I want to raise the case of a 13-year-old girl in Dundalk who has been in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital for approximately seven weeks. She is under the care of CAMHS and Louth Meath mental health services, which have done all they can to help her. It is an acute situation. She has what I will call an eating disorder, possibly combined with other factors. She has been awaiting acute residential care, which has been promised but not delivered. She was released from hospital on two previous occasions. Once, she was ret…

I appreciate that. I have sent on the details of the case and they should have landed in the Minister of State's office. I was dealing with the HSE and, in particular, Louth Meath mental health services. My understanding is that they have done everything they can and there is a level of frustration on their part. I would really appreciate it if the Minister of State could bring any pressure she can to bear in this matter, with a view to finding a solution. This is a really difficult and acute situation and we are v…

Before I start my contribution, republicans in Dundalk are now saying farewell to Francie Doran, a man from the North. Like him, many people from Belfast settled in Dundalk due to the conflict and they played a significant role in republican and community activism. My thoughts are with Marion and his family and I thought I needed to make mention of it. I commend Deputies Ó Broin and Conway-Walsh and the USI on dealing with an issue that concerns giving protection to students. We have already heard it mentioned freq…

This legislation is straightforward and there is widespread support for the idea behind it. We also welcome the Government's idea of a community safety innovation fund. We have been dealing with a drugs pandemic for a considerable time. While it may impact across society, it particularly affects working-class areas, such as those in my own area in Dundalk. In the past fortnight, I have been dealing with issues regarding drug debt intimidation. I must commend the work of the Garda in this regard. This legislation is…

This happened slightly faster than I anticipated. We are dealing with a number of issues. This is obviously a technical Bill. We all support it since it is necessary. A number of Deputies have already spoken about heritage. We welcome that much work is done by bodies on protecting heritage sites and ensuring continuity of such but there are difficulties. It is a problem that we have with communication across the board. When I spoke on the climate change legislation I stated there was an onus on the Government and t…

We have already stated we will support the Bill. It is a technical Bill that is absolutely necessary from the point of view of dealing with constitutional issues. Deputy Howlin spoke earlier about mandatory sentencing, which people sometimes believe is a panacea. I will deal with interventions that are necessary in our communities. This is nothing new as I have raised these issues previously with the Minister. I welcome what the Government has been saying on certain issues. I welcome the fact there are projects tha…

I welcome the Minister's commentary that there will not a be cliff edge in the EWSS and the CRSS. Many supports have been provided in recent times that have got businesses and families through what was a difficult gap and that is welcome. I want to add my voice to what Deputy O'Reilly said earlier. We had the issue of Carphone Warehouse and the job losses there, including in my town of Dundalk. We need to look at a forum on the future of retail and to build whatever that conversation is on a similar conversation on…

I commend Deputy Pringle and the Independent Group for bringing this motion forward. It is one of those rare occasions when one can agree with almost everything that is being said in this room from the point of view that there is a responsibility on the Government to deal with the INHFA. A number of us have been contacted by it and other farming organisations. It is a lack of trust that they have. It is these protections that they demand. All of them are talking about it. We cannot create a situation where we have …

I spoke to the Taoiseach previously about the report of the Dublin-Belfast Economic Corridor group. The report is produced by all the local authorities, North and South, in the area of the corridor, in conjunction with the University of Ulster and DCU. It deals with all the positives the area enjoys, including infrastructure, a young and dynamic population and the existence of the various universities and learning institutes. Thinking of the future for the likes of my own town of Dundalk, Drogheda and Newry, I see …

I would like to follow Deputy O'Rourke in offering general support for this climate Bill. We believe, however, there is room for improvement, and in this regard we will be making amendments on Committee Stage. There is nobody who does not accept the reality of climate change and its impact. I accept the Minister's statement that we are dealing with a pandemic that may have resulted from the fact we have absolutely failed to look after the natural world. The necessary buzzwords relate to the fact we need to make cha…

I want to ask the Minister the date by which he plans to publish the results of the national development plan. We accept we are in changed times. I assume the answer will contain some information on the necessary supports that we are delivering, combined with the outworkings of a stimulus programme that we will require after that.

I will throw a question to the Minister on the connection between the national development plan, the national planning framework, the RESS and local development plans. We all know the difficulties certain county councils are currently experiencing. They are also awaiting additional information on rural housing and so on. They believe they are in a situation whereby they cannot necessarily deal with this. Does the Minister have a view on whether we should hold off on carrying out some of that work until we are in ar…

I appreciate the Minister's response. We are operating a national development plan from the point of view of changed times, wants and needs, along with the issues we have consistently had in respect of housing. We are talking about dealing with climate change. There are retrofit schemes which are not necessarily fit for purpose at this point in time. I know just under €1 million was given to Louth County Council to deliver 36 houses, which is not what we need. Can the Minister deal with the specifics of a plan post…

I have to agree with Deputy Duncan Smith. We are in the realm of farce. On the issue of remote working, remote working hubs and broadband provision, how has the Tánaiste got on in terms of his conversations with National Broadband Ireland, NBI, regarding the acceleration of the roll-out? Beyond that, has he spoken to private operators about possible interim solutions for areas that may have to wait four, five, six or seven years for proper broadband provision?

I thank the Rural Independent Group for tabling this motion and giving me this opportunity. I will initially deal with Sinn Féin's document, Our Rural Future, and particularly the part of it which relates to optimising digital communications. We had much conversation in the Chamber earlier about investment in remote working and broadband provision. The national broadband plan is the plan we have. On some level, there is no alternative. It needs to be accelerated. We have heard much commentary from the Tánaiste and …

Many states across the European Union are experiencing a new wave of Covid-19. This is terribly frightening. The European Commission has admitted to the mistakes it made in procurement and we know of the issues with follow-up and contracts. It is fair to say there was an element of naivety in trusting the likes of AstraZeneca. One point on which I will agree with Boris Johnson is the connection between greed and some of the decision-making of that particular company. We are all very hopeful about increased vaccine …

I welcome the Minister of State breaking down the 360 million vaccine doses. Is it possible to get a timeline on when in the second quarter they will be delivered and if we can get the specifics for this State? That would be beneficial. I understand there will not be a pile of time for the work of Commissioner Thierry Breton, specifically with regard to the contracts between the EU or Britain and AstraZeneca, or the conversations that the Commission has had on the likes of C-TAP, maximising global vaccine supply an…

I welcome that this legislation does extend the protection for certain renters. We all accept that we are in a brutal pandemic and it has lasted longer than anticipated. However, we were already dealing with a huge issue, namely, the almost pandemic of ridiculous rental prices. There were people who were already absolutely stretched in relation to making these payments. There are people in my constituency who are paying rents of €1,000, €1,200 and even up to €1,600 per month for relatively modest homes. Some people…

I would like to bring up the issue of the Dublin-Belfast economic corridor. This group launched its report at an event hosted by David McWilliams earlier. This report was put together by all of the regional local authorities, combined with Dublin City University and the University of Ulster. That entire region and its connectivity has been impacted by partition and Brexit. What are the Taoiseach's plans for the shared island unit in progressing this, particularly the corridor? The likes of Dundalk, Drogheda and New…

I agree with many who have spoken here today. We are all worried about any chance of legal action with regard to the supply of vaccines or vaccine ingredients. We all recognise that, as Dr. Ursula von der Leyen has stated, mistakes were made with regard to vaccine procurement. There is an issue. We are all aware that 41 million doses have made their way out of the European Union, including 10 million doses for Britain and 1 million for the US, while nothing has come back into the European Union. We know there is a …