Manus Boyle
Nominated by the Taoiseach · Fine Gael · Ireland
“I will raise an issue about small craft registration in Ireland. The Marine Survey Office is responsible for registering all vessels, from large cargo ships to small pleasure boats. Registration is essential for every ship travelling to ports in and out of the EU and other countries.”
“In the end, they had no choice but to register their boat in another EU country so they could continue their plans. They are proud Irish people and wanted to sail under the Irish flag but instead have been forced to fly the flag of another country because of the delays in our system.”
“Despite being approved for home care, the family was told there are simply not enough carers available to provide this woman the care she needs. Instead of receiving care at home her condition worsened to the point she had to be hospitalised in Letterkenny.”
“Many patients end up back in the hospital because the care they were promised never materialises. We need urgent investment in our home care services, recruitment and retention of carers and a guarantee that when carers are approved it actually is approved. Older people deserve dignity and families deserve support.”
“I will talk about home care for the elderly. I want to raise a heartbreaking case that highlights the deepening crisis in our healthcare for the elderly. I raised this last week and before on numerous occasions but nothing has improved. We are failing our older people.”
“I concur with my fellow Senators' comments on water safety. It is an important issue, especially in rural counties like my own county of Donegal. With the weather being so good, the beaches are going to be full this weekend. There will be large amounts of people at them. I ask people to be cautious and vigilant of what is going on.”
The complete record
Every one of 308 lines we hold for Manus Boyle, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 2 of 7.
“I would like to be associated with the calls of my colleagues about the National Ambulance Service. As we know, I am always very vocal in here about that. I thank my colleagues for taking it up and I thank my colleague for taking up International Nurse Day. My late mother-in-law was a nurse for many years and so is my wife. Today, I want to talk about a very serious issue of the availability of givinostat for children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, DMD. I know colleagues have raised it here on numerous occasions. DMD is a serious, lifelong condition for children and their families. I have continued to raise this since I was appointed to the Seanad. Families deserve answers and action on this.”
“An air ambulance is vital to support the ambulance service on the ground. The Government needs to take a fresh look at an air ambulance based in the north-west region. We are cut off from everyone. I pay tribute to the air ambulance, Air Corps, and Coast Guard that, when tasked, come out at short notice and save lives. I, along with others, was calling for this for years before I got here. We have pushed so hard. With the renewed emphasis on what is going on, maybe the Leader could try to push the need for an air ambulance to cover the north-west region up the line. It is vital moving forward for some big counties like Donegal, Sligo and Leitrim.”
“I thank the Cathaoirleach and Acting Leader. I also wish to be associated with my two colleagues here on the protests. Today is a sad day for Donegal. I woke up this morning to hear the late Moya Brennan, the lead singer of Clannad, had sadly passed away. She had a very special voice and was a lovely person. I only met the lady once but anywhere I went for the past ten years, all I heard was great words about Moya Brennan. She was a great ambassador for Donegal up until the very end. She had a beautiful voice and her music will live forever in the hearts of the people in Donegal. I wish to raise an issue that I have raised in this Chamber on numerous occasions, which is the need for an air ambulance for the north-west region of Donegal, Sligo and Leitrim. As we saw last week, traffic on the roads came to a standstill.”
“Donegal is a rural county and many of these roads serve family homes, farms and even small businesses. This is essential infrastructure for us. Will the Department undertake an urgent review of the level of funding available to Donegal under the scheme? Finally, like my colleagues, I want to support Ireland this evening. I hope we can do the business, especially Killybegs native and proud Donegal man, Séamie Coleman. Hopefully, when he comes back to Killybegs, it will be to a hero's welcome.”
“I raise the issue of funding for the local improvement schemes in Donegal. While I welcome the recent allocation of €1.2 million, the reality on the ground is that the level of funding is far from sufficient to meet demand. The Donegal municipal district, which was my district, currently has between 250 and 300 applications waiting. Many of these date back as far as 2016. This highlights the large scale of the backlog. At present, funding only allows the council to do work on approximately five or six lanes per year. As a result, councillors from all parties are dealing with calls to their constituency offices from residents who are frustrated and angry. These people, who have been waiting for years, cannot understand why the progress is so slow.”
