The Minister spoke about the industrial relations infrastructure but that has failed to deal with this matter to date. We have had numerous cases over and back. Like everyone else, I can accept that one aspect relates to the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport, section 481 relates to the Minister for Finance, and another issue relates to the Minister for Enterprise, Culture and Employment; however, we just need to find a means to deal with the issues, be they related to copyright, workers' rights or blac…

I have awaited this moment for at least 30 seconds. We cannot take away from the importance of the issue we are discussing. As regards the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, we have no issue with good economic trade agreements and free trade agreements that work for all the people. I do not think many will complain about that fact. On the EU and Canada, I do not think anything is stopping us from accepting what was agreed within that set of negotiations. However, I do not think it will come as a shock that…

That is the message. The Government must stop breaking the law. It is a terrible indictment of this State and the entire system that we are reliant on 15-year-old Cara Darmody to hold this State's feet to the flames. I have often said there is always an element of failure when people have to come to politicians in order to vindicate their rights but in this case we have a young advocate who has been given no choice because of the failure that has been shown to her family and many other families. I agree with Deputy…

Hear, hear.

Anois, bogfaidh muid ar aghaidh chuig Ceist Uimh. 4 in ainm an Teachta Roderic O’Gorman. Tá an Teachta Boyd-Barrett á glacadh.

We all love the idea of a thriving Irish film industry, whether we look at it, historically, through the likes of "My Left Foot" and "In the Name of the Father" right through to "Kneecap" and "An Cailín Ciúin", a lot in between and many smaller enterprises. We all should take great pride in this. We are only too delighted if section 481 is used as a means of enhancing the film industry and ensuring that we continue with this and we can improve upon it. When we talk about the cultural test that is meant to be implem…

Indeed, there would. "Yippee KiYay", and all of that. That is the reality. I am not trying to make light of it. That was not going to happen in these sets of circumstances but it has happened to loads of people who work in the Irish film industry and that is not okay. This is not some industry that is operating away on its own independently. This is an industry that is rightly supported by the State. We need to find a mechanism whereby we continue with section 481 but we ensure that section 481 ensures there is the…

I thank the Minister of State. Fair play to anybody who is going to sit through ten Topical Issues. It is a matter of actually getting delivery on some of these issues. This issue is one where you think there must be a simple solution, so it is a matter of us finding that solution. I was sent a letter from the board of management of Ardee Educate Together National School and its principal, Ann Middleton. I was lucky enough to go around the site for the new build. All I can say, which is no different from what is in…

Louth County Council is almost a facilitator. It speaks to the design team. I raised this issue with the Taoiseach in terms of the need to streamline regulation. We all know the issues that exist in respect of planning. We need a system that can be more agile. While we need checks and balances, that should be possible. If mistakes are made or issues are seen, they could be addressed in a timely manner. The project could proceed through the process and the problem would still persist and would need to be dealt with …

It not the council; the Department has a role to play.

We are coming up to the 50th anniversary of the Dundalk bombing, which happened on 19 December 1975. Dundalk lost Hugh Watters, who was a local tailor and a well-respected man, and Jack Rooney, a fireman and a man who worked for the council. Obviously, this was devastating for their families. A memorial event has been organised by the families. It is going to happen near the courthouse, where there is a plaque, at 6.15 p.m. on Friday, 19 December. I think it is very important that we commemorate this 50th anniversa…

We all accept there are huge issues with bureaucracy and red tape in planning. We should have seen simplification and streamlining. Conversations about this are occurring across Europe, but we know about the home-grown issues. It is an issue I have brought up previously, even within the planning systems involving State authorities. For example, Louth County Council is involved in the Ardee Education Together National School build and a particular issue has arisen. We do not have enough agility in the system. Multip…

It is possible to get this work done at this time, but if the works continue as planned, the problem will still need to be fixed but it could take more than €100,000, so we need something to be done.

The refusal to change-----

It is not just the council.

In County Louth?

When we are dealing with energy costs, we can start at a fairly obvious place. There are 180,000 in arrears on their gas bills and 300,000 homes in arrears on their electricity bills. That is 13% of households who cannot afford electricity and 26% who cannot afford gas. That is the reality. It would not be difficult for anyone to find out that people are facing severe issues related to this. It is not really shocking that the Government had information indicating people were facing into even greater costs than they…

The Minister of State accepted this is all taking far too long. He accepted that there are huge issues in relation to social housing, appeals and the standards review. We are where we are and we all accept that, as the people who are dealing with crumbling houses have to accept it. Nobody likes legislation that is dropped at the last minute without any possibility of proper scrutiny but, the fact is, if the Minister of State is talking about the next three weeks, the Government really has to be open to listening to…

It is hard to believe we are here dealing with this issue. Sometimes, when a issue comes to a politician it shows the abject failure across the board. In many instances we are talking about individual cases where the State has failed. We are talking about the Coast Guard search and rescue. Ask anybody on the street what that means and they will say it is people who go above and beyond, who are risking everything. We know what happened with the serious loss of Rescue 116. We lost Dara Fitzpatrick, Mark Duffy, Paul O…

De réir Bhuan-Ordaithe 85(2), cuirfear an vótáil siar go dtí an am vótála seachtainiúil, Dé Céadaoin, an 3 Nollaig 2025.