The essence of this day is being undermined by the Government's superficial gestures and lack of substantial support for women. The Government's decision to hold a referendum on gender on International Women's Day is a disheartening example of this trend. This move, rather than being a genuine effort to uplift women, appears to be a cynical and hollow gimmick. It reduces a potential constitutional amendment, a matter deserving of serious consideration, to a symbolic gesture. There is little to acknowledge the enorm…

I thank Deputy Tully and Sinn Féin for bringing forward this important motion tonight. Relaxing the carer's allowance means test and increasing the disability allowance, invalidity pension, illness benefit, carer's allowance and benefit, and the annual carer's support grant is of paramount importance. I believe that taking care of people in their own home is the best place you can have them. The money it costs to give somebody a proper allowance to take care of those people at home is important. Being a carer or a …

We need a national broadcaster and that is a fact, but I see the excellent work that other media outlets such as Radio Kerry do on a shoestring. They run an extremely efficient business and do great work on a shoestring. Why must the model of RTÉ be as it is? I will give an example. I will not name the person but there is a man who does all the bemoaning, shouting, grumbling and grousing every day. He has been on €1,000 a day seven days a week for as long as I can remember. He is on the radio complaining about poli…

And Benjy in "The Riordans" as well and Maggie and all of them. They were great people. We were very proud of them and that is not a joke. It is fact. The Minister should not knock the whole thing now. We need to keep our national broadcaster but please try to get it right.

They will not vote for you. You have lost rural Ireland.

At the outset, in the interests of transparency, I just want to say that I house Ukrainian families, including moms, dads and children, as do a lot of Irish people. I just want to put that on the record. I am totally horrified that any person's property would be burned. It is an act of wanton vandalism that should in no way be tolerated. We cannot, however, compare that to the people who were at the meeting in Killarney. Some 300 or 400 genuine, hard-working people came to a meeting to discuss concerns they had. Al…

I thank Sinn Féin most sincerely. It is ironic. I will say this directly to the Sinn Féin Members. Last night, I was at a meeting with a young adult who had been adversely affected by what happened to her because of the situation in south Kerry. I told her that this debate would be coming up tonight thanks to the Deputies and their party and that we would have an opportunity to speak. I told that young adult that I would not name her, but she said that she wanted to hear her case being spoken about because she want…

I, too, pay my sincere sympathies to Deputy Michael Collins, his brother Councillor Danny Collins and to the mum, Kay Lynch, of the late Michael John Lynch, who would be a nephew of our colleague in the Rural Independent Group, Michael Collins. We are sorry for his sad passing. To his friends, his family and his neighbours in the Durrus area in Cork, I send my heartfelt sympathies. I thank the leader of our group, Deputy Mattie McGrath, and his excellent staff, including Brian Ó Domhnaill, Triona and others, for th…

There are a lot in here doing that.

A lot of objectors in this House.

Objecting.

You are a serial objector.

And he is an objector.

The matter I will raise is a matter of great concern to the Taoiseach, his Minister for Health and all his Government. Currently, St. John of God in Kerry supports adults and children with intellectual disabilities. The breakdown in Kerry is as follows: 230 adults with intellectual disabilities attend residential and day care services throughout County Kerry. They attend 16 day services with facilities in their own communities in towns such as Castleisland, Killorglin, Kenmare, Dingle, Listowel and Tralee. People a…

Having studied the financial situation and having got people who would be far better at finance than I am to look at it, this is a no-brainer because if we have to provide that service through the HSE, it will inevitably cost the State a lot more than it would cost to come to an agreement with St. John of God. I am not standing up here today advocating for St. John of God. I am advocating for the service users. The right thing to do is knock the heads of the HSE, the Government and those who hold the purse strings …

On behalf of the army of followers of Michael O'Regan's morning slot on a Friday, we express our heartfelt sympathies to his family, friends and colleagues. His voice on Radio Kerry on a Friday morning along with Jerry O'Sullivan was one of the most sought-after political events in Kerry. I want to remind people in this House that Michael O'Regan, Brian Cowen, the late Brian Lenihan, the late Jackie Healy-Rae, my sister Rosemary and a number of other people used to discuss the politics of Kerry, Ireland and indeed …

I warmly welcome Ambassador Larysa Gerasko. I thank her very much for the great work she has been doing tirelessly on behalf of Ukrainian people and for highlighting what is going on at all times and in every forum. She and the people with her have worked diligently in very difficult circumstances. They are looking every day at people who have seen their lives torn apart, their families killed, children being separated and taken to Russia and awful, horrendous things that should not happen in the modern world. It s…

I thank Sinn Féin most sincerely for bringing this important motion on paediatric, orthopaedic and urology services before the Dáil Éireann here this evening. It is very important and I thank that party's members very sincerely for it. I welcome and support the motion. As it states, as of 13 February 2024, a staggering 327 children are on the waiting list for scoliosis-related surgery with Children’s Health Ireland. This figure is a significant increase from the 312 children waiting in February 2017. The situation …

I welcome the Regional Group bringing this to the floor of the House. SMEs, particularly in rural and regional areas, are under significant pressures. Government policy decisions have increased the cost of doing business, with input costs such as energy inflation, insurance, labour and VAT increasing, making it increasingly difficult for small businesses to continue trading. This is particularly true for businesses in the hospitality, retail, travel, food, drink, tourism and entertainment sectors. I know that in Co…

The major sports events unit of the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media is looking at a request for €15 million in funding to host the FIA World Rally Championship here in 2025 to 2027. Motorsport Ireland has identified the excellent locations of County Kerry, of course, as well as counties Limerick and Waterford. This will bring a €300 million return to local economies in the host regions. We earnestly seek the necessary Government support and funding to make this world rally champions…