“The community have shown patience, commitment and a genuine willingness to take responsibility for the building. They are a tight-knit community and work tirelessly to create all opportunities to strengthen bonds and work together. Their interest in the barracks is not speculative but rooted in a vision for the community. This community wants to come together and make the building a place where they can advertise what goes on in the local area. As Members will know, we have the thatching college down there. There is so much this building could be used for and this delay is really unacceptable. Maybe we could try to get the two groups together to see if we could get this signed over to the local co-operative, which really wants to make something good of it. The committee really is first-class.”
“I wish to raise an issue about Clogher barracks, which is located near Portnoo in beautiful Donegal. It is a building with history and potential. It was operated as a Garda station but has been closed since 1999. For over two decades this fine structure has stood idle despite clear interest from the local community in bringing it back into meaningful use. Since 12 September 2018, the Narin Portnoo Rosbeg Community Co-operative Society has been actively engaging with the Office of Public Works and An Garda Síochána regarding the future of the building. Representatives from both organisations met the local community on site. Following that meeting there were strong expectations the building would be leased to the community to look after. However, several years on, nothing has happened.”
“Could the Leader emphasise to the Government the importance of fuel for coastal communities all over Ireland and push that marine would be included in this subsidy in order to help fishermen and fisherwomen sustain jobs and local communities? The agriculture sector also needs to be looked at. I have already had four contractors from that sector on to me today to ask why they are not included. These are people who are out working too. They need diesel in large amounts to fuel their tractors. It is something the Government really needs to look at before it gets too far down the line.”
“I welcome the proposed subsidy for haulage and bus companies. The rebate back to January is also very welcome. These past two weeks, the staff in my office and I have been inundated with communications from haulage and bus companies in Donegal regarding the fuel crisis. This is the right decision but, once again, marine does not get a look in. Between quota cuts and Brexit, fishing communities have suffered so much through the years. The Government needs to step in and help the industry. At the moment, it is not viable for fishermen to go to sea in light of the price of fuel. I ask the Government to have a fresh look at this and to have the marine sector included in what is proposed. Fishing communities all over Ireland, big and small, are holding on by a thread. Fishing families are suffering.”
“People have been calling for this for years but it has fallen on deaf ears so I am asking the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage and Irish Water to urgently sort out the problem and put a plan in place for the people of Clogher, Leghowney and Copany so they can have a good water system. It is 2026 and it is the least the people of Donegal deserve.”
“I wish to raise an issue concerning Irish Water on behalf of Councillor Michael Boyle and the people living in the Clogher, Leghowney and Copany area in County Donegal. The reservoir there was built in the 1970s to service around 80 houses. There are now 600 houses in the area using the reservoir. Residents often have endless trouble because of low pressure or outages. There have been no upgrades to the reservoir, the plant or the system. People are without water for long periods of time and householders are now using streams at the back of their houses to top up their water. Irish Water staff on the ground acknowledge the problem, are more than helpful and keep a bad system going as best they can. We need a new reservoir, more capacity to supply a larger number of houses and a fully upgraded system.”
“We have four ports up there that would be capable of doing this. It would strengthen our hand in the North Sea and everything up there. For once, Donegal is in the right place for this. I ask the Deputy Leader to make a recommendation to the Minister that we will fight hard for this one.”
“I welcome the national maritime security strategy, which will address key risks that threaten Ireland's maritime domain. I understand that the Naval Service is considering a base in the north west. Donegal would be the perfect place for the base. We have ports like Killybegs, Burtonport, Rathmullan and Greencastle. Geographically, we are in the right place for once. Naval ships often use Killybegs and Rathmullan. Naturally, Killybegs would have the greatest potential as one of the deepest ports in Ireland. We have a great service industry that has grown up with the fishing industry for generations. It has looked after the Naval Service in the past and worked on its fleet. I ask the Deputy Leader to ask the Minister to strongly consider Donegal as a port for the Naval Service. It would be a great natural fit.”
