Yes but I am saying that I do not agree and I wish to put it to a vote if possible.

I am not joking. I would ask the Leas-Cheann Comhairle to chair the debate in a neutral manner.

You are also ramming a number of other changes through.

Thank you.

In the very limited time available to me, I wish to focus on inspections of private rented accommodation or rather the lack thereof. The minimum standards for rented accommodation are set out in the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations and the responsibility for inspecting houses to ensure that they meet the standards rests with the local authorities. The recent figures available from the National Oversight and Audit Commission are from 2020. Six local authorities, including Galway city, where one woul…

-----that action needed to be taken to clamp down on substandard conditions in the rented sector. I urge the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, not to be the Minister who does nothing in government and then complains about it when he is in opposition, because if he does, there is a distinct lack of credibility attached to that. I urge the Government to do something about the lack of inspections.

Will he share that with the House because that is something I have raised?

I wish to raise the issue of ambulances. There was a report in The Clare Herald this week about an ambulance that was sent from the Carraroe base in County Galway to an incident in Kilkee, two hours away. Luckily, an off-duty paramedic was there to help. There is a major shortage of ambulance drivers. Meanwhile, paramedics who are being trained in the University of Limerick are not accepted by the National Ambulance Service, NAS, and NAS personnel from County Clare were in Northern Ireland carrying out Covid testin…

I listened to the budget speeches on Tuesday and have been reflecting on them since. It seems this budget is a little bit of everything and very little of anything. It lacks any particular strategic direction. It is pretty much a case of continuing with the way we are - give a little bit to everybody and let us not change the status quo because there could be an election soon. That is what I take from this budget. Maybe I am wrong, but we will see. I want to return to a couple of initiatives in the budget. In doing…

Some of the spin in advance of the upcoming budget is that it will enhance people’s ability to work from home. Spin in advance of budgets has become customary and is not a new thing. One of the big obstacles to working from home is poor Internet connectivity. I have raised this with the Tánaiste before. Not alone are there issues with broadband connectivity but people who nominally have a broadband connection get a poor service from their telecoms providers and there is very little that can be done about it. When I…

I am at a bit of a loss as to what this debate is for. What is the point of it? I appreciate that the Ceann Comhairle does not decide how the Government fills its time but what is the point? Nothing new has been announced. We have learned little or nothing and then, towards the end of the term, a load of legislation will be rammed through and it will be because we did not have Dáil time to debate it. There will be no amendments but guillotines and the whole shebang, with contempt for democracy and Parliament and so…

The exponential rise in the use of data has led to an exponential rise in the number of data centres. Some people think data is stored in clouds but it is not. It is always stored in centres. The solution proposed by some is to transfer the data to another country that may use even more energy to store it. The Government's response to this is "Problem; what problem?". There is a problem. All of these data giants are headquartered in Ireland. Does that not give Ireland a unique opportunity, if not a responsibility, …

If the Minister were to become Taoiseach, would he take it up?

I opposed this legislation when it was introduced in July and I am opposing it being rolled over again. In July, I predicted that it would be rolled over. Many Government Deputies said they found it unpalatable and they were concerned by it, but that it was for a limited period of time, so they would accept it. Now, they are accepting it because, well, it is a power that will not be used. I am suspicious of powers that will not be used being placed in the hands of civil servants or pliable Ministers who do whatever…

If the Minister will not listen to the law passed by this Parliament, will he at least listen to the science? That is the mantra we have been listening to for over 18 months now.

Are they temporary or not?

Not until 9 o’clock tonight. Did the Minister not hear the contributions?

Will the Minister consider his position?

I suppose this is related to the previous line of questioning. Will the Minister provide an update on the Defence Forces' process of implementing recommendations on anti-discrimination law? He will be aware that at the end of the WRC process recommendations were made and there have been other recommendations.

To return to what the Minister said previously, I have no doubt that those who seek to abuse their positions of power, including in a sexually predatory way, are a small minority in the Defence Forces. I have witnessed in other similar institutions with a command structure how a small minority can have a large influence. Instead of tackling the problem, there is a tendency in institutions with command structures to circle the wagons, put a ring of steel around them and say that maybe the people did wrong but this i…