Thomas Gould

I want to read into the record the names of three brave rebels who are now on a flotilla 120 nautical miles from Gaza - Tadhg Hickey, Donna Schwarz and Paddy Cole. They join our friend and comrade, Senator Chris Andrews, and many others who are sailing to Gaza. They are taking their lives in their hands because we know other flotillas have been attacked and people have been murdered. These people …

I will be honest; this is mind-boggling. Insurance companies have been ripping off the Irish people for as long as I can remember. I am 57 years of age. I have been driving for 39 years and for 39 years these companies have ripped off me and everyone else in this State. People are struggling with the cost of living. They are struggling to put food on the table, to pay the rent and to keep the ligh…

To follow on, I see the Minister of State is reading his notes. When he gets the opportunity to address us, I would like him to explain to us how the companies justify the prices being so high. We understand there are costs to insurance, including the cost of payouts and the costs of administration, but how can the enormous profits these companies are making be justified?

They are making huge profits. What is the Minister of State doing about it?

Has the Government capped these profits?

I am asking a question. The Minister of State is telling me we are wrong. I am asking him a simple question. Has the Government capped these profits? What has it done to tackle them? It is not just insurance.

The Government has done the same with electricity and gas. It lets private sector companies come in and do whatever they want in this country. Not only that, but Europe has allowed the same thing. We have the highest prices for food, insurance, electricity and everything else. Fine Gael has been in government for 14 years and Fianna Fáil has been in government for ten. It was they who allowed this…

A number of Deputies have referenced the more than 5,000 children who are now homeless and living in emergency accommodation. That figure is actually much bigger because people are living in overcrowded accommodation, with three generations of families in one home, children growing up in box rooms and so on. I mean it sincerely when I say that it is going to get worse. I know that because people a…

Last week, I stood here and outlined cases of children who cannot get buses. Children with additional needs cannot get transport to special schools. There were places made available but, once again, these children are being let down. Just to let the Minister of State know, in the past week only one family has got school transport. Do you know how it got it? It went to a solicitor. Are we now in a …

94. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the percentage of grant applications to SEAI that are withdrawn. [49212/25]

Will the Minister of State provide an update on the percentage of grant applications to the SEAI schemes that are being withdrawn?

I asked a simple question - what was the percentage of people who withdrew from the SEAI scheme - and I did not get the percentage. People are telling me that they are withdrawing from the scheme or not applying to the scheme because they do not have the money. It turns out that the people who most need the retrofitting and the upgrading works to their house to bring them to at least a B2 standard…

The Minister of State urgently needs to instruct the SEAI to collect data on people who withdraw their applications to the scheme. It needs to find out why people withdraw. A survey by AIB showed that 62% of people who wanted to retrofit and upgrade their houses to become more energy efficient could not afford to do so. The figures are showing that the people who need their homes upgraded and retr…

Hear, hear.

A lady called Aisling Thornhill from Farranree in my constituency - a mother of two children, a seven-year-old and a two-year-old, with her partner Graham - is dying and the only thing that will save her is CAR T-cell therapy. She has gone through all the therapies that she and her consultant can give her to this point. If she does not get the CAR T-cell treatment immediately, she will not see Chr…

Go raibh maith agat.

Like the previous speaker, I do not doubt the Minister of State's sincerity, but it is a load of bull. I will be honest. I will be straight with him. Every year we come here and parents of children with additional needs are being let down. One Minister after another comes in with the Taoiseach and Tánaiste telling us all they are doing. However, people have children with additional needs at home w…

What about Covid?

I will just give the Minister of State some figures. Before Covid-19, in the first quarter of 2019, 5,175 children got dental screenings in Cork city. In the first quarter of this year, it was 4,938. There were fewer children seen in the first quarter of 2025 than there were in the first quarter of 2019. We must factor in that during the Covid years, screening went below 2,500. There is a crisis …

Child poverty has doubled in a year.

Child poverty has doubled in 12 months.

Hear, hear.

Come on now. Fair is fair.

There are 121 people in the HR department in the south west. The Minister talks about progressing this Bill, but I believe it is bluff and smoke and mirrors. It is trying to pretend that there will be proper accountability and value for money in the HSE. Even though 121 people are working in the HR department in the south west, €250,000 was paid to private consultants in 2023. Who brought this pri…

As the Minister of State knows, Pride is a protest. In recent years, we have seen companies and large multinationals join Pride. In many ways, that has been welcome and positive for those who work in those companies. It sends out a positive message that they are accepted and recognised as a part of these companies, and that their workplaces are safe. That is a good thing for those people. However,…