Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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There are winners and losers in the cost-of-living crisis. The winners are clearly the big corporations. As has been mentioned, the European Central Bank,, ECB, made it clear that corporate profiteering or "greedflation" has been a key driver of inflation. We see profits soaring: ESB, up; Energia, up; and Bord Gáis, up. We learned today of Shell, the biggest oil and gas operator in Europe, made profits of €8.7 billion in the first three months of this years. Despite electricity prices remaining sky high, the windfall profits of these large electricity producers will remain untouched by the Government proposals for the first 11 months of 2022. It will not apply at all during that period.

We also learned today that AIB's income has increased by 70% in the first three months of this year with net interest income to hit €3.3 billion this year alone.

What are the Governments plans, or does it have any plans, to tackle the corporate profiteering that we are seeing across many sectors as households are suffering from the rising costs and pressures as a result of inflation and the reductions of living standards as a result of it?

I would be interested in whatever proposals the Deputy has to offer because he did a good analysis there but he did not suggest any increase in corporate tax.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Do what Germany does.

The Deputy did not suggest any increase in corporate tax because his party if of the view that there should not be increases in corporate tax because of the wider investment issues facing the country. I take it I am being accurate on that issue.

I do not believe price caps would be optimal either or would give us the outcome over time in terms of how the market would operate.

On what we are doing, we have the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, we have a new food regulator that we are establishing to bring far greater transparency on pricing, and in terms of energy, there is a windfall tax coming to capture the excessive profits that have been made by the energy companies.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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It does not apply in 2022.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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I thank the Tánaiste.

The Government will claw back-----

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Not for 2022.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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The time is up.

-----funding from the energy sector in terms of those profits.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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In recent months, we have seen announcement after announcement of layoffs across many big technology companies, in particular, in Dublin. The impact of these redundancies has obviously been huge for those directly and indirectly impacted, not only in my own constituency of Dublin Bay South but across the country. The impact is more worrying where there are concerns regarding a lack of compliance by companies with redundancy rules, such as the 30-day statutory consultation period.

I encourage all tech workers to join a trade union to ensure rights are protected. While I welcome the announcement today of Cabinet plans to strengthen rights around collective redundancies, I ask that the Government would go further. I believe we need to see comprehensive strengthening of collective bargaining rights and the Government should ensure a right to organise to ensure that workers can insulate themselves from the worst impacts of layoffs. Does the Tánaiste acknowledge that this series of redundancies proves the need to introduce a right to organise in unions and commit to establishing a task force to support tech workers now facing layoffs?

The unemployment figure today, at 3.9%, is the lowest ever in the history of the State in the context of a rising population. Over the past 20 or 25 years, the population has risen quite dramatically, yet our economy has really kept pace. The rate of 3.9% is the lowest unemployment rate in the history of the State. What it indicates is there is absorption capacity within the State in terms of those who will or have lost jobs in certain sectors. That is a very traumatic issue for the people concerned who lose jobs and the State needs to do everything we possibly can to support people to get new jobs and, if necessary, to train and reskill them to get alternative jobs.

In terms of collective bargaining, there has been significant work done in partnership with the trade union movement. Under the Labour Employer Economic Forum, LEEF, umbrella, last year the Government took very significant steps forward on that.

Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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I want to ask the Tánaiste about the Historic and Archaeological Heritage Bill. Historic monuments are a hugely important part of our heritage. Where there is public access to monuments, it must be protected.

Aideen's Grave in Howth is a megalithic tomb where walking groups with local guides have been told by the new corporate landowner that they are no longer welcome to visit it. Does the Tánaiste agree that the public, including guiding walking groups, should continue to have access to important monuments such as Aideen's Grave? Will the Government bring forward measures in the Historic and Archaeological Heritage Bill or, indeed, support my amendments to protect public access to these types of monuments?

I believe that the public should have access to historic monuments of the calibre and importance of Aideen's Grave and, indeed, megalithic tombs. Obviously, there have to be safeguards and there has to be proper organisation of that. In short, I believe that people should have access these very significant monuments.

