Dee Ryan
Nominated by the Taoiseach · Fianna Fáil · Ireland
“Employers cannot take on people unless they have a car because their particular place of employment is not serviced by public transport. Workers are frustrated that they cannot get to work on a bus. They would like to be saving some money with the cost of living by using public transport.”
“Having heard my account of what is going on the ground in Limerick, the Minister of State will understand why I am really disappointed with that response. The NTA will be publishing an implementation plan by the end of this year. Is she joking me? What in the name of God is going on in the NTA? Clearly, it has no interest in Limerick.”
“I am nearly even afraid to say it out loud but in the last month, I have heard that it could be 2030, which is unthinkable. Can the Minister of State please tell us what is holding us back and the reason for the delay? Has the local authority completed all the works it needs to do to run the system?”
“I am out on the doors in Limerick every week and frustration with the public transport service in Limerick comes up everywhere and repeatedly. I have parents complaining that they cannot give their teenagers a little bit of freedom and let them off to go somewhere on the bus, so they have to play taxi.”
“I thank the Minister of State for coming in to take my question. She is very welcome. I am standing here to ask her if she can, and I really hope she will be able to, clarify for the people of Limerick what is going on with Limerick BusConnects.”
“I thank the Minister of State for that excellent update. It is great to hear that the Department envisages that the pilot will be live before the end of this year.”
The complete record
Every one of 335 lines we hold for Dee Ryan, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 3 of 7.
“I touched on some of them already, as the Minister of State did in her speech. Before I finish, I recognise the presence of Katelyn Cummins, the Rose of Tralee. I echo the Minister of State's comments in congratulating her on her personal achievement in becoming the Rose of Tralee and thanking her for the work she has done in making female apprenticeships much more visible. Since 2020, as the Minister of State said, we have increased the number of female apprenticeships across the country by nearly 200%. In 2020, we had 1,017 female apprentices and last year, there were 3,010. That is huge growth in a short number of years and it is thanks to the Minister of State's predecessor and the work in the Department in focusing on apprenticeships.”
“There is a vibrancy that goes with that and a wonderful community has been built up in the workplace for young people in training and earning and learning at the same time. It was an eye-opener for me to have some time to listen to the different experiences of people in my region of Limerick and to have the opportunity to talk about civil engineering apprenticeships, auctioneering, landscaping, accountancy, carpentry, plumbing, electrical and the many different areas that people can go into should they decide not to follow the well-worn and perhaps more conventional path to a level 7 or level 8 qualification but instead step directly into the world of work and combine the best of both worlds with their learning and qualifications. We have, of course, heard about many of the challenges around apprenticeships.”
“They were surprised to hear that as an apprentice electrician, for example, you can move employer during your time in training. There are advertisements and opportunities for second- and third-year apprentices. In that way, you can broaden your experience in different areas. You might spend a couple of years in residential home-building before going into an industrial setting and specialising in something else. In Limerick, for example, huge work is ongoing at the Eli Lilly plant at the moment. Fionn McInerney Garry, who was with us, told us that he moved from the area of home-building, where perhaps 30 of them were on site every day, to Eli Lilly, where there are nearly 2,000 people on the construction site, including somewhere in the region of 400 apprentices.”
“We have been thinking and learning, rightly, about all the issues around off-the-job placements and the efforts being made to match the apprentices to locations that are close to their homes to help them manage the challenges around accommodation, the cost of equipment and all those issues. To hear it from the other side, for the first time, was an eye-opener. There is great excitement from the employers' perspective about the value of these programmes. They want to develop relationships with employees. They bring people in at the age of 18, support them to learn on the job and get their qualifications, and then, later in their careers, perhaps they will take the next step to management level, having really got to know the company over the course of their first qualification. The students wanted to know about applying for different roles.”
