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 5 of 7.
“He seems to be a very nice man and he wants to engage, but it is time for him to deliver. Let him deliver for us. We have to get other quotas in here. We have to try to catch other species. We have to try to keep our coastal communities going. I am sorry if the Minister of State thinks I am giving out to him but it is just something I feel so passionate about. We have been trod on for years and years and it is great to get the chance to come in here and put the points straight to him.”
“We took it to our Ministers and our Taoiseach at the time and they played ball. We got it into the programme for Government and one of our big asks was that we get a Minister of State with responsibility for the marine and I am delighted we did. I am very happy with Deputy Dooley. In every engagement I have had with him so far he has been very good. It is all right having all this stuff, but the people looking at this from home tell me it is fine for me to be up there shouting about this and that, but what can I see coming to try to help us sustain our fishing communities. If we do not stand up to be counted now, we are finished. We have given so much we have nothing left to give. We really have. It is time we got something solid from Europe. The Commissioner was over.”
“He said he could see there were people trying to rejuvenate themselves and everything. I get that, but it is not going to happen quickly enough. We need help and we need it soon. Our fishing industry was sold out for other things. Let us be honest about it. We got a bad deal. We need to deliver on things now. The time is running out here. I commend the Minister of State on going around and meeting people to listen to their issues. We never had that before and it is brilliant. He is engaging, but we need more than that. Engaging is all right, but we need delivery. I have been at this four years since I called the first public meeting. I never thought I would be here standing on front of the Minister of State in this House. About 300 people turned up at that public meeting. I will be honest that Fine Gael took the fight.”
“The first thing we need to do is to concentrate on fishermen’s PAYE. That is something that can be sorted fairly quickly. I have been talking to the Minister for Finance about it and with a joint effort we could try to see if we could do something there. That would relieve some of the pressure. The Department needs to work with everybody too. We need to all pull together and be on the one wavelength. We need to up our game in Europe, we really do. The SFPA needs to help the industry too. Monitors need to go back into the factories. This craic of doing what they are doing is not on. It is really affecting the quality of the fish. Time is running out for a lot of people in the industry. My business is on the breadline. The Minister of State was in Killybegs and talked to boatmen. He heard their frustration. There is frustration out there.”
“A fisherman has to make a guesstimate and if he is over it he is pulled in to be over his 10%. Then he cannot go on his holidays or do anything because he has legal issues. This is something that needs to be sorted as soon as possible because it is having a big effect. We have tuna fishing. The Minister of State mentioned new species. That is a species we should be looking at. We have a very small quota of it and they are off our coast. For our inshore fishermen who catch crab and lobster, if we could even get three or four tuna a year that would be €5,000 or €6,000. It would keep our small traditional fishermen going and add value to their season. We never got a level playing field in Europe and the whole thing is wrong. What can be done to try to keep our coastal communities living?”
“That community has been wiped out. The whitefish community down there has been wiped out because of this. Not alone that, it has a knock-on effect on the net jobs, the shops and the fuel suppliers. We need to try to start working on the rebalancing of a disproportionate transfer of the TAC. We need generational renewal and to try to encourage young people into the sector. Any young person I talk to now is not interested. When I was at school in Killybegs all the boys could not wait to get away to fish and get their skipper’s ticket. It was a lifetime job. Now they are lucky to get a month of the year out of it. Something I feel so mad about is the penalty points system for fisherman. Who drew this up? It is obvious they did not consult on any of it.”
“Some 15% of the quota of Dublin Bay prawns, which was a key traditional stock, was transferred to keep our fisherman in Clogherhead going. We transferred 15%. You could not write it. We lost a very valuable traditional squid fishery at Rockall. I am looking in from the outside. I was not here; I am glad to be here now. The Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, was not in his position then. Where was our Government? It did not fight for Rockall. We could sustain the whitefish fleet in Killybegs because they could fish in Rockall for a couple of months of the year. That is all gone. We have one whitefish boat in Killybegs now. It is ridiculous stuff. Through decommissioning, we lost 39 vessels. That is a whole coastal community gone. I was down in Castletownbere the same day as the Minister of State. It lost a lot more than we did in Killybegs.”
