Michael Collins
Cork South-West · Independent Ireland · Ireland
“This matter has been raised twice already this morning, but it is hugely important. I will make a personal appeal to the Taoiseach regarding Skyclarys and the further delay that has now arisen. Yesterday, Emma O'Shea came to Leinster House from west Cork with her mother, father and brother.”
“Another huge problem which normally arises in August is that relating to school buses. Parents have no way to get their children to school because of the nearest school rule. The current and previous programmes for Government contain promises that this will be done away with, but nothing has happened. The rule needs to be abolished.”
“Every parent knows that September has become one of the most expensive months of the year. While free schoolbooks are welcome, many families now face growing costs for other items. Parents are being asked to purchase laptops that cost €400 or more, make increased payments for school transport and pay charges to cover examination fees.”
“Either 25 children are left without a school place this September, or two senior infants classes are merged into one class of 34 children. Does the Minister of State agree that schools should not be punished for helping to solve an enrolment crisis? Will he immediately sanction the additional teaching posts required for St.”
“Education should not be measured by means of the distance someone lives from school, and school transport should not be measured on that basis either. I want to raise a matter that Councillor Bill Clear brought to my attention. It is a very serious issue regarding St. Corban’s National School in Naas in County Kildare.”
“I was chairperson of a board of management and know the difficulties that schools face just because they are one or two children short. That can be made up as the year goes on but it is a crisis that Councillor Clear finds unacceptable.”
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“It does nothing for mental health supports, even though we now have evidence of soaring rates of depression, anxiety and PTSD among affected homeowners. People are at breaking point. Families are broken, children are suffering and the Government's answer is a spreadsheet. This is not a technical issue; it a humanitarian crisis and it demands a humanitarian response. This House has seen cross-party consensus, with all acknowledge the current scheme is failing, yet the Government continues to bring forward legislation that manages the crisis instead of resolving it. By refusing scrutiny, refusing transparency and refusing to listen to the homeowners, the Government only deepens the mistrust. I will finish with this. This Bill moves a few numbers. It rearranges a few procedures.”
“The Government may say that the Bill makes process improvements and provides longer timelines, a longer appeal window and a technical review mechanism. These are welcome but they are welcome in the way a sticking plaster is welcome when the wound is deep and untreated. The core problem remains. This Bill preserves a scheme built on capped grants, narrow eligibility and partial date-bound retrospection, all of which fall far short of what the affected homeowners and others in the Opposition demand. It also remains utterly silent on so many vital areas. It does nothing for social housing. Even council tenants are living in the same crumbling walls as everyone else. It does nothing for schools, community buildings, farms or small businesses built with defective blocks.”
“Yet, the Bill forgets them entirely. That is another broken promise and another group sacrificed to the Department's obsession with controlling costs rather than protecting people. Third, the Bill openly acknowledges that the NSAI review of I.S. 465 remains incomplete. Homeowners do not know how the revised standards will affect their remediation option or grant amount. This limbo, this scientific uncertainty, is exactly what caused the downgrading crisis that devastated families in Donegal, Mayo and beyond. If the Government is going to legislation based on an incomplete standard, it must provide effective interim guidance to engineers and local authorities until the review is finished. Otherwise, we are repeating the same mistake again.”
“These families acted in good faith, based on the Government's own message and on commitments from the Minister that early starters would not be penalised. Yet, they are being penalised. They are cut off, excluded, and left behind. The housing committee told the Minister about these 43 homeowners weeks ago but they are still outside the scheme improvements. Where is the fairness in that? What is the moral difference between a family who paid their builder in February and a family who paid in April? There is none, but the Government has invented one. Second, this Bill excludes side-by-side rebuilds in exceptional circumstances, including cases involving disability and complex medical needs. These are families who simply cannot remain in their homes during the rebuilds. The Minister announced in June that these families would be included.”
