Cathal Byrne
Cultural and Educational Panel · Fine Gael · Ireland
“I join other Senators in urging the Government, including the Minister for local government, to produce the action plan on local democracy and make it a key priority to work on it over the summer so that the hard-working councillors up and down Ireland can have clarity about what exactly the changes will be as they face into another round…”
“I join colleagues in thanking so many of the staff here who make it possible for us to do our day-to-day work. That includes not only Martin Hughes and the team here in the Seanad, but also the ushers and all those who make the day-to-day life of Leinster House possible, including those who work in the restaurant, the canteen and behind t…”
“The Senator also raised the situation of the artist Emily Conway from County Mayo, who received an Arts Council bursary in recognition of her important contribution as an artist but which has created a scenario whereby her application for a blind pension has run into difficulty. I encourage him to put that down as a Commencement matter.”
“I feel there is also a responsibility on Dublin City Council to allow for that and to support local residents in the area. In fairness to Senator Andrews, he has spoken about this before in the House. I am happy to take it up with the Leader.”
“However, because the consultation with the consultant took place initially in Monaghan, the HSE refused that application. I encourage Senator Tully to perhaps raise this as a Commencement matter. There is an appeal mechanism through the HSE and the ombudsman. Perhaps that is an avenue for her constituent to pursue.”
“The Order of Business is No. 1, Regulation of Artificial Intelligence Bill 2026 - Committee Stage (resumed) and Remaining Stages, to be taken at 12.45 p.m., with the proceedings thereon, if not previously concluded, to be brought to a conclusion at 3.45 p.m.”
The complete record
Every one of 555 lines we hold for Cathal Byrne, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 11 of 12.
“I want to highlight the ongoing water outages on Whiterock Hill in Wexford town. My office was inundated again this morning with phone calls when the local crèche in that area of Wexford town was forced to close. This is the eighth outage Whiterock Hill has experienced since the beginning of 2025, which means that in the 13 weeks to date in 2025, the water has disappeared and the taps have gone dry eight times. Some of these outages have lasted for days at a time.”
“Regarding affordable housing schemes for County Wexford, I was disappointed when the Department of housing said there was not an affordability constraint significant enough to merit Wexford County Council delivering affordable housing on a countywide basis. We now have 20 houses in Ramsfort in Gorey. These are A-rated houses being sold to private purchasers at a 30% discount on the market value. I encourage the Minister to have this pilot scheme, which I believe will be a success, rolled out across the rest of County Wexford. I know this is a priority for the Minister. I wish him the very best of luck in his new role and I will certainly work with him in a productive way.”
“If individuals are sitting on lands in key locations, then local authorities should be better empowered to use the CPO process. I also raise the issue of serviced sites and the opportunities that exist for local authorities to provide these serviced sites in rural areas. Ensuring rural people have the right to build on lands available to them must be at the heart of this Government, whether these are lands they have farmed, inherited or purchased. Without development in our rural villages, there will simply not be a rural Ireland. I echo and encourage the Government to heed some of the calls made earlier for the rural planning guidelines framework to be published in draft form for public consultation. Many of the councillors I spoke to during the Seanad campaign race raised this issue too.”
“Perhaps the Department could look at a role for an individual whose sole focus is on securing and acquiring more land for the local authority to build on. I also want to raise the compulsory purchase order process. The Minister will be aware from his own background that there are enormous challenges once a local authority initiates a CPO, with regard to judicial reviews. We see that at the moment in Wexford with the judicial review of Wexford County Council's CPO for lands for housing and the SETU campus. There might be an opportunity for the Minister and his colleagues in Cabinet to look at streamlining the process. At the moment we are not maximising the CPO process, in a housing crisis, to secure the land that is needed to develop these sites.”
