One of the core issues is how land is being mapped. Farmers are reporting that productive land is being wrongly classified as peatland with very little consultation or clarity coming towards them. Once land is labelled under GAEC 2, strict restrictions apply. There can be no drainage, no receding and limited grazing, which can have a major impact on farm income, especially in the midlands and the west. There is also a real worry about the retrospective impact and fears that this could lead to future land designatio…

I thank the Minister.

I welcome the IFA president, Mr. Gorman, to the House. The Labour Party's mission, echoing the Tom Johnson minority report from the 1924 Agricultural Commission, is to achieve greater food security by ensuring that everybody has access to healthy, nutritious and sustainable food at an affordable price while also safeguarding our natural environment. Labour is committed to supporting farmers in diversifying and adopting sustainable practices. We also support the sustainable development of farming, fisheries and fore…

Will the Minister consider establishing a night-time economy commission or advisory group in each major city to provide expert guidance and recommendations informed by local research and consumer feedback, to support those operating in the creative arts and culture space, and to offer more people to enjoy the night time and help cultural institutions to extend their opening hours into the evening?

I welcome the Minister's actions and look forward to the review. I urge him to consider establishing the night-time economy commission or advisory group in each of the major cities. Our cultural life does not end at 5 p.m. as he knows, and neither should our planning. By grounding these commissions in local research and consumer feedback we ensure that we reflect on the unique needs and opportunities for each community, from live music to theatre to hospitality, and transport the night-time economy as a powerful dr…

I am sharing time with Deputy Duncan Smith. Europe Day is one of the forgotten holidays. Many people do not know what or why it is, or even that it is being celebrated on 9 May. There is some idea that there is a vague connection with the Ode to Joy all right, but that is where the interest stops. I was lucky that at my old school the German teacher, Anita Irwin, makes a point of celebrating and highlighting Europe Day every year. She has had two MEPs in to meet the students in the past two years based on her passi…

I hear every day from women in my constituency in particular that they cannot find childcare. I hear mostly from women about being forced to give up their careers, to defer returning to education and to delay starting and expanding their families. We have moved from the marriage bar of the past to what can only be described as a modern-day family bar where the costs and unavailability of childcare are dictating deeply personal life choices. Some €1.37 billion could be far better used to begin nationalising the wage…

It was 30 years ago that the Labour Party, while in government and supported by the Dublin Council of Trade Unions and Irish Congress of Trade Unions, made May Day a bank holiday, but its roots go much deeper than that. The Labour Party has always stood by the trade union movement. The connection is not symbolic - it is practical, principled and rooted in the shared belief deserve power, voice and respect. The alliance has given rise to a political force that championed decent pay, safe conditions and dignity in th…

Good morning, Minister of State. It has always been the Labour Party's vision to invest in public transport, to continue to progressively reduce the cost of public transport and to focus on increasing the reliability of our train services. In general, it is great to see the fare reductions and the expansion of the commuter zones that have come in this week. This is a positive step forward in making transport accessible and affordable for everybody and helping to ease the cost of living and encourage more sustainabl…

I thank the Minister of State for his response. This is a good scheme but there are idiosyncrasies in it that need to be ironed out so the constituents of Dublin Fingal West will be encouraged to use public transport. I understand that distance travelled is one of the criteria in establishing zones, but it seems incredibly unfair that the fares of students travelling two stops from Rush-Lusk over the zone border to Balbriggan have increased threefold since last week. I would be quite happy to meet and work with the…

I welcome the parents and activists in the Gallery and thank my colleague, Deputy Eoghan Kenny, for bringing this important motion forward. In my constituency, Fingal West, I regularly hear, like all Members do, from families deeply concerned about the severe shortage of appropriate education placements and supports for children with special needs. Accessing school settings remains a major challenge in my area, compounded by long waiting times for psychological assessments and interventions. These delays often leav…

Yesterday was World Autism Awareness Day. It cannot just have been another day of empty promises while families continue to struggle. Last night, families slept out for a second time, pleading for support. We must acknowledge their challenges every day. With this in mind, I acknowledge in my constituency of Dublin Fingal West there are 539 children who have waited for more than 12 months for their first contact with Balbriggan CDNT. This is the highest waiting time in CHO 9. I would imagine it is well up there in t…

The increase in food production costs in recent years means many farmers no longer find it sustainable. As their costs directly affect consumers, we must tackle this. Dairy farmers report a near 20% rise in production costs in the past year alone. We need to address challenges posed by increasing labour, energy and environmental-compliance costs to ensure the viability of the farming sector, especially in my area of Dublin Fingal West where horticultural producers are under intense pressure from retailers on price.

The geopolitical circumstances that have occurred to date make food security all the more important. In my constituency of Dublin Fingal West, horticulture is a crucial part of the farming sector. We produce 15% of potatoes nationally, 47% of field vegetables and 37% of fruits, vegetables and nursery plants, making it one of the most important counties in the country for food production. Many farms in Dublin Fingal West supply fresh produce to local markets, supermarkets and for export, contributing to employment a…

I attended the Social Justice Ireland presentation in the audiovisual room earlier. The statistics presented are increasingly concerning for the agriculture sector. The average farm income was just under €20,000 in 2023. Some 68% of farms earned less than €30,000 per annum. This data highlights clear challenges. It is clear that farming by itself is not enough to provide an adequate income. I am committed to these farmers and to working with the Ministers to make sure the challenges posed by increasing energy, labo…

Deleting obscure, outdated and often bizarre laws is something we are pretty good at in this country. We are world beaters, in fact. Between 2003 and 2016, we got around 60,000 of them off the books and this legislation will remove over 3,000 more laws and proclamations that remain on the Statute Book as a legacy of empire and a reminder of some of the country's darkest days. The orders and proclamations that are being removed from the Statute Book by this long-overdue legislation date from between 1821 and 1861 an…

Independent Ireland will support this Bill and the idea of simplifying the law to make it more accessible to the general public. The aim is to reduce compliance costs for businesses and bodies which interact with our legislation regularly. It is the stated policy of our party to achieve this across the public sector and beyond. I wish to record our admiration for the sterling work of the Law Reform Commission on the statutory law revision programme in bringing forward this seventh Bill on the area. With 3,367 instr…

All this just for Deputy Michael Lowry.

I would like to talk about infrastructure in north County Dublin. As the Tánaiste knows, Fingal is the fastest growing and youngest local authority area in the country. Rush has doubled in size and Lusk has quadrupled in size in 20 years. I was delighted to invite my former students from St. Joseph's Secondary School here. They are a genuinely lovely bunch. However, they and the teachers are using buildings that are decades old and not fit for purpose. We are lucky enough to be at the planning permission phase at t…

I congratulate my colleague, Deputy Mark Wall, on bringing forward this important motion. I stand here on behalf of thousands of young carers throughout Ireland, children, teenagers and young adults who take on immense responsibilities at home, often at great personal cost. They provide essential care for family members with disabilities, illness, mental health conditions and addiction. Their contributions too often go unnoticed. This year's Young Carers Action Day on 12 March carried the theme "Give me a break". T…