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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“It is too important to daily lives and safety, as the Taoiseach mentioned. I welcome that. Look at the carnage. Imagine that number of deaths on 1% of our roads in Tipperary. That tells its own story. I have been involved with some of the families who suffered fatalities there. It is a terrible road. It is hugely important artery between Foynes Port and Rosslare for the trucks and the bypass of Tipperary town is included in that. It is badly needed to keep this project alive.”
“I thank the Taoiseach for his reply. It is vital the project gets €3 million this year, otherwise the contracts will end on 11 April and the work will stop. I have been around long enough to have noticed that it was halted in 2002 and 2012, at huge inconvenience to and angst for the landowners and property owners, along with land being sterilised and wide corridors. That has been reduced, thank God, but there are still landowners on the line. There is a proposal to do the line with some off road and some on road. It is vital. Kilkenny County Council made a presentation to all Oireachtas Members in the area to keep this alive. If it is shelved again, it will take another ten years. At least if it is shovel ready and goes to An Coimisiún Pleanála and progresses there, it will be kept alive.”
“We must remember the human impact. Several families and landowners face land being sterilised, with some being threatened with their houses being demolished. They are also stressed, so it needs to come to an end. A further €9 million in the next three to four years will bring the project through the statutory planning process. The existing contracts with consultants-----”
“I also acknowledge the ongoing work of Tipperary County Council roads section, including Liam Brett, John Nolan and their colleagues. Some €3 million is urgently required this month from the Department to prevent the project collapsing. We cannot allow the N24 to be shelved again, as it was in 2002 and 2012. If funding is withheld in 2026, it could take more than a decade to return to the current stage of readiness. Surveys, route options and a preferred transport solution have all been completed at taxpayers' expense. The preferred route proposes a 38% offline and 52% online upgrade. While I have concerns about elements of this near Clonmel, Kilsheelan and even Knockagh near Cahir, they can be reviewed when the scheme progresses to An Coimisiún Pleanála. We simply cannot afford to lose this project again.”
“This appeal comes not just from me; it has the backing of Oireachtas Members across the three counties. Over the past 20 years, €10.7 million of public money has been spent already on scoping, assessments and everything else. Without sufficient allocation for Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, that investment will be wasted and the project will stall yet again. While last year's national development sectoral plan included a welcome commitment to progressing this project, it is now time to turn commitment to delivery. Kilkenny County Council is the lead authority but the N24 is a lifeline for the entire region, connecting Waterford and Limerick to the ports at Foynes and Rosslare and supporting thousands of daily commuters, freight users and local communities.”
“The announcement by the Minister for Transport, Deputy O'Brien, regarding the Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, national roads allocation for 2026 is expected next week. I urge the Taoiseach to prioritise the N24 Waterford to Cahir project. It is an essential piece of infrastructure for Tipperary, Waterford, Kilkenny and the whole south-east region. We have just endured one of the worst years for fatalities nationwide. The N24 in Tipperary alone, which is just 65 km of roadway, or 1% of our county's road network, accounts for 25% of our road deaths. That is a shocking statistic - 1% of the network is causing a quarter of fatalities. That reality alone demands immediate intervention. One fatality is one too many. We sympathise with all the families.”
“I sympathise and empathise with the people all over Wicklow, Wexford, Waterford and many other areas who were flooded. It is not a nice situation because you do not just get water, you get lots of other stuff as well. As I said, we had solutions offered to us from Denmark and Holland, imaginative schemes about moving water on faster. We also had offers of land south of Clonmel where we would deepen the river, take the topsoil off the land, put in all the spoil and put it back again to grassland, but no, the ecologists said we have frogs, snails and everything else. People's lives and property and the people who cannot get insurance are much more important than all these ecologists and these green people who tell us we cannot do this because of snails and everything else. We need reform also in the OPW.”
“They are working, thank God. However they will not stay working. We have the folly here from our left-wing colleagues. Tá siad imithe now, like snow off a ditch. They come in and put out their fancies. Deputy O'Gorman was talking about keeping water up on the side of a hill. How would you keep water up on the side of a hill unless you had it in a bucket? He could not even hold a bucket at that. The Waterford deep-sea port was cleaned biannually for decades, up to about 25 years ago. It is not cleaned any more. Every piece of dirt off a roof or dust off the streets and roads, fields, building sites or anywhere else eventually washes into the rivers. There is no place else to go. We must clean the rivers or the flood defences will be rendered useless.”