“Second, there is a missed opportunity at the moment with regard to local authorities actually being proactive about going out and sourcing land for the delivery of social and affordable housing. As a councillor in Wexford County Council for five and a half years, I was very critical of the local authority relying on an advertisement in the local papers as a mechanism to inform developers and landowners that it was interested in parties getting involved with purchasing, acquiring and developing land for social and affordable housing. I refer to the model by which vacant homes officers were placed in the local authority, designated and focused on regenerating vacant and homes and derelict properties.”
“I certainly will work with the Minister to maximise the outturn of housing over the next number of years. The local authority housing activation fund was first introduced in August 2016 with €200 million of Government funding made available to ensure that some of the infrastructure deficits around, for example, access roads, could be delivered in a more cost-effective way, whereby the initial costs that previously would have been levied through the local authority as financial contributions back on developers could instead be supported through the Government. There is an opportunity to reopen that source of funding for local authorities and make it available to them in order to ensure the land we have available to us is being maximised for the delivery of housing.”
“The Minister is most welcome to the Chamber today. We are both from the same town and it is a source of great pride in the town that he has been elevated to the Cabinet as Minister for housing. I know the Minister's family and know how proud his parents are of his role. There is a great tradition of public service in his family, with his grand-uncle, his father and now himself representing the people of Wexford in Dáil Éireann. I sincerely wish him the very best of luck. I will address some of the measures that could possibly be utilised to a greater extent to ensure that we deliver more housing over the course of this term. Housing is the single biggest challenge for this Government. There is no question that the only way it will be delivered is through all of us working together.”
“I want to highlight the important role played by childminders. Many childminders have told me they are nervous about greater regulation and Tusla overseeing what they do. They are concerned that their homes, where children are minded, will require many more features, facilities and safety mechanisms. They are concerned that over the course of the Government, they will, in effect, be reduced to being red taped out of existence. It is important that we protect the traditional method of minding children in people's homes, in particular in rural areas where it is common. That needs to be supported and encouraged.”
“I very much welcome the Minister's statement that she holds similar views and there will be greater State involvement over the term of the Government. As the Minister, who is a former Minister for Education, knows, we are not getting the most out of our school facilities in terms of being available for pre- and after-school care, in particular in rural villages. As we develop new schools, we should co-locate childcare facilities. Many colleagues have highlighted access to childcare for children under the age of one. Many parents have told me that they will be able to get a space, but unfortunately it will not be available until a child has turned one. There is a gap period between when paid maternity leave ends and access to childcare becomes available. We need to seriously examine that and try to address it.”
“I thank the Minister for coming to the Chamber and acknowledge the presence of Councillor Paddy Meade from Meath, who has joined us. I begin by highlighting the need for greater State involvement in the childcare sector. As somebody from Wexford, I am contacted every week by parents who highlight to me the fact that in many areas of Wexford, be it urban areas like Wexford town, Enniscorthy and New Ross or rural villages, they simply cannot access childcare. We have to accept that the private model we have is not working, for reasons such as pay and conditions, waiting lists and the fact that the model is not even. There is simply no access to childcare in many villages, beyond local childminders. We have to move towards greater State involvement in the sector.”
“I speak in support of this amendment to the principal Act. It is important where a member of the public has experienced and been a victim of financial wrongdoing, the mis-selling of financial products or financial fraud at the behest of somebody who is regulated under the provisions of this Act, that there be the opportunity for an individual complainant or two complainants, whatever the case may be, for evidence to be taken under oath in the course of those proceedings, with the penalties that go with that to apply. It is important that those provisions remain part of this Bill. If there is a question mark over what exactly happened in the context of an investigation, it is only right and proper that the evidence presented in the course of that investigation can be scrutinised under oath.”
“and stops in Enniscorthy at 6.20 a.m. but does not arrive in Dublin Connolly until 8.48. a.m., leaving it very tight for commuters. We have seen across the country that when there is investment in early morning services, commuters are willing to leave the car behind to take up the rail option but, unfortunately, this is a possibility currently denied to commuters in Wexford, Rosslare and Enniscorthy. I encourage the Leader to ensure this is prioritised as part of the new national development plan. Finally, I acknowledge our visitors from the British Embassy and wish them the very best of luck. It is a country with a fine track record on rail infrastructure.”
