Danny Healy-Rae
Kerry · Independent · Ireland
“I am glad to get the opportunity to talk about post offices. First of all, I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Charlie McConalogue, and the Government for giving them financial assistance this year because they do need it. Like every other Member, I appreciate our post office network.”
“People should not be sent elsewhere to bigger towns because there are no longer banks in villages and it is very important for people to meet. Social interaction is so important with people. People are becoming very lonely in rural places because they do not meet as much as they used to at the creamery, the shop or the pub.”
“I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this Bill and giving us the chance to discuss the possibility of a united Ireland. Since I was a young fella, all I ever heard was that was what we needed and that we could not stop until it was achieved. There is so much involved in this.”
“We hope that we will retain the post offices because as has been said here, the post office, the school and the GAA club are so vital for retaining the identity of parishes throughout the length and breadth of rural Ireland. We hope we will retain the post offices in Kilgarvan, Kenmare and Glenflesk.”
“We want that for the people of the North of Ireland as well but we must have the conversation as to what will be the story for all the different things. We must be united in this Chamber and the people of the Twenty-Six Counties must, by and large, be in favour of reunification. We need to hear their views.”
“We must be united here in this Chamber for a start, each and every one of us. We cannot be throwing Scud missiles across the Chamber at each other. We need to have a united front. This is a serious business. We need to know where this will lead us.”
The complete record
Every one of 737 lines we hold for Danny Healy-Rae, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 13 of 15.
“I thank Deputy Gould and Sinn Féin for tabling this very important motion. There is no shadow of a doubt that houses in the local authorities are taking too long to turn around. There was one house in Killarney I fought tooth and nail over. From the day it first came up here, it took over five years to get that house in Marian Terrace turned around. There was vermin and everything else gone into it. I was shocked the other day to hear the Taoiseach say a house should only take four or five days to turn around. He is right that maybe that is what it should take, in some instances, like the two houses in Kilgarvan that people left a few months ago. What happened then? Some crew came along, took off the roof, took out the chimney and they are still at it, putting in an underground heat pump or whatever it is. The houses are riddled.”
“There is a straight mile in Ballagh where people could come out onto both sides the road but they are being denied planning permission there. There were no affordable houses at all in Kerry during the reign of the previous Government. If we think Irish Water can build all the treatment plants and bring water up to scratch without getting funding, it will not happen. Irish Water has no funding stream and if we are being realistic and honest about, it will have to get funding to build. Yes, the population is doubling or trebling due to inward migration but we are not matching this with houses being built. We are not doing enough to release vacant houses and ensure they come onstream.”
“As for planning in rural areas, we have been told here several times about people being denied planning in rural areas because of urban-generated pressure, and yet the farmer's sons and daughters living right next door to them can get it. This is discrimination. I am not saying the farmer's son should not get planning permission - I fought long and hard for that - but the people who have lived next door to them all their lives, have a couple of acres or can get a site from a next door neighbour should be allowed to get planning permission. The Planning Regulator decided that. I do not know how many times I have heard this but people cannot get planning permission to get access on to a national road even though it is established access.”
“The houses are idle and the Government is getting not getting a bob or a copper of tax from an empty house. Surely to God if the Government took a lesser amount of tax that could be managed. People are afraid to rent out their houses because if they do, they are afraid they cannot get their houses back when they want them. The RTB has too many powers and it is on the tenants' side. I do not mind if it is being fair but it is not being fair at present. I know tenants are striving to get houses and want to stay in houses but we have to be fair if someone wants their house back. People are afraid so they will not rent out their houses and that is it. Why not extend the first-time buyers grant to vacant or second-hand houses? They are first-time buyers so why not extend the grant to allow them to buy second-hand houses?”
