As the gap is ten and the Government has just voted to allow vulture funds to continue to plunder families across this State, I am asking for a vote other than by electronic means under Standing Order 83(3)( b ).

As the gap is less than ten and as this amendment to specifically say that Israel is responsible for this onslaught has not been accepted, we are calling for a vote by other than electronic means.

Misinformation.

As the Taoiseach must know, the fishing and seafood industry in Ireland is in serious crisis. In recent days, leaders of the fishing industry have spoken out about their profound concern about how the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, has handled an offer from the Danish Government to transfer thousands of tons of mackerel to the Irish fishing industry. There is also the way the Government is handling negotiations at the moment on access for Iceland into Irish territorial waters. We have an industry in crisis. We need …

The truth hurts.

Some 24,500 people have been killed in Gaza, 70% of whom were women and children. More than 10,000 children have been murdered. Some 8,000 civilians are buried under the rubble, more than 60,000 have been injured, and 1.9 million or 85% of the population have been displaced. Half of the buildings, housing more than 2 million human beings, have been either damaged or destroyed over a period of months. People face starvation that is unprecedented in recent human history. How appropriate it was that South Africa took …

The Minister and I have debated and discussed this issue on numerous occasions. I refer to the continued outrageous blocking by the British and Scottish Governments of our Irish fishermen from fishing in their traditional grounds around Rockall. Rockall is an uninhabited rock. A six- or 12-mile zone cannot be put in place around an uninhabited rock. It could not be more clear in international law. Therefore, when will this debacle finally end and the millions of euro that have been lost to our fishermen reinstated?

The Minister may know that a recent report in The Guardian newspaper covered this issue. I actually spoke to the journalist who covered it, namely, Mr. Rory Carroll. He has been advised that this issue may be moving towards a solution and that people in previous positions wanted to resolve it. I am going to say "Who?". Ms Nicola Sturgeon, the former Scottish First Minister, apparently wanted to resolve it. It is remarkable that the British Government has been outside the equation because this is a jurisdictional is…

The Minister referred to the 2013 agreement. The difficulty was that agreement was made in the context of all waters beyond the 12-mile limit being under the jurisdiction of the Common Fisheries Policy. Rockall was under the Common Fisheries Policy. Both Governments had an interest in allowing fair access. It is extraordinary the trade and co-operation agreement allowed the British Government to take advantage of the new reality and to put this arbitrary limit around Rockall. Unfortunately, the Government passed le…

The Minister knows that the inshore sector has been struggling. There has been a failure to look at giving herring and mackerel a broader fishery. The impact of Brexit has made that more difficult. There has been the failure of the Government to provide a fuel subsidy. We have huge increases in fuel costs. Now the latest is the collapse of the market for brown crab. Deputy McConalogue, as a Minister from Donegal, is aware of the serious impact that is having. What financial supports will he provide? What interventi…

The Minister will know that this is the optimum time of year for the crab fishery. It has been devastating for them to hear that the factories have said they cannot take any more and just do not have a market. I think the European market has collapsed and the Chinese market has been impacted. This is, it appears to me, an unprecedented crisis when everything else is added. I appreciate that the Minister had a meeting recently with the different organisations. It is good that the islands and the Irish Islands Marine…

The Minister is right that it is crab and lobster on the east coast. It is razor clam and whelk, and indeed crab and lobster, right around the coast. The inshore sector is an industry that is struggling. The formation of the producer organisations is welcome. The engagement with the representative organisations is welcome. The Minister and I are both from coastal communities. We are from Inishowen. We are surrounded by mostly inshore fishermen. They were not organised in the past. Now they are organised and speakin…

Yesterday, at Letterkenny University Hospital eight ambulances were backed up outside. Patients were in the back of those ambulances rather than being cared for in the hospital. This is not a rare occurrence. A week previously a similar number of ambulances were outside and I am sure the Minister will agree that this is utterly unacceptable. I received a report late last night that an 88-year-old woman had been on a hard seat all day long, waiting for care, as had a 79-year-old man. Recently the Minister, Deputy Do…

Considering the importance of this vote for thousands of families facing the increases in rent across the State and to give Deputies who voted with the Government another chance to consider their position, I propose that, under Standing Order 83(3)(b), the vote be taken by other than electronic means.

The Minister will be in Letterkenny on Friday, and he will meet the representatives of the GPs and consultants who have expressed grave concern about the major acute hospital in the county. This is an important meeting. I urge the Minister to listen to what the representatives have to say and to understand that what lies at the heart of the crisis in our hospital is years of systematic underfunding. In a recent letter to the Minister from almost 30 consultants in Letterkenny University Hospital, it was estimated th…

I raise the issue of school transport bus escorts. I met a large delegation in my constituency recently and was taken aback by the way they had been unfairly treated. It reminds me of the treatment of school secretaries and caretakers for many years in the context of pay and conditions. The other issue is that they are not paid for 69 days of the year when there are school holidays or breaks. There are big issues when they have to sign on. What is happening is incredibly disrespectful. These people clearly do not d…

As the Minister of State knows, long before the recent disastrous events in Palestine and Israel, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and B'Tselem designated Israel as an apartheid state. On 18 July 1984 Mary Manning, a shop worker at Dunnes Stores on Henry Street, here in Dublin, refused to handle South African goods in protest against its apartheid regime. Three years later Ireland became the first state in the western world to ban imports of South African goods. That is the stand we took back then. We led …

Deputy Doherty and I were here last Tuesday, and no notification was given that the Minister for Health would not be present. We asked that the matter be deferred. That is a whole week. We fully expected the Minister to be present. He is aware of the crisis at Letterkenny University Hospital. He knows that 78 GPs have cosigned a letter. He knows that 11 consultants have cosigned a letter. He knows they have asked him to urgently come to County Donegal to meet them. These are front-line health professionals. He has …

It is extraordinary there is no commitment in the response from the Minister as to when he will come to Letterkenny University Hospital to meet with the GPs and consultants. There is no acknowledgement that the hospital has been chronically underfunded in that it is a model 3 hospital but had more inpatients in 2022 than five model 4 hospitals. It should be a model 4 hospital. We have talked about the surgical hub that is needed for Letterkenny and Sligo. Given that such hubs have been announced for regions below t…

They want to meet the Minister.