“Ireland has only 4.5% of a quota, while the Belgians and their new modern fleet have 87% of a quota. The TAC was the biggest hammer blow, along with the Brexit trade agreement. Ireland's fishermen paid the price for other European countries. We were forced to transfer 15% of our quota to UK and Scottish vessels. Ireland was the main contributor. We carried the can for Europe. We transferred 40% of the total value of the whole flawed deal. We put 40% into that. I am not blaming the Minister of State, but where were our people out there? All we heard in Killybegs was that burden-sharing was coming, it would sort itself out and we would get a great deal. Since that day I have not heard the phrase "burden-sharing". The Europeans have not come back to say they will give Ireland a wee bit back.”
“I welcome the engagement and the certainty with the EU and England over the deal and I think it gives the country certainty for the years ahead. It came at a good time, and I thank the Minister of State for that. In the programme for Government, however, the Government took it upon itself to support the sector in addressing these challenges and to support the coastal communities. The CFP is a 40-year-old document and is not fit for purpose. We need to get it reformed, and that has to be one thing that we push very hard. Every time I talk to the Minister of State, he says the same thing: we have to try to get it changed in Europe. I get that, but he has to feel the passion coming from the people in the coastal communities. This is the major issue. Take black sole.”
“We do not seem to be on the map at all. As regards Ireland's marine territory, we have 220 million acres, ten times our land mass. We have some of the richest waters in Europe, exploited, let us be honest, by other member states and third countries that have access to our waters. We have 12% of the EU waters under the CFP and we have only 5.6% of the quota in those waters. Whichever genius made this up, he was not very good at maths anyway. The Irish catch in the EU zone is 15%. Some 85% is taken by non-Irish vessels. Raw material is becoming increasingly uncertain, particularly in reduced quotas like pelagic, mackerel and Dublin Bay prawns. Key species are suffering. I just do not know who we had out doing the Brexit deal. I do not think he was there at all, to agree to a deal like this.”
“I thank the Minister of State for coming in today and congratulate him on his appointment. It is long overdue. We have been 15 years without a junior Minister and the Government has shown that this is something that is a priority after so many years and that fishing and marine life are back on the agenda. It is great that the Minister of State has come in today, but the people looking in here who are at home in Killybegs and Castletownbere and all around the coast want answers. We have been too long waiting for answers. There are 16,878 people employed in the seafood sector. That makes a critical contribution to our coastal communities. If you had the number of people in the coastal communities all put together in a city working, it would be the biggest talk ever. We have 16,000 people and there is no word of it at all.”
“Businesses in Donegal are really depending on a good summer. At the end of the day, if they have no water, the business has to close. Households also suffer. In 2025, it is not good enough. I call on Irish Water to have a full and frank look at the pipeline in Inishowen. For the last three days of last week, my phone never stopped with people ringing me. They could not get a straight answer. That was the problem. If people could be told when the water would be turned back on and restart, they could open their businesses and plan. However, what is happening with Irish Water is just not working. Maybe the Leader could try to do something for me on that.”
“I concur with my party colleagues. The Minister needs to reverse this. People are hard pressed the way things are with the cost of living. This really needs to be sorted. Another issue I will take up today is about Irish Water. North Inishowen, Malin and Carndonagh were without water for three to four days last week. Shops, hairdressers, businesses and households had no water for four days. If you try to get into contact with Irish Water, you get a phone number. When you get someone different in the call centre, they do not know what you are talking about or where the leak is. A whole new plan needs to be put together here. Up to 400 or 500 people were ringing and Irish Water said it did not know there was a leak in Malin Head. That is not good enough in this day and age. We are in the height of the summer now.”
“If something as simple as that could save a life, it would be great. Will the Deputy Leader ask the Minister to approach Google to see whether it would put on a defibrillator option for us?”
“We need to thank the first responders who turn out every time there is a call. It is great of the people who give up their time. I have been thinking for a while about what we can do. I note there are apps one can download, such as DefibFinder. On that day, however, it was not on my phone. Many of us sat down and thought about it, and I came up with a solution. Would it not be great if DefibFinder was on Google Maps? Everybody has Google Maps on his or her phone, if it could just be put in. It would be good if we could get the Minister, Deputy Peter Burke, at the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, to talk to Google to see whether this could be done. People have their iPhones with them. If there was a defibrillator on Google Maps near me, it could save somebody’s life. Time is of the essence.”
“Today, I want to talk about defibrillators. They are a key part of any local community. However, we have a slight flaw here. If people do not recognise where they are or if they are not well advertised, it is very hard to know where to get them. I will give a wee example. Last year, I got a phone call about a woman who had a heart attack and they were looking for a defibrillator. I went to two places where I thought there were defibrillators. They were not there. They were gone. They were taken away to be fixed or whatever. We were lucky that the local football club, Naomh Ultan, had one and it worked well. That goes to the point. I am local and have local knowledge. I still thought they were there. When I was driving to get them, I thought I could see them on the wall, but they were not there.”