“This Bill retains the capped square metre-based grant system, the same flawed mechanism that leaves families facing shortfalls of €100,000 to €200,000, and more. Government continues to parade this capped scheme as a 100% redress scheme, even though every engineer, every campaigner and every affected homeowner knows that it is simply untrue. The cap remains. The square-metre rates remain. The financial risk remains firmly of the shoulders of the innocent homeowner. The Bill also introduces arbitrary retrospective cut-offs and this brings me to some of the most glaring injustices that must be addressed on Committee Stage. First is the exclusion of 43 homeowners who completed rebuilds, or outer-leaf repairs before the Government's retrospective date of 29 March.”
“There are improvements to timelines and increases, however limited, in grant rates. There is a recognition, slow and partial as it is, that retrospective injustice had to be addressed in some form. These are points that align with the 100% Redress party's agenda, which its TD, Deputy Charles Ward, has strongly articulated in this House, and which we fully support. However, that is where the positivity ends. The Bill, when stripped of its gloss, is still just a set of tweaks to a scheme that has already failed thousands of families. It is not new redress, it is not just justice, it does not implement the people's document and it does not come close to the standards of full, fair, 100% redress.”
“It is certainly not the respect that the people living in crumbling homes deserve. The Government should send this Bill to the proper select committee and do the right thing. Independent Ireland has been very clear. When legislation affects thousands of families whose lives have been devastated financially, emotionally and mentally, the Government should not hide the Bill until the eleventh hour. It should not silence homeowners' input. It should not treat people like an inconvenience. It should bring the Bill to the committee where it belongs. It should allow scrutiny and it lets the public speak. To be fair, I acknowledge something sincerely. There are aspects of this Bill that align with the long-standing position of those campaigning for 100% redress and with the policy of Independent Ireland.”
“I broadly welcome that the Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks (Amendment) Bill 2025 is finally before the House. Families have waiting for far too long for even the small improvements contained in these pages. Any step, no matter how modest, that puts a few euro back into the pockets of the struggling homeowners is good. However, let us also call things by their name. The way the Government has handled the passage of this Bill is nothing short of a disgrace. It waived pre-legislative scrutiny, it withheld the text until the very day of the debate and now it intends to ram Committee and Remaining Stages through the Dáil next week before homeowners, engineers, or advocacy groups have even had a chance to read the Bill in full. That is not good governance. It is not transparency.”
“Fast forward a week later, and much to their horror more than 500 landowners on the Cooley Peninsula in County Louth received the dreaded letter through the letterbox stating the greenway was railroading through their ground. Is Ireland losing its democratic status as TII and the local authorities give themselves ever-increasing powers over the land and property rights of private citizens? Will the Tánaiste communicate with TII and local authorities, especially regarding Cooley in County Louth, on stalling progress on walkways where there is no agreement until the review TII is commissioning is completed and CPOs are taken off the table?”
“Two weeks ago hundreds of people peacefully protested outside Dáil Éireann against CPOs being used to force greenways and walkways through the middle of their farms and property. They included people from Galway, Kinsale and Cooley in County Louth. The Oireachtas transport committee meeting heard evidence from TII, which admitted it was not aware CPOs were being forced on landowners to take their land from them for greenways or walkways for recreational use. At this meeting TII promised a review will take place on the roll-out of greenways for the thousands in Ireland affected. For those affected throughout the country, living in fear that lands would be taken from them, this was some relief.”
“I will not go into the devastating attack on a young girl recently in Citywest. It is not best practice at all. Maybe the Commissioner should talk to the people who live there. I am not against EU co-operation but I am against hypocrisy. We cannot keep writing blank cheques for migration while communities in west Cork and across Ireland are left without basic services. If we opt in, let us demand accountability. Let us ensure this money is spent where it matters, on security in rural areas as well, on integration that works, and on protection of our own people from poverty and homelessness.”
