The Taoiseach says that no one will face disconnections this winter. He says that people will not be left sitting in cold, dark houses. What he has not said is how this is going to be accomplished or how the 400,000 people with prepaid meters will be looked after. These are vulnerable people who are now terrified because of the lack of information and direction from the Government. This winter they will have to choose between heating their homes or what they can buy in the shop. The Taoiseach made empty promises ab…

In County Cork, 2,000 children are waiting for a first appointment with a CDNT. Children and adults with disabilities deserve better. Parents are being offered online courses and videos. These are not therapies nor are they a substitute for therapy. They can be important for parents when the therapies are given as a support, but not instead of them. CDNTs have a huge amount of staff shortages including nurses, occupational therapists, psychologists, physiotherapists, speech and language therapists, social workers a…

After 28 years Gaelscoil Pheig Sayers got the good news this year it will get a new school building, but then it was shocked to find out that the new school hall would be 195 sq. m, which is too small. It is a disgrace. It turns out that it is now Department of Education policy to build school halls of this size for primary schools. When the school approached the Department, it was told to fundraise the additional €100,000. This is a Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools, DEIS, band 1 school. We are talking…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. It has some very good measures, specifically those that will increase the powers of ComReg. That organisation does good work. It supports vulnerable people and can be an easier organisation to gain access to and get support from. This removes the need to go to the High Court, freeing up valuable and vital court resources. It is disappointing that this legislation has taken so long to emerge. We are two years past the deadline we signed up to. The State was referred t…

Ah stop.

Recent reports about the delivery of alcohol harm awareness programmes in schools by Drinkaware, an industry-funded organisation, are concerning. This, however, is not a new issue. The Irish Community Action on Alcohol Network, ICAAN, has been raising this issue for years. Research from the Health Research Board, HRB, has found that alcohol-related harm leads to an average of three deaths in the State per day. Why has the Government not fully implemented the Public Health (Alcohol) Act 2018 on labelling and adverti…

We support that.

That is right.

We pay for it twice.

It is 0.3%.

It is a joke.

You should talk sense, then.

The Government's targets for Cork city are to build 394 social houses and 76 affordable houses annually. This shows us the lack of imagination, leadership and understanding of the Government, and especially the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, regarding this challenge. I refer to the number of people evicted and served with notices to quit, and the thousands of people on our housing lists in Cork who cannot rent or buy accommodation, and then the Minister's solutions. Hou…

The price of an average three-bedroom semi-detached house in Cork has risen to €350,000. That is the latest figure from a survey by Real Estate Alliance. People cannot afford an extra 10% in money payments, because in money terms, that is €3,000 to €4,000 added to the price of their new home. These are people who are trying to get on to the property ladder to buy for the first time. The reality is that this Government is putting this concrete block levy on them. We have repeatedly told this Government that its poli…

A man called Philip came into my clinic this week. Philip has recently entered recovery and is currently staying in step-down accommodation where he has been for the past six months. However, he must be out of there by next Friday and will then become homeless. When he went into Cork city to present as a person at risk of homelessness, he was told nothing could be done for him because he had been removed from the housing list when he went into recovery and entered residential rehabilitation. Entering into rehabilit…

That is no problem. I thank the Minister of State for his response, in particular the second half. The first half was Government jargon, but at least in the second half of the response he was genuine in the comments he made which was good to hear. When we are talking about people starting a recovery journey, it is not a political football. These are people who are vulnerable and need support. People in recovery is not a hot topic in politics. It is sometimes an area many people are not interested in or do not want …

Hear, hear.

That is the only solution.

Only 0.4% of the Government spending announced yesterday will go towards addiction. It is an insult to those working on the front line, to those in our community who are saving lives and families every single day. Sinn Féin's addiction and recovery budget was ten times that of the Minister. It was a €45 million suite of measures that would not have fixed all the problems but would have made a real difference. The Minister delivered a weak half-hearted, unambitious €4 million. A survey by Merchants Quay Ireland foun…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill. On paper, it provides for a sensible merger of three data-heavy organisations that regularly work together. I understand there is some reduction in cost, which is welcome, but I caution that we need to ensure no reduction in staffing levels across all the organisations. I am sure that many of the Deputies here have in recent months dealt with cases involving the PRA, in particular, which has large backlogs. People are left waiting for months on end for answers to quer…