“I am glad to have the opportunity to talk about housing again tonight. Since I came up here in 2016, we have been talking about it constantly. Every man and woman who has sat here in the Dáil has talked about housing but little has changed. I want to speak about vacant properties. I spoke about this last year, the year before and recently but the story is the same. There are vacant houses and properties all around the countryside. They are all around Kerry - on streets in villages and towns and in the countryside. They are everywhere but nothing is being done about them. I ask the Government to, for God's sake, reduce the tax so people who have another income and who have a house to rent will not have to pay a 50% tax because it is not worth their while renting the house out if they are being charged 50% or 52% tax.”
“I thank the Taoiseach for his reply. I remind him and the Ministers that small piers locally, including in Kilmakilloge, Coornagillagh and Blackwater, have been crying out for maintenance funding for safety projects and other things for the past several years. Returning to Kenmare, the local authority must work in conjunction with the Department of the marine and the OPW. The local authority has acquired a lot of the land at the back of the pier. This needs to be explored. We all need to work together. I am disappointed Kerry County Council did not put in application for this year. One would have thought it would have done so. I am asking that we progress this matter. To be fair to Kenmare town, it has wonderful hostelries-----”
“Kenmare has lagged behind towns like Bantry, Castletownbere and Dingle and all the harbour towns around it. Kenmare has stood still. I ask for fairness in this regard. This is a tourism-driven opportunity. Kenmare is already a well-established tourist destination renowned for its scenic beauty, outdoor activities, vibrant arts and food culture. Its location on the Ring of Kerry and proximity to the Wild Atlantic Way make it a natural stop for visitors exploring the region. Enhancing the harbour with new piers, a small marina and supporting infrastructure could significantly strengthen Kenmare's tourism appeal. Parking for camper vans is most important because the area is very restricted as it is. In general, car parking is very tight there.”
“I will continue to fight tooth and nail to see this project move forward. This is not about vanity or prestige; it is about fairness, common sense and doing right by a town that has been far too patient for far too long. I am asking this Government to put this in the national development plan and to provide funding. Kenmare's existing pier is situated on the picturesque Kenmare River. It is primarily now only used for small-scale fishing and limited tools and activities. The pier faces several challenges, including insufficient capacity, limited water depth - the bay needs to be dredged - and the lack of modern facilities. These limitations restrict its use for larger vessels and hamper the growth of marine-based recreation and tourism.”
“Today, I respectfully call for a new vision for Kenmare Harbour. What we needs is a practical, modest development, including a new pier, a safe slipway, a few berths for boats, proper facilities for the rowing club, a carpark for campervans and toilet and showering facilities to cater for tourists. This would create local jobs, support tourism by keeping people coming to the town all year round and boost the economy for the whole area, including shops, cafés, bed and breakfasts, small businesses and hotels. Most of all, it would give the people of Kenmare something they could be proud of and something they could use and enjoy. If we can fund marine infrastructure in other coastal towns, then we can and must do the same for Kenmare. The people there are every bit as entitled to support and investment as anyone else.”
“They should have their entire lives in front of them and it is so sad that they will not realise their potential. I feel very strongly about it when people are starving. The worst kind of death of all is to see people starving. We are not to blame for it. We are only a small country but we must voice our opinion and ask them to stop.”
“I look at it from every angle, including from the angle that because Hamas will not release the last of the hostages, the Israelis will not stop the war. Have they no feeling at all for little children who are starving? They must be blamed as well. Whatever side is right, there is no right or wrong in this war now; it has to stop. We should be clear and decisive in saying that it needs to stop. I do not know what is in the occupied territories Bill. I will vote for any Bill relating to this to send a message of some sort to all those involved that it must stop. We are disappointed that the USA which over the years has been fair, does not seem to be intervening to stop it. I am not saying that we should say clearly who is wrong or who is right, but it needs to be stopped for the sake of the little children who are starving.”
“It is terrible when we look at the television and see children holding out bowls and nothing going into them. I am not saying the Government here is at fault for it but we could send some message. I do not know what notice they will take of this occupied territories Bill, but we need to send them a message. Europe is very lax has been very slow to react since the start. Von der Leyen is not decisive enough and is not acting to the extent that she could and we are disappointed with that. I am asking that the Opposition and the Government work together here and to send this message together as strongly as possible to the Israelis. Of course, Hamas played its part in this atrocity in starting it off.”
