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.”
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“It is not fair and it is not right. To those Members on the other side who are trying to bring this forward, if they cannot help someone, why are they trying to hurt them? It is wrong to do that to people. These poor farmers down the country, up the country and in the west of the country are depending on lambs and to a lesser extent people are depending on hens to have their own eggs. They like to do that. Why are we trying to hurt them by bringing in a Bill banning fox hunting? It is totally and absolutely wrong. They should be ashamed of themselves to be even thinking about it and talking about it, never mind bringing in a Bill here. It is a sad way our country has gone. We have a lot of important issues to debate here. We should not have to debate this. Seeing as we have to debate it, we will debate it. We will vote against it tonight.”
“It is their psyche or whatever it is. They do not need the lambs they kill because they leave some of them behind and tear them asunder. I cannot understand why the Members who intend to bring in this Bill are so vehement about this and at the same time they have no concern for the poor lambs, hens or ducks that people work hard to rear. To see them taken in a flash, they come back they are gone and dead. Lately, there were two men who went down the fields because the fox was after taking some of the hens. When they were coming up, they met the fox again with another hen in his mouth. That is the truth. We must vote against this. I am appealing to all the Deputies from around the country who depend on farmers for their votes. Now is the time to come out to stand with the farmers and vote against this Bill.”
“We have not got many people on the hill sides sheep farming because sadly that is not paying. Many farmers have cut down the number of ewes that they keep because they have not got the wherewithal to traverse these massive hills and valleys, look after them, dose them and all the cost that goes with that. They have cut numbers, but they need to have what they have and not have it taken by the fox. It is wrong to be coming in here trying to hurt someone. My late father used to say, "If you can't help someone, please don't hurt them." I take that with me every road that I go on. I do not ever intend to do that. I hope that I can make something better for someone every day when I get up and before I go to bed at night again. I certainly would not be trying to stop farmers killing foxes because we know what the foxes do.”
“One of the things that the Deputy who is bringing forward this Bill said was that the farmers are all right because they get grants. They do not a grant to replace the money that the lamb would have made. That is the gospel truth. When the Ministers are answering the contributions, I want them to address that issue. They do not get a grant when the lamb is taken away, riddled, half eaten, or half left there. I want the Deputy to withdraw that remark. Deputies said the cause of the foxes doing harm was development. These same Deputies do not want the development of houses. They are objecting them. They are here by the way for the good of the people; they are not. It is very wrong to throw it around that way because that is not the truth. People need houses, but we need farmers.”
“At one stage, my son Dan had 18 lambs taken this year in the spring by the foxes. Whether it is hunters, shooters or whoever takes out the fox, I appreciate them for that. Farmers appreciate them for that. I cannot understand why these people who are so concerned about the foxes are not concerned about the hens when they are tor alive. They are not concerned about the lambs when their heads are torn off, their legs are gone and they are riddled. They are poor defenceless little lambs. I do not know what reason people have got against those who never do any harm to anyone and only make a few pounds for the farmers who are struggling. Their sheep payment has been reduced a small bit this year. We are hoping we will get back again next year.”
“That meant some of her income that she was depending on was not there for her because a fox took away two of her turkeys that she was feeding since July or August. This is happening continuously. A good friend of mine, Andrew in Killarney, had 13 hens. He was seeing after them, minding them, feeding them and being very careful with them. He came home one evening and 12 of the hens were gone. That is the gospel truth. For Pat up the road, it is the same story. He had ducks. He makes a few pounds from ducks at the fairs and stuff like that. His ducks are constantly being taken out by the foxes. I had someone contact me the other day who had their two lovely cats taken by the fox. I do not mind whether it is considered a financial interest or not, but it is an interest.”
