Pádraig Mac Lochlainn

It was in the spring one, too.

It is not just about them. It is about working families. The Taoiseach is an intelligent man.

Like me, the Minister of State represents a rural constituency. As a result, he understands what a massive problem it is if a person is obliged to wait seven months - that is the current waiting time in County Donegal - for his or her driving test. In my home area of Buncrana on the Inishowen Peninsula, the waiting time has doubled in a year. We are getting representations from young people who ar…

Not agreed.

Next Tuesday morning, 14-year-old Cara Darmody, the disability rights campaigner, will commence a 50-hour protest outside Leinster House. It is about the failure of the Government to deliver assessments of need to children within the legal six-month period. There are 15,000 children affected. Will the Minister work with the Opposition to draft a motion to go before the Dáil next week to deal with …

It has now been 19 months of genocide and slaughter in Gaza. It has been more than two months of blockades, blocking food and humanitarian aid to the beleaguered people of Gaza. We now have the outrage upon outrage of Netanyahu making it clear he intends to assume full control and displace so many people. We need an emergency debate in this Chamber this week. We need the Minister and questions. We…

I move amendment No. 1: In paragraph (1), to insert the following after "quorum of each Committee": “, save that the footnote ‘ 3 National Security encompasses cyber-defence, sub-sea critical infrastructure and related hybrid threats’ on page 5 be deleted.”.

I will focus my comment on fisheries, the seafood sector and the wider marine space. Looking at the east coast of Ireland, we made serious mistakes as a country in developing offshore renewable energy in a way that took away the livelihoods of fishermen. That is how not to do it. However, there has been positive progress in recent years. I commend the work of the offshore renewable energy seafood …

Not agreed.

I listened to the Taoiseach's comments about neutrality over the weekend. As he knows, the triple lock arose from two referendums the Irish people voted on where it was used as an assurance around neutrality. I ask him clearly, if he is going to reverse that, to commit to a referendum. If he is going to get rid of the triple lock, will he put it to a referendum of the Irish people and give them as…

It is okay. That is a compliment.

Did the Deputy get lucky?

Our spokesperson, Deputy Ó Broin, has laid out the national picture and the challenges we face. I am going to take this opportunity to speak about the experience on the ground in Donegal and offer some constructive criticism of Uisce Éireann but also address some challenges for the Government. I will start with our major town, Letterkenny. We want to develop Letterkenny into a city. We want to joi…

Sinn Féin has warned for some time that the policies of successive Governments have left Ireland uniquely vulnerable to a change in the economic climate and to tariffs. This is due to their failure to invest in infrastructure, their excessive reliance on tax incentives, and their failure to build up our indigenous industry. These moves by Donald Trump and his Administration to introduce tariffs ha…

My understanding is that Deputy McDonald wants to move an amendment under the Standing Order.

As the Whip, I can respond. The Deputy raised the issue under the Standing Order, which she has a right to do

An amendment under the Standing Order can be taken at any stage. It is at the discretion of the Ceann Comhairle as to when she decides to take it.

I want to make it clear than on 5 February, a Cheann Comhairle, you took independent legal advice and adjudicated on the right of the Regional Independent Group to form a group in opposition.

No, this is my moment. I have 30 seconds, which is all that has been given. That is all the Ceann Comhairle has allowed me and I intend to make my point. At that point the Government could have moved, along with the rest of us, to form Oireachtas committees immediately under the d'Hondt system. We were told repeatedly that the Government was going to change Standing Orders and that is why the proc…

Can we prioritise the formation of the foreign affairs and trade committee to get on with-----

There are massive issues and huge concern around these tariffs. Can we at least prioritise the foreign affairs and trade committee?

Can we agree-----

1. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to provide an update on negotiations with the British Government to reinstate access for the Irish fishing fleet to its traditional fishing grounds at Rockall; and the estimated total financial loss to the Irish fishing industry since the blockade has been enforced by the UK authorities. [13670/25]

I am raising the very serious issue of the waters around Rockall, which comprise a traditional fishing ground for Irish fishers. There was no concern prior to Brexit, with reciprocal fishing arrangements between both jurisdictions. However, for four years the British authorities have put a blockade around what is an uninhabited rock. Under international law, it is not permissible to put any kind o…

I thank the Minister of State. I know he is new to his brief and I wish him well. I really do wish him well because if he does well, obviously our fishing communities will do well. There has been a major diplomatic failure in respect of this matter. The British authorities have engaged in a brazen intervention. Rockall is an uninhabited rock. Unfortunately, after Brexit we passed the Maritime Jur…