“I can remember being brought up and being told by my grandparents and granduncles that the thing that they really worked for daily - there was no such thing as money - was food. Even my own father as a 14-, 15- and maybe 17-year-old went around working on meithleacha in different places. There was no money but he got fed and there was one less to be fed at the table at home. That is what people had to work for at that time to stay alive. I was told recently - the man who told me has since passed on - that there was a big strong man in the Kilgarvan parish and he did not have enough to eat. At most times of the day when people would meet him, he was chewing his wrist and chewing his arm because he was half-starved with the hunger; he needed a lot more to eat than he was getting. Those kinds of messages resonate and never leave my mind.”
“It is the starving of people and the starving of children. The country and the world is full of food. How much food does every household throw out every evening or at the end of every week? How much food is thrown into waste? To think there are little children out there starving. We still talk about the Famine in rural places because we are reminded daily of it. I do not know if the Minister is aware of it, but there are many fields up on the hillsides and slopes where the ridges still remain marking where people put their gardens. They did not stay alive or there was nothing in them to dig out. They finished up on the Famine ships going to America and other places basically to get something to eat.”
“I am glad to get the opportunity to talk about this matter here again this evening. It is a terrible situation. This war really needs to end. I do not know how we can influence that happening, but we need to send a strong message from this Parliament. We are a very small country. We cannot do anything physically to stop or prevent the war, but we need to send a strong message that we do not approve of what is happening now. It is very well reported. We see evening after evening little children holding out bowls to see if someone will throw something into them so they can eat. It is tough. No one has a monopoly on talking about this situation. It resonates very much with me to hear and see people starving to death. There have been explosions, atrocities, bombings and every bad thing you could think of happening there.”
“His family will never forget Shane or cease to miss him, but at lease the burden and the fight they were carrying for many years to get recognition is over. They cannot bring him back but at least right is being done as far as the Government and the Minister are concerned. I am grateful that this is happening tonight. I wish the family the best for the future because they deserve it.”
“I am glad to get the opportunity to welcome Shane's family, Jim and Lucia and their girls. I am sorry they had to go through so much to get recognition for what happened on that fateful night. I commiserate with them on the loss of their son and thank them for doing so much to try to protect his name and to ensure he got the proper recognition he and they deserve. I thank the Minister for doing the honourable thing this evening and the Government for making the apology that is so deserved. It matters because a terrible wrong was done. A man who should not have been on the road, should not even have been loose, was and the whole thing was covered up for many years. It is only right that we and the Government make the apology they deserve. I hope they can clear their minds.”
“I ask the Government Members to consider what is happening here because many of them are depending on farmers for a lot of their votes around the country and especially the hill farmers down in south Kerry who depend on lambs for their profits after feeding them for the year. I am certainly opposing this Bill and I will call for a vote.”
“I do not know if Deputy Coppinger really knows the consequences of her Bill and the effect of the foxes. The numbers have increased dramatically. They are all over the place. They are coming into towns and villages. They are in and out of bins and they are everywhere. They have completely taken over the place. Members of respectable gun clubs who do the fox hunting do the farmers a favour. They have legally held guns and do it all above board. They have been doing it traditionally over the years and they operate to the highest standard. I salute those people and I stand with him here today.”
“I am glad to have the opportunity to oppose this proposal by Deputy Coppinger. She said she was amazed that anyone would stand up and talk against this proposal. I have to tell you, a Cheann Comhairle, that from every corner of Kerry, people have rung and sent emails and all kinds of messages to ensure that we stop this at the start. All of us living in rural parts of Ireland know the damage that the fox has done and is doing. The numbers have increased to a massive amount altogether. One of my sons had lambs. He and all the farmers around him have tried their very best. They had practically a third of their lambs taken this year. A man at the top of the Pike Hill came to me the other day with his story. He had 12 hens and when he went out one evening, there was only one there; the fox took 11 of them.”
