He will be gone soon enough.

I am very glad that yesterday the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, called to see the excellent facility that is St. Mary of the Angels in Beaufort in County Kerry. It is a very special place for people with intellectual and physical disabilities. The Taoiseach knows that I have long campaigned, since 2011, when what I believe was the wrong decision was made to do away with congregated settings. I really do believe it is not a case that one shoe fits all when it comes to people with special needs. The service pro…

I am not convinced by the consideration given to section 39 workers. I still have concerns. They do great work in our communities. I know the strike was averted last week but I hoped more meaningful efforts would be made in the budget. However, they were not. I register my concern on their behalf, particularly those working in Kerry, who provide excellent services and have done so over the years. Unfortunately, missing from the budget are the changes necessary to support Ireland’s SME sector, which forms the backbo…

Is the Minister of State going to accept or reject the motion which I and my colleagues in the Rural Independent Group are bringing before him today on behalf of 71,500 people throughout the country? I am here to talk about the young people, for instance, in County Kerry who are coming to me in their droves at clinics and asking what are we going to do, how are they going to go to college and how will they go to work. They are trying to make a living, perhaps a part-time living, and are trying to better themselves.…

-----because the Green Party members are leading the Government by the nose down the road to the abyss. I remind the Minister of State again that the Government has lost rural Ireland. It had it at one time but Fine Gael has lost what it had in rural Ireland. The Greens never had it in the first instance but the Government has abandoned it because it is being taken by the nose and is being led by a couple of people in the Green Party and these people are doing absolutely nothing, as is the Government. It promised u…

The then Government had to realise that it had to give licences to people and it did. I know that a number of weeks ago the Taoiseach answered me in the House and said that the Government was not looking at an amnesty. If the Government is not going to look at an amnesty then it will have to wake up as this is a real problem which is affecting real people. I am sincerely asking it to come along and to do something to help those people. On road safety, I condemn in the strongest possible way the knee-jerk reaction. …

At the outset, we have to say that we absolutely condemn what is going on, which is, in effect, war crimes being committed against the most vulnerable of people. What we have to say tonight is that the murder of innocent people, wherever it happens, in whatever name, and for whatever cause, cannot be allowed. It has to be condemned by all right-thinking people and governments. Take our own small country as an example. Who have we to thank for peace in this country? We have people like the Sinn Féin Party, Fianna Fá…

John Hume, of course. All these people came together and they used a biro, their brains and their intelligence. We have to absolutely condemn this and tell these people they have to go down the peaceful road. There will have to be an immediate ceasefire on all fronts. That is the only simple way of putting this. We have to immediately call this out for what it is: war crimes. We have to also say that we expect, similar to the call on Russia, immediate safe corridors to be put in place to allow people to get to safe…

I warmly support this amendment on behalf of the Kerry businesses I deal with daily. They are still struggling to understand why, at a time when wholesale energy prices plummeted, they were left holding enormously high energy bills. The one thing those just trying to survive and small businesses, be they garages, hotels, guest houses, shops or hairdressers, cannot get away from is that they have to have heat, light and power. Whatever they are going to be robbed for it – I will use the word "robbed" – they will hav…

Transport Infrastructure Ireland sent a very important memo to the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, warning him that a continued failure to invest in new road projects would result in 77 deaths and 381 serious injuries over the next five years. That is a very serious assertion for any group or organisation to make. Budget 2024 has seen a 13% decrease of €200 million in funding for roads. I want to speak about a number of important road projects for County Kerry. If the N22 Farranfore-to-Killarney bypass project does no…

I am sure the Taoiseach will be ecstatic to know that I will be standing shoulder to shoulder with him at the opening of the Ballyvourney section of Macroom bypass. It is no thanks whatever to the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan that this road is opening because if we were relying on the Minister for Transport who does not like building roads to open it, it would never have opened and would never have been put there. I am glad it is there in spite of some people. I warmly welcome the Taoiseach to come there and to open…

I declare that I have an interest in some of the issues I want to raise. I will begin with tax measures. The one thing this Government is not doing is rewarding people who want to work. There will be people who work very hard and do their best to make a living who will be scratching their heads tonight. They are looking for nothing from this Government, only to work and get on with their lives and they are not being treated well by the Government. The disability sector and section 39 workers have been shouting very…

The Deputy is talking to himself now.

I support the amendment. I will ask the Minister a couple of clear questions and give him plenty of time to answer them. If he gets away with screwing more money from the hard-pressed motorists, haulage contractors, fisherman, farmers and contractors through more additional excise taxes, will he answer a couple of questions tonight? Will he answer TII which said the Minister's actions will lead to deaths on our roads? It put that directly at the Minister's feet and even listed out where people were going to die bec…

-----the taxes he has imposed on them and his hair-brained ideas, whether it is about wolves in the countryside-----

-----or the shared motor car that he wants us all to walk to in the morning-----

It is very hard for the Minister to hear this-----

-----but it is a fine thing for him to hear the truth.

You would be far better off not throwing your weight behind him.

It will not do you any good.