The Ceann Comhairle trots that out persistently.

Leinster House is still open. All the costs involved are still being met.

It is a discriminatory approach.

I begin by correcting what I said earlier about the amount of money that has been wasted on sittings in the national convention centre. As the Ceann Comhairle proudly pointed out, it is indeed €1.8 million of taxpayers' money that has been spent on this place. The Minister brought a Bill through the House dealing with the climate action plan that will, in effect, remove the ability of this House to question the priorities and the plan put in place. That is fundamentally undemocratic and how it fits with the constit…

As the Minister of State will be aware, small one-off builders and self-builders are also important to the supply of housing in Ireland, particularly in rural areas. Accessing materials is increasingly difficult. I refer to timber in particular. The supply is drying up. A simple length of 4" X 2" was €8 last year and is now €13. One of the main builder's suppliers in Clare is no longer stocking timber. Builders will not give quotes of more than a month's duration because of inflation in the cost of supplies. I refe…

I find it a strange construct that one asks the Minister a question only for his junior Minister to read out a prepared script telling us all the wonderful things the Minister is doing. It is to be hoped this is a time for questions and answers rather than propaganda. I appreciate that the supply of building materials is, by and large, a private endeavour but if these issues are preventing the supply of housing in Ireland, which it is and increasingly will, is there anything the Government can do? I do not really m…

The Government has been in place for more than 12 months. This Dáil has been in place for a bit longer again. This problem predates this Government. I acknowledge that the problem did not arise under Senator Hackett's watch but she has been in office for a while now and I am not hearing of any increase in the number of felling licences granted. I appreciate that there are environmental issues around forestry policy but these are not the problem here, although we need to address them. One can blame people who object…

I echo that call. I grew up in Clare. There were many county council estates and they were mixed. We all thought they were good and Government policy still promotes that. If the threshold is set where it is in Clare, if two people in a household are working or even if just one person is working and is just a little over the minimum wage, those people are not entitled to go on the social housing list. Effectively, only people in receipt of social welfare can get social housing in Clare because of where the limits ar…

Will the Minister of State address my question? He addressed Deputy Carey. I appreciate that I am not in Fine Gael and have no intention of joining Fine Gael but I should not have to join Fine Gael to have my questions answered.

Deputy Cathal Crowe referred to the contract that he signed as mayor of Clare. I recall thinking at the time that the houses were among the most expensive social houses ever built in Clare, but he explained that was because of the increase in build standards required - be that as it may. My question to the Minister relates to how much more expensive the building of these houses has become as a result of materials inflation, which is an issue I raised earlier. This affects one-off builds, but it also affects the cap…

I do not necessarily have a problem with the fact that there is a Special Criminal Court. It is provided for in our Constitution so there is nothing that I could do if I had a problem with it. It is not unusual across the world to have a special criminal court or for certain offences to be tried by a non-jury court. What I have a problem with, as has been repeatedly criticised by various forums nationally and internationally, is the fact that a non-scheduled offence can be certified for trial in the Special Crimina…

I was taken aback by the Minister of State's introductory remarks, particularly when she stated she wanted to introduce an antigen testing pilot study at the very least but the advice she obtained was that it was not possible, in accordance with WHO guidelines. I have no doubt of the veracity of what the Minister of State said to the House, but I have a lot of questions about the advice she is receiving. I want to bring a couple of documents to her attention. The first is the regulation that has been introduced wit…

Either-----

-----those advising the Minister of State are right or the rest of the European Union is right.

I will leave it with the Minister of State. I will give her the documents.

In response to between 300 and 500 jobs being at risk at Lufthansa Technik in Shannon, the Minister for Transport announced another task force for Shannon. That comes 12 months after the aviation task force reported, with none of its recommendations being implemented in the interim. Meanwhile, we are implementing the EU digital green certificate without the use of antigen testing and we are an outlier in the European Union in that regard. The Ferguson report, prepared by the Chief Scientific Adviser to the Governme…

What exactly is the Minister going to deliver? Many promises were made before the last election, as there usually are. This was an unusual situation in that the promises continued on into the programme for Government. The Irish Farmers Association, IFA, has been particularly unimpressed by the results-based environmental agri pilot, REAP, scheme. I looked at it and I was a little bit staggered by the extent to which there is a certain maximum amount which can be drawn down. It is very low. Is it being suggested, th…

I wish to speak in favour of this amendment. It is important we insert “social, economic and” into this Bill for the simple reason that when legislation is challenged in the courts on the distribution of State funds or what social end or economic principles are prioritised, the courts always take the view they will not hear this because these matters are determined here in this House. This is not a particularly detailed amendment. There are many other amendments I would like to support but I will not be able to bec…

Unlike some Deputies who said that this was not a new problem in their constituencies and counties, it is a problem that has only manifested itself relatively recently in Clare. I acknowledge the approach that the Department has taken to the problem in Clare. I raised the matter in the Dáil at the end of last year. The Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, took that Topical Issue debate and invited an engineering report from Clare County Council. I wish to acknowledge the work Clare County Council has done. It is in th…

I am sharing time with Deputy Connolly. I agree with the previous speaker to the extent that I hope management at Shannon Airport will engage with the transport committee. However, I have to say I find it slightly laughable that a representative of a political party that cared so much about Aer Lingus's presence in Shannon Airport that it started the privatisation of the company now wants to make Aer Lingus's leaving of Shannon an issue on which it is somehow answerable to the Dáil. That is kind of slapstick at bes…