Sheep farming is an important driver of economic activity in many parts of rural Ireland, generating €476 million in exports alone in 2022 from 47,123 farms involved in sheep farming, especially in areas that were otherwise starved of inward investment. Mayo is a mountainous county where agriculture plays a vital role in underpinning the rural economy. In Mayo more than 30% of the county has some level of environmental legislation, such as Natura, special areas of conservation, or natural heritage areas, NHAs. It i…

I am deeply grateful to the Women of Honour, whom I welcome to the Public Gallery, and to all the women who came forward to give first-hand accounts of their experiences, both members and former members. I too want to recognise Katie Hannon. We should not be in a position where we have to wait for RTÉ to do a "Prime Time Investigates" programme before we react to some of this horrific stuff. Time and time again, we find that we wait and wait until something appears on RTÉ but if Katie Hannon and her team had not do…

I received a communication from a mother who stated: My son is autistic. He is neurodiverse. He thinks differently. He learns differently. He is lonely, afraid, confused and traumatised and that is because he is held in an adult mental health unit. Does the Taoiseach know how many young people are put into adult mental health units throughout the country with no care plans, behavioural plans or discharge dates? These people do not have mental health issues. They need day services, residential services, speech thera…

Today, the Taoiseach and Government have one last chance to stop the backslapping and answer the question asked by people in Mayo and every other county who are being forced to move out of their homes this weekend and in the coming weeks, namely where do they go. Mayo is the county of Michael Davitt. How disgraceful is it that almost 100 years after his death, evictions would feature in the daily life of a county and country he fought so hard for? The Taoiseach and Government have chosen to devastate lives by not e…

I welcome this motion from the Labour Party.

I know the feeling.

I thank the Labour Party for tabling this timely motion, which touches on a number of important issues, one of which is the lack of capacity in school transport. Across the State, students and families that had relied on school transport for years were suddenly displaced last year. The Government had no plan to increase capacity meaningfully and left children on the side of the road. We are awaiting the review, which the Minister keeps saying is due shortly, but can there be at least flexibility this year to ensure…

I listened to the Minister acutely and nobody would think that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have been in power for the last 100 years. I remind him that Sinn Féin has never been in government in the South of this island. To start blaming Sinn Féin and saying it is Sinn Féin's fault where the Government is going, or not going, with housing is ridiculous, which most people recognise. The only way I can make sense of this decision is to believe the Government and all of the Government TDs do not understand the damage and…

The HIQA report on Mayo University Hospital, published a few months ago, showed a 10% deficit in medical staff, a 14% deficit in nursing staff, a 15% deficit in healthcare assistance staff and a 23% deficit in pharmacy staff across the hospital. The shortfall was even more acute in the emergency department. That department is just not capable of supporting the needs of Mayo as it is. Dedicated and very hardworking staff are under immense pressure and sometimes barely able to cope. They are not getting the support t…

I thank the Minister of State for taking this important matter. She will be aware that in 2017 HIQA had concerns that Western Care Association was exploiting a loophole in the legislation and not registering individualised services. HIQA raised these concerns with Western Care Association at the time but the organisation insisted that the individualised care services did not meet the criteria to be registered with the Office of the Chief Inspector of Social Services and be subject to inspections. HIQA raised the sa…

I thank the Minister of State and acknowledge that some work has been done since these disclosures came to light. However, contravention of the Health Act 2007 over such a long period is a very serious matter. The Minister of State must ensure there is accountability for these failures and outline the steps she is taking to ensure this can never happen again, either in Western Care Association or similar care services. Firm and frank assurances must be given that those who have come forward to expose the non-compli…

We do not demonise small landlords.

Yet again, I have to raise with the Taoiseach the scandal of mothers who were prescribed Epilim - the valproate scandal. An inquiry was promised, as the Taoiseach will be aware, more than two years ago. Last week, we saw yet another multi-million euro court settlement in regard to this. Can the Taoiseach please give these families a timeline for when this inquiry will start? They have waited far too long. They have waited decades for this to happen. To leave them hanging on like this is grossly unjust. It is injust…

This evening, Sinn Féin will bring a motion asking the Government to tax electricity companies on their obscene profits and put that money towards reducing and capping people's bills. Back in November 2022, I warned the Government the electricity pricing system was broken and people were paying prices they should not and need not have been paying. The Taoiseach and his Government colleagues spent a year telling me reform was either impossible or undesirable. The Taoiseach's Government has failed to act and even opp…

I wish to register my shock and horror at the decision to end the eviction ban. That decision will be remembered for a very long time. Students will be among those left without a roof over their head. Student accommodation is part of the broader housing crisis overseen by Fine Gael over the past 12 years. The cost and availability of education is the biggest barrier to third level education, particularly for students in rural areas and students from Mayo. The announcement that Government will co-fund 400 student be…

I thank my colleagues Deputies Doherty and O'Rourke for bringing forward this motion. I am conscious, as we are talking about this motion, that sub-zero temperatures are forecast for the next few days. Energy poverty and deprivation are piercing the homes and hearts of many people throughout this country. The Minister of State listed many things he said the Government has done, but it is giving people money to give to companies to make more and more profits, all the time. I will tell the Minister of State how it is…

This is an important point. We must see the cost-benefit analysis that was done on this matter to see exactly how the Government came to this decision. Everyone is open to examining this but we need to know what the impact will be on hairdressers and other services in the community. I note the Minister mentioned the regional impact. That needs to be set out clearly. The TBESS was welcomed but we must remember it was completely out of the question in rural Ireland. Those who do not have natural gas or liquified petr…

I am looking forward to having the wind behind us. It is important for the Minister to publish the full information that he has, sooner rather than later, for us to be able to discuss this in a meaningful way and to evaluate what is there. Will the Minister please ask the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment to get the LPG gas issue sorted out?

I want to acknowledge the work of my colleague, Deputy Daly, and Lee Daly in his office, on this Bill. The more transparency around wages the better for all workers as it can help to ensure a fair deal from employers. Pay transparency is also an important tool for tackling the gender pay gap and other forms of pay related discrimination. Progress has been made in the area of pay transparency but more still needs to be done and some of those reasons and the measurements that have been done were outlined by Deputy Da…

While I was raising this subject with the Taoiseach yesterday, there were some young girls present from Sancta Maria College in Louisburgh. Two of them told me afterwards about the impact that the absence of a fit-for-purpose ambulance service in Mayo has had on them. One told me about her sister having an anaphylactic shock and that she had to be rushed to hospital in a car, while the second told me she had lost her grandmother while waiting for an ambulance. That is the reality of not having an ambulance service …