“That is a 76% increase in child homelessness since 2020. Families are living in emergency accommodation while the Government quietly signs off on more spending for migration and asylum supports. Meanwhile, the cost of living is crushing ordinary people. A family of four now needs €3,500 a month just to get by and rents have hit €2,500 for a one-bedroom unit in Dublin, yet the European Commissioner for migration comes here and says that Ireland's and Citywest's are the best practices, an example for Europe. To be honest, that was a farcical statement when I saw it the other day. When Irish families are sleeping in cars, when rural communities have no Garda presence and no CCTV, this is not best practice. This is a slap in the face to every struggling family in this country.”
“We are being asked to opt into three EU programmes: the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund; the Internal Security Fund; and the justice programme. Combined, these would unlock over €100 million for Ireland between now and 2035. On paper, that sounds positive - funding for asylum supports, Garda ICT upgrades and justice co-operation - but let us talk about reality. In west Cork, we have no CCTV in many towns and basic security infrastructure is missing, yet we are signing up for EU money that will fund biometric systems and cross-border policing. Where is the investment in local safety? Where is the fairness in rural Ireland? While we pour millions of euro into asylum and migration projects, we have a record 15,199 people homeless in Ireland, including 4,658 children, as of November this year.”
“This measure was buried in the Finance Bill and will see that VAT rate on hiring rooms for functions in hotels and guest houses jump from 13.5% to 23% - a 70% increase - from January 2026. This is a massive hike that will hit business and communities hard. I have raised this very recently in this Chamber and I have asked for the decision to be looked at again and overturned. To put this into perspective, one Cork hotel surmised that this change will cost it €25,000 annually if it absorbs it internally. To offset it, it will need to generate €120,000 in additional revenue, which is an impossible target in the current climate. These costs will inevitably be passed onto ordinary families and community groups. Weddings, communions, charity events and local gatherings will all become more expensive for many towns and villages.”
“It is annoying and frustrating that local authorities are charging businesses rates per seat. I realise the councils are being starved of cash by the Government but it is not fair to turn on businesses that are struggling at present. Business owners have told me Cork County Council is charging them per seat outside their door. That is a very unfair situation and it is kind of sneaky. The only bit of relief businesses got was being able to serve customers outside their door but now that is coming at a price. While we welcome the reduction of VAT on food to 9%, which will, unfortunately, not apply until next July, I must call out what can only be described as a deeply underhanded move by the Government to increase VAT on room hire for events.”
“Independent Ireland will support this common-sense motion but I really do not understand why the same proposal has been brought before the Dáil on so many occasions. Why can we not just rubber-stamp it once and move on? Businesses in this country need this common-sense provision at this time. The legislation we are discussing was introduced as a temporary measure but outdoor dining has become a vital part of our hospitality sector. Businesses have adapted to the model and repeated extensions only create uncertainty. It is time to stop treating this as a short-term fix and make it permanent. It would provide clarity for businesses, local authorities and An Garda Síochána, thereby ensuring consistency and stability. Independent Ireland is very strong on this. We need this measure in place without having to keep discussing it so often.”
“The Deputy had her time to speak; this is my time. They should get into the car and go down to visit one of these farms. They need not bother pre-empting the visit because those running the farms are quite proud to have them come to see the way these dogs, these greyhounds, are being looked after and to see the way these beautiful horses are being looked after. They should be proud of the Irish people and proud of what we can deliver, instead of trodding on the Irish people the whole time for something that we do well. I thank the Ministers for providing this funding. Some 30,000 jobs would go out the window if those on the right side of me in this building had their day today. Those 30,000 jobs would go straightaway. It is scandalous.”
“I listened to criticism from the Social Democrats during the debate on a motion a couple years ago when they picked out the wrong type of dog; they did not even know what a greyhound was. The point is that I went to visit these greyhound farms and I saw the beautiful way these animals were treated with the utmost respect. I would ask people, instead of coming in here shouting and roaring and criticising negatively every day of the week, they should get into the car and-----”
“They attract owners, trainers and visitors from around the world and help showcase Ireland at its very best. When we speak about protecting this industry, we speak about protecting jobs communities and our national reputation for excellence. We speak about safeguarding rural Ireland. We speak about an industry that is not simply part of our heritage but a global powerhouse that continues to deliver for this country year after year. Independent Ireland stands firmly behind the sector and with the leadership of Councillor Bill Clear we will continue to champion its importance in government, in policy and in every community that depends on it. We will not stand for the banning of the greyhound industry. We will stand up for and praise those people who have these greyhounds.”