“I want to raise the ongoing review of the national development plan, of which the House is aware, and specifically the Rosslare to Dublin Connolly rail route. At present there are seven services each day on the rail route, travelling from the port of Rosslare through Wexford town, Enniscorthy, on to Gorey and onwards to Dublin Connolly through Wicklow. I wish to specifically highlight the need for investment in early morning services for commuters in Rosslare, Enniscorthy and Wexford town. At present, there is an early morning service operating from Gorey town and travelling to Dublin Connolly which leaves at 5.50 a.m. and arrives at Dublin Connolly at 7.47 a.m. This leaves plenty of time for commuters to make their way across the city and get into work. Unfortunately, the service operating from Wexford starts at 5.59 a.m.”
“I am especially conscious that Wexford County Council recently confirmed, through the director of services for roads, that we had the third-worst roads in Ireland when secondary and tertiary roads were compared. The programme for Government commits us to allowing a catch-up fund for counties that have roads in poor repair. I encourage the Government to commit to funding Wexford as part of that, given we have the third-worst roads in Ireland.”
“I raise the issue of roads funding for my county of Wexford. It was confirmed in the budget that Wexford would receive an allocation of approximately €23 million, including €12 million for restoration and improvement, €1.5 million for maintenance and €520,000 for safety improvement measures. I appreciate we had a debate on road safety matters in the House this week. Wexford has approximately 3,500 km of roads. Owing to the good agricultural land in Wexford, we have more roads than would be typical for our population. There are approximately 163,000 people living in Wexford. Unfortunately, while we have an equal amount of people living in Donegal or Tipperary, those counties are receiving quite a substantial increase above the roads allocation for Wexford.”
“I ask that, in the 2025 funding allocation for safety improvement works under the budget, the Wexford allocation be similar to that of Tipperary and Donegal.”
“We also have Clohamon Cross, which is on the road from Enniscorthy towards Bunclody and on towards County Carlow. These are, unfortunately, the location of too many fatalities over the past 15 years. I urge the Minister of State and TII to take these crosses seriously. We have had reports, we have had consultants look at the roads and we have had reviews, but we have not had action. These are areas where a regional road joins a national road and we need direct involvement by TII to deliver the proposed safety works. The second issue I wish to highlight is the funding that is being made available for safety improvement works through the budget for Wexford. Wexford shares a population size with Donegal and Tipperary, but in the 2024 allocation, Tipperary received €600,000 and Donegal received €535,500 while Wexford only received €398,000.”
“I welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber. I will make a couple key points about road safety. I will make my contribution through my own experiences in Wexford. Obviously, the 4% decrease in road fatalities from 2023 to 2024 is welcome. In Wexford, however, we saw six fatalities in 2024 and three in 2023. Unfortunately, the statistics on this are clear, with seven in ten road fatalities occurring on our rural roads. That is what I want to focus on. In Wexford, we have three areas that I can highlight from many examples. They are in direct need of safety remediation works along national roads. At the end of the M11 motorway, there is Kyle Cross from near Oylegate towards Wexford town. We have Larkin’s Cross on the N25 just outside the village of Barntown outside of Wexford town.”
“On the protein aid scheme, I wish to speak for a moment specifically about beans. At the moment, the protein aid scheme has a value of approximately €10 million. Of all the applicants for that scheme last year, 20% were from my area of Wexford. This is a big issue in Wexford. Beans are a nitrogen-fixing crop and the latest information from the EU shows that this is a mechanism to help address our climate emission goals. We know that the tillage sector is one of the most environmentally sustainable and carbon efficient sectors. I urge the Minister in the next round of CAP negotiations to prioritise the protein aid scheme and ensure that it is continued into the future. I congratulate the chair of the Wexford IFA, Mr. Jer O'Mahony, who has stepped down after a successful term in office. I look forward to working with his successor, Mr.”
