Fair play to the Leas-Cheann Comhairle. It is a Limerick thing. These are the same people that are looking at a children's hospital that has gone €1.2 billion over budget, yet the Government cannot look after the vulnerable in regard to blister packs.

We have a large majority of dog breeders who do their work well and do it right. They are legislated for and they have regular visits from vets and regular welfare visits and they do everything correctly. We have a minority who are not doing it right. Any minority that is not doing it right deserves the heavy hand of the law. The Bill needs to be right once and for all but the biggest issue with introducing any Bill in the House is enforcement. The last Bill on this matter brought to the House was in 2012 and it ha…

While we are talking, our phones are listening. In the next five minutes, whatever we have spoken about will pop up on our phones. We not only have to deal with children; we also have to deal with adults. What happens online is getting into all of our thoughts. If we look up anything, we will be sent four or five things based on that. If what happens online does that to adults, what is it doing to children? People who sign up to online outlets are sent images of people who are self harming and so on. People are als…

I have been in construction all my life and the manner in which the Bill is laid out is not practical. The Government has made proposals in respect of sectors A, B and C. There is reference to repairing a wall, moving onto the next one and so on. That is specialised work. Specialised work is more expensive. Reference has been made to foundations. The criteria for foundations have completely changed. They are now required to be three times the width of the wall as standard. Standard foundations for a standard house …

I will follow on from Deputies Ward and Ó Broin as regards where the regulation is based on block. As I said earlier, I have been a building contractor all my life. The same grit goes into block as goes into lintels, only it is a different sized chip. Lintels were 8 in. by 4 in., but now they are a regulated 8 in. by 8 in. even though it is the same material. It is just certified differently. It just uses a different sized chip, but it is the same stone. What goes into foundations also goes into the subfloor, the f…

I listened to the Minister speak on the amendments. He referred to the Building Control Acts 1990 to 2025. What the Minister is saying is that for a house built in the 1990s, a section can be put on that house connecting the 1990 blockwork to the 2025 blockwork. Who is going to certify it? I deal with engineers daily. For certification of anything that I need, I would have to get all the different certificates right down to the nails that are used. Everything has to be shown to be job specific. Given the Minister r…

As other speakers said, this has not been costed since 2022. I will give the Minister a small few facts and it will not cost the State anything. I know the funds myself on a year-to-year basis for building costs. In 2021, the average cost of building a 2,000 sq. ft house was €120 per sq. ft on a greenfield site with a builder's finish. It cost €240,000 in 2021 with VAT of €32,400 on top that. In 2023, it was €180 per sq. ft. The same house went from €240,000 to €360,000 and the VAT was €48,600. In 2024, it was up t…

Everyone one of the speakers is talking correctly. They have the experience. I have taken out the front of buildings with 300 or 400 tonnes of stone propped over the buildings. For a semi-detached house - it depends on the era it was built in - there could a 6 in. or 9 in. block wall in the middle separating them or there could be a stud wall built up between them with fire-lined boards on both sides. If you open and take down one property, because they were built as one unit, when one side is taken out that weaken…

In the scheme of things, when you look at projections of what this will cost, it will be 43 houses and roughly €22,000 per house. Given the different-sized houses, it is an average of €22,000 per house. Going by the 29 March deadline, there is a price increase which is between €16 and €20 per square foot, with the inflationary costs that have been caused by different things, including budgetary changes by the Government, the hike in fuel costs, transport costs, rising insulation costs and rising silicone costs. All…

We are asked to vote to amend the Arbitration Act to ratify the investors court part of CETA. I am asking the TDs to stand with the people and with the Dáil's ability to make laws for Ireland and to vote against amending the Arbitration Act. We already have Irish and EU laws that protect companies and investors, and if these laws are good enough for the rest of us, including Irish businesses, it should be good enough for Canada and corporations. Ratifying CETA will remove the ability of Deputies to enact laws for t…

Assessment of need. I will just read it out. Assessment of need. Cara, who is 15 years of age, can see that there has to be an assessment of need. A 15-year-old girl has been outspoken, supported by her family to support her family. She will be sleeping outside for 50 hours to highlight something that is not there, which we in here should be ashamed of. That is what it comes to. I will read out something relating to a person in my own area. He now has it in writing in his private psychological report, which cost €1…

I will start with my disappointment that people on that side of the House would turn around and say that people on this side of the House are far right or far left. I am a father. I have been heckled-----

Excuse me. I did not interrupt you, so have the courtesy to shut your mouth and listen to somebody.

That is as much as it comes to. I am going to put something on the record very clearly to you now as well, Conor Sheehan, since you talk about Limerick and put Limerick people down. I am going to talk to you as a parent.

I am going to talk to you if you may listen, but you do not listen.

Chair, these people-----

I am going to talk to these people.

Correct - respect. That is what I am asking for, and it is the one word I have written down here for you today. It is "respect".

I have been heckled in this House, saying I am anti-gay and anti-this.

Excuse me. Again, you cannot be quiet and listen to somebody else's opinion. It is called respect. I have been heckled in this House on more than one occasion, be that for my religion, for being over here, for being far right. I am going to put something very clear to you: I am a parent and a grandparent. I have a son who is gay. None of you ever said to me, "Gee, Richard, we did not know that." You do not know me but you make assumptions about people. The one thing I will do for anyone, whether they are up in the …