I welcome this enhanced scheme for businesses. It is important. I come from a constituency with a lot of small businesses and shops in rural towns and villages which use a lot of energy for freezers, lighting and all that goes with it. The people have been suffering. It is important that the scheme that is now being proposed will benefit these small businesses. It is important that the scheme is fit for purpose and that it is made as simple and accessible as possible for everybody. I know that is the intention. I w…

Coming from a construction background, at times I get frustrated by the fact things are not being done at a quicker pace. The supply of housing is the issue and the pace of supply is what is causing the problem. I will go through the local authority processes. If a local authority buys a site to build housing, it has to appoint a design team and then do the design to get the Part 8 planning. Following on from that, detailed design has to be done, a procurement process takes place and then, lo and behold, we get to …

What has gone wrong in this country is that we put the cart before the horse. We decided to get rid of energy producing methods that we had such as the power stations in the midlands before we had an alternative in place. What we are finding now is that we have been preaching about how to heat our homes and do all the things that are green, which comes from all sides of the House, without looking to see where the energy was going to be produced from under the green methods. When considering Derrybrien, which is not…

I want to say a few things about the Bill. I was at a protest in Roscommon mart yesterday about the viability of the sheep industry. From speaking to farmers, I am aware that there is a palpable fear that the new legislation will add to the cost of running a farm. It has been pointed out that existing practice has proven to be good. There is an element of trust between farmers to make sure that livestock get the proper amount of medicine, that is, not too much and not too little. There is no evidence to suggest oth…

I welcome the opportunity to speak to this very important motion. I thank Sinn Féin for tabling it. I compliment staff in Department of Social Protection offices throughout the country who, since Covid-19 came upon us, have done Trojan work to deal with everything that has been thrown at them. I think it was the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, who said last year that when people were struggling they should contact their community welfare officers. That was in very poor t…

I have a question in respect of the housing adaptation grant which the local authorities look after in each county. It is a great scheme and I know the Minister is carrying out a review of it but there are a number of things he might consider. First, the maximum amount of money available is €30,000 at present. In light of the increasing costs which have occurred in the construction industry, and the fact that the €30,000 was set approximately 11 years ago, I ask him to increase that figure to €60,000. Second, in th…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this very important subject, which is affecting everybody across this country. I will first declare an interest by saying that I am a landlord. The biggest issue with housing at the moment is supply. If we are going to build more houses, we need to beef up the local authorities because that seems to be the way we are going - local authorities will deliver housing. We need to beef up their resources so they can get on with acquiring the lands locally, developing the projects and…

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle and the Ministers present. I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion. I thank Sinn Féin for bringing it forward. The people we are talking about here are people who are contributing to the economy in every way. These are young people, couples, or single people who went out there and took the brave step of deciding to build or buy their own house. They did not rely on the State to provide housing for them or wait around for something to happen. They decided themselves to get…

I wish to get an update from the Minister on when the school transport review will be finalised. The review commenced two years ago and is ongoing. The introduction of free school tickets for certain cohorts last year created a considerable problem for people trying to get on school buses and it is still having ramifications for families.

I thank the Minister for the update. The review has been going on since 2021. I know a considerable body of work has to be done, but what I am hearing from the bus operators, Bus Éireann and everybody else is that they need to have a plan in place for next September as to what is being done. They need it in February, rather than it remaining to be decided in March, April or another time. Mayhem occurred last year because the announcements were made late on what would be done and with regard to more free transport. …

The biggest problem that happened last year and continues to happen is that we have school buses going to school not full. Children who were getting concessionary tickets cannot get on these buses because they are not getting a concessionary ticket now. This was partly due to the fact they applied on time but were refunded their money and had to do something again by July. They had to press some button or something. The system has been unforgiving. Many parents thought that because they had applied to the scheme, t…

I raise the issue of the Galway city outer bypass. Yesterday, the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications and the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, stated publicly that this ring-road cannot proceed because we would be breaking laws. This comes on foot of a fresh review that is going to be done by An Bord Pleanála. For the people of Galway, there is much confusion concerning what is going on. What is the Government's policy and what are we doing in Galway city? We have businesspeople who h…

I am delighted for Macroom but I am more worried about Galway city. What the Tánaiste is saying is great, but where does the Minister for Transport stand in this? The body which will fund this project is the Department of Transport. Will we, therefore, get a clear Government message on this project? I will repeat what the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, said. He said this road cannot proceed and that we must take the climate action laws into account. Effectively, then, people are wondering what in the name of God is h…

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on the Bill. I come from a rural constituency and while we do not experience much antisocial behaviour, we do experience antisocial activity such as dumping on private roads and on bogs. There is a bog beside my home that we spent last summer cleaning up. The clean-up cost the community approximately €5,000 and the council approximately €18,000. We have it secured now and it is right but we could not get anybody for the littering because we could not find the name of anybo…

It is my Galway accent.

I wish I had a train to Tuam. I have to drive. Deputy Lowry was to be here but, unfortunately, he had to go home for a funeral. I wish to record that first. I thank the Joint Committee on Autism for bringing forward this motion. I thank Deputy Buckley for sponsoring it and Senator Carrigy for his introduction. Members of the committee have seen this first hand. I note some of them are here, including the Chair, Deputy Michael Moynihan, to discuss this very important issue. A parent of a child told me not too long a…

He has left now, but first I congratulate the new Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, on his appointment. He was here earlier. I thank Deputies Joan Collins and Pringle and the group for bringing forward this motion. As a county councillor over a long number of years, I saw local development charges being hoisted and foisted onto people going in for planning permission for their houses, especially in rural areas. It always stuck in the craw that they did not know where this money was going to be spent. Often, you …

First, I welcome the members of the Tuam Mother and Baby Home Alliance who are in the Visitors' Gallery listening to the debate this evening. Let us take as an example what happened in Tuam between 1925 and 1961. It took the courage of Catherine Corless to come up with the findings on that. Listen to the outcry among the public at what happened there and in other places. The light of hope came from the fact that first, the State apologised and a redress scheme was going to be put in place for the survivors. I have …

I welcome the opportunity to contribute on this important issue and I thank the Government for acceding to the Regional Group’s request for this debate. The report sets out a large number of issues and is a damning indictment of the services, which are putting children’s safety at risk. It is clear that poor clinical governance is a national issue across the health system. This is an interim report rather than the full report, but it highlights failures in the management of risk, the recruitment of key staff and th…

I welcome the opportunity to speak and to offer my support for the proposals which the Minister is making. As a Deputy from the rural constituency of Galway East, I have experienced over the years post offices closing in our area and the amount of upset it causes to a community. This is a symptom of what can happen when the service is not being supported properly from central level. What we now have we should hold in respect of the post office network. We should freeze any more closures of post offices in rural Ire…