“I am glad to get the opportunity to talk on this very important matter. I will not be voting for a ban on fox hunting. For fear that people think that there is an urban-rural divide, there is no such thing down the country. Maybe there is somebody inside the Pale here who do not understand rural Ireland, but in rural Ireland we have towns that depend on the farming community, including sheep farmers and cattle farmers. When we saw everything else close down during the virus, the one thing that kept the country moving forward was the farming community. Different things have been hurting the farmers continuously over the years, including foxes. I recall my grandmother's time when she used to have a few turkeys for Christmas. It was her money when she would sell them. Some of her turkeys were taken from her one Christmas.”
“If we give €1 million here or €1 million there to different sectors of our own community, it is discussed here in the Chamber but those figures have never been discussed here, even though that money comes from Irish taxpayers. People are scratching their heads at the Government this week over this. I am hearing it all across the county.”
“Employers all over the country are struggling with increased rate costs, pension auto-enrolment costs, and increased wage costs. Employees and people on social welfare are struggling with the cost of living, including energy and electricity costs. Everyone is struggling with the costs of the road and the price of petrol and diesel. At the same time, the Government was able last week to devote another €125 million to Mr. Zelenskyy and Ukraine. This was on top of the almost €6 billion that we have spent over the last five years supporting them here in this country. How long more can we keep supporting them and giving out this kind of money?”
“Kenmare has been starved of private housing schemes for almost 20 years, first because we did not have an adequate treatment plant - some €40 million has been spent on that and it is fully operational - and now because we are told that the water supply is not adequate. I have raised this here before, including in recent weeks, and I want to know what the answer is. I ask again that the Government liaise with Uisce Éireann and ensure that the two current planning applications for up to 170 houses that are now in limbo are not refused because of the shortage of water. I would like to ask another thing. Back in the late seventies and eighties, people got £3,500 to build houses of less than 1,350 sq. ft. Could we bring forward a similar type of scheme to decrease the house sizes to maybe 1,750 sq. ft?”
“However, on many occasions when elected members in Kerry and management agreed to zone more, the regulator stepped in and blocked them, even though these lands were serviced. What will happen now where the builders could use the Government's new proposal to build treatment plants on non-serviced lands-----”
“There is a lot of talk about affordable home schemes. We never had any one of those schemes in Kerry. I cannot understand why. I cannot understand how you can call one house an affordable house when the house beside it costs the standard price, is the same size and costs the same to build. Surely to be able to call a house affordable, the materials, the labour or the planning should cost less. I remind the Members opposite that 40% of the cost of building any house today is VAT, other taxes, planning and levies. Could the Government reduce the VAT? There is no VAT on building materials in the UK. I do not think the people are being told the truth about these affordable schemes. We have heard the Taoiseach many times say that we need to zone more land for housing.”
“Many times, I have asked here about the restriction preventing family members from building on sites exiting onto national primary and secondary roads, even where there is already an existing exit-entrance serving many other users. The problem is that if this were just an ordinary local road, there would be no problem, but the very same type of road that was never taken in charge by the local authority is being deprived of getting planning in much the same scenarios. This change was signed into law in 2012 by Leo Varadkar, a former leader in this House, and the Minister with responsibility for this, who later agreed with me in this Chamber that a total ban was very wrong. I am asking that this be given back to the local engineers to decide if the exit is safe and if the site distance is of the right standard.”
“I am glad to get this opportunity. I am delighted that the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, is taking the questions today. As he knows himself, we have not always agreed about everything, but he takes the question and he comes back and gives an answer. I hope that, on top of all the other times I have asked these same questions, something will happen now. We have a clause in Kerry known as the rural areas under significant urban influence, which I understand was to prevent applicants coming out from towns or other urban settings but is now actually preventing local people - local to their site - who apply for planning permission from getting it.”
“The tenant in situ scheme is not working simply because the county council will go out to look at a house and will find anything, something or many things wrong with the house, and will not buy it. The council will not buy any second-hand house in Kerry, only new houses. I want the Minister to address those issues.”
