I welcome the opportunity to contribute. The housing issue has been a constant topic for debate during my time in Dáil Éireann. We have seen housing lists grow consistently over the past number of years, with each Government struggling to deal with a very serious issue. I have said many times in this House that I will support any measures that will help tackle the housing problems we are currently experiencing. While I welcome the Government's recent Housing for All announcement, I am not satisfied it will produce …

I wish to raise an important issue that affects all parts of the country. Electric scooters are now commonplace. They have soared in popularity in recent times. Their ever-increasing popularity is also creating some serious issues for many people. One of the biggest single complaints my constituency office receives is from people who are taking issue with electric scooters. I also have many issues with electric scooters. Electric scooters have the ability to travel at between 20 km/h and 40 km/h. Unfortunately, man…

As I said, it is only a matter of time before someone is seriously hurt or even killed as result of the improper use of electric scooters, which have become very common. We need to act now, particularly in view of the number of near misses I have seen recently. Those on electric scooters think they have a God-given right to be on our footpaths and roads at night. Even when gardaí are asked, nobody seems to want to do anything. I plead with the Tánaiste to contact the Minister for Justice and the Garda Commissioner …

I wish to ask for an update on this project. It should be noted that the N52 Ardee bypass scheme received planning approval in 2006. I have been informed that delays have occurred due to issues with routes and junction preferences and that a revised planning application process is expected. In 2020, and with the support of Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, Louth County Council conducted a detailed review of the scheme and considered alternative junction strategies.

The Minister has just wasted two minutes. I asked him for an update, but all he gave me was a response. He needs to show some respect to the people in Ardee. In fairness, Louth County Council and TII held a public consultation and the people of the Ardee area had the decency to attend and make submissions. The new design team is working hard to minimise the impact of the scheme on the surrounding areas and communities. I cannot believe that the Minister would waste my time and that of the people of Ardee. I ask him…

The Minister has given me the response I wanted. Had he given it in the first instance, I would have been very happy. I must once again point out that the people of Ardee and the surrounding areas have heard nothing but empty promises since 2006 when this project first received planning permission. All I am asking is that the Minister give us confirmation of the status of the project and confirmation that funding previously set aside for it will be ring-fenced. The town of Ardee suffers from chronic traffic congest…

Today, I would like to raise a very important issue that my constituency office is dealing with on a daily basis. As my colleagues will be aware, there is a serious problem with housing in this country and an ever-increasing demand for social housing. There is also another problem occurring, that is, the fact that a married couple who are on the local authority housing list will automatically be removed from the list once their earnings exceed €36,000. The first issue I have with this is that the limit is too small…

I welcome the opportunity to speak. I thank those responsible for bringing this motion before House and for giving all Members an opportunity to debate it. The motion calls on the Government to take action on a number of items and I will deal with these individually. The motion calls on the Government to commence a full public inquiry into the deaths of residents, into the quality of care in nursing homes during the Covid-19 pandemic and into the systemic failures in the sector during that dreadful period. I would …

I thank my colleagues in the Regional Group for facilitating the motion. It is vital at this critical time that Dáil Éireann get behind this motion and supports our argument that post offices need urgent Government assistance to survive the current crisis and build for the future so that we have a profitable and sustainable post office network. An Post is about more than post offices; it is a vital part of every community in every village and town in Ireland. In my constituency, the importance of the local post off…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill. I thank the Deputies who brought it to the House. As I have said many times, I welcome each and every opportunity to discuss the rental and housing crisis we face in this country. The rental situation in Ireland is now a crisis. In my constituency of Louth, house rent has never been higher as far as I can tell. In my home town of Dundalk it is normal for a standard 3-bedroom house to have a rent bill of between €1,300 and €1,700 per month. To put this in perspective, …

In the programme for Government, it is stated that one of the main priorities will be health. Since the start of the pandemic, the Government has rightly dramatically increased the budget for health spending. I have supported this approach. I worry, however, that we are not getting a better long-term return on the increased spending. One of the main reasons we shut down society and the economy was to suppress Covid because we did not want our ICU departments overrun. I fully accepted and supported this approach. Ca…

I welcome the opportunity to participate in this debate. I note from the press releases that a number of conclusions were agreed between member states and I would like to highlight a number of these. It is noted that the European Council welcomes the good progress being made on the vaccination roll-out and the gradual improvement in the overall situation. It also stresses the need to continue the vaccination efforts and to be vigilant of the emergence and spread of new variants. I welcome these statements, but I wi…

I am not going to play the blame game. I want to help by coming up with solutions to help young families to get homes. Today I want to raise the very important issue of mortgage affordability, particularly for first-time buyers. As we all know, this country is in the middle of a housing crisis and while it is true that the main issue is the supply of affordable housing, another issue that can be addressed immediately is the very restrictive lending rules imposed by the Central Bank. In my home town of Dundalk the r…

All we will be doing this year and next is passing the buck. These young people need hope. There are houses for sale in my home town of Dundalk for between €200,000 and €270,000. These people are working hard and are putting their whole lives on hold to try to get a family home. I am not going to be like Sinn Féin and engage in a blame game over this. The Government has asked for solutions and I am suggesting one. I want this Government to commit to helping these families to get a home. These young families are com…

Lenders are turning down mortgage applicants because their employers were availing of the wage subsidy scheme. In some cases, the people applying for the mortgage were not even aware that their employers were availing of the scheme. The lenders are using the wage subsidy scheme to reject mortgage applications. These lenders assume that any company availing of the employment wage subsidy scheme is about to fail. That is not true, as the Tánaiste knows. Some of the largest employers in the country are availing of the…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important debate. I support the extension of the relevant sections of both the Offences against the State (Amendment) Act 1998 and the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act 2009. I will outline why I support these extensions. The Offences against the State (Amendment) Act 1998 was enacted as a result of the terrible atrocity in Omagh, where 29 people were murdered by a group known as the Real IRA. This was a terrible act which my home town of Dundalk has unfortunately been link…

I welcome the opportunity to take part in this important debate. The Louth and east Meath constituency that I represent has a strong rural and farming community. I have dealt with this community on many issues over the years. It is one of the most dedicated and hardest working sectors in the economy. In the north of the county, we have the Cooley Peninsula and Faughart regions, where there are farming families going back many generations. Further south and towards the middle of the county, we have many more farming…

In the programme for Government promises were made to develop the health service into a state-of-the-art service. Part of this was to increase the capacity and number of ICU beds. Obviously, when preparing the programme for Government, none of us were aware of the devastating effects that the Covid pandemic would bring upon us. Will the Taoiseach confirm how many operational and permanent ICU beds were available at the end of 2019, just before the outbreak of the Covid pandemic? How many operational and permanent I…

I have said many times, this is not the time to play political football with the pandemic. I strongly believe that the Government has responded well to the pandemic and we are now moving towards a new stage in the fight against Covid. Thankfully, it seems we are almost over the worst. The moneys we have needed during this time are astonishing. An additional €28 billion was made available in 2020 and 2021. Of this, over €15 billion went on the pandemic unemployment payment and the various wage subsidy schemes. An ad…

The digital green certificate is seen by many as the only way to ensure there is safe overseas travel this coming summer. In principle I support the idea of a digital green certificate, although I have a few concerns I will outline later. On the certificates, can the Minister of State outline a realistic timeframe for when we might be able to implement this? Are we looking at weeks or even months before it can be implemented? I would welcome an update from the Minister of State in this regard. I believe that today …