“To think that children are going to starve, my God almighty, what is the world coming to at all? They cannot be let get away with this. I see that ordinary Israeli people are rising up against Netanyahu. He is not a man. There is no humanity at all in him to do what he is doing to innocent children who do not know what is going wrong. They are starving, thirsty, and their families have been broken up, with no contact with each other. You could not imagine that this is happening in our age, in the time we are living in. We had the atrocities of the Second World War, Auschwitz and all the terrible things that happened. We see films being made about it but this is reality. This is what is happening in front of our eyes. We can see it on the news every morning, noon and night. It is getting worse and worse.”
“I was glad to hear the Taoiseach talking today in the manner that he did. It was important. We have to play some part, through sanctions or whatever, and drive it home to Europe that it has to be more human. We are talking about a bit of humanity. What Hamas did was very wrong and it should release the rest of the hostages, because surely it is not blind to what is happening or what it is causing to happen. It should stop it and enact a ceasefire right away because it is terrible. I have youngsters who play football and so on and they ask why we cannot do something for these people. I know we can do very little but we need to stand up and say what we feel, because it is terrible. It is in our time. We are Members of the Irish Parliament and we must talk about it. We may offend others by doing this but so be it. It has gone way too far.”
“I am glad to get the opportunity to say a few words about the mayhem that is taking place, in our time, in another country. I know that Ireland can do very little but we need to stand up and be counted. What is happening is barbaric. We see children, old people and women being starved. People are being starved in this day and age. In case someone does not know about it, I know what hunger is from my grandfather and grandmother telling me of when people were hungry here, what they went through and what they had to go through when they did not have anything to eat. They were poorer times. Gladly, that is not the case here in Ireland today. There is no one hungry like that, or there need not and should not be. It is terrible to starve people. They may not even have water. To think that this is happening.”
“All right. I appeal to the Ministers to see after the elderly people because they brought us to where we are. They fought to ensure that Ireland was a better place. They did their best. We must see after them but we are not doing it.”
“You are miles away from Killarney, Tralee, Listowel, Kenmare or anywhere else. That has to be seen after. Those four beds have to be reopened. The means test is one of the things we ensured was in the programme for Government. It must be abolished for carers because it is not fair. Am I all right yet?”
“As I have often said before, when it comes to assessing people's farms and the conditions that are imposed, even under the new scheme, the fair deal scheme is a lousy deal for farmers. It is not a fair deal. It is a lousy deal for farmers and must be reviewed. As that man has said, the value of the farm can be wiped out before the person who is sick passes on or something like that happens. That is very unfair. The farm should not be assessed. There is a hospital in Cahersiveen. There were four beds there for elderly people. They were done up, revamped and everything but they have not been used for the last four years because there are no staff to staff them. Cahersiveen is very far away. If you get sick on the Iveragh Peninsula, Cahersiveen is the nearest place to you.”
“I thank Deputy Michael Collins and his group for giving us the chance to talk about this worthy motion this morning. I support everything that has been said. It should be every politician's ambition to allow elderly people to stay and be seen after in their own homes for as long as possible. That is not happening in Kerry. At the present time, you can qualify to get home help or a home care package but no one arrives because there are no people to provide that home help. That is very serious. I am sure the Government could be more inventive in ensuring that people are available to do this very worthy work, which would save the State an awful lot of money. I concur with that new TD over there whom I do not know said. I thank him for raising the issue of the fair deal scheme and how it affects the farming community.”
“These are people with disabilities. Ask that little girl up there who is fighting for all our people who need help. We need to do something about this now, make a real attempt to put the funding into it and make sure the HSE delivers on the funding.”
