Will the Minister will increase the carer's support grant in the forthcoming budget in two weeks' time?

As the Minister knows, caring is a very onerous responsibility. It is often a 24-7, 365-day-a-year operation. Surveys by carers have shown that 75% of carers receive no respite whatsoever and the grant itself has been eaten up by inflation not to mention the cost of living over the past number of years. If we look at the past number of years from 2021, we can see that there has only been one year of an increase in the carer's support grant and that was €150 in 2025 and was, of course, in advance of the general elec…

The Minister is not giving away much in his reply. The request by Family Carers Ireland is very modest. It certainly does not keep up with inflation and it certainly does not take the cost-of-living crisis into account. An increase of €150 on €2,000 is not a big request. For a very small amount of money, it does a particular amount of good and gives carers the opportunity to have a slight rest and a recharge of their batteries, so I hope that the Minister would see a way to do that in the budget.

I ask the Minister to honour in budget 2027, in two weeks time, the commitment made to abolish the means test for carer’s allowance.

In the run-up to general election in 2024, every party in this House, including Fianna Fáil, made a commitment to abolish the means test for carers. It was not to be abolished over the lifetime of the Government or in two, three or four years. The commitment was to abolish the means test. That commitment was broken last year. From what the Minister said, it sounds as if we will have a similar situation this year. The fact is that, as the Minister is aware, the 500,000 carers we have save the State something like €2…

The Minister's party and every other party in this House made a commitment to the electorate. That commitment has not been honoured. That is a very serious situation because it calls into question people's trust in the democratic process and in politicians. That is serious. The Minister should take what I am saying on board and abolish the means test in the forthcoming budget. There are something like 33,000 carers in receipt of the carer's support grant who are not in receipt of the carer's allowance. That is a si…

The Israeli genocide in Gaza involves scholasticide, that is, the intentional destruction of the Palestinian education system. Israel University, the last remaining university in Gaza was demolished by the Israeli military. Some 80% of schools have either been damaged or destroyed. Tens of thousands of students, teachers, lecturers and university academics have been murdered. The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has raised what it says is very serious alarm over the systemic destructi…

I hope he will reverse that decision.

Carbon tax is just another unfair tax heaped on families already reeling from a cost-of-living crisis and it must be abolished. It unfairly penalises working people rather than the big corporate polluters and drives families and vulnerable people deeper into fuel and energy poverty. The major polluters must be made to pay, including the big oil companies that are making obscene profits. The eight biggest companies have made $93 billion in profit in just three months. Of course, most ordinary families will never ben…

The State is failing persons with disabilities and their carers. The disability services are in crisis on all levels. From the minute a parent or a guardian notices a difficulty with a child, they must fight for everything: for an assessment of needs, with over 22,000 children now waiting; for an appropriate crèche place; for an appropriate school place; for access to therapy services; for respite places; and, indeed, for residential places. Today I want to focus on respite and residential services for adults with …

The modest improvements the Minister has outlined are at best from a very low base, if not an almost non-existent base, but all individuals with disabilities have accessed services since childhood. It beggars belief that there is not a comprehensive national database and register of needs for those individuals. These must be put in place as a matter of urgency. As the Minister knows, every adult with a disability has a right to live as independently as possible within their own community, with the supports they nee…

The cost-of-living crisis has been building in this country since Covid. It is now at gale-force strength, battering families right across the country. The Government made the crisis even worse by withdrawing the cost-of-living supports in the last budget, costing families up to €1,400. This year, 2026, has seen more huge increases in the costs of all essentials and families are under increasing pressure, trying to make ends meet. They are put to the pin of their collar. The position is so bad that half a million f…

Every TD in this House knows Irish Water is not fit for purpose. Every day, an Opposition TD or a Government TD raises an Irish Water issue in this Chamber. Every day, Government and Opposition TDs are on local radio criticising Irish Water. It beggars belief that despite water shortages, hosepipe bans and future and continued scarcity of water due to climate change, Irish Water would decide to close down and decommission a perfectly good water treatment system plant and reservoir. That is exactly what it proposes …

Irish Water is an unaccountable quango. It has absolutely no respect for TDs or public representatives. Every TD in this Dáil can speak directly to every Government Department, including every section in the Department of Social Protection. TDs can contact county council staff at management, engineering and administrative level. They can speak with HSE staff at all levels. They can talk to Garda officers at local and national level. In fact, every TD in this House can speak directly to any organisation that deals w…

No, it is not. That is the problem. It is not.

We get put talking to a call centre.

It should be but it is not. We can only call and talk to a call centre.

It is frustrating.

The decision made by the Minister, Deputy Calleary, to scrap the men's shed grant for 2025-26 has shocked the 500 men's sheds across the country and their local communities. The grant, small as it is, helps toward basic things like rent, insurance, ESB, heating and water. The withdrawal of the grant will have serious consequences for the sheds. Many will have to cut opening hours or reduce activities and some will face closure. As the Minister knows, men's sheds are at the heart of local communities. Of course, the…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. It has been long in the making, going back to recommendations originally made as far back as 2018. Of course, the implementation of Garda powers requires a modern, properly staffed, properly resourced and properly funded Garda organisation with a fit-for-purpose structure. Unfortunately, that is not the situation in Clonmel and south Tipperary. Clonmel is entitled to, and demands, its fair share of gardaí. The Government has reduced Garda numbers in Clonmel by 11. To…