Mattie McGrath
Tipperary South · Independent · Ireland
“The loss of the double child benefit payment and other cost-of-living supports has come at a time when families are facing rising bills across every aspect of daily life. Parents are not just paying for education. They are paying more for food, energy, insurance, childcare and gach rud eile.”
“Parents also face substantial bills simply because they are required to buy specific items from a specific supplier. That is not fair and is not a balanced market either. There is no good reason that generic uniforms or PE clothing cannot be used in most cases.”
“Maidir le hUisce Éireann, cad a dhéanfaimid feasta gan uisce? The situation in south Tipperary has reached crisis point. Since January, the Ardfinnan regional water scheme has experienced 58 water supply interruptions, affecting 11,000 customers, while almost 28,000 homes and businesses were placed on a boil water notice in a single week.…”
“Music education is a perfect example. Some schools provide excellent music programmes and opportunities for students to learn instruments and participate in assemblies. Other schools offer very little.”
“I, too, am glad to be able to speak on this motion today. I compliment Páirtí an Lucht Oibre for introducing it. While we often the cost of education in terms of books, uniforms and transport, the reality for many families is that the financial pressures associated with rearing children have never been greater.”
“They say it would be great to have water to be affected by a hosepipe ban. Uisce Éireann is totally out of control. Two weeks ago, the Tánaiste gave me some hope here that the Government might do something. Uisce Éireann is not acting for anybody.”
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“They say it would be great to have water to be affected by a hosepipe ban. Uisce Éireann is totally out of control. Two weeks ago, the Tánaiste gave me some hope here that the Government might do something. Uisce Éireann is not acting for anybody. It is committing sabotage on the Ardfinnan regional water scheme and the Glenary plant in Clonmel. It is now going on to the Galtees and causing havoc. The reservoirs have not been full in about two and half years despite Uisce Éireann getting tens of millions.”
“Maidir le hUisce Éireann, cad a dhéanfaimid feasta gan uisce? The situation in south Tipperary has reached crisis point. Since January, the Ardfinnan regional water scheme has experienced 58 water supply interruptions, affecting 11,000 customers, while almost 28,000 homes and businesses were placed on a boil water notice in a single week. The water is consistently off. Tipperary town has been under a boil water notice since last February. There is no sign of it being lifted. One constituent summed up the frustration, telling me that there was yet again no water pressure when the house was full of grandchildren. The attic tank was not filling, so there was no water for cooking, showers or washing clothes. All of this was happening before the introduction of a hosepipe ban.”
“The point has been made earlier that they are on their laptops all day in school and then they go home and are on social media all night. It is not good for the holistic development of the children and young adults.”
“Parents also face substantial bills simply because they are required to buy specific items from a specific supplier. That is not fair and is not a balanced market either. There is no good reason that generic uniforms or PE clothing cannot be used in most cases. Parents should have the freedom to shop around and buy affordable items themselves. Competition is the spice of trade. It keeps the price down. Alongside these pressures, parents are increasingly faced with the expectation that they provide laptops and other digital devices for their children. While technology is important, why should parents be carrying that cost? Families have benefited from the schoolbooks scheme. We should be creative and try to assist families in purchasing this expensive and necessary equipment.”
“Music education is a perfect example. Some schools provide excellent music programmes and opportunities for students to learn instruments and participate in assemblies. Other schools offer very little. Where lessons are available privately, parents can be paying up to €25 a lesson and more before the cost of purchasing and maintaining the instruments. For many families, this is simply beyond their reach. These experiences are highly important to a child's development, confidence, which has never been more important, and well-being, yet too many families are being priced out. We must recognise the growing cost associated with uniforms. Despite the guidance promoting affordable uniforms, many parents are still required to purchase expensive crested and branded items.”
“The loss of the double child benefit payment and other cost-of-living supports has come at a time when families are facing rising bills across every aspect of daily life. Parents are not just paying for education. They are paying more for food, energy, insurance, childcare and gach rud eile. One issue that deserves particular attention is the cost of extracurricular activities. Too often, participation in these activities depends not on a child's talent or interest, but on the ability of the parents to pay. This is creating an uneven divide and it has denied opportunities to many children. It is downright wrong. It should not be like that. If parents have enthusiasm for music or something like that, whatever talent the child has, they should be nurtured. "Mol an óige agus tiocfaidh sí" used to be the old adage.”