“I ask the Leader if he could please address this matter with the Minister to see if we could get something moving here in Letterkenny University Hospital. I thank the Leader.”
“I raise concerns today in relation to there being no vascular team in Letterkenny University Hospital. Renal patients from County Donegal have to travel to Galway to get a line in or an AV fistula established prior to commencing dialysis. Additionally, if a patient has complications with their line or fistula, they have to return to Galway to see the vascular team. This causes a lot of stress and travel and is really expensive for renal patients going up and down the road. Can I ask the Minister for Health to look into my concerns urgently? We need a vascular team in Letterkenny University Hospital. On Monday, a renal patient from Donegal spoke on Highland Radio about the length of time he has been waiting to get an appointment in Galway to get an AV fistula established. Now, this man has been waiting maybe 15 months. It is far too long.”
“A simple written notice or something on the radio or on Facebook to say this work needed to be done would have allayed many people's fears. I ask that the Minister engage with Uisce Éireann to review the notification process used in advance of works being carried out. I know essential works need to be done in places if there is a burst pipe or something like that, but these were planned works. If Donegal County Council or the ESB are doing something that is planned and that is coming down the line, they send notifications to households in written form or make an announcement on Ocean FM or Highland Radio. When the Minister is discussing a review with representatives from Uisce Éireann, will he have a chat with them about this matter?”
“In the context of water charges, I wish to raise an issue that has arisen regarding houses in the Killybegs area over the past few days. Most families woke up on Monday morning to find they had no water. They have not had water for two days now. Thankfully, this morning the water came back on. I understand that the outage was due to scheduled cleaning works being carried out at the reservoir. Those works are essential and needed to be done. I thank the crews who worked on the ground for the past two evenings to get the service back up and running. The problem here is communication. Uisce Éireann fell down on this occasion. It did not contact local representatives, households, farmers or the elderly. Nobody knew what was happening. Nobody was informed of that this essential work being carried out.”
“I urge the Minister to have a good look at this. We must protect the small operators who have built their business on a respectfully measured approach to harvesting seaweed down through the years. We really need to get the Minister in here to have a proper look at this, because we have foreign multinationals coming in here. At the end of the day, our own people have been doing it for years, and they need to be consulted on this.”
“Today I want to talk about seaweed. I am calling on the Department to exercise thought, close examination and foresight when addressing applications from companies from other countries that set up so as to appear to be from Ireland and then harvest large quantities of wrack along large sections of the west coast of Ireland. Seaweed forests are living infrastructure. They protect the shoreline and homes from coastal erosion, provide necessary grounds for fish and marine species and support biodiversity above and below the waterline. Removing wrack at industrial scale risks disabling this fragile system. We have all witnessed over many years how overfishing in Ireland's exclusive economic zone, EEZ, by other countries has contributed to massive decline in the Irish fishing industry and we sadly see that today.”
“I also want to acknowledge the work of council engineers, particularly James Kelly's ongoing engagement on, support for and progressing of this project. Will the Minister provide me with an update on the project and, in particular, outline a clear timeframe for completion of the remaining section of this footpath? It would be great if we could get it done before the tourists start to come in early May and June. It is a very important piece to get done. I thank the Deputy Leader.”
“I wish to raise the issue of the footpath between Carrickart and Downings and seek an update on its progress. It is a lovely and scenic part of Donegal. A lot of visitors visit these two towns. This is a very important piece of infrastructure for the local community. It provides a safe walking route for residents, families, schoolchildren and visitors along a busy, scenic stretch of road. The development of the footpath has been widely welcomed and has already made a meaningful difference to safety and accessibility in the area. I want to take a moment to acknowledge the tremendous work done by Hugh Harkin and his team who have carried out the first stage. They have done an outstanding job in delivering the first stage section to a very high standard. The local community are very grateful.”
