The deletion proposed in section 8 of the Bill is bizarre when one considers the Taoiseach's speech to the UN just a few days ago, where he stood up in front of the world and said the world will not forget the inaction on Gaza. A few days later, his Government is proposing to delete the following subsection in the 1987 Act: The Agency shall not engage in or promote any activity of a primarily military relevance without the prior approval of the Government. The proposal, in effect, is to take out the guardrails or s…

Our country has built its reputation on providing humanitarian aid and engaging in peacekeeping. What is proposed will undermine and hugely damage Ireland's reputation. The Minister of State spoke about ambiguity. There is no ambiguity. The 1987 Act states, "The Agency shall not engage in or promote any activity of a primarily military relevance". Where is the ambiguity? By removing that, you remove every safeguard and the reputation we have built up over decades as a country that people can look to for humanitaria…

He is a war criminal.

I want to speak about the ongoing crisis in GP services across the country. I refer to access to GP services for both private patients and medical card holders. In my town of Wexford, it is virtually impossible for medical card holders to access a GP. It is heading in the same direction for private patients. Only last week, I was contacted by a family of two adults and three children who had relocated to Wexford. They are private patients and they were rejected by four GPs. We are now looking to other towns in the …

I ask the Minister to provide details of the communication he has had to date, if any, with the new owners of Integer Holdings Corporation, which employs 1,100 workers in New Ross, County Wexford; if he can give assurance to all employees that their jobs are secure; the plans the new owners have for the company and if he will undertake to visit New Ross and meet the workers there.

I thank the Minister of State, but I am somewhat disappointed in that response. As a rural-based public representative, Minister and Deputy himself, he can appreciate the impact a factory employing 1,100 workers in a town like New Ross can have not just on the town itself, but on the entire region. There is a fear the company that has proposed to buy Integer Holdings Corporation for some €4.9 billion is not in the medical device field. In fact, it is a global investment firm. I believe a pre-emptive strike by the G…

I appreciate the Minister of State's concern and his comment that the Government and IDA stand ready. However, it would not do any harm, given the scale of this company, if the Government was to take the first step and meet with the new ownership to find out what its plans are and how much it is going to invest in New Ross, if anything. What are its plans for this huge employer, which is probably one of the biggest, if not the biggest, in the entire county of Wexford? This is beyond the pale when it comes to the co…

I ask the Minister about the steps being taken to support Irish enterprises facing rising global cost pressures, supply chain volatility and geopolitical uncertainty, and the specific supports being developed for SMEs to maintain competitiveness in the current economic climate.

The key to this issue is our indigenous Irish industry. We have seen, particularly in regard to the geopolitical tensions that have been built up through the actions of President Trump in particular, be it through war or through his tariffs that have threatened the whole global economy, that we need to ensure our indigenous industry grows and develops. We need a national competitive package for SMEs. We need targeted energy supports. We also need a temporary working capital scheme for firms hit by supply chain dela…

One thing that we need to focus on is regional resilience measures. For towns like Wexford, New Ross and Rosslare in areas like mine, regional enterprise hubs are vital because they are particularly focused on supply chain and digital adoption. We need localised upskilling programmes, particularly for a county like Wexford in the area of logistics, with the enhancement and development of Rosslare Europort as a port of strategic national importance. We need support for clusters too. In a county like Wexford, these c…

Bí curamach.

I commend my colleague, Deputy Eoghan Kenny, on bringing this motion to the floor of the Dáil. One line from his contribution this morning is at the nub of everything, where he said, "Poverty should never determine potential." That is the key component of this motion. What is happening to many families throughout this country is nothing short of unacceptable. Every year, parents brace themselves for the back to school season and, every year, the financial pressure grows heavier. Now, on top of books, uniforms, tran…

At the outset, I would like to join, as everyone here has, in warmly welcoming to Leinster House Cian and Jordan Adams, the FTB brothers, and also Cian's partner, Helen, who played such a vital and key role in the whole 33 marathons in 33 days. They are most welcome. It was a remarkable fundraising odyssey and their extraordinary determination, resilience and love has inspired people across this country. They have undertaken this challenge in memory of their beloved mother, Geraldine, who sadly passed away at the y…

I strongly support this motion. For too long, families across this country have lived with a fear that most of us here in this Chamber could scarcely imagine. It is not a fear of what will happen today or tomorrow but a fear of what will happen when they are no longer here. They lie awake at night wondering who will care for their son or daughter, where they will live, whether they will be safe, whether they will be happy or whether they will still be connected to the people and places that they love and know. That…

Last Friday, Rosslare Europort was reaffirmed as a port of national importance. This is an issue I have discussed with the Minister relatively recently and I am looking for some sort of update. The Port of Rosslare has grown exponentially in years since Brexit, yet the former customs post, which can hold and park 93 trucks, lies idle after the Minister's Department spent €14.8 million on it. Can we please have some common sense in this regard? To be fair to the Minister, I spoke to him about this relatively recentl…

The question relates to the issue of static speed cameras on the national road network and whether divergences between the number of fixed charge notices for speed detections at individual locations are compared and reviewed by officials and An Garda Síochána. The Minister will perhaps be aware of the massive disparity in the number of fines issued at various different cameras. One has issued 30,599 notices while another has issued 397 in an 11-month period. The Minister might make a statement on the matter.

I thank the Minister. I wholeheartedly agree that these cameras are essential, vital and necessary and play an important role in road safety but we need fairness. We need these cameras to be operated fairly. The Minister cannot tell me there is not a problem when one camera in Glenmore, County Kilkenny is reading speeds for 30,599 fines, another camera read 3,000, some cameras read approximately 1,000 and one in Galway read 397. A person does not need to be a detective to understand that 30,599 fines from one camer…

I welcome the Minister's comments. I am not campaigning for people who are speeding to have their fines rescinded. There is a problem with the signage, particularly in Glenmore. People who are driving in a 100 km/h zone arrive at an 80 km/h sign and are almost immediately captured by the camera and not given a chance to obey the law. People who were driving below 100 km/h and were captured by this camera, many of whom were decelerating, should be fairly treated. This one camera generated €4.9 million in revenue in …

Like my colleagues, I would have serious concerns about the timescale with regard to this legislation and, as has been said, the notion that we have a dedicated AI committee and yet the only scrutiny, as such, was done by the enterprise committee. I sit on the enterprise committee. The AI committee has done a tremendous amount of work since its establishment and its members are really invested in this legislation, probably to a greater degree than the members of the enterprise committee. The notion that we would ha…

Amendment No. 5 speaks to the promotion of responsible adoption of AI systems in workplaces and protects the legal rights of employees. A lot of people out there are very fearful of AI and what it will bring to the workplace. The amendment is geared towards the protection of existing employees and ensuring nothing we are doing through the establishment of this office will undermine that. It also calls for monitoring the use of AI systems for the purpose of workforce management, not to hand over AI to management to …