Climate change is here, and we are seeing what it looks like. This is the beginning of it, unfortunately, with the changing weather patterns that we have been seeing in the past few years. Flood relief schemes are taking from 13 to 20 years, which is too long, to put in place. The Mountmellick and Portarlington schemes have been planned since 2017. People in the two towns are on high alert the whole time. Homes on Manor Road were flooded again in recent months. Botley Lane in Portarlington gets flooded, and there i…

The Government has proposed to scrap the triple lock. In 2013, when the Taoiseach was on this side of House, he said "triple lock ... is at the core of our neutrality". I agree with what he said then. As a member of the defence committee, we have looked at this very carefully, and I am fully convinced that what he said is true. He will try to justify the abandonment of the triple lock because we live in a changed world. He has said things like this, but neutrality was adopted during the Second World War. The 1960 D…

We might as well be.

I would remind the Taoiseach of two things. One is that I know the UN is not perfect and the veto may be exercised, but I also told him of the 264 resolutions that were passed in a four-year period without a veto being exercised by any of the five, including the US. None of what I am saying goes against strengthening our Defence Forces capacity and having a level of co-operation in terms of sharing information, etc., with other countries. That is not the argument I am making here. If national declarations are made …

You said the triple lock is the core of neutrality.

That is one-----

I support amendments Nos. 2, 7 and 8 in relation to reviews and reports. The Minister and the Minister of State know what is going to happen here because we can see it already. We could see it from the moment they announced this in autumn last year. We can see what is happening – notices to quit are increasing, rents are increasing and pressure on tenants to move out is increasing. This is because many landlords – I am not putting all of them in the one box – and especially the bigger ones know that come 1 March th…

I am here to speak on behalf of tenants and renters in towns in Laois like Portlaoise, Mountmellick, Portarlington, Mountrath, Rathdowney, Graiguecullen, Stradbally and so on. I am meeting people regularly, daily sometimes, who are struggling because of the situation with housing and the high rents they are paying. The Government is bringing in a measure. We have heard the RTB projections in the debate. The Minister can contradict them if he likes. It knows, and the people who look for this know, that this is going…

Traffic volumes are up, speeds are up, and mobile phone use is up. I want to highlight the N80 that goes through Laois. Safety measures are needed in the village of Arles, which local councillors and local people have been years looking for. I handed in petitions to Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, and Laois County Council demanding that traffic calming measure be put at each end of the village and that it be made safer for pedestrians with a pedestrian crossing, proper footpaths and improved signage. Laois C…

I welcome this motion and thank Deputy Healy for bringing it forward. It is timely. Personal debt is up. Nearly 300,000 households are in arrears with their electricity bills. Profits are up massively, as has been outlined. Private health insurance has gone out through the roof. The motion outlines a number of serious measures that need to be taken. I want to add the issue of private health insurance. Unfortunately, people, particularly the elderly and those who have health issues, have to take it out. Costs have e…

Laois is one of nine counties that still does not have a domestic abuse refuge. Over the past 15 years I have been highlighting the fact that victims and their families are sent miles to other counties to a refuge away from services, such as their local GP, schools and family support. They are already traumatised by the abuse and this can further traumatise them. Unfortunately, there is an upsurge in domestic abuse, including violence, sexual abuse and emotional abuse. It can be carried out by men and women but mai…

The Minister may not have noticed, and maybe Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have not noticed, that tenants in private rental accommodation are already under huge stress. In case things were not bad enough, the Government is now going to throw them to the mercy of rack-renting landlords from 1 March. Whatever limits and calming effect rent pressure zones had in slowing down rent increases will all be gone. New rents will be pitched to the highest in the area. The sky will be the limit. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael surely kn…

The announcement by the Government of the new childcare scheme is welcome. The idea is that the Government will buy or build childcare facilities, particularly in areas where there are shortages. It is a small start. Similar to a lot of Members of the House, I would like it to be a lot more expansive but it is a welcome start. It is reported that €177 million will be available over a five-year period and eight buildings will be bought or acquired in the first year. There is a desperate shortage of childcare and ear…

I am getting in first.

The N80 goes through the town centres of Portlaoise and Mountmellick. It is causing chaos in both towns and no progress is being made on relief roads. Mountmellick relief road was promised 20 years ago. All traffic from the midlands and the west, including a large number of HGVs, is going through the town centre of Mountmellick trying to negotiate tricky junctions, going through O'Connell Square and past the very busy secondary school. A route has been selected. The surveys have been done. The council has played it…

The last thing I want to say is that the flood relief schemes need to be speeded up as 17 years or 18 years is just too long.

Without a doubt, the system we have had to date has not been fit for purpose and there have been several problems outlined here on that. The delays in the system have not been fair to anybody, particularly genuine and successful applicants. We need to be able to deal much more quickly with people who are fleeing war, persecution or famine. We need to be able to help them. If the faster processing times that have been set out happen, I will welcome the 12 weeks and the further 12 weeks on the second appeal. That wil…

I ask the Minister to ensure that St. Anne's Ward in St. Vincent's Hospital in Mountmellick is kept in use when the new wing costing €31 million is opened to increase the capacity of the hospital from 58 to 83 and to make a statement. The Minister must use taxpayers' money well. She should not waste it.

I thank the Minister of State for the reply. We have a huge shortage of nursing home beds in County Laois. There is also a shortage of respite beds and step-down beds when people are discharged from acute units such as in Portlaoise and Tullamore hospitals. The population, in particular of the elderly, is increasing rapidly. If we are going to spend €38 million on a new building with a 50-bed capacity, which I wholeheartedly welcome, we need to get extra capacity for that money. However, the plan is to move out the…

That is fine but St. Anne's ward is HIQA-approved already. The rooms are en suite. The Minister of State needs to have a look at this, as he has responsibility for older people. The Minister also needs to look at it. I say this in a very positive way. They will soon be there cutting the ribbon. That will be a good day for care of the elderly. I have argued long and hard here for the past 15 years, as have other Deputies, for the new wing in Mountmellick, and it is there now. We have a chronic shortage of nursing ho…