“I am not blaming the workers, the nurses or the people on the ground but the top officials, the directors, the people we do not see at all who are pushing the pens and the people who are making the laws. It is time our Minister for Health and Ministers of State at the Department of Health stood up to the HSE. There is so much money going in there and I am very dubious about how it is being spent, because it is certainly not reflected on the ground when people become sick. We have the situation where, but for SouthDoc, there is no doctor to be found anywhere in Kerry after 5 p.m. on a Friday evening. There is more downtime and people have to wait until morning and try to stay alive, if they can, until morning. There are so many things that need to be addressed. I am appealing to the Government not to fudge on this issue.”
“This is critical. St. Mary of the Angels, run by St. John of God, is practically being closed down by stealth. As soon as the people who are there die off their bed is closed down and no one else is put into it. My brother Michael knows it and has been pushing the case for this for so long, but we need to ensure St. Mary of the Angels is revamped. It is in the centre of our county and it is central to everyone. We hear of so many cases where it is suggested people go up to County Meath or far away to some place in Tipperary or at the far end of County Cork. That is not fair on people with intellectual disabilities and their parents who are trying to do their best for them. It is time this Government stood up to the HSE because it is practically doing what it likes. It has done so.”
“Assessment, like I said, is only the first step and many parents find that having waited to get the assessment they then face another long wait to access the services their child needs. Many parents have no choice but to go down the route of private assessments and they should be reimbursed when they do this. This is putting a huge burden on families. What about the families who cannot afford a private assessment? What happens to their children and young adults? Applications for financial support for domiciliary care for children and disability allowance when they reach 16 years are complicated and take far too long to process. St. Francis Special School in Beaufort has requested the establishment of adult day and respite services on the grounds of the St. Mary of the Angels centre for adults with intellectual disabilities.”
“While it is one thing to say children must be assessed within six months, therapy and what will be needed after the assessment is another thing. I appeal to this Government to ensure therapists, psychologists or whatever they need are put in place. Funding has to be provided to urgently recruit more therapists to assess these children and young adults presenting with special needs and disabilities. This has to be a top priority for the Minister for Health and she should stamp her foot on it rather than letting the HSE do what it likes. Waiting times for assessment of need applicants have to be reduced. How can a child or a young person receive the necessary treatment without a diagnosis? Early intervention is critical and paramount.”
“I am glad to get the opportunity to talk on this most important matter. First, I welcome Cara and her dad here again today. It is very sad that they have to come here again after being here so many times before. This is still a desperate situation where young families and young parents, when they find that their child is someway not performing to their liking and want to get them assessed, have to wait so long for an assessment, and then to get the therapies they need thereafter. It is so hard, especially in Kerry. We have desperate difficulty in getting these families looked after. Your health is your wealth. We all adore and appreciate the young. For me, that is my grandchildren now. We hope they are and will be fine. That is what we want for them. Every parent wants the best for their child.”
“His mother is working and he is trying to manage the farm at home. His father died a few years ago. There are things like this. The last day I was talking to the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, I asked him if we could have an amnesty. If a test cannot be carried out in ten weeks, let the driver drive unaccompanied until the test takes place. Will the Government consider that? We need to give young fellas a chance. Even if we were to curtail their driving for 12 hours a day so they would not be driving at night, that would cover them for work, apprenticeships and so forth. Perhaps something like that.”
“I raised this matter by way of question to the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, about a week ago and I am still very concerned about it. Today, I have six new people who are looking to get their tests brought forward. Two of them will not get their tests for seven months. This is what they have been told. I will give an example. One of them is a young fella from Cahersiveen who can do his apprenticeship in Tralee if he can get there. He has work to do at home in the evenings and he would dearly love to do this apprenticeship, but his parents cannot drive him all the way to Tralee in the morning, go home and then come back to pick him up in the evening. Likewise, a young fella from Headford near Killarney wants to do the agricultural course in Clonakilty but he is afraid he will not be able to take up this chance.”
