Over the last number of months, I have been asking the Minister about the issue of plug-in solar to ensure that more households in Ireland can benefit from cheap solar power. Will the Minister give me a timeline on when we will have a clear decision from him and the Department as to whether plug-in solar can be used in this country?

The issue here is a question of speed. One million households in Germany use plug-in solar right now. There has been an 18-month consultation on this issue here. I agree that safety issues have to be addressed but the Minister has suggested that there may be a need for some form of regulation. We need some speed on this. Look at what the UK Secretary of State, Ed Miliband, did. He brought in the manufacturers, providers and installers to ask them about the specific issues and the regulatory challenges that needed t…

To begin, I express my deep appreciation to Deputy Ó Snodaigh for bringing this Bill forward and continuing to put his experience and passion behind this particular issue. I also thank those Deputies who are cosignatories of the Bill as well as the Deputies who have spoken and joined this debate tonight. I appreciate the openness of both the Minister, Deputy O’Callaghan, and the Minister of State, Deputy Troy, to engage with the core principles of this particular Bill and their commitment to bring forward amendment…

The reason we are experiencing an energy price crisis in our country is because of Ireland's over-reliance on fossil fuels. Until the Government takes decisions that will break that over-reliance, our economy and our people will continue to be vulnerable. The war in Iran has shown for the second time in four years how our economy is at the mercy of the whims of Putin, of Trump and the Ayatollah. Yesterday's ESRI report reiterates that point. Our high electricity prices are driven by our disproportionate reliance on…

The Green Party has no confidence in the Government, and I will vote against the motion. Over the course of the past week, the actions of the Government continually made a difficult situation worse. Ministers caused confusion, unnecessarily raised tensions and ultimately failed to protect the Irish people's ability to move and go about their business for five long days. Hospital appointments were missed, emergency vehicles were delayed, people could not get to work and, vitally, access to fuel was disrupted, and co…

In the six years I have been a TD and for much of the decade before that, there was a coalition in this House - a coalition that existed across Government and Opposition that supported the carbon tax. There was a coalition that recognised the arguments that a dedicated, predictable and increasing fund of money was necessary to fund the changes needed to transition our economy away from fossil fuels. There was a coalition, again, across Government and Opposition, that took difficult votes against populist amendments…

Section 7 of this Bill represents a fundamental attack on the provisions of the climate action Act passed in this House in 2021 with the support of 129 Members from the Green Party, the Labour Party, the Social Democrats, People Before Profit, Sinn Féin and, crucially, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. Now, five years later, this Critical Infrastructure Bill means that any project that is designated as critical infrastructure will no longer have its climate impact examined. Today, the Government is seeking to repeal, by t…

I joined my Green Party colleague Niall Murphy in Galway last weekend, and buses were a central concern of the people we met. The NTA has announced that it expects 60 double-decker, electric buses to be used in Galway by the end of 2027, which is about a year away now. That represents an increase of capacity on individual buses. The important question is: are these going to be new buses, or are they simply going to replace decommissioned buses? Are we going to see more buses on the roads? Will commuters see an impr…

I welcome the renewal of the ARP this evening and I will vote in favour of it. It will offer clarity to the 42,000 Ukrainians in ARP-supported homes but also to the thousands of Irish families who are actively supporting them. It is very important that the Minister provide clarity on what was being briefed in the papers in terms of the move from a payment of €600 to €400. It is important that the Minister bear in mind the cost-of-living crisis that is unfolding. The Minister will reply that the payment was never a …

Yesterday the UK Government announced it would make plug-in solar panels available in the near future to British households. Plug-ins are low-cost solar panels that families can put on balconies or outdoor spaces. Retailers and manufacturers are working with the UK Government to make them available in shops within months. They would save people money on their bills in the UK and they could do the same here as well. However, when I got a reply to a parliamentary question I put to the Department of energy in February…

Around the country, we have finished up with the old joint policing committee model and are moving to community partnerships. Could the Minister comment on the resourcing of community partnerships around the country and, in particular, how those resources are targeted to the varying needs of different areas?

I thank the Minister of State for the comprehensive reply. There are two community safety partnerships in my constituency. One of them, the Dublin central local community safety partnership, is a long-established partnership that was part of the original pilot. My Green Party colleague, Councillor Janet Horner, sits on that partnership. Given that it has been in place for a number of years, we can make two points. First, there is no specific budget for this community partnership and, second, there is no specific fu…

I am delighted to hear there is €8 million for the central office. I have no doubt the councillors and the statutory bodies, particularly the local community representatives, would have a very clear idea as to how a proportion of that money could be spent well locally. I would say it is the same whether we are talking about Cabra or west Limerick. My concern centres on what has been described as a very transformative approach to how we address community safety, and how we link the Garda and local authorities with t…

I thank the Minister of State for taking this Topical debate. This is the second time I have raised a Topical matter about three primary schools, St. John Bosco Junior Boys School, St. John Bosco Senior Boys School and Mary Help of Christians Girls National School. I want to focus on the long delay in the rebuild project for these three schools. The schools are just off the Navan Road in Dublin 7, and serve the communities of Ashtown and the Navan Road. They are great schools, and my colleague Councillor Feljin Jos…

I thank the Minister of State for her response. I recognise that she is responding on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Naughton, and she is from a different Department. I am disappointed with the response she provided from the Department of education. Again, there has been a failure to give a date for this really important meeting between the Department and the school's design team. There is a consequence to this delay because due to the addendum report, which was given almost five months ago - officials in the Depar…

This year’s theme for International Women’s Day is rights, justice and action for all women and girls. As we reflect on this today, we should bring our focus to the women and girls who have been denied access to justice and full vindication of their human rights in Ireland today. International Women’s Day is an opportunity to advocate for meaningful change, so in the brief time I have, there are three I things I would like to mention that need to be advanced by the Government to support and protect all women and gi…

There is a real sense of worry in Irish households now as they see the increase in fuel prices occasioned by the war in Iran. They are seeing the repeat of what was seen four years ago following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It demonstrates yet again our vulnerability to international energy price shocks because of our dependence on fossil fuels. I respectfully say that the Cabinet cannot delay clarity for Irish householders any longer. It is our party's view that the most vulnerable need to be protected immedia…

I thank the Deputies for bringing forward this important proposal today. The Green Party welcomes this Bill and the broader discussion about how we can meaningfully protect children and young people online. Rapid changes in IT and the profound impact these are having on all our lives demand that we remain agile and responsive as a State to the need to scrutinise these technologies for the public good. We cannot be passive actors in a world where policy is dictated by tech moguls. Ireland occupies a privileged posit…

As the Middle East is in turmoil, we are witnessing another spike in the price of fossil fuels, which still power too much of our economy. Our energy system needs to meet three key challenges in the year ahead. It needs to provide affordable energy, which will allow us to travel and warm our homes without breaking the bank. It needs to provide security of supply so we are not at risk of energy shortages in a turbulent world. We need to decarbonise our energy system to address the climate crisis and improve air qual…

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