“The Government's plan to lock people who are renting houses into six-year tenancies is not going to work in Kerry. People get on to me every day because landlords are refusing to continue leasing properties to them. Trying to force people into six-year tenancies is not going to work. The plan the Government has to force Airbnb properties into long-term letting is not going to work either. That is how people have been getting their livelihoods up until now. The only ones who are getting planning permission for one-off houses in Kerry are farmers' sons and daughters. That is fine, and we appreciate it. However, anyone else out in the country who has been there all their life is not getting planning permission. I have been asked several times to do something about that.”
“Every day since Bord na Móna was closed, the cost of electricity has gone up. There is no account whatsoever of a regulator keeping any track of what is going on. No one is saying "boo" to all these electricity companies. They are competing with one another to put up the price of electricity and no one is watching. The other thing is carbon tax. When carbon tax was brought in, the cost of fuel - petrol and diesel - was €1.15 per litre. It was to discourage people from using petrol and diesel. God help us, the price has now gone above €1.80 per litre and that is way more than the carbon tax was at the start. Will the Government cut the carbon tax now because it has outserved its usefulness? It is not relevant any more because the price of the petrol, diesel and heating oil is driving up inflation and the cost of living.”
“I was there when it happened and we thought the air ambulance would go to Cork, but it finished up that it had to go to Limerick to avail of the help of the wind from that side. We have to ensure that we have people with expertise who know what they are doing. You can train people all you like but they must do a certain amount of probing and ensuring they are doing the right thing themselves when they are out on a mission. It is late at night. I thank Sinn Féin again for bringing forward this motion. I hope the Government is listening and will look after them. I appeal that the Kerry mountain rescue team is also properly looked after. We depend on them in Kerry to save many lives.”
“Again, I ask the Minister of State not to let the air ambulances down, to take the message to the Government and ensure what is being asked for here is given, and to say it was a mistake that it has been happening until now, because it has been a mistake. We have massive terrain in Kerry. We have grand scenic places and when people come and get into trouble, we depend so much on the rescue teams and the air ambulances. When people get sick or when they need to be got out of an awkward place, we depend on the air ambulance to come at short notice to take them, perhaps for heart surgery, to Dublin, Cork, Limerick or wherever it is. One thing I learned as well is that the air ambulances have to go where the wind will not challenge them as much. There was an accident in Killarney a few years ago.”
“We remember the effort all the people put in in the Kenmare area when Michael Gaine was missing - we know now, sadly, that he is dead - and we appreciate all the people, including the Kerry Mountain Rescue Team. Offers came from the Abbeyfeale District Search and Rescue team and time did not matter to the people. They kept searching everywhere, down Moll's Gap and into bogholes and different places, and we appreciate all the people, even those who put in a voluntary effort. We must congratulate and thank those people too for the great help they have given at different times, aside from the Michael Gaine case. We thank them for what they did at that time. It was only the start of the year. Everyone is saying the year has flown, and it has, but we have no answers about that poor man yet and we are all hurting for that.”
“A good few of them lost their lives and the Valentia lifeboat was involved then. That was when I was only a child and it has been working since under different skippers and doing so much great work. We depend on all those people. We have to keep saying that a cost cannot be put on a life. Some innocent person might come to the MacGillycuddy's Reeks and the fog comes in or whatever and they get lost and get stuck up on benches in places sheep could not get out of. Luckily, many of them have been saved by the Kerry Mountain Rescue Team. It hurts me also to hear they have to fundraise to keep themselves together, keep their gear together, keep themselves trained, keep active and be there when they are called.”
“I do not mind which Department it is, the Minsters must put their heads together and work together to ensure these people are paid properly. They have massive skills, they put in a mighty campaign to save one or more lives and we depend on them so much in place like Kerry. I thank all our harbourmasters in our piers and harbours all around Kerry. We have many. I have known many of the skippers of the Valentia lifeboat over the years. Paddy Gallagher was from Achill Island but he finished up on Valentia Island and was the skipper of that lifeboat. We remember the Seaflower disaster when many fine men were lost off the Beara Peninsula on the Kenmare River. It was a terrible time. I remember the Sunday morning after it happened, at mass in Kilgarvan, and everyone was huddled together because so many knew those people.”
