There will probably be a fair amount of agreement on the fact that there is general support for-----

I am not in any way. I would say the Minister is just glad I did not ask him the question I always ask him at this point. That is for another day. We all accept the necessity of the likes of this bodycam technology. I think there is general agreement on the necessity of ensuring, as with any solution, that resourcing is available. Part of that is training. Training will need to be updated. We will need to involve the Garda Representative Association, GRA, the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors, AGSI, the…

I had hoped to be in earlier. On the inquiry into how the State dealt with Covid, the Taoiseach is talking about it being scoped out. Would it be possible to get a timeline on how long this scoping exercise will take? Can we get the detail as soon as possible about the remit and whether we are talking about individual modules, as well as a timeline on the inquiry? I spoke to the Taoiseach previously about Dealgan House and the 23 people who died there. The fact RCSI Hospitals Group took over there makes it differen…

The Minister has stated he accepts there are people who are under extreme pressure because of the five interest rates increases by the ECB. We all know of particular individuals who are under significant pressure. We know people on tracker mortgages who may have an added monthly bill of €200. This could be €200 on top of large increases in fuel costs and electricity costs. Other people have spoken about all of the services people may need for their children. They may need disability services they must pay for thems…

It was wrong and unfair that households struggling to pay bills were subsidising big business and large energy users. The Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, failed to protect the public interest. That is why Sinn Féin has been pursuing this issue. The reason my colleague, Senator Boylan, submitted freedom of information requests on the issue was to get fairness for hard-pressed households. Yesterday, we welcomed the fact that, as a result of shedding light on this issue, households will now each get €50 b…

Deputy Canney should not take ten minutes.

I thank the Chairman of the committee, Senator Carrigy, for the report and my colleague Deputy Buckley for sponsoring it. I thank all the members of the committee for the work they have done. In particular, I thank them for the room they have made for me. From time to time, I might have overstepped the line regarding the speaking time I took. I will try not to do that today. The point of having an autism committee is similar to the one mentioned by Deputy Canney, that is, to ensure we create a space for autistic pe…

We need the citizens' assembly on drugs to happen as soon as possible. We are looking at absolute failure. When we talk about drug use, drug addiction, the services that relate to those problems, drug criminality and drug-debt intimidation, we speak about its impact across society, which is particularly bad in working-class areas in urban settings. We need to do something different. We all accept and have said that the war on drugs has failed. We need to try something different. We need this assembly to be up and r…

The Government has spoken about community welfare or exceptional needs payments as a means of dealing with the cost-of-living crisis that many people are dealing with. We are all aware of many people who are waiting an extremely long time. I know of cases in Dundalk of people waiting eight, nine and ten weeks, or longer. In some cases, we know these people are applying for exceptional needs payments to purchase white goods, for example if they have just got a council house. The delay in making such payments slows d…

It goes without saying that many children are affected by the housing crisis and disability supports that are not available. Let us be clear. If we are talking about real and meaningful change in tackling child poverty, we need to look at the pathways available to many of us, be they through education, apprenticeships or employment. A significant number of people are born without those supports and that scaffolding. Major early childhood supports are needed. If we do not do that, we will constantly fail a number of…

I think it is accepted across the board what Israel is doing and what it has done to the Palestinians. Things are getting worse with a very right-wing and racist Government.

We are talking about breaches of international law, annexation, apartheid, execution and murder. The Minister has said he works with like-minded states across Europe. What action will these like-minded states take? I accept the European Union will not do anything to hold Israel accountable, but on that basis there is an onus on us to stand by the Palestinian people. There must be consequences for the apartheid regime. Maybe that will be the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018 and, beyond t…

There has been much discussion of this issue. I assume the Minister, the Ministers of State and everyone else across the House has received a large amount of correspondence from people who have been put out by what they have seen. We can probably all make easy politics of a situation where natural resources are being sold to a British investment fund. That sells well. The problem is that it is partly true. How did we end up in this particular set of circumstances? I am not entirely sure how the conversation went or…

As people can see from all around me, I am operating the same paper-based system as the HSE. That is a joke, but the system is a joke that we need to fix. It is an easy fix that we have managed not to implement for many years. Like other Deputies, I wish to thank the Mental Health Commission. I also thank Dr. Susan Finnerty for her excellent work on this. We will all say that we are shocked but not surprised. We in the House go around and around the garden when dealing with healthcare, particularly mental healthcar…

I also thank Deputy Michael Collins and the Rural Independent Group for bringing forward this vital motion. It is absolutely necessary that we have these conversations. I have no doubt that many others have had the same conversations I have had with fishers in respect of ensuring the sustainability of their industry. I know the Minister has also had engagement. He knows the issues. No more than when we talk about farming and the family farm, the main thing is to ensure the sustainability of the industry and wider f…

I was sent a letter by Claire, a grandmother and constituent. Her daughter has a beautiful five-year-old autistic son who attends a unit in Kilsaran school. After begging schools, it was the only one his mother could get a place in even though they live in Dundalk. Thankfully, the unit is brilliant. Mason is over the average height for his age and strong. In addition, he is a flight risk and constantly trying to run away. He is volatile and, in a temper, will hurt his mother and brother on occasion. She is not look…

The answer she got was that occupational therapy waiting lists-----

Yes.

The occupational therapy waiting lists are closed. We do not have the services required. The HSE has large gaps-----

-----but we need short-, medium- and long-term plans that deliver for children like Mason and his mother, Aisling.