Yes, it is.

Is someone going to get drowned not an emergency?

The Minister is well aware that a site has been identified in Roscommon for a training centre for the ETB. It has the backing of all political sides in Roscommon. It is not just me, but everyone who has spoken to the Minister. Moegie Maher, a Fine Gael councillor in Galway who is on the ETB, has been involved in it. This is Roscommon Inc. coming together to identify a site that will actually help with skills down the road. I am asking about the status of the proposed site. Is the Department funding it and where are…

In fairness to the Minister, he has engaged until now. Suitable buildings do not become available too often in many parts of the country. I am familiar with the building in question. It was a garage at one time. It would be ideal for the type of apprenticeships that are being proposed. You do not find that easily. The GRETB staff can walk from the current building to the new proposed site. I know the Minister has said that more information has to be sent. The one thing we do not want is to see the process dragging …

We have talked about building houses, and I know some of them are being built off-site at the moment. We are struggling to get youngsters into a lot of the wet trades. We are struggling to get mechanics as well. One upon a time, you used a spanner to fix a tractor; nowadays, it is a computer. It is totally different. The training is totally different from what it was at one time. You need part of both, but the computer identifies all the problems now. With the way the technology has changed, we need a lot of youngs…

A few weeks ago the Tánaiste was taking Leaders' Questions and I brought up a difficult case in County Roscommon of a youngster who has autism. He basically rips 20 T-shirts a week, takes out everything from the fridge at night, and can go out and damage the car. His father was at his wits' end and actually lost his job over it. His father was looking for residential care for his child but, unfortunately, nothing has been provided yet. The Tánaiste said he would look into it and he has all of the documentation. I h…

What the Taoiseach has said does not give great hope for those parents who are waiting at the moment. In fact, I know of a parent today who had to go to the other end of the country to pay for a consultation and a diagnosis. It is not acceptable to have to travel 120 or 130 miles to try to get a diagnosis and to pay for it themselves rather than the State helping them out. While it might be a problem right across the country, there is also a problem with many speech and language therapists being unable to get a ful…

I want to thank the officials for the briefing they gave us on the Bill via Zoom a week or two ago. Planning in this country is in a total mess. We can bring in all of the legislation we want but at the end of the day it depends on what planning authority one is dealing with because there is no consistency in the planning system. It also depends on who is the director of planning and who is over the ordinary planners. Some people could have a vendetta such that they do not want to see rural housing being built. It …

Yes.

I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach for the opportunity to speak on this matter. Ireland is signed up under different protocols to take in a certain number of refugees every year and we are doing that. In fairness to the Irish people, when the war in Ukraine broke out, they opened their doors everywhere as has been pointed out by Deputy Tóibín. The Irish Red Cross made a hames of it, to be quite frank, because the rooms offered were not used. However, we need to talk about certain things and be open and frank about…

-----and that is not going to work because underneath the surface the people in middle Ireland are getting fed up with it.

This country is made up of a lot of SMEs. In fact, there are 23,000 SMEs that employ between nine to 45 people and a huge number of SMEs that employ larger numbers of people. Especially the smaller ones, in carrying out their day-to-day work, and especially in the groundworks and machinery side of the housing sector, many people have to go to a site to price a job and look after their workers. These are generally small set-ups and they are trying to do their best. They price the job, get the materials, put in the m…

Will the Taoiseach talk to the Ministers and get a bit of common sense into this for the sake of the survival of small businesses?

The Taoiseach said a few words, including "survey". What will a survey do for a small business of four or five people with one or two at the head who are trying to do everything and make sure everything is right? The other word he used was "software". We are back to the same thing. That is grand for a business with a HR department. It will have someone dedicated to that. The Taoiseach mentioned the Minister for trade and enterprise, Deputy Coveney. Yes, certain help is available but at the end of the day the people…

I am thankful to have the opportunity to speak on this motion. On a personal basis, I get on well with the Minister. I think, though, that the Garda Commissioner has lost the dressing room completely. Our thoughts must be with the people who were stabbed and hurt before the riots. We wish them well. I hear all this talk about the far right in this country. Yes, there are extreme people in this country. To put it simply, though, basically, it was yobbos and thugs who went setting the Garda cars, the Luas trams and t…

Over recent weeks we have seen various Ministers, including the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, our Taoiseach and our Tánaiste in different parts of the country where there has been serious flooding, where people have lost their businesses or are in deep trouble and where householders have been flooded out of it, never to get insurance again. We have seen this in Midleton, Wexford and Louth and we saw it in Galway yesterday. I saw the Chief Whip in Galway yesterday - unfortunately, with people crying…

The people right around this country-----

-----need honesty because that is nine years on the go. Tell that to the people in Midleton and other places.

The Minister is correct in everything he has said. I am not having a go at the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan. I am talking about legislation. The Minister mentioned the people of Lough Funshinagh. There is a steering group for those people. This steering group looks like it is going to sit for another three or four years with the way it is going. The water is coming. You cannot stop the water. The problem is the habitats directive and the way it is being enforced here or the way Europe is pushing it and enfor…

It is not every day that someone from Monaghan and someone from Galway, which, in fairness to the Deputies here, are not near Dan Brennan's farm, come together. When Dan Brennan came in, I did not know him from Adam. The words of the song "Willie McBride", "torn, battered and stained", came to my head. He has gone through hell and back with his family. When you listen to his story, it is clear that the least we need to do is what Deputy McGuinness said, which is to put together a group of three independent people. …