According to Women's Aid Dundalk, sexual abuse and sexual violence are often among the last things to be revealed by a woman coming to its service. This is because the bodily integrity of the woman has been violated and is only disclosed when the woman has gained trust in the service and gained confidence in how her other disclosures were dealt with. As the research shows, it is not only women who are victims and survivors but, unfortunately, the huge majority are. In this research, there is a relatively high level…

With this huge amount of time, I will try to make about 14 points, all of them worthwhile. In fairness, when we talk about the €100 extra, there is an acceptance across the board of the pressure people are under. There is a need for greater intervention and not enough has been done about price gouging in the retail sector but we will leave that for another day. I will use this opportunity to talk about an issue which I have spoken to the Minister about before, which is reasonable accommodation and grant schemes. Th…

Are there any plans to provide additional accommodation and space for Ó Fiaich College in Dundalk? It is a post-primary school and also a further education institute. I would appreciate if the Minister could make a statement on the matter. I think I am on the record as saying my own kids have attended the school, both at institute and post-primary levels. It does a huge amount of work in the area as regards school completion and all the rest of it. I just think we are constrained by space.

I suppose on some level this is one of the few instances where it crosses the Minister's Department and also that of the Minister, Deputy Harris, in respect of further education. I could be slightly off on my figures but I am going to say the school has a relatively small population of 275 but it is operating in a DEIS area. I can only speak in the highest terms about the specific interventions that have been done in that school. It is really positive that it is colocated with a further education institute. My step…

I understand there are processes. I have had initial conversations with the school and with the Louth and Meath Education and Training Board, LMETB. Those will continue in the near future and an overall plan is probably required. My youngest son Turlough attends the school. Turlough is autistic. He is in mainstream school. I can only say, once again, very positive things. I was only making the point about the communication from the SENO in relation to the fact the area is constrained. The post-primary school popula…

The LMETB might even agree with the Minister.

What we see in the Bill is the laying down of the necessary legislative framework. We are speaking about the export of items that can be used for civil or military purposes and for the control of the provision of brokering services and technical assistance and of the transit of those items. We all have big worries about the sale of weapons. We are especially worried about weapons of mass destruction. We all know the history, which is not so recent anymore, of flawed intelligence. There has been much talk about seve…

It is very close to the topic. It relates to taxation from the point of view of remote working, North and South. The matter relates to PayPal. Some 120 staff of the latter had to be transferred to PayPal UK lately because they are remote working and it is no longer possible for them to continue to be paid in the South. There are obviously particular conditions around that. However, we are at a different stage now and we need to look at bilateral arrangements with the British Government, which is probably more possi…

I add my voice to the call to look at the re-municipalisation of waste collection services. We all know about the issue of costs in that regard, which have spiralled, and that of people who cannot afford to take out services, in addition to those who abuse their neighbours and others by dumping. This is an issue that needs a greater amount of resourcing, whether it is through local authorities or whatever, in ensuring they have all the necessary tools to deal with it. We need to look at something. Even if waste col…

Yesterday, I brought up the issue of housing adaptation grants for older and disabled people and I need the Taoiseach to revert to me on that. Carlinn Hall is a large housing estate in Dundalk with a communal heating system that is gas-fed having previously been biomass-fed. A feasibility study was carried out on the use of geothermal heating. I ask that the results of that study be expedited. Deputy Bacik also spoke about the report on district heating systems. We need to ensure this problem does not recur. We nee…

It has been said here that we are laggards as to where we need to be as regards the delivery of offshore wind. Many of us have spoken about the fact that we could be a wind superpower. I have heard experts state we could change the entire energy map of Europe, but that matters only if we have the capacity. What are the Government's plans to ensure we have the auctions, planning framework, ports, grid capacity and all the other pieces necessary for a fit-for-purpose system? Are we looking at the State taking an elem…

I apologise for any repetition from the last time we spoke on these particular issues. I agree that the debate is timely. We have the OECD report on skills. We also have the beginning of the European Year of Skills. We had Europe Day yesterday. We all know the positives from the solidarity that Europe has shown to Ireland particularly during the time of Covid and through the entire period of madness post Brexit. Europe has shown solidarity and support for the Good Friday Agreement. As I have stated on more than one…

Bhí sé sin deacair.

I, too, wish to follow up on the Russian ships in Irish waters. We have already heard mention today of the secret air defence agreement with the RAF. There needs to be far more discussion of that and the whole question of military non-alignment. It raises the question of capacity. Considering the humanitarian operation, and we can see much good work was done in Sudan, there are questions to be asked. We have had the Commission on Defence Forces and we live in an age of hybrid and cyber warfare, so we need to make s…

We dealt with many issues whether we are talking about disability across the board or housing. In fairness to the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, she has been looking for workarounds but that is half the problem. What we need are solutions. It has already been said that we have needed to deal with the discontinuation of the mobility allowance and the various transport schemes for a long time. We know there are people who really need these sort of supports but cannot get them. I will detail one case involving an…

Like many Deputies, I welcome much of the Bill. We should do everything we can to streamline safety and, from a SOLAS point of view, licensing. We also need to streamline how we deal with out-of-State qualifications, and there are issues still obtaining on this island. Anything that can be done to deal with the obstacles that people are encountering is necessary. We all get the idea of lifelong learning. I like the idea that, as important as they are, apprenticeships are not just for the wet trades. Of course, it m…

Many of us see the importance of the Good Friday Agreement. There were many painstaking moves that needed to be taken over many years and still need to be taken to ensure the continuity of the trajectory of the agreement. We all realise where we came from and it is about where we go to, that is, a better society and Ireland, somewhere that we can all share and a place where we all live. We have seen the importance with which the European Union sees the agreement. The Joint Committee on European Union Affairs met wi…

The north west suffers from historically poor transport connectivity and this continues to impact on innovation, the creation of good jobs, a just transition and cost burdens on families and businesses. There is currently no motorway, no direct rail line or air route from Dublin to Derry, the fourth largest city on the island. As we know, the New Decade, New Approach Agreement commits to an air connectivity review, which includes the Dublin-to-Derry route. Some 40% of the passengers who use Derry Airport are from C…

The current programme for Government commits to the holding of referendums on housing and on extending the franchise at presidential elections to Irish citizens living outside of the State. While respecting the independence of the Housing Commission and acknowledging its members reported disagreement, surely some indication has been given to the Minister as to when he can expect a proposed wording for the referendum. Housing is the greatest challenge of this generation and the crisis is down to the failure of succe…

We are obviously all worried about our citizens in Sudan. We welcome the great work that has been done by our diplomats, members of the Defence Forces and others in regard to evacuation. I spoke already to the Tánaiste about Dr. Amin Kheir. He works as a CAMHS consultant in Drogheda. He also worked in Trim. His colleagues contacted me. He was also on RTÉ. He has been in contact with the Department of Foreign Affairs and the embassy. To use his own words: I have been offered an evacuation airlift for myself and I do…