“There are four different engineering programmes that can be done via apprenticeship in Johnson and Johnson, with two intakes per annum of school leavers from secondary schools in the Limerick area. We also had one of the enterprise liaison managers, Ms Eimear Brophy, from the Limerick and Clare ETB on the panel. It was a really interesting discussion. We pulled the chairs into a semi-circle, parents and students asked lots of questions and it was so informative. I learned a huge amount. I was there as a parent and it was great to be looking at it from the other side of the desk. We have been examining it from the State's perspective and thinking about how the programmes are run, funding within the Department and guidance for employers on pay for apprentices.”
“We ran a number of panels, one of which was the Earn and Learn panel and I was delighted that there was great interest in it and a huge attendance. We had past pupils on the panel, including Fionn McInerney Garry, who is a third year apprentice electrician. He came to the school in his Snickers workwear and spoke to the children and parents about what his role involves and about his journey so far. We also had an apprentice auctioneer, James Carney from Rooney's Auctioneers in Limerick. We had a representative from Johnson and Johnson, which is a huge employer in Castletroy, with over 2,000 people going in and out of its manufacturing facility every day. A dedicated member of the company's management team is responsible for recruiting apprentices and promoting its apprenticeship programmes.”
“I commend the Minister of State and her colleagues in the Department on increasing from 58 to 78, in just a short number of years, the number of different courses and qualifications available through the model across the country. All of these are being delivered in partnership with SOLAS and the ETBs. On Saturday last I attended a career fair at my child's secondary school, Castletroy College in Limerick city. There are almost 1,500 students in the school and the careers fair was organised by the parents council. We invited local employers to come to the school, put up a stand and talk to the children in senior cycle - fourth, fifth and sixth year - about the potential roles that might be open to them when they finish school or when they are thinking about what courses they should apply for.”
“Curaim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. I thank her for coming in to the Chamber today and for taking the time to listen and engage with us on this really important topic. I commend the work being done in the Department and the work she has been leading on in the area of apprenticeships since her appointment. As a parent and the Fianna Fáil spokesperson in the Seanad on further and higher education and skills, I am very interested in this area. It has been a thrill and a real eye-opener to learn over the past year, in discussions at the Oireachtas education committee, about the very many areas that are open to young people now through the Earn and Learn model.”
“I would be grateful if we could have an update from the Minister on the subcontractors and the resources nationally that are available to support the roll-out of fibre and, indeed, if we could ask the question as to whether we are over-reliant on one or two companies providing the service around the country.”
“Could we have an update from the Minister on the roll-out of fibre across the country, but in particular, could we discuss the resources nationally that are available to support businesses and, indeed, residents in having fibre installed in their homes? In the case of these businesses in Limerick, they are moving from one premises to another. These are employers. It is impacting on their ability to continue with the expansion they are investing in. It is limiting them and slowing them down in their increased recruitment of employees and, obviously, the development of their business.”
“I have been contacted in the last 24 hours by a number of businesses in Limerick that are having difficulties with fibre installation in the city centre, which is surprising given that the city has a significant amount of infrastructure already invested in it in this regard. While the businesses I have spoken to have their contracts with different service providers, whether Eir or another private telecoms provider, it would appear that the work to install the fibre line has been subcontracted to the same company and that that particular company has been leaving people down, I am sorry to say, over the last couple of months.”
“I ask the Leader to invite the Minister for Health to come to the Chamber for a discussion and debate on the dental health system throughout the country, with a particular focus on the state of the system in Limerick. I would like the Minister to update the House on the strategies she will be deploying to address this challenge.”
“The Irish Dental Association has described the dental situation in Limerick as in a state of total collapse. At a recent Oireachtas health committee meeting, and indeed on our local media in Limerick, the Irish Dental Association CEO, Mr. Fintan Hourihan, has said that if the figures he is seeing are accurate, less than one in five children in Limerick is getting the preventative visits to which they are entitled. Government policy is, as Members will know, that primary school children should be seen by a dentist in second, fourth and six classes. However, in 2023 in Limerick, out of 8,500 children eligible, only 1,600 were seen. That is less than one in five.”