“I thank the Minister of State for all his hard work in different parts of the country. I saw him manning the pumps a good many years ago in Athlone town. He has lived with flooding and he understands it. I also want to thank the late Teachta and iar-Aire Martin Mansergh, who did a lot in that Department. He passed away recently and we sent our sympathies to his wife Liz and family. He was a Minister who helped greatly in many areas but mainly in Clonmel. We had trouble and problems in Clonmel for decades but we have a great scheme there now. Obviously, there are little tweaking problems with pushing the water back. I want to shout out to the Clonmel borough district area staff and the engineering staff, Gillian Flynn and Paul Coffey, and thank them for their work putting up the flood defences each time there is a bad forecast.”
“This site, however, has a roadway and all developed into it. The site and the houses are as solid as the Rock of Cashel. It is a crying shame and an insanity to demolish these houses and dispose of all this. It will cause that carbon footprint and leave the site scarred because the foundations and the base will not be removed. It is said that this is being done for the Rock of Cashel. Is a view more important than houses for families in Ireland? It seems that with this Government, the views and anything are more important. This is insanity. The definition of insanity, according to Einstein, is to keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect different results. Please halt this. Pause this demolition and re-evaluate it.”
“I attended a meeting with the CEO some time ago but I was told at the meeting she was unable to attend. I could not get answers from any of the directors. There are a lot of unanswered questions in this regard. The Minister of State told me that these houses were built with planning. They were built with full planning, alongside planning for a 120-bed hotel. Many estates around the country were built likewise, with both hotels and accommodation. Many have been transformed and turned into accommodation. Anything could be done with them, from social housing, which we so badly need, to a health facility. We need a 60-bed health facility in Cashel. The Minister of State knows that. We cannot get a site for it, however. This is an ideal site. A site at Palmershill is being looked at but it is much more inaccessible.”
“They are the best I have seen in a long time, and I have some experience in the game. They have mass concrete walls, ducting for all the wires, plumbing and everything else. Some 50 submissions have gone in under the Part 8 but the Part 8 has been turned on its head because when I visited the site last Monday with the owner, we met people there who were from a demolition company. When asked why they were there, they explained they were there as a result of an etender that was out two weeks before the Part 8 process closed. The tender was put out by Tipperary County Council. There is an indecent haste to demolish these houses. The council is ahead of its targets and while I support the council staff, I do not support senior management and what they are doing here.”
“There is no rationale. That is why the Minister for housing, Deputy Browne, is not here to take my Topical Issue. I handed a file to the Minister six to eight weeks ago in this regard. First, I thank Liam Campion, his wife and family. They are builders and providers who are building apartments - six-storey blocks - in this city today, as well as in Cork city. They have been building for nearly 50 years. They built what is known as the Twin Towers estate in Cashel, which is a fine, noble housing estate. These houses are not semi-derelict. I wanted to ask the Minister – I thought I would meet him today but I will meet him later – or the Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, to visit these houses. The site is located five minutes off the main N8. These houses are suitable for any type of building. They are solid structures.”
“These houses were granted full planning permission in a decision that was upheld in the courts over a long number of years, but now the same council that granted permission seeks to demolish them. Environmental policy is equally contradicted. Demolishing 52 concrete structures will create 13,582 tonnes of waste and this runs against Government commitments on sustainability and waste reduction. It flies in the face of the principles of low-carbon and climate-resilient development. The phrase, "The greenest building is the one that is already built", acknowledges that. This embraces the embedded carbon in these buildings and the enormous energy used to construct them. I have more to say but I will do so in my reply.”
“The public and elected representatives are being asked to accept a multimillion euro demolition without access to the basic financial information needed to evaluate the site. Furthermore, they have been ordered not to visit the site. They were told they could be trespassing, which is not true according to the man who owns the site. The council states the buildings were originally intended as tourist accommodation and that the site is unzoned and outside the settlement boundary. However, that has all changed. We are 20 years on and we are in an emergency. National housing policy demands flexibility and reuse, not rigid adherence to outdated classifications. When thousands of people need homes we need to think outside the box.”
