At this stage, maybe it is important to remember what is being proposed to be removed from the Constitution. It is that the State shall endeavour to ensure that mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home. A friend of mine with whom I went to primary school and I were sitting back over Christmas discussing life generally and musing on the fact that when we went to national school in Scarriff, the vast majority of children in that school had one w…

By reference to the constitutions that existed in Europe at the time, it was a very forward-looking Constitution. Many, not all, aspects of it are still forward-looking and can be interpreted in a manner that is relevant to modern life. This is one of the aspects of it that is not but equally, it is one of the aspects of it that has been interpreted to be virtually meaningless because I suspect that most families now require two incomes to support them, notwithstanding this provision. I do not know if there have be…

When we talk about sustainable farming, there is a great deal of talk about sustainability generally, and everybody claims to be sustainable. For example, Amazon is very sustainable, notwithstanding the very large proportion of returns which went to landfill and the fact it is wiping out shops in small towns and villages across Ireland. This firm claims to be sustainable. Likewise, a big discount retailer-----

Yes it is, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle. Big discount retailers stick a seeding roof on their shop and call themselves sustainable. When we talk about sustainable agriculture, we have to know exactly what we mean by sustainable. It is very important to define that. I know that a newly elected Green Party councillor in 2019 said that Origin Green was painting a false image to the world and that it will come back to bite us. That Green Party councillor back then was right. That would be my worry. If we are talking about s…

Will the Minister promulgate emergency interim measures to allow farmers and knackeries to dispose of dead animals in light of their accumulation, with the resulting risk to sanitation, due to the strike by renderers since 1 December 2023? Will he make a statement on the matter? Perhaps that statement might address whether the concentration of power and ownership in the processing sector is now coming back to bite the Department, as it has been biting primary producers for a very long time.

For parts of the country, it will be of great benefit to be able to dispose of animals in Northern Ireland; however, for the part of the country I represent, and I dare say any part south of that, it will be less helpful, purely because of the geography. The cost of driving dead animals from west Cork to Northern Ireland would be prohibitive. I do not know whether the Minister can tell us how many fallen animals have been sent to Northern Ireland since the agreement was made. It may well be that it is very helpful.…

At the outset, I asked whether the Minister thinks that the concentration of ownership within the processing sector, which includes the rendering sector, is part of the problem and is coming back to bite the Department, as it has done. Farmers have been objecting to the concentration of power in the beef processing sector for a very long time. Is the fact that there are so few renderers and that they seem to be linked part of the problem? They are still accepting material from beef factories and those factories ten…

I do not think a duck could swim the Dodder.

On that very issue, there is increasing speculation within the House, and particularly outside it, and I would like to give the Government the opportunity to dispel it. The speculation is that the reason for the non-payment is not computer problems but rather that the Minister’s ambition for the scheme overshot his budget. That is an acknowledged problem in other Departments but I want to get clarity on it because there is increasing speculation that the reason it is not being paid out is because the Department doe…

I can say it is circulating.

The money is not there.

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, for coming in this morning. I note that the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, is not here. I very much appreciate the Minister of State who has come in here although it is not for her Department. I know the Minister was at COP but he is back; he was around the House last night. We were told that in the event the Minister was not here and the topic was to be discussed last night, it would be the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, who would take it. Again, the Minist…

The Minister of State outlined the reasons for the delay, including the fact that it is not scored like the previous measures. However, it was the Department that determined there would be scoring in this. The Department set all the parameters of the scheme. Farmers had a simple choice to make, take it or leave it. They took it because they believed they had nothing to lose. In fact, they are losing out. They have bills coming in specifically to do with compliance with this scheme. It is a very expensive scheme to …

Yes, I am out of time. However, the Minister is arguably out of order by not being here. That is all fine with the Ceann Comhairle's office.

It is a pity the Minister does not take some of his speaking time.

I thank my colleague Deputy Pringle for bringing forward this motion, which I support with certain caveats or clarifications which I might seek. I very much support the spirit of the motion. There has been a lot of talk in Ireland about developing renewables. There has been a lot less action from the Government in actually developing renewables. We see that there has been an increase in onshore wind farms, but can the Government point to a single wind farm in this State where there is a community dividend other tha…

I certainly will not utilise that. If Deputy Wynne needs additional time, I am happy to share.

I have reservations about some aspects of the Bill. How Covid played out in the media was an enlightening and salutary experience for me. It was a strange thing to see what happened to medical doctors and people who head research centres in universities. I am thinking in particular of Professor Carl Heneghan, a British academic. Some of what he said was being flagged on Facebook as unorthodox, untrusted and not to be accepted because somebody somewhere determined it was not in accordance with the prevailing orthodo…

I was going to say that I too wish to speak in favour of amendment No. 9, but I am not quite clear whether Deputy Leddin has spoken in favour of the amendment or against it. In any event, I believe it is an important amendment. Unlike Deputies Leddin and Quinlivan, I do not live in Limerick and did not vote in the Limerick plebiscite, but I have an interest in Limerick. I grew up 20 miles from Limerick and would go into Star Discs on Patrick Street in the city every Saturday morning. There were a lot more shops in …

I move amendment No. 19: In page 17, to delete lines 31 to 35, and in page 18, to delete lines 1 to 19. Amendment No. 19 essentially proposes the removal of the office of príomh chomhairleoir. I alluded to this on Committee Stage and earlier tonight. For the life of me, I cannot understand, given we were promised to have a new mayor who was going to have specific powers, how we will end up in a scenario where some of the powers of the existing mayor of Limerick will be transferred to this new directly elected mayor…