This is my time-----

-----and I want to finish it. I hate the idea of a person-----

What does Deputy Shortall know about people in Kerry or west Cork who need to go to the North to save their eyesight?

Deputy Shortall has chosen to try to cut me out of making my points.

It is extremely unfair and very unprofessional.

It is a low thing for Deputy Shortall to interrupt a debate like that.

Buses? It is about people's eyesight. How dare you, Denis?

I am not surprised at Deputy Shortall but I am surprised at you, Denis. I really am. I did not think you would go attacking people for whom we are trying to work.

I had a couple of minutes left to finish my point and Deputy Naughten went heckling me in the middle of it.

I welcome much of this Bill, but like everything, we do not want anything to be too rushed. I welcome the immigration controls in the Bill, as we had the ridiculous situation of people’s passports and documentation finishing up down the toilet, according to Mr. Michael O’Leary. I do not doubt him for one minute that this was what was happening. We all knew it was happening, but nothing was being done about it. Regarding uniformed officers, I fondly remember a family that the Ceann Comhairle will remember, that of t…

By God, he is.

I thank the Leas Cheann-Comhairle for her indulgence in accommodating my colleagues and me to contribute to the debate. We appreciate it very much. I thank Sinn Féin for bringing this important Bill to the Dáil. I have been providing accommodation to students for many years. As recently as last night, I dealt with parents who frightened me with the amount of money they have to pay for their child's accommodation and the impact it is having on them. The rent is €350 a week. The difficulty is not just the amount of m…

I, too, warmly welcome the elevation of Deputy Michael McGrath, now MEP, and wish him every good luck.

Sorry, Deputy McNamara. There are two elevations. The findings of the survey conducted by the Catholic Primary Schools Management Association highlighted a concerning reality. The fact that seven out of ten primary schools have run at a deficit at some point over the past 12 months indicates a significant financial strain on our education system. This strain is due to insufficient core funding from the State, forcing schools to rely on cash reserves to cover day-to-day costs. We have seen schools out every day shak…

I thank the Ceann Comhairle very much. My question is on the essential repair grant, the disabled persons grant and the mobility aids grant. They have not been looked at in so many years. Building costs have gone up so enormously that even if people get the maximum grant amount payable to them, for which we are very grateful and I am also appreciative of the work Kerry County Council does in administering this much-needed funding, it is not enough. To put it simply, this is not enough. There is so much of a gap bet…

When it comes to issues like this, I do not like to be negative but I have to remind the Minister that when An Garda Síochána was looking to the Government for support and when the Commissioner wanted support, the Minister sided with one man rather than siding with our gardaí. That did not sit well with me or the hard-working members of the force. One thing I will say about our gardaí is when they get up in the morning, they put on a uniform and they put themselves in harm's way to work for us and for the arms of t…

I really believe that if you live long enough, you will get to see an awful lot. I welcome the Sinn Féin Private Members' motion. However, this is the same Sinn Féin that voted for the climate Bill which paved the way for carbon tax increases. It is the same Sinn Féin that proposed a motion in the Dáil against that carbon tax. When Deputy Mattie McGrath called a vote in the convention centre on the Finance Bill in 2020, the only backing he got was from nine Independent Deputies. Sinn Féin voted to give away our rig…

I thank the Minister of State. I come from what is widely recognised as the tourism capital of the western world, which includes Killarney town and the beautiful Ring of Kerry that encompasses places such as Killorglin, Glenbeigh, Cahersiveen, Waterville, down to Portmagee, the beautiful Valentia Island, Ballinskelligs, Kells Bay, back up to Caherdaniel, Castlecove, Sneem and on up to Kenmare. It is the most beautiful place in the western world. I am very proud and glad to have represented businesspeople in those p…

On a point of clarification, to be very clear what the Government parties have said is that they are accepting our motion. At the same time, they are not saying they will reduce the VAT rate. We cannot agree to that because we would be buying a pig in a poke. We do not know what we are agreeing to because all they have said is that they are not calling a vote on the motion or opposing us, but at the same time they are not telling us that it will give------

We cannot agree to what the Government is doing.