That is the concern. We talked about data earlier. We also discussed regional development and what needs to be done there. The data that is available from the EU Regional Competitiveness Index shows that in the context of infrastructure, the west is in the bottom 7%. That speaks for itself. One of the projects I am very concerned about is that relating to Ballinrobe Community School. The Minister of State, Deputy Calleary, and I met with the relevant officials a couple of weeks ago, together with some local council…

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate. I agree with the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment that Ireland has done an extraordinary job. The people have done an extraordinary job over recent months and years. Immigration can mean different things. It can mean people from Great Britain living and working here under the common travel area arrangements or people living and working here through EU freedom of movement. People come from all around the world to work, study and reunite with family …

Last Friday, the International Court of Justice made a historic ruling. It ordered Israel to take action to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza. The court said Israel must stop killing Palestinians and causing serious physical and mental harm to them. Israel must also prevent its troops from committing genocide, prevent incitement to commit genocide, allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza and take action to preserve evidence of genocide. There is no doubt Israel is breaking international law every day in slaughtering t…

I put it to the Minister that the warmer homes scheme is not a priority. The reason I say this is because the pre-works take eight to ten months, the survey takes 14 months, the works completed take 24 to 26 months and the post-works BER assessment takes two to three months. I appeal to the Minister, particularly with regard to people on the warmer homes scheme waiting list who are critically ill. They do not have the time. The situation is serious and I have not got any satisfaction from the SEAI because it says i…

I am coming back on this again to the Minister because too many of the people who are on the Minister's list for 26 months do not have that length of time, unfortunately. Will the Minister please look at this to prioritise people, especially those people who have cancer or are terminally ill? Will he please do that, even from a humanitarian perspective? It has to be done. We cannot sit here while this is happening and while people are spending their last days in freezing cold homes.

I thank the Social Democrats for bringing forward this motion. I thank the thousands of people who have taken the time to email and call my office. I thank everyone who has taken to the streets to push and to drive an Irish stance on this issue. We have wanted to have a collective stance as a nation, sending out a very clear message. That public pressure and activism is needed now more than ever. The Irish people know the historical importance of this issue. They know that as they are watching this unfold on their …

I listened with interest to the debate all evening. While I was listening to it, I got an email from a man in Mayo. I want to read a couple of extracts from it. It states: I am currently homeless. I have a full-time job. I am living out of my car in between work and seeing my four children. I have no money towards getting a deposit for a house. I am currently sitting in my car, with €30 to my name, in the wind and the rain, writing this email. That is while the Minister of State sits here and slaps himself on the b…

I welcome Harry, Lorcan and Karen Keely to the Gallery. I raise the seriousness of the delay in ACRES. Delay impacts not only the families of the farmers but also suppliers, local businesses and contractors who desperately need that money. The issue is also going to impact taxation. It means that for two payments in one year, recipients are going to be taxed more than they would otherwise be. Their incomes will be eroded on that basis. I support the call for advance payments. There is no reason an advance payment o…

As the Minister said, the purpose of the Appropriation Bill 2023 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. The Bill used to be just waved through the Dáil without any debate. It is important that this is no longer the case. This House needs greater scrutiny of the budget, not least because of the new budget gimmicks, as they were described by the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, in which the Go…

There are 220 homeless children in counties Galway, Mayo and Roscommon. There was one person homeless in 2014. That just demonstrates how the situation has gotten worse under the Minister's watch. Every month the number of homeless people increases on the Minister's watch. Behind these figures are real families and people who desperately need somewhere to live. They are scared that they will not even be able to get bed and breakfast accommodation vouchers if the council has not put anything in place before the holi…

Pension parity for retired members of An Garda Síochána exists and sees pension increases being paid in line with increases awarded to serving colleagues. Parity will expire with the current agreement at the end of the year. It has been in place since the sixties. Retired gardaí are not directly represented and rely on the Garda staff associations and the Alliance of Retired Public Servants to articulate their concerns at the talks. Will the Taoiseach ensure that pay parity for retired gardaí is maintained within t…

The Taoiseach continues to quote figures and defend Fine Gael's record on housing, but Fine Gael's record on housing in Mayo is clear. We went from one person homeless in 2014 to 87 people homeless today and that does not nearly tell the picture of all those who do not have a home or who are in completely unsuitable accommodation. That is the record in Mayo. People are waiting months in Mayo to even access emergency accommodation. We asked the Taoiseach the question, in April last, where do people go. Today, again,…

The Minister, Deputy Donohoe, was told that the health budget was not credible by the Secretary General of the Department of Health before budget day. He said that introducing a budget on that basis was not being honest and is a clear breach of public financial procedures. That is from the former senior civil servant in the Department of public expenditure, and this comes on the back of the head of the HSE saying he either runs a huge deficit or makes cuts. It comes on the back of 11,493 patients, including 434 chi…

I am sorry that the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, has left the Chamber because he referred to the eviction bans and we are blue in the face from asking for a no-fault eviction ban. The reason we are doing so came to the fore for me last week when a mother of two young children rang me. The eldest child was four and she said that if tears could build a house she would have a house without a problem. Her children had just found out about Santa Claus and they kept asking her why they had not put up a tree and why they cou…

I would first like to thank Deputy Shanahan and the Regional Group for developing and bringing forward this Bill. This is a vitally important area to which this House needs to give more attention. Delivering capital projects is vital as it affects our ability to provide housing, healthcare, transport, connectivity and almost every aspect of the State. It can be the difference between a region developing and a region being left behind or lagging. It can be the difference between someone lying on a trolley or getting…

We all know we have been through two years of inflation, with huge inflation in construction costs, yet the national development plan has not been adjusted. We are allocating the same amount of money as if inflation never happened, which amounts essentially to a substantial cut in ambition in real terms. When will the ESRI complete its report on the national development plan?

The Government has kicked the can down the road on capital projects. The NDP was reviewed in 2021 and the reviewed NDP set out departmental capital ceilings to 2025. What we saw in budget 2024 was the Government staying within the NDP. The reviewed NDP set targets for percentage of GNI* for capital investment. The targets it set for 2023 and 2024 were 4.9% and 5%, respectively. Now those figures are estimated by the Department to be 4.1% and 4.3%. That means the Government is far behind on capital investment in rea…

It is not just me saying this. As I said, IFAC has also warned about the €19 billion black hole in the capital budget. IFAC has also said that €2.7 billion extra will be needed each year from 2024 to 2030. That is what is needed for the projects outlined in the 2021 NDP to be delivered. We have severe infrastructure deficits. I know from my own constituency in Mayo that there are desperate needs for health projects, water infrastructure, road, rail and grid infrastructure. The list goes on. Will the public have to …

It is disappointing that the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, is not here and that another Minister has not swapped dates with him so he could have a debate on the issue of our health services, which are important. The Minister and his Department were key in the Government's decision to underfund health. Will the Minister of State outline the engagement between the Minister, the Minister for Health and the director general of the HSE in advance of the 2024 budget?

The Department of Health requested €2 billion in order to meet the standstill costs for 2024. The head of the HSE, Mr. Bernard Gloster, wrote to the Minister for Health outlining his concerns before the budget. He said there would be significant and punitive risk to the public and that it was imperative that the Government should be in no doubt as to the position. This was in respect of the Government's decision to provide €708 million for existing levels of service, ELS, and €100 million for what are called "new m…