Alan Kelly

Let me just have it documented that it is a farce to be left here until 12.10 a.m., waiting for hours, and then treated like this. In what other work environment would people be treated like this? We are all into family friendly environments.

I do not have patience.

We need a step change. Someone needs to lead the international community in a different way. I thank Deputy Duncan Smith for bringing forward our motion. It will be voted on tonight and we want everyone to support it. We need to lead that step change. Our proud history as a country in trying to lead on international change, international relations and peacekeeping dictates that we have a moral dut…

Will you meet Cara?

I know the Minister for children is a very decent person. There are tens of thousands of families affected by what we are talking about, my own included. I deal with this issue every day. In my clinic recently, nine out of 17 appointments concerned issues experienced by people with autism. I have probably been involved the longest with Cara Darmody and with her father and mother in fighting for t…

All of us in the House offer our condolences on the death of Garda Kevin Flatley. I agree with the Garda Commissioner, who said we need a reset for how we, as a society, think about roads policing. However, the same Commissioner sat before the Joint Committee on Justice on 15 May 2024 and committed to the addition of 150 new gardaí to roads policing. There were to be 75 in 2024 and 75 in 2025. You…

I am just asking the Commissioner to honour the figures he mentioned.

We are very bad in this country, across all political parties, at infrastructure planning. We are horrendous at it. It is shameful because we are letting down the people. When it comes to infrastructure, there is no long-term planning. The national planning framework is a dog's dinner. The national development plan is loaded with aspirations and projects that often do not materialise and it contai…

I thank the Minister of State for coming in from the appropriate Department to deal with this issue. It is appreciated. Does the Minister of State want to be a hero in rural Ireland?

Maybe he already is.

To be honest, as his officials have probably already told him, I have been chasing this issue since 2012. The taxi regulations review brought about a new rural hackney licence. I was the Minister of State in that Department and I sponsored this. The application process started in 2013-2014 but very few took it up because it was too rigid in terms of the rules and regulations around it. This year, …

I thank the Minister of State and I appreciate his sincerity. He does come from a beautiful part of County Galway. I do not want to be talking about this matter for several more years. I know that there is a system we can put in place that will work. The requirements are specific. We need people to come together who can operate a vehicle that can be subsidised, such as through the €6,000 a year. T…

We will of course support this. It is kind of ridiculous that we are back here every six months, so hopefully it will be the last time. The Minister has committed to it.

I know. He committed to it, but he kind of did not commit to it. He might commit to whether he is committing to it. Seriously, it has to be done because this is kind of ridiculous. To the public, outdoor seating and socialising is the norm now. We maybe need to slightly improve it because people have adapted. It is one of the few things resulting from Covid, where there was a positive, long-term c…

It was great. There were some changes in my local town of Nenagh, which were positive, and I implored the council to do other works that were complementary, which was great. I hope we will not end up here again and that the miscellaneous provisions Bill being brought forward will deal with this and regularise the whole situation, so we do not have to be coming in here talking about the obvious eve…

The relevance to this is that a lot of these drinks-----

-----are served outside, and do you know what? It is as relevant as Carrickmacross was.

The issue is that we need to give some guidance because workers are left in a situation where they do not know. There could be scenarios where minors end up drinking alcohol, either accidentally or deliberately because of this. The vintners, in fairness, have come out and said they should not be served. They said under-18s should not be served and that adults who order it for them should not be se…

This is a very important issue, which goes beyond political tit-for-tat stuff. The achievements that can be made for young people in this area if it is properly resourced are unique. I acknowledge that there has been a dramatic increase in funding in this area, which has gone from €21 million or €22 million up to €36 billion in a short time. There was a gap in fulfilment across the jurisdiction af…

Can you even hear yourself?

You were not in the room.

There has been a bit of a delay in commencing this Act. That is not completely the Minister's fault, but there is a concern as to why it took this long. I have no issue with passing these Votes. The Minister explained the position quite well. I do have concerns about how we got here. I am coming at this from the Eddie Molloy version of the original report, that is, the second version. Handing over…

The Minister has not made any public statements about these matters or in respect of defective holsters. The Minister believes that what I put on the record of this Dáil was accurate. It was accurate. There is also the matter of how 8 kg of drugs were found in Garda headquarters, as well as the issues relating to firearms. I understand the Garda Commissioner went looking for these firearms. It was…

We are around a lot longer than you guys.

Broke loose.