I move amendment No. 20: In page 26, between lines 5 and 6, to insert the following: “(4) An order under subsection (1) shall specify a maximum duration and shall be strictly limited to what is necessary, and shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas in accordance with section 88C.”.

I move amendment No. 24: In page 28, between lines 10 and 11, to insert the following: “(4) The Minister may by regulations prescribe periods under subsection (2), having consulted the Agency, and may prescribe different periods for different classes of activity. (5) The Agency shall include in its annual report under section 51(3) the number of cases in which the period under this section was exceeded, the reasons, and corrective actions taken.”.”

I welcome the Minister to the House. I am delighted to see him here and hope he is as concerned about wind energy in this country as I am when I look at some of the statistics that I have and some of the issues in County Limerick in particular. There are at least three wind farms being proposed for County Limerick and in that context there are two issues I want to raise, relating to curtailment costs and wind energy maps. In 2013, a circular was sent to the county councils that said not to amend or adjust their win…

I thank the Minister for his response. It is great to see that he is not just reading off a script and that he is engaging with this. It is fantastic to see that there are projects going ahead that are going to increase our capacity for holding this energy. As I said, however, it is putting the cart before the horse. Is there any way the Minister would put a pause on these proposals to put more wind energy in until the grid is at a stage where it can hold that energy and where curtailment costs are not going to be …

It is nice to have the Minister back in the House again. Not for one minute is this anybody's fault. Nobody can predict a midge coming over the Border and infecting our animals but it is an all-island issue. I echo what I have heard across the floor. It is an all-island issue, and it needs to be tackled on an all-island basis. Not having exports North and South is just not sustainable when there are farmers on each side of the Border with the exact same disease. I completely understand the Minister's point that imp…

I also do not have any inspirational quotes to share but you never know – I might say something inspirational enough that I might be quoted in 50 years, although I doubt it. When we talk of volunteering we are talking about real people who give up their evenings, weekends and time after work not because they have to but because they want to and they have a passion. I see it every week in Limerick. Our Tidy Towns volunteers are out on a Saturday morning planting flowers and cleaning up towns. I see the GAA coaches s…

I do not know why but I do. Organising events is what I enjoy. There is one organisation that I would have to put above a lot of organisations that I know, and that would be ALONE. It does amazing work. I went through Garda vetting to become a volunteer with ALONE. It turned out I could not fulfil that because my mother's dementia was so progressive that I said I would use my ALONE hours to spend time at home with family and look after her, but it is an amazing organisation. It does such good, especially in rural a…

I raise an issue I have raised a number of times in the House, namely, wind energy, particularly for County Limerick. A 2013 Government circular asked local authorities to refrain from updating their wind energy strategies or maps. In the 13 years since, Limerick City and County Council has updated its map to change an area from orange to green. It will not, by any means, change from green to red or green to orange. It will change the map to suit itself. For 13 years, councils have been told not to change the map. …

I will be brief. The amendment is sensible and would provide more staff to the RTB for when this potential disaster hits. When many immigrants came into the country, the International Protection Office was understaffed and could not keep up with the number of applications. We saw what that did. People were giving out and protesting on the streets. There is no protection for renters in the Bill. As I said yesterday, the entire Bill needs to be dumped. I ask the Minister to at least accept the amendment and have staf…

I will direct my questions to Séan Kelly, MEP. Why did he vote against referring the EU Mercosur trade agreement to the European Court of Justice? I know he spoke about that in his opening remarks and a couple of times thereafter. Was there a whip in place for that vote? I ask this in light of the recent block-in of the Hague fisheries safeguards by a group of the larger member states, an outcome which is expected to probably cost Ireland up to €200 million. There are real concerns that the safeguards can be weaken…

I am always hearing stuff from the Government benches such as “time is more valuable than money” and, in this case, “it is all about supply”. There is no point in supply, however, if people are not able to afford that supply. With this Bill, supply only seems to play in favour of some parts of Dublin. Supply is not going to increase in Limerick, Cork, Kerry, Tipperary or any of the rural areas. Rather, it will hit those rural areas the hardest because they predominately have houses rather than apartments. In County…

The Minister of State is welcome. I want to approach the Bill from the perspective of rural areas and agricultural communities because that is where its consequences will be most keenly felt. Sinn Féin has always been clear, and my colleague Deputy Pa Daly has repeatedly stated, that strong environmental protection and climate action depend on public trust. That trust collapses when decision-making becomes centralised, rushed or opaque. The Bill is presented as technical and procedural but for communities living be…

I move amendment No. 1: To insert the following paragraph under “notes that:” “- the number of Gardaí assigned to Roads Policing / Traffic Corps duties has fallen sharply over recent years;”

I welcome this evening's discussion on road safety. It is a very important issue. It is not just an abstract policy. It is something that touches every family, every parish and every community in this country. Nowhere is that truer than in rural Ireland. For decades, we have made real progress. Since the first road safety strategy was published, the number of fatalities on our roads has fallen steadily, reaching its lowest point in 2021. That progress did not happen by accident. It happened because of sustained inv…

I move amendment No. 2: To insert the following paragraphs under “calls on the Government to:" "- expedite the National Vehicle and Driver File Bill 2025 to ensure that local authorities have expedited access to road collision data; - explore an all-island approach to road safety initiatives; - commit to a clear, time-bound plan to recruit, train and retain additional Garda members specifically for high-visibility road policing, backed by apppropriate resources, vehicles, technology and ongoing professional develop…

I want to highlight an unfairness and double standard that goes on in this country. The head of CIÉ got a bumper pay increase of €35,000, the head of Bus Éireann a bumper pay increase of €50,000, Irish Rail €75,000, the National Stud €60,000 and the head of Uisce Éireann a bumper of €100,000, and we have boil-water notices throughout this country. We have towns and villages where there is not enough infrastructure within the treatment plant to put any more businesses or houses on the scheme. I cannot fathom it. It …

I thank the Minister for attending and for giving of his time to deal with this matter, which relates to the corporate governance responsibility and credibility of Bord Bia, and, in particular, the credibility of Bord Bia if it continues to have Larry Murrin as its chair. For nearly two weeks now, this matter has been allowed to drift. With every single day that passes, the credibility of Bord Bia, and in turn the credibility of Irish produce, is at risk. Ireland’s reputation internationally is being put at risk wh…

Not for one minute am I saying Bord Bia is not a fantastic company. I have said this from the start. We need Bord Bia. However, it is the farmers who make Bord Bia look good as well because-----

It is a partnership, yes. The farmers must have faith and trust in it. Farmers see the chair of Bord Bia import from Brazil, which has been in the news recently with the callbacks and the recalls because we cannot trust it. We have seen this with Mercosur. We cannot trust what comes in from Brazil because it does not have the same controls we have here. The farmers in this country feel like they are being sold out for a cheaper product. It might not be about the price. It is about how they feel. The Minister has to…

I did not sully-----