I will say this straight out. Given the state of the roads in County Louth, an insufficient amount of money has been put forward for these budgets. The fact is that Louth County Council initially, following Storm Chandra, looked for €1.2 million and then for €2.9 million extra that was necessary due to the huge damage done by the storm. This was done on the basis of works that had not been done over many years and that need to be done and an insufficient amount of resourcing from central government. The fact is tha…

I thank Deputy McGreehan for mentioning Cú Chulainn, obviously Louth's finest hurler. Hopefully we will see his type again in the near future. It is much needed. I agree with much of what previous speakers have said. We are in an absolute nightmare with regard to biodiversity and the crossover point with climate change. A huge amount of work is being done by communities. Many have mentioned Tidy Towns. The danger with naming one group is that you offend those you do not mention. I will mention Dundalk, Blackrock an…

Can the Minister provide an updated timeline for the delivery of the retrofit scheme to all social housing units in County Louth? Louth County Council has been very good at delivering on retrofitting and has at times gone beyond its targets. I would like to think that it would be given the facility to get through the entire cohort of social housing units that require to be retrofitted.

Louth County Council has one of the longest lists for social housing. It must deal with the issue impacting on every local authority at this point , namely an insufficient amount of money to deal with maintenance needs. I constantly deal with those who work for the council and deal with maintenance. The reality is that from time to time you are robbing Peter to pay Paul and cannot always deliver to meet actual needs. People who have been tenants for many years and who may not have looked for anything from the local…

The Minister will always be welcome when we are talking about the opening of social housing in County Louth. The problem is that we need to see a lot more of it, The issue relating to Fulacht Fia or any of the other schemes is the huge numbers of people on the waiting list and of people who believe they may have a chance of getting a house. Unfortunately, the hopes of many will be dashed. To return to the issue of retrofitting, Louth County Council has at times showed a capacity to be able to retrofit more houses t…

I would give it to Deputy Sheehan.

See, I was magnanimous.

Will the Minister outline his or his Department's engagement with the Law Society of Ireland and other stakeholders in advance of the changes to the legal aid system operating in the District Court? I am told by many there is unease in relation to the possibility of an exodus of those who engage in the system. We want to see it streamlined and efficient and getting the best bang for our buck but we do not want to see backlogged courts and it causing more hassle than it needs to.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire. I understand the argument the Minister is making. It is my understanding there are a considerable number of adjournments on the basis of the gardaí and the State itself. The fear is that we will have a number of solicitors who are not willing to engage with this system. We will obviously have those who need representation but beyond that, I am told that in many cases involving legal aid, and when the solicitor is given a sufficient amount of time, due diligence is done and this facili…

I welcome that the Minister will meet them again, particularly as the Law Society and many of its members, some of whom have contacted me, have stated they are incredibly worried about this. I agree with the Minister that we all want to see our courts system work as efficiently as possible. We have all seen that for too long justice has been denied. We have all seen cases which have taken an extraordinary length of time to make their way through the District and Circuit Courts. However, in a previous answer, the Mi…

The Minister spoke about price increases, including the price of CAN having risen by 20% and that of urea by as much as 60%. In the context of his engagement with importers and sellers of fertiliser, has any work been done with regard to ensuring that these price increases are based on a lack of supply rather than someone trying to make a profit on the back of fears that are out there? How has the Minister’s engagement with the European Commission gone? It sounds as if it has not been utterly fruitful in relation t…

I ask the Minister to outline any progress made in relation to alternatives, be it supply or organics. When does he think we will have a crux in relation to fertiliser supply? Has there been any monitoring of prices and whether there is any price gouging going on? That would be utterly unacceptable.

Well said.

As my colleague stated, we support anything that improves the lot of business from the point of view of streamlining systems, services and grant application schemes. There are concerns about this legislation that I will deal with. The intent can be fine but unless we have the resourcing and capacity, we will have particular issues. At a meeting of the Good Friday Agreement committee recently, representatives from various chambers of commerce, including those in Dundalk and Newry, contributed. They were almost singi…

I wish to advise the House of the following matters in respect of which notice has been given under Standing Order 39 and the name of the Member in each case: Deputy Maeve O'Connell - To discuss urban broadband provision. Deputy Michael Cahill - To discuss discrepancies in inheritance tax and capital gains tax. Deputy Emer Currie - To discuss the regulation of loot boxes and chance-based microtransactions in video games. Deputy Jen Cummins - To discuss supports for children and students with dyslexia. Deputy Malcol…

I have a letter from retained station officer, John Molloy, from Dunleer fire station. It was sent to the Taoiseach. It states: I am serving retained station officer with Louth County Council due to retire in a number of weeks on 24 May 2026. At 62 years of age, I do not want to retire, nor am I ready to retire. All assistant chief fire officers can stay until 70. All county council outdoor working staff can stay to 70. I am pleading with you to put something in place in the interim to allow us retained fire fighte…

Could there be an interim solution?

He is John Molloy.

When are we going to see the occupied territories Bill in relation to services and goods? When will we ever see any action by the European Union with regard to the EU-Israel association agreement given the breach of the ceasefire, plans for further settlements in the West Bank and attempts by Israelis, through ethnic cleansing and every other means open to them, to create a security buffer zone in Lebanon? I cannot mention Lebanon without mentioning our UNIFIL mission there, as well as Seán Rooney. In the parliamen…

And the report?