“We have 3,600 families or persons on the approved housing list in the county and here there is 1,800 sq. m of housing - 52 fine and spacious three-bedroom houses which the council seeks to knock down. They could be luxury houses. When there is huge housing demand across the county it is indefensible that viable housing stock is to be destroyed rather than repurposed for private, social, affordable or indeed health accommodation. Even more concerning is the lack of transparency about the costs. An independent quantity surveyor's report estimates a cost of €8 million for the demolition and remediation, yet the council has continually refused to release full costs to my office via freedom of information requests.”
“They have mass concrete foundations, mass concrete lintels down on piles on a very solid site overlooking Cashel. They have mass concrete floors, mass concrete walls, mass concrete first ceilings and mass concrete ceilings on top as well. These are the kinds of houses we are dealing with. All the roofs bar one are perfect. One roof is slightly damaged, either through vandalism or by the weather. The units are, as I said, not mere shells as many have windows, doors, plumbing and electrics. Independent assessments describe them as solid structures that are far from derelict. Importantly, a number of developers have expressed interest in redeveloping the site. However, instead of exploring refurbishment Tipperary County Council seeks to demolish them entirely.”
“Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCeann Comhairle. I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this Topical Issue on a very important matter. I mean no disrespect to the Minister of State, Deputy Feighan, but I am very disappointed there is no Minister or Minister of State from the Department of housing present. There is a housing crisis and we have a proposal to knock 52 almost-complete houses in Cashel, County Tipperary. Tipperary County Council plans to demolish 52 partially-completed houses under Part 8 development. The decision defies logic in the middle of a national housing emergency. These units are not mere shells. They were all finished. Many of the windows and doors have been vandalised, through no fault of the developer. I compliment the developer on such fine, sturdy mass concrete houses.”
“Somebody has to have responsibility when NAMA is wound up. We cannot just fold it up and put it on a shelf and say, "Great job done". NAMA did some good work but there was obvious wrongdoing and fraud in the cases I mentioned including the Nemo Rangers lands in Cork and worse in Clomnel town with the Clonmel Arms Hotel, which I have raised here, and now the Clonmel Park Hotel and Mr. John Fraher. The Tánaiste said NAMA is satisfied it acted appropriately. How could it have acted appropriately when he went out of business, ceased trading in Ireland, went bankrupt, was trading in England and his tax number was continually used to put funds through here by other directors of the company, with the knowledge of NAMA? I have named these cases in the Dáil.”
“There are serious concerns about fraud in recent High Court proceedings about unusual ownership structures such as a case involving two identically named companies, Dildar Limited, one of which is registered offshore, which may indicate attempts to circumvent liabilities to NAMA, and the Tánaiste is saying that he does not have responsibility.”
“Will the Minister make a statement on that? He said he is not responsible but somebody has to be accountable for what went on here. It was an awful vista. We had Project Eagle in Belfast and Project Jackdaw in Clonmel, on the Clonmel Arms site. We have the cases of Mr. John Fraher and Nolan Transport and other ongoing cases in Wexford and issues there as well.”
“I am worried that when there is alleged fraud taking place with the handling of money who will be responsible for the ongoing investigations into that fraud and irregularities and current cases; including two matters I have raised previously in this House, namely, the ongoing NAMA investigation into circumstances relating to Nemo Rangers lands in Cork, and the unlawful use by NAMA of the personal tax number of Mr. John Fraher, a businessman in Clonmel? He had gone out of business, was living in England and his tax number was used for a number of years, with the knowledge of NAMA and by people involved in NAMA. It was an abject crime. What becomes of the cases when NAMA ceases operations? Who will take responsibility for these investigations? Who will be held to account for any irregularities or wrongdoing?”
“My question is about the wind-up of NAMA, which will happen in the next ten days. Who will assume responsibility for ongoing issues, irregularities and other issues, such as court proceedings when NAMA has been wound up? It will happen by 31 December. That is only ten days away. Will the Tánaiste make a statement on the matter?”
“For some reason, the county council took issue with them in 2005 and 2006 and the case has been in the courts ever since. Some kind of clandestine deal has now been done behind closed doors. Obviously the council did not win, and it is going to demolish these houses. They are 52 of the finest houses, constructed with mass concrete, insulation, perfect roofs, perfect walls, perfect timber ceilings and timber ceilings upstairs. Now the council is going to knock them at a cost of between €7 million and €8.5 million. It will render the site back to a brownfield site and hand it back to the owner. What is going on? Will the Minister please contact Tipperary County Council and intervene? These 52 houses should be allocated to families on the housing list.”
