I hear about strategies and plans but I do not see the grid being built or the offshore wind being provided. Does the Minister agree we need to shorten the route to market with regard to offshore wind planning in the provision of grid infrastructure and the development of the ports? It is no good having all of these policies if we do not do the things that those policies should lead to. Does he agree we need to shorten the route between having green hydrogen and producing green hydrogen, in making sure that we inve…

When will we see wind turbines in the Irish Sea which is the easiest place to put offshore energy at the moment or where there has been most advancement? When will we see turbines turning and producing electricity? All of these strategies and plans will not produce electricity. What will produce it are turbines connected to the grid. A recent report stated that there was only one port in Ireland, in Belfast, fit to service this industry. When will we get a ports policy for the offshore wind industry? Is all of the …

What is the spend to date in 2022 under the RRDF? Does that take into account money carried over from last year? What is the total amount of the allocation in the Estimates for the fund for 2022? I also ask the Minister to outline the total amount of the allocation in the Estimates for the fund in 2022 and the value of the projects approved for funding in 2022. This is important because, notoriously, there is underspending in respect of most of these schemes. What we are finding with the capital budgets at the end …

I thank the Minister for that information. What she is saying is that €69 million was available for spending this year but that only €20.3 million has been spent to date, which means that €49 million is left to be spent in two months. I ask the Minister to explain how it is that in ten months of the year only €20 million has been spent, when the Department had budgeted for far more. No doubt the Minister went fighting to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and told him that she needed a lot of money for …

What the Minister is actually telling me is that there was €60 million available this year. A sum of €20 million has been spent. When we take the €9 million out of that, however, the Department has actually only spent €11 million of this year's allocation, which is a very small percentage after ten months. The Minister said the Department will spend "a significant amount" between now and the end of the year. That phrase suggests to me that the Department might not know what will be spent. What is the Department's e…

Fáiltím roimh an mBille agus roimh an díospóireacht seo ar aon le cinneadh an Aire Stáit gan cur ina choinne: is maith é sin. Ag an am céanna, caithfear a rá go bhfuil an Bille lochtach agus nach dtugann sé aghaidh ar chuid mhaith dúshlán a bhaineann leis na toghcháin a thabhairt ar ais, ach tá sé go maith go gcoinneofaí seo ar an gclár oibre. Tá mé thar a bheith sásta go ndúirt an tAire Stáit nach gceapfar na baill nua ach ar feadh tréimhse dhá bhliain ar a mhéad. Tá sprioc an-chinnte leagtha amach aige faoin am g…

In the past week I was contacted about three bus services that are full by the time they get to Headford, Spiddal and Clannbridge on their way to Galway. When I made an inquiry, I was informed that this is a much more general positive result of the reduction in public transport fees. There is no point in bringing in a good scheme and then leaving people standing in cold, windy and wet weather at bus stops with no buses. I also understand that applications will be sent to the National Transport Authority, NTA - inst…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit as ucht a theacht isteach inniu agus éisteacht linn. Mar a thuigeann an Leas-Cheann Comhairle agus an bheirt Teachta atá ag tógáil na ceiste seo inniu, tá fíorthábhacht ag baint leis an ospidéal ar an gClochán. Ní mór a chinntiú go mairfidh sé, go bhfásfaidh sé agus go mbeidh sé ann go dtí go mbeidh an t-ionad nua curtha ar fáil ar an gClochán. It is very hard to do total justice to this issue in two minutes each for Deputy Farrell and me but I will try to be brief and cut to the…

I am pleased, if it is actioned, that there is a commitment to continue services in Clifden hospital, but all the rest of the Minister of State's prepared reply gives the impression that we are all going in the other direction. I do not know how many other Deputies are like me, but I frequently get calls from people who are being pressurised to take loved ones out of the hospital, with nowhere for them to go. They may not be fit to go home or may live on their own. I find it strange, therefore, that this step-down …