“Its representatives have gone out to farmers in the marts and communities and have made professional advice, including accountancy and legal advice, available to farmers to at least allow for a conversation about what is going to happen next. The latest information is that 40% of farmers do not have a will, which also needs to be looked at again, particularly when we consider that one in three farmers is aged over 65. On the nitrates derogation, I welcome the fact that the Cabinet subcommittee on water quality will soon be operational. This is a big issue for farmers in Wexford , and I very much welcome the clarity that the Minister has given by making it a priority that Ireland retains its derogation in the next round of negotiations. I want to work in a big way with the Minister on that issue.”
“Farming will not be possible in Ireland unless we have the farmers to do it. I urge the Minister to address the issue and take it seriously. I ask him to look at the reality of the situation at the moment. Farmers have expressed to me the guilt they have. Having farmed land that has been in their family for generations, they do not know if the next generation will be in a position to take up farming. If the farm is not profitable, nobody will be willing be take it on. I welcome the commitment in the programme for Government to consider this issue in detail and to preserve the tax reliefs that currently exist. I encourage the Minister to examine the prospect of greater incentives for farm succession planning. The relevant Department in the UK has undertaken a roadshow.”
“I appeal to the Minister to get involved directly and to prioritise ensuring that we can have confidence that the farmers who applied for this payment over two years ago will be paid. I welcome the commitment from the Minister that this is a priority for him and the Department. I hope this situation will not be repeated in the coming term. I will speak about farm succession. I am 33 years of age. My father and uncle both farm. I have two brothers but none of us are involved in the day-to-day work as full-time farmers. In December 2024, the CSO stated that approximately one in every three farmers is aged over 65, which is a total of approximately 50,000 farmers. One in 20 farmers is now aged under 35, which is a total of 6,000 farmers. The average age of farmers at the moment, according to the CSO, is 59 years old.”
“The Minister is most welcome to the Seanad Chamber today. I very much welcome the opportunity to speak on behalf of some Wexford farmers on some of the issues they have highlighted to me over the past couple of weeks. I congratulate the Minister on his appointment. Having somebody who is involved in the day-to-day of farming and who comes with the experience of having been the junior Minister in the Department during the previous term is to be welcomed. I look forward to working with him. I raise the issue of ACRES payments. I welcome the Minster's recent comments that he is committed to modernising the IT systems that have, unfortunately, let us down badly in the past. There are approximately 10,400 farmers awaiting payment at the moment and many of them are in my area of Wexford.”
“I thank the Minister of State and welcome his commitment to the scheme. I welcome his confirmation that the scheme is funded and will be funded, and that he accepts the invitation to visit Enniscorthy with me and to meet the Enniscorthy municipal district councillors. I again thank the Minister of State for his contribution.”
“In fact, when he was previously Minister of State, the project made it to the point that it could go forward for planning approval. I have several specific questions for him. Is the OPW determined to see the project through? Is it a priority once again for the Minister of State? Will he visit the town with me and meet with some of the residents and the local councillors in the Enniscorthy municipal district? Is he committed to delivering this project?”
“When heavy rain is anticipated in Enniscorthy, residents live in fear that, once again, their homes, businesses or commercial properties will be flooded. This has created an unfortunate situation whereby investment in the Templeshannon side of the town has stalled and properties on Island Road have been devalued, with their owners unable to access flood insurance. People have adopted a cynical attitude in that they genuinely do not believe we will ever have flood defences in Enniscorthy. I am here today to give a voice to their fears and to advocate on their behalf to ensure this project gets the priority it deserves. I know the Minister of State has taken a personal interest in the project in the past, including by visiting Enniscorthy.”