“It is part of a regeneration project to revitalise a disused section of our city centre and the OPW will take the building for the Revenue Commissioners, which will have about 950 spaces within it when it is completed. It will be 14-storeys high. I wish everyone involved in the project the best of luck.”
“I add my voice to the concerns that our colleagues from the Dublin constituencies articulated today. Indeed, Senator Comyn joined the meeting with the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, and asked for urgent action to address this issue because it is a blight right across the country, particularly in urban areas. On a happier note, I wish the best of luck to the 300 workers who will be involved in the construction of Limerick's tallest building, which the ground was broken on yesterday. The Office of Public Works, OPW, commissioned a building that Limerick 2030 will deliver. It will overlook the canal and the river in Limerick city centre.”
“Unfortunately, a tragic accident has occurred. The matter is being investigated by the Garda and will be before the courts in due course. While this accident was unpredictable, there have been many calls in this House and in the Lower House for greater action from the Garda in seizing scrambler bikes, which are a scourge in many urban communities around the country. Indeed, in my own area of Limerick we have seen many instances of not just antisocial behaviour, but suspected criminal activity and drug dealing often by youths. In many cases, they are under the age of 16. They are being pushed by criminal gangs to use scrambler bikes and electric scooters to carry out their wishes. It is a significant issue that the Garda has been asked to deal to with.”
“I add my condolences to all those who loved and worked with Brian Crowley. Unfortunately, I did not have the pleasure of knowing him but from hearing party colleagues speak about him, he sounds like an incredible person. I know that his loss is deeply felt. Thank you for your lovely tribute, a Chathaoirligh. Unfortunately, I also have to voice my deep sympathies and absolute regret and horror on the passing of the teenage girl, Grace Lynch. On Sunday just gone, while she was walking, minding her own business - we believe on her way to meet her boyfriend, living her best 16-year-old life - she was involved in a horrific accident and she instantly lost her life. The person or persons involved were driving a scrambler bike. The use of scrambler bikes on public roads and public spaces is illegal in this country.”
“Unfortunately, because of the limitation on numbers, we are not able to maintain that level of visible policing all year round in Limerick. However, I highlight the successful scheme that has been rolled out in Cork. In Cork, in November, it was announced that the gardaí were bringing in a permanent high-visibility policing plan for the city centre, deploying 48 additional gardaí to tackle antisocial behaviour, drug dealing and shoplifting that unfortunately can take hold in urban centres across the country. I ask the Minister to please come in and give us an update on that plan in Cork, which we hear reports of the success of, and how he hopes, in time, to roll that out across the country. Indeed, we would like to see it being rolled out in Limerick as soon as possible.”
“I commend the work of the men and women of An Garda Síochána in Limerick over the Christmas period and January. I have been speaking to members and representatives of the business community, shoppers, and residents in Limerick city. I am hearing positive feedback to the Christmas policing plan that was put into place by the local Henry Street gardaí over the Christmas period. We had increased visibility of gardaí on the street in the city centre, which really demonstrated the commitment that the gardaí had made to revitalising our city centre and supporting the businesses and the people who live there. The feedback from shoppers and residents was that they felt safer and relaxed and that it led to a positive atmosphere in the city centre over the Christmas period.”
“That is why I call for a debate in the House on diversification of our markets, specifically the crucial role that transport, air access and connectivity have for us, as an island nation, in developing our economic links with other markets. We in the mid-west call for increased daily connectivity to the EU marketplace from Shannon Airport. We would also like to see the development of links with the UAE and the Gulf states. It has been a market of national focus for us. We have an embassy in the UAE and we have opened Bord Bia and Enterprise Ireland offices there. There is a real business case for developing closer links, with air access from the UAE to Shannon Airport, to help economic growth in the region and sustainability and resilience in coming years.”
