Let us have honesty.

The levy the Government is proposing means that people will have to pay twice because they will be paying through general taxation for the renewal of this scheme and the levy will be imposed on people who want to build and need to provide houses for themselves. Why not impose a levy on the profits of the building and construction companies and banks? Why not go after them? The Government has not bothered-----

-----because it is easier to go after the individuals in the houses. It seems as though this levy is being put on the companies but it is not. It is a levy on the cost of building a house. The Government should at least try to make it look as if it is going after the profits of the company. The Taoiseach may say he wants to make this scheme right and there may be €2.8 billion written off for this but not one penny has been spent and there is nothing happening. The 300 or 400 houses the Taoiseach says need to be add…

That is supported by the EU so it should be a key to everybody as to how people can get through this crisis.

It is vitally important that the Government acts now to make it happen.

What did I say?

You are going after the people.

You are going after the people. That is what you are doing.

You are.

You have not provided anything yet.

At least the Government would be trying to target-----

A number of constituents have contacted me in recent times about the delay in being able to access insulin pumps due to the chronic underfunding of diabetes services in the Saolta Hospital Group hospitals in Letterkenny and Sligo. For example, there is a waiting list of more than 80 referrals in Sligo alone. It is affecting people’s quality of life. I have been raising the various aspects of the diabetes service in the north-west region through parliamentary questions constantly over the term of this Dáil and I get…

Not in Donegal.

I thank the Chair for the opportunity to speak on this important and relevant motion. I support this motion for an immediate moratorium on disconnections of households. It is heartbreaking to hear constituent after constituent tell me that they are unable to afford their electricity and gas bills. It is even more heartbreaking when I hear about energy companies making record profits in a year when there were 712 domestic electricity and 309 domestic gas disconnections due to non-payments, which is absolutely despic…

This question is on apprenticeships and the apprenticeship programme, particularly how employers can be encouraged to participate in the programme and how the retention of apprentices in the system afterwards can be accommodated.

The figure of a 40% increase in apprenticeship registrations in 2021 sounds impressive. That means basically that there were 16,000 apprentices last year and there are 25,000 this year. Much still has to be done to make sure that it works. I sense that there is a problem among the public where employers do not see the value in apprenticeships. There is a certain amount of risk from an employer’s point of view in the apprentice moving on after they have taken them on and trained them for four years. That is an issue…

It seems there is much work happening. However, it will be a long number of years before we see any statistics come out of that. That is a big issue because there is a huge problem with retaining apprentices and making sure that apprentices can qualify, as well as paying apprentices so that it is worth their while to continue on in it. That needs to be part of the measures being recorded to ensure that happens. There is huge scope for apprenticeships, particularly in rural Ireland, where I welcome the roll out of t…

It is almost one year since a final settlement was reached between the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, the Minister for Social Protection, and the unions representing community employment, CE, supervisors and assistant supervisors. I submitted a parliamentary question last week asking whether the ex gratia payment which was agreed upon would be paid to these CE workers. The answer I received stated that discussions regarding this are ongoing. However, I know that some CE workers have already been paid t…

I move: That the Bill be referred to the Select Committee on Education, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science pursuant to Standing Order 180.

I welcome the Minister of State back to the Chamber. She seems to be the Minister for the Dáil rather than anything else.