Rose Conway-Walsh

Sorry, I think the Taoiseach was referring to the previous question. It was the one on Mikey Henry-Benson I had asked.

I know it should but it was not and it is not.

Thank you.

Do I have three and a half minutes?

Maybe the Leas-Cheann Comhairle can stop me at three and a half minutes.

I wish to point out something to the Minister. While I welcome the payments that have been made, they fall very short. I refer, in particular, to the cost of disability or the failure to address the cost of disability in this legislation. There is a disconnect between the Departments of Social Protection and housing. The Minister will know that many of our constituents in Mayo - I refer to those w…

Instead, what we will see are wage cuts, reduced hours and even job losses to cover the cost of this scheme. This is the opposite to what we should be doing to strengthen employment.

Sorry, I was nearly there.

I thank my colleague, Deputy Daly, for bringing this motion to the House. I can hardly believe what the Minister of State read out because, basically, the thread running through it is that there is no problem, and he is not going to do anything to fix it-----

-----because there is no problem in the first instance. Right through it, it goes on about how much better off people are. I can tell the Minister of State that people in County Mayo certainly do not feel better off. Despite the Government's lack of investment in public transport, however, it seems completely unaware that many people have no choice but to drive. In rural areas and in my own consti…

Fastway workers, subcontractors and franchisees were left high and dry last week. Some of them are outside the gate today and some of them are in the Gallery with Deputies Ruth Coppinger and Paul Murphy. They were told they would not be paid during the 30-day receivership period. It is eight weeks before Christmas. They cannot apply for another job. They cannot get jobseeker's allowance. They are …

Government Ministers have to be active in this space.

But what are they going to do?

This gruelling presidential campaign will result in an Irish President representing all of the people living on this island and the global family of Irish citizens. She will endeavour to make us all proud, no matter where we live, yet the electorate is confined to Irish citizens living in the Twenty-six Counties. Even that franchise is restricted because many students will not be able to make it h…

I raise the issue of home help, particularly in County Mayo. There are 265 homes waiting for home help. These are people who are deemed to need home help to be able to stay in their own home, but they do not have it. Home and Community Care Ireland, HCCI, is asking for two things, which I too advocate. It states that waiting lists are too often treated as a HSE operational issue, and not a politic…

For months, we in Sinn Féin and our colleague Deputy Mac Lochlainn have been calling on the Government to allow statements on fisheries to take place in this House. In that context, I welcome the opportunity today to finally debate the future of an industry that is at breaking point. This is an industry that has been failed by successive Governments and abandoned by Brussels, but we have reached t…

I acknowledge the work of the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, in this space. I recognise it and his interest in reunification. That is important because what we are discussing is much bigger than party politics. It is reckless and negligent for the Taoiseach not to play the role he needs to play right now in terms of preparation. Everybody agrees that we need to prepare. Everywhere one goes, o…

To conclude this debate, I thank everybody who has contributed tonight, including Government Members. It is important. What is obvious from it is, exactly as it says in the motion, is that we need a Green Paper on Irish unity, a White Paper, an Oireachtas joint committee dedicated to reunification and citizens' assemblies. Were we to do that, even in itself, we would make much progress in this spa…

I welcome the opportunity to talk about the National Training Fund because, as the Minister will know, we have long wanted to unlock this fund. It is, as was said, the fund that employers and hard-pressed businesses have paid into. They feel they have got very little back for the payments that have been made and they have been seeing the figures accumulate over the years. I have some concerns abou…

I am very happy to co-sign this motion today with Deputy Ward and my colleagues, and I do so on behalf of the people of County Mayo and on behalf of the people for whom I have been fighting for the past 15 years. It is 15 years since we first noticed the houses start to crumble in Erris. Pat the Cope Gallagher is in the Chamber, and he will know many of those houses and families impacted. I am app…

There are many more things I can say in relation to this, but the Minister needs to wake up. I appeal to all the TDs who are casting their vote against this motion to think long and hard about the suffering these homeowners and these children and families have had to endure through no fault of their own. It is absolutely disgraceful.

I am sorry, we have been fighting it for 15 years.

I have listened really intently to every word that has been said here today by all of the speakers. We are here today specifically because of scoliosis and the promises that were made. Families were threatened, ignored, and told to go away. They were told that they were the problem. They were reported to Tusla and it was all under the Tánaiste's watch. Children and young adults were told to go ho…

12. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on the economy, trade and competitiveness will next meet. [50477/25]

Energy costs in the State are astronomical and are having a detrimental impact on competitiveness. This rip-off of Irish customers was confirmed again today by a recent international report, which revealed that our retail electricity prices are three times higher than wholesale prices, one of the highest price gaps in the world. We are completely exposed to the price of fossil fuels on the interna…