“It is appropriate as we approach the end of the year to reflect on what we have been through economically in the course of 2025. It has been another turbulent year for business owners and business leaders. We started the year with a lot of uncertainty around tariffs. There were fears of a potential trade war between the US and the EU. I commend all of the business owners and business leaders who steered their organisations through that turbulent time. I also commend our political leaders on the hard work they did in getting us through that. By no means would it be safe to say there is certainty as we look to 2026.”
“I am firmly of the view that urgent interim measures are required in the years between now and then. I will continue to engage with the Minister on what immediate actions can be taken in the interim for the people in the mid-west while we await delivery of this very welcome medium- and long-term solutions.”
“That is great news. I am delighted to hear that Minister, Deputy Chambers, will be supporting us in this. I know he will not be found wanting. I am looking forward to hearing the Minister for Health’s decision on the maternity hospital relocation. We would, of course, advocate for the relocation and colocation of it closer to UHL. While yesterday’s Cabinet decision is very welcome and nothing less than what the people of the mid-west need and deserve, it is, of course, a long-term plan and pathway to safer care. The reality is that patient care for people in the mid-west is no different now than it was yesterday or than it will be tomorrow or next winter. That remains unacceptable. It will be 2029 before the next major block of acute beds will be delivered.”
“I acknowledge that the Minister has said she will proceed with option C. Given the scale of population growth and the level of existing demand in the mid-west, will the Minister clarify whether she envisages a second emergency department as part of option C? This morning, Oireachtas colleagues from across the mid-west have been responding to yesterday's welcome announcement. Queries are arising in the context of funding. The national development plan, NDP, envelope which the Minister announced last week may not support fully funding the scale of investment needed across the mid-west. Will the Minister provide clarity on where funding for these projects will come from?”
“That distinction matters if we are to be clear and direct with the public about what is required to make UHL safe. I welcome the Minister’s commitment to maximise the use of space on the current site at Dooradoyle, option A, in tandem with identifying a nearby adjacent site for the extension of services at UHL, option B. I just have three questions. Does the Minister envisage the relocation of the maternity hospital on the Ennis Road in Limerick to option B, the second site adjacent to Dooradoyle under the governance of UHL? That would be in line with the long-standing objective of full colocation of maternity services and acute hospital care. The very welcome announcement in the media yesterday did not specify the provision of a second emergency department for the region.”
“When we last spoke in the House on 27 November, we discussed the HIQA report and acknowledged that it laid bare for all to see that the problems that have been accumulating in accident and emergency care in the mid-west are caused by a chronic shortage of acute inpatient beds in UHL. The Minister may not be aware that this put to bed an ongoing local debate about the root causes of the problems we were experiencing with the emergency department. It was important that the report highlighted that inpatient acute bed care is what we require. While I welcome the Minister’s other commitment yesterday to provide additional beds in Nenagh, Ennis and St. John’s hospitals, I want to flag that those are not actually acute inpatient beds.”
“The Minister is very welcome back to the House. I thank her for coming in to take my questions on this matter. She knows, as we all do, the importance of this issue for the mid-west. At the outset, I thank her for the wonderful news she gave us yesterday. We have had many sad days in healthcare in the mid-west, but yesterday was really positive. It is very important that we remember all the people who lost their lives prematurely while in University Hospital Limerick, UHL. I am conscious that this week is the third anniversary of Aoife Johnston’s death. I want to acknowledge those who lost their lives. I thank the Minister for putting her shoulder to the wheel and taking on what is the most important challenge for those of us in the mid-west.”
“It ensures that workers, apprentices, learners and jobseekers across the country get the very best chance to develop the skills our modern economy demands. The Minister has seen the potential on the ground. He has seen the ambition of the institutions to deliver more, and he knows what is possible when we match that ambition with the right legislative tools. For these reasons, I am very pleased to support the National Training Fund (Amendment) Bill. I encourage colleagues across the House to do likewise.”
