I thank the Minister for coming to the House today. I am deeply invested in this issue. I agree with the Sinn Féin Senators who said that what agricultural contractors want to see are reductions at the pump. I understand it when the Minister says that cannot happen but that is how they see it working properly. I know a number of lads, agricultural contractors, who have gone out of business in the last year. At the recent protests there were echoes of 2008 when many agricultural contractors went to the wall. There w…

A recent report has shown that a 1,000-litre tank of oil now costs €1,700 to fill. That is almost double the price of €900 in February and that is the highest on record. Older people and those on the State pension in particular, who are on €288 per a week, cannot afford to absorb that kind of rising cost. The fuel protests were not just about fuel. They were a cry for help from the Irish taxpayers who are tired of seeing their hard-earned money handed over, only to be squandered while they struggle to stay afloat. …

I, too, will talk about the fuel protests. I welcome the comments by Senators O'Donovan and Byrne. I commend the people right across the country who stood up last week and said that they just cannot do it any more. I was in Dublin and Cavan and all the people I spoke to were hard-working, honest and decent people fighting to save their livelihoods and their families' incomes. People were rightly shocked at the Government's decision to deploy the Defence Forces. The Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and Ministers chose not to…

As Easter approaches, it is an apt time to remind the House and the Government of how much the people of the Ireland think of our neutrality and the triple lock. The triple lock was introduced in 2001 after the defeat of the referendum on the Nice treaty. When the referendum was defeated, the Government of the day noted that the one main public concern was that the treaty was about a potential erosion of Irish neutrality. Every opinion poll since has shown shows that the Irish people value our neutrality. The Gover…

The surge in fuel prices is catastrophic and threatens to undermine rural communities and food production. The reality is that, if it costs more to produce food, it will cost more to put it on the table. Right now, the rising costs of agri-diesel, home heating oil and energy are squeezing farmers, fishers and rural communities from every direction. The price of agri-diesel has gone up by about 50 cent per litre in the past month. With the new measures, farmers are getting only 3 cent off the cost of a litre of dies…

If we take a look at the headlines and stories over the past week, it is clear that this is no country for women. Gender-based violence is rising, and since 2020 there have been 65 women violently murdered across this country. We think of Natalie McNally, a young, pregnant woman murdered in her own home just days before Christmas. Her murderer was convicted of her murder on Monday. Her family is still grieving the loss of Natalie and her unborn child. Last week in Derry, we saw the murder of a young mother in her 2…

I second the amendment.

When the war in Ukraine broke out people came to Ireland in desperate need of safety and the Irish people responded with extraordinary kindness. They opened their homes to victims of war and that is something we should all be proud of. However, what started out as well-intentioned emergency response has created inequality between refugees and Irish citizens and a great little tax-free earner for potential landlords. We debated the topic of ARP in the Chamber last year and once again I support the amendment to have …

I raise the issue of the fuel crisis that is affecting everyone. We only have to look at community Facebook pages to see it. People are posting every day asking where the cheapest petrol or diesel is. It is not because they want a bargain: they are trying to stretch their wages just that little bit further every single day. They are searching for fuel that is a few cent cheaper, hoping it will make the difference between getting through the week or falling behind on their bills. A haulier rang me on Monday and said…

I thank the Minister of State for being here. I support Senator Keogan’s amendments and I thank her for bringing them forward. Amendments Nos. 16, 380, and 381 are reasonable asks. It is easy to push this debate into the political sparring field of left or right but if we do not have the facilities to provide adequate accommodation, it is nothing other than common sense to limit the numbers of asylum seekers. One area where this becomes particularly important is child protection. Under the EU reception conditions d…

Last Monday, there was a meeting with councillors in Cavan about roads funding. Our councillors are disillusioned, distraught and feel they wasted their time coming to Leinster House to give detailed presentations on road deterioration to the Minister, Deputy O'Brien. During the previous Government, the Greens were blamed for everything. The Minister, Eamon Ryan, was criticised for prioritising bike lanes and greenways, yet it seems the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, will continue on the same path. How can we justify hu…

-----increase in funding. I have submitted Commencement debates with him and he has never come to the House for one. I checked his record and found he has not come to the House for any Commencement debates since the general election in 2024. We need to send out an SOS for the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, because if one looks at the Dáil and Seanad records we seldom see him here. Maybe the cost of fuel is so high that he cannot drive to Leinster House or perhaps he has become stuck in a pothole. I feel there is zero re…

I withdraw the word "lied". I will replace it with-----

The issue of sovereignty in immigration policy should not be seen as an abstract constitutional debate. It is about whether the Irish State retains control over decisions that impact our housing supply, school places and community cohesion. I remain concerned that through the EU migration pact, we have effectively transferred significant elements of decision-making authority to Brussels. While European co-operation has a role to play, the practical effect appears to be that Ireland has reduced autonomy in determini…

I want to mark International Women's Day by recognising the fantastic women across the country, in particular our mothers. The Irish mammy is always considered a formidable figure and we all have memories of our mothers and grandmothers, who spent their lives rearing families, taking care of everything in the home and not sitting down until everybody was happy and looked after. The value of a stay-at-home mother, if it was salaried, is around €57,000 per year but we all know that does not include the late nights, b…

I thank the Minister of State for coming in today. I welcome the opportunity to make a statement on Ireland's Presidency of the Council of the European Union. I listened to the Minister of State's opening address and the plans for the EU Presidency. It was heavily focused on defence strategy, assistance for EU states, Ukraine, maritime security and hybrid threats. Of course, all of those things are important. They are typical of what politicians and policymakers want to focus on. However, I am going to focus on wha…

There is something fundamentally wrong when we ask farmers to reduce emissions but then tax them more heavily for choosing a cleaner fuel. Hydrotreated vegetable oil, HVO, is a low-carbon biofuel. It is made from waste and byproducts from the food industry and it is not intended for human consumption. It works in existing diesel engines and can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 90%. I spoke about EnergyCloud yesterday. It is incredibly frustrating when you have a really good, well-thought out project that ha…

People right across the country are worried about paying more at the pump because of global instability that will inevitably push up fuel prices and this is on top of already struggling to pay for basic necessities like energy bills and groceries. The Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, has estimated that around 29% of households are living in energy poverty. Some 320,000 households, or one in seven homes across Ireland, are in arrears with their electricity bills. The Government cut energy credits from b…

I thank the Minister of State for coming in today. We must help those who are genuinely fleeing war or persecution, but those who are not genuine asylum seekers must be quickly identified and removed from the State. It is not fair to the Irish taxpayer to expect them to foot the bill for people seeking asylum even though they have no entitlement to it or where they are attempting to defraud the State. There is also the issue that has become a very lucrative spin-off industry, which is accommodation, and it is drive…

We have discovered through a parliamentary question submitted by Aontú that the Department of education has given just under €500,000 to the LGBTQ+ organisation Belong To. Does the Government feel it is appropriate to fund organisations that have been criticised by young people themselves for putting its agenda over the well-being and safety of children? It has been rightly condemned for spreading misinformation, for advising children not to tell their parents if they use a chest binder and for encouraging young pe…