I welcome the opportunity to talk about water again. We talked about it six months ago. I note that the Government has announced additional funding but if you look at the amount that is proposed in the programme, it is still wholly inadequate compared with what is required. The Uisce Éireann strategic plan is looking for over €16 billion up to 2029, and it has been estimated that, up to 2050, we need to spend over €60 billion on our water and waterways. That level of investment is a wartime investment, similar to w…

I want to support these amendments. We have had a lot of discussions at the introductory stage in the committee. The Minister has been engaging with the representative bodies and I take that on board. However, there are still issues in relation to what should be taken on board and what should not be. This being the Report Stage before the Bill goes to the Seanad, maybe the Minister of State would give her final and absolute legal advice, because I do not see what would be wrong with putting these amendments in. If …

I have more experience of dealing with issues related to family courts where I have been chasing up issues relating to the in camera rule. It does not necessarily relate to this legislation but it does on one fundamental point, which is that sometimes, it is apparent that the judges rely on so-called experts because they are familiar with them but they are not necessarily the experts in their field. What could happen here by bringing it to the Circuit Court is that it would delay the process and make it unaffordabl…

The music industry has changed over the years. The revenue from streaming is minuscule so a lot of artists are trying to get their stuff onto the likes of TikTok and are trying to get airplay on radio, where you still get a certain amount of royalties. They usually try to get to a point where they can tour. Touring can be hit and miss for a lot of artists. They do not necessarily make a lot of money. The very successful ones do. That is why the previous Government's introduction of the stipend for artists was so be…

I welcome the Bill. We all recognise the benefits of being able to allow people who need some level of support to remain independently in their homes as long as possible. In amending the Health Act 2007, the legislation will create the first statutory regulatory framework for home support providers, with mandatory registration, HIQA-led standards, inspections and criminal penalties for unregistered operators, bringing Ireland into line with other jurisdictions, including our neighbours in the UK. This is all well a…

I support fully this Bill by my Sinn Féin constituency colleague, Deputy Mark Ward. In terms of its efforts to restrict the sale, possession and supply of nitrous oxide products, it has added to the whole debate. It should absolutely be lauded. In that context, while I take on board what the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, said about EU legislation and having to give notice and having to look at the legislation because it was seen only in the past while, we know that Second Stage Bills coming from Opposition parties …

In Ireland, we use over 200 million single-use tea and coffee cups a year. That equates to at least 20,000 cups an hour. That is a staggering figure. Coffee cups are, according to Irish Business Against Litter, among the top five most littered items in the country according to a recent survey. Most of these cups cannot go into recycling bins because of the polyethylene lining used in the paper, making them non-recyclable. The Government had proposed a 20 cent levy as well as other measures. As the Minister knows, t…

Artificial intelligence is already embedded in all aspects of our lives. We look at healthcare, education, transport, the creative arts, music, business and Government services. As others have said, there are many practical applications that are useful but, equally, there are a lot of dangers out there which have been referenced. They are now impinging on our basic human rights and we need to protect our children and manage threats to our energy resources. It is not going too far to say there is an existential thre…

This is a Second Stage debate on the general issue of gas safety. That is why I, like others, are raising issues that are related to but outside the scope of this Bill, although I will come to the specifics of the Bill as well. I have been raising issues of gas safety over multiple Dáil terms. It does not appear that the issues have been addressed. We have had complaints sent into multiple agencies. We have had protected disclosures about issues relating to gas safety and enforcement. We seem to have a serious prob…

He should keep going, he is doing well. He is on a roll.

I also broadly welcome this Bill, incremental as it may be. This legislation is a long-overdue partial measure responding to a significant public health concern, especially for our younger people. The Irish and international research has been sounding the alarm for several years. We have had multiple debates about this. The initial measure to clampdown on the underage sales had some impact. It was welcome. The Healthy Ireland survey showed that daily vaping among 15- to 19-year-olds had reached 12.9% in 2023 before…

In every deal a country that is a member of the European Union it is giving up some sort of sovereignty in return for something it believes will be of more benefit. Certainly Mercosur does have a marginal benefit to Ireland as a country in terms of our industrial side but it has a massive downside in terms of agriculture. We give out about the EU but we would not have had a nitrates directive and other environmental legislation without the EU. Ireland got a derogation because we were going cap in hand, so there is …

I would like to thank all of the staff in the Oireachtas for their outstanding work throughout the year. I also wish the Tánaiste, the Leas Ceann Comhairle and all of our colleagues a very happy Christmas and peaceful, prosperous new year. This Christmas some people will be lucky enough to get visits from relatives flying in but many will not and will just have to make do with video calls from Australia, Dubai, Canada and so on. Given staff shortages in Dublin hospitals, Garda stations and schools, why do we not ha…

I ask the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach to give Deputy Fitzmaurice the extra time because of this. To be clear, foxes are wild animals. They can be dangerous. They carry leptospirosis. They have tapeworm and toxoplasmosis. They will bite humans if they are hungry. They will attack domestic animals like cats and dogs if they can get away with it. I even heard a story about one robbing a spice bag off someone recently in an urban area. They will kill lambs, especially weak lambs after birth. Foxes are hunters. They are pre…

Put down an amendment.

Table an amendment.

Put down a Committee Stage amendment.

On a point of order, I raised it before him.

The Taoiseach and others have rightly condemned the horrific attacks in Sydney where 15 people were killed and more were injured. Given the atrocity, there is always a risk that abuse to our own Jewish community may increase and there may be copycat incidents. In that context, has the Taoiseach had discussions with the Garda Commissioner or anyone on the security side to see what can be done to reassure our own Jewish community in light of these attacks? Whatever our views are on the Israeli state's treatment of Pa…

Today I raise the chronic shortage of radiographers and the related fragile state of our diagnostic imaging capacity. As the Taoiseach is probably aware, the HSE has acknowledged that radiology and radiation therapy departments remain under-resourced, with waiting lists for diagnostic scans continuing to grow. We saw earlier this year a report on RTÉ showing that, despite over 200 radiography graduates qualifying annually, many are being forced to emigrate because of appointments not being made. This is not just po…