I did first year archaeology and had a very good trip to Lough Gur one time, which taught me the importance of such access and how we can learn from our past.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The banks that are going to pass on the ECB rate hikes, the seventh that mortgage have experienced in the past year, are making absolutely obscene profits. The dirty secret of the hardship and misery that is being imposed on mortgage holders who are facing €500 and €600 a month - thousands of euro every year - in increased mortgage interest payments that many cannot afford and that will drive many into arrears is that the banks in this country that are imposing these increases are making stupendous profits. AIB, which made profits of €765 million last year with further increases in profits this year, announced €381 million in distribution to shareholders. If you are a bank shareholder, you are making a fortune; if you are a bank mortgage holder, you are being absolutely crucified. Will the Government follow People Before Profit's proposal to cap interest rates?

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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I thank the Deputy. The time is up.

How do we do it?

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Do it exactly the way the Government did it with moneylenders-----

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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The time is up.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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-----where it put a maximum percentage that they can charge in interest. Bring the interest rates down to 3% to stop the profiteering.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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The time is up.

The ECB sets the rates. The Deputy knows that. Proposals that come forward should be credible and doable.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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In December 2020, before the first Covid vaccinations were introduced, the Tánaiste assured me in the House that the Government was committed to introducing a no fault vaccine compensation scheme. Nearly two and a half years later, we inadvertently find out that the Minister for Health has been advised to set up a separate unit within his Department to undertake the work of introducing such a scheme but that, according to the official memorandum, "the establishment and resourcing of such a unit remains outstanding". Is this unit going to be established? Are we going to see a fund put in place? Why are we still insisting on dragging children with a disability as a result of the administration of a State-approved vaccination programme through the courts to get the supports they need, forcing families to re-mortgage their homes to pay the astronomical legal fees?

I accept that the Deputy has been a long-standing campaigner on this issue. My understanding is the Department of Health will prioritise work on this in the second half of this year. To be fair, during the two years of Covid, all the resources of the Department were focused on the pandemic itself.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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It is 20 years before that I am worried about.

I know that. I accept that, but it is not simple work either. An expert group was set up in June 2018.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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There was an expert group set up a decade before that.

In terms of the expert group, Mr. Justice Meenan submitted the final report on the current system for managing clinical negligence claims to the Ministers for Health and Justice prior to the onset of Covid. The Meenan report has been published. It is the basis for getting forward. I will talk to the Minister to make sure that we progress this as soon as we can.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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The Tánaiste comes from a teaching background. I stood last week with the adult education teachers and tutors in south Tipperary who are campaigning for parity of esteem with their teaching colleagues. Many of them have teaching qualifications. They do tremendous work with adult literacy and with adult education in bringing people back into education schemes. They go down as tutors sometimes in order to make it easy for the students, the daltaí, to come back in to learn and re-engage with the education system. However, the tutors are not being treated fairly and are not getting parity of esteem with their colleagues teaching across our schools. It is time that this was recognised. I cannot speak highly enough of the work these people do, which is so vital, when people can be left behind, fall off the system and fall through the cracks. They re-engage with people, bring them on and nurture them. They do tremendous work with adult literacy and so on. It is so badly needed. They need to be treated with respect by the Department and get parity of esteem and equal pay.

I accept the Deputy's general view with regard to the value and importance of adult education, and in particular adult tutors within the education and training boards, ETBs, and the adult education sector. The Deputy will be aware there has been an ongoing issue and a campaign around this but it is within an industrial relations framework. Various offers have been made and various hearings have been heard. We would like to see this accelerated as quickly as we possibly can to get a resolution to these issues to respect and reflect the contribution that adult tutors make to adult education and to education in general.

Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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The Tánaiste mentioned that a new food regulator is going to come in and bring transparency. Undoubtedly, large profits are being made in the food chain but we do not really know where until we know what prices retailers are paying to processors, be it in the dairy sector or the beef sector in particular. They are blaming each other and saying "That is where the profits are being made".

I put forward an amendment to allow the regulator get information on that as there is no such information available in the public domain in Ireland. In other countries this information is available. In the United States of America and in France, for example, they are required to publish figures. My amendment was not accepted. I urge the Government to look at something like that in the Seanad. I do not care if it is my amendment. Perhaps it could look at giving the regulator the power to get information on the prices paid by retailers to the processors.