“In 2020, Wexford County Council and the Minister of State's Department submitted a planning application to the then Minister for public expenditure to deliver a flood relief scheme in Enniscorthy that would have involved taking out the Seamus Rafter Bridge, dredging the river and erecting glass walls. The scheme had buy-in from the local community, including the 105 residents and 127 owners of the business and commercial properties affected by flooding on an ongoing basis, with no objections or submissions put forward as part of the public consultation process. Regrettably, in 2022, two years after the application was submitted to the Minister for public expenditure, it was rejected, citing environmental considerations.”
“I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House to address the very urgent matter I raise, namely, flooding in Enniscorthy, the population of which is approaching 12,500. Regrettably, the town's location on the beautiful banks of the River Slaney means it is prone to flooding. There has been flooding of a severe nature in 1924, 1947, 1965, 2000, 2002, 2009, 2014, 2016 and, most recently, in 2021, when the flooding took place on Christmas Day. For the past ten years, the Government has committed to delivering a flood relief scheme in Enniscorthy. Unfortunately, the reality is that while funding was allocated after the flooding in 2014, local residents and businesses affected by it have not seen progress.”
“Unfortunately, while the current model of the sports capital programme will facilitate the development of, say, playing pitches, dressing rooms or showers, it will not assist in the purchase of a pitch. The club found itself in a situation where two years ago it did not have a pitch of its own. It has been relying on the generosity and kindness of neighbouring clubs that share their facilities. Unfortunately, that is not sustainable. The club has achieved significant underage success by winning the Wexford youth cup and the premier division grade of Wexford youth soccer. I call on the Minister for sport to examine the possibility of a targeted sports grant, through the sports capital programme, for clubs to purchase and acquire a pitch.”
“Today I raise the issue of local clubs and the access they have to acquire land for playing pitches. At the moment the Department of sport runs a very successful sports capital programme funding many clubs. I am aware of the two individual streams. The first assists with the purchase equipment and the second assists with the development of playing facilities. I am thinking specifically of Castledockrell United, which is a club just outside Enniscorthy. It is a small club, fielding teams from under-six right through to men's. There will soon be two men's teams. At the moment the club does not have a pitch of its own. It is a small, rural club.”
“I thank the Minister of State. I very much welcome the engagement and his commitment to this idea of having a targeted, ring-fenced, designated fund for smaller rural villages to allow them to get access to funding from the active travel scheme for footpaths. We saw during Covid and more recently the great benefits that footpaths in these areas can have. They are truly transformative. The Minister of State is correct that it is my experience that, unfortunately for these smaller villages, they simply have not been able to get access to the levels of funding that should be there. It is important that there be a specifically designated fund to allow that to happen.”
“Ring-fenced money should be allocated for rural villages, specifically to target, for example, housing estates in a village that may have expanded beyond the location of the speed limit side. There may now be a housing estate that was constructed over recent years but there may be no linkage from that estate back to the village where the local school is. That needs to change. Wexford is very grateful to have received €3.57 million in the most recent round of active travel funding but, unfortunately for us, while we are grateful to receive the allocation in our large towns, it did not materialise in some of those small rural villages, which had hoped for and anticipated funding. I ask the Minister of State to take this back to the Department and the officials.”
“Most footpaths were subsequently delivered directly through that scheme and the case was put forward that my fellow elected officials and I would liaise with the district engineer, who would then attempt to secure funding through the active travel programme. That system worked very well in 2021 and 2022 but in 2023, I noticed a significant shift in that the active travel allocations for Wexford, which I imagine is replicated in other areas of the country, started to be focused on the large urban areas at the expense of some of our rural villages. I saw examples in my area where much sought-after footpaths in small rural villages simply were not getting the allocation of funding that was previously possible because of the criteria that were introduced in 2022. Will the Minister of State look at this area?”
“I thank the Minister of State for taking this Commencement matter. I sincerely wish him the best of luck in his new role and look forward to working with him for the benefit of the people of County Wexford. I put forward this matter on the basis of my experiences as an elected councillor in Wexford relating to the allocation of funding for our rural villages, specifically for footpaths. When I was first elected in 2019, it was possible to liaise directly with the district engineer and in the case of rural villages, it was possible to get funding through Wexford County Council to supply a footpath. When the previous Government took office, the then Minister, Eamon Ryan, introduced the active travel scheme, which brought about a significant shift in how we delivered footpaths.”
