I raise an issue very pertinent to regional development and housebuilding, which is the forestry industry in the State. At the moment, 1,980 licences awaiting approval by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine from an ecology assessment point of view. At the current rate, it will take two years to clear the backlog, never mind dealing with new applications. The appropriate assessment screening threshold has changed from 3 km to 15 km, which accounts for more than 90% of the applications to be screened. …

I thank the Ceann Comhairle and I am sharing with my good colleague, Deputy Verona Murphy. I welcome the opportunity to be able to speak on this Bill this evening. We have had a sea change. I was reflecting on what Deputy Bruton was saying, on what has happened in the past two years in education and how the whole system was forced to change because of the pandemic. Our students, teachers, parents and boards of management were all thrown into a new way of doing things. It is very difficult but it was something that …

On forestry licences, we talk about housing and everything else but we do not have timber. The price of timber is going up daily and the reason is there is a shortage because there are not enough staff in the Department to deal with the issue. I plead with the Taoiseach for additional resources. We need to deal with this. The sawmills are crying out for raw materials which they cannot get hold of. The problem is a blockage caused by obstructions to planning and objections to licences. I would like to get this sorte…

I presume I will get an extra bit of time due to the pause.

While the housing crisis seems to have caught the imagination of everybody in a very short time, it has been with us but has been hidden behind Covid-19 for the past year. There is a huge emphasis on new houses, but we have a challenge and a potential within that challenge, in that we have over 2,000 vacant properties in this country. The Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland has stated that 75% of the space above ground floor retail in Dublin is empty. There are reasons all of that is happening. When we are looki…

I was lucky enough to get a call to get my vaccination last Monday in the racecourse in Galway and I must say the operation that was being run there was absolutely phenomenal. There were no queues and everybody was vaccinated and out again within 30 minutes. I want to put on the record my appreciation for the work that is being done across the country in all of the vaccination centres. The buzz and confidence that people had going in was marvellous. The biggest joke we had was about our age. I met some of my classm…

I thank the Ceann Comhairle. I welcome the opportunity to speak on this very important issue. It is very timely because this is national autism awareness month. Autism and autistic citizens have been let down collectively by us here in this State. I support this motion. It is timely and follows on from the Bill which the Regional Group and I reintroduced or reinstated in the Dáil yesterday. This Bill, called the Autism Spectrum Disorder Bill, was introduced by former Senator James Reilly in the term of the previous…

I move: That, pursuant to Standing Order 198, the Autism Spectrum Disorder Bill 2017 [Seanad], which lapsed on the dissolution of the 32nd Dáil, shall be restored to the Order Paper at Second Stage.”

I thank the Independent Group for bringing this very topical issue to the floor of the Convention Centre so that we can debate it. It is the first time in a long time that we have had a discussion on an issue so important to Irish farming. We all know farming is under severe pressure in this country, particularly in the west of Ireland and the regions where we have small family farms of between 40 and 50 acres. These are family farms in which entire families are involved but I have noticed in recent years that the …

I thank the Ceann Comhairle. I raise one very important issue for many people in Ireland which is public worship. The statutory instrument introduced by the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, in a very clandestine way and without any notice of consultation, has greatly upset the leaders of all the churches, especially following on from the fact that the Taoiseach had only met them two days before that. Archbishop Eamon Martin has issued a statement saying that it is highly disappointing that despite the reassurance of the …

I thank the Taoiseach. Nobody is accusing him or the Government of being anti-religious. We fully understand the reasons for these restrictions being put in place but I believe that categorising religion with the opening of museums is a bit off. There is something wrong with that. Religious ceremonies play a vital role in society and so many people in this country have religious beliefs, whatever religious belief that may be. I understand there is a predicament here but it may come back to the handling or communica…

I think everyone in this country and in the rest of the world agrees that climate action is a requirement. In Ireland, there is a craving for work to be done and to be the best in class. Where I see it going wrong is that we are tripping over ourselves to bring in a Bill to change the situation and in many cases, as we say down the country, we are putting the cart before the horse. Agriculture is being unfairly categorised in the climate action agenda. We are best in class for dairy production in Europe and we are …

To go back to the issue of Covid and the roll-out of vaccines, there is a cohort of 3,000 people who are housebound. The National Ambulance Service is rolling out the vaccine to them. However, there is a complete lack of communication on what counties will be done and when. Many people have contacted me, including those from families of affected older people. A woman in my town is 105 years old. The family is worried about when she will get her vaccine. Can the Tánaiste communicate to general practitioners so they …

I compliment the Rural Independent Group on bringing forth this motion. It is a motion which is close to my heart in the west of Ireland. The national development plan and review of it will be instrumental in tackling the substantial challenges facing the regions. These challenges, if left unaddressed, will ensure inequality in the regions forever. The north and west region has been downgraded from a developed region to a region in transition. This is the only region in Ireland to have this status bestowed on it by…

I am delighted to be able to come into the House and support the motion tabled by Sinn Féin. It is very important that we put in place measures for family carers once and for all. Carers will tell one that this is not about them but about the people for whom they are caring. Carers are not selfish people. They are not seeking sympathy. They are not seeking platitudes and soft talk about how good they are. They are quiet, loyal and loving. They care for people and they believe that they are being neglected and left …

I thank everybody for their support for this Bill. Once a claim is notified to an insurance company, the company against which the claim has been lodged sees its insurance negatively impacted with the cost of its premiums going up. That is a consequence for the company. For the person who may have instigated a fraudulent claim, there are no consequences. That is not right. This Bill is about fraudulent claims. The Regional Group is also working with the Minister on the Perjury and Related Offences Bill 2018, which …

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. Given that it is about Moore Street in Dublin, one might wonder why a Deputy from Galway would be concerned about it, but it signals what we need to do with many of our buildings around this country that have gone into dereliction because we do not have the means or the courage to maintain them and bring them back into use. It is important Moore Street is blended into a modern Ireland. We must ensure we bring life back into that part of the city, a life that compleme…

I will be looking for some responses, if I can get them. I thank the Minister and the Minister of State for being here. Good work has been done by everybody in Ireland over the past year to make sure that we try to master the virus and take back charge of our lives. Vaccination has been the one great hope and will sort out our problems. I hope we will get back to some sort of normality in the coming months. I must, however, raise some concerns about the roll-out of the vaccination programme. I have said repeatedly …

I want to follow up on what Deputy Naughten has said. The shared equity loan scheme is one of a suite of measures needed to provide houses at affordable prices. There will be risk attached to it and we will need to manage that risk as we go along. The scheme needs to be brought forward in a way that it can calibrated as we go along to make sure we do not cause inflation. I have heard people speak about the problem with housing and the political nuances about Fianna Fáil, etc. I do not buy into that. Housing is abov…

I wish to share time with Deputy Tóibín.