I welcome the Bill. We will support it and seek to amend it in places if that is allowable. I will start with the issue raised by the Minister regarding incentives provided for uilleann pipe makers and the exemptions that are proposed relating to income tax. The uilleann pipes, as I understand it, carry UN heritage status, which we all support. They are deemed to have UNESCO intangible heritage status similar to that of the hurley or, the hurl, depending on which part of the country one is from. In my part of the w…

I would like some clarification on that. I may, as I said, have it wrong and I put a health warning on what I am saying in that regard as well. Broadly speaking, we welcome the Bill. We will examine it on Committee Stage. We recognise those of us in Opposition are hampered in the types of amendments we can put forward but them's the rules, as they say. We will try to push the envelope as best we can in Opposition to try to promulgate on behalf of the people we represent. If some of the processes I have referenced f…

It has come to my attention in recent days that it is the intention of the Courts Service to move sittings of District Court No. 20 in Mallow, County Cork, and centralise those services in Cork city. I wish to express my grave concern at such a move, given that the District Court in Mallow serves a large geographical area that extends as far as the County Kerry border and north to County Limerick. If it is the case that the Courts Service's intention is to move District Court sittings to Cork city, it will have a m…

I thank the Minister of State. I have received some comfort from his response in regard to the remedial works that are to be carried out. However, it was my firm contention, and perhaps I should have made this clearer, that it is about the loss of court sittings in Mallow. I contend it would have been very easy to provide alternative accommodation within the town of Mallow itself and not to have to send people further to Fermoy and Cork in respect of Circuit Court sittings. For instance, the Courts Service could ha…

I am delighted that Deputy Ó Ríordáin is sharing his time with me. I acknowledge the work of Mallow Development Partnership in the excellent Munster Maths and Science Fair that took place on 16 October this year. Up to 5,000 people attended and it was sponsored by the Irish American Partnership and Cork County Council, working through the Mallow Development Partnership to bring science to the people. I pay tribute to everybody who was involved. Although the event takes place every year on a Sunday, if the Minister …

We in Labour support the call of retained firefighters for a more sustainable and improved working model including decent pay, fixed incomes and structured, limited working hours that are consistent with the European working time directive. The current recruitment and retention crisis is a result of poor terms and conditions of employment and the constant failure to resource and fund adequately the retained fire service. Retained firefighters are on call 24 hours per day, 340 days per year. Retainers are paid betwe…

As far back as July 2016 our former colleague, Willie Penrose, published a Bill to amend the Constitution to ensure public ownership of our public utilities. This would have covered not just our public water supply and wastewater treatment infrastructure but also our gas and electricity transmission networks. Seven years on, we are no closer to seeing such a referendum being proposed. It has always been our position that our water infrastructure should remain in public ownership. It is most important to note that t…

A Cheann Comhairle, thank you very much for that response. If the Department maintains a relationship on operational matters, I respectfully suggest there is a level of accountability on the part of the Minister to this House with regard to operational matters.

Forty-five seconds.

Thank you, Deputy.

I apologise to the Deputy but I must keep to the time restrictions and ask that she conclude.

I do not know what to say about that.

Last night, as I was sitting in my office, I tried to crystallise my thoughts around this debate. There is so much information for us to analyse that it is hard to encapsulate it within a reasonably short debate such as this. Nonetheless, I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in the debate. We are fortunate as Deputies that there are many people outside this Chamber who are willing to provide us with excellent research and resources. As I sat in my office last night, I received an email containing a briefing p…

I ask the Minister of State to please finish because we are squeezed for time.

I thank the Deputy. She made good time.

Mr. Jonathan Tobin, from Youghal, County Cork, is currently in hospital in Greece. He had a catastrophic accident on 29 July last. His family now wants to bring him home. The HSE is liaising with his family, and both Cork University Hospital and the hospital in Greece are liaising with each other. We are now trying to get the HSE to use its discretion under the treatment abroad scheme to get an air ambulance to bring him home. I ask the Minister to please intercede with the HSE to bring the man home if possible.

I commend the Acting Chairman on her running of proceedings and keeping us all on time. I support the motion and am glad it has been tabled by the Social Democrats. I note the motion put forward by that party on 24 February 2021, to which the Labour Party tabled an amendment relating to medical cards. The amendment was accepted and the motion, as amended, agreed to by the House. The amendment called on the Government to issue an enhanced medical card to all survivors who presented to mother and baby homes for any l…

There are ten minutes left and Members will have one minute each. I call Deputy Cathal Crowe.

My sincere apologies. I am out of order myself.

There is very little time left in this slot. Please, forgive me. I apologise.