“If something happens we depend on the Kerry mountain search and rescue team in a big way and I do not believe they are not fully compensated for the skills and efforts they put into saving people's lives. As has been said, a price cannot be put on anyone's life. It hurts me, and I am sure the Minister of State cannot be happy with it either, when I hear that these people in air ambulances are only being paid for 16 hours when they are there for 24 hours. I certainly did not know that and I am glad it has been aired here because that is not fair. When people are waiting for the call and have to be ready to go in a minute at any moment, they should remunerated. I do not know how much the Minister of State knows about them, but he will bring the message to the Government.”
“As I said, this is an important issue, particularly in a place such as Kerry that has mountains, including MacGillycuddy's Reeks and Mangerton mountain. We have a topography that no other county has, or, at least, that not many other counties have. We have the Atlantic Ocean pounding on three or four sides. We have three peninsulas, namely the Iveragh, Beara and Dingle peninsulas. We have many miles of coastline. It is grand and lovely in the summertime. We appreciate the Coast Guard all around our coasts. We have beautiful beaches where people go swimming, boating and all the other things they do as they avail of the many attractions we have in Kerry. However, people, including great swimmers and boatmen, often get into trouble. Different things happen. People come from all over the world to climb MacGillycuddy's Reeks.”
“I am glad of the opportunity to contribute. I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this good and sensible motion. I congratulate the Minister of State opposite on making his comeback to the ranks of junior Ministers. On the morning on which we were wondering who the new junior Minister would be, I asked him if he was in line and what was happening. I wish him the best.”
“We do not have any of those natural resources or an endless amount of money. We welcome all the different nationalities of people who are working here, who are legally here and have permits. They work in our hospitals and do fierce work all over the country. We are very grateful for all they do and the expertise they divulge in our country, but we have to be honest. We must have some controls. I heard a Deputy mention people who were here five years. I know people who have been in America for 20 years and cannot get a green card to stay there. We have to be truthful and know what is going on in the rest of the world as well. Poland is the nearest country to Ukraine and it is not taking anything like the amount we are.”
“I am glad to get the opportunity to talk in this very important debate. Ireland, for its size, has done more for asylum seekers and refugees than any other country in Europe. That is a fact. We have to realise it. We are a small country that spent €1.2 billion last year on refugees. It is fine and we are glad to have done that, but how long can this continue? We have a lot of our own people who have competing demands for houses, health, social welfare and all the different things. We do not have the leprechaun's purse. That is the fact about it. I will commend Jim O'Callaghan on extraditing people who do not have a right to be here. That is what we want him to do. If they do not have a permit and are not legally here, we cannot support them. We do not have goldmines, diamonds or oil, or maybe we have, but we will be not let drill for it.”
“-----and where they spend fortunes to do themselves up and add glamour to our events. We appreciate that very much. We have local ladies from Kilgarvan who actually won the best dressed lady in Listowel, including Joanne Murphy. We appreciate all of this because it means so much to rural Ireland. As for the people talking against it, I am sorry that they do not understand it. They should come down and see what is going on there, and walk the roads with the people who are walking the dogs because they are doing tremendous work. It is great for people's heads to get out on the road and walk in the fresh air. They love their dogs and appreciate them and they do nothing in the world wrong to them. They spend more on the dogs than they spend in their homes.”
“Then we have the big one in Listowel - the harvest festival - and a huge amount of people come from all over Ireland and spend their money in Listowel and the local towns because they cannot all stay in Listowel for the week. We have to be honest and appreciate the colour and the fashion that the ladies bring to places like the Listowel races and Killarney races-----”
“I am only starting. I am glad to get the opportunity to talk here and support the Government's announcement of this money for the greyhound industry and the horse racing industry. We know what they mean to our county of Kerry. People with greyhounds are out in the morning, late in the evening, walking and exercising the dogs and exercising themselves, and they are a vital part of our community. We hear the Opposition, which was playing to the gallery last Wednesday night about all they would do for the farmers. These are all farmers and they are rural people trying to live the best way they can. We appreciate the level of money the horse racing industry brings to towns like Killarney, with four or five race meetings there.”
