Good man.

The cost of living for people with disabilities has been highlighted across the Chamber. If we start off with disabilities and things we could have done even before we reached this point and which were asked for, Maurice Noonan, who is from Granagh, and his partner were here last year. They are both wheelchair users. They were here in the Chamber. Mr. Noonan told me about simple things that he lost out on in childhood. He is 25 years old; the same age as my son. He missed 18th and 21st birthdays as a result of the …

Independent Ireland was set up for one reason: to give a platform for Independents to work together. What is the difference between Independent Ireland and Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael? We have a vote of conscience. Whether to remove the triple lock is a vote of conscience. It is a vote for the people of Ireland. It should not be up to the Government party leaders. Anything such as removing the triple lock should be an open vote in this House for Government parties at a minimum. The Government no longer fully represen…

On the scheme the Government brought out for the agri sector for the fuel, some of the sectors are saying that unless you are under an agricultural contractor you do not qualify for this scheme. We have an awful lot of plant hire people who do agricultural work but they do not qualify for the scheme. We have people who might be registered as being a plant hire company but do agri work, and they do not qualify for this scheme. Why is that? If you are doing agricultural work, you should qualify for the scheme. Also, …

We are talking about NAMA and its winding up. It is easy to wind up something when people would not talk to you. I will give a small bit of history, without mentioning names, of a case to do with the likes of NAMA and it not interacting with people in their times of trouble. I am talking about people who were in trouble in 2016, like a lot of other people in the country, and there was a judgment against them. The judgment was for €55,000, which was the sum owed. The order for interest was €9,000. In 2016, these peo…

The debate is on biodiversity and nature restoration but there is nothing here about the protection of human life. I am from a farming background and live in rural Ireland. I talk about people trying to get safely to school or the bus network or trucks trying to get to the shops with goods from the farmers, people trying to get to work and people trying to walk the roads. All the roads in Ireland are closing in. There is talk about the protection of wildlife, which pulls the mirrors off trucks, buses and cars and p…

How many people are living at home with their parents? That gives the Minister of State the answer, does it not? How many people today, with their families, are living at home with their parents? I know my children and their partners are. They are living with me. I am a building contractor. For them to be able to afford to build their own house is not viable because of inflation. They are saving hard but as hard as they can save, inflation is passing out what they can save. Those are the people who want to build th…

I am a father and a grandfather and also a public representatives. As a public representative, father and grandfather, I support families and people in all their decisions. I have listened to the debate today. I have listened to the debate outside the Chamber. We have to listen to everyone and all their concerns. The concerns I have come from the people I have listened to. HSE data show that between 2019 and 2024, 10,426 women who attended the first abortion appointment did not return on the third day. That means t…

Regarding a National Safety Camera Strategy, I have no objections to any of that but what I would like to see is some joined-up thinking. In a lot of areas in County Limerick at the moment, an awful lot of robberies are taking place, and the gardaí under pressure with the numbers they have. What I would like to see rolled out in the camera strategy is number plate recognition, which would help An Garda Síochána catch the vehicles of those involved in robbing people at night, during the day or whenever. It could tra…

I thank all the nurses in the country, especially five of them in a place called Athlacca in County Limerick. There is a family of six, with five girls and one boy, and five of the girls were nurses. They are Marie, Eileen, Noelle, Angela and Cliona. They are the O'Keeffes. I grew up with them. The whole family have dedicated their lives to care and nursing. It was unbelievable to see. I thank all of the families, male and female nurses across the country, for what they have done, for the care, and for the families…

I will be supporting this Bill. No one has mentioned the elephant in the room. This Government signed off on allowing networks to charge up to €120 per megawatt hour. It costs €50 per megawatt hour to produce electricity but the networks are allowed to charge up to €120. People in some areas have gas and alternatives. They can swap between different groups to get cheaper rates. In rural areas, we are lucky to have ESB at times. People in rural areas only have one choice. If something is not broken, they will not fi…

I need the Taoiseach to listen very carefully. He keeps standing up here and keeps mentioning the protests in this country and the war. I will put on the record why the protests happened in this country. They happened because of the increase in taxation on fuel. I will show the Government how it can counteract this, and I have said it on numerous occasions. The Government should cap the price of fuel from which it takes tax. It is the same as income tax for every worker in this country. I will give a summary. At th…

They are in arrears on repayments for their trucks and tax arrears, so they cannot qualify for the Government's package. For everyone in this country, the Government would cap the fuel prices at €1.70 for white diesel. That would mean it would not have had to put the package in place for hauliers and everyone else in this country. It would include the package that the Government is coming out with. What that would come back to is that if you cap it, it creates stability across the country, and also creates forecast…

No problem.

It is easy to know the Taoiseach has never been involved in business because he would understand stability and forecasting if he had been. Everything that he discusses is the package. Is there one package there for the working person in this country who is travelling? The Taoiseach is talking about 2.3 million vehicles. He mentioned road hauliers. Road hauliers, in this package, are 17% of the transport network in this country. There is the Irish trucking haulage. Until this package was introduced, you did not get …

Yes.

The same revenue you had six weeks ago is the exact same revenue you will have today.

Look at the package.

The Taoiseach asked me.

Will I answer you?