It is very hard to follow the words of a child who knows and tells us how important their SNAs are. That is why when we have this conversation and are having this debate, we need to thank our SNAs who are working tirelessly and often thanklessly to care for and support our children and children within our communities. SNAs are the reason children with additional needs can be educated with their friends within their communities in mainstream schools. The impact of a SNA's work is felt way beyond the classroom. We al…

Tá imní ar mhuintir Chonamara faoi iarratas atá curtha isteach ag Arramara Teoranta maidir le baint feamainne ar fud Chonamara. Mar is eol don Taoiseach, is ceist ghoilliúnach í seo. An príomhrud atá ag cur imní ar dhaoine ná cén cosaint a mbeidh ag bainteoirí feamainne traidisiúnta sa reachtaíocht nua. Dúradh in 2018 go raibh cosaint ann ach anois níl sé soiléir go bhfuil nó, níos measa fós, breathnaíonn sé ar nós nach bhfuil cosaint ann dóibh. Impím ar an Taoiseach breathnú ar an gceist seo agus oibriú le lucht b…

The fact of the matter is remote working works. It works for workers, for businesses and for communities. Workers have really gained control of their work-life balance, businesses have been able to cut their overhead costs and workers and families are now far more involved in their local communities because they can be. I am deeply concerned about recent efforts to undermine these gains. This is a hit to workers across the board but workers in the financial sector have been hit particularly hard. Workers of both AI…

There are a number of issues relating to Uisce Éireann. They have been well documented here today. I want to talk about a number of issues in my home county of Galway in both the city and the county. I am talking about certain pieces of infrastructure like wastewater infrastructure. That is basic infrastructure that any developed country should be able to provide for the people living in its cities or county areas. The lack of sufficient wastewater infrastructure is impacting on the delivery of homes in Galway city…

Hear, hear.

The reality of this deal is simple. It is a sell-out. It is a sell-out of Irish farmers, our food standards and even our environmental protections. The European Commission has forced through this agreement, completely ignoring the huge cost it brings to the people of Ireland and of Europe. The cost of this deal is Irish livelihoods. Irish farmers cannot fairly compete with cheap imports from Mercosur countries with lower standards. The cost of this deal is our public health. It weakens the standard of food within t…

Last night, thousands of households across Connemara were without power again. There was a storm and lightning. No one is going to blame the Government for lightening or a storm by any stretch of the imagination. However, we have a situation where every two weeks I get a text from someone who lives in Connemara to tell me the electricity has gone out again. Over the summer months, it is every month. Therefore, we clearly have an issue specific to the Connemara area. The Minister of State mentioned Storm Éowyn and i…

To be very clear here, I welcome any investment that helps this situation. However, we need to be clear that there is a need for long-term investment because of so many decades of underinvestment in the basic infrastructure in Connemara. That is why we have poles that are pushed over on their sides and cables still on the ground. We also need to look at what can be done immediately to alleviate this situation. It does not make sense for areas to have power outages every two weeks. When there is a power outage or a …

Forty-five years ago today, my aunt was on her 17th day of hunger strike in Armagh Gaol. We know what followed the following year when ten men died on hunger strike in Long Kesh. I understand that today in Britain, six people held in pre-trial detention are presently on hunger strike following their arrests for trying to stop the genocide. It should not be a crime to stop war crimes. Qesser Zuhrah is on her 47th day on this strike and has been transferred to hospital. Urgent action is clearly needed. Will the Tánai…

I thank the Tánaiste.

I stood with colleagues across the House two short months ago to ask the Minister of State to ensure the Government would start standing up to the EU and demanding fairness and justice for Irish fishing communities. Following the recent outcome of the EU's Agriculture and Fisheries Council, that demand is clearly being put to the test. This outcome is disastrous for our fishing industry. We need the Government to protect our fishermen and coastal communities, particularly those in the west, which is already recogni…

Gabhaim buíochas leis na hAirí as teacht os comhair na Dála ar an gceist seo. Ar ndóigh, tuigim gur Bille fíorthábhachtach é seo chun a chinntiú gur féidir le Ranna Rialtais airgead a chaitheamh ag tús Mhí Eanáir agus nach mbeidh vótaí ag teastáil chun é sin a dhéanamh. Mar gheall air sin, tuigimid an tábhacht a bhaineann leis. Tá bunús bunreachtúil leis an mBille seo agus, mar sin, beimid i Sinn Féin ag tacú leis. I understand there is a constitutional requirement for this Bill as it legislates for the financial r…

Dia duit ar maidin, a Aire. The Minister has outlined a new infrastructure plan and clearly we have a serious infrastructural deficit, which I have raised with him numerous times. This infrastructure deficit, particularly in the west of Ireland, is as a result of decades of neglect by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments. The Government has promised the earth and has delivered really nothing in terms of infrastructure for the west of Ireland. Why should anybody trust that these action plans will be any different?

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire. One of the things I noticed when I was reading the plan was that there are the 30 actions and it seems to me that every single one of them will be delivered in quarter two of 2027. This is a ten-year action plan and it seems that, from what I have read, 2026 to 2027 is when they are going to be delivered. That is obviously a two-year timeframe. My query is in relation to the ten-year period. Is it that they are the actions, that is what happens and then it is left until 2035, or what …

I have to be very honest here. I want to this to work. The reality is that the way previous Governments have treated infrastructure has been abysmal and we see the direct results that has had. We see it particularly when storms hit or when people want to be able to build housing, providing housing or be able to attract jobs to areas. The state of our infrastructure has been horrific. I have a number of questions in relation to this. One of the things that makes me a bit nervous when it is Fianna Fáil, is whether th…

This question relates to protected disclosures. We all recognise the importance of whistleblowers and the incredible work they do for our society in calling out wrongdoing. Unfortunately, doing so for the better of society often comes at their own expense. There was a debate on a Private Members' motion on this issue a few weeks ago. Will the Minister provide an update on whistleblower legislation?

The legislation may only be in place three years but we knew, when it was going through the Houses, that it was far too weak. Everybody agreed on that. It was almost the weakest transposition of the directive that could be made. One of the key issues debated at the time was retrospectivity and how so many people were locked out of the Act's provisions. Has the Minister dealt with EU counterparts on the issue of retrospectivity and whether they, too, excluded people? If not, will he undertake to have that engagement…

This is an issue I am particularly passionate about and I appeal directly to the Minister in this regard. Whistleblowers are telling us they are being failed by the legislation. The Minister has responsibility for it, albeit he has advisers and all of that, and I am appealing directly to him to really look, by way of the review, at the best way to ensure whistleblowers are specifically protected and to take that on board personally. Will he examine whether there are areas in the EU where this process works well and…

I would love to say more about whistleblowers but we must move on. This question is about the status of the removal of pay ceilings for CEOs of State-owned commercial enterprises.

It is unbelievable to me that being out of line with the market and being competitive only ever in this Chamber relates to those people who are on the highest income. It is never about competitiveness for low-wage workers. It is never out of line for low-wage workers. The Minister's decision to remove these pay ceilings has resulted in pay increases for CEOs of Bus Éireann and Iarnród Éireann of €50,000 and €75,000. Those are insane amounts of money. That is making millionaires out of CEOs at a time when people can…