“I call on the Minister for Transport to discuss in this Chamber how we balance the need for key infrastructure delivery on our motorways with our climate commitments. I saw the issues with the ring road in Galway, where An Bord Pleanála granted planning permission for the ring road but the High Court overturned it on the basis that, among other issues, the active travel measures for cycling and walking did not fully balance with our climate commitments. In Wexford, we are being told there is a need for something similar to take place. We need a debate in this Chamber with the Minister for Transport on this issue.”
“Recently, I was very honoured to be appointed recently as the Fine Gael Seanad spokesperson on public expenditure and infrastructure. It is on this theme I will speak. When I was first elected to Wexford County Council in 2019, one of my first events was the official opening of the extension of the M11 motorway between Gorey and Enniscorthy. Six years on, we are being told by the officials in TII that we are looking at approximately another six years before works might start on the final stage of that motorway from the village of Oilgate to Rosslare Europort. Over the past number of years, there has been a significant expansion of the Europort, which has resulted in vastly higher numbers of trucks and passengers coming through the port and making their way through Wexford.”
“I thank the Minister of State for his response. I very much welcome the fact the senior SLT post has been offered and is going through the pre-clearance checks at the moment. I wish whoever takes up that position the very best of luck in the role. I ask the Minister of State to bring back to the Government the fact the two other posts are currently vacant. While I appreciate the efforts being made in the recruitment to speech and language posts both in New Ross and across the country and the commitment to deliver that, I ask for it to be treated as an urgent priority. As I said earlier, early intervention is crucial when it comes to speech and language and the reality is that, today, the three posts are vacant. I very much welcome the fact the senior post will be filled.”
“Will the Minister of State raise with his officials the urgent need for a contingency plan so boys and girls in the New Ross area have a mechanism to access speech and language therapy?”
“Maybe it is that children whose designated speech and language therapists are not available are allocated to a neighbouring area, or perhaps there is something similar to the private treatment purchase fund whereby the parents can take their children to a private speech and language therapist and it is covered by the State. This is a failing. Everybody knows that early intervention is crucial in the area of speech and language therapy. They need access. If you have had an assessment of need and the report says you need speech and language therapy, early intervention is crucial. Unfortunately, as time passes, the needs of the children increase. Unless there are targeted measures in the New Ross area, this situation will continue. I ask for greater clarity.”
“At the moment, a boy or girl in New Ross town or the wider New Ross area does not have access to a designated speech and language therapist in his or her own area. It is important to highlight this issue. It is completely unacceptable. I understand there are recruitment challenges across the HSE regarding speech and language therapists but we have to put in place a mechanism to allow for situations where the designated posts available in a town for speech and language therapy are not filled. There has to be a contingency plan put in place. Everybody understands it can be difficult to get staff but there has to be a plan B.”
“I congratulate the Minister of State, Deputy McConalogue, on his appointment and wish him the very best of luck in the role. I have no doubt we will have plenty of engagement over the coming term. I submitted this Commencement matter on foot of a constituent contacting me in the New Ross town area to advise me of the difficulties they were having in getting access to speech and language therapy for their child. I was advised by the HSE in response to representations I made that at present all three of the allocated speech and language therapy posts are vacant. The HSE has allocated one senior staff speech and language therapist and two staff-grade speech and language therapists.”
“If we want to get serious about rural crime, we also need to get serious about the issue of littering. At present, if somebody decides to litter, the minimum fine he or she will get is €75. On conviction in court, it can be increased to €150, with a further increase to €3,000 at the discretion of the judge. I practise as a solicitor. The cold reality of this is that the current scale of the fines system is not sufficient to act as a deterrent to repeat fly-tipping offenders. I encourage the Minister of State to change the legislation in order to increase the number of fines we have in this area.”