“I too welcome many aspects of this legislation. It is very important that the Minister is making efforts in many areas, but we have a lot of strange things happening as well. Like Deputy Healy-Rae, I want to ask about the granny flats and modular units in the back garden. I will again mention Seán Meehan who is being prosecuted. He is being dragged through the courts for having his own little mobile home, which is encased in a lovely timber structure and doing no harm to anybody. There are no complaints from his neighbours along the whole road on which he lives. I also want to ask the Minister about Ballypadeen in County Tipperary. I handed him a file on it some weeks ago. They are 52 of the finest houses ever constructed in this country and they had full planning permission.”
“The extension of the ability to transfer commercial property to residential property without requiring planning permission is crucial. We must deal with situations like that of Seán Meehan, who so badly needs his situation rectified. He will be before the courts again in January. There are many more like him. It is not good enough.”
“We also need to do something meaningful regarding small and accidental landlords, who should not even be called "landlords". These are people with a second, third or fourth property. They are being crucified. They have no rights whatsoever. They are getting no support. The Government needs to make it easy for them, especially now that holiday lets are going to be banned. The Government is going to make the situation worse. Small landlords need to be supported. I hate calling them "landlords" because they are not. The big landlords are very different. We are giving too much say to bad tenants. I love good tenants and we all like good people who pay their way. If you have bad tenants, you must be able to remove them from a house. Those are the things I am asking about.”
“I am glad to be able to speak tonight. I welcome the proactivity of the Minister, Deputy Browne, and his junior Minister from Port Láirge. Is the Minister going to extend the situation whereby commercial properties can be used for housing without planning permission? That is so important. Is he going to do something about backyard developments behind houses, which are not mentioned this plan at all? What about a case in which a man houses himself in a mobile home? Seán Meehan from outside Clonmel in County Tipperary is being brought to the courts for putting up a nice timber house around a mobile home. He needs to be looked after, as do other people like him. There are thousands of Seán Meehans. We need to deal with that issue.”
“The round tower in Ardmore is 96 ft, the Spire in Dublin is 390 ft and these gigantic 605 ft tall wind turbines with a huge axis from the radius are being put up and the locals are just cast aside. It goes straight to An Bord Pleanála. The Government has no respect for ordinary people. That is what is wrong. It is all about big business, which has the Government in its pockets.”
“I was listening to the Minister when he delivered his speech earlier. I was in the Chair and I listened to him and heard what he said. The problem is that the Government has given up on ordinary families, totally and absolutely. The multinationals and oil companies are gouging the people. Every party in this House voted for carbon tax. Sinn Féin wanted more carbon tax a few years ago. The Rural Independent Group was the only group to oppose it. The Government then gives the nod to come in here. I want to speak about part of the country this evening, Grange in Ardmore, the lovely round tower in Ardmore and Scart mountain and those areas where gigantic wind turbines are going up now.”
“I ask the Taoiseach for immediate clarity on what steps will be taken to restore these vital services locally. Will an additional modular space be provided if there is not space, although I believe there is? Can we have a full audit into the use of St. Brigid's Hospital and the primary care centre to make sure it is not being used by officials rather than services?”
“When St. Brigid's Hospital in Carrick-on-Suir was closed, the people of Carrick-on-Suir were shocked. They were also promised that a primary care centre would become a hub for chronic disease management. A centre of excellence was promised. Instead, we are now seeing the removal of vital services like the diabetic clinic and the cardiology care from the primary care centre, all because of reports of a lack of space. At the time, the Taoiseach met the former Deputy, Jackie Cahill, and Councillor Kieran Bourke, and promised the hospital would be reopened as a community hospital. That did not happen. The people of Carrick-on-Suir have lost their beloved hospital and have been left with more and more broken promises. It appears the HSE can do what it wants, there is no accountability and its word means nothing.”
“It has changed now with all the mood noises but the left of course does not like it. It wants to be running the country while shouting from the Opposition.”
