I echo the sentiments expressed by Deputy Michael Healy-Rae. Sinn Féin is back here again with an election looming. After the previous election, it realised the people of Ireland do not want it because, again, it has changed its stories over and over again after it voted for carbon tax. A person will get a grant for up to €2,100 for solar panels, but in the past three years, the cost of the panels has gone up by 20% due to inflation. Why bother giving the grants if all it is doing is driving up the price of solar p…

I am from a farming background and all my family, and generations before me, were farmers. What the nature restoration law is doing to farmers, especially small farmers, is making bad land very expensive. If a farmer is farming every piece of a small landholding, with all the laws that are there whereby farmers need to have certain lands for biodiversity and everything else that comes with that, that puts farmers out of reach, so they have to try to change their farming and make themselves smaller, which makes them…

What value is given to life? If recognising Palestine saves one life, is it not worth it? History is a funny thing when you look at it one way. When you look back it is something that is taken for granted. When Hitler was on his reign, the media said that humanity would never see something like this again. Then we had Rwanda when the Hutus and the Tutsis slaughtered one another and turned on one another’s families. We said we would never see that again. Then we had the war in Ukraine. People said we would never see…

I have been in the construction business all my life. Is the Government facilitating a one-stop shop cartel? Will the Minister of State clarify why the registered independent BER assessors are not permitted to provide the home energy assessment required to apply for a loan under the home energy upgrade loan scheme as the energy assessment can only be conducted by an SEAI-registered one-stop shop energy partner or community project co-ordinator? Is the Government saying an independent BER assessor who is subject to …

I am not against wind turbines. However, I am against wind turbines that do not allow people to have a night's sleep. I have been trying to think of a way to get through to those in government in order that they will understand how important it is that they listen to this. The Minister, Deputy McEntee, is alongside the Taoiseach. In addition to them, how many parents, grandparents and brothers and sisters of young children are here? When young children come home from the maternity hospital, you spend the first eigh…

I am not a climate change denier. I know we need energy, but I also know that we need people to enjoy this country and have the opportunity to enjoy the future. Nobody should be left behind. New South Wales in Australia issued an energy noise guidance at 35 dB LA90. This is designed to protect people's health. The Government here continues to allow 45 dB LA90, or double the loudness. The authorities in Australia are getting it right because they want to protect people. The Taoiseach said he wanted to protect the ch…

Housing for All is a miss because the Government is not providing houses for all. If it were, it would allow the people who want to provide their own houses to build them, and it could then provide more houses for the people who need them. What it is actually doing is pricing people who want to build their own houses out of the market. It is then allowing vulture funds to buy up housing in mass amounts and charge extortionate prices to people if they want to be housed. The Government is also not looking after the e…

I wish to share time with Deputies Michael Collins and Mattie McGrath.

What we do not have in healthcare in Ireland is accountability. If we want to have proper healthcare, we need accountability. Since I first came to the House I have mentioned UHL. The previous speaker was involved in the appointment of the person who is over UHL. I have sought an investigation into that because of the ongoing crises there. It has been at the top of all the trolley lists for years. If our health system was run like a business, with a person at the top that was accountable, he or she could be fired i…

Europe Day. Let us hope in the upcoming European elections it will be an Ireland day. It is heavy-heartedly I say this because we have not heard from the people representing us in Europe in five years. They turn up on European election day looking for votes and say, "we are here again." They say they are here to represent Ireland in Europe. Some 70% of the regulations for Ireland come from Europe. Ireland is slowly and surely losing its identity in Europe. That goes back to the representatives we have sent into Eur…

Tax.

Tax.

She does not have the record so she should not comment. She would want to have her facts.

I appreciate it, but-----

I wish the Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, the best of luck in his new role. At the outset I must say that I am a block layer and a building contractor. I have been in the building sector all my life. One thing the Government never sees is the person who wants to buy his or her own house and we all hope that down the line, our children will be in a position to buy their own house. Do people realise that up to 40% of their mortgage is tax? For people in this country to be able to afford a mortgage, they have to ha…

People in this country are scared. They are scared about what the Government has done and about the lack of information available to them. This pact signs Ireland up to have almost 30,000 migrants coming into this country and if we do not accept these migrants, there is a clause that says it will cost €20,000 for each person we do not accept. If we do not accept 30,000 migrants, that equates to €600 million in fines. That is what it comes down to for this country. When it came to the Ukrainian crisis, this brillian…

I will take the Ceann Comhairle back to my maiden speech when he was also in the Chair. My maiden speech related to UHL. What disappoints me is that it has taken four years for the Opposition to finally stand up and join me over UHL. It has taken four years for Opposition Deputies to stand up officially and talk about UHL. Because an election is coming, they are all jumping all over it. The Social Democrats mentioned UHL today but I have not heard its Deputies mention the hospital once since I came into the House. …

That is a matter of public record. It is written on the papers.

Okay. I will take whatever comes down the line on this. People are dying in that hospital. If it was your daughter or son, would you be sitting here and pulling me on the same thing? Would you? Four or five years down the line, there has been no change.

Two young people have died and there has been no change. That is the problem with UHL.