“No other country matches our reputation for breeding excellence. Our foals, our bloodlines and our horsemanship are recognised worldwide. Buyers come from the Middle East, America, Australia, Japan, Britain and across Europe because they know Irish horses are the best in the world. Our successes on the international stage prove it. Irish-bred and Irish-trained horses dominate at Cheltenham, at the Grand National, at Royal Ascot and across the major classics. Irish stallions have sired winners at the Kentucky Derby, the Melbourne Cup and right across Europe. We are home to global powerhouses like Coolmore which has made Ireland the beating heart of world breeding. Our racing festivals - Punchestown, Galway and the Irish Champions Festival - are among the finest anywhere.”
“Bill has been a tireless advocate for the people, the jobs and the communities that make up Ireland's equestrian sector, and we are grateful for his leadership. Ireland's equestrian industry is far more than a tradition or a pastime; it is one of the most important economic pillars we have, across breeding, racing, sport horses, veterinary work, tourism, transport and farm management. This sector supports around 30,000 jobs. These are real jobs in real communities sustaining families and keeping rural Ireland alive. Economically, the contribution is enormous. The equine industry generates over €2 billion every year from racing and festivals to bloodstock sales, from training yards to farriers and feed suppliers. This activity ripples to every corner of the country. Ireland stands as the world leader in thoroughbred production per capita .”
“Strangely, I was talking there to Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice, who said that the agriculture committee is meeting below and he would like to be up here speaking today, and it was committee members who approved of this funding in the first place last week. It is unfortunate there is a clash. It should not have happened. I apologise for Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice not being here but I will speak on his behalf and speak in support of the motion. A huge thank you to the Minister and the Minister of State across the way for a common-sense approach is being taken. To listen to some of the nonsensical arguments of the other side, I do not know what world they are living in because they are not living in the one I am in. I acknowledge the tremendous work being done by Independent Ireland's spokesperson on equine issues, Councillor Bill Clear.”
“Australia and Canada have strict timelines for investigation and delays are penalised. We should adopt similar standards. If we fail to act, we fail those who risk everything to defend the public interest. The message we need to send is in Ireland truth will never be punished and those who expose wrongdoing will be protected, supported and vindicated. I am disappointed to hear the Minister of State saying the Government will oppose the motion and put down a countermotion. That is a delaying tactic. That is kicking honesty down the road. Government Members should be ashamed of themselves to do that and should reconsider their decision.”
“The motion is about giving those people real protection. It calls for swift, independent investigations, enforceable sanctions for obstruction and personal accountability for officials who destroy evidence or delay inquiries. It bans coercive NDAs, demands transparency through quarterly reporting and expands the powers of the Protected Disclosures Commissioner. It even proposes a pilot reward scheme for disclosures that recover public funds because honesty should never come at a personal cost. Protecting whistleblowers is not just a legal obligation but a constitutional duty under Article 40.3 of Bunreacht na hÉireann and a moral imperative. Other countries reward whistleblowers. In the United States, whistleblowers who help recover public funds can receive up to $30,000 of the amount recovered. Ireland needs to follow that lead.”
“When we finally got a meeting with the Central Bank, it told us the advisers were regulated but can sell unregulated products. I will say that again: regulated advisers selling unregulated products. The people who lost their life savings are devastated, mentally, emotionally and financially. In their own way, they are whistleblowers too. They spoke up, embarrassed and broken, because the system failed them. Closer to home, local whistleblowers, including home helps, came to me and said they were ready to work but patients were being told there was no one available. When I raised the issue in the Dáil, one of those home helps lost their hours. That is retaliation; that is the punishment for speaking the truth. Whistleblowers come in all walks of life. They are ordinary people who refuse to stay silent when something is wrong.”
