The penny needs to drop. Half a million households is massive. I am asking this very clearly. Will the Government act now, before these increases take effect in three weeks' time, and bring forward energy credits?

Will the Government rein in the companies here and tell them we cannot face these energy increases time after time, while they make multimillion profits?

The task force will not pay their bills.

Does the Minister actually care?

I return to the issue of the liquidation of tickets.ie . As I mentioned yesterday when I raised this issue, as somebody who is a director of a not-for-profit music festival, I understand the challenges festivals face across the State. In the past, I have raised the fact we have lost about a dozen major festivals across the State in recent years. The liquidation of tickets.ie has had a devastating impact on a number of festivals, including some that are not for profit, such as the Rory Gallagher International Festiv…

Tourism is one of Ireland's most important industries. We all know that it supports jobs, sustains local businesses and brings investment to local communities across the country. The beauty about tourism is that it goes right deep into some of our most rural and most hinterland parts of our island. If we are really serious about developing tourism, we must also be serious about addressing regional inequalities that continue to hold areas back. I come from Donegal. I can say hand on heart that it is the most beautif…

Hear, hear.

You are going the wrong direction.

Táim buíoch as an deis labhairt ar an mBille seo. The Bill follows on from the financial resolutions that were passed through these Houses and came into effect in March and again in April in relation to the fuel crisis. Section 1, as the Minister of State said, relates to the increase in the diesel rebate scheme. I have raised this issue on many occasions with the Minister of State and the senior Minister, given the fact that many hauliers have issues accessing the scheme. On top of that, as the Tánaiste accepted w…

The Government went beyond the directive. Maybe the Minister of State does not know it.

How does the Minister of State know he did not?

He was cleaning up your mess.

This debate is about more than a football match. It is about who we are as a people. Ireland is a small nation but in our history we have sought to play a role in the world that is larger than our size. That role has not been built on military power or economic might but on our instinctive understanding of injustice, our own experience of colonisation, dispossession and partition and our belief that small nations have rights, people have the right to self-determination and international law matters. That tradition …

The Minister of State has two minutes on the clock to address the genocide. He has yet to mention it at all or anything that is happening.

Hear, hear.

Cuireann an scéim fhoráil Iúil tacaíocht ríthábhachtach samhraidh ar fáil do pháistí a bhfuil riachtanais bhreise acu. Níl na tacaíochtaí seo roghnach le haghaidh roinnt páistí; tá siad riachtanach. Go fóill ar fud an Stáit, tá an Rialtas ag insint le teaghlaigh go bhfuil na tacaíochta seo á gcailliúint acu. I mbliana, níor osclaíodh an tréimhse iarratais don scéim fhoráil Iúil ach ar feadh seachtain amháin. Sna blianta roimhe seo, bhí míonna ag na scoileanna leis an bpróiseas a chur i gcrích. Beidh páistí a bhfuil…

I welcome the decision to reopen the portal, and I ask that clarity be given to schools and parents immediately. The Tánaiste talked about a short extension but it needs to be long enough to deal with the process. As a result of the botched situation this year, there is now huge pressure to allocate tutors, so this cannot happen again. I want to raise an additional issue relating to this year. My understanding is the scheme has also changed, in that there is now only one option, where all the pupils take either the…

I congratulate Jordan and Cian Adams, who are going to complete their incredible superhuman challenge of running a marathon every day for the past 32 days across 32 counties to raise awareness of frontotemporal dementia. Fair play to the two lads. The Irish football team should not be playing Israel as it continues its genocide in Gaza and its brutalisation of the Palestinian people. Yesterday, the Minister of Culture, Communications and Sport, Deputy O'Donovan, and the Minister of State, Deputy McConalogue, confir…

I thank Independent Ireland for bringing forward this motion on a fiscal planning framework. The motion calls for a framework that would set out an economic policy response to external shocks in terms of financial supports and taxation. There is undoubtedly a need to provide certainty and confidence and to re-establish trust by clearly setting out the measures that would be considered during future crises. The energy shock we are still living through was met with a Government response that was and still is complete…

The Minister and his Government are failing children with disabilities. It is not just children but adults, too. That is clear. We saw it earlier this year, when people gathered outside the gates of Leinster House to protest the decisions that the Government has taken. It is not just the lack of services and supports. The fact that the Government sat around the Cabinet table and decided to leave people with disabilities €1,400 worse off is shocking. It is an indictment. This motion relates to the cost of disability…