“I firmly believe that if we teach children how to do it when they are young, they will follow through in life. It is like gardaí going into schools to talk about seatbelts. If I got in the car without putting on my seatbelt, my wee daughter would be the first one to reprimand me. I would love to support Senator Byrne’s proposal for a mobile dentistry unit, especially for people in nursing homes. The Minister of State has responsibility for older people. I do not have to tell him but since we joined the Seanad in March, I have dealt with two people in nursing homes who were trying to access dentistry after their dentures broke but who were finding it very hard to get anyone in. These people carried this country for years. The least they deserve is a visit from the dentist twice or three times a year to make sure their teeth are okay.”
“Many of the issues have been addressed by my colleagues. I thank the Fine Gael Party for pushing for this motion to be taken today. We definitely need more college places, more dentists, more dental nurses and more dental hygienists. A wee girl in Donegal applied three times to UCC to get onto a dental hygiene panel but was turned down because only ten places were available. Only ten places were available at Trinity College too. We need to set up more courses for the young people who want to study dentistry. This girl is talking about going to England to do the course. Her family are devastated because she is the heart and soul of the family. She will be away for three years, but if she stayed in Ireland to do the course, she would be able to be home at the weekends. Taking retired dentists back into the schools would be great.”
“What do they do? What machinery do they use to do hedge cutting that would not affect the biodiversity too much? Somebody is going to get hurt out there because the secondary roads are not being cut at this time of year, particularly with growth just going mad.”
“Old people were ringing me who did not have line of sight. We are now in silage season. Big tractors are going out onto roads, coming out of farm gates where hedges need to be trimmed. They have their signs up. I talked to two contractors who had their signs up but people were not looking at the signs when they were coming up because the signs were stuck in the grass. In fairness, the councillors in Donegal have been getting on to me really hard about this this week. Secondary roads are not being cut at all. They say the main roads can be cut if it is dangerous but then when they agree to do it, there is no funding there. That is what I am being told. I agree with biodiversity. It has its place and we really need to look after nature too, but surely there is something out there in this day and age that we can look at in other countries.”
“I rise to call for a review of the hedge cutting policy. Rural roads are closing all around the rural counties of Ireland. The farmers are brilliant, with 99% of them cutting their hedges when they need to be cut and looking after them well. However, there are people who are not doing it. There are landowners who are away and others who just do not do it and we need to do something about that. I was elected in June last year and from June to September, I was inundated with phone calls about hedge cutting along roads and at dangerous junctions. In fairness, I took it upon myself to go out with a strimmer some weekends to cut at dangerous junctions because older people were travelling them. I was told that I should not do it but I did it anyway because it needed to be done. I did not do it for the sake of it.”
“It is a major issue for us in Donegal. The project has been shelved again. My phone has been inundated with comments from people on the issue. I would like the Minister of State to ask the Minister to come to the Seanad to answer questions and see whether we can get that project up and running again.”
“I thank the Minister of State. It is great to hear that he will come to Donegal. The model there is working. There are just wee pockets that have been left behind. If they could be taken into consideration, we would have a scheme that would work for everybody. I know of four elderly people in Mountcharles who have no vehicle or cannot drive. A service to bring them into Donegal town would be great. I appreciate the Minister of State coming to the House to answer my questions. I hope Ardara, Glenties and Portnoo will be taken into the review and more daily services, like that in Glencolumbkille, will be run. While I have the Minister of State here, and perhaps I should not do this and I know he had nothing to do with the issue, but I would like him to take back to the Minister for Transport an issue about the A5.”
“It would enhance the travel for people going to Dublin for health reasons, such as hospital visits, or to the airport if we could get everything channelled through Donegal town. Such a service would provide greater accessibility for the communities, allowing residents to travel conveniently throughout the day. The Local Link service has significant benefits for rural communities by improving accessibility, reducing social isolation and enhancing mobility for residents. These are often a lifeline for areas with limited public transport options allowing people to access employment, education, healthcare and essential service. We have a great service there and we need to enhance it. There are wee pockets in Donegal that are left behind. I wish we could get these wee pockets a service. It is going very well; we just need to enhance it.”
