Today I was approached by a group of Irish citizens working in Abu Dhabi. There are 10,000 Irish citizens living and working there. The United Arab Emirates is the fifth most vaccinated country in the world. The group which has been in contact with me will not be allowed into Ireland without mandatory hotel quarantine even though they have been fully vaccinated and can quarantine at home. In January they were offered Sinopharm as they faced significant local pressure to take the vaccine so they could keep their job…

Although the CAP is almost two years away, crucial decisions are being made now. However, decisions made now will affect farm payments from 2023 until 2027. I am particularly concerned that the EU recently signed a trade agreement with the South American trading bloc, Mercosur, covering a range of sectors, including agriculture. The concerns generated by this deal, particularly in the beef sector, show the EU wants to force Irish farmers to reduce production and engage in red tape green programmes, in which up to 9…

A new research report on suicide has said that the mental health of young people has been disproportionately affected during the Covid pandemic. Factors such as loneliness, jobs and income losses, bereavement and the impact of Covid affected people's mental health. There has been a complete lack of resourcing of mental health services, which will affect generations for years to come. It is difficult to give figures on mental health change during Covid but demand on the services of the likes of Aware has increased b…

It is like everything else here. They are putting the cart before the horse.

It is absolutely disgraceful that he could not even do that.

In the Minister's own words, it is time for rural Ireland to have an input into climate action changes. It is time the Government had representatives of rural living, which is 37%, at Cabinet. It is time the people knew the truth about what the Minister wants to achieve, which he said on national television in October 2019, that 30 cars are adequate for 3,000 families who live in towns, villages and rural areas in Ireland, and that we can cycle and walk to collection points to collect cars. Those are the Minister's…

It is ironic that Fine Gael has raised this issue today. It was under the previous Government and the current Government that broadband was not rolled out in the first place. Listening to the Fine Gael Deputies, the doors are open now and things are all wrong. It was under their regime that broadband was not rolled out properly in the first place. Rural areas have suffered under the previous Government and the current Government. When will the Government give equality to rural areas and stop taking all the funding …

My remarks are not directed at the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, because I know she is a good person. However, there comes a time that there has to be accountability for the actions of people within the Department of Health. This issue affects the most vulnerable people in society. I refer to the money being spent on legal challenges and investigations in respect of people who are the most vulnerable in society. In the 12 months since I was elected, we have even seen the Government taking and losing a High Co…

I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — Project Ireland 2040, comprising the National Development Plan (NDP) and the National Planning Framework (NPF) are not underpinned by any democratic mandate or vote, by either House of the Oireachtas, as originally promised by the previous Government; — in excess of 560 submissions were made to the recent review of the NDP; — a recent Ernst and Young report has concluded that the delivery of the €116 billion NDP, less than one year in, is under threat and already facing ‘sig…

I support this motion. I cannot thank carers enough for the work they do in their own homes and the homes of others in Limerick and around the country. Since coming into the Dáil, I have continuously spoken about the rural-urban divide and today, I want to highlight the issue again. Take, for example, the situation in a typical rural setting in which a tender goes out for the care of an elderly man of 82 years of age, who is country-based, 5 km to 10 km away from a rural village, and who requires ten hours of care …

I am just a mere mortal when it comes to European law and the ongoing European Council meetings. Clearly, there are not enough mortals from Ireland going to these meetings. I had to read through the minutes of the meeting we are discussing and nowhere did I see any mention of the horrors that hauliers and firms in Ireland are going through in order to get their goods delivered. Ireland is the most disadvantaged country in Europe as a result of Brexit. The latter took place just three months ago and it is as if it n…

We have seen from the minutes of the Council meeting, from which I quoted, that Ireland has lost its voice in Europe. Do our MEPs need a Lemsip or lozenges to get their voice back? The minutes referred to every other member state but Ireland was not mentioned. What has gone wrong? On the issue of vaccines, we have seen what is happening in regard to the contracts with AstraZeneca. I asked people in Russia about vaccines and I was the only Deputy in Ireland to do so. Other European countries were doing the same, onc…

On a point of order, I said I would take advice from my doctor in the context of having an underlying condition. Again, the Minister of State goes to the gutter and cannot give answers to the questions raised. If he were as good at answering questions as he is at-----

More than 3,000 renters are currently protected from eviction and rent increases under the emergency Covid-19 housing legislation, which was introduced on 27 March 2020. The purpose of this Bill is to extend the emergency period specified in the Planning and Development, and Residential Tenancies, Act 2020 until 12 July 2021 and to provide the necessary amendments to the Act and to the Residential Tenancies Act 2020. I welcome the Bill, under which tenants are protected in many cases and are offered 90 days notice …

There is only one way we will stop insurance fraud and that is by making people accountable. There are people whose families have a history of claims. We probably all know people or families who have made massive claims. There is no problem with people making insurance claims that are warranted, needed and just but we have serial claimants. We have to link it to something. We have to know if they come into the courts or if families have been organising these things. They have to join the dots. There could be two or…

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing this Topical Issue debate. Is this Government anti-religion? I am entitled to have my religion, just as everybody else is entitled to their religion. We are entitled to worship. This Government does not know whether it is legal to allow us to worship. We are the only country in Europe in this position. A case was taken in Scotland, yet the legal team in this State could not answer a question today as to whether this is warranted. More than 130 Deputies were in this room toda…

I would hate to pull the Minister of State on one of her own comments. She said the churches are open online. I have spoken to people from Granagh, Ballingarry, Croom and Patrickswell, and I can keep naming places, who have told me their Internet service breaks down every day because of the failure of the roll-out of broadband. The churches are not open online. They are not there. Last week, a funeral was interrupted four or five times. People were trying to listen to a mass for a loved one but they could not do it…

I thank Sinn Féin and Deputy Funchion for bringing forward this Bill. Under the Data Protection Act and the GDPR, data being held by the State relating to persons should be given to adoptees. The Government must explain why this data is being held. Copies of information the held should be given to adoptees. This would be their entitlement under Article 15.3 of the GDPR. In 2019, some 71 requests from adoptees looking for their birth certificates were confirmed by the Adoption Authority of Ireland. This Bill is badl…

The Taoiseach will be talking to the new US President, Joe Biden, for St. Patrick's Day. Will he ask Mr. Biden to help Ireland? We need to get outside of the EU process and get the vaccines into this country. All of the Irish people in America will help us. All the Taoiseach has to do is open his mouth and say, "Please support the Irish", and they will do it.

On Monday last, the Government unveiled plans to reform the CAO system of access to third level education. This news is certainly welcome and the three-year plan will lead to an increase in the number of apprenticeships to 10,000 every year by 2025. The programme should be much more ambitious in respect of apprenticeships, however. I propose that the target should be 15,000 apprenticeships by 2022. There is a severe housing shortage and we need apprentices to be fast-tracked in order to help with the demand in this…