The death tax.

We know what Labour's history was.

Labour is an irrelevant party. That is what is wrong with Labour.

They are hurting badly.

They cannot stick the truth.

Last Thursday night, the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association, INHFA, organised a meeting. The subject was the nature restoration law that the European Commission has published and proposed. This EU nature restoration law proposes to restore at least 20% of the EU land and sea areas by 2030. This will obviously be detrimental to our farmers. Irish farmers are looking for a guarantee that this will not be imposed on them. Much play has been made by the Government about how lands owned by Coillte and formerly by…

I cannot support the Minister tonight but I think Sinn Féin is wrong in what it is doing now. The timing is not right. The reason I cannot support the Minister, though, is not because of the riots or anything like that, but because we have hardworking gardaí who wanted the Minister to support them. Instead, she supported the Commissioner who did not have the confidence of 97% or 98% of the hardworking gardaí in this country. On behalf of the gardaí in County Kerry, I cannot express confidence in the Minister tonigh…

First, I want to thank Deputy Shanahan very sincerely for bringing forward this very important Bill because of the simple fact that oversight is so important when dealing with large sums of money. There seems to be a trend in Ireland in the last ten years that if a project is of a certain size, no notice in the world is taken of overruns and overspends. Take for instance the national children's hospital. It does not really matter if it is less than €1 billion, €0.5 billion, €1 billion, €1.5 billion, €2 billion or €…

I thank the Minister for the funding. All I ever want to see is more funding for greyhound and horse racing. Often overshadowed, the greyhound industry plays a vital role in Irish culture and the economy. The €19 million allocation is a testament to the industry's significance, benefiting veterinarian medicine suppliers and others in interconnected businesses. I compliment the greyhound racing industry in County Kerry and the track in Tralee. I wish to speak about the people who own greyhounds. Other Deputies seem …

As a parent, and indeed a grandparent, and a representative of the people of Kerry, I want to say how sorry and shocked I am to think of innocent little children and their carer and minder being attacked in a savage way. I compliment the gardaí, the firemen, the emergency responders and the ambulance people for facing into what was an awful situation later on that evening. It was horrendous. When we should all have been concentrating on the children and on the injured people, here we were dealing with a riot situat…

I put on record that for nearly four decades, I have been providing accommodation to all sectors of society, including in the past couple of years, to Ukrainian families fleeing the war. I speak today on a subject that has risen its head very much in the past weeks in the town of Killarney, which is the fact that 77 international protection applicants were to be located on the Muckross Road, a mainly tourist and residential area. At yesterday's full council meeting, a resolution put forward by Councillor Niall O'Ca…

I thank the Taoiseach for being factual in telling us that the contract is in place because there was uncertainty about that. What that tells me is that officials now meeting with public representatives - be they councillors, TDs or the local residents - is actually a waste of time because the deal is done and the people are going into that property according to what the Taoiseach is just after saying. What I am asking him is how right is it to do that in this way with no consultation with the local councillors or …

I appreciate this opportunity. I am coming at this on behalf of people who, like me, are pro-life and have always been that way. We respect every decision that has been taken, although we do not have to agree with them. While we can respect and debate what is being proposed in this Bill, we do not have to agree with it. When people assemble, if they do so in a respectful way that is not threatening, intimidating or nasty, that is to be welcomed. I know people involved in pro-life groups. Obviously, the ones I know …

I want to thank the Electoral Commission for the great work it has been doing. It is a very difficult job trying to balance everything. For the future, I would encourage six-seater constituencies and not breaking county boundaries. That is obviously very important. The Minister of State appreciates that. It is not natural for people to break a county boundary. If there is any way that could be respected, I would be very grateful for that. With regard to lowering the voting age to 16, I can see a great merit in it. …

I know. I am not saying we should use that system. I am very glad the Ceann Comhairle mentioned that because electronic voting is not what I am talking about. I am talking about postal voting of some type. We should look at that. Regarding by-elections, it is very interesting. I am conscious of the time. We definitely have to look at by-elections. It is an old-fashioned system that if one of us dies, there has to be a by-election. It is very costly on the electorate. We do not want to die but if the inevitable happ…

As he said, we are here, there and everywhere.

An outrage is being perpetrated on innocent people in hospitals, including children. That it has become a graveyard for children is not an exaggeration; it is a fact. All right-thinking people around the world want a ceasefire, safe corridors to be put in place and for the raining down of bombs to stop. One thing I always say about politics is that it is great we can all come into this Chamber where we debate, get cross and do everything in the world, but when we walk away at the end of the day, we have used a biro…

I will relay something to the House. I will not name the Deputy, as it is not polite to do so because he is not here, but I will paraphrase. Philip Ryan recently wrote that a senior Deputy had objected to the proposed development of more than 200 social and affordable housing units on a derelict site in his constituency. The article stated that the Deputy lodged a complaint with the county council over the project in part due to the shadow it would cast over neighbouring social housing. We have a Deputy here compla…

I thank the people who have been involved in our overseas peacekeeping, as the Minister of State will too, I am sure. I am thinking of people like a good friend of my own, Gunner Kevin Quinn from Blackwater, who has served with distinction overseas. This type of service is so important and I thank all the men and women from Ireland, as I know the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach would too, who have served us bravely and put themselves in danger's way to help stabilise safety and peacekeeping around the globe. In the present…

I welcome this debate and the token of money being given, but that is what it is - a token - because the ever-increasing cost of energy is putting people under enormous stress. This Government, more than any other government, has been telling people to use more electricity, including electric cars and electric heating in homes, while the cost of it gets higher and higher and the supply of it gets shorter and shorter. I do not want to let this opportunity go without reminding the Minister of State and her Government…