“I ask the Minister to give some leeway so that farmers can put correct applications in. Again, I ask the Minister to make clear whether farmers can cut turf, as they have traditionally done, and as we have done in Reacaslagh for the past 200 years.”
“This will be another regulation placed on farmers. While this is the thin edge of the wedge, the wedge widens as it goes down and this is what farmers are afraid of. Will it affect their ability to get planning permission for sheds and different things on their lands down the line? We need answers to that. Farmers are worried about things like that. The Department already has 27,000 acres of national park in Kerry that it cannot properly manage. Rhododendron is out of control and deer are roaming the roads causing havoc. In buying up more land in Kilgarvan, Beaufort and other places over the past 12 months, the Department is competing against active farmers. This action, or new standard, will take more time than is available. Applications have to be in by tomorrow, 15 May.”
“I thank the Minister for his response. I ask him to give me a clear understanding as to whether farmers who have lands in Lyracrumpane, Glencar, Cahirsiveen, Kilcummin, Gneevgullia, Scartaglin and all those places can cut turf where they have parcels of peat? That is a straight question and I want a straight answer to it. Farmers are very concerned about the time it will take to get their payments and have this sorted out and gone through properly because they doubt the correctness of some of the maps that some of them have received. They need time for that. If farmers need an extension of time until the end of the month to get their applications in, so be it. I ask the Minister to ensure no one is left out or has an application deemed incomplete because there is so little time. The Minister must recognise that.”
“Ireland is one of the smallest agricultural countries in the world. If we all walked off this island, it would only mean a reduction of 0.13% in the worldwide context of emissions. It will not change the climate or the weather either.”
“Indeed, the marts of Cahersiveen, Kenmare, Gortatlea and Castleisland town are testament to the number of weanlings and lamb that have been reared off the very small pockets of marginal, arable land in between rocks and bogs. Dairy farmers in east Kerry from Kilcummin to Barraduff, Rathmore, Gneeveguilla, Scartaglin, Cordal, Brosna and Knocknagashel supply great quantities of milk from heavy and marginal-type land. These are great farmers who improve their lands, actions and methods to make the most out of what they have. Why do they not leave these farmers alone? Why hassle these grand people? What about the millions of jets flying overhead? What about the spaceships going into space? What about the bombs in Ukraine and Gaza over the past number of years? The letters have gone out to the owners of the poorest type of land in Ireland.”
“In the meantime, farmers will have to wait to be paid. Many have not received their 2024 ACRES payments. It has to be remembered up here in Dublin and in Dáil Éireann that farmers in rural Ireland and indeed, in Kerry, are the backbone of rural communities and the backbone of the country. They have been and are still capable of producing top class beef and lamb from poor, fragmented farm holdings across all of south and east Kerry from Gneeveguilla, Rathmore through Kilgarvan back into Kenmare and down both sides of the Kenmare river, through Tuosist and back to Lauragh, through Blackwater, Glencar, Sneem, Caherdaniel and Cahersiveen.”
“For more than 200 years we have been cutting turf on our farm to keep ourselves warm. Why is it that farmers are the only ones always being targeted or challenged about emissions? Why is it that the farmers in the poorest land areas of the country, such as much of Kerry, are under scrutiny? Why was this action not carried out in a more transparent way? There were no proper discussions in this Chamber. Members and farmers were not made aware until about two months ago. This was agreed more than three years ago by the then-Minister, Department officials, IFA and other farming organisations. Maps have been issued to farmers. Many are raising concerns in respect of the correctness of what appeared to be on the very old maps. However, farmers have been advised that an appeal system will become available in due course.”
“I want to discuss the implication of the new good agricultural and environmental condition of land rules, GAEC 2. Farmers in many parts of County Kerry will be affected. Farmers have been advised that they must recognise these new rules and regulations as part of applying for their basic income support scheme, BISS, payments and other CAP payments on 15 May, which is tomorrow. That is the first issue I want to raise concern about. There has been so little time. The letters only came out last week. There are concerns about implications for opening new drains and shallow ploughing. What implications will it have for planning permission in the future? I want to ask this clearly and I want an answer: can people still cut turf on the boglands that they have to keep for themselves as they have traditionally done?”
