Richard O'Donoghue

The reason we are here today is that the Government, backed up by a couple of Independent Members who keep voting with it, is taking a euro in tax on every litre of fuel. What does that do? It is a circular economy. Many depend on fossil fuel vehicles, which make up about 80% of the vehicles in this country. These taxes put up the price of food, materials and transport for everyone. The only reali…

Today, I am raising the issue of wind farms and their health implications. A number of weeks ago, I was copied into a serious letter from the Communities and Environmental Protection Alliance, CEPA, to the Minister of Health. I am informed that there has been no response, not even an acknowledgement. Representatives from five counties are in the Public Gallery today. They are from Limerick, Mayo, …

I thank the Tánaiste. The issue here is the inconsistency. In the Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown area, all noise complaints received by the local authority are investigated by the HSE. Residents in Offaly and Limerick are wondering why this other approach is being taken in their case and why it depends on what county one lives in whether one gets investigations. It is inconsistency that is going on here. …

Will the Tánaiste meet us?

I am the Chairperson of the budgetary oversight committee. We have had many witnesses in over the past number of months. Yesterday, we had witnesses in who agreed with exactly what I and Independent Ireland have been saying. The Department of Finance does not talk to the Department of enterprise. The Department of Finance is responsible for divvying out the moneys but they all work separately. Whe…

At present, there are 14,621 gardaí. There are 621 in training at the moment. The problem is that 180 are resigning outside of retirements. Why does the Taoiseach think this is a problem? It is recurring. We have that amount in training but 180 are resigning every year. That trend has been there over the last two years. Why does the Taoiseach think that is?

Yes.

Young gardaí-----

I thank Deputy Charles Ward for all the work he has done on this. What is the Government guilty of? I sat on the housing committee last term. It is on the record of that committee that I highlighted to the Minister, and all the various witnesses and so-called professionals brought in by the Department, the issues with blocks, foundations and the weight loads on foundations under the new regulation…

In the base of the redress scheme and the different grades that people get in redress, there is an issue turning up at the moment-----

The scheme for pyrite. There are different grades. People might get grade 1 or grade 4 or 5. One of the grades is where people are told their roof is okay but their block walls have to come out. What people are being asked to do is prop up the house and take out the walls down to the foundation level, which means the footpaths and floors collapse. It is specialised work. When we work out the econo…

It is common sense.

We have experience.

We have 35 years' experience. Come on.

LGBT and Pride. Pride stands for "respect". I listen in this House daily and people say "far left" and "far right" and brand everything. What is wrong with just being yourself? Why do you have to be branded? Respect means that if somebody is gay, lesbian or trans, you give them respect and let them give you respect. I do not believe in all of this branding. They are people, human beings. That is w…

AI in some instances scares me and in some instances it is good for different parts if it is used correctly. How many people go on their phone and then no longer know what is actually factual or not? My concern about AI is that we need to get on top of it fairly quickly. I was in the Central Bank on Tuesday for a visit with the budgetary oversight committee. There are concerns about AI in this cou…

Good man, but paper does not mean that you have got it in front of you. If you have the pen in front of you, that is what makes the difference. A lot of the time I do not come into this House with paperwork because I do not want it to be shown that it was AI-generated. What you are looking at when you look at me is me. What comes out of my mouth is what I researched myself. I have never used AI. …

In 2021, the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act was introduced by the Government. It was supported by Sinn Féin and introduced the carbon tax. Today, yesterday and the day before Sinn Féin were saying they are against carbon tax. Yet, they voted for it in the climate action Bill.

They are now coming out saying they are against these things. Every week they jump up and down here saying they are against it but last week they decided they were going to fight for it. Deputy Daly is right; I was not here last week for one reason-----

I was the first person to come to the Dáil in a truck protesting against carbon tax. The Deputies must not have been here that time because they never came out to the truckers.

They never came out to the people on the protest but they came out the last day to support them. That is what they did. Now, getting back to this-----

The Deputies love talking about other people but they cannot talk about themselves.

Exactly. There is no order.

This is what Sinn Féin tries to do to the Government. It will not silence me because I know what I am talking about.

What way is the wind blowing today for Sinn Féin? Hold on, I must check. Here they are; the wind is over here.