Are we waiting for the Minister to arrive?

I am reluctant to say too much while the Minister himself is not here but there are about 15 Deputies who have submitted questions. They are expecting a response from the Minister. I mean no disrespect to the dream team that has arrived.

No, I am a bit cranky with the Minister for not turning up. It is not the first time he has not shown up. In all fairness, the Ministers of State are more than capable of deputising.

Further to previous parliamentary questions, I want to ask the Minister about the child fares that will be reduced in the upcoming budget. I also ask about the price hikes that have recently been announced. In particular, does the Minister of State have any response to the response of the NTA at the transport committee that these price hikes will inevitably lead to fewer people using public transport? We are in a cost-of-living crisis and I believe it is the wrong approach for the Government to take to allow the in…

I thank the Minister of State for the response. Will he please expand on his comment that child fares in several areas will be addressed? We in Sinn Féin believe that fares should be abolished completely for anybody up to 18 years of age. What exact areas does he mean? The Minister of State also mentioned that, due to inflation, fares were 8% lower in real terms but what he failed to say was that, between 2008 or 2009 and 2016, there was an incremental increase in fares. Will he give us a guarantee that there will …

There are very few new services. Look at the number of new services that were delivered this year in BusConnects. It is way below what is acceptable and the progress that had been made up to that. The clock has been turned back. I am glad the Minister of State mentioned town bus services because I want to bring up the issue of Tralee town bus services. In a recent committee meeting, the NTA said it was going to "look at" the possibility of a town bus service for Tralee, which is one of the largest towns in the coun…

I also want to ask about whether there is an equivalent ambition to delivering more rural services, as we cannot have a situation where all of the money for the next few years is invested inside the M50 and not beyond.

I know I am under time constraints, but I note that some people from Garvaghy Road have arrived in the Public Gallery. I welcome them and stand in solidarity with and support them. There is only one problem, in that the Minister of State has not answered the question I asked him about the budgetary constraints and whether the Government was going to deliver on cost. We have seen what happened over the years with the children's hospital - the cost overruns there - so is the Minister of State going to give us a commi…

At the core, this debate is about a growing sense among ordinary people that they are being left to shoulder more and more of the burden while the Government sits on its hands. Ordinary workers, families and pensioners are paying more. Rural communities are expected to shoulder the cost of Government failure and inaction. For months now, families across the State have faced soaring living costs and household budgets are going through the roof. Yet, when practical measures are put forward to help people, the Governm…

When we strip away all of the legislative jargon and the Government's spin surrounding this Bill, one question remains: is it going to get additional services for the children who need it? That is not just a concern that has been expressed on these benches. Even some of the Government's own representatives have questioned whether this is going to happen. The answer, unfortunately, is "No". The Bill is being presented as a solution to the assessments of need crisis, but the same Government that has presided over the…

There is a sense of déjà vu around at the moment. There was some excuse, in March and April of this year, when the Government was off around the world and left nobody in charge and ignored the calls of the people to reduce the cost of home heating oil. Families in every corner of the country have continued to be squeezed since that time while the Government has sat on its hands and done nothing. Our proposal will remove carbon tax from home heating oil and cut the cost of a 1,000-litre fill by €183. It is a simple …

This question is about data centres and the demands being placed on the grid. We introduced a Bill yesterday about the prioritisation network. Can the infrastructure that we have withstand the increased demand coming from data centres? Will the Minister accept that public infrastructure should be given priority for housing, water connections and electricity to deal with the scarce grid capacity ahead of the new data centre developments?

I thank the Minister for the reply. I note what he says about the economic footprint and the necessity for a plan-led approach. I will come back to that in some of my later questions. However, we have had and continue to have a first-come, first-served, laissez-faire attitude, and some larger energy users have been facilitated in hoarding connections that they have. Some housing developments, like the one in the midlands, that have tried to get connections have been put behind data centres. A significant proportion…

A lot of this comes from the admission by CRU that it could not have a prioritisation and had to deal with it on a first-come, first-served basis. At this time, when there are soaring energy bills and businesses are struggling with costs, we see that there are new proposals to give data centres access to cut-price gas infrastructure. The public cannot understand how the Government could justify asking ordinary families to pay more and more for electricity, heating and energy prices while facilitating further subsid…

Céard faoi Ceist Uimh. 2?

It is interesting that the Minister mentioned the task force because I wanted to speak to him about the recent energy price hikes and what resources he is taking to address those. What will the budget say? Will there be an energy credit? Will the Minister commit that there will be no carbon tax increases? What other supports will be available for households facing soaring heating costs this winter?

The Minister mentioned some of the schemes like retrofitting and heat pumps. Does he accept that he is way behind on his targets? There is a crowd called Centrica, which, when the State sold off the family silver 15 years ago, bought Bord Gáis Energy. Centrica made a profit of only €814 million last year, which was way down from €1.55 billion the year before. Its energy section, Bord Gáis Energy, made profits of €72.5 million. They are the ones increasing their bills. We know all about the geopolitical conflict and…

For the last part of this I want to focus on home heating oil. As the Minister knows, the prices for home heating oil have surged by approximately 60% over the past year. It particularly affects people in rural areas and people in older houses. A lot of those people have not had the resources or the funds to pay for solar upfront or to pay for retrofitting. They feel excluded from this scheme. People in those families need relief, which means reducing or removing the carbon tax on this home heating oil and reintrod…

What additional measures is the Minister taking to address the fact the EPA recently stated emissions are falling far too slowly? Will he make a statement on the matter?

My question was on what additional measures the Minister will be taking. He knows that many people feel excluded. In my view, there is not a just transition because people cannot afford to get on a lot of these schemes. There is the risk of fines from Europe, of up to €28 billion, as has been said. The Minister also mentioned offshore wind. I spoke with developers yesterday who told me it is unlikely that a turbine will be wet by 2035. We had a target of 5 GW. Clearly, that is not going to happen. Will there even b…