The minimum price of production in Ireland is currently being debated with regard to milk.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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The Deputy's time is up.

Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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Does the Tánaiste believe that somebody, be it the regulator or some other State agency, should be able to determine the minimum cost of production of food items in Ireland?

Is the Deputy talking about below-cost selling?

Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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I am asking if some State agency, be it the regulator or someone else, should be able to determine the minimum cost of production in Ireland?

That would be an unprecedented intervention in the market and it may not work.

Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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They have it in effect in Spain.

I will not comment on other countries and the challenges they are facing also. It is a fundamentally significant step that we are bringing greater transparency. We want to give greater emphasis to the challenges faced by the primary producer in the costs of production and so they can get a return. We want primary producers to sustain. The sector has been very strong the last couple of years in areas such as dairy and so on-----

Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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Yes it has.

Invariably, at different times one gets different pressure points but the primary producers in more recent times----

Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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Perhaps it is not a bad time to set up a farmers' party, but that is not the point.

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I want to raise a point about the local authority home loan. It is a really great option for people who struggle to get a traditional mortgage. I really welcome that we are continuing to expand its income and its house price limits. I would absolutely encourage anyone to look into this option to see if they are eligible. There is, however, an issue that keeps coming up in my office. There is a cohort of people who earn over the limit for social housing but do not earn enough to qualify for the local authority home loan. I am dealing with a case of one woman who is brought over the income limit purely by her benefit-in-kind. This means she cannot qualify for social housing and yet she does not earn enough to meet the repayment conditions of the local authority home loan. This is even though she is currently paying more in rent than she probably would pay in the mortgage repayments. This woman is one of the many people affected by this and who are falling between the cracks. Surely they are exactly the kind of people we want the local authority home loan to be able to support. What can we do and what can we offer these people?

I will raise this with the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, if the Deputy could bring the specific example. Sometimes specific examples can illustrate a wider systemic problem, or could be the catalyst for a new policy proposal. There are always these issues between thresholds and repayment capacity and so on, but I would err on the flexible side right now. People are paying very high rents and whatever loan they would receive from the local authority to enable them to purchase a house would probably mean them paying less in a mortgage. We should examine that. I will ask the Minister to talk to the Deputy.

Brian Leddin (Limerick City, Green Party)
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I wish to speak on a very local issue, which is nevertheless a very important one. The Tánaiste will be aware that St. John's Hospital was instrumental in helping out with the winter health crisis we had in Limerick. That assistance should be repaid by support for its capital plan. It wants to increase the bed capacity there by 90 beds. My sense is that the University of Limerick Hospitals Group is favourable and warming towards the plan but I think it needs the support of the Government, and indeed of the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly. I would welcome if the Tánaiste could speak with the Minister, Deputy Donnelly. The tendency nationally in the past decades has been to build hospitals, and indeed schools, at the edge of urban centres. I am referring here to a city centre hospital and it ticks every box from a sustainability and good planning point of view. It really makes sense that we as a Government - and I believe all parties in the House - would support St. John's Hospital. I do not expect the Tánaiste to know the ins and outs of the particular project but I am confident that it makes sense and that it should be supported.

I am familiar with St. John's Hospital. It plays a very important role in the overall provision of services in the mid west, and especially in Limerick city. I remember many years ago visiting probably one of the first minor injury clinics there, which was an innovation that St. John's pioneered at the time and which became quite the norm afterwards in other hospitals.

I am not aware of the specific project. Subject to it being consistent with the clinical safety issues - the right type of medicine at the right time and in the right place - we have to support facilities such as this because they can take a burden off the major acute hospitals.

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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Here is an issue that has been going on for nearly three years and nobody could accuse anyone of having a knee-jerk reaction to it. Alexis O' Mahony is seven years old. She suffers from a pyruvate dehydrogenase, PDH, deficiency and she has a brain injury. She has cerebral palsy, quadriplegia, visual impairment, a subluxation of her hip and is at high risk of aspiration. Alexis needs constant care from her family, including constant turning and daily washing to avoid bed sores. This takes a tremendous physical toll on her family. Her whole medical team has said that she needs a ceiling hoist. Her family applied for one in 2020. The government policy had changed and while the structural works needed for the hoist are covered by the local authority, the equipment for the ceiling track hoist is not covered.

