Ruairí Ó Murchú

It is hard to call this anything other than the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael rent-hike Bill. This is going to allow vulture funds and big landlords to hike up the rents of 60,000 people every year. That means thousands of euro extra will be paid in rent from 1 March. It is hard to believe. In fairness, Deputy Ó Laoghaire said it earlier. Whatever about the setting of the rules, there is a huge level …

I do not see any solutions here for affordable and social housing. I do not see anything to stop the increases, or any move towards what we are calling for, which is a ban on rent increases for at least three years.

We accept that the market is dysfunctional and that these rules are not going to work. The Minister needs to do better. This is far too late.

We need to state the facts straightforwardly. Larry Murrin is chair of Bord Bia. Bord Bia has done a fine job in marketing food, drink and horticulture from Ireland. However, let us also be clear that Larry Murrin is the co-founder and CEO of Dawn Farms. Am I correct in believing that Dawn Farms imported Brazilian beef into Ireland? I do not think there is any question about that. How can someone…

Let us be clear about what it is going to do. We also met Commissioners Piotr Serafin and Christophe Hansen, and we know the dangers of provisional application. I have not seen what the Government will do to oppose Mercosur or deal with the possibility of more Brazilian beef, with hormones and antibiotics and without the traceability that applies to Irish beef, being imported here. That is what we…

I am ready.

That is fine.

9. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the uptake of the latest solar capital investment scheme; whether his Department is working on proposals to improve or streamline the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6877/26]

I am delighted the Minister has recognised the huge importance of St. Brigid from Faughart, not to get into a contentious issue. The Minister dealt earlier with the question of using AI to develop a carbon map. Sequestration is something I would support. We need to get to grips with renewables. We are talking about solar schemes that work for farmers. We know they have issues at times when the be…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire. I appreciate most of what the Minister said and am doing my absolute best to ignore the disgraceful commentary he made at the beginning. I commend the work being done to remember St. Brigid by the community in Faughart. Dundalk BIDS and Martin McElligott have done a great piece of work. We need to ensure not only Kildare but also Louth gets Government support in rela…

I suppose I would agree with the Minister's commentary. It was a lot less contentious that time. I would probably have agreement from my councillors, Antóin Watters and Fiona Mhic Conchoille, on the necessity for support. At times, the county of Louth probably did not get the support and recognition for St. Brigid's close connections.

That will be the last reference. I thought we might have been having a row about other issues. I had another question on Bord Bia that might have been taken but we will leave that for another day. I accept what has been done is working for a significant number of farmers. I ask the Minister to meet farmers on the whole piece on renewables to a greater degree. Deputy Kenny, who I nearly called "Mi…

The recent Storm Chandra has caused chaos and disaster across the State. It shows the issues we are dealing with, and the need to make sure we have all the mitigations and flood protections in place that we possibly can have. I will deal with some specific issues in Dundalk and particular parts of Dundalk. I first want to commend the local authority staff, particularly those who were out dealing w…

I appreciate that the senior Minister cannot be here, but I do not think it is a good enough to say that Uisce Éireann has operational responsibility. We all accept that from a technical point of view. I have no problem with it, but there is an absolute need to have a review with regard to why this has happened. This has happened - it always happens - when we have heavy rain in a particular part o…

I ask that the Minister of State would bring this back to the Minister-----

This is straightforward. It is not the first time that we have had this discussion. The fact is the Minister has straightforwardly accepted that there is a cost of disability. I can also say that the Government accepted, when it was giving out one-off payments, that in providing a cost-of-disability payment, and for the first time recognising that, it realised there is a huge issue for those who a…

Many of us have spoken here many times about infrastructural deficits. In this regard, unfortunately, we see chickens coming home to roost across the State at times. I will speak about County Louth, particularly Dundalk. While we did have heavy rains, undoubtedly, we are impacted in some parts of Dundalk owing to infrastructure, including for wastewater treatment, that is not up to scratch. We are…

It is fair to say that the EU migration and asylum pact does not take into the account the issues that persist in Ireland, including the fact that we have a shared border and, unfortunately down to British jurisdiction, that means a shared border with a state and entity that is not in the European Union. That was Britain's determination not ours, but, in fairness, it has never done anything that h…

2. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his attendance at the G20 in South Africa. [1833/26]

At the G20 a serious amount of the conversation is on sustainable development. With Storm Chandra, it is fair to say we can see that is not necessarily happening in relation to climate change. We could all come in here and pontificate on the failings of the American President with all the desperate scenarios both domestically in America and internationally. We hope some chickens are coming home to…

Irish Water infrastructure as well.

14. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Taoiseach for a report on his attendance at the EU-African Union summit. [1834/26]

First, I wish to bring up the issue we are again dealing with, that of an incredibly turbulent, chaotic and conflict-ridden world. The Taoiseach spoke about the huge issues in Sudan. Part of Sudan's issue is that outside players are supplying weapons and absolute heartache, death and slaughter on a huge scale. What we need to see throughout the world is a fairer system. We are dealing with the iss…

-----coming from an absolutely benign point of view. Also, regarding climate change and what I said earlier, the problem in Dundalk is that our wastewater system is not up to scratch.

It will be 2033 before there are upgrades and that is impacting and causing flooding today.