I thank the Minister. I appreciate everything done by An Garda Síochána. I see how dangerous the job is, in that 4,000 members of An Garda Síochána were assaulted in the past five years and some 243 members were injured after having been assaulted. For us in Limerick to have a good Garda service we need a headquarters. I informed the Minister last week that Newcastle West is without its headquarters. We were given a promise when the old station closed down in Newcastle West, with a population of 8,000 people in tha…

Is the Minister going to incentivise the technology-neutral approach to climate action until an alternative can be reached? Is he aware of the carbon emissions reductions that can be achieved by the use of biofuels as a solution for 10% of transport and 50% of home heating? Has the Department considered initiatives to incentivise further research and development in biofuels or other supports to the biofuels industry?

Biofuels comprise just one of the many ways in which we can combat climate change and offer a genuine option while still allowing so many people in Ireland to earn a living. While there are many other options to combat climate change, using biodigesters to capture gas and sell it to the grid can help reduce our emissions. Some farmers are asking to be energy farmers by growing grasses that can be used in biodigesters along with manure, food waste and timber residue. The land would be put aside for biofuel productio…

I thank the Tánaiste. Does he know that the climate action committee, chaired by Deputy Leddin, who is from Limerick, has refused in writing to meet industries such as biofuel industries that want to use our natural products in this country? Is he aware that the excess biofuel produced in this country is exported? Biofuels can reduce our emissions from home heating if we mix them with home heating oil in the order of 50%. This would help where people have no alternatives, and they would still be doing their bit to …

Is it not wonderful that the Government is in a position to gift developers €450 million to subsidise the construction of apartments, all collected from fuel tax, income tax, motor tax and vehicle registration tax? It just shows that the worst-off in this country are the working-class people. The funds comprise a gift that does not have to be paid back. There is no cost–benefit analysis or regulatory assessment. The proposal is to give a subsidy of €144,000 per apartment. This policy does not make sense. At present…

In the Minister's constituency, only 6% of the electorate relies on fossil fuels, so it is easy for him to talk about a "just transition". He might be familiar with the television series "Star Trek" and the line "Beam me up, Scotty", but his just transition is beaming him from one place to another and there is no transition for the person who has no alternatives. A total of 700,000 houses rely on fossil fuels, equating to approximately 3 million people, and Minister talks about a just transition. A just transition …

I welcome any Bill that will streamline costs for this State and avoid unnecessary High Court action. Instead, these injury claims will be assessed by PIAB and can be now heard in a separate court or a District Court. Claims that have been paid from 2016 to 2021 amounted to €26.4 million. However, the legal bill was €9.96 million. I understand that in some cases the legal fees exceeded the amount in damages actually awarded. I am sure that this could not continue. Unquestionably, any gardaí who have been injured in…

Maternity services have fallen short when it has come to caring for the women of this country, and will fall short for children who will be born here. I know many of the HIQA reports on our maternity hospitals are outdated. It shows how bad the infrastructure is. Is there another agenda here? Why would somebody go against this project? My duty of care is to the mothers and generations of children to come. It is important to point out that the Sisters of Charity are giving away land worth €50 million on a 299-year c…

Inflation has now reached 6.9% and it is predicted to go to 8.5%. If Labour Party Members understood business, they would understand that a wage rise now would increase inflation, putting people further into poverty. We need to reduce the cost of living to stop inflation. How do we reduce the cost of living? We reduce electricity costs and fuel costs. SMEs at the moment find it hard enough to keep going with the escalating prices. Who are the only winners at the moment with inflation? It is the Government. Who are …

The review of this Act must be welcomed in all its aspects as what it has cost the Irish people since 2009 has been extraordinary. I compliment the Minister on proceeding with this review. We certainly have been out of sync with our European neighbours and countries all over the world. We have been a soft target when it comes to defamation cases. Getting rid of juries in defamation cases is to be welcomed as extraordinary payouts have been given. The importance of the media being able to perform investigative journ…

I welcome the Bill, particularly with regard to buying online and clarifying one's rights as a consumer. However, who will protect the consumer against the Minister of State and the Government? I will outline a small issue I have. Due to the shortage of vehicles in this country, dealerships have to go to the UK and other countries to import cars because the people want to do their bit for the environment. I will take the example of a €22,000 vehicle in the UK, such as a 2018 Volkswagen Passat. Can the Minister of S…

Today is the 50th anniversary of the Irish referendum on EU membership, which was held on 10 May 1972. Many good regulations and enforcements have come because we joined the EU. Roaming charges were abolished and data protection regulations were introduced. However, since 2019, when the European Green Deal was introduced for the EU, with the aim of achieving climate neutrality by 2050, Ireland paid a huge price. This is particularly the case for agriculture. We had expected a bounceback in the economy at the end of…

I recently met the Minister of State in Kilmallock and welcomed him to County Limerick. In the region of 1,400 affordable houses will be delivered by the State this year. Some 1,000 of those will be in Dublin and 256 homes will be built in the other four cities. The delivery target for Limerick local authority is for 264 local authority houses to be built between now and 2026. A total of 53 of those were built this year in Limerick. I am working with a village in County Limerick that has planning for 70 houses, som…

What has this shown to the world once again? It has shown that the Irish people are the most welcoming in the world. I refer to the fantastic hospitality they show to people who are in need. That is what the Irish people are. However, it also has shown up the failure of previous Governments in terms of infrastructure across the country. People coming from Ukraine cannot be put into rural areas because of the lack of infrastructure there. The people in rural areas want to welcome Ukrainians into their areas but ther…

In a time of crisis, the Government has yet to fail us in coming up with ways to impose hardship on people. I listened last week to some of the people who got airtime to talk about burning wet turf. That is the same as pouring the pot of tea into the car and hoping it will run on it. That is the type of nonsense the Government has got airtime for. Then we heard about "mining" turf. That is as much as the Government knows about turf. It is as much as it knows about poverty. I spoke last week about people who count t…

I care about the environment, but I also care about the people. My job as a public representative is to represent the people who elected me to represent them in the Dáil. I will give an example to bring it home for the Minister of State. Does he know how many briquettes are in a bale? There are 22. I am reminded of that by people in the area in which I live. Pensioners are putting aside so many briquettes per day to heat their homes to keep themselves warm. The fact that people are counting the number of briquettes…

What about Moneypoint and several thousand tonnes of coal a day?

Moneypoint.

Has the Taoiseach travelled to those towns and villages? Can he name them?

Can he name all the towns and villages? Has he forgotten Cork?