“I, too, am glad to be able to speak on this motion today. I compliment Páirtí an Lucht Oibre for introducing it. While we often the cost of education in terms of books, uniforms and transport, the reality for many families is that the financial pressures associated with rearing children have never been greater. I acknowledge that the schoolbooks scheme has been a positive development. It has delivered genuine savings and a significant burden has been removed from parents in many households. That support has made a real difference and it is important that we recognise it. However, parents are telling us that the savings are increasingly being swallowed up by a wide range of other costs.”
“I think it was Einstein who said the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over again. Not a week goes by without Deputies from all over the country raising this issue here. We, as public representatives, have literally no access to Irish Water. It is a complete farce. Tipperary town is on a boil water notice since February and it is likely to continue until October. Absolutely no information is coming to public representatives or to the public. How long can this madness continue? Uisce Éireann has been a failure since it was set up by the then Minister, Phil Hogan, who was in the Tánaiste's Government. It must be stood down or massively reformed because it is just not fair. A soft drinks company in Clonmel has a bill of €40,000 for buying clean water and it has got no satisfaction from Irish Water.”
“What plans does the Government have to reform Uisce Éireann, which is totally out of control, given its continued failure to deliver on its core responsibility of providing a safe, secure and reliable water supply. Last week alone 28,000 homes and businesses across south Tipperary, from Carrick-on-Suir right up to Tipperary town, were affected by boil water notices. That is simply unacceptable in 2026. These notices, along with repeated unplanned outages, are not just an inconvenience, they force businesses to close, disrupt farming operations and place huge pressures on families and small businesses and undermine confidence in Irish Water-Uisce Éireann. People are asking how these failures can continue while Uisce Éireann executives continue to receive generous top-ups and bonuses. Where is the accountability?”
“We know that our own families do not matter to this Government. I am not putting this personally to the Minister of State, who I know is a hard-working Minister of State, as is the Minister, Deputy Browne. However, what is going on is just not acceptable. It is time to lay it nakedly out there and support the families who home themselves; they did not ask anybody to home them.”
“I was in a party for long enough and I know how it works. That is the holy all of it. The families are left thrown to the wind. We will have investigations, more reviews and a motion here. It is just pass the parcel. We need to think of the families sleeping in their houses in fear. My daughter, Councillor Máirín McGrath, was in Donegal. Her colleagues up there brought her around and showed her the houses. They showed her housing estates that were empty, gan aon duine ansin. They had to move out. If this happened in Ukraine, we would be talking about it. No doubt we will find hundreds of millions to rebuild Ukraine and there will not be a word about it. There will be no questions asked, no reviews, no tests of the concrete and no anything else, but our own people do not matter.”
“Now people are forced to replace their homes because of the incompetence and blackguarding of a big company, which has been fined hundreds of millions in Canada, America and all over the world. However, we will not fine it here; not at all. We will put a 5% levy on the ordinary man trying to build a house to pay for this, instead of making the company pay. Everybody knows which one it is. I would be nearly afraid to speak the name, even with privilege. It is CRH. There are different names on the lorries going in and out, but CRH owns the lot because it has a monopoly. It is disgraceful and despicable. I have attended its AGMs here in Dublin a few times, not to cover mica issues but to cover countless other issues where it got away with blatant corruption. This is a shocking case of big business in the pockets of the big parties.”
“The foundation is the most important part of anything, including the foundation of the families. This is so distressing to the families who have had to put up with this for so long now. It is distressing that the foundations are not included. It is just pure lunacy. We have standards and regulations, as we have in so many other areas in this country, but they are ignored. We have regulators for everything. They have fancy offices with a brass plate outside, a CEO and staff, but they do nothing. They are toothless, useless and fruitless in my opinion. There are many of them; we appointed another one last week. We appoint them every week and there are thousands of them now. What about the families? It is a noble intention for any person to build their own house and have a house for their family. It is the noblest intention in the world.”