“Now they have to send an email authorising us to act on their behalf before we can even contact Bus Éireann - another layer of bureaucracy. Why? Do they think we would make up stories as TDs about a child wanting to get a bus seat? No, we do not but the system tries to burn you out and make you walk away from the truth. Too many offices do not want to give answers. That attitude of avoiding responsibility and scrutiny is exactly what this motion seeks to change. Earlier this year I raised a shocking issue of financial advisers in west Cork and Kinsale. People poured hundreds of thousands of euro of their own private money into investments, thinking they were safe because these advisers were regulated by the Central Bank.”
“As public representatives, we see every day how secrecy and bureaucracy undermine trust. Take housing in the council, for example. Some of us spend months making representations, attending meetings and fighting for families who desperately need a home. When a house is allocated, the local authority has now made a decision it will not tell us who got the house in our own constituencies. That is madness gone wrong. If we are doing the work, we should be told the outcome. That lack of transparency is the same culture that punishes whistleblowers. It is about control, not accountability. Look at school transport. Parents come to us, give us all the details and ask for help getting a bus seat for their child.”
“Careers have been destroyed, disclosures have been delayed and coercive confidentiality agreements have been used to silence the truth. This is not justice and this is no acceptable. The scale of whistleblowing in Ireland today shows why this motion matters. In 2023 alone, there were 1,162 protected disclosures made to public bodies. Some 734 of those reports required follow-up and 161 cases were sent for further proceedings. One single disclosure in the HSE led to €3.7 million being recovered for the taxpayer. That is the value of speaking up but here is the reality. The Workplace Relations Commission saw whistleblower complaints triple last year, with 301 cases, a 201% increase. That tells us something is broken. People are still being penalised for telling the truth.”
“I thank our staff John Campbell, Marc Nolan and Emmett Corcoran for putting this Private Members' business motion together for us, in the Dail today. Simply put, this motion is to strengthen whistleblower protections. It is about enforcement and accountability in public administration. The treatment of whistleblowers in this country has been an absolute disgrace. This motion is about trying to change that. Whistleblowers are the truth tellers in our society. They expose the wrongdoing, protect public funds and uphold integrity in our institutions, yet despite the Protected Disclosures Act and its alignment with the EU whistleblower directive, too many brave individuals have paid a heavy price for doing the right thing.”
“We have to look at Bantry General Hospital serving parts of Kerry, the Beara Peninsula, the Mizen Peninsula, the Sheep's Head Peninsula and all the way out to Kinsale. I was out canvassing in Kinsale and people asked me what I was doing for Bantry General Hospital. If it is serving a community from Kinsale to Kerry, it is doing something right and it needs to get as many services as possible.”
“That community probably has the highest elderly population in Ireland and we have not looked after that population. It is the same up in Donegal. No matter where, community hospitals are not resourced. There are a few like Deerpark Nursing Home and the one in Galway I mentioned that have been built and which we desperately need, but the situation is left to drag on and on. Another issue is the endoscopy unit was open in Bantry General Hospital. It is a fantastic service and we are absolutely delighted. I praise the Department of Health. It took me years of shouting and roaring here in the Dáil but it worked. We need an MRI unit in Bantry General Hospital and now we have to focus there. That is where the money needs to go next. The stroke unit is being worked on but the MRI unit is of huge importance. Is there a budget available?”
“A home help service could keep them at home but that has gone too. I do not know why because home help people tell me they are willing to do the hours. Home help supervisors are saying they cannot get the people so there is a con job going on there and nobody seems to want to stand up and say somebody is mocking someone. It is the elderly person on the ground who is suffering. We need to invest in our community hospitals. A lot of investment was given. The former Minister, James Reilly, was the man who gave it to Schull hospital. I was there. That investment was superbly spent and brought the hospital up to a standard that is second to none. I wish the management and staff the very best because they are delivering, along with the staff of all the other community hospitals. However, the bottom line is no extra beds are available.”
