Martin Kenny

I want to speak on this issue because it will affect dozens, if not hundreds, of people in my constituency, particularly in west Sligo where an awful lot of people are now coming to the realisation that their homes have been affected by defective building materials and concrete blocks and, indeed, other concrete products that went into their houses. This is not new, of course. Donegal, Mayo and ot…

Much of CETA has already been implemented. However, the part of it that we are dealing with today relates to the investment court structures that have been set up as a consequence. Obviously, Ireland is late coming to the table to ratify this agreement and we are discussing it now, but many other countries also have serious concerns in regard to that. We have courts in this country, in Canada and…

There are three issues I wish to raise in regard to housing. The first is homelessness; something we see across the length and breadth of the country, particularly in urban areas. I come from a rural part of the country, Sligo–Leitrim. We have a homelessness crisis. We have a lot of people sleeping out in doorways, which we did not have before. We have many people staying with relatives or friends…

100. Deputy Martin Kenny asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he is aware of any Brazilian or South American beef being imported into Ireland that is produced using hormones and antibiotics that are banned in Ireland under food safety standards; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [66303/25]

As the Minister is aware, there is great concern about the Mercosur trade agreement. Even before it comes into place, tens of thousands of tonnes of Brazilian beef are being imported into the European Union. Much of this beef has been produced using hormones and antibiotics that are banned in the European Union and in Ireland. The Irish Farmers' Journal and the Irish Farmers Association did great …

I thank the Minister. I am aware there are very small amounts of Brazilian beef coming into Ireland, of course, but quite large amounts are coming into the European Union as a whole. As the Minister said, the standards we expect Irish and European farmers to meet are not being met by the Mercosur countries, in particular Brazil, in respect of beef. We also have a problem with chicken and other pro…

The Minister's answer is concerning. Basically he is saying he wants to shift the responsibility over to trade, and that it is a trade negotiation.

The reason I asked the question in this context is that I was afraid if I tabled it to the Minister as a trade question, I would be told it should go to the Minister with responsibility for trade. This is why I asked it in the context I did, as the Minister will understand. The Minister mentioned the programme for Government and working with like-minded countries. There are already at least three,…

I am taking the question on behalf of Deputy Carthy. This goes back to my question at the beginning about food safety and public health. The Mercosur deal is at the core of this but it is broader than that. We have an issue across Europe in that we are importing a lot of product from different parts of the world. In particular, the question about grain earlier was interesting because a lot of fee…

The Minister mentioned in a previous reply that quite a small amount of beef from Brazil comes into Ireland and that there is no evidence of this issue. Is the evidence being looked for? What kind of investigations are we carrying out into that, from an Irish and European perspective? Similarly, we have a large amount of poultry coming in under the Mercosur deal. I think it is 180,000 tonnes. We n…

It is balance.

I accept that. I understand the point that we cannot produce everything in Ireland. That goes without saying. However, there is an issue regarding the authenticity of the product that we produce if we are labelling it and selling it as Irish and as having that authenticity around it, yet everything that goes into it is coming from somewhere else. We need to find that clear balance in respect of th…

Sudan is a very large country with huge natural resources. It has some of the richest agricultural land in Africa running along the edge of the Nile. It has huge natural resources, particularly gold, and it has been long held that much of this conflict is about those natural resources. Indeed, the influence of outside powers in that and the attempt to try to plunder the wealth of that nation to th…

Deputy Smyth is a representative of a Border constituency, the same as I am, so she will very much understand this particular issue. A constituent of mine called Majella contacted me. She was born in Leitrim and lived there practically all of her life. She started her career working in the health services. Then she married a man from Fermanagh and moved six miles up the road. She continued to cros…

I thank the Minister of State. I am aware of all of these circumstances. Yes, there is a payment in the North but the person who is living in the North and can apply for the carer's benefit in the North has to be caring for a person in that jurisdiction.

The fact that they live in two different jurisdictions, although they are only a couple of miles apart, is what gives rise to this peculiarity. This is a carer's case. There are other similar cases where habitual residency comes into play which may affect people's pensions and things like that on both sides of the Border. These are small numbers. We are talking about dozens of people in total. It …

She married the wrong man-----

-----on the wrong side of the Border.

As we know, each year we go through this process for the horse and greyhound industry to get this very large amount of public funding. It is a large amount of public funding and we have to place it in the context of the situation in the country. Every day, we come in here and talk about our hospitals, health services and education system, and places where we have resource difficulties and not enou…

I am glad to speak on the Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2025. As we know, many people in the country, almost 50% of the population, have health insurance. This is high when we consider that almost 77% of the cost of healthcare is provided by the State. You would wonder why the imbalance is there. Many people feel they have no option other than to have health insurance, particularly as they get…

It is good to be here to contribute to these statements on SMEs and, particularly, the road haulage sector. As has been said by many, the sector is the lifeblood of small industry and business across the country. Fleets of white vans deliver everything we know to shops around the country, from bread and milk right through. All those vans on the road mean jobs in every part of the country and they …

Like many of us, I remember when we woke one morning in February 2022 to learn Russia had invaded Ukraine. In the first week, everyone wondered what would happen and believed the Russians would roll over the Ukrainians very quickly. What has happened has proved otherwise, and it is certainly a tribute to the resilience and courage of the Ukrainian people that they have held up for so long against …

I move: That Dáil Éireann: recognises: — the threat posed to Irish agriculture, the environment and human rights by the proposed Mercosur Trade Agreement; — the benefits of Irish agriculture to the Irish economy and its importance to rural communities throughout the country; — that Irish farmers play a vital role as custodians of the land and promote biodiversity and work to protect the envir…

Hear, hear.

I thank all the farmers from every corner of the country who came to the Public Gallery tonight in order to listen and pay attention to this debate. When the Gallery is full, people often play to it. We have plenty of play actors in here tonight. We are here on serious business, namely the Mercosur trade deal. As Deputy Fitzmaurice stated, the agriculture committee spoke with the Polish agricultu…