“I, too, compliment Deputy Ward, an Teachta Ward, for bringing forward this motion and for all the work he has done since he was elected and before he was elected. I also compliment na daoine in the Gallery, including Councillors Denis McGee and Joy Beard. Indeed, I also compliment the staff of Deputy Ward and the people and families who are affected. How many more times must they make the major journey to Dublin, Baile Átha Cliath, with their plastic bags? They come with knobs of concrete and they are like sawdust. It is quite obvious. The previous Government made efforts, but I cannot for the life of me understand how anyone could decide to have a redress scheme for the blocks, mortar and walls, and forget the foundations. I have some experience. I am a plant hire contractor in foundational work and site work and everything else.”
“What kind of incompetence and disgraceful treatment is that to give a young boy who needs that treatment, was forced to go private, started treatment, got a call that it could be done publicly and later withdrew from that, having been told he would be get treatment in the public system-----”
“She explained that he had started treatment with a private orthodontist based in County Cork, the parents would be willing to remove him from that service and remove the wire that had been put in if Noah went back onto the public system. She was told that would not be a problem but, hey presto, it would be November 2026. On that basis, the wires were removed in anticipation of his public treatment but, sadly, on 12 June, two weeks ago, the parents received a further call informing them that the national oral health office had withdrawn the offer of funding and the boy, along with about 200 other children, would no longer be entitled to the treatment and would be placed back at the end of the waiting list.”
“The son, whose first name is Noah, was approved by the HSE for publicly funded orthodontic treatment, his orthodontic issues being assessed as severe enough to qualify. When this was originally approved the parents were told Noah would be at least 18 before he was called for the treatment. Imagine that. Having discussed this with his orthodontist, who advised that 18 would be way too late for treatment to be effective, they made a difficult decision to begin private treatment at the end of February. On 5 March, the mother received a call from the orthodontic department of the HSE in Waterford, who informed her that the boy would move forward and receive funding beginning in November 2026.”
“For nearly 40 years, he has served this community with professionalism and dedication. He has been sounding the alarm on this issue for years but, like so many others, his voice has not been listened to. Now, entire communities are left without public dental care. He has been warning about this but nobody was listening. I salute him and his staff, the dental technicians and receptionists. You could not find a finer practice. The situation is untenable. The Government must urgently review reimbursement rates, engage meaningfully with the professionals and take immediate action to restore confidence in the public system. I received an email this evening from a mother about her son. It would bring tears to a stone. He was referred for attention. She asked if we can do anything.”
“Others are limiting their services to basic pain relief only. A small minority of dentists are still trying to provide care under the scheme but they are at their wits' end. They are carrying the burden of an underfunded system without the support they need or deserve. It is just not acceptable. When you see a problem, you should try to fix it because this is getting worse year by year. Figures have been quoted on the thousands of children waiting. Children need treatment when they go into their teens or late teens. It is a big issue for them, especially young girls. We talk about mental health but these issues, when children need assistance with their teeth, should be sorted out. I pay a full and special tribute to Dr. Daniel O'Connell, a Clonmel dentist working on the Quay.”
“That cannot happen and it simply will not happen. Anybody in business knows that, for very good reason, it cannot happen. The dentists cannot afford to do it. The HSE pays a maximum of €109.96 for up to three repairs. The laboratory fees alone for that work can range between €120 and €150. It is simple maths - it will not save your business if you do that. Before a dentist even factors in their own time, staff or overheads, they are already operating at a loss. These are substantial issues, which the HSE just will not listen to or engage with. A dentist is expected to absorb that and continue to treat public patients. It cannot happen - dentists are disappearing from the system and you cannot blame them. Dentists simply cannot continue like this. As a result, many have a made the decision to withdraw from the scheme entirely.”
“I commend Sinn Féin on bringing this motion forward. It is a shocking and alarming situation. The old saying is "Mol an óige agus tiocfaidh sí" - praise the young and they will come. How can they come forward? The dental service is in crisis. In my constituency of Tipperary, we now face the shocking reality that Tipperary town, one of our major county towns, no longer has a dentist providing a service to public patients. This is not acceptable. The Government has repeatedly ignored warnings and pleas for changes to the dental medical card scheme. I have raised my concerns many times in the House and repeatedly with various Ministers for Health, yet we continue to see a complete failure to act. The Government has ignored the cost of dental inflation and expects private dentists to absorb the cost.”
