George Lawlor

No. It is about Wexford.

I apologise. I thought the Minister said Kilkenny.

Absolutely.

As the Minister stated, the site at Killeens has been CPOed but is subject to an ongoing arbitration to agree a final price. While Wexford County Council can access the site immediately, it cannot give a sale price to SETU for its portion of the land until the arbitration process is concluded, which may take many months. This will give a further excuse to SETU to sit on its hands, claiming it can …

There can be no hesitation at this stage. In 2015, ten years ago, the money was made available for the purchase of a site in Wexford town for the campus of the SETU. Wexford County Council can access the site as it stands. The only thing outstanding is the decision on the actual price of what is going to be sold to the SETU. It is imperative that this progress. The biggest county involved in the w…

I ask the Minister to intervene in that also.

As has been outlined in stark detail by many of my colleagues in the Chamber, our country's tillage farmers are in a serious crisis, not least in my home county of Wexford. Farmers who have long been the backbone of our agricultural diversity, our food security and our environmental ambition. Today, they face a crisis that is not of their making but one that demands our urgent attention and decisi…

This question is to ask whether the Minister will outline the measures being taken to strengthen existing animal welfare laws and enforcement mechanisms and whether his Department intends to engage with campaign representatives to progress the aims of the proposed Stout's law and if he will make a statement on the matter.

I thank the Minister for his supportive words. This proposed campaign was inspired by a young pup called Stout who suffered from severe health difficulties arising from malnutrition, poor breeding practice and the unsanitary conditions that he was kept in. The campaign is led by two people in Wexford - Tara O'Connor and Kevin Keegan. They are proposing some reasonable legislation and that the legi…

I welcome what has been said about the high level group. As it stands, the 2010 Act permits upwards of 300 breeding dogs on a site. It also outlines that one full-time staff member to 25 breeding bitches is sufficient. We are looking for a more sensible number of breeding bitches and we believe that 15 is a sensible cap that would enable breeders to run a proper sanitation programme and perform re…

In a week when hundreds of millions of euro were gifted to burger barons and builders, although the Tánaiste may disagree with that characterisation, I will raise an example of the reality that many on the ground are encountering. I was contacted by the Furlong family in Duncormick in Wexford. I have their permission to raise this issue on behalf of their son, Josh, who is 23, has severe non-verba…

This was a budget where workers were left behind. We had no personal income tax relief for workers. Hard-working families - the backbone of our economy and the people who keep our economy going, ticking over and working - were left with their hands hanging. We saw a reduction in the VAT rate. Many millions of that will go to multinational chains. I have heard descriptions of franchises run by fami…

I am glad to speak on the issue of Ireland's national social enterprise policy and to reflect on its deeper promise, its transformative potential and the urgent need to elevate it from policy to practice, from vision to reality. This should not be just a policy. It should be a philosophy which says that business can be more than profit, that trade can be rooted in purpose and that communities can …

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." It is a privilege to be able to bring this vital Bill before the House on Second Stage. We have a chance today to make clear our commitment to standing up for the most fundamental of rights, the right to bargain collectively for better conditions, pay and a fairer workplace. This is also an opportunity to protect a long-standing successful instit…

I appreciate that the Minister of State has been somewhat thrown under the bus on this by her Fine Gael Government colleague.

I never thought I would see the day when I would stand in this august Chamber and say that Winston Churchill appeared to have more affinity and commitment to the workers of Ireland than the Fianna Fáil party and this Government. In 1909, Winston Churchill brought in the trade boards so that underrepresented, undervalued and underpaid workers could be represented by the trade boards. In 1946, this …

It gives me no great pleasure this morning to stand in this historic Chamber not just as a public representative but as a citizen of this nation deeply troubled by the reality that in our modern democratic republic, children are going to bed hungry, cold and without a place to call home. Let us all let that sink in. In 2025 thousands of children are homeless – 5,000 children - and thousands more l…

I thank Deputy Gogarty for introducing this motion. The scourge of antisocial behaviour, as people who have served in politics at local and national levels know, has resulted in the ruination of communities, housing estates and neighbourhoods. That is the result of a small minority of people who are intent on creating havoc. This is a time when housing, for instance, is at a premium. This particul…

This issue pertains to the extension and expansion of the free travel scheme for under-nines to include and involve commercial bus operators. It aims to build on the Department of Transport's expansion of the fare reduction scheme introduced in recent years. If we are to have equity, equality and fairness, it is essential that this modest but impactful extension would include children under the ag…

I appreciate the Minister of State is here with a prepared script not of his making, but from the Department. To say on an issue like this that the Minister is not involved in the day-to-day running is a lame excuse in the context of what I am asking. Effectively what is happening here is discriminatory. The Government is saying to children and their families who reside in an area where we a publi…

I thank the Ceann Comhairle. I recently met a Ukrainian woman who qualified as a GP in Kyiv. She practised for seven years as a GP and six as an intern. She is now working as a healthcare assistant and doing a very fine job in a primary care centre in Wexford. Last week, I met a man working with a drain clearing company in Wexford. He fled the conflict in Ukraine, where, having qualified and worke…

-----and keen to take part in our workforce?

I thank the Minister and acknowledge his response. As he knows, tillage is a vital part of our food security. Given what is happening globally and the uncertainty that prevails, a reliable and viable tillage sector is required to ensure a food supply. It is also important to speak to the fact that tillage is effectively a carbon-neutral, if not better, area of agriculture and, as such, can play an…

I acknowledge that we may have a better year this year but the tillage sector has suffered crippling losses over recent years. We have seen fertiliser prices increase by up to 300% since the war in Ukraine began. We have seen tillage farm incomes plummet. In 2022, the average tillage farm income was €76,600. In 2024, it had plummeted to €30,000. Tillage farmers cannot take any more of these losses…

As someone whose family is lucky enough to be in a position to keep their mother in her home while she requires care, with the help of some wonderful carers and my sister living with her, the spectre of what we saw on our TV screens a number of weeks ago was truly appalling. Families across the country looked on in horror as evil appeared on our screens. I do not need to rehearse all the condemnat…