There is a vote coming up. A lot of people are dissatisfied and disappointed with the vote on Mercosur. People are worried about their health and so on. A vote is coming up in Europe where the MEPs will have a vote. We understand from assertions by certain MEPs from both parties that they intend to vote for the Mercosur agreement. What control do the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael parties have over these MEPs? Can they insist they vote against Mercosur for the good of our consumers and farmers? I was in an establishment…

I have not started yet.

How much time have I?

I am glad this gas safety framework is to be put on a statutory basis. It is only right that people who are trained and qualified are installing and maintaining equipment. They know what they are doing for unsuspecting people who have a problem or are having something new driven by gas installed in their homes. People are depending on those who are trained and qualified and this is an explosive product that could leave many people hurt, injured or worse if it is not put together right. This Bill took a long time to…

I am glad to get the opportunity to talk on this very important matter. I will not be voting for a ban on fox hunting. For fear that people think that there is an urban-rural divide, there is no such thing down the country. Maybe there is somebody inside the Pale here who do not understand rural Ireland, but in rural Ireland we have towns that depend on the farming community, including sheep farmers and cattle farmers. When we saw everything else close down during the virus, the one thing that kept the country movi…

You know nothing about it.

I wish to raise TB outbreaks in Kerry. We are being ravaged, especially in east Kerry. The issue many farmers are raising with me is an increase to the ceiling cap for compensation, which is limited to €3,000 at present. They fear for their financial future because they will not be able to buy back in cows for that, especially the number of high bred dairy cows and suckler cows that will cost much more to replace. Farmers are asking if something can be done to raise that ceiling. I am sorry the Minister for agricul…

-----who come in who have not received their ACRES payment yet. I hope there will not be a repetition of what happened this year.

I am glad to get the opportunity to talk about this very serious matter. When we talk about fishermen, we are talking about an awful lot of people. We are talking about coastal communities and people who depend on it so much to eke a living. It is often dangerous and contrary. People have gone through a lot to put the fleets that they have together. To think that in some room somewhere with a stroke of a pen that we can destroy up to 2,300 jobs in the fishing industry in our own country is one of the most serious t…

First of all, I wish you, a Cheann Comhairle, all the elected Members, all the staff, everyone involved in this great House and the people who are running it all the very best for Christmas and the new year. I welcome the exemption for the change of use from vacant commercial properties to residential use. I thought that was in place, but if it is being regularised, that is all the better. I also welcome the increase in the provision of animal housing under class 6 of Part 3 of Schedule 2 by 50% from 200 sq. m to 3…

Then there is-----

I thought I had seven and a half minutes.

Could you give me another minute, a Cheann Comhairle?

I understood that I had seven and a half minutes.

The same blockage is caused on the national roads. People cannot get in or out on the national roads. What is the story with the granny flats? It is nine months now since the Minister mentioned that. Is there some hold-up on that? Can it be sorted out once and for all and put before us here? We do not have any affordable housing scheme in Kerry? What is going to happen with the new idea we have for treatment plants on unserviced land?

Will they be exempt from being zoned? Can it be decided by a planning application? Thank you very much, a Cheann Comhairle. I am sorry, I misunderstood the times.

I am glad to get this opportunity. I am delighted that the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, is taking the questions today. As he knows himself, we have not always agreed about everything, but he takes the question and he comes back and gives an answer. I hope that, on top of all the other times I have asked these same questions, something will happen now. We have a clause in Kerry known as the rural areas under significant urban influence, which I understand was to prevent applicants coming out from towns or other urban…

Just let me finish this, please. Could we say that these do not need to be zoned and only need to be decided by a planning application?

Many of these places where the Government says developers could build a treatment plant-----

-----are not even zoned for housing, so this will hold all that up again.