Pa Daly

What is wrong with employing someone to sell a packet of crisps or some water? This suspension of services was only supposed to be a temporary measure during Covid. As we know, passenger numbers have increased. The service is continuing without any catering. It was not meant to be the new normal. I cannot understand how the mentality is fixed in their brains that they cannot directly employ someon…

I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — Irish energy prices are amongst the highest in Europe leading to an extra €500 on household bills and is a leading factor in Ireland's cost-of-living crisis; — the number of households in arrears are at their highest level since records began with 300,000 households in arrears on their electricity bills and 185,000 households in arrears on their gas bil…

The response of the Government in this amendment is vague in places and downright inaccurate in others. The amendment is an insult to the millions of ordinary workers and families who are bracing for another round of energy hikes and to the hundreds of thousands of households that are falling further behind on their energy bills with each passing month and many more who are barely scraping by. I a…

82. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the measures he is taking to address the fact that 300,000 households are in arrears on their energy bills; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49202/25]

Household bills are 70% above what they were in 2022 and the value of arrears has jumped by almost 50%, even with the electricity credits each winter. There are 300,000 people in arrears. The Government has said it does not want electricity credits to be the new normal but the rise in prices and the number of people in arrears are an emergency and not normal either. This demands an emergency respo…

It is more than unfortunate the Minister is not here in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis to address the concerns of people who are really struggling in an emergency. Over the summer households have been hit with a spate of emergency hikes from Energia, Flogas, Pinergy and SSE Airtricity. They have been told they can expect another at least another €200 to be whacked onto their annual energy …

The Government could not have had a more targeted measure than the energy credits that we have had for the last number of years and people are facing the same if not higher energy prices now. The Government continues to blame everyone apart from itself for it. The costs are due to political choices about whose energy needs get prioritised, who pays and who is protected. However, the Government has…

84. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the measures he is taking to address the concerns raised by senior Government officials regarding the impact of data centres on household bills and housing development; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49203/25]

Officials warned that the Government’s approach to data centres is posing a threat to housing targets and driving up our energy costs. Does the Government plan to continue to bury its head in the sand or is it going to tackle this head on? I am not sure which Minister of State is going to take this question, but if it is the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, I was listening to him on Radio Kerry l…

The large energy users the Minister of State is talking about are relatively getting off the hook and they are pushing up household bills. In a confidential memo recently released to us under a freedom of information, FOI, request, the Secretary General of the Department of public expenditure warned that soaring electricity demand, largely attributable to data centres, is forcing the State to spen…

Why then is the Secretary General of the Department saying what is being said and that housing is being threatened by the larger users of electricity? The current proposal in price review 6 is to increase network charges for households. Presumably, the Minister of State does not disagree with that. At the same time, the proposal is to decrease charges relatively for data centres. This is unjustifi…

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for the time to raise this important issue. The Equality in Education group has said that 168 children have been offered an appropriate school place but cannot take it up due to delays in essential building works. We believe there is a certain amount of waiting list manipulation going on. A place in an unbuilt school is not a place. A place in a cubby hole with no…

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I am delighted to propose that the Criminal Justice (Promotion of Restorative Justice) (Amendment) Bill 2023 move to Committee Stage. I thank Deputy Quinlivan for co-signing the Bill and Professor Ian Marder of Maynooth University, who did a lot of work in helping us to prepare the Bill. I also thank Lee Daly, who worked in my office, and the Off…

I will briefly wrap up. I would like to be associated with all the comments made regarding the staff, the Ceann Comhairle, the Department of justice and my own party. I have a couple of brief points to make. There should be very few limits, if any, on restorative justice. I see what the Minister of State is saying about dismissing cases but cases are commonly dismissed under the probation Act anyw…

We welcome the establishment of this commission of investigation into historical sexual abuse in schools. It is long overdue, of course. The commission must seek to acknowledge the harm done to the thousands of children in this State. We urge that the commission is carried out in a proper manner, avoids the failings of previous commissions and that it puts survivors at the very heart of everything…

Cuirim fáilte roimh an deis labhairt ar an mBille um Thorann Aerárthaí (Aerfort Bhaile Átha Cliath) a Rialáil (Feidhmeanna a Aistriú), 2024. Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta Duncan Smith. I thank him for the effort that he has put into this Bill. It addresses an important issue, namely how we manage the impact of a growing airport on the surrounding environment and local communities. This Bill rec…

Gabhaim buíochas le hOifig an Chinn Comhairle as an deis a thabhairt dom an cheist seo a ardú. I thank the Office of the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me the time to raise a matter, which is of deep concern to people in south Kerry. The Minister of State is probably aware of this issue and I hope he will have a positive answer for the people who are waiting for one. As the Minister of State will b…

I am, but this matter is so important. I am going down straight after it.

It is not about the Minister of State.

I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach. If we got some proper answers, rather than smart answers, from the Minister of State, then we would not have to go down that road. From the Minister of State's answer, I understand there is a requirement to find a more suitable location for the National Ambulance Service, but this does not have to be at the expense of the good services carried out in the Cahers…

The all-island strategic rail review sets out a vision for the development of Ireland's rail system to 2050. It was jointly commissioned by the Department of Transport and the Department for Infrastructure in the North. The review aptly demonstrates the advantage of taking an all-island view, which the Minister of State hinted at. Appropriately enough, it has 32 recommendations. These aim to enhan…

We cannot equivocate on this issue. The volatility in the Middle East has been caused by Israel's ongoing decades-long genocidal campaign in Palestine and by its recent aggression against Iran. Israel is acting with impunity as the world watches on. Nearly 100,000 people are dead, with many more left permanently disabled or as lone survivors. As Mo Chara said, "The Palestinians have nowhere to go.…

Jordan Devlin is an Irish citizen. He is one of the Filton 18. He has been held on remand in Wormwood Scrubs since August 2024 on charges, among others, of criminal damage and violent disorder. The charges relate to dismantling weapons, including a quadcopter drone which is used in the relentless attacks on Gaza.

I am coming to the question.

He is being held on remand at the moment in Wormwood Scrubs.