump the rights of adopted people to know their birth identities. For people who were illegally adopted at birth, either without the full consent of their birth mothers or who had their birth certificates falsified, …

It is quite evident to the people of this country that we have a vaccine supply issue. Every other Deputy is in the same position as me in having issues to raise in this regard. When are gardaí and shop workers going to be vaccinated? What about the people living on the islands off west Cork, including Bere Island, Cape Clear Island, Sherkin Island, Long Island and the many other islands? There are elderly people living there who cannot come off the island. These are people in their 80s and 90s and they need to be …

There is a very serious issue with forestry felling. We have a crisis because an objector has held up the whole process. In some cases I know of, a licence cannot be got where forests have been blown due to storms. There is a very worrying situation at GP Wood in Cork, which employs 500 people, because it has a massive shortage of timber. Another growing worry is the Government's targets for growing forestry will not be met because farmers are running a mile from forestry at present. The problem is there are so man…

I will be making statements. I would appreciate it if the Minister would come back to me with the answers. The vaccine roll-out did not get off to a good start. We all know that and I hope things are ironing themselves out. I raised with the Minister several times the issue of home helps being offered a vaccine throughout west Cork. This took some pleading but it seems that many got the vaccine last week, which they greatly appreciate. I will never play political football with the vaccine roll-out. I will come in h…

I am delighted to get a chance to speak on the impact of Covid-19 on women for International Women's Day. I have been lucky to know some great and gifted women in my lifetime. We have seen in the past 12 months how our medical professionals, most of them women, have been to the fore in tackling the Covid-19 crisis. Some are doctors and others are nurses, carers and home helps. They have suffered bravely to save the lives of so many. It saddened me to see how student nurses, many of them women, were treated by our G…

Regrettably, home ownership has become less attainable for a growing number of people, especially those in younger age groups. Shared equity home ownership, in its many guises, has been promoted by many, including banks and large commercial property developers, to provide a solution to this problem, making home ownership a realistic option for those who currently cannot afford it and providing opportunities to trade up, even when in a position of negative equity. However, people are seeing that the Government's pol…

The decision of Bank of Ireland to close 103 of its branches, two of them in Bantry and Dunmanway in my constituency, is a grave error of judgment by the bank. The price that will be paid for this is a weakening of customer loyalty to the bank, and a loss of knowledge to the bank of its individual customers' needs and the unique needs of the communities it serves. Over many years, the Bank of Ireland branches in Bantry and Dunmanway have gained an insightful and valuable profile of these loyal customers. and this h…

A calculated grades system was introduced in 2020, and while there were many teething problems, it showed us that there may be other ways to assess our students rather than cramming six years of learning into two weeks of final exams. Perhaps it is time to reform the leaving certificate, which might mean students being assessed on a staggered basis using a broader range of assessment methods such as projects, team work and portfolios instead of facing a single set of summer exams. The State's advisory body on the c…

The decision made by Bank of Ireland to close 103 of its branches in Ireland, including 88 in the Republic, two of which, in Bantry and Dunmanway, are in my constituency, is a grave error of judgment. For several years, the bank has been dismantling the personal service which existed for generations and replacing it with banking machines in a bid to reduce staff and costs. However, the price to be paid for that is the weakening of customer loyalty to the bank and the loss of knowledge by the bank regarding the indi…

We are talking about mandatory quarantine which should have been implemented for people entering this country long before now. I called for it last April or May, although I have not checked my records in that regard. The reason I called for it is that I come from a constituency with a high volume of tourism. I felt at that time that for me to give confidence to the people of west Cork, we had to have PCR testing of people coming into our country. I called for it at that time but the then Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar,…

I will talk about the rest of the issue later.

On the same issue, but in my constituency of Cork South-West, the roll-out of the vaccine has been very confusing to say the least. In some situations, even up to a week ago, doctors in west Cork did not even have vaccines for themselves, never mind their patients. Perhaps that has been corrected but home helps in west Cork, who are at the front line, have not yet received the vaccine. It is unbelievable to see the roll-out moving on through the categories while some in the first categories have not yet been looked…

The general feedback today has been that people will be generally supportive of the Minister if he will accept some or all of these amendments. The Rural Independent Group has put forward amendments. I thank Brian Ó Domhnaill and Mairead McGrath in the office who put time and effort into these constructive amendments. I see that other parties and Independent groups have done the same in an effort to be constructive. It looks like the Minister is going to rule out all of those amendments. If that is the case, he wil…

We need to extend the lifetime of the mother and baby homes commission and I support the motion put forward by the Social Democrats. By winding down the mother and baby homes commission now, we would, in effect, prevent the carrying out of full investigations, leaving remaining questions unanswered. We need to buy more time for the survivors in their search for truth and justice. Last Thursday, it was confirmed that the recovery files, which could contain the 550 deleted recordings of witness testimony, had been fo…

We have a major crisis in respect of people over the age of 55 who are on CE schemes. I had a Zoom meeting last Friday with the Skibbereen Education and Environment Project company, which has a number of CE workers, but it looks as if its numbers will be halved. CE workers over the age of 55 and up to the age of 60 are finding it very difficult to get alternative employment. They are now being withdrawn from the CE schemes, which means that community and voluntary organisations mainly will suffer. The Taoiseach wil…

I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak on these matters, particularly the misuse of drugs and alcohol. Many people are struggling during this blooming pandemic. Young people in particular are struggling. It has never been more important to make sure that treatment centres are open and are kept going. It is sad to note that in the short lifetime of this Government, the Cara Lodge residential treatment centre in Enniskeane has been closed. It was open for many years. I raised the issue with the Minister of S…

Millions of euro is after being spent in Bandon on water and sewerage infrastructure but serious questions have to be asked of Irish Water as sewage is entering some properties on the New Road area in Bandon in recent weeks, especially over the past weekend. I have spoken to residents who are to say the least angry to have their homes destroyed by sewage. It looks like pipes laid are the wrong size and urgent works are required to remedy this mess. There is likely that the untreated raw sewage will also enter the B…

Like the previous two speakers, I will not be supporting this Bill to set up a land development agency. It is democracy kicking democracy in the teeth. The past two Governments have been doing this. The current Government is continuing to take basic rights away from local councillors. Rights were taken from the town councillors. The former Minister, Phil Hogan, stood over their demise. It has turned out to be a disaster. Even though it was meant to be turned around under different programmes for Government, this ne…

I will definitely be supporting this Bill today. I welcome any move to tackle the problem of some consumers being charged higher prices than others with a similar risk profile. This adversely impacts more vulnerable consumers and older people. All consumers deserve to be treated fairly when purchasing insurance. It is essential that consumers and businesses should be treated fairly, equally and in a transparent manner, and not be harmed as a result of pricing models adopted by insurers. Motor and home insurance are…

As well the Minister of State knows, this Bill provides for the transposition of outstanding elements of Directive 2014/62/EU, a directive on the protection of the euro and other currencies against counterfeiting. The directive calls on member states to introduce criminal offences and sanctions relating to counterfeiting of the euro and other currencies. It introduces common measures in respect of same. The directive also addresses territorial jurisdiction and requires special investigation measures. The importance…