“It is not a pleasant journey. That is for us to think about. If we expect investors to come here, we need seamless travel to get to the regions where we want industry without undue delay and being held up at airports and in traffic.”
“A fair and balanced aviation strategy is essential for regional development as far the travelling public is concerned. I recall a debate here with former Minister Shane Ross who I met today at his book signing Clonmel. I wish him well. He was here for a debate so it is a while ago now. It is an ongoing issue. The Minister has grasped the nettle; it is no bother to him. He is a good man to take on issues. This has to be sorted out. Long term, we must be understanding of the regions of Ireland, the south east with Waterford and the south and south west with Shannon and Cork. Cork and Shannon airports are a doddle to go through. The staff are very helpful. You are in and out. You are not stuck in queues for hours or in traffic. You have to be there three hours in advance for transatlantic flights; it is way too much and it is frustrating.”
“We must look at a better timetable for those airports and Waterford when it is completed. I compliment the private investor there and all who worked on it. My former colleague, Matt Shanahan, was a daily lobbyist here for Waterford Airport. Instead of continuing to overload Dublin, we should invest in and promote regional airports as available alternatives. Everything in this country appears to revolve around Dublin, while the people in Dublin do not want an increase in passenger numbers. You cannot blame them - they have issues and problems. The DAA must answer a simple question: how can it justify seeking ever higher passenger numbers in Dublin while Cork and Shannon remain significantly underused? It is an obvious question. Any of us in business would look at that and see what we could do about it.”
“Passengers across the south and mid-west are paying the price. They face long journeys to Dublin, traffic gridlock on the M50, which I just came through in the past hour and a half myself, excessive costs for car parking at Dublin Airport, longer queues, bigger crowds and more stressful journeys. That is for sure - they are more stressful. Cork and Shannon airports serve vast regions, including County Tipperary, yet they are not supported in a balanced way. We must have more balanced regional development. It is imperative - we cannot not have it. The community wants to fly locally, and visitors to the south and south west do not want to face a two- to four-hour journey from the airport to wherever they are visiting in Ireland, yet they are given little choice with limited flights in these other airports.”
“I am happy to speak on the Dublin Airport (Passenger Capacity) Bill 2026 this evening. The cap must be lifted but there are fundamental questions. There are other issues besides Dublin; it cannot all be about Dublin. That is what it has been. There is huge investment in Dublin. We do not begrudge it one bit but we need a more balanced regional approach. While I support the lifting of the cap, for years policy and investment have been overwhelmingly focused on the capital while our regional airports at Cork, Shannon, Knock - Deputy Healy-Rae mentioned Kerry - and now Waterford. We welcome the investment there. There is great potential for people in the south east. They have all remained under-utilised despite being efficient, modern and easy to get to, and easy to grow as well. I compliment the staff there.”
“They have friends in high places and involves literally billions in money overall. As Deputy Paul Lawless said, it is just shocking. They are putting in one, two and three different criminals who have been released here without any rehabilitation. It is only a cocktail for more crime, more gun crime and all kinds of heinous crimes. We can come in here and rush through legislation to opt in to this, that and the other with the EU. We are forgetting about the ordinary people who look after our country, our land, our heritage and, of course, our habitats. Yet we do not know the impact of what we are passing will have on them and on those in the farming community who are trying to survive, eke out a living, protect their crops and above all, protect their people. This is wide open for abuse from the EU afterwards.”
“They are concerned as are the farmers who, for instance, cannot farm potatoes, which are coming up now, because of crows. They have to have a shotgun. They can have these bangers and everything else. They also need them for deer hunting and for shooting vermin. These people are not being consulted and the worry is that this is the thin end of the wedge. If we opt in to this, we do not know what it is and where it might end up when it comes down on top of us. I also have huge issues with the Prison Service at the moment. Our prisons have double the number of prisoners that they can hold and they are releasing prisoners on a regular basis to unscrupulous landlords, some of whom have IPAS centres. I attended a briefing in the audiovisual room this morning. The money that is being paid to some greedy developers here is shocking.”
