Brian Stanley

I welcome the proposals to reduce the cost of living for people. We have had a cost-of-living crisis since the end of Covid. That has escalated and it is now at crisis point. It is a serious situation and Government needs to understand that. Middle- and low-income households were never under so much pressure. Fuel, petrol, diesel, solid fuel, gas and costs are high and, as we learned today, electr…

I raise with the Taoiseach the situation in our prisons. Our overcrowded prisons are after reaching crisis point. I have complaints from prison staff going back over the past year or two on this issue. The situation in the Midlands Prison in Portlaoise is like a pressure cooker. It is unsafe for staff and vulnerable prisoners. It is vastly overcrowded, operating at over 120% capacity. It has capac…

I fully support the proposals being put forward to improve accommodation for the people living in the flat complexes in Dublin city. I have been to many of them over the years and I have seen at first hand the difficult conditions that people are living in. I will turn to private rental accommodation and apartments. In County Laois, there are 5,600 households who are living in private rented acco…

The programme for Government contains a commitment for the creation of more jobs in the regions outside Dublin. However, IDA Ireland and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment seem to have a blind spot when it comes to County Laois. Despite Portlaoise and Laois being located on the crossroads of Ireland at the N7, N8, N77, N80, the performance of IDA Ireland and the Department in Laois…

What is being done to develop the 60-plus acres owned by IDA Ireland outside Portlaoise-----

-----and get industry onto those sites? Will the Tánaiste take this matter up with the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment and his Department and ask them to urge IDA Ireland to act quickly in respect of this matter?

Not in Laois.

I welcome this discussion on rural policy. The biggest issues relate to housing and services in rural areas. Often, people in rural areas do not have anything. Sustainable housing is the key in this regard. For that type of housing, we need infrastructure. Those engaged in agriculture, forestry and other rural employment must continue to be allowed to build one-off houses on family land or in appr…

I welcome the proposals in this motion. It is long past the time that collective bargaining and trade union representation were made mandatory. It is 113 years after James Connolly and James Larkin led the lockout in this city to seek basic rights for workers. This State is completely at odds with the rest of Europe in not recognising the right to trade union representation and collective bargaini…

I welcome the very comprehensive motion that has been set out by Deputy O'Gorman. It is now accepted that we will miss our 2030 binding target of a 51% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. At last, Ministers are accepting that. The Government has failed to develop offshore wind energy, anaerobic digestion and hydrogeneration, and it is only starting with solar. This means just not climate and en…

The ongoing problems with the National Ambulance Service are not being addressed. I raised the serious gaps in the ambulance service, particularly in County Laois, with the Taoiseach last year, and it is through no fault of the staff. The number of staff in the county has not increased in the past two decades, despite the explosion in its population. Five vehicles are based in the county, with jus…

When we compare what we have to what Scotland, which has similar population and geography, has, it has 5,000 staff while we have just over 2,500. Scotland has 1,500 vehicles while we have 620, so I think the Taoiseach accepts there is ground to be made up. The spring economic statement that came out yesterday shows there are substantial resources there. I am not asking the Taoiseach to throw that…

I am glad the Minister and Minister of State are here. The latest figures in County Laois for the number of children with special needs and disabilities under the age of 14 is 2,302. All of us have a responsibility to ensure they get the best possible education. New classes have been announced for Laois, which is well and good and I welcome that. However, we also need physical space in schools. In…

What we have in Laois and Offaly in relation to services for children with special needs and autism is a black spot. There are roughly 900 children at any one time on a waiting list for assessment of needs. There is no occupational therapy, OT, in primary care for children and young adults in Laois, and the latest information I have is that there is no approval to recruit such an occupational ther…

I ask that it be followed up.

This is the most serious fuel crisis since the 1970s. I contacted the Minister's office last week and spoke to his good secretary about this, and she passed my concerns on to the Minister. The level of preparedness has been shown to be awfully poor. The response and reaction has not been what was required. There is no mechanism to deal with price gouging. The CCPC needs to be abolished or given so…

Four short months from now, the scramble for school bus places will start again. There is going to be a shortage of drivers, as has been the case over the past two years. I welcome the announcement by the Government over the Easter period that it will allow those aged up to 72 to drive eight-seater vehicles. I take that to mean that there will be eight seats plus the driver's. Some companies use s…

We need to put in practical, sensible steps-----

-----and move two steps further.

The Government writes the cheque.

The Government's handling of the fuel price issue has been appalling. It refused to listen to the Opposition. Week after week we told it what was happening. It refused to listen to the representatives of the various sectors and various bodies. I wrote to the Tánaiste in March and told him that people I had met were running at a loss and could not continue to operate as things stood. Instead, the …

Instead of listening and working towards a solution with people-----

-----the Government threatened them, which was wrong-----

-----and left people out. I will be voting no confidence in the Government.

While the measures that were introduced will bring some relief, they do not go far enough. There are too many left out, including families, commuters, taxi drivers, home help staff, public health nurses and people who depend on home heating oil. The majority of rural houses in County Laois depend on home heating oil. They are facing double whammies and triple whammies. Workers and families on a me…