Enough has been said. The Deputy has made his point.

Deputy Healy-Rae has had plenty of opportunity.

I understand.

We have had enough of this.

The points have been made.

That is enough.

I ask Deputies to finish this off.

I do not think anyone else is coming in. I call the Minister of State.

I am going to bring up my yearly issue of the brown water in Dundalk. It is not the first time I have brought it up with the Taoiseach. It is a particular issue of increased manganese in the water supply reacting with chlorine, which leads to the water being incredibly brown. It also means this impacts on any repairs that get fixed or any flushing teams operating in other areas. Following my own interaction with the Taoiseach, I had a decent enough interaction with Irish Water at a high enough level. I have been in…

Councillor Pearse McGeough and I met representatives of Connect Credit Union in Blackrock this morning regarding the planned closure of the Kilsaran and Clogherhead branches on 30 August. This is not something we want to see. I spoke to the representatives and our biggest concern was about the vulnerable clients and that thing that makes the credit union different. We need to make sure that full supports are being provided and I have been told that they will be in this case. It is an issue which needs to be revisit…

Clogherhead and Kilsaran and Connect Credit Union.

I have brought up the issue before of children who grew up in chaotic sets of circumstances and the need for early intervention and supports. I have also spoken about the fact that, like many others, I have had to deal with some of these chaotic instances that impact greatly on the wider community and that we do not have the supports of the tools, whether from An Garda Síochána, Tusla, the council or anybody else. I welcome the huge work done at times by the likes of the projects run out of The House in Cox's Demen…

It goes without saying that, as Deputy Ó Laoghaire noted, we need to have adequate sentencing guidelines. We have all seen issues in the public domain in recent times that have raised questions. I understand the idea of the separation of powers and so on and the fact that, at times, there needs to be flexibility for judges. We could make very specific rules but then the world might throw a curveball, so we need to make sure there are laws and guidelines for judges that will hold up and allow them to deal with the i…

I welcome to the Gallery the representatives of the Union of Students in Ireland, USI, and the students' unions of UCD, Trinity College, SETU, Maynooth University, DCU, University of Galway and IADT, as well as representatives of Ógra Shinn Féin. I hope I have not forgotten anybody. These people deal with the accommodation crisis for students day to day, and I imagine they could do with a bit more urgency because they are living with out-of-control rents, as the rest of society is. Some of this has been made a hell…

No Member will speak in this debate who is not in support of the provision of statutory home care as a right on an equal pegging with the provision of nursing home care. We have all dealt with many families who are seeking to get the right care package in place to ensure their loved one does not have to go into a nursing home any earlier than necessary. We need to ensure that what has been promised in regard to statutory home care provision is put in place as soon as possible. I take this opportunity to raise once …

Deputy Carthy has already spoken about accession. Whether we are talking about the western Balkans, Moldova, Ukraine or Georgia, the Copenhagen criteria need to be met. While countries must be engaged with and a route map must be provided for them to even meet them halfway, the rule of law is absolutely necessary to maintain the sort of European Union we would like to see, which we sometimes do not see. There are some particular issues with Georgia at the moment. I add my voice to what has been said about Ukraine a…

I want to bring up the issues of district heating and communal heating systems. This not the first time I have brought up the issue of Carlinn Hall in Dundalk. We talk about district heating systems and communal heating systems, which is what is there and which is operated off gas. Obviously, there are particular laws and planning changes that need to happen because I do not believe these are particularly good systems. To facilitate a switch to geothermal or a heat pump system, we need to look at the support scheme…

Yesterday, Daft.ie released its latest house prices report. Shockingly - or not shockingly - it showed house prices continuing to spiral out of control. In the year to June, the average price of a home increased by almost 7%, to €340,000. In Dublin city, average house prices have hit €543,000, up almost 5%. In Louth, average house prices are now almost €300,000. That is up 7% in a year. We all accept the affordable housing targets are too low. They are not being met and too many of the homes are not affordable to t…

I asked about the affordable scheme.

I commend the life of Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh, the voice of the GAA and, at times with a touch of magic, the voice of Ireland. I also recognise the contribution to journalism of Tommie Gorman, particularly at what was a very difficult and important time for Ireland as regards the peace process. I had a great conversation with him one day on the basis of shared Sligo connections. I want to remember both men. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a n-anamacha dílse. When we speak about Palestine and Israel we only need to switch on …