That is welcome. The Minister, Deputy Harris, will be in the Dáil to answer questions next week and I hope he will acknowledge that, because parents paying for students' rent should be entitled to the credit. Rent is rent at the end of the day. What is disappointing is we can predict accurately, based on the number of babies born today, how many students are going to need accommodation in 19 or 20 years' time. There must be an acknowledgement of the failure there and we must learn from it. It is inevitable there mu…

This year, An Bord Pleanála has shelled out more than €1 million of taxpayers' money to developers because of the delayed decisions on controversial strategic housing developments, SHDs. This information emerged in the aftermath of revelations that the legal bills of An Bord Pleanála have more than doubled to €8 million a year arising from a litany of legally questionable planning decisions. Millions of euro are being wasted because of the bad and late decisions being made by the board. Why is this allowed to happe…

I worked in the community and voluntary sector. This has been going on for way too long. I started working in the community and voluntary sector in 2003. Since then, we have been talking about the same thing that we are discussing now. The Minister stated that those involved are not public servants, but they serve the public so we are splitting hairs. There has been an abdication of responsibility on the part of successive Governments along the way when it comes to taking any kind of responsibility. On one hand, we…

At 11.11 a.m. next Thursday, students from all over this State will walk out of their lectures. They have a list of well-justified demands, including adequate funding for the sector to address a legacy of chronic underfunding, reform of Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, and a living wage including decent pay for PhD researchers who are denied worker status. Three of their demands centre around the crisis in student accommodation, yet this year's budget is the third consecutive budget from the Government with…

Amending the regulation of health and social care professionals by the Medical Council and CORU is the subject of the measures in the Bill. The amendments to the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005, Medical Practitioners Act 2007 and Regulated Professions (Health and Social Care) (Amendment) Act 2020 are very welcome. The Bill will restore the ability of holders of British medical degrees to take up intern training posts in this State. This is essential for attracting sorely needed internationally trained…

I thank the Minister. I would like to speak to amendments Nos. 1 to 3, inclusive. I commend the work of the Seanadóirí and the student unions on these amendments and in getting them accepted. It is important there is no ambiguity in regard to the fact that it should be student union representatives on the governing board or authority of every higher education institution. I particularly want to thank the student unions for all of the work they have done throughout this Bill with, as the Minister said, the IUA, THEA…

I forgot to thank Conradh na Gaeilge and my colleague, Deputy Ó Snodaigh, for their work. It was excellent and I am indebted to them for that.

It is truly shocking that the Government and the EU have been so slow to address the broken electricity pricing system. Last Friday, the EU Governments finally agreed to act. Sadly, “as little as possible and as late as possible” seems to be the policy there, with a token windfall tax that lets oil and gas companies keep the vast majority of profits. How will that even work for the likes of Corrib gas, which has €1.2 billion in write-offs against profit? The tax will not even apply to the electricity companies we s…

It is not the EU.

I listened to the Minister intently. “Sinn Féin, Sinn Féin, Sinn Féin” - that is the answer he has to anything. People watching this from Mayo, and I will talk about Mayo in particular, will be absolutely disgusted. The Minister talks about trade-offs. What they see are the trade-offs between the Galway tent, the relationship with developers and the cronyism that was rife in this country. That is the trade-off they see. It really makes me angry to have to hear what the Minister has to say around this. I have worked…

Before I address further and higher education, I want to say that I hope the school transport debacle is solved for now. I urge the Minister, Deputy Foley, to publish the review or to get it sorted out as soon as possible so that we are not in the same situation with school transport next year. I acknowledge the advances that have been made in this budget to support students and to help them and their families through the crisis. I thank the Minister, Deputy Harris, and the Minister of State, Deputy Niall Collins, …

Among those attending the cost-of-living rally this Saturday will be the homeowners whose lives and houses have been torn apart by pyrite and mica. There are huge problems even as things are, as outlined by my colleague Deputy Doherty. Construction inflation is proving to be a huge barrier to homeowners accessing the redress scheme. Has a request been made to the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland to report on all the counties currently in the scheme, given the time that will take? There will be huge problems i…

I congratulate the Minister of State, as my constituency colleague, on his new position. I look forward to working with him for the betterment of the people we are here to serve. As has been stated, the Screening of Third Country Transactions Bill 2022 seeks to provide Ireland with screening of foreign direct investment in key infrastructure in strategic sectors. People might be shocked to learn that such a formal screening process is not already in place. We have seen substantial privatisation of infrastructure ov…

Housing for All mentions student accommodation only once. The student accommodation emergency was brought into focus last week when the French Embassy warned its students against coming to Ireland. We are in a shameful situation, with students who have worked hard and families who have sacrificed to get their children to college now finding they are locked out of their courses and career of choice. They are crippled with high rents, they are open to exploitation, and they are forced to commute crazy distances. We n…

Since last year, I have been raising the need to end the crazy situation whereby sky-high gas prices set the price for all electricity, and the need to decouple electricity prices from gas prices. Each time the Minister, the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste have dismissed it out of hand. It is unacceptable for the Minister to continually hide behind the EU. Energy policy is a shared competence between the EU and member states. It is simply not good enough for the Minister responsible for energy to take such little respon…

I never said that.

What does the Minister of State say to people in Mayo who, when they key in their postcode, find that they will get broadband in 2025 and 2026? What does he say to the people who key in their postcode and are excluded because they are deemed to have a service when they cannot do the very basics in downloading and uploading? Is he concerned that we have not future-proofed this plan and that 30 Mbps is not sufficient because of all the transactions and everything else that are necessary now and in the future of our b…

I want to make the Minister aware of a problem with the SEAI and businesses applying for grants. Businesses that have applied for grants are not getting a response quickly enough. In some cases they are not getting a response at all. I know one business that has been told it will be informed in November. These businesses have laid out a lot of money, up to €180,000 in some cases. Could the Minister intervene with the SEAI and ask them to speed up and streamline the process so that money gets back into these busines…

I welcome the condemnation, as a woman in politics, of the hate-fest that has happened in the North. To see my party leader, Deputy McDonald, as well as Michelle O'Neill, Naomi Long and many others, treated in the way they are sends out a very negative message for encouraging women into politics. I want to ask about school transport. I welcome the removal of fees but that will lead to extra demand. What provisions have been made to cater for that demand by increasing supply? How many more seats will be available on…

The European Council again discussed ways to curb energy prices. Gas is now five times the price it was a year ago, which is a threat to households and the wider economy. The impact on small businesses is also ferocious. One of our local shops has been landed with a €4,200 electricity bill. This is despite its operators doing everything possible to reduce it, for example, switching off fridges and lights and taking every measure they can just to stay in business. The nearest shop to that one is 15 miles away. Anoth…