“Something has to be done about it. All am I getting since yesterday evening when this broke is commentary that Donegal is left behind, the Government does not care about Donegal and if this was Kerry, it would be sorted. We need urgent action on this. I know the Department is talking about a review in three months but the Leader knows how reviews can go on and on. Could we get the Minister in here for a debate to see if we could decide something to get this moving forward. The people of Donegal need this service. We should not be left behind.”
“This morning, I saw the INMO said industrial action may be needed to highlight the hospital overcrowding in the west and north-west area. We cannot allow this to happen. The Minister might clarify what the problem is in the west and north-west area and come back to me. While I am on my feet, I will mention another issue I brought up last week about Donegal Airport and the PSO contract. A total of 15,000 people signed a petition over the weekend. Yesterday, the Department of Transport decided to proceed and sign the contract. It is talking about a three-month review. To me, this is totally wrong. It was something that was working - and working well. It should never have been changed. To be honest, since the news broke yesterday, the phone has not stopped ringing. People and patients travelling to Dublin are really annoyed about this.”
“Today, I bring up the chronic overcrowding levels in the hospitals in the west and north-west area. The Letterkenny hospital accident and emergency department has been operating under sustained and extreme pressure for the last while. According to INMO figures, there are 40 waiting in Letterkenny, 52 waiting in Sligo and 68 waiting in Galway. Looking at the figures in the west and north-west area, they are a lot worse than other areas, which seem to be performing a lot better. I want to find out from the Minister why is this. Is it down to management, funding or staff shortages? Is it because delayed discharge or inadequate bed capacity? People are waiting anything from eight to 16 hours on trolleys. Can the Minister look into this for me?”
“Many of our gardaí are renting properties in rent pressure zones in other counties, and they have their own accommodation in Donegal. This is adding unnecessary pressure on the rental market. The Minister was up in Donegal a couple of weeks ago and he had a very positive meeting with gardaí and with the local communities. He is an absolute gentleman. However, we really need help here. One garda for the size of Donegal is just not enough. I am not getting at the Minister here, no way, but from being up there, he sees the geographical size of the county. We really need more help and more reinforcements up there.”
“This results in more time being spent at incidents on average than other counties. The Garda has to liaise with the PSNI, which takes up a lot of time and paperwork. Keeping our staff in Donegal is a major problem. Many leave as soon as they are eligible for transfers. Donegal's location discourages long-time placement and as a result, rapport and relationships with communities fall by the wayside. There is a demand for more members who come from Donegal to be stationed in Donegal, yet the requests are often not approved or take a very long time to reach approval. The system prioritises holding the line elsewhere. Donegal becomes the release valve. Members of the Garda are sent to other counties but, in lots of cases, are not being sent back. This directly discourages Donegal applicants from applying.”
“Following the recent news from the Department of justice of the allocation of new members of An Garda Síochána, I am very disappointed to hear that only one has been pledged to County Donegal. Geographically, Donegal is a uniquely demanding, vast rural area with a poor road network. Gardaí are regularly covering huge patrol areas on their own. Response times are extremely long. Backup can take about 30 to 60 minutes to arrive. The night shift runs on minimal cover. Single Garda units attend horrible accidents. This has effects on members and the public. It is one of the core operational risks. Donegal has a large population and seasonal surges with a massive summer increase because of tourists, festivals and holiday homes. Garda demand spikes, but staffing does not. Being a Border county adds additional strain. Crime utilises the Border.”
“In fairness, since I came to this House, whenever I have asked or looked for anything they have been very helpful. Perhaps the Minister would come in and give us an update on what we could do to get the figures up in Donegal.”
