Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We need to be mindful of the costs involved. Mayo County Council is stating it will have an overrun of €3 million this year. There is a serious lack of funding for the local authorities to engage in the core activities that need to be undertaken. When one adds the expenses necessary to deal with a storm such as Storm Lorenzo, the costs rise. We need a full debate in this Chamber on local authority funding. It is not just the case that we must rely on the local property tax, it is about much more than that. Local authorities need to be funded to carry out their core functions. They have not been funded adequately for a long time in the way they need to be.

Today's announcements on tariffs will have an impact on farming. There is almost a perfect storm hitting the agriculture sector with Brexit, tariffs and storms. We need to do everything to protect the sector and farming in coastal areas.. Farm families are absolutely living in dread because they are living on such low margins and producing produce at a loss. They are not getting fair prices, as we saw in the beef protests. We need to do much more to support the industry.

I commend local and regional radio stations. At a time like this they play an important role in communicating with people, particularly those who live on their own in isolated areas and are fearful because of Storm Lorenzo. We need to acknowledge this in funding and supporting local and regional radio stations, in particular.