“Back 15 years ago, when Tom Fleming and I were on Kerry County Council, we had got it to third on the list. There is no account of it on any list now. Curragh has no treatment plant. In places such as Moyvane people cannot build another house because it is over capacity. The treatment plant in Brosna needs upgrading. There are various places and settlements, including the likes of Castleisland. In 1986 people there sought to extend the sewer. In my father's garage I found old documents that had been thrown out which showed people were looking for an extension and had been promised it in 1986. We are speaking about sewerage. These people are suffering because they have to clean out their septic tanks at least once a month. I could stay talking for an hour about the situation regarding housing but I must allow my colleague in.”
“I heard the Taoiseach today and I could not believe I heard him say that local authority voids, including Kerry County Council voids, should be turned around in a week or two. That is not the case in Kerry. There was a very sought-after house on Marian Terrace in Killarney which was vacant and void for five years or more. There are several more such houses in places such as Gneevegullia. There are five houses there which have been vacant for more than three years. This is not acceptable. Deputy Cahill spoke about wastewater treatment plants. I am aware of them. There are 38 settlements in Kerry whose treatment plants are not up to standard or they do not have one. Scartaglin is one of those villages that does not have a treatment plant.”
“I mentioned to the Minister previously that we need to do something about the vacant houses around the place. A large number of people would build a house for themselves if they could get planning permission. In areas around Kilorglin, Killarney, Kenmare and Dingle the urban-generated pressure clause announced a few years ago and put in place by the planning regulator, and not by the hard-working councillors, affects not people coming out from towns but people building beside where their parents are, and where they have an acre or a couple of acres of land. They are not farmers' sons or daughters. Farmers' sons and daughters are catered for and allowed for, and we are glad of that, but many people cannot get planning permission locally because of this strict urban-generated pressure clause.”
“I am glad to have an opportunity to speak about the provision of housing and affordable houses. I do not know how there is so much talk about affordable houses because no house is affordable now with the cost of materials, the cost of labour and the shortage of labour. I must speak about the number of vacant houses around the county of Kerry in towns and villages and between villages. Take the road from Kenmare through Kilgarvan and down to Killarney. Within ten miles of Killarney town in Glenflesk there are 55 vacant houses on the side of the national primary and regional roads. There are buses passing every day that people could walk onto. They would not have to walk up or down anywhere or drive anywhere; they could step onto the bus on the side of the road where the houses are vacant. I ask the Government to do something about this.”
“It is very important to someone buying a car, a bus, a lorry, a tractor or whatever, that whoever they buy it from has a mechanic that knows what is wrong if something small goes wrong with it. Maybe it is a sensor or some kind of an electric gadget that we know nothing at all about. We would not be able to change clutches or starters and all those kinds of things. We need people versed in that and we need to encourage those people. I wish the Minister and the Minister of State well in their new roles.”
“I am glad to get the opportunity to talk on this. Of course we all appreciate the power that a university education devolves to students. It opens many doors for them. We must not forget, however, that we also need apprentices in all the trades. Consider plasterers, for example. We talk of housing every day here but they will not be built without tradesmen. We need carpenters, we need block layers, we need plasterers and digger drivers. There is an awful lot of work to be done. It would be grand if youngsters could go to college and spend four or five years or whatever in college but go back and embark on a trade if they did not fit into something at university. However, it is too late then. Young fellas need to start at 16 or 17 years of age, if they are interested. We also need mechanics, which someone mentioned already.”
“I ask that until some review, investigation or assessment is done and people are sure of what is happening, no more of this kind of work be carried out. It is proposed to do the same work on the N22 from the Cork side into Killarney, to eliminate and take away Daly's roundabout and to narrow the carriageway. I ask that a proper assessment and review of value for money be carried out before that happens.”