I thank the Deputy. I will move on to the next speaker for the Labour Party, Deputy Mark Wall.

The Deputy cannot do so.

I raise again the issue of flood relief schemes in my own constituency of Carlow and Kilkenny. My own home town of Graiguenamanagh and Thomastown, Inistioge and various towns and villages around the constituency have once again been devastated by the impacts of flooding. The miraculous or crazy thing here is that we have known about this for so long. In 2018, the Minister of State, Deputy Boxer Moran, announced funding was to be put in place for six towns and villages in Kilkenny. My home town of Graiguenamanagh wa…

Not only that but Thomastown was also approved in 2018 and the scheme has not been advanced at all. Why can these schemes not be run concurrently? Why do we have to do Graiguenamanagh and let that get to this stage and all the rest of them are sitting on a shelf waiting to go? Staff are already employed by Kilkenny County Council to progress these schemes. Surely to God, in this day and age, when we are taking about infrastructure, we can make sure that schemes can run concurrently and the ball can start rolling. T…

Let us make sure the funding is made available because we cannot let these towns and villages suffer anymore. We need to protect them and look after them. I represent the people of Carlow-Kilkenny and we need to make sure the funding is made available, not next year, not in two years' time-----

-----but now. I will not be silenced. I will always stand up for the people of Carlow-Kilkenny.

However, it is not right that these flood relief schemes have not been progressed at the speed they should have been. There have been people in this Chamber for years and decades who have done nothing about it. I am not going to do nothing. I am going to stand up for these people. Let us make this funding available-----

-----and make sure these schemes are delivered as soon as possible, running currently-----

I demand that this happen.

Continuing to grow investment in water service infrastructure is absolutely essential to keep up with and adapt to change and to ensure Ireland meets its economic, social and environmental obligations. I am passionate about rural Ireland. I come from a small place called Skeoughvosteen in the parish of Graiguenamanagh on the Kilkenny-Carlow border. In particular, I want to welcome the new initiative that will allow private sector involvement in developing wastewater systems for smaller housing developments of up to…

I want to raise the issue of rural transport, in particular the car parking situation at Bagenalstown train station. The train service there is excellent but the car park is consistently full, leaving commuters having to park in the town, clogging up much-needed space for local businesses and shoppers. I also firmly believe that the car parking charges at the train station should be abolished. The Government is doing its best in trying to encourage people to use public transport but these charges are a deterrent as…

I am delighted to get the opportunity to speak on the home support providers Bill. The Government is committed to supporting people to stay in their homes as long as possible. It is something I feel passionately about, and the Government feels passionately about. The State currently invests heavily in the provision of home support through the HSE. Home support is provided by the HSE and then indirectly through national contractual arrangements with private home support providers and not-for-profit organisations. Hu…

I will speak to the Minister of State specifically about it offline. It is these sorts of incidences. It is approved. The will is there but the specific person is not there. I appreciate that the Minister of State, Deputy O’Donnell, will take that on for me because I have another case as well of a lady in her early 40s who due to her medical condition is unfortunately wheelchair bound. When this lady left hospital they could not get anyone to cover the hours, so she ended up going into the local nursing home. She w…

Mine.

I was born and reared in, and am proud to come from and represent, a rural constituency. I have a major concern regarding couples or individuals who are building one-off homes in rural areas. They are ending up having to pay significant development contributions to local authorities, on average well in excess of €5,000. The development levy waiver introduced by the previous Government was a super initiative. It helped to bolster housing supply and ensure a big pipeline of housing deliver. We saw some of the largest…

I welcome these statements on this very important topic. Addressing energy affordability is a priority. It is time to focus on long-term affordability and ensure that every household across the country can access secure affordable and clean energy. I want to talk in particular about retrofitting. A deep retrofit can save a household approximately €1,100 per year in energy costs, which is a significant saving. In 2025, €280 million was allocated to the warmer homes scheme, which provides free retrofits to households…

The programme for Government commits to investing additional capital in Uisce Éireann to support reaching housing targets. We are going to prioritise water and wastewater infrastructure to deliver the capacity to facilitate housing development in our towns and villages. I welcome the recent investment of over €12.2 billion in Irish Water but we need delivery on it. At the moment the respect shown to me and other Oireachtas Members by Irish Water in their engagement is absolutely disgraceful. If I asked somebody to …

The Minister will be aware that the financial loss will not just be limited to those farmers who have unfortunately had their flocks culled. As these outbreaks are confirmed to be highly pathogenic avian influenza, there are restrictions on poultry, poultry products and eggs from within the 3 km restriction zone and 10 km surveillance zone in respect of both the EU and UK markets. A total of 94% of our poultry exports by value - around €280 million - are to the EU and UK markets. Will the Minister make provision fo…

This morning, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to meet Commissioner McGrath. I welcome the positive news that the European Commission has recommended the extension of the nitrates derogation. I acknowledge the Minister's role in fighting for Ireland. I said numerous times that we as a country were going to have to go into the trenches on the nitrates derogation, and we did. The devil will be in the detail. That will be made available over the next couple of weeks. However, this gives a bit of clarity and cer…

To start, I commend Deputy Stanley for bringing forward this Bill and the huge work that has gone into it so far. The current wind energy guidelines date back to 2006 and in my view, they are, put simply, not fit for purpose. In 2006, wind turbines were 80 m high. Today, in Carlow and Kilkenny, communities are fighting applications against 180 m industrial structures using rules from almost 20 years ago. To put this size in context, it is the equivalent of four Croke Park stadiums stacked on top of each other. Four…