“Currently, Ardara has one departure each day, scheduled before noon. In contrast, the Glencolumbkille route has five daily services, with additional options at the weekend, which is brilliant. I could not highlight this service enough. The people are so happy with the service they are getting and it should be the template for moving forward with this service in Donegal. Everybody I talk to, from Malin Beg to Donegal town, is so thankful for this service. I wanted to say that because sometimes things get a bad doing but this is one we are extremely proud of. There would be an immense benefit for Ardara and Portnoo if we could link the Ardara-Glenties-Portnoo service to Donegal town.”
“I welcome the Minister of State for coming to take this matter. I am standing here today to highlight the growing demand for TFI Local Link bus services in County Donegal, particularly in the villages of Ardara, Glenties and Portnoo and other areas like the Doorin Line in Mountcharles and Lough Eske by Lough Eske Castle. The current action plan expires at the end of 2025, and I hope a new action plan will include improved services for the area of Glenties, Portnoo and Ardara. That route is No. 994. I also hope a plan will be put in place for the Doorin Line in Mountcharles, Lough Eske and Donegal town. Usage has reached record levels, with over 100,000 journeys being done weekly across rural Ireland. This demonstrates the essential service that Local Link provides rural communities.”
“We need the Minister to come to the House to tell us what went wrong with the project. We need to find out who was asleep at the wheel. Who is to blame? Who is responsible for this? We need to try to rescue this project because it is a crucial part of the development of the north west. We need to get down to the nitty-gritty of what went wrong and try to get it sorted before it is too late.”
“Today I raise the issue of the A5, on which more than 50 people have been killed since 2006. It was a dark day in Donegal yesterday when we heard that the A5 project was not proceeding. Transportation and connectivity are crucial for a big county such as Donegal. For people living in rural areas, it is the single biggest solution to rural isolation. Donegal has been patiently waiting on the A5 for a number of decades now. This news was devastating for Donegal, to say the least. Will the Leader use his office to ask the Minister for Transport what effects this will have on the TEN-T project in Donegal? Furthermore, will the Minister for Transport come to this House and assure the people of Donegal that the Ballybofey-Stranorlar bypass, the Letterkenny-Lifford project and the Bonagee link road will proceed?”
“People in the area are getting bog water, which is pure black. In this day and age, some kind of provision has to be made for emergencies and to get group water schemes up and running. At the end of the day, we need good quality drinking water and we do not have it in this and other group water schemes in Donegal, such as Kilcar. I ask that the Minister come to the House to provide an update on where these group water schemes are on the list and when funding will be announced so that we can go back to the people and tell them services will be provided next year or the year after. There is a lot of frustration about this. It has been going on for over 20 years. Perhaps the Leader can get some answers for me.”
“I congratulate Buncrana Tidy Towns on winning the best kept large town in Ireland. I also want to wish Donegal International Rally the very best this weekend. It is a major event in Donegal and I want those listening to stay safe, obey the marshals and, if gardaí are in attendance, to obey everything asked of them. I call on the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide further information under the multiannual water programme 2024-25, specifically that pertaining to a group water scheme in Laggan, County Donegal. The local authority sent a request for information to the Department on 6 February. We have not yet been provided with an update on the application for funding. When is the funding due to be announced? People are frustrated by what is going on. This has been going on for over 20 years.”
“They are playing a vital part in rural communities and funding should be made available so our festivals can be kept going. They are an integral part of every town's yearly cycle. It is when people come home during the year. They plan around it. These festivals need to get the funding so they are secure and people can plan what is happening. We do not want to lose any more in the rural areas.”
“I wish to express my concern about the lack of funding for festivals. Like other counties, Donegal has lost some festivals this year that are not going ahead. These include the Donegal food festival, the Sea Sessions festival in Bundoran and the Donegal town festival, to name a few. The Rory Gallagher Festival has been a part of Donegal and Ballyshannon for over two decades. The town was Rory Gallagher's birthplace. Two weeks ago the festival marked the 30th anniversary of his death. It is now existing on a knife-edge due to costs of insurance and everything going sky-high. Fáilte Ireland's research shows the festival is worth €4 million to the local economy and €5 million nationally. I would like the Minister for tourism, arts and culture to address the issue of funding for festivals. All local festivals are struggling.”
“Ardara has two departures each day. They are scheduled before noon. It would be immensely beneficial for residents of Ardara and Portnoo if the Local Link would run three or four times per day between Ardara, Portnoo and Glenties and hook up with the Donegal line. Such an enhancement would provide greater accessibility for the community and allow more residents to travel. The Local Link service has been beneficial for rural communities' accessibility, reduced social isolation and enhanced residents' mobility. The service is a lifeline for those in areas where limited public transport is available. With the review coming up, I hope we will enhance services for these local towns that were left behind. It is vital for rural Donegal. Other towns have four or five departures per day and it works really well.”