“I respectfully ask the Taoiseach whether he or the Government can do anything about the excessive cost of diesel, fuel and petrol at the pumps, and the price of kerosene for people in their homes. We see now that the price per litre of diesel has gone over €1.80 and it is much around the same for petrol. The price of diesel has actually gone higher than petrol at many pumps. The make-up of the tax in the price is €1.15 and it is €1.05 for diesel. Carbon tax accounts for 16.35 cent of the price of petrol and 18.74 cent for the price of diesel. I also learned, and people have got to know this week, that 1,000 litres of home heating oil in the South of Ireland cost €1,000 whereas in the North of Ireland, it costs just €700. Can the Taoiseach do something about it? People cannot sustain it.”
“One of the things that hurt me to the core of my heart was when the sons and daughters and family members of elderly people were not let in to see them for two to three weeks before they got really bad. The most hurtful thing about it all was that when they were unconscious for their last few hours, and when they did not know anyone at all, everyone and anyone was let in then. These kinds of things were happening. We need to find out what was the purpose of that because it certainly was not to aid or help the old person who was sick. They did not know what in the name of God was happening to them. Many of these people had their senses and they were left there to die without anyone being let in to see them. That hurts me still to this day. We must have a transparent account of what happened or how that happened.”
“I too wish to support the motion and I welcome the people in the Gallery here. When they were doing good they were ostracised and vilified when they were actually working in the public interest. I regret that very much. We have been told, very eloquently, how some of these people lost their homes, lost their families and suffered an awful lot of mental hardship. I also want to welcome my group in the Gallery. They are from Gneeveguilla and Rathmore. We hope they enjoy the Dáil here today. I will not go into individual cases, but I know that these people would not have raised the issues they raised only they knew in their heart and soul they were doing good, which was to protect people who were being hurt in many different ways. Like Deputy Mattie McGrath I certainly want an open and transparent review of what happened during Covid.”
“The damage deer are doing to cars and people on the road has to be considered. Sadly, seven people were killed in the past two weeks. It does matter how a person is killed - whether it is by a deer, another vehicle or whatever - they are dead. They go down on the skin test. We are told that when they are slaughtered in the factory, they are clear and there are no lesions or whatever. How is that? That needs to be explained to farmers. It is terrible. I know a farmer called Mikey Joe. He probably has a name for every cow he has. When they come in to be milked twice a day, he knows their names. When a cow goes down, he will know that many of them will turn out to be clean when they are slaughtered.”
“I thank the Minister of State for his reply. It is very clear that we and the Department are not doing enough. If we keep going the way we have gone for the past 46 years and we do not change something, it will be the same story for whoever is here in 50 years' time. There is no point in the world going around vaccinating badgers. We do not know whether they had TB, whether they were infected with it already or what the story is. The fact is they need to be culled. I was getting to the point that the big infestation of deer is in the 26,000 acres of national park. They are able to roam from there all through east Kerry. They have spread to State and private forestries. We must fence our own lands to keep our animals off the road and to stop them going into the neighbours.”
“He culled 103 in one year alone. I ask the Minister of State and Department to dramatically increase the culling of deer and badgers. The national parks and forests are harbouring the deer in a big way. The farmers cannot follow them into those places. If we have sheep, we must have something to keep them in because a cattle fence will not do. I ask that these entities fence their places off, so at least deer cannot come out of them into neighbouring farms spreading the disease.”
“That figure is now up to 41,630. Is is it true that no culling of badgers has taken place in the past two years and they have only been vaccinated? What good is vaccinating a badger that has TB? For many years, the Department has denied the fact that deer and badgers are the primary reason for the spread of the disease, as they move unrestricted from farm to farm. Badgers and deer are travelling wherever they want, when they want. I know of one farmer, and I will not tell the Minister of State where or who he is, but he never went down and he was in the middle of four or five farmers who were constantly going down. They would go down and be clear for a few years and then they would go down again. In one year alone, this small farmer snared 103 badgers. He never went down. These were big, small and baby badgers.”
