I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on this motion regarding mobility and transport supports for people with disabilities. I completely support the motion. As it rightly states, Ireland is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which calls on countries to provide access to transportation on an equal basis to enable persons with disabilities to live independently and participate fully in all aspects of life. What is the point in putting our name to these conve…

My question is in a similar vein to that of Deputy Catherine Murphy. I was shocked, as everybody was, to read the news that came out yesterday regarding yet another failure of HSE management in the north-west region. Recent correspondence from HIQA expressed concerns regarding a residential disability centre for adults in Donegal, where a resident accessed child sexual exploitation material on three separate occasions in 2016, 2017 and 2021. The HIQA report states that the HSE has repeatedly "failed to demonstrate …

On the CHO 1 issue, the Morris tribunal report covered the actions of the Garda. At the time, official Ireland wanted to make sure this issue stayed in Donegal. That was where it was seen to be, but we know that was not the case. We will end up in the same situation regarding this. That is why CHO 1's relationship, nationally, with HSE management also needs to be investigated. On the Brandon report specifically, the Minister of State said she cannot publish it, which is fair enough, but the HSE can. That is a probl…

There is nothing happening.

That has to tell you there is something wrong.

There is something wrong.

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate on this report, which is wide-ranging in its recommendations and makes for an interesting read. I agree that overall we must continue to resource our Defence Forces to ensure they are properly equipped and trained for the roles that we require them to undertake but ultimately, what should be at the heart of this report is ensuring that we protect our neutrality. With regard to the recommendations contained within the report, I support the cultural change process…

I am thankful for the opportunity to speak on the Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Bill 2022. I support this Bill in part. It is well needed and long overdue and I welcome the fact the Minister has said he is open to amendments to improve the Bill on Committee Stage if they can be put into operation and improve protections for whistleblowers. There are amendments that should be made and Ministers should be open to Opposition input into legislation to strengthen it further. However, I am incredibly disappointed tha…

As the Tánaiste knows, yesterday's Daft.ie report showed a shocking rise in rental prices throughout the country. Nationally, rents went up by 10% in 20 counties, with 20 counties seeing double-digit increases. My county, Donegal, has seen the highest rise nationally, with rents increasing by an astonishing 24.3%. Something has to be done. This is not acceptable and is certainly not sustainable. Week after week, I have people in my constituency office who are unable to afford to buy or to rent. Where are they suppo…

I am glad to see the Minister of State here and that she is responsible for this area. She seems to be responsible for everything because she seems to be the only Minister or Minister of State I see in Parliament taking anything and everything that is going. Fair play to her. If one positive comes out of this legislation, it is probably that the Minister of State is the one who is responsible for it, because she will actually make something of it. That is the weakness of it as well. We must rely on people like her …

I wish to share time with Deputy Joan Collins. I am in full support of this motion to raise the minimum wage to €15 an hour. It is beyond time. It is becoming increasingly impossible to live in this country on a minimum wage. We do not need to read the recent shocking inflation report to know this. We see this and we have seen this in our communities for some time now. The cost of living in Ireland has risen exponentially to the point that people are becoming increasingly squeezed because while the cost of living h…

I am getting increasingly concerned about the continuous scaling back of essential services at Letterkenny University Hospital. Over 2,000 eye care patients in Donegal have been waiting over a year to get necessary treatment due to the lack of an ophthalmic service in the county. The ophthalmic service for the north west is now mostly based in Sligo University Hospital as Letterkenny does not currently have the required nursing and medical staff. Despite this, there does not seem to be any push in putting in place …

That is not happening in Letterkenny.

I wish to share time with Deputy Connolly.

As we know, this motion on the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund is coming up for adoption today. It is interesting to read the regulations from the EU governing this fund. As I read the document, I wondered what the real intention of it was. It seems clear to me that it is to stop immigration to the EU from war-torn and economically fragile African and Middle Eastern countries. Paragraph 9 states that given that certain actions taken outside the Union contribute to the achievement of the fund's objectives und…

I wholeheartedly welcome and support this motion. What is proposed in the motion should have really gone without saying. The fact that people who are diagnosed with cancer are not only faced with monetary hurdles but are actively hindered and hounded by their own Government is a resounding disgrace. Surely, the €4.3 million that has been thrown into debt collection could have been the subject of a more humane, not to mention a more efficient and effective, purpose. Perhaps I am misled in thinking the HSE has no oth…

Go ahead.

The Minister of State will get into no trouble here.

I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the debate on the amendments. I fully support the three amendments in this grouping, which do exactly what the Members who proposed them have said. It is acting reasonably. The least that fishermen should expect from the State is to change this and to work within “a reasonable doubt” rather than “the balance of probabilities”, as it currently stands. It is not beyond the realm of possibility for the Department to establish a body that would meet and discuss this. T…

I will speak to the amendment that relates to the increase from 30 working days to 60 working days. I think that is reasonable. It moves the requirement from one calendar month to two calendar months. I was interested in the discussion of working days because in the fishing industry every day is a working day. I presume the amendment relates to continuous days. It is reasonable because the nature of the fishing industry is such that someone could be on a ten- or 14-day trip or something like that. People who are no…