I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to provide for the ongoing registration of domestic waste water systems and to eliminate the requirement to register by a prescribed date in order to enable all householders to register their domestic waste water systems. Táimid ag dul ag roinnt dhá nóiméad go leith an duine. Is é an t-ainm atá ar an mBille seo ná An Bille um Sheirbhísí Uisce (Leasú), 2022. Is é an bunús atá leis seo ná nuair a tugadh isteach an tseirbhís uisce in 2012, bhí ar dhaoin…

The Minister has answered this question in various forms but we are back to the fuel allowance and the extraordinary increases in fuel costs over this winter, which are unlikely to abate given the situation in Ukraine and Europe. Will the Minister increase the real purchasing power of the fuel allowance? As other Deputies have asked, will she extend it to people who are just a small amount over the means test threshold?

The increases provided in the budget last autumn were given at a time of relatively stable fuel prices. They were given just to maintain the situation as it was and had nothing to do with what has happened since. At the end of December, 500 l of kerosene cost about €411. Today, it costs €760. That is an increase of 74%. That is the scale of the challenge. We have provided €125, because the other measures were pre-facto and were not based on anything to do with Ukraine, which had not become an issue at that stage. I…

The Government raised the fuel allowance last autumn because it realised it was inadequate even at the old prices. The free electricity allowance has been at the same level for a long time. It no longer relates to units but to a cash amount. In the old days, if the price went up, the units allowed stayed the same so it made no difference and the cost did not increase. However, that was changed. The reality is that everybody got the extra money for electricity so nothing has been done for those on the household bene…

I would like to thank the Minister for coming this evening to reply. Some schools were disappointed and surprised that they were not included in the delivering equality of opportunity in schools, DEIS, programme. I understand that it is a process whereby the Department, as far as it has access to data, has used objective data to try to determine which schools should be part of the scheme. My understanding is that the primary online database, POD, information given is name, address, Eircode postcode, PPSN, pupil ID …

I thank the Minister for the reply, but to a certain extent it reminded me of Tim Figgerty from long ago, although the Minister is probably too young to have ever heard of him. He was a mythical figure who used to get the figs into the Fig Rolls. He went missing and the story that a certain biscuit manufacturer had was that nobody would ever find out how to get the figs into the Fig Rolls and that they were in serious trouble. I still have not found out how to get the figs into Fig Rolls. The Minister told me there…

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for his interest in this matter. I am aware that only for his initiative, none of this would have ever happened. I also thank Senator Eileen Flynn for the work she did as Chair. She brought invaluable knowledge to this subject with her contribution and expertise that many of us who have not lived that experience lack. It was a great privilege to be Vice Chair of this committee, which worked across parties in a very cohesive and agreed fashion. I say to all my friends in the Traveller com…

Tháinig sé mar cheist iontais agus uafáis dom nach bhfuil oileánaigh clúdaithe faoin scéim a fógraíodh go mbeidh laghdú 20% sna táillí taistil ar fud na tíre. Sin ach amháin d’oileánaigh. Tá sé dochreidte go dtarlódh a leithéid agus go bhfágfaí an pobal is mó atá ag brath ar thaisteal poiblí amach as an scéim. Níl aon bhealach isteach agus amach ó na hoileáin ach ar iompar poiblí. Tá súil agam go mbeidh dea-scéal ag an Aire Stáit inniu. Mura bhfuil, coinneoidh mé orm ag troid. Níl aon mhaith d’aon duine a rá gur ce…

This is the most Orwellian and misinformed reply I have ever received in this House. Whoever wrote it forgot that I actually put the existing schemes in place. I hope the Minister of State will listen carefully to how the scheme works. Tenders are sought for services to the islands. According to the tender arrangements, only the islander fare is dictated by the Department. Tourists and non-islanders visiting an island pay at the commercial rate. All I seek is that the 20% apply to the islander fare, which is fixed …

The NTA does not either-----

Expressway is not subsidised by the Department.

Where is the Minister?

I thought there was an arrangement that the Minister was meant to come in.

We are back to the old-----

As somebody who was party to the writing of this report and who, along with my colleagues, put a lot of effort into it, I have to say the attitude of the establishment here in trying to rubbish us is absolutely horrendous. The Commission on Pensions did an honest job within its terms of reference, but the terms of reference were written in an attempt to get a particular result. I hope to outline why I disagree with the result. At the very end of my few minutes, I will come to why I believe the terms of reference we…

Tá mise ag tógáil cúig nóiméad. Tá ceithre nóiméad ag mo chomhghleacaí. Ar an gcéad dul síos, tá an díospóireacht seo tábhachtach ach níor mhaith liom go gceapfadh daoine go bhfuil a gcuid déanta don bhliain agus nach gá an Ghaeilge a labhairt go ceann bliana arís. Tá cuid den dearcadh sin le feiceáil ar RTÉ. Déanann sé rudaí beaga simplí i nGaeilge an tseachtain seo gur féidir leis iad a dhéanamh ar fud na bliana. Níl a fhios agam cén fáth nach leanann sé ar aghaidh leis. Ní bhíonn éinne ag tabhairt amach i rith s…

Luafaidh mé díreach rud amháin a bhí mé chun a rá - an tábhacht go labhródh tuismitheoirí Gaeilge lena gcuid gasúr má tá sí acu. Níl aon rud níos bunúsaí agus is cinneadh é a gcaithfidh tuismitheoirí a dhéanamh. Ní féidir leis an Stát an cinneadh sin a dhéanamh. Níl aon bhealach níos éasca an teanga a fhoghlaim ná í a fhoghlaim ó na tuismitheoirí sa bhaile. Níl aon bhaol ann níos mó go bhfásfaidh gasúr suas gan Bhéarla, rud a rinne imní do mhuintir na Gaeltachta fadó. Tá sé thar a bheith tábhachtach go n-éireoidh l…

The Minister might remember a previous time he was a Minister and there was a higher rate of grants for retrofitting on the islands through the warmer homes grant and so on. Is the Minister going to go through the same process now? Will there be higher ceilings for the maximum expenditure and lower thresholds for island contractors who would not have turnover of €1 million? Those changes are required so we get work done on the island. Much of that work would be done by islanders, which would have a double effect. A…

I am very disappointed with that reply, which seems to fail to recognise that getting any goods or labour onto the islands is far more expensive than trying to do the equivalent on the mainland. For example, to bring cargo from the mainland, one has to pay a cargo fee and VAT on that cargo fee. Those are extra costs. Thereafter, one has to move the cargo from the harbour to wherever on the island it is going. I ask the Minister to meet a delegation from Comhdháil Oileáin na hÉireann. It is anxious to outline to the…

Many people living on our islands are not in receipt of fuel allowance because they have incomes. This is something we have been working hard to address over the years. There are huge extra costs involved in living on an island. There were three parts to my question. One concerns the need for a higher rate of grants and the second relates to the maximum cost allowed. It is more expensive to do things on islands than to do them on the mainland. Therefore, the ceilings in place of €50,000, €2,000 and so on should be …