“I wish the Minister of State well in her new role. I am concerned about these opt-ins. We are opting in very often without any proper legal scrutiny or impact analysis. None of us can say there is not a huge problem with gun crime. The availability of and activity involving guns is outrageous. We can have all the opt-ins and European agreements we like, but we do not have the Garda Síochána on the ground to deal with it. I commend the ABGN Gun Club in four parishes in my area, and also the many gun clubs around the country that do excellent work in nurturing species that are in in danger, habitats and everything else. They have huge concerns here. There was absolutely no consultation with the national organisation or those clubs.”
“I know it is a hard balancing act, and the Minister is doing his best, but we have to get a better balance and listen when people like the United Nations tell us that capacity here is all wrong and we have too many eggs in one basket. We must try to redress that and have more balanced regional development as well.”
“It is out of control completely. As I said with regard to data centres, people are trying to heat their homes, the cost of living is going up and data centres are having an inordinate impact. Most of them are in the capital city, which is bursting at the seams. We need more balanced regional development. Several speakers referred during the motion to the home support scheme for ordinary families to try to make savings on their energy and do something for the climate and have retrofits in a timely fashion so they can avail of them. No families have €45,000 in their back pockets that they can dish out to pay for these retrofits, so there is a lot to do.”
“However, I am against what is going on with the huge amount of electricity they use and the great need they have for water to cool their systems and everything else. The proposed Shannon pipeline is like a runaway train. It will be a second children's hospital. It is to bring water to Dublin when there are plenty of aquifers and water in the vicinity of Dublin without having this mad project. I call it madness. It will do huge ecological damage to the mid-west. Uisce Éireann has gone off without planning and without any licence from the EPA or anybody else and has spent a fortune compensating farmers and paying them 25% upfront. Does Uisce Éireann have some inner contact line whereby it gets the nod to go ahead and do this and to hell with planning, An Coimisiún Pleanála and anything else and it can do this and start spending money?”
“I am glad to be able to speak on the motion today. I know the Minister is walking a tightrope and it is very difficult to get the proper balance. We have been waiting for the wind energy guidelines for 21 years. Fine Gael promised two elections ago that we would have them in 12 months. Councils are at a loss. It is the same with the solar situation. The best of land in the country is being taken over by solar. With regard to data centres, the United Nations, which I do not often pay a lot of attention to, is even issuing a cautionary tale about us in Ireland for allowing data centre growth to run far ahead of our energy and water capacity. When the UN is warning us, something must be amiss. We need to cut our cloth according to our measure. I am not opposed per se to data centres or any other development.”
“We want to get the tourists in, look after them and give them the product. Mar fhocal scoir, I want to say to the Minister that the Government has such a confusing message with the short-term lets. People who have developed them in their farmyards and adjacent to their farmhouses, and who have little business going there, are totally in limbo with the Government. They do not know whether they are coming or going.”
“I will start in south Tipperary with the Rock of Cashel, the wonderful cultural centre brought to fruition there by iar-Sheanadóir Labhrás Ó Murchú agus a bhean chéile, Úna, and the culture there as well. I will also move on to Cahir Castle. Cahir Developments Association has done so much development around there, with Cahir Tidy Towns. I also cannot say enough about the community groups, including Knockmealdown Active, Knockmealdown Crossing and all the different groups. Ballyporeen has its own music festival. They are struggling and not getting enough supports. They need more supports and we need more connectivity. If you go on then to Carrick-on-Suir, there is Ormond Castle. The castle at Carrick-on-Suir is a wonderful castle. The whole Ormond Castle trail could be more interlinked and there could be more connectivity in it.”
“I am not sure who is coming from my group. I will take as much time as I can. I thank the Minister, Deputy Burke, for coming to Clonmel some time ago and visiting what is known as the old Bulmer's site right in the centre of the town. It is a project that needs to be developed with something along the lines of the Guinness Storehouse, or something of the same nature. The Minister saw the vats, the history and the feeling of the work that went on there, the craftsmanship with the old barrels and the many hundreds of people who worked there. I remember, as a buachaill óg, drawing in apples on a tractor and trailer back in the 1960s. Tipperary is a very proud county and we have Tipperary Tourism doing its best.”