“I congratulate St. Naul's pipe band, which celebrated 80 years in Inver last Saturday. It was a very good occasion and something I will remember for a long time. I also congratulate St. Naul's school in Keeloges, which won the biodiversity school of the year. I am proud to announce we beat Mayo, with Senator Duffy in front of me. Well done to the Donegal team. I am standing here to highlight the growing demand for TFI Local Link bus services, particularly in local villages like Ardara and Glenties in County Donegal. The current plan expires this year and I hope a new action plan will include an improved service for Glenties and Ardara. Usage of the service has reached record levels, with over 100,000 journeys made weekly throughout rural Ireland. This demonstrates how essential the service is for connectivity in rural communities.”
“It will be full-time employment, too, because, as the Leader knows, the roof has to be looked after every couple of years.”
“There is rope-thatching in Donegal or reed-thatching in Wexford and Cork, and straw-thatching or flax-thatching in Ulster and east Donegal. It is important we train these young people and we get them in very fast. As the Leader will be aware, tourists come to Ireland and the love to see the thatched cottage. The thatched cottage, sadly, is dying out. The thatching course in Kilkenny is a full-time course and it is designed for individuals wishing to pursue a career in thatching. We in Portnoo in Donegal would like to do the same. I would like the Minister to come to the House to see whether we could do something similar to Carlow-Kilkenny to get the course recognised in Donegal in order that we can keep our heritage there too and give people employment.”
“We have a new thatching school centre located in our community hall in Portnoo in County Donegal. The school in Donegal is inundated with interested people after an open day. They have had huge success, with a lot of people attending, and it is their hope to proceed with a new streamlined course to get people trained up. They are interested in setting up a course, similar to the one offered by the education and training board, ETB, in Carlow-Kilkenny, to train thatchers in County Donegal. As the Leader might be aware, there are only ten master thatchers left in Ireland and it is import we pass the skill on to the next generation. The skill is dying out, sadly, and the school here has a great opportunity for anybody who wants to learn to keep the tradition going.”
“Is there anything the Government can do or can we do something through Europe to get these filling stations funding to put in chargers? The man I spoke to told me there were three chargers for every fuel pump in Portugal. We would be lucky to have three on the whole road from Galway up to Donegal, which is a road the Leader knows. It is something that needs to be looked at seriously. Maybe the Leader could see what he can do for me.”
“He had to go to Claremorris to find a charger, which added two hours to his journey. There should be chargers on that stretch of road. When I was in Killybegs a Portuguese man was hooking up his car and I went over to him to chat to him and see how it was going. He was very annoyed. He showed me the map. When you leave Killybegs there is only one charger in Falcarragh, one in Gweedore, two in Dungloe and only one in Glenties. We are taking tourists in here and we are promoting everything, yet we are not putting the infrastructure in for these people to come. I would like it if we could have a debate on it. The EVs are starting to work, but they are not going to work in rural areas like Donegal. I can see us going back to diesel cars because the infrastructure simply is not there.”
“I wish to address the lack of electric vehicle, EV, chargers. People are getting frustrated. Everyone I talk to likes their wee electric car but there are serious problems with the infrastructure. Electric car sales are good and that is good as it shows we are going in the right direction. However, I was approached by a man at the weekend about charging infrastructure. He headed off down to the hospital in Galway and on the way he wanted to charge his car. When he got as far as Ballindine the chargers were full. He went on to Tuam and it was the same. He made it to his hospital appointment, which was great. Then he started looking for a charger but could not get one. He headed back, but when he got to Tuam all the chargers were full again and it was the same in Ballindine.”
“I know, from them having spoken to me, that there are people, for example, who have to travel from Bruckless to Donegal town. Carers spend more time on the road than they do looking after people. Tackling this would also free up hospital beds, because people are happier at home. I would be happier at home. In a rural community in Donegal, the carer coming in may be the only person an individual sees in the day. There are people isolated up there. The postman no longer goes up and knocks at the door; there is a box at the bottom of the lane. The carer coming in may be the only person a person might see for the whole day. Therefore, we need to refocus on the home care package.”
