In that case, it remains unclear to me how the reforms the Minister has outlined will make any substantial difference in terms of the speed of project delivery. The Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael McGrath, alluded to that when he said that the timelines associated with public spending code compliance are a fraction of the time required for compliance. I need to see how it is going to speed up the projects that we need to do, in the context of delivery.

I thank the Regional Group for tabling the motion. We are here week after week discussing the very same issue and we need to see more progress in this area. This is why the Government must advance the vital regulation for the home care sector and make the legislation a priority. It has to be a priority. We know what is happening in the constituencies. It must establish the promised commission on care to modernise social care arrangements. Too many people are unable to access the funded home care packages they despe…

Last week, the Minister for Finance signed a statutory instrument that repeals public access to the register of beneficial owners. That followed a Court of Justice of the European Union ruling last year that struck down the right to public access to the register of public ownership. This is a major blow to corporate transparency. Indeed, Transparency International Ireland described the ruling as "extremely worrying and might be the biggest setback for the fight against corruption, organised crime and tax evasion in…

From the Minister.

I support Deputy Cathal Berry in seeking recognition for Private Billy Kedian. I hope that it can be progressed. The Minister knows what needs to be done. I am glad the Minister is taking questions today because my question is about Uisce Éireann and group water schemes. I need the Minister to act. There are 14 schemes in Mayo that need to be taken over. A minimum of 14 schemes were presented by the county council. The problem is that there is debt outstanding due to leaks. The billing department in Uisce Éireann w…

Within Uisce Éireann. I am concerned about the lack of accountability of Uisce Éireann and the gap between the volunteers who are forced to take responsibility for providing water for their neighbours even though some of them have resigned, as I told Uisce Éireann they would do. Meanwhile, there is millions for Uisce Éireann. Will the Minister please sort it out?

What I will say will be not be a surprise to the Minister. I thank her for her statement. Many of the things I will outline cut across into the responsibility of other Departments. Like the Minister, I served on a county council, Mayo County Council. The Minister served on her county council. I always used to make the point that we need to get our core stuff right. We need to get the bread and butter issues right and we are not getting them right. I will set it in context because it is often said that Sinn Féín is …

I am sure the Taoiseach will join me in welcoming the interim resolution adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. The resolution again expressed serious concerns about Britain's so-called legacy Bill, which is currently before the House of Lords. Members of the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement are over there at the moment. It seems as if the British Government is hell-bent on ploughing ahead with its legislation. The only positive way forward is…

The Taoiseach stated at the national economic dialogue yesterday that shovel-ready projects need to be started now and cited the lack of capacity to spend the money available for capital projects. The western rail corridor is a shovel-ready project. I was really glad to hear the Taoiseach say that, but, yet again, there are only vague commitments to increasing regional connectivity in the NRP. The Taoiseach mentioned the five "d's" in his speech yesterday. There were four originally, and then one was added a bit la…

On behalf of Sinn Féin, I too welcome the ambassador and the South African delegation. I raise the important initiative launched today by Dublin Rape Crisis Centre. We-Speak is a new anonymous online platform for survivors of sexual violence. Trained professionals will manage the platform and create a safe environment for survivors to tell their story and provide support to one another. We should acknowledge Noeline Blackwell, who recently announced she will retire from Dublin Rape Crisis Centre later in the year. …

The Minister knows that we should not need to be here today. What has happened here is disgraceful. It is disgraceful that we are here and that these firefighters had to come in here today. I welcome them to the Gallery. The Minister knows it is because of the non-action of the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform that we are here in the first instance. I ask the Minister to sort this out. I do so particularly on behalf of the firefighters in Mayo. There are 113 retained f…

I acknowledge the work of the Chair of the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, Deputy O’Dowd, and Deputy Brendan Smith who is also present. It was a hugely interesting piece of work for us to do as a committee. I thank all the witnesses who gave witness to what it was like for them, the challenges and opportunities they had and the setting out of the Good Friday Agreement. It was a phenomenal international achievement to get an agreement that did what the Good Friday Agreement did. I…

There were 12,000 home help workers employed directly by the HSE in 2008, and now there are just over 5,000. I am glad that Minister of State, Deputy Butler, is here. The system is broken in many ways. What true evaluation has been done of the impact of the policy of outsourcing and privatisation? We can do all of the advertising in the world, but the system is now broken to an extent that we will not attract the workers we need. Current workers are going from Billy to Jack and do not know what they are doing from …

The first thing I would say is to get your own house in order because the biggest scaremongers in all of this were your own partners in government, and your MEP, Billy Kelleher. Deputy Matthews would have heard him last week.

The Deputy should not interrupt me. They are the Green Party's partners in government. What is going on between them is not my business but they must get it sorted. I am not going to take lectures from the Green Party. I am from rural Ireland and from a farming community and have been dealing with farming organisations and farmers across the board. Since the nitrates directive in 1997, I have heard all of the promises that were made to farmers and all of the ambiguities involved. First it was a case of telling them…

Recently released data from the EU as part of the EU regional competitiveness index lay bare the severity of the infrastructure deficit in the west and the north west. These regions' competitiveness has been undermined by the failure of the Government and successive Governments to invest in the west and the north west. Out of the 234 designated regions across the EU, the north-west region ranks at 218th for infrastructure. This places the region in the bottom 7%, alongside some of the poorest regions in the EU such…

The figures are independent.

I thank the Labour Party for tabling this motion but I really despair. I was in the Seanad for four years and I have been here for two years. Year after year we table motions and talk and talk about things. Like many families in this country, I have a relative and family member who is autistic. He is 23 and I cannot see the changes that are made. I talk daily to parents of autistic children, including adult children, and they experience the same thing we experienced 23 years ago. Things do not change. While there i…

People in Mayo, Sligo, and in the west want a straight answer on the N17 Knock to Collooney scheme. The Minister visited last week and alarmed people when he said that there would be no funding available for the scheme for many years even though it had progressed to the planning and development stage. The landowners along the corridor obviously have their land sterilised in this, but people want a straight answer as to what is happening. There is no point in the Government Deputies coming to the House and pretendin…

When?