I welcome the Minister of State. I acknowledge the extraordinary service, dedication and sacrifice that gardaí make across this State. They put their lives on the line every day. Every single day, gardaí put themselves in harm to protect others, serve their communities and make people feel safe. I remember the 90 gardaí who lost their lives in the line of duty. No one in this House should underestimate the importance of An Garda Síochána to communities across Ireland. We are speaking to this motion on investment, r…

I welcome the Minister of State. He seems to be spending as much time here this week as I do.

We saw the Government come out finally yesterday and announce the fuel support scheme for all sectors – agriculture, transport and fishing. While the support is welcome, we have to be honest: the fishing industry still feels it is too little too late. There is a scheme of €15 million for the fishers which will be administered by BIM but fishers are still contacting me saying they do not know how much they will receive and how it will be calculated. There is a lot of uncertainty around it. I am not sure if it is jus…

I do know prices have decreased a bit in Kerry. I may have to move county to get cheaper diesel. The prices at the pumps are not decreasing like we would have hoped.

I want to raise the issue of car insurance. We have brought up lots of different insurance issues in this House and I know there was a briefing yesterday in the audiovisual room, which I missed, but I am well aware of the issues involving motor insurance. In many of our towns and villages in rural Ireland, having a car is not a luxury; it is essential. To take children to school, to get to appointments and to get to work, a person needs to have a car and has to drive. The fact that insurance costs are going up seem…

I welcome the Minister of State. Energy security goes to the heart of our economic stability, climate obligations and the basic fairness owed to our citizens. The recent warnings from EirGrid should set alarm bells ringing across this House. Its assessment was stark. Over the next decade, Ireland faces serious challenges in meeting overall electricity demand. A key driver of that risk is the unchecked expansion of data centres. This is not a new concern. Sinn Féin has consistently warned that the Government's appro…

I commend and thank the Cross-Party Group on bringing this motion forward. It is a very important one. The rehabilitation of our wildlife is very important. It hits the heart of rural Ireland and what it is. We are be able to drive down the road and see all these amazing animals. I leave my house and I see deer. Unfortunately, one of my daughters does not know much about animals and she told me one of them was a teenager. I do not know how she figured that one out, but they have decided to put labels on them. In Co…

I will start by saying I am a vaper, so I am slightly biased on this. I do not use disposables. I used to until I discovered that the same flavour as the disposable can be bought in the bottle of juice and it is actually cheaper to use a reusable. That is one thing that Members have wrong; it is not cheaper to use disposables. If you were to smoke it like a smoker would smoke it, one reusable cigarette or vape will only last for a day. I completely agree this is not for children. It is not for under-18s. I would li…

Today, I want to raise something that has been not only on my mind, but brought up to me a lot over the last couple of months. It is a Bill that will be going into the Dáil next week, on vaping and on the banning of flavours. I will give the Leader a rundown. My own story is a lot like many stories. I started smoking in 1992. The first time I ever tried to give them up was in 2012. I went into a vape shop and bought a vape. The first question I was asked was what kind of cigarettes I smoked. They matched you to you…

Go raibh maith agat. I have spoken to many farmers and contractors in recent weeks. When speaking about supports, they said their main objective was to see supports at the pumps, not a rebate scheme. I will not turn my nose up at €100,000 and I am sure nobody will, but they wanted it at the pumps as an instant relief on the cost they faced. I hope there will be enough staff put in to resource this. We have gone through ACRES a lot in committee and the Minister has assured us ACRES is up and running fine and the lat…

We had protests all last week around the country for fuel. Waking up yesterday morning, a lot of these protesters were receiving fixed penalty notices and fines in the post. My office has been inundated with phone calls and messages about the stress and mental health strain they are forced to put up with. They protested because they could not afford to keep their businesses running and now they are being handed fixed penalty notices with fines from An Garda Síochána. It is another slap in the face. These protesters…

I second the amendment.

I know we have a debate coming up but I want to raise the fuel protests. I left my house at 7 o'clock on Wednesday morning and I returned at 3 p.m. on Sunday evening. I spent my entire week in Foynes Port supporting those I consider my neighbours, friends and colleagues. I slept a couple of hours every so often in the cab of my husband's lorry because I needed a bit of rest. Those men who stood there and cried on me that they could not afford to keep going did not want to be there. They gave up a week's work to be …

I am delighted we are having this debate. I raised the matter on the Order of Business. I reiterate that I stood in Foynes for the five days and five nights. I am very proud that I did because I stood with colleagues, friends and family. This did not start with the Iranian war. It has been bubbling for a long time. We have heard about it. We have heard about children not being able to get school places. We have heard about carers and special needs assistants marching the streets. Marching the bloody streets does no…

We are not on the same side as the DUP.

Look at your history. We are on opposite sides. We are not talking about that. I am talking about something that came up in the Seanad only in the past hour, where Fianna Fáil Senators were giving out about a Fine Gael Minister. I find it hilarious. I will leave it at that.

I also wish to raise the issue of petrol, diesel, home heating oil and other fuels. The measures that emerged earlier are not even going to make a dent when it comes to what is happening. Diesel alone in County Limerick went up by nearly 60 cent in some petrol stations. Reducing the cost of a litre of fuel by 20 cent is not going to make the blindest bit of difference to somebody who has to get up and drive to work, never mind the likes of home care help or public nurses. When it comes to rural Ireland, they could …

I move amendment No. 1: To insert the following after "23rd February, 2026": ": provided that this Order shall take effect only after the Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2022 has been amended to provide for the Accommodation Recognition Payment (ARP) Scheme Termination date to be extended only for the following: – existing recipients with respect to the beneficiaries of temporary protection currently benefitting from the Scheme, where those beneficiaries of temporary protection have satisfied a means test …

I thank the Minister of State for coming in today. As he knows, we have tabled an amendment to this motion. What began as a short-term emergency scheme has since evolved into a scheme increasingly used by landlords. Let us be fair: renting out under the scheme is more financially beneficial and more attractive than standard renting, especially in low-rent areas like the west, the north west and Border counties. Crucially, the ARP is a non-means-tested, tax-free payment paid directly to landlords, something not avai…

Today, I raise the issue of schools, active travel and safe routes to schools. There is a school in County Limerick that has raised an issue where there is no pedestrian crossing outside the school, none of those lovely coloured crayon bollards for children to exit the school safely. We are coming into the nice weather now where kids might want to be able to walk home from school or cycle. Dromcollogher National School is on a main road through Dromcollogher which is also the main road from Newcastle West to Cork. …