I want to deal with particular issues in north Louth. People are going without home care in the harder-to-reach areas of north County Louth. We need to deal with the issues of pay and expenses. We cannot look at home care in isolation. It is part of the overall situation in respect of acute care. The hospital system does not work because home care packages take too long to put in place. We need to ensure we have more stepdown facilities, particularly in County Louth, because the RCSI hospital group is under severe …

We have to review how we deal with wastewater. I spoke earlier about Dundalk and the fact that in most of the town, we have combined wastewater systems that deal with both storm water and sewage. We have infrastructure and a pumping station system that simply do not have the capacity to deal with current rainfall and flooding. We do not have the capacity to deal with the houses and factories that we have today, not to mention the capacity to deal with more factories or housing estates that need to be built. This is…

The Taoiseach has said himself that what we are seeing in Gaza from Israel is more revenge than it is any element of defence. We have seen an absolute abject failure from a security point of view from Israel in what they dreadfully term "mowing the grass". There has been much in the public domain in the sense of Benjamin Netanyahu at times having seen Hamas as an asset in dealing with a split Palestinian leadership and facilitating what has happened in the West Bank and what has made it nearly impossible to deliver…

The nightmare for the Palestinian people continues. We know what Gaza is. It is an open prison and has been for many years. We know what the Palestinian people have been dealing with in Gaza. We also know what they have been dealing with lately. We know that no hope is being provided to these people. We know at this point in time there is nowhere to run. We are talking about 2.3 million people, two thirds of whom have been internally displaced. That sounds like a reasonable phrase but the reality is that they have …

Will we have questions and answers before the Minister of State sums up?

I am in agreement with an awful lot of what has been said. I think all Members accept that war crimes are happening and that is what Israel is doing. This is an especially right-wing Israeli Government, which has attacked its own judiciary. I consider Benjamin Netanyahu a charlatan surrounded by supremacists. Horrific acts were carried out by Hamas but we do not know where the Israeli regime is going to stop. We fear how far it will go regarding ethnic cleansing and genocide. Some in the regime have been very clear…

We obviously need the Government to do everything it can to take the necessary battle on. We are in full agreement that the legacy Bill is nothing but Britain's attempt to hide its disgraceful actions in Ireland during the conflict. I would like to think that legal advice has been provided to the Government because we need to take action as soon as possible. We spoke before about the huge issues as regards drift and slippage. We know the DUP is holding up issues related to an executive being up and running. We have…

I wish to raise the recent flooding in north County Louth, including Dundalk. Carlingford on the Cooley peninsula was particularly devastated, with unprecedented rain. I would like to think there would be flexibility in the humanitarian assistance scheme and the emergency business flood relief scheme. A request has been made to provide a scheme for farmers whose lands have been damaged and whose feedstock has been destroyed. A major issue is Government funding to make sure infrastructure such as roads can be reopen…

Will there be a scheme for farmers?

My colleague, Deputy Martin Kenny, concluded his remarks on a similar motion last year to renew these provisions with the following: "I hope this is the last time we are doing this and that full and proper measures will be in place before we have to return here in six months." While I can appreciate there are other priorities, it is good to have legal certainty when it comes to things which affect the public. This is especially true with regard to measures that will cost businesses money. Renewal debates such as th…

I wanted to put it on the record.

Do not be giving the Minister of State ideas.

Obviously, we need a workable solution across the board on accommodation. I have a technical question. What is the spec of these modular builds and what is the turnaround time in relation to them? Will these particular builds be suitable for long-term accommodation? Obviously, we have to address the huge amount of issues for those on waiting lists and whatever else in the general problem we have with accommodation.

We all know the seriousness of the accidents with which we have been dealing lately and the tragedies for the families involved. On the M1, which is close to where I live, we lost Chris Bradley and Wayne Lynch. In August, a young man who was originally from Algeria lost his life on an e-scooter. I do not think there is anyone who does not realise the importance of the issue with which we are dealing. I am very glad we are looking at a review of speed limits across the board. This needs to happen. In my county, you …

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, for taking this matter. I was contacted by the office of the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, earlier. I will take a wild guess that I might not be particularly impressed with the reply that is given, but I do thank the Minister of State for being here. From my point of view-----

Well, I am going to take a wild guess. I have a reply to a parliamentary question that provided me with some information prior to this. This matter relates to Scoil Bhríde Lann Léire. I visited the school and the relevant issues were pointed out to me. Rather than repeating how I responded to those issues, I will put on record the letter that was sent to me initially. It states, "Good morning Ruairí, I hope this finds you well. I'm contacting you because our school didn't received DEIS status in the latest round bu…

That is the answer I anticipated. Dealing with the wider issue of DEIS, we all know that there are lies, damned lies and statistics. There will always be anomalies. I often think of Dundalk, where there is absolute deprivation side by side with people who are in a different socioeconomic bracket. The average, therefore, does not necessarily reflect the reality on the ground for some people. There needs to be an element of flexibility in the appeals process and, beyond that, there needs to be flexibility and a re-ex…

Ireland has a long history of neutrality, of being non-aligned and of independent foreign policy. Like many who have spoken before me and to whose voice I will add mine, the reason I will do this is because it is our history. We are not a colonial power like many others. We were the colonised. We had a history of trying to find a roadmap towards self-determination. We have had great difficulties in this regard. We all know that many would have seen the Northern conflict as intractable, but it was where one of the m…

The Changing Lives Initiative is a community-based, cross-Border project creating a better understanding of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, ADHD, and providing an intervention programme for families with children between three and seven years of age experiencing behaviours consistent with ADHD. Since 2023, it has been available in Louth and Meath, and I know there are further plans. We need to make sure the funding is available to expand this pilot. The real benefit of this project is the fact that kids d…

I will not be shocked if a huge number of Deputies concentrate in whatever short time they have for speeches before the EU Council meeting on the importance that needs to be given to Gaza at this time. The fact is Gaza is facing obliteration. We have not had the courage we would like from EU leaders. We have all been, at best, deeply unhappy and, at times, deeply shamed by the disgraceful greenlighting by some world leaders, including Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission. It is utterly unaccep…