It is one thing to respond to points raised but the Minister is going way off the subject.

I welcome this Private Members’ motion and debate on a sector in this economy and country that is critically important. It is essential that there is a complete examination of what is actually going on here. The Independent Group proposed this Private Members' motion, which is welcome as it enables us to have full debate on the issue in the Chamber. However, it will not solve the problems impacting a significant number of players within the hospitality sector. We need a much closer examination of what is currently …

I very much welcome the opportunity to again discuss budget measures. I will concentrate, in particular, on tax measures contained in budget 2025 that, overall, are bad for the public and bad for the State. Budget 2025 can only be characterised as a naked attempt to buy the election. As I said on budget day, it has all the hallmarks of a Bertie budget. The Government's overriding priorities should have been protecting the most vulnerable and investing in good quality public services but, instead, the priority was s…

I welcome this opportunity for statements on mental health to mark mental health week. This session is overlapping with a health committee meeting where we are dealing with legislation so I am afraid I will have to leave after I speak and I will not be able to stay for the Minister of State's wrap-up.

For too long, mental health difficulties were seen as a personal failure and something to hide or be ashamed of. I think we are all familiar with those days, which I hope are becoming more distant. While that damaging misconception is changing, which is a welcome development, underlying stigma persists, particularly self-stigma. Last December, St. Patrick's annual attitudes survey found that 22% of respondents would "consider it a sign of weakness" to seek mental health supports for themselves, compared with just 9…

Your cynicism knows no bounds.

Does the Taoiseach disagree with the ESRI?

I wish to share time with my colleague, Deputy Cian O'Callaghan. The budget will be remembered as one of missed opportunities. It is kind of like a giveaway on steroids and is certainly grabbing the headlines; there is no doubt about that. We have lots of breathless reporting of the gargantuan surplus figure, that €25 billion, and the complex array of one-off measures. However, looking a little deeper, it quickly becomes clear that the emperor has no clothes. Never has a Government had so much and done so little. P…

I very much welcome this Bill which seeks to ensure that everyone, regardless of where they live, has a reasonable level of access to cash. This legislation was proposed by the retail banking review in 2022. We in the Social Democrats fully support the implementation of this recommendation. There is no doubt that cash usage has declined rapidly in the last decade, particularly during the pandemic. We now live in a country that has a very sophisticated electronic payment system and therefore a declining need for cas…

I very much welcome this debate on the Health Information Bill, even if it does feel like Groundhog Day. This piece of legislation is of critical importance to digitising our health service, and we in the Social Democrats are very happy to support it. Over the years, multiple national policies have committed to delivering ehealth technologies. The promise to revolutionise our health service has yet to be delivered. It is true that this is a complex endeavour, and it will come at a significant financial cost, but th…

I very much welcome this timely motion on healthcare capacity in the mid-west. I thank Sinn Féin for tabling it. Following publication of the Clarke report into Aoife Johnston's tragic death, there must be accountability at both political and management level. Notwithstanding its shortcomings, the report effectively highlights the underlying causes of compromised patient care and safety at UHL, which led to Aoife Johnston's "almost certainly avoidable" death, as the report said. They include failures in systems, mi…

I welcome these statements on the Apple state aid case and the ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union in favour of the European Commission. It is deeply regrettable, however, that the State spent eight years fighting the Commission's ruling of 2016 and putting corporate interests ahead of the public interest. That is almost a decade lost, and €13 billion could have been invested in so many much-needed services and infrastructure, in particular housing. In 2016, that sum was worth an awful lot more tha…

I welcome this long-awaited Bill to replace the Mental Health Act 2001, which we in the Social Democrats are happy to support. As we know, this is important and complex legislation. It will require further scrutiny on Committee Stage, and I certainly hope that the Minister of State will be open to taking amendments, that we can work on it in a collegiate way and that we will have time to work on it. We want to see it come through as soon as possible. I am generally very encouraged by its provisions. Mental health s…

Thank you. I would ask that you give this further consideration ahead of Committee Stage. In respect of CAMHS, I would like to jump ahead to Part 6 of the Bill, the regulation of mental health services. I will return to other important provisions but, as the Minister of State will know, this is an issue I have been pursuing with her for some time. While I very much welcome the inclusion of community CAMHS regulation in this Bill, it is hard to understand why this was not progressed earlier via a short amendment Bil…

Domestic, sexual and gender-based violence should never be tolerated but too often it seems that our institutions are set up to do just that. Women are told to report it and to trust the system, but how can victims be expected to trust a system that so often fails them? While the Minister has demonstrated a commitment to addressing many of these failings, recent controversies have shown we have a very long way to go. However, this is not only a justice system issue. It is a whole-of-government issue and it needs a …

Come on, you have been asked about regulation.

Stop dodging the question.

She asked the Tánaiste to answer the question.

They are, however.

That is pathetic.