Around the country, community employment, CE, workers do valuable work, especially in small towns and villages in rural Ireland. The work they do for Tidy Towns and making Ireland look better is commendable. Prior to 3 July 2017, those over 55 years were entitled to six years on that scheme. It was changed on 3 July so that thereafter a person would get three years, and if he or she took a year out, he or she could apply again. That was accepted. It was updated again in September 2019. On page 30 of the community e…

I thank the Tánaiste for his reply. I agree with him wholeheartedly. Under the community employment procedures manual, it is called a saver clause. On page 30, it states: Participants who commenced on CE prior to 3rd July 2017 will be entitled to remain under their existing CE eligibility rules, where this is to their advantage. If it is more advantageous to the person, the current criteria can be applied. What is written in the manual is pretty much black and white. However for some reason, there are people in the…

At the moment, it is not possible for somebody to do a driver theory test. A mass of people are looking to get their licences. One cannot get a Safe Pass. Is there any way of trying to allow them do something online? I was talking to a guy yesterday who has been driving a car for 25 years. He has to have the trailer licence for which one has to do a theory test. The Minister for Transport, Deputy Ryan, might be fond of bikes but cars, lorries, tractors and so on are needed in this country. Could some commonsense me…

I support and welcome the motion. However, it should be made clear that, unfortunately, Governments do not listen often enough to motions in here. I assure Deputy Danny Healy-Rae that whether it is the Green Party, Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil, given what is going on in this country at the moment it is like the Chihuahua pulling the Great Dane's tail. The Green Party is dictating the pace. I assure him that it tried once to stop us cutting turf and it failed, and it will not succeed a second time if it tries anything. …

-----as soon as we can stand up, the people of rural Ireland will show the Government-----

-----in Dublin the anger they have over what it is doing.

I first need to acknowledge the work being done by the people in the Department of Social Protection over the past year. Is there any intention to consider those who have businesses and who are pension age or over? They were not entitled to the PUP even though they had money borrowed. Is there any intention to change that? One of the vaccines we had hung our hat on is not being recommended in Germany for people over the age of 65. This could prolong our situation in Ireland. Will there be a commitment to continue t…

We talk about building houses. There is currently a problem with flooding in Lough Funshinagh, County Roscommon. Will the Department and especially the NPWS help in every way and not obstruct solutions to that problem? Second, people build one-off houses in rural Ireland. There might be one or two, at most, on site. At present, they are off-site due to the Covid regulations. Is that prudent if there are only one or two people in a one-off house in the middle of the countryside? Third, there are 35,000 units of Stat…

I have two questions. I refer to the announcement today of the linear cut of 2% which is going to affect small family farms around the country because Britain is not paying into the EU. The previous Taoiseach undertook that Ireland would make up this deficit. Will that be done, rather than letting farmers around the country, especially low-income farmers, face a 2% linear cut? On the issue of farm machinery being brought across, I have talked to hauliers and 200 loads should have been brought across at this stage. …

It was said that this would be topped up.

Is the €100 million being topped up?

Since the pandemic began, the need for good broadband throughout the country has become more apparent. As the national broadband plan is being rolled out, there are problems with regard to tree-cutting, the polers and even the guys putting up the wires, although hopefully those problems can be overcome. It is unusual to hear contractors say that as bad as Eir was when they were working for that company, this crowd does not seem to be organised at all. That is despite €7 million having been spent, according to an ar…

I welcome the Taoiseach’s response. It is not me talking about the fastest broadband in the world; it is on the Department's website and it was announced by a Minister. We were all invited to this great hoo-ha about what was going on. Generally, when one talks about a town, one talks about 50 km zones. As I have said, there are other providers in the town. There are four different options to ensure that those 204 children are given the same opportunities. It is sad to think that during lockdown, the teachers in que…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this. I am disappointed that amendment No. 74, which I tabled, was ruled out of order. I do not know why because it was a very simple amendment based on the fact that agricultural contractors do 90% of the work. I know the Minister will tell us about the tax rebate the farmers have and that there is double taxation. The reality is that farm contractors do 90% of the work, be it silage or slurry and various work carried out on the farm, because many farmers do not have time to d…

I welcome and support the motion. A radical review of the whole system of pension provision is needed. One sees people who have worked and grafted hard for 50 years and who come out with €248 a week. In other sectors, workers are entitled to a pension after 30 years. We need to ensure we look after all our people and all sections of our communities. It is well known that the changes introduced in 2011 had a huge impact. Some of that was subsequently addressed by the previous Minister of Employment Affairs and Socia…

Some counties have spent a lot of their money on LEADER projects. A roll-over is needed and money is required for next year and the year after because the next Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, will be in 2023. I ask the Minister to prioritise that issue. I know from my engagement with people in Roscommon earlier in the week that that is a problem. Broadband is welcome but we need to see it rolled out. The Minister comes from a rural area, as do I. If one is making cocks of hay in a field, the more people in the fie…

I welcome the opportunity to speak in support of this motion. We were all young and we all tried to have a go on the first engine we saw. Everything is fine until something goes wrong. There is a wild streak in every youngster. Young people need opportunity as well. The one thing we have not done in this country is provide a safe environment where youngsters who want to use these vehicles can do so responsibly. We do not seem to want to do that. This activity is a torment in a lot of cities and areas. Unfortunately…

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to speak on this matter. I support Deputy Ó Laoghaire's Bill. This issue was talked about last year and the year before. I welcome that the Minister of State is accepting the Bill but I note that the Government is talking about bringing in its own legislation on this matter. As Deputy Howlin pointed out, we all knew a year ago or two years ago - probably longer for anyone who has been here that long - that something was required in this area. I do not know why we put …

I compliment Deputy McNamara on putting forward this well-put-together motion. Not only does it affect my backyard, it also covers all the regional airports. I met Joe Gilmore and Mary Considine to discuss the struggle going on at the moment. The Minister of State, in fairness to her, has met them too. I welcome the announcement yesterday. The motion could not be better timed. It puts pressure on the Government to deliver and I compliment Deputy McNamara on that. One point is that while it is clear the moneys for C…

I will be supporting the Bill. Hopefully we will never have to use it; that is the first thing we should all say. There has been a lot of talk about our access to Europe. Regarding ports such as Rosslare, we have to up the ante. A lot of our stock is exported. We have a 9-1-9 system. The Government should be considering putting a lairage system in place in the likes of Rosslare to help with the live export of calves. There are many critical points. Milk goes across the Border both ways. There is a reference in the …