I do not care if it is the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, or the Department of Health, it has not been sorted out. Promises were made but it still is not there - I spoke with Alexis's father this morning - and we are still waiting three years later. Alexis is now 20 kg in weight and the situation is getting increasingly worse for the family.

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for his continuing advocacy on this case. It has prompted me in my engagement with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. The Department is updating the housing adaptation regulations now to include hoists. Engagement is ongoing with the HSE on what its role is, if any, regarding the training that may be required. It is imminent.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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The heartless and serious persecution of women in the family law courts continues unabated in the State with cases dragging out for years at different courts and at different levels. It appears to continue regardless of what anybody thinks. There appears to be no way of doing anything about it by anybody. I have raised this previously. The Ceann Comhairle has thankfully and correctly facilitated me in raising the matter for consideration. Everybody has expressed concern but the concern now is there is a contention that will go away and eventually it will be smothered, that we will have some distraction and it will go on into next year or the year after. This is not good enough. There is a situation now whereby some women and their children have been deprived of meeting each other, only talking by telephone, with an accused person overseeing the telephone calls. This can go on for more than one year. This abuse cannot continue. It is authorised abuse by the State of individuals.

My understanding is that the Deputy may be referring to a specific case. I do not know whether that informs the general but the Government is committed to reforming the family law court system for stronger protections, supports and empathy with all concerned, particularly children and women. The Minister for Justice is alert to Deputy Durkan's concerns.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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There are several cases.

Chris Andrews (Dublin Bay South, Sinn Fein)
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The sports capital programme has over decades provided real support to sports clubs across the country. However, it needs reform. The sports capital programme requires clubs to pay up-front the cost of equipment or works, after which they can draw down the grant allocation. This is a deeply unfair method and has a disproportionately negative impact on clubs in less affluent communities that simply do not have €40,000 or €50,000 at hand. Clubs in some communities have been unable to draw down grants as a result. Others have to take out loans to draw down grants but not all clubs have the ability to take out loans or even bridging loans. Many other sport clubs can pay up-front. Will the sports capital programme be reformed to end what is effectively discrimination against clubs in less-affluent areas?

It has been an outstandingly successful programme which has benefited clubs in all localities and clubs in disadvantaged communities even more, from my long association.

Chris Andrews (Dublin Bay South, Sinn Fein)
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They cannot afford to draw down the money.

I have dealt with clubs in what may be described as challenging circumstances and they have been first class in responding to this. Work is needed, which the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, is examining how we can provide assistance in some areas and to sectors or clubs to make the grant applications, which is probably more of an issue. Some clubs are not as adept as others, given their structure and administrative capacity, at making the applications in the first place. We can explore that but fundamentally you have to be careful that you do not just allocate money and nothing happens.

Chris Andrews (Dublin Bay South, Sinn Fein)
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It happens in other Departments.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I have raised this question many times but no progress has been made. Another long, cold winter has gone by. I raised the issue of Travellers living in totally unsuitable mobile homes and caravans. The only response was an inadequate pilot caravan loan scheme that only reached a tiny fraction of the people who urgently require proper accommodation. When will we be able to say each and every Traveller family who lives in a mobile home or caravan has adequate accommodation? It is a simple ask. It does not involve a huge amount of money or that many caravans. Can this matter not be put to bed once and for all? What is happening is cruel. People are sleeping in damp, wet and cold caravans in this climate.

To be fair, the Deputy raised this issue last year with me and I spoke to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage about it. At the time, I think the ask was to increase numbers per local authority and that each local authority could allocate. I asked the Minister to pursue that. I will go back on it again. I agree with the Deputy's fundamental contention. We have the capacity to respond.

Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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On Tuesday last, Palestinian political prisoner Khader Adnan died in an Israeli prison. He was on hunger strike for 87 days and was held in what the Israelis called administrative detention, in other words, internment. The blame for his death lies solely and squarely with apartheid Israel. We should know about the long history of fighting colonialism via hunger strikes. When will the Tánaiste contact the Israeli ambassador to state his outrage about this issue? When is the time to cut diplomatic and foreign links with apartheid Israel?