“It addresses growing dangerous practices of unlicenced, unlawful sulky racing on public roads, a practice that has caused serious injury and will continue to do so unless we act. I do not claim the Bill is perfect but I hope that all sides of the House will support it. The issue straddle the Departments of justice, agriculture and local government. The Minister, Deputy Heydon, has been making noises that he would support it. I have introduced the legislation twice and it was not supported. I hope we will come together, take this legislation, amend it, if necessary, but do something now. We should not do like we did with the scramblers and end up with a law in the name of some person who was killed. Please act for the sake of ending the cruelty to the animals and for the safety of the public. I commend the Bill to the House.”
“It endangers motorists, pedestrians, young people involved and the animals themselves. At present the law is a patchwork of inconsistent local authority by-laws. Counties such as Tipperary, Kilkenny, Limerick and Waterford all have different by-laws, which leads to a total lack of consistency in approach. The Bill seeks to correct this by establishing a national united framework. It grants local authorities the powers they need to enforce the law and it provides for meaningful penalties, including fines of up to €5,000 and, in more serious cases, imprisonment. The Bill does not interfere with off-road sulky racing - something that takes place in many countries and is very lucrative – on sand-based paths organised by legitimate equine sports organisations.”
“It is reckless, unsafe and horribly cruel to the horses. In Tipperary we have seen horses driven to exhaustion, abandoned on roadsides and, in some cases, left to die where they fall. Images from the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, ISPCA, show the horrific injuries. I compliment the organisation and all the different horse and dog refuges that try to do so much in this case. These animals can suffer torn ligaments, broken bones and wounds inflicted by makeshift tack. This is not sport; this is avoidable cruelty. Let me be clear: I am not anti-sport and I am not opposed to traditional equine culture. Tipperary is rightly proud of its world-class horse racing heritage but what is happening on our roads is not legitimate equine activity. It is unlicensed, unlawful and dangerous.”
“There was another incident where the horse broke from its carriage and ran directly into oncoming traffic. A motorist narrowly avoided a multi-vehicle collision near Thurles when a group of sulkies took over both lanes of the N62 without warning. These events are becoming disturbingly frequent. The Clonmel incident happened outside a busy shop and a dance studio. There are often large numbers of youths and parents going in and out to the shop and the dance studio. If the horse had ploughed into them, it would have been horrific. It hit two cars. The briefing notes describe how children as young as ten hitch horses or ponies to lightweight carts and race them along busy regional, national and primary roads. The reality we are dealing with is unregulated, uninsured, high-speed racing on public roads, often alongside moving traffic.”
“I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to prohibit sulky-racing where no lawful permission has been granted. I am pleased to bring this legislation before the House once again. Its purpose is straightforward and urgently needed. The Bill prohibits sulky racing on public roads unless explicit permission has been granted and lawful permission has been there for that. As outlined in the briefing notes, sulky racing is an extremely dangerous activity. The practice places the public, young passengers and the horses themselves in grave danger. The Bill is driven by the growing number of serious incidents occurring across the country and particularly in my own county, Tipperary. In recent months, gardaí were called to the outskirts of Clonmel after a young trotting horse collapsed during an early-morning sulky run.”
“Please put this to the people and let the people decide. Is the Taoiseach so frightened of the people that he will not do this?”
“I am appealing to the Taoiseach with just a couple of days to go to enact the European Union migration and asylum pact. I tried for almost two years on the Business Committee to have a debate here. Deputy Carol Nolan and I, and our rural Independent colleagues, tabled a motion on 1 May 2024, a May Day call, which the Government voted down. I appeal to the Taoiseach to have a pause and try to listen to the people. I ask the Taoiseach to please give the people a voice here and do not be patronising like he was in reply to Deputy Paul Lawless. This vote was passed in summer 2024 by a margin of merely seven votes. That was before we had nearly 40 new TDs here. We all condemn the savage attacks in Belfast and that have been ongoing in this country. The Government has turned a blind eye to it and tried to demonise people.”
