Jennifer Murnane O'Connor

We have seen the impact-----

We had people waiting to go to hospital appointments and people waiting to get their cancer treatment and we were making sure there was fuel to get nurses and carers to the homes where they needed to be.

This is about everybody working together.

As I said, we all need to work together-----

-----to sort this out. We need to help those most vulnerable people in Ireland with all of us working together but-----

We are absolutely working.

I thank all my colleagues for their contributions today. I am very pleased to be delivering the closing remarks. It is very important that we mark International Women's Day because it is an opportunity for us to revitalise our shared efforts to achieve full equality between women and men. As a country, we have made real progress in our fight for equality and this has been captured by our improved …

I thank the Deputy for raising this very serious issue. I too have been speaking to a lot of ambulance paramedics. It is important to clarify for the record that there is no recruitment embargo in the National Ambulance Service, and there is absolutely no failure to offer permanent employment to paramedic graduates. Every paramedic who is graduating in 2026 will be offered a full-time, permanent c…

I thank Deputy Ó Murchú. These are really important points. As the Deputy said, all of us have been working with our ambulance paramedics over the years and we see the value of their work. Tonight I want to compliment them for their outstanding work in the community and the work they do for all of us. That is the main thing. There are three main points. First, full-time permanent contracts will b…

I thank the Deputy for raising this. We know that living with mould and damp can have a profound impact on people’s health and well-being. They are known to cause respiratory illnesses and can also affect mental health. Children and other vulnerable people often feel these effects more than most. The Government recognises the difficult and painful situation that many families are in and is workin…

Working with my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, we will come back to the Deputy on that and see what we can do. Working with the Minister for Health, as a public health approach, this issue has to address the underlying cause of ill health. The best way for us to help those affected by mould and damp in their homes with defective concrete is to address the housing directly. That i…

I understand people living with defective concrete in their homes experience real challenges. You can see it - families are really affected by this. That is why our Departments are working together to get the funding to get this done. The scheme is a major commitment by the State to help impacted homeowners to move on with their lives. We have to make sure the families who need counselling or supp…

I agree with the previous speakers. I welcome the statements on post office closures. It is important to highlight the work of the post offices across the country and what the Government is doing to help this sector and provide the key public service. It is a huge public service and a service we depend on. It is important, particularly for our rural post offices, which have always played an import…

I thank all the Deputies who have spoken on this important Bill. The amendment seeks to change the existing definition of single-use vapes by alternating its construction. The intention of the existing definition in the Bill is to prohibit any vape which is not refillable or rechargeable. This means a vape must be both refillable and rechargeable to avoid prohibition. We are banning any vape which…

We are not modelling it on the UK law.

We are not modelling it on the UK law. The UK has taken steps to do this. I assure the Deputy that we are learning as well, and this is a very good step forward for us. The Attorney General has also been working on this. As I said, we will not be accepting this amendment.

Yes.

The Deputy's amendment proposes to expand the range of circumstances related to the sale which would constitute an offence. There is already a comprehensive definition of the word "sell" in section 2. This includes "offer or expose for sale", "invite the making by a person of an offer to purchase", "distribute free of charge" and "supply for any of these purposes (whether or not for profit)". The …

We are very mindful of that. I thank the Deputy for highlighting it.

Providing for 12 months for the taking of prosecutions is a standard provision. For example, this is already the case under the Public Health (Tobacco Products and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Act 2023. A great deal of investigation and analysis goes into bringing cases of this type. I see no benefit in making it easier for businesses that have broken the law to avoid prosecution, so, unfortunately…

I thank everyone. The Bill will now go to the Seanad. Some questions came up from Deputies. All the Deputies' points were very relevant. I thank them for their valuable contributions to the debate on this important Bill. Yesterday, the Government approved publication of our other Bill on nicotine products. I will provide an update on that. The Bill will prohibit the sale of nicotine-consumption p…

I thank our colleagues in the Social Democrats for raising the matter of expanding access to general practitioners. The Government acknowledges that there are issues regarding access to GP services in some areas, including certain rural and underserved areas. GP availability is limited and GMS GP vacancies have been difficult to fill. Others have spoken about this today. To improve access to GP s…

I very much welcome the Government's apology today to the survivors of abuse in residential institutions. This apology builds on the State's apology to all victims of childhood abuse made in May 1999 and also takes into consideration the 2021 apology to survivors and former residents of the mother and baby institutions. This apology comes as we reflect on one of the darkest chapters of our histor…

I thank the Minister of State for his statement and his work on this matter, in particular his commitment. The Minister of State has visited Carlow and Kilkenny but I have seen him and the Taoiseach go around the country to anywhere that was flooded, which is important. It is important that they see what is happening and are able to speak to everyone. It is safe to say that we have never seen rain…

I welcome the Government’s work to escalate infrastructure delivery. Ireland is experiencing strong population growth, a rise in economic activity and increasing demand for public services. These are positive developments but they place pressure on our transport, utilities and regional infrastructure. Therefore, we must ensure essential projects are delivered efficiently. I welcome the infrastruc…