The Minister will well understand why I and others, such as the Irish Council for Civil Liberties and other groups, are necessarily cautious about this. For example, when the public services card, PSC, was brought in, it was said that it would be mandatory but not compulsory, or vice versa . In the end, the requirement for those over 65 is that they must have one of these cards with a chip in it to access the free travel scheme. There is a creeping sense that people are being asked to hand over their identification…

The Minister stated that people can put their date of birth on it if they wish and that everything will be absolutely opt-in all the time but that is not true. The moment something like this is brought in, it becomes compulsory. Those aged over 65 have an entitlement to access the free travel scheme but they must have this card to do so. If people do not want to have the card, they are simply locked out of the scheme. When the Minister says that something will be voluntary, such as the public services card, it is n…

As the Government seems to be blissfully unaware, there is a cost-of-living crisis. We know this from the numbers of people in energy arrears. We also know this from the figures from Barnardos and other agencies. This is backed up by the survey on income and living conditions, SILC, data. My question is simple. In light of the announcement of a surplus last week, has the Minister given any consideration to a cost-of-living payment for those vulnerable households at risk of poverty?

The Minister will know that, before the war in Iran, 330,000 households were already in arrears with their bills. The average household arrears are €470. The Minister is playing ducks and drakes with percentages and references to millions of euro. The figure for the average arrears for household energy bills is €470 and the extension to the fuel allowance is worth €136. The Minister can see how those figures do not add up. The Taoiseach referred to October and January, but if people are struggling now, what is the …

I am a constituency TD, as is the Minister. I listen to my constituents and I have talked to people in my own party. From our read of it, there is a need for an intervention from the Government. We have proposed €400 in energy credits, a cut to the USC, which would be worth €500, €400 in emergency welfare payments and a €500 cost-of-disability payment, as well as an additional eight weeks on the fuel allowance because that is what people need. Last February, I was ten years in the Dáil. The Minister has been here l…

I am asking this question on behalf of my colleague an Teachta Darren O'Rourke. It is fairly straightforward. It is just looking for the number and percentage of disability allowance decisions that are appealed, and the number and percentage of decisions overturned on appeal. What we are seeking to understand is the reasoning. In most circumstances, nothing changes materially, so it is essentially the same person submitting the same claim again. Sometimes it is overturned. My feeling is that a high number of cases …

Sixty percent of them?

It had better be something good because that is not a good figure. It is traumatic for people to have to go through the application process. I know the Minister has sat in his constituency office with people and has gone through these forms the same as I have, so he knows these forms are not easy. They are necessarily comprehensive and I am not for a moment suggesting that the information should not be collected but if 60% of them result in what the Minister refers to as a favourable outcome, that is not exactly a …

Those figures are not brilliant. The Minister can present it any way he likes but those are not good figures. He mentioned medical professionals. The problem is not specific to Balbriggan but the most recent case that was brought to me is in Balbriggan where doctors are now refusing to fill out these forms and not just for people on the medical card, although it happens a lot with people on the medical card. I always encourage my constituents to appeal where a decision goes against them if I feel they have grounds …

Industrial relations are a bit like the song "Hotel California", in that, apparently, I was able to check out but, unfortunately, was unable to leave. This industrial relations dispute concerns branch managers of social welfare offices. The Minister will be aware of the dispute. He will also be aware of the requirement by the Department that branch managers participate in auto enrolment but if it is not funded, how are they going to be able to do that?

I might do the lotto on my way home because apparently I have incredible powers of prediction. I literally told the Minister this was going to happen. I said that if the Minister did not provide funding for people and if he put in an obligation regarding auto enrolment, particularly on organisations and entities that do not have access to any revenue-raising powers, this would happen. These people cannot raise revenue; they are not in a position to do that. They are entirely dependent on the State and the Minister …

The FCA would not mess with the ICA.

I welcome our guests in the Gallery. I will say this because I say it every time - and I do not in any way mean this to be disrespectful of the Minister of State, Deputy Higgins, as I am grateful she is here - but it is regrettable the senior Minister has not made himself available for this because it is a very serious issue. It might not be a serious issue to him but it is an incredibly serious issue to the people I am representing. The Minister of State will know well that we are in the middle of a housing crisis…

I absolutely respect that the Minister of State is giving me the information she has but that information is not accurate. It does not represent a 54% increase by my figures but we can debate that another day. When people go to Fingal County Council looking for the tenant in situ scheme they are told it does not have the money. That email dated 28 April was actually a response to a query I had sent in. It said the council had responded to the landlord, which we know it had, explaining it is not in a position to acc…

The Taoiseach is making a show of himself.

Constituents of mine who live in Rush, Lusk, Skerries and Ballyboughal will welcome this news. The Minister referred to 39 dwellings, but I would say 39 families. Those families have been to hell and back while their homes have crumbled down around their ears. They did nothing wrong. The Minister was full of praise for the local authorities, and that is fair enough, but there should be some recognition of the people who are impacted today and who will be joining the scheme, defective and all as it is if we forgive …

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate. When I was coming in this morning, I was reflecting on this debate and what someone with an obvious city accent would say to people living in rural Ireland. However, the truth is, when you think about it - and the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach, Deputy Clarke, knows something about this as well - there is more that unites us than divides us. The same challenges exist in the town and village as in the city. It is the same failing, tone-deaf, out of touch Government th…

I thank my colleagues, Deputies Conway-Walsh and Guirke, for bringing forward this motion this evening. I also want to welcome some of my former colleagues, friends of mine and, indeed, brothers and sisters in the Public Gallery. I will take this opportunity to wish the Leas Ceann Comhairle, everyone here and beyond a happy May Day for next Friday. Next Friday, I will join my dad, who was a union official, and we will march in the Dublin Council of Trade Unions' May Day march, as we have done every May Day. I do no…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this debate. We can all agree that the hallmark, and the calling card, of big tobacco and big tobacco companies is their deep pockets and their seemingly endless supply of marketing budgets. It is for that reason that I distrust a significant amount of what is termed as "evidence" that has been emailed to me this week in relation to vaping and vaping products, with people who are in the pocket of big tobacco telling me how harmless they are. When someone is telling me that over…

I thank the Minister sincerely for being here. I have often stood in the Chamber and given out about the fact the senior Minister is not here so I should, as a matter of course, record my thanks to the Minister for taking this Topical Issue. The issue relates to the need to increase Garda numbers in my constituency of Dublin Fingal West. The reason we need increased numbers is historically we were low on Garda numbers and our population has increased while the number of gardaí serving the region has not. A number o…