We are in constant contact with our European partners and American Near East Refugee Aid, ANERA, about the escalation of violence in Palestine. We have frequently condemned all killings in Palestine and attacks by the Israeli forces in certain towns and villages in the West Bank of late. We called for de-escalation of the violence. Cutting off diplomatic relations would achieve very little. It would marginalise Ireland even more in respect of the-----

Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Why did we do it in the 1980s?

-----Middle East process. We want to continue to contribute to a resolution of the issues there, which we do as a country in our supports to ANERA, non-governmental human rights organisations in Palestine and our support more generally for the Palestinian National Authority.

Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Why would the Tánaiste want to deal with a murderous regime such as Israel? The Tánaiste is yellow.

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Getting a driving licence used to be easy; now, it is a nightmare. The system is dysfunctional and it takes multiple steps to complete. This week alone, several young people from County Mayo contacted me who were offered driving tests but their appointments were pushed back three times since February. These constituents have jobs or are waiting to start new ones. They are looking forward to the summer but cannot get a driver's licence. Public transport is limited in rural areas so there is a need for them to drive. These young people have already paid for 12 driving lessons and are waiting 19 weeks for the test, which is unacceptable. The delays are shocking and getting worse. People need cars to get to work or college. There is an urgent need for test requests to be considered. We need a solution to this. How can we expedite the process to get these people driving legally on our roads?

We are expediting the process. The Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Deputy Chambers, has facilitated a significant expansion of testers and instructors. By the end of the year, there will be up to 200. The solution is higher volume to do more testing and deal with the backlog.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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There has been a welcome and much-needed increase in Government funding for the non-national road network in the last few years. Unfortunately, those increases have been more than offset due to the substantial increase in the costs of road construction and maintenance since 2021. The costs of bituminous overlay pavement products, concrete and aggregates, the main products used in roadworks, have risen dramatically. I would like assurance that in the mid-year review of the 2023 capital programme, priority will be given to a further allocation to local authorities of grant aid for regional, county and local roads. The councils in my constituency, Cavan and Monaghan county councils, have the capacity to put such funding to good use in the best interests of rural communities. This road network needs additional investment this year. Heavy rainfall over the last few months has caused further deterioration and damage to our local road network.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue, which he raised previously on the non-national roads sector. There is no doubt that inflation has eaten into the available resources. The total allocated this year for regional and local roads is approximately €626 million, €46 million of which is current expenditure and €580 million of which is capital, compared to €597 million overall in 2022. There was an increase this year in capital funding but as the Deputy said, much of that has been absorbed by inflation in the cost of materials in construction more generally. We take on board what the Deputy said about mid-term reviews and to examine what we can do this year regarding different stages of capital being deployed and whether we can deploy more capital for it this year.

Johnny Guirke (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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I want to raise housing adaptation grants for older people and people with disabilities. The grants were announced last Monday, 1 May. I heard that this was waiting on the Minister's desk for eight weeks before it was signed. The grants have increased by 2.3%. According to today's newspaper, construction costs have gone up 30%. The same paper stated that 32.5% of the housing budget was not spent in the first four months of the year. How could it be spent if money was not even allocated to these grants for older people and people with disabilities?

I am dealing with a woman who has a 30-year-old disabled daughter. She is lifting her in and out of the bath. This is going on since late last year and I have called the local authority about these grants several times. It could not give the money because the Government had not released the funds. That is a disgrace, a pure and utter disgrace. All things to do with older people, people with disabilities and housing are a pure disgrace and do not seem to be priorities for this Government. When will these funds increase in line with construction costs?

We have delivered ahead of targets in respect of adaptation grants and we continue to invest significantly in this area. I do not accept the argument that the local authority could not release a specific grant to a specific individual because of such a lack. I do not buy that.

Johnny Guirke (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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I have called the local authority several times.

There has been a consistent annual allocation and an increase in the annual allocation to this area. Local authorities know full well that there is a follow-through in funding which will enable them to deal with cases, such as the one Deputy Guirke raised. It did not stay eight weeks on anyone's desk.

Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent)
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Dairy farmers are struggling to make ends meet with the price of milk and dairy products starting to reduce while their costs are still increasing. This is a fight they can take on, but the fight they cannot take on at present is the dropping of nitrates from 250 kg per ha to 220 kg per ha. I attended a farm walk in Farnanes where I met a typical Irish farmer who has 71 cows. He is a married man with four young children. He has run his farm environmentally meticulously for many years. He has proper slurry spreading equipment and has done every other thing he had to do. If the nitrates drop from 250 kg per ha to 220 kg per ha, he will have to drop his number of cows from 71 to 55, 56 or 57 cows. If this is the case, he will face being wiped out and that is the case for many farmers. Will the Government plough ahead with the 250 to 220 nitrates drop?

Neasa Hourigan (Dublin Central, Green Party)
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The company Indeed recently announced a cut to its global workforce that will see 200 of its Irish workers facing redundancy. Numerous constituents have been in touch with me about their treatment. They told me about individual consultations with senior leadership who had no answer to basic questions; that people were given one hour's notice to engage in those one-on-one consultations even if they were on leave; and that management was seen to be shutting down the statutory consultation process as quickly as possible, causing significant stress to affected staff. What will the Government do to improve the legal provisions surrounding redundancies to ensure people are not treated this way?

Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein)
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I will raise an important issue that affects many individuals I represent as Sinn Féin spokesperson for older people, namely, the lack of adequate support for those suffering from dementia, including Alzheimer's disease. These debilitating conditions not only affect memory but also basic daily activities, communication and the ability to live independently. Despite the high number of people who are affected by these conditions, the support and resources available are often inadequate. Adding to this issue is the difficulty in acquiring medical cards which are vital for those suffering with these conditions. It is essential the Government prioritise and improve support and resources for those with dementia and Alzheimer's disease and make it easier for them to access medical cards.

I did not quite catch what Deputy Collins said. He speaks at a rapid speed that defies-----

Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent)
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The Tánaiste was talking madly. He cannot listen to two people at once.

With respect, I ask him to slow down a bit and give me the bullet points. In recent years, the yield from dairy has been much stronger than previous years. That has been acknowledged across the sector. There are challenges coming down the tracks in respect of some directives and so on, but we have an innovative and robust sector. The dairy industry in particular-----

Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent)
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They cannot deal with the nitrates dropping from 250 kg per ha to 220 kg per ha. It will wipe them out.

I understand that but it is a directive that is coming down the tracks. Work is under way.

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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It is a special exemption we are lucky to have.

Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent)
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We have to get a further one.

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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We have the exemption.

We have the exemption as it stands

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Let us not have a debate.

Discussions between the Commission and the Government are ongoing. These issues are negotiated at EU level as the Deputy will be aware.

Regarding Deputy Hourigan's case, today the Government approved a strengthening of the consultation process for redundancies to ensure companies fulfil their obligations under the legislation to engage in proper, detailed and timely consultation with workers who are going through the traumatic experience of losing their jobs, the announcement of redundancies and so forth. That is the way it should be. I take on board the points Deputy Hourigan made in her presentation.

I was taken aback by Deputy Ryan's comments. We must be fair in our commentary. When Deputy Butler became the Minister of State with responsibility for older people and mental health, she put a particular focus on dementia with significant results. The 44th daycare centre for dementia was opened this week. We now have 29 dementia advisers-----

Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein)
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I have been contacted about a man with no medical card.

-----whereas prior to the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, coming through, we had one or two, perhaps more.

Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein)
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I will bring it directly to the Minister of State as the man has no medical card.

Some 15% of all home help hours are now dedicated to people with dementia.

Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein)
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He is 74.

We have more to do.

Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein)
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His wife is looking after him and he has no medical card.

I cannot comment on individual cases.

Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein)
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I know. I am informing the Tánaiste.

If the Deputy brings them to the Minister of State's attention, I know the Minister of State would engage and try to deal with the issue. Overall there has been a step change in dementia provision in the past two and a half years. I pay tribute to the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, for the work she has done in that area, which is a passion of hers.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Sin deireadh le Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht. Aithním Lucy Webb agus Carol Cullen san Áiléar Poiblí. Leis sin, tá gnó na maidine déanta agus glacfaimid sos ar feadh 40 nóiméad