Irish people are good, decent and caring people. There are thousands of examples of where we have welcomed people seeking asylum into our country. That needs to be acknowledged. I broadly welcome the movement today of migrants who have been living in tents along Mount Street. The situation is not tenable due to the appalling conditions for the migrants and the serious disruptions to the community surrounding Mount Street. We simply cannot have tented camps in our towns and cities. People entitled to asylum should b…

I call on the Minister of State to scrap the plan to increase the cost of petrol and diesel in August and again in October. It is inconceivable that the Government would increase costs for people twice this year at a time when they are still experiencing the cost-of-living crisis. Many of my constituents do not have an opportunity to use public transport to get to work for many reasons. Others cannot do so because services do not exist or they do not have confidence in them. Many workers and families do not have a …

I also appeal to the Minister of State not to proceed with this because it will have major implications for the organisations referred to by others. Gambling is a serious problem and is something that needs to be addressed. I absolutely agree with that, 100%. There is no argument whatsoever in relation to that. I want to give the Minister of State a couple of examples of organisations that will be affected. St. Francis Hospice in Dublin 15 holds a car draw every year from which it raises a substantial amount of mon…

I welcome the U-turn, flip-flop or withdrawal or whatever word the Minister wants to use with regard to this Green Paper. First and foremost, the biggest congratulations must go to the disability activists who, from the very start, feared the direction of this Green Paper. For me, it really brought up the old saying, "When England sneezes, Ireland catches a cold." With this, we can say that people with disabilities were rightly worried that this English Tory legislation would be implemented by this Government. Whil…

I welcome the recent Garda action against scramblers and quads in Tallaght, Ballymun and Limerick. However, it is just a drop in the ocean in terms of the problems and dangers on the roads that these vehicles, which mostly young people drive, pose. Two weeks ago, I was cycling up Dame Street and watched as three scramblers came down the street on one wheel. That is one of the main streets in our capital city. They are totally confident nothing will be done to tackle them, just like in our communities. There is tota…

This Government needs to end the recruitment embargo and implement a workforce plan for the health service. People shake their heads in disbelief at the recruitment embargo. The Government needs to train more radiation therapists and hire the staff needed to utilise all radiotherapy equipment. It is a scandal that expensive life-saving equipment is lying idle due to staff shortages. The Government needs to fund the 3,000 hospital and community beds needed to deal with overcrowding and avoid hospital cancellations. …

I would like to raise the deep concern I and many others have on the success of the vaping ban in relation to children. I see evidence every single day of children in school uniforms vaping. We are not seeing any sanctions on those clearly breaking the law. The environmental health service stated that there has been one prosecution to date. The issue of the abuse of fast gas is a huge problem. Just today it was mentioned on the news that Crumlin children's hospital is seeing children with severe burns and lifelong …

Táim buíoch as an seans labhairt ar an rún seo agus gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta Tully as ucht é a chur faoi bhráid na Dála. I have the privilege to have Praxis Care and the Blanchardstown Centre for Independent Living, two wonderful services, in the same building as my constituency office in Mulhuddart. There is also the Spina Bifida Hydrocephalus Ireland service in Castleknock, Laurel Lodge Community Centre and the Hartstown Local Centre. They do absolutely incredible work empowering people with disabilities …

I ask the Minister for an update on the Department's plans to address dereliction and vacancy in rural towns. As someone who regularly travels to Dublin away matches, I often pass through small towns where I see a great deal of dereliction, with many unoccupied buildings throughout rural Ireland. It can be shocking to see the extent of some of the dereliction, particularly during a housing crisis. I would like an update on the measures being taken to encourage the revitalisation of rural Ireland to support activiti…

It is important that we look at the issue of vacancy and dereliction. The bottom-up approach is critically important to all of this. The issue has to be community-led and sustainable into the future. Simply dressing up buildings will not be sufficient. It is about bringing life back into rural towns and communities and improving the lives of people. It is also about dealing with the housing crisis. We need to look at the villages and towns that have derelict homes. That should occur in the middle of a housing crisi…

I reiterate that the concept of bottom-up is not new, but the idea has been lost over a number of years. I welcome that there is a focus on this idea, but the fact that there are substantial numbers of derelict buildings still in existence in the middle of the housing crisis is entirely puzzling, or maybe it is not puzzling given that insufficient action has been taken over the past five or six years to bring these buildings back into use.

I ask how the Minister is supporting communities across the country to develop local strategies in communities that have significant pressures, and if she will provide funding for new community development workers.

All of those measures are welcome and the funding that is coming through is absolutely welcome. However, the Minister of State acknowledges that significant pressures in relation to international protection and also Ukrainians is causing enormous pressure, particularly in working class communities. I will give an example. Many years ago in my community, when I moved out and started getting involved in community work in Dublin 15, we had six community development workers in six of the local community centres. That w…

As I said, I absolutely acknowledge this. Some of the projects, for example the playground in Fortlawn, are really good. I know that one personally, it is a really good project, the Fortlawn Flower Power group has been instrumental fighting for this for a number of years. It is a really good example of the community recognition fund. I just have a worry and a concern about some of the funding that has been allocated, as to what the connection to some of the communities would be, whether some of the communities woul…

Has the Minister engaged with Comhdháil Oileáin na hÉireann since the publication of its report on the housing needs of Ireland's offshore islands in November 2023? Did her Department discuss its recommendations with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage?

I welcome the Minister's answer. She seems to have covered the issues. Have the following recommendations been accepted by the Department, namely, the island-specific housing task force and action plan; the community-led housing association or approved housing body; an advisory or input role into the national policy formation and planning guidelines and liaison role regarding planning processes and statistics; an advisory role to the national policy implementation on vacant homes; and ongoing research and community…

Has the Minister of State considered convening a working group to include sector representatives and relevant Departments to develop a multi-annual funding structure in the in the community and voluntary and charity sector?

I absolutely acknowledge the work done in the Minister of State's Department and the multi-annual funding, which he has outlined. However, he is part of a Government. The community, voluntary and charity sector includes a wide range of organisations, including section 38, section 39 and section 56 organisations. I am sure the Cabinet is aware of all the difficulties they are experiencing. I am using this opportunity to voice their concerns because we know what they are. They relate to recruitment, retention and the…

What efforts are being made by her Department to ensure that local authorities are enforcing the legislation to collect fines under dog control regulations?

There were 240 attacks by dogs on livestock and 180 on other animals across the State in the past two years. There were 1,500 dog attacks in the same period with 430 of them on people. Despite this, some local authorities have failed to issue any fines in the past four years. It is estimated that there is one dog warden for every 3,000 dogs in Ireland. According to the Irish Independent , four counties have not issued any fines in the past year, while three were handed out in one. As the Minister can hear, this lev…