Mistakes were made in the past and we were slow to block the door. I do not have an issue with people who want a better life coming into this country; I really do not. It does not matter what nationality they are. If they are coming in to make a better life for themselves and I know who they are, I do not have an issue. They will be part of our workforce and part of rebuilding Ireland. The problem I have is with the people who come into this country that we know nothing about. We have had a lot of people come into …

Deputy Collins has more time.

I welcome and support the motion. Not a day goes by that I do not think of my great friend of many years who died from suicide. I was with him the day before he died. At the time, he had even fooled me. I think of members of the emergency services who have to deal with things on a daily basis. I think of the Garda, the fire service, and suicide watch and search and rescue organisations. All these people, many of them volunteers, go out and do their best to help people. Then, I see investigations in the HSE where it…

I support anyone who wants to work from home. I support any employer that can facilitate working from home. I do not support legalising that it is mandatory that an employer has to make people work from home because there is no glove that fits everyone. That is my problem. That means that the people here could all decide that, legally, they can work from home. We could have people in other sectors saying that, legally, they can work from home. There are general data protection regulation, GDPR, reasons that people …

Yesterday, there was a development on something that has been brought up in this Dáil in recent years. Jessica Sheedy died at 18 years of age in Limerick. She was admitted to hospital on 8 May 2018 for an operation and died on 11 May 2018. A Medical Council fitness to practise inquiry found that three allegations of professional misconduct and ten allegations of poor professional performance made against Dr. Lal were proven beyond doubt. Dr. Lal also accepts other allegations of professional misconduct were proven.…

I thank the Taoiseach. I see that the Minister for Health is here, and the Minister for justice as well, and other Ministers. I am asking for their help. This took eight years and only for her mother Ann, Jimmy, Marcella and all her friends keeping at this and having a medical background themselves, this would have been buried for a lot longer. Only for the current management in UHL, this would have been buried. There has to be accountability of the people who were overseeing the hospital at that time. The problem …

There are no words. Please help and make sure justice is done.

And Sandra Broderick.

In the case of Jessica Sheedy and the then CEO of UHL, will the Department of justice do an investigation into somebody who withheld evidence, misled an independent inquiry by not providing the relevant information at the time, and put people's lives at risk through the delay in providing the information? This independent inquiry has been done twice. It has gone to the UK twice. The final information was given in the UK. The real file was given in the UK recently, which has brought the case against Dr. Lal. There w…

The bottom line is that the Government should never have taken this off the local authorities. Uisce Éireann should never have been set up. We would have accountability then because, first, the councils could keep a good eye on what needs to be done with infrastructure and within the areas. The Deputies of this House could also keep in line with that and let the Government know where the money was being sent. The other thing was that they were actually getting in contractors to do the work under their remit, under …

Independent Ireland had asked the Government that there would be no means test for carers. It said that there should no means test for carers for one very good reason: how can you put a price on care? People are coming into people's homes for an hour. They are driving ten miles, driving to different parts of the county and giving an hour to a family member. The statistics show that with the way the birth rate is going at the moment, we will not have the population to care for the older generation - maybe in two dec…

I am a reformed smoker - I have not smoked a cigarette in 30 years. Then came in the smoking ban, which was targeted at adults. I do not agree with these one-off vapes but if one is an adult, one should have the common sense to know whether to use a vape. Personally, I would nearly prefer to see somebody smoke a cigarette than what is inside those vapes because their contents are unknown, as are the adverse reactions to them. If one is an adult, that is a decision one has to make. My issue is with the number of pop…

Independent Ireland held a protest in Athlone where 27,000 people turned out from all across different areas around this country. Sinn Féin came. Even the Green Party came. It was not just about the farmers. They all came to support an Independent Ireland protest that was organised by Ciaran Mullooly, MEP, Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice and the Independent Ireland team. They came and supported it. I did not see People Before Profit there. I did not see the Labour Party there. I did not see the Social Democrats there. T…

I watched everyone standing up here with notebooks in front of them when speaking. What they were saying was rhetorical stuff. It was the same stuff coming out of their mouths. There is no urban and rural divide here. I have people from an urban area who come out hunting in our area and they have done it for decades. I am from a farming background. I live in an area where there is cover behind me. The hunt comes through the back of our land every season. I have seen the devastation a fox has caused when a cow was c…

They did not even know what a greyhound was. The same thing is happening here today. They do not understand the process that is happening here. They did not follow the science. They are talking about a minority of people, saying 2%. What percent of us look after us in terms of the Garda? If we look at a percentage, how many people in this country are medical people? They look after a population of millions. The Deputies are talking about percentages. They should get their facts right before they start discussing th…

I have none.

I welcome any changes to amend planning legislation. Something I would like the Minister to look at in the new year is listed buildings and building over listed buildings. In Limerick, we have a lot of listed buildings and many buildings which are stopping young people from living over them. I have no problem with the fire regulations but the problem is that conservation rules mean the inside of these buildings cannot be altered to allow people to live over them, as was done for decades and centuries. We want to ge…

Every time I come in here, I look across the benches and see where we cannot get delivery. I then look at communities where any time something is wanted or somebody is in trouble, people ask what they can do to help, even if they have not got it themselves. Yesterday, I was in Limerick. It is a tradition in Limerick that Fossett's Circus comes there. Fossett's Circus does a charity night, every time it comes to Limerick, for people just to go to see a circus. It offers a full night. It offered me tickets to give to…

Blister packs are essential for people who live with dementia. They are an essential part of the lives of people on medication who live at home. It is even essential for first aid responders who come to houses looking for people, as they know what they have taken. The main point in the debate is that the blister packs are for the same people who have blisters on their hands from working all their lives to support the Government. These are the people who are now retiring. They are the same people to whom the Governm…

I am sorry. I have another half a minute.