“I have done a bit of work over the last couple of days on the Garda division figures in County Donegal. At present, we have 365 gardaí plus supervisors. That is a total of 436. Since 2023, there are been seven confirmed resignations. According to parliamentary data that I could get, total departures, from 2020 to 2024, inclusive, number 61. New Garda postings came out recently. We got three in 2024 and two in 2025. I want the Minister to have a focus on Donegal - it is seen as such a large county for recruitment - to see if there is anything we can do. The figures are not justified, given the size of County Donegal. Will the Minister have a look at the figures in Donegal and see if we can try to get another lot of gardaí up there? While I am on my feet, I thank the gardaí who are on the beat in Donegal, and the superintendents.”
“Will they be included in the new group? Is there any word on getting the ports opened up in order that we can try to attract other boats?”
“By restoring the National Inshore Fisheries Forum, strengthening catchment levels, supporting responsible farming and treating traditional fisheries with fairness and respect, the Government can ensure that Ireland's inland waters are protected, not just for compliance or conservation but also for all the communities that depend on them. I have a couple of questions on the pelagic sector. We know that other countries have taken a 47% cut. Why can Europe not agree a 47% cut? That would have a major impact on our ports. What is Europe doing about third countries? The Minister of State had meetings with the Commissioner. One question that keeps coming up is what we are doing about both third countries and legal action in respect of the Hague preferences. The other question that keeps coming up concerns the service industries.”
“This discrepancy is difficult to justify and places an unnecessary financial burden on small traditional fisheries that already operate within scientific and regulatory controls. Will the Minister of State reduce the licence fee relating to Loughros Mór and bring it into line with other draft net fisheries for the 2026 season? This would be a modest, meaningful gesture of fairness and recognition for a community that has been overseeing the fishery in a responsible manner for generations. Inland Fisheries Ireland operates at the intersection where the environment, culture, economics and community meet. Progress has been made, but challenges remain, including declining water quality, weakened stakeholder engagement and pressure on traditional fisheries. What is required is policy consistency, strong Government action and renewed dialogue.”
“Water protection cannot be treated as an optional add-on to agricultural policy. It must be embedded within it. I want to comment on traditional draft net fisheries. These are often overlooked as part of Ireland's heritage. These fisheries are deeply embedded in the social and cultural fabric of coastal and rural communities. They have operated sustainably for generations and represent a direct connection with people, place and water. A clear example of this is the Loughros Mór Draft Net Fisher's Group in Ardara in my home county of Donegal. Fishermen currently pay a licence fee of €545, which is €147 higher than any other draft licence fee in the country, to use the fishery. Since the licence increase was introduced in 2022, repeated requests to align these fees with those that apply nationally have gone unanswered.”
“Good environmental policy is strengthened not weakened by informed stakeholder input. Agriculture remains Ireland's economic and rural identity but I must be honest in saying it also impacts our rivers and streams. Nutrient run-off, sediment loss, bank erosion and poor riparian management continue to place pressure on our freshwater ecosystem. While farmers operate responsibly, the overall impact on catchment level remains significant. What is working is the shift away from purely enforcement-led action towards advisory based schemes, financial incentives and locally tailored solutions. Initiatives such as the farming for water European innovation partnership, EIP, project shows promise but it must be expanded, simplified and properly resourced if it is to deliver meaningful improvement at scale.”
“NIFF is a crucial strategy platform for stakeholder engagement, allowing anglers, commercial fishermen, environmental groups and communities to contribute to fishery policy formation. The forum last met in January 2025 and following the end of its term in 2025 it has not been re-established. Its absence represents a serious domestic policy weakness at a time when fisheries policy is under so much pressure from climate change, EU compliance requirements, declining stocks and competing land demands. The removal of this structured stakeholder voice weakens policy outcome and risks management at a local level. Will the Minister of State commit today to the immediate re-establishment of the National Inshore Fisheries Forum, and a clear timetable for its operation going forward?”