“That is very hard for any farmer, especially somebody like Mikey Joe, who farms full time and whose farm income is his primary income to provide for his wife and family. He tells me that the compensation he will get is in no way adequate for the type of cows he had. An independent valuer stated they were worth in excess of €4,500. He seems to think he will only get €3,150. The Department should know by now that the cost of cattle has risen sharply in the past 12 months, meaning replacing the animals will cost much more. We heard the Minister, Deputy Heydon, say he had secured extra funding, but what is it for? Is it to curb the primary cause? I do not think so. It seems to be for the secondary issue of more testing and disposal reactors. The number of reactors has been going up steadily since 2018 when there were 7,500.”
“I am glad to get time to raise this very important matter, the spread of tuberculosis and the TB eradication scheme, which is clearly not working. We have more outbreaks of TB now after 46 or 47 years of testing. There are so many farmers going down in east Kerry, mid-Kerry and south Kerry. Even in Kilgarvan, many farmers have gone down, including our neighbour, Mikey Joe Murphy, who is very local to us and does everything right. He has never bought in any cows or animals and gives and does all he can to maintain and improve his herd. If I look out at 7.30 a.m. on a Sunday morning, his cows are leaving the parlour, milked. Half an hour later, we can see him topping or spreading fertiliser, even on a Sunday. He goes at it around the clock. He had an outbreak of tuberculosis last Friday week and 26 of his 66 cows have gone down.”
“If enforcement is weak and they are left exposed to harm, that is a failure of our justice system. I think Deputy Mattie McGrath was to speak. I will just say that this is a very important matter for all of us to deal with. Women are physically weaker than men. Men should not be left to abuse, hurt or kill them, as has been happening. We must make it ever harder for them. In a minority of cases, men get abused. We cannot allow that either. That has happened from time to time but it happens far less often. It is the other way 99% of the time. We are depending on the Ministers to expedite the Bill and to bring it forward, and also to ensure that in the next 12 months it is sorted out once and for all. It is going on for long enough.”
“If there is any way we could strengthen it using anything from this Bill, we should do so to ensure the best possible outcome for girls and women of all ages and to ensure they are properly catered for and seen after. These constant abusers get the facility of legal aid. That should only happen once or twice at the very most. These abusers are horrible people and repeatedly get the facility of legal aid. It should be cut to two rounds of legal aid at most. After that, lock them up. They should not get fair play after that. We must ensure the appropriate safeguarding of all victims and all those who are vulnerable. I think especially of young disabled children and non-verbal children. We must seek to protect them at all costs. They depend entirely on the system and our laws to protect them.”
“We should ensure that, whatever way this is done, the women will have freedom to live where they have lived or where they want to live. If they want to move, that is fine, but they should not have to move so as not to see or be intimidated by an abuser. They should be seen after. We have heard all the stories and we know all the dreadful and horrible things that happened to women in our country over a number of years. So many have been murdered, maimed, badly injured and hurt. It is severely difficult for us to believe that such things could happen in our country. We must seek to close the gap and put a stop to this for once and for all. The Minister is bringing forward his own Bill.”
“I am glad to get the chance to talk on this very important motion. I thank Sinn Féin for bringing it forward. I welcome the ladies in the Gallery who are here to campaign for justice. Like all of the other women out there who are being abused, they are depending on Dáil Éireann to see after them and to uphold their right to live and carry on where they have always been, in their own local areas. It was said that there is an urgent need for robust enforcement of protection orders. We should develop a strategy to ensure that. Deputy Boyd Barrett said that the councils should play their part in moving the woman from her house. I think the man she is afraid of should be moved out of the area rather than the woman having to move. She did nothing wrong. These enforcement or protection orders are not symbolic. They should be enforced.”
