The purpose of the Bill is to amend the Personal Injuries Assessment Board Acts to facilitate an increase in the number of personal injury claims that may be resolved through the board's process and without recourse to litigation. It is to be welcomed that we will free up our courts to deal with more serious cases. Encouraging more claimants and respondents to avail of the board's model through mediation or assessment should lead to cost savings in the claims environment and contribute to reductions in insurance pr…

Page 51 of the programme for Government acknowledges that the impact of Covid-19 has been particularly difficult for older people. When will the Government commence a full public inquiry into the deaths of residents and the quality of care in nursing homes during the pandemic and the systemic failures in the sector?

This budget is akin to trying to put out a fire with a watering can. It is a waste of effort. There are billions being spent but spent in favour of high earners, vested interests, golden circles, vulture funds, developers and institutional landlords. It is payback for the Fine Gael core voter, with the odd crumb for the few people who will vote Fianna Fáil and the Greens in the next election. We will be told that trickle-down economics will be the rising tide that raises all boats. However, as our older people, the…

I thank the Rural Independent Group for bringing forward this motion and I welcome the opportunity to speak on it, especially coming as it does on the back of Sinn Féin's motion on retrofitting last night. I fully agree that Ireland, as a direct consequence of poor Government policies, is the worst prepared country in Europe for an energy crisis. We are now one of the most energy import dependent countries in Europe. Despite the commitment in the programme for Government more than two years ago, we are still waitin…

I, too, want to raise the issue of school buses. We are three weeks into the school year and there is still no sign of the school bus debacle being solved. I have sent dozens of emails to Bus Éireann and the Minister for Education outlining many cases. Many of these cases involve hardship and health issues. I have not even had the courtesy of a reply and I am wondering when I can get that. Surely something can be done, with thousands of cars off the road, to expand school bus capacity.

I congratulate the Minister of State. Unlike many EU member states, Ireland does not currently have a regime for screening FDI in key infrastructure. The Bill aims to address this by providing the Government with powers to protect security or public order from hostile actors using ownership of or influence over businesses and assets to harm the State. It is quite a technical Bill but very relevant to the current global situation. It introduces a screening process which allows the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and …

My apologies, I need to catch my breath. The Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill provides for the establishment of a multi-person media commission, including an online safety commissioner. It also dissolves the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland and assigns its functions to the media commission and transposes the revised audiovisual media services directive. This directive provides for the regulation of video sharing platform services and establishes a framework for the regulation of online safety to address har…

This is a welcome Bill despite its technical nature. It addresses a number of registration-related issues affecting certain registrants with the Medical Council and CORU. The Bill makes a small number of amendments to the Medical Council's complaints investigation process and to liability in civil proceedings for specified persons. It makes a number of amendments to support the performance by the Medical Council of its triage, investigation and adjudication of complaints functions under the 2007 Act. It also seeks …

I thank the journalists from The Ditch for their continued work in ensuring stories such as this one are brought to public attention. An Bord Pleanála is an important body in the planning process. It provides an appeals process for planning issues following the principles of natural justice. It is clear, following the recent revelations, that the public have lost confidence in the board. Councils up and down the country are talking about the board, and some councils have passed votes of no confidence in it. The Gov…

I thank the Regional Group for bringing forward this motion. It comes on the back of Sinn Féin's motion last night, in which we proposed a number of solutions. They included a reduction in household electricity prices, capping them at 2021 levels, and cost-of-living cash payments targeted at low- and middle-income households to support them with their rising energy bills. We in Sinn Féin are also calling for a double child benefit payment in recognition of the higher energy bills associated with larger families. Th…

I commend Deputy Connolly on how she eloquently describes our Irish language. I thank her.

The Bill separates Irish Water from its parent company, Ervia, and changes the name of the company to Uisce Éireann. It also includes new provisions to require Uisce Éireann to appear before the Committee of Public Accounts, which is welcome. The general scheme of the Bill was published in 2019 and underwent pre-legislative scrutiny. The committee recommended that the chair be appointed through the Public Appointments Service and that the Minister publish a written statement on the negotiations relating to the sing…

Where does one go after that? I welcome the publication of the report and commend Mr. Justice Cregan and his team on their diligence. The report runs to more than 1,500 pages, as everybody here is aware. As I have only a short amount of time I will focus on the issues that stood out for me. The report of the commission of investigation into the IBRC sale of Siteserv to Millington for €45 million showed that as part of that deal, IBRC, which succeeded Anglo Irish Bank, wrote off €119 million worth of Siteserv's €150…

The summer economic statement is a key component of the annual budget cycle providing an economic context and setting outside of the parameters of the budget. Unfortunately, this year's statement has not provided any certainty to households struggling with the immediate effect of the cost-of-living crisis and serious questions surround the credibility of some of the figures published. It offers little hope to households struggling with the soaring cost of living this summer, as workers and families face increasing …

This Bill amends the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 by limiting rents to a maximum of a quarter of monthly household incomes. Sinn Féin supports the objective of this Bill and has proposed a number of different ways to achieve it. Over the last decade, average rents have more than doubled. In the last year alone, rents in Kildare have increased by almost 8%, and by a whopping 112% since the crash. I note the Minister who sat there before the Minister of State said he wanted to see affordable rents. I wonder where b…

Last week, the local mental health charity, Hope(D), which is based in Newbridge, announced it will be winding down its service and closing at the end of the summer. It needs just €40,000 to secure a service for the rest of the year. People leaving HSE mental health service facilities at Naas hospital are given a leaflet along with some tablets, if they are lucky, yet the HSE refers service users to Hope(D) while providing no funding. Last night, a train service through Monasterevin was closed due to a tragic incid…

Yesterday in the audiovisual room a number of groups including Age Action Ireland held a briefing on their joint statement on energy poverty. They told us that nine out of ten of our older people are using fossil fuels to heat their homes, and half of our older people are using oil. Will the Minister advise whether the Government will commit to raise the fuel allowance to help those who struggle to heat their homes? Will the Minister introduce a retrofitting scheme specifically for older people to assist those on f…

This is a very technical Bill that deals with a process called substitute consent. In Kildare, we have seen substitute consent relating to unauthorised developments such as quarries that have breached the water table and ended up as lakes. These lakes can be an unintended swimming destination in rural Ireland. They have many dangers including cold shock. There have been a number of deaths in south Kildare over the years and I appeal to young people in particular to stay away from these quarry lakes. Substitute cons…

I thank my colleague, an Seanadóir Gavan, for his work in forcing this Bill onto the agenda. In 2017, Sinn Féin brought forward a Bill on this issue that was supported by the trade union movement. That Bill passed all Stages in the Seanad despite the opposition of Fine Gael and it was influential in driving the conversation about tips and the importance of legislating for the protection of employee tips. Following pressure from Sinn Féin, Unite the Union and others, the Government amended the Bill in the Seanad to …

As Deputy Brady said, Ireland has a long and proud tradition of neutrality. It has been at the heart of our foreign policy since the foundation of the State. One of the main reasons that we are held in high regard all over the world is our lack of a colonial past. Our reputation for impartiality is rooted in our military non-alignment. Our neutrality has been continually undermined by successive Fianna Fáil-led and Fine Gael-led governments. Those same governments neglected our Defence Forces, which have suffered g…