“These initiatives show that when policy, funding and science align, progress is possible. However, there are serious gaps that require attention. Despite investment in water quality, there is a decline in many areas due to agricultural nutrients run-off, sedimentation and pollution, which remain persistent threats to fish kills, oxygen depletion and habitat loss. They still occur too frequently. Equally concerning is the governance and stakeholder engagement that has weakened, in particular through the absence of structured dialogue between the Government and those directly affected by fisheries policy. I want to address specifically the National Inshore Fisheries Forum, NIFF, established under the 2010 Act.”
“There is the barrier mitigation programme which had significant capital investment and brought real ecological gains by removing obstacles, weirs and structures that block the migration of fish. This is a tangible evidence-based success. There has been increased funding for river restoration, delivering through the IFI community partnership, which is helping to repair and dredge habitats and build local stewardship. There is a greater emphasis on a catch-based approach, including co-operation with LAWPRO, the local authority waters programme, and Teagasc which reflects a more intricate understanding of water management. There is regulation of the angling economy, in particular in rural Ireland, where there is increasing evidence of tourism and regulation development strategies.”
“Inland Fisheries Ireland was established under the Inland Fisheries Act 2010 with statutory responsibility for protecting, conserving and managing our inland fisheries resource, which involves more than 74,000 km of rivers and streams and 128 ha of lakes, as well as the 12-mile limit around our coast. The IFI plays a vital role in enforcing fisheries and pollution legislation, conducting scientific monitoring and research, restoring habitats, supporting angling and rural economics, and advising the Government on fisheries and water policy. This is a broad mandate and it is important to acknowledge that progress has been made. There have been many necessary and welcome interventions.”
“I am going to start with inland fisheries and then I will move on to the pelagic area. I am addressing the Cathaoirleach, the Minister of State and my colleagues today on the role of Inland Fisheries Ireland, the health of our rivers and streams and the policy decisions that will determine the future of Ireland's most valuable natural resource. Ireland's inland fisheries are not simply environmental concerns, they are economic, cultural, rural and development issues. The biodiversity, tourism, angling, coastal and land communities all reflect how seriously we take our environmental obligations under EU and national law.”
“Will there be time delays? That has a knock-on effect. We are proud of this service in Donegal and proud of the airport at Carrickfinn but with the Government subsidising this, it needs to take a major look at this. What is there is working at the moment and everybody is happy with it. There is no need for change. Enhance it, by all means, but this will really mean people who have an appointment in Dublin in the morning will not be able to make it. They will have to come down the day before. What is going on here is not practical. I hope the Minister might come in here to have a debate on this so we can see what is going wrong. As the Leader knows, we have no trains in Donegal. This is a lifeline for everybody and especially for cancer patients.”
“Yesterday morning, I was doing the school run when I turned on Highland Radio and "The Greg Hughes Show", which is very popular, was on. The manager from Donegal Airport was on it. Listening in, it was very worrying and to be honest, the phone has not stopped ringing since. I am calling on the Minister for Transport to clarify and protect the service from Donegal Airport to Dublin. Under the new public service obligations, PSO, contract, there are plans to change current flight times. This will have a major impact for people travelling to Dublin, especially for medical appointments in Dublin. There is a great service for cancer patients. Additionally, the new plan shows the plane will no longer stay overnight in Donegal. It will have to come from Dublin in the morning. There is also the problem of weather. Dublin is a major airport.”
“This would enhance the National Ambulance Service. Rural communities like Donegal need a service like this. I thank the Defence Forces and the Coast Guard for what they have done over the years, including many transfers from hospitals that have saved lives, from Letterkenny and Sligo to down here in Dublin and all over the country. It is a really crucial part of the puzzle for us in Donegal, with the county being so big. We have the base there in Finner Camp and it is time for the Government to look at Donegal as a special case for this. We are getting four helicopters, and why not deploy one in Donegal? It would be a game-changer for us up there.”