“Again, the facilities are older and we would love to upgrade them, modernise them and potentially it may be able to apply for those facilities through the NTF. Ireland's success has always rested on the strength of our talent pipeline. We are competitive, not because we are the cheapest, but because we have the workers who can adapt, learn, retrain and thrive in fast evolving industries. The NTF's income has grown, as the Minister mentioned. It is right that we are ensuring that this fund can be fully and responsibly deployed for the purposes for which it was created. This Bill does that. It protects the fund's objectives. It tightens the link between spending and skills, and it gives us the flexibility to use the fund in a way that makes sense in 2025. This amendment is modest in form but significant in impact.”
“Centres like CRIS require highly specialised equipment and modern facilities. That is what the fund is for. This amendment corrects the current position and ensures that places like UL can continue to innovate, expand and train people using the tools that industry requires today. CRIS is not alone. Significant work is being done in the Limerick campus of the Technological University of the Shannon, TUS. It is delivering apprentices that we badly need across the construction sector, working in renewable energy, construction technologies and digital systems year-on-year. These programmes need modern workshops. The Minister is very familiar with this. The LCFE on Mulgrave Street in Limerick is an excellent centre that draws many school leavers and does wonderful training with them.”
“It is also involved in the designated maritime area plans, DMAPs, work that has to be done to ensure we unlock the potential from the west coast. This type of technology is crucial in that regard, so it is very much in demand. The centre is doing all of this incredible work – researching, developing PhD students and working with the various institutions to help train their in-house staff - from a tiny laboratory facility; the same one it started with 20 years ago in UL. This is an example of an absolute gem of a skill set that we are developing, which is highly specialised, hugely in demand and will be going forward, and the fund could potentially facilitate the centre to develop its facilities. That really brought to life for me what the Minister is trying to do here.”
“The work that it does is very focused on marine surveillance - underneath the ocean, on the water and in the air. It develops its own drones, autonomous boats and autonomous submarines but it also buys in some and customises them. The centre has all of the technology and systems developed in its base in UL in Limerick whereby it can monitor in real time the work those autonomous instruments are doing anywhere in the world. The centre has partnered in its work with the Garda, the Coast Guard and the Navy here, and with other important state bodies around the world. There is huge potential and demand for the skills it is developing in the offshore wind sector and in our security and surveillance sector.”
“The Minister has done well in the important work of communicating on this Bill with our partners and stakeholders. If I may, I want to focus for a moment on Limerick. I know the Minister is very familiar with Limerick because he visited us a number of times since he took up office. I want to highlight one example that perfectly illustrates the possibilities the Bill will present. It is the Centre for Robotics and Intelligent Systems, CRIS, at the University of Limerick. I know he had a briefing on it. I have had multiple briefings on it. Our colleague Deputy Cathal Crowe is passionate about the strong work that it does. When the Taoiseach was in Limerick some weeks ago, he had a private briefing on the work this group does. It is a leading centre for robotics, automation and intelligent sensing systems.”
“This Bill ensures that the capital investments, whether they are refurbishments, retrofitting, decarbonisation works or accessibility improvements, are funded and that safeguard is hardwired into the legislation. It also allows certain research and core HE funding to be supported when it clearly strengthens the skills base. I commend the work on the work the Minister has done in liaising with the different stakeholders in the interest groups. When this was first mooted a number of months ago, there was concern from the business community because this is the money it had built up, the fund it had contributed to and the question was what would happen to it? I had very few of those communications coming to me and very little of that concern was expressed to me in the past week as I prepared to meet the Minister today.”
“It also struck me how synchronised things are across government and how there is a whole-of-government approach to ensuring we drive on in delivering for the people while ensuring we develop a sustainable economy. I am very pleased to support the Bill, which responds to a very practical challenge. While we can fund courses and programmes through the NTF, the existing legislation, as the Minister rightly pointed out, restricts us in the context of supporting the provision of many of the facilities and equipment those programmes require. We simply cannot train an engineer, a robotics technician, healthcare assistant or an apprentice in 2025 with outdated tools and buildings.”