“They are not in government and probably will not be in government but they want to control everything else and control what I say and when I speak for the people I represent in Tipperary. I will represent my people fearlessly while they give me a mandate to be in here. I will be as welcoming as anybody else. I had people up here last week from Bridgewater House in Carrick - a wonderful group of people are doing great work there. They are from several different countries all over the world. Of course, I am not a racist, a bigot or anything else. Fair play is fine play with me, and I support the Government. This debate has a long way to go, so I have an open mind on it. We should take the funding but we cannot give up our sovereignty. It is important that we have a debate and that we are allowed to have a debate and are not shouted down.”
“Anybody who is here, has gone through the system and has failed should not be here, full stop. One of the NGOs - it could be the Irish Refugee Council but I could be wrong - well paid with taxpayers' money is contesting, supporting and going to the High Court with persons, God help us, who have failed all the tests and are being deported. There is something badly wrong in the State of Ireland when these Government-funded and taxpayer-funded NGOs are going against the Government and the people. These people have gone through the system, got a fair trial and everything else. Then they take court cases. It is time we copped on here and turned the tap off on these NGOs which are bleeding the taxpayer dry. Any time I turn on RTÉ there is one or other of them on and they are supported here by the left cabal.”
“I heard someone mention people who marched for Gaza and they could not do something else, so they have control now over what they want to do. We could not speak about it; it was hear no evil, see no evil and there is no evil. All I wanted was a reasonable, calm debate without being dog-whistled at, jeered, humiliated or God knows what else. They tried to humiliate me - I was not. I was just saying that we have to cut our cloth according to our measure. We can take so many. We are known for the Ireland of the welcomes but we cannot have a walkover. I warmly welcome the change in the integration Department through the Minister, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, his immediate and ongoing work, and the proposals I understand he brought to the Cabinet today to try to have some common sense brought in.”
“I, too, am glad to speak on this issue. It is timely that we have a debate on it. As we know, the migration pact has been signed and there was no debate. For the last five years, certainly over the last three years since the war broke out in Ukraine, and with the other issues all over the world, we could not have a debate here. I stood up at meeting after meeting of the Business Committee for a year and a half. We finally got a debate. The Government did not even have to come in. The Minister came in to introduce it, but the parties of the left attacked me, my colleagues and anybody who wanted to debate this. We could not do it. The debate was shut down, the same as it is in the media, with Gaza and everything else; they own it.”
“The coursing festival will start again in February in Clonmel and beidh fíorfháilte roimh na Teachtaí go léir. They will all be welcome to come to the coursing. There will be thousands from all over England, Northern Ireland and Ireland for a wonderful weekend and a huge investment in Clonmel.”
“They have a vindictive issue to try to stop jobs in rural Ireland and destroy families who look after their animals. I do not ever support any cruelty to animals. I was reared with animals, so we understand that too well. The people who are here are all for abortion. They want abortion up to nine months, full gestation-----”
“There is one up in Dundalk and this is badly needed. I salute the hard-working and dedicated group driving this. It will bring business, economic and social activity, and enjoyment to many people in weather conditions when racing cannot go ahead on other tracks. It is a pity that the people here who are trying to stop horse racing will never say a word about the sulky racing that is going on, destroying animals' legs on roads and animals dying on the road. They never talk about that. I introduced a Bill to get sulky racing off the roads. They ignored that and would not even support it.”
“I am glad to be able to speak today. I thank both Ministers for the funding for Horse Racing Ireland and the greyhound industry. It is money that is well spent on something embedded in the rural communities and urban communities. From listening to the debate, you would think that greyhound tracks were something awful. Greyhound tracks in Clonmel and Thurles host fund-raisers for many clubs, schools and other organisations; it is part of our fabric. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Healy-Rae, for being so vociferous in supporting this. I also thank the Minister, Deputy Heydon. We have great prowess in Tipperary with Coolmore, dozens of other flagship trainers and others in the equine industry. Horse Racing Ireland has provided funding for a state-of-the-art all-weather track at Limerick Junction with great connectivity there.”
“It was a very serious situation that happened during Covid and it continues because, of course, we have had no investigation into the happenings of Covid. It was a kind of desktop experience but I want international experts from abroad to come in here for a truly independent inquiry. We need that and I hope this motion will be supported.”