“Today I see in correspondence that the Government is to purchase four new helicopters. For ten years or more I have been calling for enhanced services for the National Ambulance Service in Donegal. Before I came here, I was also lobbying Ministers for an air ambulance to enhance the National Ambulance Service in Donegal. I am asking for one of the helicopters to be based in Finner Camp in County Donegal. Geographically, Donegal is such a big county. If a helicopter comes from Athlone to Gleann Cholm Cille or Inishowen, the approximate flying time is 50 minutes. Finner Camp is geographically well placed to cover a large county like Donegal and nearby counties. We also have a cross-Border option there if needed. Time is crucial when people get a stroke or heart attack or if there is a serious car accident.”
“They all need to be taken into consideration. These people want to work but the work is not there, so social welfare must be brought into this as well. We have to look after these people. The time for talking is over. We need urgent action. When is the committee going to be set up? What are the terms of reference? When will we get the findings? The service industries have to be included in the terms of reference too.”
“I also want to extend my deepest sympathies to the Crowley family and to the Cathaoirleach. Today I want to ask the Leader if he could get an answer from the Minister of State with responsibility for the marine as to when the new committee will be set up under the chairmanship of Michael Berkery. There have been massive cuts in the fishing industry which are unprecedented and the coastal communities in Ireland are really under pressure. We were told in December that this committee would be set up under Michael Berkery and would be up and running in January but, to my knowledge, nothing has happened. We do not even know if the committee has terms of reference or what is going on here. A lot of people are affected by what is going on including boat owners, fishermen and fisherwomen, factory owners and factory workers.”
“The day care centre there used to be in operation five days per week, but is currently down to three. That was a great outlet for the people in my community. Older people could go into the day centre to get their breakfast and dinner and be involved in games. It was a great outlet for them. Will the Leader ask the Minister where matters stand in respect of these 13 beds? Will they be reopened soon? What recruitment has been done in the meantime? It is important for the people of Killybegs and surrounding areas, such as Kilgar, Carrick, Glen and up as far as Donegal town, that their loved ones can call to visit them rather than having to go to Letterkenny or further up the county. Maybe the Leader will make a few inquiries for me.”
“I raise a concern in relation to Killybegs Community Hospital. There are 13 beds lying vacant. Surely with the pressures on acute hospitals like Sligo and Letterkenny, these community hospital beds should be fully operational and workable. Families in the area are frustrated about the lack of use of these beds and the fact that their loved ones are being moved away to other towns in the county. They feel disconnected from them. The closer they are to their loved ones, the happier they are. In June of last year, I wrote to HSE management and was informed that the beds had been closed due to staff shortages. I was also informed that there was a recruitment plan in place. That was six months ago. I would like to get an update to see how many people were recruited for Killybegs Community Hospital.”
“People really need to be allowed to build on their own land in order to secure the future of rural communities in Donegal.”
“The rule that is in place is simply not working for rural communities in Donegal. We have to get the Minister in here to address the matter. On a cross-party basis, councillors, TDs and Senators are all of the same opinion. This rule is not working for Donegal. It is disadvantaging young people who want to come back from Australia. Their mothers and fathers have been living on land in Donegal for centuries. What is happening is totally wrong. Is there any chance we could get the Minister to come to the House for a debate on the matter? I am aware that Deputies are also calling for such a debate in the Dáil. Having a debate is a way to try to see if we can sort this out once and for all. This has been going on for I do not know how many years.”
“I attended a corporate policy group meeting in the County House in Lifford with other Oireachtas members and councillors on Monday last. One of the major issues raised was the lack of access to the N56. I have raised this issue in the Chamber before. It was raised by a number of TDs raised in the Dáil last week. It is the planning regulations that have resulted in people's lack of access to the N56. This remains a serious issue. Since I became a Senator, 41 people have indicated their willingness to build on their own farm land but they cannot get access to the road. One couple whose parents' house is located on a lane that they could also use cannot get planning permission. That is totally wrong. This couple were coming home to look after their elderly parents and wanted to live beside them.”