Hopefully Deputy Connolly will be in before I am finished. If not, maybe she can go after somebody else. I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on this Bill. I welcome the Bill’s intention to lift the cap on the number of judges in Ireland and to appoint 24 additional judges, which would bring the number of judges in Ireland from 173 to 194. A recent report published by the European Commission shows that Ireland’s spending on courts and prosecution services lagged behind the European median figures significantl…

It seems the most recent European Council meeting was, once again, completely dominated by discussions of the conflict in Ukraine. This is an important issue but I note there was no mention of the increased violence in Palestine, where many Palestinians, including children, are suffering from Israel’s apartheid, or of Yemen, where the war is getting more and more violent and where it seems that China is building peace there while the EU is sitting on its hands. Instead the Council agreed to deliver "ground-to-groun…

This question relates to the newly formed North West Tertiary Education Cluster, which involves Atlantic Technological University, ATU, Donegal ETB, the North West Regional College and Ulster University, and how the Minister sees this developing into the future to benefit both sides of the Border. How will that work? What does the Minister believe will happen?

I thank the Minister for his response. That is a welcome development and provides huge potential. However, in the context of Donegal and what was Letterkenny IT, we were here before. Unfortunately matters fell by the wayside. The whole development of the ATU was looking away from the cross-Border element and we need to get back to that. That is why this is a welcome development. I know the Minister said it is not the case but with the formation of the new National Tertiary Office, we want to make sure that we do no…

There is huge potential there. It has been growing continuously with the support of Donegal County Council, the North West Region Cross Border Group, and so on. It is not the Minister's intention, and I hope it is not the intention of the office, but the office should always look at matters on an all-island basis and not turn its back on that in future. We hope things will not go wrong in terms of the economics and stuff like that, but it has happened in the past, unfortunately, and that has set things back a wee b…

I am aspiring to it.

On behalf of the Independent Group, I wish Noel Murphy well in his retirement. The defective block issue in Donegal runs and runs. We have read reports this week in local newspapers of a bizarre situation where a semi-detached house was demolished while the adjoining house was left standing because of the way the scheme has been allowed to operate in the county. Thankfully, we now have a peer-reviewed study by several academics, including Dr. Andreas Leeman, an expert on concrete issues and Professor Paul Dunlop, h…

I have absolutely no confidence in this Government. In truth, I have never had confidence in Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil or even the Green Party, who have shamefully turned their back on their voters since being elected three years ago. However, lifting the ban on no-fault evictions during such a severe, and frankly terrifying, housing crisis is a new low, even for this uncaring Government. This one decision will cause incredible stress and pain to so many in this country. The Government tries to deny this fact, despite…

I wish to share time with Deputy Joan Collins and Deputy Harkin.

I thank the Labour Party for putting forward this motion. I am glad to have the opportunity to speak on it. The Government's decision to halt the 58 school building projects is not only disgraceful but nonsensical. The fact that the Minister for Education is refusing to provide a list of the affected projects and their costs is completely unacceptable. There is no excuse for this secrecy towards Members of Parliament or the public. The public have a right to know where public money is being spent and where it is be…

It is three weeks since the Government's latest mismanagement of the State’s finances resulted in the halting of 58 schools building projects. Yesterday I received a pathetic reply to a simple question to the Minister for Education that asked her to list the projects and the costs. She could not or would not do it. Why the secrecy? Why not tell the people what the Government has done? I know it should be ashamed but what is it trying to hide from the Opposition on this? The reality on the ground in County Donegal i…

When?

I will pick up from where I finished the last day. There is no clarity in this legislation as to how oversight and accountability are to be achieved in practice, despite the fact that one of its aims is to simplify accountability structures. Among some of these new bodies, the Bill provides for the establishment of a board. I believe this is a backward step, and not only for the duplication and accountability reasons I have outlined. The board will not be as independent or as transparent as it should be, and it wil…

Tá áthas orm cur leis an díospóireacht. Gabhaim buíochas le Conradh na Gaeilge as na pointí cainte a chur ar fáil dúinn inniu. Táim sásta ceist na pleanála i gceantair Ghaeltachta a ardú. Tá sé ag éirí níos deacra i gcónaí do mhuintir na Gaeltachta cead pleanála a fháil ina gceantar féin. Caithfear an fhadhb seo a réiteach mar ábhar práinneach go háirithe d’aos óg na Gaeltachta atá ag iarraidh cur fúthu sa bhaile. Chuige sin, tá polasaí náisiúnta tithíochta don Ghaeltacht, le tacaíocht ó deich gcomharchumann Gaelta…

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on this very important issue and I thank the Rural Independent Group for tabling it. I support the motion's calls to ensure that the use of digital payment methods is voluntary and not mandatory, and to instruct all banks that operate in this jurisdiction to provide access to cash for all communities. There is a societal demand for cash and there is no doubt about this. We saw evidence of this last summer when AIB announced its decision to go cashless. There was such signi…

No prizes for guessing what I am going to go at. I will also be focusing on the housing announcement. The Taoiseach is quoted in the media as saying that the Government is seeking to balance the rights of tenants and landlords. It is no surprise which side the balance has fallen on in light of the Government's neoliberal habits. Will the Taoiseach help my constituents in Donegal balance the figures for the county? This morning, there are only 49 houses available to rent in Donegal, 27 of which are in Letterkenny. H…

The Taoiseach has just given a classic example of right-wing ideology. The reason the Government built more houses than in any year since 1975 may be because it was forced - kicking and screaming - to do so. That is the difference of the situation.

The difference is-----

The difference is that we would have kept people who are now homeless in houses, on a temporary basis, while new houses were being delivered. The Government is not doing that. The Government's help-to-buy scheme and other schemes do not meet people's needs. What we need is a public housebuilding programme. The eviction ban should be kept in place while that is getting up and running. The need for an eviction ban would then decline because houses would be built and the need would be met. Unfortunately, the Governmen…

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to speak on this legislation. First, I condemn the last-minute publication of this Bill. I have been forced to raise this issue quite often recently, but I will continue to do so as long as the Government continues to facilitate such last-minute publications, which completely undermine the democratic process. The issues addressed in this Bill are not new. There have been concerns over energy demands outpacing supply for years. There is no excuse for this rushed legisl…