“I welcome the Minister. It is great to have him back in the House again. I also welcome this Bill. I have heard the Minister speak many times since he took up his office and I have always been struck by how familiar he is with his brief. There is such rich tapestry of things happening within it. Hearing him speak again this morning I am struck by how much the Government appreciates and understands the link between our higher education sector, our skilled workforce and our economy and how funding and ensuring we put money and investment into our knowledge economy will allow us to do all of the other things the public wants us to do in terms of special needs assistants, healthcare, housing and infrastructure and all of the good work we are rightly focused on delivering.”
“I have written to the Minister for Health and I have asked her for a detailed explanation for the pensioner, her family and all those in the village of Castleconnell as to what could have happened to have delayed an ambulance for an elderly person for five hours that left her lying on the cold concrete at night-time in December. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Niall Collins, for raising the matter with the Minister on my behalf. I also take this opportunity to highlight that, unfortunately, we have not yet received the Minister's recommendations on the HIQA report and her determination as to how she is going to proceed with improving healthcare services for us in the mid-west. I ask the Deputy Leader, if she could, please, to send a message to the Minister to ask if she could give us an update on that.”
“They brought out blankets and cushions and tried their best to make her as comfortable as possible, but as we can imagine, it was very upsetting for everybody involved. Phone call after phone call was made repeatedly to the ambulance service to ask why it was not there yet and what had happened. I commend all of the neighbours who came to her assistance and supported her, and the off-duty emergency worker who came down to help them. I also commend the Minister of State, Deputy Kieran O'Donnell, who got a phone call at 10 o'clock and who went out to the scene and did his best to try to help get an ambulance to her. I highlight this once again as another healthcare horror story in Limerick.”
“Last Saturday night at 6.15 an 80-year-old woman left the gate of her home in the village of Castleconnell in County Limerick on her way to mass. Walking up the street she slipped and fell. Unfortunately, this 80-year-old sustained a painful hip fracture. Passers-by on their way to mass came to her assistance immediately, as did neighbours, and the ambulance was called. It took five hours for the ambulance to arrive for that 80-year-old woman. We in Castleconnell live 14 km from the city centre. You can imagine the distress and the upset to all those attending the 80-year-old woman who were told, correctly, by the ambulance and emergency services not to move her. She lay on the concrete footpath for five hours on Saturday night.”
“However, we need to ask whether, given the opportunity to develop vast amounts of renewable energy on our west coast, the time has come to consider, in a planned manner, changes to Ardnacrusha in support of water supply, ecology and economic development in other parts of the region.”
“Great work is being done by many groups, including the Castleconnell River Association, to address those issues and clean up the tributaries that lead into the Shannon in my part of the world in order to help those species to thrive. However, we have to recognise that a reduced flow or an unregulated flow to the lower Shannon could further affect these species and our ecology in the area. I am therefore glad to have heard the points and questions raised today by Senator P.J. Murphy and Senator Noonan about opening a conversation about Ardnacrusha. It is a project we are proud of in the mid-west.”
“It is critical for us in Limerick and the surrounding areas that the water levels coming from the Parteen Basin are maintained, not only to ensure we have the water supply we need today, but also so we do not restrict our ability and desire as a regional city to grow and shoulder some of the burden of congestion and overpopulation in Dublin and on the eastern seaboard. In raising that point, I also raise the point that there are environmental concerns. My village was known traditionally for eel and salmon fishing. With the opening of Ardnacrusha, the flow of the river reduced dramatically and the levels of a lot of those species dropped dramatically.”
“It had a huge impact and huge damage was caused. However, we are also aware of the changes in the water levels during summer periods and when the weather is dryer. That is when we notice the flow on the lower Shannon reducing. It is of significant concern to us, particularly given the proposals we have - and rightly so - to supply water to the greater Dublin area and the proposals that are advancing for the Shannon pipeline. Our concerns are on economic and environmental grounds. Members may not all be aware that all of County Limerick and parts of County Clare get their water supply from the lower Shannon. It passes my front door and goes down to Lisnagry to a waterworks point where the treatment and distribution is done.”
