I thank the Taoiseach for his response. I know he is involved in and supportive of the credit unions. However, it is about getting the balance right. I do not believe we have ever got the balance right. It has all been geared towards the banks. Even in his response, the Taoiseach talked about building up the post offices but it is building them up to provide bank services for Bank of Ireland and Ulster Bank. Why are we not building them up to provide for services for our communities? That is vitally important. Whil…

I move: That leave by granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to provide for improved information access for adopted persons in relation to their birth, for that purpose to amend the Adoption Act 2010 so as to provide for access by adult adopted persons to their entry in the index maintained by an tArd-Chláraitheoir of connections between entries in the Adopted Children Register and the register of births, and to provide for connected matters. I would like to share time with Deputy Connolly.

I am delighted to introduce the Adoption (Information) Bill 2021 in conjunction with my colleague, Deputy Connolly. I note the Private Members’ Bill of Deputy Funchion of Sinn Féin, which was debated earlier. I know the Government accepted it but this Bill needs to go in as well to keep the pressure on and make sure it is brought to a satisfactory conclusion. I note also Labour Senator Bacik's Bill in the Seanad. It seems that many of us were moved to take action after listening to survivors. We are keeping this hu…

I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."

Will the Minister confirm how many homes in Donegal will have high-speed broadband by the end of this year and the end of next year? Donegal is one of four counties where the roll-out of the national broadband network of fibre broadband is not yet in progress. Working from home and home schooling have highlighted the importance of Internet connection for rural communities. People are very frustrated by the slow roll-out. If people are expected to work from home and to home school then they should be provided with t…

Those figures are shocking. The Minister said some 3,500 premises have been surveyed in County Donegal and with a bit of luck they will all be connected. This is out of 32,300 premises. That is shocking. This means there is very little happening in Donegal with the national broadband plan, the county that is probably in most need of development and most need of work on that cannot do anything. Some 2% of the premises nationally are in Donegal and this is not good enough. It is not good enough that the national broa…

I am sorry to say that this is not the case. This question does not even cover Eir and how people do not get broadband even in the areas that are supposed to be covered by Eir. They do not get a response from Eir when dealing with it. I could spend the next hour on questions about Eir and its lack of response to people. The reality is that once again Donegal has been put on the hind tit with regard to the national broadband plan and will have to make do with whatever the Minister decides. The Minister might be shor…

To resume from where I left off in my contribution on the previous day, I would like to note some of the points made in a recent Irish Examiner article by Rory Hearne entitled "Homeownership will remain a pipe dream for Generation Rent". His article articulated many of the points that many of us in the Opposition have put forward against this inadequate Bill. He states that the Land Development Agency, LDA, is being tasked to pursue two conflicting objectives - becoming a developer of public land while purporting t…

I wonder if the Minister has heard the joke about the members of Fianna Fáil who claim that affordable housing is a core party value. Apparently, after a recent meeting of the party's internal housing committee, a committee member told a journalist that housing policy is to Fianna Fáil "what cycling is to the Greens and Palestine is to the far left". The party hopes that the delivery of affordable housing will be seen as a key Fianna Fáil achievement in government. Fianna Fáil, we are to believe, is to be the purve…

We do need a debate on these issues which are coming up more and more. We have seen the situation with Ulster Bank and Bank of Ireland. Bonuses are also being paid to auctioneers and we must deal with the issue. I support the proposal that has been made.

On the vaccination programme that is being rolled out throughout the country, which is very welcome and has been welcomed in all communities, there is a cohort of people who cannot leave their houses to attend GP clinics to get vaccinated and who are not being dealt with at the moment. I understand the vaccination programme people are looking at that, but a response is needed because I am inundated with calls about it, and I am sure every other Member in the House is as well. It needs to be dealt with and can be de…

We can reach zero Covid. We can, and we could, if the Government would just put the health and well-being of all of the residents of the country before business interests, profits, lobbyists and, it seems, the European Union. I was inclined to support the Bill before us today but now I am not so sure. The Health (Amendment) Bill 2021 will belatedly provide for mandatory quarantine for some people coming from designated countries. It will also provide for mandatory quarantine for people who arrive in the country wit…

I fully endorse this Bill. The fact that a wide variety of Opposition Deputies have spoken in favour of the Bill shows that it is necessary legislation. I hope the Government will take that on board and ensure that young people are not screwed again as they were in the past. This is the second year in a row in which they are facing that prospect. It is an honour for me to support this Bill on behalf of my group and I look forward to its speedy passage.

I wish to speak to amendments Nos. 34, 35 and 39 to 42, inclusive. I am conscious that time is marching on and I am anxious to find out whether this group of amendments will be accepted. I had much to say, but I will skip it. I ask the Minister to say if he is accepting amendment No. 1 and then we can move on from there. I take it he will not accept it.

I am asking if the Minister is accepting the amendment.

In that case I would like to call a vote on amendment No. 1, because we need to put it on the record.

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to contribute to this debate on the New Decade, New Approach agreement. It is certainly hard to see progress in the North when the assembly and institutions are constantly in flux. This is the nature of the peace process and we have become used to it. This should not really have been the outcome but sadly it is. Partly it is the nature of the compromises that had to be made in the dysfunctional society that prevails in the North, a consequence of the occupation, confl…

Unfortunately, we cannot believe the homelessness statistics provided by the Government. We have known this since the previous Minister's days in charge of the Department. Figures were re-categorised to hide the real and distressing extent of the crisis. We know that the number of adults and children in domestic violence refuges and direct provision centres are not included in official homeless data, despite the fact that this type of accommodation is temporary and the housing crisis is exacerbating access to move-…

I want to go back over the exchange the Tánaiste had on Ulster Bank during Leader's Questions and the difficulties that will happen tomorrow when NatWest announces its decision on Ulster Bank. It is vitally important that Ulster Bank is maintained to generate that third force within the banking industry in Ireland. The Minister for Finance is not an innocent bystander in this. We own a 75% stake in Permanent TSB so we can go in and say that we can take over the retail responsibilities of the bank and provide that t…

I am glad to get the opportunity to contribute to the debate. However, as I sit here listening to the contributions, I wonder whether we should be debating this Bill because the LDA will do nothing to solve the housing problem in this country. That is not what I think it is intended to do anyway. I think it is intended to open up housing land to the private market and to private developers. It will be good at doing that because that is what the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage wants to achieve. W…