I welcome our new Acting Leader. We met the Vintners Federation of Ireland, VFI, outside the gates of Leinster House. I highlight the need for Government support for rural pubs in budget 2027. Since 2005, more than 2,200 pubs have closed across Ireland and the rate of closures is increasing. For many villages, the local pub is not just a business. It is the heart of the community, a meeting place and often the last remaining hub. I had a Commencement matter on this calling for the Government to do everything it could in budget 2027 to support pubs in rural Kerry and across the country and keep their doors open. I stated that day that it was from the cradle to the grave. When you are involved in a community in rural Ireland, the pub is central to your family growing up, to your christening and communion parties, your birthday parties, your 21st and your after-wedding parties. That is how central these pubs are. A sign of how big and central they are is when the captains of the winning ladies' and men's football teams come back to that local parish.

A community organisation called Forbairt na Dromoda bought the Inny tavern in Killeenleagh, Mastergeehy, south Kerry, after the pub had been on the market for more than two years. They raised more than €108,000 through crowd funding, alongside a bank loan, to keep it in community ownership. That is the reality that rural Ireland is facing if these pubs keep closing at an alarming rate. I am calling on the Government to support the request for funding to keep the doors of pubs in rural Ireland open.