“As a Limerick woman, I am wedded to the Shannon. The majestic Shannon is woven into our identity. When we think of it, we think of King John's Castle and the beautiful bridges. Being from Castleconnell, a village on the river, I have grown up with it. All my family members enjoy it. I learned how to swim there. My swimming lessons were in the River Shannon, not in a swimming pool at school. My brothers and children row on it and continue to use it for all kinds of recreational activities. We are very close to it and appreciate it. We too have suffered from the floods over the years. In November 2009, there were winter floods. Over Christmas in 2015, the floods came through Montpelier, O'Briensbridge, Castleconnell, Cloonlara and even as far as Limerick city into the King's Island area. People's kitchens were flooded.”
“Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. It is lovely to have him back in the Seanad. I rise to welcome this Bill and to commend my colleagues, Senators Rabbitte and Paul Daly, for the work they have done. Senator Rabbitte in particular has been pursuing this since 2017, but, unfortunately, it has fallen foul of Governments falling and the election periods that followed. She has been pursuing this issue doggedly for many years because she understands not only how important it is to those in her area in Galway but also how important it is to so many of us who live along the whole course of the Shannon and along the banks of the lake. The fact that there are three Limerick people here today speaks volumes for how integrated the whole water system is and how much of an impact a change at one point has on the rest of us downstream.”
“I know the Minister would have different views on the matter, but we in Limerick are living it. I was there on Monday with a family member. The team is amazing, as is the care, but patients are waiting on trolleys for a long time. When it gets busy, it is, unfortunately, less safe. I call on the Minister to publish her views on the HIQA report as soon as possible.”
“I would like a discussion of that issue on a date that is suitable. I acknowledge the front page of this week's Limerick Leader , which is one of the oldest, most established and most prominent local papers in Limerick. It has published the photographs of four women who, unfortunately, over recent years lost their lives in the emergency department at University Hospital Limerick, UHL. I thank the Minister for coming to the House last Thursday and giving us her time to debate the topic of the HIQA report. I thank her for her engagement on that matter. However, on Tuesday, HSE mid-west had, once again, to issue a media release to the local papers and radio to ask people not to come to the emergency department at UHL unless they had a real emergency because it was at such a level of overcrowding.”
“The Shelbourne Road in Limerick city also has a pedestrian crossing with flashing beacons close to a primary school. Drivers seem to be zooming through the crossing and failing to observe any safety measures. I have written to the county council about the issue. I have engaged with local residents about it. I would like it if we could have a debate on what further measures can be implemented at pedestrian crossings because, unfortunately, whether they are looking at their phones or speeding to get ahead in traffic, drivers are not taking due care. Many suggestions have been made to me by residents of the area I am speaking about. People are asking why we cannot have cameras on these pedestrian crossings that will read a numberplate and issue a fine to someone who is not observing a person crossing at a pedestrian crossing.”
“I draw attention, unfortunately, to a very serious accident that happened in Limerick in recent weeks. A woman who is a student at the University of Limerick was jogging close to a pedestrian crossing on Corbally Road in Limerick. She was seriously injured. Our thoughts are with her and her family as she is in hospital in Cork undergoing treatment. Limerick councillors in that area have been drawing attention to the fact that it is a very busy road and close to a primary school. It is also a huge area for commuters. In the mornings, it is chock-a-block. People are not respecting the pedestrian crossing. They are not observing the flashing lights. They are not slowing down or stopping to allow pedestrians, who are often small primary school children, to pass. It is an issue that I have raised in another part of Limerick.”
“Let it be the moment we acknowledge past failings, face the realities outlined by HIQA, and commit fully, visibly and without delay to delivering a modern acute hospital system worthy of the people in the mid-west it serves.”