My office is dealing with a great many passport-related queries every week and is finding it more and more frustrating. I acknowledge that the online system works well for straightforward renewals. It is with the type of application I deal with that there are issues. The urgent passport number will only tell us what we already know. If you apply for a passport in an emergency, the passport cannot be intercepted. When we get to the point at which we can get a passport, we are given a number and told it will be out w…

Passport express is very misleading because it takes two months. Why market it as an express service? When additional information is required, why does an applicant need to go back to day one? The express system takes two months. If further clarification is needed, the applicant must go back to day one and has another two months to wait. The time runs on. It is supposed to be an express system. If the express service is going to take two months, can the application be dealt with in the two months without starting t…

Last October, before the war in Ukraine, I asked the Government to reduce the intake from tax on fuel prices to 2020 levels. I understand the Government needs taxes to run the country, but it is taking in 51% of the price of petrol, and 44% in the case of diesel, in taxes. My job and that of the Government is to protect the people of Ireland. The fastest way to do that is for the Government to reduce the tax that is locking the price on fuel. If that is done, people will be paying the increase in the cost of fuel b…

I am talking about benefiting every household in the country. If the Minister does what I have asked him in the context of 2020 costs, there will be a reduction. He stated that the cost of fuel has gone up but the Government still takes 51% of the total cost. That is for every household. No matter what way one looks at it, it is 51% tax. If the Government takes its 51% tax on 2020 prices, that will go to the 2.5 million people who are working in this country. It costs them €50 to €60 more to fuel their cars and €1,…

Having 51% tax on 2020 prices would be enough.

It was enough to run the Government-----

How much would it cost? The Government will be taking in €9.6 billion in carbon tax between now and 2030.

A Leas-Cheann Comhairle, he has asked me the question.

I have the answers.

I have the answer from your manifesto. In 2016, Fine Gael told everyone in this country it would get rid of the universal social charge. Is that not one cost the Minister could get rid of today if he followed through on his promises?

Are you? Lies.

I have the cost but I am not allowed to answer.

I am not allowed to answer.

Oh sorry. Oh my God.

Out of date.

The Government is putting 51% tax on everyone in the country on fuel alone. The Minister should be ashamed of himself.

I welcome the Bill brought forward by the Social Democrats. Sadly, sex for rent appears to be on the doorstep of both urban and rural communities throughout Ireland although, thankfully, it is not very widespread at the moment. I was shocked to read a story of such a case in Limerick, which I thank the Limerick Post for exposing. This is probably the darkest side of homelessness, where people are desperate to secure housing at almost any cost. We can see the housing crisis that we have. We can see people who are in…

I welcome any Bill that brings regulation to practices in Ireland for its citizens. I understand that the number of treatment cycles in 2020 was 9,878 and that no particular treatment procedures have been in place. As such, I welcome the clarity that the Bill will bring. I also understand that the Government is planning to put in place a model of care for infertility treatment. The Bill probably does not go far enough, though, in that it does not cover international surrogacies. A special Oireachtas joint committee…

In October 2021, the Rural Independent Group brought to the attention of the Government and the Opposition the fact that Ireland had been given a toolbox by the EU to reduce the burden on people due to the high cost of energy. What did the Government do? It raised taxes instead of easing them for people in this country. I see Deputy Leddin is leaving the Chamber. He talked about Putin. What the Government has done to the food producing industry is criminal. There is no alternative to fossil fuels in this country at…

I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this motion. At the same time, I would like to point out that last October when the price increase in fuel crisis was here, I asked Sinn Féin to help me and the Rural Independent Group to highlight the energy costs and fuel costs. It took Sinn Féin until March to finally realise that there was a crisis, although I could see it last October. I stood here last October and I was heckled by the Minister for Finance. I spoke to the Minister about the toolbox that Europe gave to him…