“This motion calls for what is currently needed: swift independent investigation into disclosures, and we are going to have to go outside the country to get that; enforceable sanctions for officials who obstruct and delay inquiries, which they do; legal aid and support for whistleblowers who suffer retaliation; and transparency measures including publication of anonymised progress reports and compliance data. We cannot allow a culture where speaking up means career destruction. Whistleblowers are acting in the public interest. They protect lives and it is time for the State to protect them. I am seriously calling for the Minister for Health, the Taoiseach and all the other agencies to deal with the protected disclosures that Deputy Toole and I have brought to the House in good faith.”
“They highlighted issues such as the suppression of safety data, the misuse of non-disclosure agreements and the absence of timely investigations even when lives were at stake. Lives were at stake and lives were lost. The evidence presented points to a pattern of stonewalling, delay and denial when regulators and public bodies refused to act on credible warnings and failed to investigate clusters of sudden deaths and a rise in the number of adverse events. This undermined public trust and violated legal and ethical obligations. The Department of Health, the Minister and the regulatory bodies continue to ignore these protected disclosures.”
“I welcome all the whistleblowers and their friends in the Public Gallery. I am supporting this motion. We all remember former Sergeant Maurice McCabe who exposed corruption and malpractice within An Garda Síochána, and the treatment he faced as a result. It led to the disclosures tribunal. On the recent protected disclosures Deputy Toole mentioned, I also raised these here in this House, including one from a healthcare professional. It raised deeply serious concerns about systemic failings during the Covid-19 scam-demic vaccine roll-out and treatment protocols in nursing homes. The discloser alleged that warnings of a safety risk were repeatedly ignored, that informed consent was not obtained and that the regulatory bodies failed to investigate credible reports of harm.”
“I am glad the Minister of State is in his position and the Government has now gone back to roads rather than silly projects, many of which were active travel while you could not get funding for roads. I thank the Minister of State for his interest in Tipperary, his assistance with projects he has visited, his intention to visit again and continuing to support us with many projects in south Tipperary.”
“From a road safety perspective, the situation is stark. The 65 km stretch, which is through Tipperary, is 1% of the county's road network yet accounts for 25% of road fatalities, which the Minister of State will agree is an alarming and unacceptable statistic. The proposed route bypasses Mooncoin and Carrick-on-Suir and provides a flyover for Kilsheelan, yet it inexplicably continues through the existing congested Clonmel bypass, the only urban area with daily traffic bottlenecks. We have to re-examine this and go back to the drawing board. Along with thousands of landowners and people who live in the area, I am eagerly awaiting the publication of the route option selection documents. Seven homes have to be taken out. We have to twig and rejig this. It is not fair that we would take homes.”
“As the Minister of State knows, a lot of money has been spent on this over the decades - almost €20 million. It is wasted money if we are not able to continue it. When Shane Ross was Minister for transport, I took him to the Piltown stretch where it was a slaughterhouse. Thankfully, we installed flyovers there now, although they should have been in on the first day. I cannot impress enough how important this is for people living on the route, farming on the route and people who want to get planning permission for anything else. This development must get the green light. We must know where we are and get certainty. We have to be sure where we are going.”
“However, Deputy Murphy and I are here pushing with the Minister of State to try to have this important road link moved on. The number of fatalities over the decades has been just appalling. Twenty-five percent of all fatalities are on that part of the road, which goes from Foynes Port to Rosslare Europort and on to Waterford Port. It is so important for infrastructure, connectivity, trade, business, tourism and everything. We are making progress on the Cahir to Limerick and the Cloghabreeda to Limerick sections, and that is very welcome, but we want this project now. I am appealing to the Minister of State to ask the Minister for Transport, Deputy O'Brien, whom I speak to on a weekly basis about it, to try to make sure this project is kept alive and that we get the requisite funding to bring it to An Coimisiún Pleanála.”
“Ar an gcéad dul síos, ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil leis an gCeann Comhairle as ucht na saincheiste seo a ghlacadh. I am delighted that the Minister of State, Deputy Healy-Rae, is here because I know that he is an understanding man who travels rural roads every hour of every day of the year. He knows how important this project is. He travelled on this road recently on his visit to Cahir. The N24 from Cahir to Waterford is a massive project that is at a critical juncture this year. Only €80,000 was given in 2025 to keep the project alive. It did not keep it alive; it actually wound it down. The councils of Tipperary, Waterford and Kilkenny met last Monday night. They are very anxious that this will go ahead. They called on the local Oireachtas Members. I thought that Deputies Cleere, Cullinane and McGuinness would be here.”