Emer Currie (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I too express my sympathy to the Breathnach and Broderick families on their loss. They and the Labour Party are proud and rightly so.

I wish to raise two matters today, the first of which is the windfall tax on oil and gas profits. I understand legislation is being worked on regarding this issue in the Department with responsibility for energy. Legislation is urgently needed and I call for progress on that legislation. When we were discussing the budget last year, it was made very clear that because of our financial prudence, there would be a surplus and that would help cushion the blow for people.However, this crisis is not going away. To maintain supports and reach out further while looking at the scary news about mortgage rates, insurance and soaring grocery bills, the windfall tax is something that could assist us.

The second issue I raise is a meeting I had with Swim Ireland yesterday. I had read its report about swimming pool evolution and innovation. More than 500,000 children have been impacted by Covid-19 due to lack of access to swimming lessons. There are fewer coaches now because people could not access training. I am surprised that schools do not have more access to swimming facilities. The word is "access". We need to invest more in our swimming pools and swimming infrastructure but there are new ways of doing it. It does not just have to be the traditional. We need the traditional models of the swimming pools but there are also now rapid-build approaches and we have seen pop-up swimming pools as well. I encourage the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media through the sports capital and equipment programme to invest in swimming pools and to consider swimming from an apprenticeships point of view.