I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the Second Stage debate on this important Bill which was introduced by Deputy Doherty. I thank him for bringing forward the Insurance (Restriction on Differential Pricing and Profiling) Bill 2021. In May 2019 we saw the headlines: "European Commission to investigate whether Insurance Ireland is operating a cartel" in thejournal.ie and "Insurers face millions of euro in cartel probe fines" in the Irish Independent . In February 2021 we saw the headlines: "Court rule…

I wish to put on record our support for the stance being taken today. It is clear the Dáil is being used to stifle the Government's response and to make sure it is kept clear of any negative publicity in regard to what is happening. There are genuine and legitimate questions that need to be asked and answered in regard to the Government's handling of the Covid crisis. At the very least, we should be moving to a third sitting day for six or more hours.

May I correct the Taoiseach?

We are talking about-----

As the Tánaiste is aware, the SUSI grant application process will open next week. It is very important for many students to get support in the college years that are coming up ahead of them. There is a cohort of students whose parents earn less than €24,000 per year and who do not have a social welfare element. It is a very small cohort, but they are not entitled to a top-up, whereas students whose parents are on less than €24,000 per year but have a social welfare benefit as part of that do get a top-up. That is a…

Kinsale Energy Limited published a report on the decommissioning of gas fields and facilities projects more than two and a half years ago, on 12 June 2018. At that time Kinsale Energy was preparing for the decommissioning of the fields and facilities, which were coming to the end of their productive life having been in production since 1978. It is a very useful and interesting report. The motion before us refers only to the Dumping at Sea Act 1996 but there are many other connected items of legislation, regulations…

I welcome this motion and the Labour Party getting behind a national aggressive Covid-19 suppression strategy. That sounds unnecessarily negative and scary. I prefer the idea of working towards zero Covid, implementing a zero Covid strategy and supporting the We Can Be Zero campaign. That gives us something positive to work towards together, something to look forward to, something for which to hope. I understand Labour's position on this, given that the Government has stubbornly refused to admit its mistakes and ta…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important motion today. I have previously spoken about fuel poverty in Donegal and there have been many studies, reports and papers on the continuing issue of fuel poverty in Ireland. Five years ago, Unite the Union published a report entitled A Cold Christmas, which examined the rate of fuel poverty on a county-by-county basis. It followed the release of results from the CSO survey of income and living conditions, SILC, on deprivation, poverty, and household income. One o…

It is vitally important that the Dáil is what representatives are accountable to. That is where the discussions should be taking place, not on Virgin Media or RTÉ or anywhere else. People should be accountable here in the Parliament and let everyone see what they are actually saying in the Parliament. That is vitally important. The Dáil is on restricted time as things stand because we are trying to facilitate a national crisis but that does not mean the Government has carte blanche to go ahead and do whatever it wa…

A fellow Donegal man, Dr. Niall Muldoon, was appointed as our second ever Ombudsman for Children in February 2015. I absolutely support the motion that Dr. Muldoon be reappointed for another term. Dr. Muldoon has been Ombudsman for Children while we have been experiencing a catastrophic failure in housing policy that has made thousands of children homeless. We have had countless reports and reviews on the issue. The only problem I have with the Office of the Ombudsman for Children is that it does not have the teeth…

I am sharing time with Deputy Connolly. The purpose of this Bill is to transpose EU Directive No. 2017/137, also known as the PIF directive. It will amend the 1994 and 2011 Criminal Justice Acts, the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001 and other enactments. In his opening speech last week the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, told us that the European Commission has been on to Ireland already with a "reasoned opinion" because the transposition is overdue. The Minister of State said, "This rea…

I have just a few questions, to which I hope answers can be given within the three and a half minutes I have. I have asked the Department for its views on areas of social deprivation and how the prevalence of Covid-19 is impacting these areas around the country. A recent study by the Donegal Women’s Network reinforces some of the issues I raised with the Minister about deprivation and the impacts of Covid-19. The North, reportedly, already has this information. What are her views on this? Will she take in this info…

Tairgim: "Go léifear an Bille don Dara hUair anois." I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I am hoping it will be third time lucky for my Thirty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution (Economic, Social and Cultural Rights) Bill. We debated it first in the Thirty-first Dáil in May 2015, then in the Thirty-second Dáil in March 2017 and now in the Thirty-third Dáil today. Why do I keep resubmitting this Bill for debate? It is because of its importance to our human rights. It is because of the constitutiona…

I thank everyone who contributed on Second Stage of my Private Members' Bill, the Thirty-Seventh Amendment of the Constitution (Economic, Social and Cultural Rights) Bill 2018. As mentioned, this is my third attempt to have this Bill passed by various Dáileanna. I thank all the parties and groups that put forward speakers to debate the Bill and I thank them for their support in this regard. I will deal later with the Government's response to the Bill. I thank my former parliamentary assistant, Councillor Jodie Near…

On 22 October last, I submitted my first freedom of information, FOI, request to the Department of the Taoiseach on Covid-19 and a zero Covid-19 strategy. I wrote to the Taoiseach's Department, the HSE and the Department of Foreign Affairs seeking all records of correspondence between them and their relevant counterparts in Northern Ireland, Britain or both in respect of: the co-ordination of a response to the Covid-19 pandemic; the adoption of an aligned Covid-19 strategy; and specifically, the adoption of an alig…

I would love to thank the Taoiseach for his answer but I am afraid I cannot. People always ask me what I think of the responses I receive on Leader's Questions and I say I never listen to them because they mean nothing. The Taoiseach's response shows that to be true. I would advise him to listen back to this debate because he has not responded in respect of what I asked him about. The Taoiseach stated that he spoke to Northern Ireland representatives about Covid-19 and the response to it. Where are the records of t…

Show us the correspondence.

A married couple with two children, earning more than €28,000 a year, cannot get on the Donegal County Council housing list. The thresholds across the country are supposed to be reviewed by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage as it is its responsibility. Will the Taoiseach ensure that this review takes place? There is no way that a married couple which earns €30,000 per year, or even €40,000 a year, could buy a house in Donegal with their own means. The only option for them is the council housi…

In the overall scheme of things, I welcome that the Minister is recognising the strain on businesses and making a Christmas bonus-type payment to CRSS recipients. However, as always, I believe he is doing the bare minimum. He is continuing to choose to ignore the knock-on effect of the restrictions on others, because it would cost him money. The RTÉ Home School Hub could explain supply chain management to the Minister. Does he remember business organisation classes in school? Products and services do not just appea…

That is fine. It is interesting to sit here in a debate to transpose EU legislation onto our Statute Book only to listen to a debate about the theft of dogs. When I heard this debate was coming up and it was being discussed earlier, I was thinking that it was not appropriate for this Bill. However, I then thought that the Government is going to have to show to Europe that we have transposed this Bill and will have to send a copy of it off. It would be interesting and a bit of craic to send it off with the amendment…