“With regard to education and skills, we have great, educated people here, but we need to reskill to have more trades and more practical work. With regard to wind energy and solar, why is it always big companies that are coming into communities to do these projects? CRH is trying to build a big biodigester near Thurles in Tipperary at the site of the old lime plant in Killough. It is antagonising people because it has money, and it sees nothing except the money and greed. It does not want to respect communities, and it will not engage with communities or try to work with them. There is a lot of work to be done here. The sun is shining and the hay is to be made, but I do not know what hay is being made.”
“We now find out that they cost €496,000, and that is not yet the final bill. It is an abomination, and that is only one area. This is widespread. With the children's hospital, my group and I argued that it should be put out on the M50. We knew the contract was written to rob the State. We have the Critical Infrastructure Bill but, unfortunately, the same people are writing that legislation, the people who have lost their way, who cannot seem to see outside the box and who are blinkered. Then we have the legions and battalions of NGOs running around Government Buildings in front of Ministers and behind Ministers. They have their ear, and they are dictating policy and legislation. It is a simple outrage that this is happening. We have completely lost our way.”
“We saw this recently with the protests about the cost of living and fuel. Ordinary people, hard-working mná agus fir na hÉireann, agus na buachaillí agus cailíní freisin, all came out because enough was enough and they could not cope. They see the waste. I will not even mention the items already mentioned that were news headlines here in the last year. Every day of the week, I mention spending, but there is no accountability whatsoever. Take the Ukrainian housing, where one company, Sisk, had 11 contracts on 11 sites. Modular units worth a maximum of €80,000 have now cost €450,000 nationally. It is daylight robbery. In Clonmel, when I sat down with the company and the Office of Public Works, OPW, integration team, I was guaranteed that they would not cost a penny more than €200,000, with everything included, and I knew the site involved.”
“I am delighted to speak on this Bill. It is a good and timely debate that is badly needed in our country. We think back to the pioneering days of Seán Lemass and T. K. Whitaker, what they could do and what they did, and the vision, passion and integrity they had. To some extent, we have evolved from that. Of course, we joined the EU and we had loads of money, but we crashed the economy, not once, but twice, and we had the International Monetary Fund, IMF, here. There are soundings again this week that are terrifying people. It is said that property taxes should be increased, and that we have to rein in our spending and stop the reliance on data centres and those kinds of companies and outlets. There is a social contract with the people, but it has been utterly shattered.”
“An Garda Síochána is refusing to investigate this. I was told by the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and others to go to the gardaí. Revenue has refused to meet Mr. Fraher, me or anyone. It is hoping this will all go away like snow off a ditch. There will be a long summer, and thank God the weather is picking up today. However, this is not going to go away. It was wrong from the start but it is even more wrong now that we would push this aside and place it into this new agency that we do not have faith in either and give the employees there carte blanche and good jobs. It is shocking. Again, I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle, who was one of the Government TDs who tried to assist families. He and I met with some of them. We have Professor Honohan's report and what he brought to light and the total unfairness in the courts.”
“I will support any measure that brings fairness, accountability and closure but I will not support a process that simply dissolves the entity while dissolving responsibility along with it. We have to be very careful here. This is a nice, glossy Bill. I heard the Minister of State’s speech and other speeches as well. I know of so many cases. I raise the case of the Poppyfield Retail Park in Clonmel. That scheme was the brainchild of Mr. Fraher. I refer to what went on there and the transfer of lands and yet hotels are operating without planning permission and no fire certificate. I do not want to damage a hotel that provides a great service and has great employees but I refer to the sheer corruption with the transfer of that land, money changing hands and it being all hush hush. You cannot get answers.”
“The people affected by NAMA and the citizens deserve closure, support, counselling and to have some modicum of their lives back. Transparency is essential but it is a very scarce item in this House with this Government and with successive governments. Too much of NAMA’s work was hidden behind confidentiality. If we are closing this chapter, the truth must be allowed to come out. Some media outlets have shown interest here but editorials will not allow them to publish it. The fear of the big hand, the might of money and the threats is there. I will continue to raise this case and others like it until the State acknowledges the human cost of decisions made by NAMA and IRBC.”