I would like to welcome the three electricity credits proposed, but I am incredibly disappointed that the Minister has decided to decrease the credit from €200 last year to €150 this year. These decisions should not be taken in isolation and the decision to slash these credits is one that has been roundly condemned by NGOs and charities, especially knowing that the average household bills have increased exponentially in one year. This is deeply disappointing and I am sure the vast majority of people in this country…

I will talk about tourism and hospitality because somebody needs to do so and this Government refuses to do so. When this country was coming out of recession, it was tourism and hospitality, alongside agriculture, that led the way, and the Government acknowledged that in the form of the 9% VAT rate. That rate allowed businesses to be bold, to take risks, to improvise and to adapt. As we know, many had to do so because since then they have dealt with Brexit, Covid and a cost-of-living crisis in which food and other …

Under this Government, UHL has broken yet another record. There were 130 people on trolleys there yesterday, the highest number in the history of the State. That will be the legacy of the Minister for Health and Colette Callan, as CEO of the UL Hospitals Group. The people of the mid-west are dying at the feet of the Government and nothing is being done. Since 19 September, there have been more than 100 patients on trolleys in UHL every single day. There are 62 more patients on trolleys in the one hospital covering …

I welcome the increase in the income disregard for the carer’s allowance announced in the budget. I, like many colleagues from throughout the House, lobbied extensively on this, so it is a move I warmly welcome. I note the interdepartmental working group and review the Minister mentioned. Like many others, I met representatives of Family Carers Ireland ahead of the budget. The best way to support family carers, as the Minister will know, is to work towards the phasing-out of a means test over the next four years, a…

I was delighted to meet Vicky and Fiona from Family Carers Ireland before the budget and we spoke at length about the importance of family carers and how under-appreciated they are. As the Minister knows, unpaid family carers save the State about €20 billion per year, or the equivalent of a second HSE, a point that is timely given the statements taken earlier in the House. Before I became a Deputy, I was a family carer. The carer's allowance has now increased for the second time since 2008, as the Minister noted, a…

I commend the Rural Independent Group for tabling this important motion. Young constituents reach out to my office all the time who are unable to take up further and higher education, apprenticeships and jobs because of these disgraceful delays. Towards the end of the summer, my office was contacted by a young man from north Clare, who was due to start at the college in Pallaskenry in September and needed to travel from his home and back daily. The young constituent told me: I can't use student accommodation due to…

I want to express my sincere and heartfelt condolences to all who have lost their loved ones in recent days. Excruciating pain resounds across the world as we watch in utter despair at the sheer destruction unfolding. Over the last days, my office has received thousands of emails from people across Ireland as has every Member of this House. I want to take the opportunity to state my full and unwavering support for the innocent people of Palestine and to condemn the actions of Hamas. I also unequivocally condemn the…

A tax cut is no good to people when they live as far away as Loop Head and suffer a heart attack. They can only hope they will stay alive long enough for the ambulance to reach them. A wealth fund is little consolation to a cancer patient who has spent an entire weekend on a trolley in a corridor in the most overcrowded hospital in the country, the figure of which stands at 104 this morning. The Taoiseach said there has been a reduction of 100 nationally. That has had no impact on University Hospital Limerick, UHL.…

Shame on this Government for failing-----

-----to adequately provide access to healthcare for my constituents in County Clare, more than 2,200 of whom------

-----reported poor or very poor health in the recent census. More than 20% of my constituents have a disability. Shame on the Government for failing my constituents-----

-----and failing on the urgent emergency care plan. This is no country for young people, old people or rural people. What does the Taoiseach have to say to my constituents in County Clare?

I am sure the Minister will agree that any parent’s greatest fear is their child will go out some day and not come home. For Lucia and Jim O’Farrell, this dreadful fear became their reality on the fateful day Shane was killed. I want to sincerely acknowledge Shane’s family here in the Gallery. Incredibly, the scoping exercise sought to blame Shane for his own death and wipes the hands of An Garda Síochána, the courts and even the man who killed him of any wrong doing. That is unacceptable. That was not the point of…

More than 20% of my constituents in Clare have a disability. For those constituents, the guaranteed constant from this and previous Governments has been delay, delay and further delay. This includes the very first instance of the delay in the ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities many years ago and the further delay of the ratification of the optional protocol, which we know is absolutely unnecessary. There is a delay in the disabled drivers and disabled passengers scheme, the…

The one-off cost-of-living measures are an example of naked and blatant political opportunism by the Government, serving to highlight how desperate it is to hold on to power. Ireland is now the most expensive country in Europe for food and goods, with prices 46% above the EU average. According to analysis by Social Justice Ireland, the legacy of these measures has been to widen the gap between the better-off and those at the bottom of the scale further. After the previous budget, the rich-poor gap increased by €199…

I recently asked the Minister, Deputy McEntee, if she had confidence in the Garda Commissioner and she told me she did and so did the Government. I will tell the House who has no confidence in him: the rank-and-file gardaí in my constituency of Clare, and my civilian constituents' lack of confidence in him continues to grow every day. I will focus on the new Garda operational model, which has seen a superintendent taken out of Kilrush, which I have called a disgraceful decision in this House many times, a statement…

I begin by acknowledging the trafficking and exploitation of human beings, especially children, as a global issue that is not unique to Ireland. However, compared with our counterparts in the EU, Ireland is lagging in tackling human trafficking in all its forms. Convictions for traffficking and the number of identified victims of trafficking are extremely low. Ireland is considered a country of destination for trafficking. The most prevalent form of trafficking in the State is for the purpose of sexual exploitation…

In the shadow of the looming budget, I refer to the importance of putting carers at the heart of it. As the Taoiseach knows, family carers save the State approximately €20 billion a year, which is the equivalent of a second HSE. In my constituency of Clare, some 6% of the population, or more than 8,200 people, provide unpaid care. In addition, the number of Clare people providing over 43 hours of unpaid care a week more than doubled in the last census. These are good people providing round-the-clock care to friends…

I begin by acknowledging the Minister's well-intentioned idea of last year to provide free school transport. However, it was poorly executed, as there had not been enough forward planning and it was incredibly disappointing to see capped fees reintroduced this year. I hope that next Tuesday there will be a line in the budget to ensure there will not be a reintroduction of full fees next year in this ever-worsening cost-of-living crisis. Education is still a massive cost for families. It often seems like it is never…

I welcome this debate and I support the motion that has been put forward. It is timely with only one week out from the budget announcement and considering that thousands of people turned out to protest last week. It is vitally important. I listened to the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman's, contribution and I welcome the sentiment around the fact that much more work needs to be done here. This cannot be overstated. We are having this discussion because of the lack of priority given to the sector by successive Governments.…