Cuirim fáilte roimh an mBille. Ar bhealach, tá sé thar am go ndéanfadh muid a leithéid. Go dtí seo má bhí rialachas ar bith i gceist bhí sé déanta ag na comhlachtaí féin agus iad siúd á shocrú céard a bhí le feiceáil agus nach raibh le feiceáil ar na meáin shóisialta. I welcome the introduction of this Bill and the introduction of a proper regulatory framework to deal with the spread of harmful online content. I accept this is complex. While, on the one hand, one has the right to free speech, that always has to be …

Agreed. Some of us do not get as much publicity as others around here but that is the way it is. However, there is, in my view, a great democratic element to this that I welcome. On the other hand, I believe that mainstream media has a significant role to play but we need to adjust all of that to the realities of modern Irish society. There is one element of this that I would like to talk about. I understand in the Seanad there was an amendment put forward, that was not accepted but that the Minister was sympatheti…

I welcome the Bill. It is a good idea to bring various offices together that deal with property. I also welcome the name of new body, Tailte Éireann, outlined in the Bill. It is appropriate. It is very much in line with the Official Languages (Amendment) Act 2021 that we name our bodies in Irish. I have noticed over the years, when bodies are named in Irish, especially when they are simple, effective names, that people use them. Nobody has any difficulty with "Bus Éireann", for example, or other bodies with Irish l…

One of the objectives of the programme for Government was to ensure that early intervention services for young children with disability would be available universally across the State. This is particularly important in terms of the various therapies that children get as outpatients. I accept that this is not just for one Department. What is being done by the Government to reduce the length of time it is taking to recruit people to provide these therapies and to make sure that, for example, absences such as illness …

I am surprised that they did not group the questions because I had a very similar question, No. 138. I was on Bere Island, Inishbofin and the Aran Islands over the summer. The regression in policy in the past ten years is absolutely astounding. To be honest, the big plan of drawing up a plan is a time-wasting exercise because for example a health policy was developed for the islands and published with great fanfare, but nothing happened. Things have regressed on that also. Islands that had full 24-7 nursing cover d…

Again I am surprised this question was not taken as part of a group but I do not know who decides on groupings. It is a simple question. What measure is going to be taken to clear the local improvement scheme backlog in County Clare? In asking that question I could also say counties Roscommon, Leitrim, Sligo, Galway and many more because the backlog is horrendous.

Money has been spent but of course there were seven years from 2011 to 2017 when no money was spent so we are only trying to catch up on the total and utter neglect of rural Ireland. It would be a good idea and I ask the Minister, in view of the fact that so many Deputies are raising this question, that she would ascertain from the local authorities around the country the total value in each case of the valid applications they have on hand and as Deputy Moynihan pointed out that is with restrictive rules. Only then…

The history of this is that this scheme was funded solely from the Department of Transport. When I became Minister, I topped up and matched money from the Department of Transport in the CLÁR areas as part of the CLÁR scheme. If that Department did not give the money I did not give the money. To be quite honest, members of the public just see the Exchequer. They only see one Government constitutionally. They do not care which pocket the money comes out of because it costs the same thing to the taxpayer, no matter wh…

Until 2013, there was a very successful local action group operating the LEADER companies across the islands because, as the Minister said in her response to previous questions, the islands are unique. That changed in 2018 when the islands lost LAG status, but Comhar na nOileán still managed to run the project in Donegal and the Beara Peninsula, including the Cork islands. I understand that under the new arrangements, it is going to get even worse and the comhar will be totally excluded from any involvement in the …

I have to say I welcome the Tánaiste's statement that capital expenditure is not day-to-day expenditure and that we should use funds available to proceed with that. I also formally welcome the decision to proceed with the reopening of the railway line from Limerick to Foynes. That is very progressive but is it not logical to extend that line directly to the main sources of rail freight along the west coast - because that is the big justification of it - in Ballina and Westport, by reconnecting and reopening the sho…

Can the Tánaiste show me any rail line that we do not have to subsidise every year?