I, too, wish Deputy Catherine Murphy well. She has spoken truth to power so many times. That has been really important. She has made a significant difference in all of her contributions, even before I came into this Dáil. I wish her very well and thank her for her work. I thank the Social Democrats for bringing the motion forward this morning. I cannot believe that we are here at the end of this Dáil term. I have watched the progress of the occupied territories Bill since I was in the Seanad when it came to the tab…

I thank my colleagues Deputies Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire and Pauline Tully for bringing this debate to the House and for insisting that our final debate on Private Members’ business would be on carers because it is such an important issue. I will set out why the Government needs to engage with and act on the concerns of carers about the punitive carer’s allowance means test and how this affects the welfare and quality of life of carers and their families. The fact is that too many carers in my constituency of Mayo are …

The consequences of the delays in scoliosis operations are very real and very cruel. I have given the Taoiseach a letter from one of my constituents who has had his operation delayed. In fact, he has been sent home to make himself comfortable. He is 16 years of age, and his name is Mikey. I am asking the Taoiseach for two things at this stage. I am asking him to get his full file from Crumlin hospital and the other relevant hospitals, and I am asking him for a second opinion from abroad and to facilitate that. The …

He does not have the time, and this is the problem.

I have already done that and got nowhere.

It is desperate.

As the Minister said, this is largely a technical Bill providing for a three-year funding cycle that allows for the commission to fund the pay and pensions of elected Members of the House and their staff and other workings of the Oireachtas. I understand the urgency of that. I take this opportunity to pay tribute and to thank the staff here in the Houses of the Oireachtas. We all know this place simply would not work without them. The exceptional nature of the work that is done here gives us pause to consider how i…

As was said, the purpose of the Appropriation Bill is to give statutory authority to the amounts voted on by the Dáil during the year from the original Estimates, Further Revised Estimates and Supplementary Estimates. If the Bill were not enacted, the Departments could not spend. The Bill also allows for capital carryover as per the Finance Act 2004. Each Department can carry over 10% of its capital allocation to the next year. The key to this Appropriation Bill is that it is a constitutional requirement and is ess…

I know you are about to conclude this, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, but I was struck by Deputy McAuliffe's comment that the Bill keeps people where they are because that is exactly what is coming back from this budget - the sense of injustice. People know that, come next February and March, they will be in the very same position as they were before this. It certainly keeps them in their place, whether that be carers or young people looking for a house. I listened with interest to all the talk about the need for people …

Too many children are waiting for therapies and assessment in County Mayo. I am trying to get a grasp on the staff vacancies in the children's disability network teams, CDNTs, and the waiting lists for assessment and therapy in County Mayo.

I thank the Minister. The reality is that there are still too many vacancies. I take what the Minister is saying in terms of trying to attract staff. However, continually having vacant posts puts pressure on the workers who are there already. Last week, I was at a wonderful initiative with Mayo Autism Camp and Manulla FC. There were many parents and children there. Although the day was really wonderful, I could not help thinking of all those children who were there on the day and were waiting for vital therapies an…

That is part of the problem. Fine Gael has been in Government for the past 13 or 14 years and now we are looking to address these situations. The workforce planning should have been in place well before now. It is not a big surprise that there is such a high number of children with disabilities in need of support. I would say that this Government has failed children with disabilities and their families in County Mayo. We will not even address scoliosis and the 15-year-old child I have coming in to who, because his …

I raise the concerns I have around the closing down of retail businesses, particularly in Mayo. The Minister of State will be very familiar with it. When I walk down American Street in Belmullet or some of the streets in Ballina, Castlebar and other areas, I see that many businesses are shut down. That speaks to me of the disconnect. We are not connecting up. The bureaucracy and red tape around various schemes often means that people cannot access them. Obviously, there is the impact of the cost of living as well. …

I want to talk to the Minister about social enterprises, in particular if he will amend the eligibility criteria to enable them to access the local enterprise office and Enterprise Ireland supports. They are locked out of some of them. The Minister knows the real value of social enterprises. There are hundreds of them right across my own county of Mayo. They generate real and sustainable regional employment, while also strengthening the social cohesion in communities. The effectiveness of social enterprise in foste…

I thank the Minister of State for her response. There needs to be flexibility. Many social enterprises are commercial and others are not, but they add something to communities. There must be a recognition beyond their economic value of their social value as well. They deserve equal treatment, including the same level of support and incentives as businesses and non-profits, recognising their dual contribution to the economy and also social cohesion. I commend the Westport-based company, Education DESTY, with which t…

There needs to be an awareness of what is available and what supports can be accessed by social enterprises. The supports are often beyond the reach of social enterprises. They are so busy with what they are trying to do within their communities that we must make it as easy as possible. I, too, recently met with Social Enterprise Republic of Ireland, SERI, the representative body for social enterprises in the State. We talked about some of the excellent social enterprises, such as the NOW group in Belfast and the T…

I thank the Labour Party for bringing this important motion forward this morning. The motion is timely, particularly in a Mayo context, as I attended a protest on this very issue outside Mayo University Hospital, MUH, just last Thursday. I know the Acting Chair is very familiar with it. More than 100 protesters - members of trade unions like Fórsa, SIPTU and the INMO - were there on the day. I commend them on giving up their time to highlight the precarious position this Government has left them in regarding the de…

I have five minutes.

When the Minister goes to hospitals, everything is cleared.

Yes, but I have five minutes. I am sorry, Acting Chair. I will stop after five minutes. You know how important-----