I learned from a constituent in the past couple of days that it is the practice of the ESB to apply a low usage charge at a fixed rate of €38.28 for a 66-day period. The low usage charge applies when usage drops below 125 kWh. It is the practice of a State-owned body to penalise consumers for reducing their electricity consumption. The Minister currently encourages consumers to reduce the time they spend in the shower and to change the times they use their washing machines and dishwashers, with other such measures …

I attended a presentation this morning on a report by the Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice. I commend Sr. Bernadette MacMahon and her team, alongside Dr. Nikki Dunne of Family Carers Ireland, on the excellent work they have done and presented on the cost of care at home for those with disabilities and on the premise that everyone should have a minimum essential standard of living, MESL, based on one's essential needs not the wants. The report is a phenomenal piece of work. One matter that arises from it is…

I thank Sinn Féin for presenting this motion on childcare fees. The motion mentions that the cost of childcare per child ranges from €800 to €1,350 per month. Looking at the headline figure, it is easy to see why there is a problem with the cost when one considers the average income. A number of problems have affected the childcare sector in recent years. In 2019, it was headline news that childcare providers were struggling to get insurance for 2020. It also emerged that those who did succeed in getting quotes wer…

We have spent €11 million in Rosslare Europort on a state-of-the-art facility to house our regulatory agencies. It is a facility that caters for approximately 20% of the throughput of traffic in Rosslare Europort. We have spent €11 million of the taxpayers' money but it is not being used with efficiency. Trucks are parked outside residents' homes and blocking them in, which means carers are unable to attend to their clients. The drivers are urinating and defecating on the grass because nobody has thought to cater f…

The Department has had those details for the past six months.

I welcome the opportunity to discuss the women’s health action plan published a few weeks ago. Before looking at the details of the plan, I reiterate a point I made earlier in the week when I had the opportunity to speak about waiting lists. It is very important that we get the basics right. We can have all the fancy plans in the world but if waiting lists are getting longer and longer, then the plans will not meet their targets and people will not receive the help and support they need. Women's and men’s health ou…

I thank Sinn Féin for its work in putting together and tabling this motion. I recently submitted four parliamentary questions relating to disability services in Wexford. I asked the Minister to state the number of occupational therapists employed as part of the CDNT in Wexford. The response stated that three occupational therapists were currently in posts across the County Wexford CDNT, that a total of nine occupational therapists had been approved for Wexford and that the HSE was experiencing significant staff rec…

I thank Sinn Féin for tabling this motion, which allows us to discuss further the rising cost of living and the developments of the week, which now sees the motion calling for many reductions, including that of VAT which I proposed last week. Many of the earlier price surges were seen as temporary due to supply chain bottlenecks associated with the lockdown. The longer they go on, however, the more "temporary" fuses into "permanent", resulting in the economy moving from underperforming to overheating with no period…

I am almost there. Most of the cost-of-living problems are being made worse by Government taxes, charges and regulations. We have heard a lot about Ukraine, which has simply brought a sharper the focus onto the problems we have. Obviously, the clock has run out. I want to say, however, that many people have come to me in the past week or two. They have said that they do not feel that the green jersey is being donned here on behalf of the Irish economy, particularly by the Minister who is here today. They feel, howe…

To follow on from Deputy Barry, for two years the Minister's Department has been dealing with the recognition of Ukrainian licences through the Road Safety Authority, RSA. Unfortunately, we are at a stalling point where the RSA says that it has not completed the due diligence on whether a Ukrainian licence can be accepted here on a par with an EU licence. Countries in the EU that have qualified the Ukrainian licence as being comparable are Italy and Portugal. I ask that the Minister instruct the RSA to complete its…

Let me outline to the Taoiseach the composition of the price of a litre of fuel this morning. While it may vary around the country, the diesel pump price that I have been given this morning is €1.899 and it may be higher in certain parts of the country. The Government tax take is 96.58 cent, which is 50.86%. Taxes applied include excise duty, carbon tax and the National Oil Reserves Agency, NORA, levy. The actual pump price for petrol this morning is €1.922, which also may be higher in parts of the country. All Gov…

They will draw the dole because they will not have to pay the extra for their children to go to school on the bus. They go free.

This is a tax on tax.

It is a tax on tax.

It has nothing to do with the energy directive.

It has nothing to do with the energy directive.

Then ask him to answer.

If the Taoiseach had brains-----

True.

That is not being honest.