“Unfortunately, it has now become a semi-accepted norm that instances of antisocial behaviour, especially in the early hours of the morning at weekends, have become commonplace. While some of these issues will always be with us - I am not naive enough to suggest otherwise - I am strongly of the view that a visible community policing effort to tackle antisocial behaviour, especially at the weekends, should be a priority for the Department in this coming term. I am somebody who is very proud to be from Wexford. I am sure everybody, including all our guests who have joined us, will agree that the Wexford countryside is the most beautiful in all of Ireland but, unfortunately, there are those who take it upon themselves to litter, discard their rubbish or engage in fly-tipping.”
“While many ideas and questions can be raised as to the source of these funds and income, we need a designated, targeted campaign and operation by An Garda Síochána, specifically in our rural villages, to tackle this issue head-on. It is an issue that has been allowed to fester in rural Ireland for some years now. It needs to be faced head-on. I encourage the Minister of State to tackle this issue in conjunction with the many members of An Garda Síochána who play an excellent role, day in day out, in ensuring the peace of our rural communities. I also raise the issue of antisocial behaviour in our rural towns and villages. There are three main towns in my constituency of Wexford - Enniscorthy, Wexford town and New Ross.”
“The Garda suggests they are being taken to eastern Europe. Many farmers are finding that because the tractors and machinery they are using to sow their lands in the tillage season have high-powered GPS units within them, they are being targeted for theft. I encourage any new rural crime unit to pay specific attention to that, as well as the theft of livestock. I also highlight the need for An Garda Síochána, the Department of Justice and the Minister of State to tackle some of the unexplained sources of wealth that exist in rural Ireland. Everyone is aware of situations where individuals are living far beyond their stated means.”
“As this is my maiden contribution on justice, I welcome the opportunity to raise many of the issues that have been raised with me in my capacity as a public representative, first on Wexford County Council and now in this Chamber. I appreciate the opportunity. I will focus my contribution specifically on the question of rural crime. I will support some of the calls that have been made by the Irish Farmers Association, IFA, for a designated rural crime unit in the Garda. Some of the contributions that have been made this evening have touched on many of the issues that I would also like to highlight. I want to focus specifically on four key points. The first relates to rural crime. Many people may not be aware that criminal gangs are targeting farmers specifically to engage in the theft of global positioning system, GPS, units.”
“While great work is under way to ensure a viable transport service, without funding from TII and the Minister for Transport, the concept and idea cannot be implemented. I call on the Minister for Transport and TII to accept the findings of the survey that is being done at the moment in collaboration with UCD and Trinity College Dublin and fund this service so that the people residing in Enniscorthy can have their own designated town bus service.”
“I raise an issue in my home town of Enniscorthy, namely, the need for Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, to fund a town bus service. At the moment, there are four seven-day-a-week services that are funded by Transport for Ireland. They crisscross the town, servicing various different routes. Unfortunately, this means there is no designated service in the town at the moment. While great work for Enniscorthy has been done by Ms Mary B. O'Leary, the general manager of the Transport for Ireland Local Link service, the reality is that approximately 13,000 people are now residing in the town. We have a target, through the Enniscorthy decarbonisation zone, of a 51% reduction in emissions by 2030.”
“While strides have been made and the Government has committed in the programme for Government to making this a priority, we need to see action on this matter immediately. I ask the Leader for a debate on it.”
“I acknowledge former Deputy and Senator, Hugh Byrne, in our Gallery today. I wish to raise, like he did so many times, an issue relative to his area in New Ross, County Wexford, that is, to invite the Minister for disability to the House to specifically discuss speech and language therapists. At present in New Ross, three speech and language therapist posts are allocated by the HSE and all three are vacant. In particular, children in need of a speech and language therapist in New Ross are not seen by the HSE or are asked to travel outside the region to take up assessments, treatment and therapy in other places. This is unacceptable. I would encourage a debate on this issue, as it is one I have no doubt is replicated across the country.”