I thank the Minister and his staff, who provided such a comprehensive and clear background and analysis of the Bill. As we are speaking about road safety, I remember Eoin Doyle, who died in the tragic incident near Kiltybo in County Mayo. There is an investigation going on, so I am not going to comment too much but I know people from the area. The reports I read about the funeral were really heartbreaking. I offer my sympathies to his parents, Declan and Elaine. While Sinn Féin will support this Bill to the next St…

I thank the Social Democrats for bringing this very important procedure before the House. At a time when Ireland has the highest energy bills in Europe and over 1 million households can expect high bills from tomorrow, and when energy arrears are at record highs and continue to rise month after month, it is indefensible that energy giants are making extraordinary profits while ordinary people are left behind. That is why we are supporting calls for the immediate introduction of a robust windfall tax. This debate co…

I would also like to be associated with those comments. The Taoiseach does not need me to remind him of the damage that was done to children in Kerry during the CAMHS overdosing of children. For example, children with social anxieties were given anti-psychotic medication. Even the most vulnerable of children with intellectual disabilities and autism were given polypharmacy, leading to long-term physical and mental damage. For years, we, in Sinn Féin, and many other people have been saying that anybody who has recei…

-----and the time limits should be abolished. This case should be looked at rather than spending more money that is not there in defending it.

I disagree with that.

It was brought in after many lot of years.

I move: That Dáil Éireann: recognises that: — public transport is an essential public service and should be affordable and accessible to all; — investment in public transport is critical to fairness, social inclusion, balanced regional development and reducing emissions; and — the best way to increase public transport use is to make services more affordable, reliable, accessible and more widely available; notes that: — households, workers, students, pensioners and families continue to face significant cost of livin…

Are we waiting for the Minister to arrive?

I am reluctant to say too much while the Minister himself is not here but there are about 15 Deputies who have submitted questions. They are expecting a response from the Minister. I mean no disrespect to the dream team that has arrived.

No, I am a bit cranky with the Minister for not turning up. It is not the first time he has not shown up. In all fairness, the Ministers of State are more than capable of deputising.

Further to previous parliamentary questions, I want to ask the Minister about the child fares that will be reduced in the upcoming budget. I also ask about the price hikes that have recently been announced. In particular, does the Minister of State have any response to the response of the NTA at the transport committee that these price hikes will inevitably lead to fewer people using public transport? We are in a cost-of-living crisis and I believe it is the wrong approach for the Government to take to allow the in…

I thank the Minister of State for the response. Will he please expand on his comment that child fares in several areas will be addressed? We in Sinn Féin believe that fares should be abolished completely for anybody up to 18 years of age. What exact areas does he mean? The Minister of State also mentioned that, due to inflation, fares were 8% lower in real terms but what he failed to say was that, between 2008 or 2009 and 2016, there was an incremental increase in fares. Will he give us a guarantee that there will …

There are very few new services. Look at the number of new services that were delivered this year in BusConnects. It is way below what is acceptable and the progress that had been made up to that. The clock has been turned back. I am glad the Minister of State mentioned town bus services because I want to bring up the issue of Tralee town bus services. In a recent committee meeting, the NTA said it was going to "look at" the possibility of a town bus service for Tralee, which is one of the largest towns in the coun…

I also want to ask about whether there is an equivalent ambition to delivering more rural services, as we cannot have a situation where all of the money for the next few years is invested inside the M50 and not beyond.

I know I am under time constraints, but I note that some people from Garvaghy Road have arrived in the Public Gallery. I welcome them and stand in solidarity with and support them. There is only one problem, in that the Minister of State has not answered the question I asked him about the budgetary constraints and whether the Government was going to deliver on cost. We have seen what happened over the years with the children's hospital - the cost overruns there - so is the Minister of State going to give us a commi…

At the core, this debate is about a growing sense among ordinary people that they are being left to shoulder more and more of the burden while the Government sits on its hands. Ordinary workers, families and pensioners are paying more. Rural communities are expected to shoulder the cost of Government failure and inaction. For months now, families across the State have faced soaring living costs and household budgets are going through the roof. Yet, when practical measures are put forward to help people, the Governm…

When we strip away all of the legislative jargon and the Government's spin surrounding this Bill, one question remains: is it going to get additional services for the children who need it? That is not just a concern that has been expressed on these benches. Even some of the Government's own representatives have questioned whether this is going to happen. The answer, unfortunately, is "No". The Bill is being presented as a solution to the assessments of need crisis, but the same Government that has presided over the…

There is a sense of déjà vu around at the moment. There was some excuse, in March and April of this year, when the Government was off around the world and left nobody in charge and ignored the calls of the people to reduce the cost of home heating oil. Families in every corner of the country have continued to be squeezed since that time while the Government has sat on its hands and done nothing. Our proposal will remove carbon tax from home heating oil and cut the cost of a 1,000-litre fill by €183. It is a simple …

This question is about data centres and the demands being placed on the grid. We introduced a Bill yesterday about the prioritisation network. Can the infrastructure that we have withstand the increased demand coming from data centres? Will the Minister accept that public infrastructure should be given priority for housing, water connections and electricity to deal with the scarce grid capacity ahead of the new data centre developments?

I thank the Minister for the reply. I note what he says about the economic footprint and the necessity for a plan-led approach. I will come back to that in some of my later questions. However, we have had and continue to have a first-come, first-served, laissez-faire attitude, and some larger energy users have been facilitated in hoarding connections that they have. Some housing developments, like the one in the midlands, that have tried to get connections have been put behind data centres. A significant proportion…