“I raise the issue of pressure on home care workers. The demand for home care services is increasing daily. Every day there is somebody on my phone looking for additional hours. We have an ageing population, we are all getting older, nobody is getting any younger, and that puts increased demand on home care services. Working conditions are challenging and every house is different. You come up against different problems. Carers are very compassionate and want to spend time with the person, but they are not getting the right hours. Most people get about 30 minutes and that is barely time for a carer to get the basics done. We need to get more qualified people working as care workers. We need to get the services going better.”
“I would to get the up-to-date situation from the Minister for Education on what is happening in our schools regarding secretaries and caretakers. As the Leader knows, caretakers and secretaries turn up every day and are the first there in the morning and last to leave at night, in all kinds of weather. They keep schools up and running. I know a man in Donegal who is 26 years employed and has four years until retirement, and he does not know if he is entitled to anything because there is nothing there. Caretakers and secretaries are as entitled to a pension as everybody else who works in the public service. They are working day in, day out in the schools. I ask the Minister to find a solution to get this resolved. These people need to be valued too as they are part of the whole plan in the schools. It needs to be sorted soon.”
“Where are the opportunities to get these courses enhanced and going? We have a great college in County Donegal - the ATU in Letterkenny - with a brilliant campus in Killybegs. Perhaps the ATU could come on board and try to get dental hygienist courses up and going in Donegal. Oral health is very important for everybody so I would like to see a demand created for these courses. I know from the feedback I have got in Donegal that there is demand for these courses but, sadly, people must travel either to England or somewhere else to get trained because they cannot get on the courses.”
“I welcome the students from Buncrana in my home county. It is great to see some Donegal people in here. There do not be many of us in, as it is so far away. I wish to discuss dental hygienists. There is a lack of college places. Trinity College Dublin and UCC provide courses, but they are limited for professionals who are in high demand. In Cork, there are eight opportunities for placements. In Trinity, I am told there are 12 opportunities for placements. Dental nurses who approach me are frustrated. They cannot further their education because of the limited courses in Ireland. Some have applied three years in a row and have still not got anywhere with it. There is a massive demand in the service for dental hygienists, not only in County Donegal, but all across Ireland. We need to multiply the number of courses without delay.”
“The poor husband did his best to assist his wife and the image of that has been lodged in my head since. It is totally wrong and inhumane for that women to have to wait for the guts of ten hours. I do not know how she sat for so long or how long she had to wait to receive treatment. A fast-track system through accident and emergency units should be in place.”
“I want to raise an issue I feel really strongly about. A couple of weeks ago my daughter fell and I took her to an accident and emergency unit. We arrived at the unit on a Sunday afternoon about 4 o'clock and there was a lady there with severe disabilities. My daughter and I were there for the guts of ten hours. I am not giving out about the wait as it was a busy place but that poor woman was in a wheelchair and her husband had to try to look after her for the guts of ten hours. I offered her my daughter's place to let them go ahead but I was told that the lady had to be seen by staff from a different department. I call on the Minister to ensure that people with disabilities are fast-tracked. I ask because it is inhumane to keep people sitting there.”
“I thank the Minister of State. It is one of the issues that keeps coming up all the time with people phoning from Fahan about the speeding issue, so we decided that we would raise it. It is on the peninsula and it is very close to Derry so there is a lot of traffic going and coming, especially on the weekends as there are a lot of holiday homes on the peninsula Anything we can do to help the situation would be greatly appreciated because the last thing we want to have is an accident. We are here to prevent accidents and to try to get them sorted before they happen.”
“A pedestrian crossing needs to be put in place as a matter of urgency because pedestrians are walking along the side of the road and are crossing the road here, there and everywhere. There is also an issue with noise pollution for the residents. I ask the Minister of Transport to prioritise the village of Fahan for a plan to slow traffic down with traffic calming measures. This is a beautiful wee seaside town. It just needs a bit of help. They have great residents committees there and they want to enhance their town. It is to be hoped we could get something in place. I know this is an issue in more towns than just Fahan. There is speeding going through a lot of towns and it is something we need to have a look at.”
“I thank the Minister of State for coming in today. I am asking the Minister to provide funding for the low-cost accident scheme or a capital funding scheme to address a serious speeding issue in the village of Fahan in County Donegal. Fahan is on the Inishowen Peninsula, which is a beautiful part of Donegal. It is a seaside town with a beautiful view over Lough Swilly Over the years there have been numerous accidents in the village of Fahan. Thankfully, none have been fatal. Due to the way the village is laid out, cars and lorries go fast through the village. We need to get more done by the authorities to improve the situation and make drivers aware they are coming into a town. More signage is needed.”