We are very bad in this country, across all political parties, at infrastructure planning. We are horrendous at it. It is shameful because we are letting down the people. When it comes to infrastructure, there is no long-term planning. The national planning framework is a dog's dinner. The national development plan is loaded with aspirations and projects that often do not materialise and it contains, in various aspects, the token political whims of a number of people in government. We are not very good at this. On …

I thank the Minister of State for coming in from the appropriate Department to deal with this issue. It is appreciated. Does the Minister of State want to be a hero in rural Ireland?

Maybe he already is.

To be honest, as his officials have probably already told him, I have been chasing this issue since 2012. The taxi regulations review brought about a new rural hackney licence. I was the Minister of State in that Department and I sponsored this. The application process started in 2013-14 but very few took it up because it was too rigid in terms of the rules and regulations around it. This year, there were 22 vehicles and 24 licensed drivers. The then Minister, Eamon Ryan, launched a pilot in 2023 in Killala, County…

I thank the Minister of State and I appreciate his sincerity. He does come from a beautiful part of County Galway. I do not want to be talking about this matter for several more years. I know that there is a system we can put in place that will work. The requirements are specific. We need people to come together who can operate a vehicle that can be subsidised, such as through the €6,000 a year. These people should all have the one licence to be able to operate the vehicle. They should all come from the one communi…

We will of course support this. It is kind of ridiculous that we are back here every six months, so hopefully it will be the last time. The Minister has committed to it.

I know. He committed to it, but he kind of did not commit to it. He might commit to whether he is committing to it. Seriously, it has to be done because this is kind of ridiculous. To the public, outdoor seating and socialising is the norm now. We maybe need to slightly improve it because people have adapted. It is one of the few things resulting from Covid, where there was a positive, long-term consequence. There were of course other issues, such as work and so on. It was an outdoor consequence. In some towns arou…

It was great. There were some changes in my local town of Nenagh, which were positive, and I implored the council to do other works that were complementary, which was great. I hope we will not end up here again and that the miscellaneous provisions Bill being brought forward will deal with this and regularise the whole situation, so we do not have to be coming in here talking about the obvious every six months. I know my former colleague, Brendan Howlin, used to love coming in here every six months when he was spok…

The relevance to this is that a lot of these drinks-----

-----are served outside, and do you know what? It is as relevant as Carrickmacross was.

The issue is that we need to give some guidance because workers are left in a situation where they do not know. There could be scenarios where minors end up drinking alcohol, either accidentally or deliberately because of this. The vintners, in fairness, have come out and said they should not be served. They said under-18s should not be served and that adults who order it for them should not be served either. They should not be served the non-alcoholic version. Therefore, some guidance on this from the Minister's D…

This is a very important issue, which goes beyond political tit-for-tat stuff. The achievements that can be made for young people in this area if it is properly resourced are unique. I acknowledge that there has been a dramatic increase in funding in this area, which has gone from €21 million or €22 million up to €36 million in a short time. There was a gap in fulfilment across the jurisdiction affecting my area of north Tipperary and east Clare. I am not claiming east Clare but I wake up every morning and see east…

Can you even hear yourself?

You were not in the room.

There has been a bit of a delay in commencing this Act. That is not completely the Minister's fault, but there is a concern as to why it took this long. I have no issue with passing these Votes. The Minister explained the position quite well. I do have concerns about how we got here. I am coming at this from the Eddie Molloy version of the original report, that is, the second version. Handing over the powers of the Policing Authority to the Garda Commissioner is wrong. If I was sitting where the Minister is sitting…

The Minister has not made any public statements about these matters or in respect of defective holsters. The Minister believes that what I put on the record of this Dáil was accurate. It was accurate. There is also the matter of how 8 kg of drugs were found in Garda headquarters, as well as the issues relating to firearms. I understand the Garda Commissioner went looking for these firearms. It was a bit late to do so. Given all these things, there is a serious issue around the structures being in place. The structu…

We are around a lot longer than you guys.

Broke loose.

We are the oldest party in the State.

And for a Minister to do it as well.