“When you are above €36,000 or €37,000, you will not even get on the housing list. There are people above that, middle income earners, and those sites should be made at least affordable for people in that category, so they could build their own houses. It is impossible to get planning permission in or around Killarney. I ask that it be organised in some way. Get the local authority involved. These sites should be made available to people who want to build their own houses. There are a lot of people waiting on the social housing list. There are lot of houses being built there but the people who have been totally left behind are the working man and woman who want to build their own house. It is failing completely in Kerry. It is not happening there and I ask the Minister of State to deal with that too.”
“Invariably, the patients will thank the staff for doing what they do. We are proud of that unit. When the Minister of State is in Kerry again, she must look at it because it is a template for the rest of the country. The HSE wants to sell the lands and the buildings at St. Finan's. It does not seem to want to make any use of it. I have never felt that it should sell it because going back in time, Kerry County Council transferred those lands and buildings to the HSE when it took over the health service. There is valuable land there for housing but the HSE wants to sell the whole lot together. The Land Development Agency says it only wants the land. The Minister of State should not to let that happen and not let the Land Development Agency get it like that. We have a lot of young fellas and young girls who want to build their own homes.”
“If you are elderly and sick, you do not just get better at weekends or on bank holidays. You will not be well enough to go out and have a good time, or anything like that. People need the help but, invariably, it is hard to get it. More often than not they do not have the staff to go out on bank holidays or Sundays. We need to deal with that issue. I am not fighting with the Minister of State. I am only asking on behalf of the people who need this. I believe we have the best palliative care unit in the country. It is a template for how people should be looked after in their final weeks and days. It is a massive unit and I compliment all the nurses and staff who work there. Their heart goes into the people going in there to finish up. It is tough. I have been there a number of times.”
“Even after the two or three weeks in the community hospital, there is no home care package. It does not arrive. The people go home, and even though they have been approved for so many hours of home help, it is not provided because the staff or the home helps are not there to come out at the times they are supposed to. If an elderly person is living with them, they are responsible for minding their companion, their partner or their husband but that is not right even though it does the person good to walk around, to get out of bed, to go to the toilet or to go to the kitchen for a cup of tea or something. We could save the nation a fortune if people could be looked after at home with proper home help, with two or three visits each day seven days a week and on bank holidays.”
“We have a lot of beds in the likes of Kenmare and Dingle community hospitals that are not open. The beds are there but we do not have the staff, or that is what we are being told. We have been told that now for ten or 12 years. We need to sort that out. It is important. The other thing that happens is that elderly people who are sick go into UHK. When they are better, because they are well looked after there, they are sent to Kenmare, Killarney community hospital, which I mentioned, Listowel or elsewhere to recuperate for a week or two. Invariably the families say their father, mother or aunt needs another week or two there but it is not available. They are under pressure. It is the same all over our network in Kerry. When people leave UHK, they are promised they will get a home care package.”
“So many other things depend on that. We were promised a minor injuries clinic, which is to be opened in St. Columbanus, in the nursing home and long-term bed part of the community hospital in Killarney. A primary care clinic is to be opened in St. Finan's. Is that going to happen? Some respite beds were to be opened. It is not happening at all in Kerry to the extent that it should. People are entitled to four weeks' respite. I raised it in September. People tried to get a few days but some of them did not get them. I know one lady who has not left her mother's side for the past five years and she wanted to go away for a week. She could not get anyone to mind her mother and she could not get respite in Kenmare, Killarney or anywhere. That is the other thing.”
“A number of nurses gave their lives to nursing in Kerry - very capable men and women. They are terrified now because they mentioned the fact that they would work a few hours. The end of the letter they got back suggested that their pensions might be cut off completely. I want that to be dealt with because it has happened to a number of people in and around Killarney and Tralee who would like to go back to work. I am asking for that to be dealt with. I mention the new community hospital-nursing home in Killarney. The building is finished but there is no date for the transfer. I do not know if it can happen in the depths of winter but it needs to happen. Are the staff in place? Are they organised? When will it be fully open? A lot of people, including elected representatives, sick people and elderly people, are asking about this.”