“We have to have a very serious sit-down discussion about community hospitals and nursing homes too. The problem is the elderly population has risen throughout the country. I am only talking about my own community hospital in Schull, which is probably one of the best in Ireland. There was investment in it by a previous Government, which was top class and I am not going to take anything away from that. There is Beara community hospital, St. Joseph's unit in Bantry General Hospital and the facilities in Dunmanway, Clonakilty, Kinsale, Bandon and Skibbereen. When has an extra bed been put into any of those hospitals? The one in Schull has 21 beds, and I am pretty sure it had 21 beds 20 years ago. We have a rising elderly population and we still do not have an extra bed, so where do people go?”
“The respite services are gone and the day care facility has been abandoned. Meanwhile, 12 people are on a waiting list for care they urgently need. Families are being forced to travel long distances for respite and Irish-speaking residents are left without support. This is unacceptable. We need immediate action from the Minister of State, the HSE and the senior Minister to honour commitments and ensure the facility serves the community as intended. Councillor Thomas, after making representations, was told it is hoped to reopen the beds once staffing has been recruited at the start of the new year. The winter of 2024 is gone and we are into the winter of 2025 with no answers. We need the Minister of State to get cracking on this. There are people crying out for this to be done.”
“He was talking to me recently and I appreciated that. I would just like to get answers. I think there are 12 to 14 rooms available there and they fully meet all the standards. There is an issue because someone went bankrupt or whatever nonsense went on, but it is there for the taking. Beds are desperately needed in west Cork and we cannot understand what the problem is. There is the same situation in County Galway. Councillor Noel Thomas has told me about the issue in his constituency. Councillor Michael Leainde is a councillor down there for us as well. Some two years ago the people of Galway were promised Áras Mhic Dara nursing home in Carraroe would be fully staffed and all beds open by winter 2024. That promise is not being kept as nine rooms remain empty. This is the problem we have. This is happening in Bantry and in Galway.”
“Health insurance companies are looking for extra money but they are not delivering the way they should be. There are a lot of issues related to health that we need to talk about. I have been fighting for Deerpark Nursing Home for a long time. We have a massive crisis where people cannot get home help, cannot get into a community hospital and cannot get into a nursing home. Sometimes I run into a brick wall because there might not be a bed available or the hospital is full, as it was last week. It was the local community hospital. The local newspaper and I were running with the story but the hospital is full. They cannot put people up in the attic. They have to have a room for them. Deerpark Nursing Home has rooms and I would appreciate the Minister of State, Deputy O’Donnell, getting personally involved in this.”
“I recently raised in the House the deeply unfair case of a constituent paying €1,470 a year for health insurance who was guaranteed 100% cancer care and was denied access to a life-saving cancer treatment drug when he needed it. Patients should never suffer because of cost-cutting by insurers. After intense media and public pressure, the insurance company agreed to cover the cost but it should never take a public outcry for a patient to get essential treatment. The bottom line is if people pay health insurance and the company tells them they are 100% covered – comprehensively covered is what we call it with car insurance – then when they get something like a serious cancer, they should not be told by the company that they are not covered and it forgot to tell them that.”
“This Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill may sound technical but its impact is very real. From April onwards, the stamp duty levy on advanced health insurance plans will rise by €48, bringing it to €517 per adult. For families, this will mean an extra €128 a year on top of already soaring premiums, which now average nearly €1,900. These increases will hit households hard at a time when every euro counts. While the levy funds fairness in the system, we cannot ignore the pressure this places on ordinary people. Government must ensure transparency and affordability so fairness does not come at the cost of financial strain.”
“At the end of the day, all these bills and overruns happen but somebody must pay and that is the hard working taxpayer who gets up in the morning, the man or the woman who is trying to go to work at 5 a.m., 6 a.m., or 7 a.m. This is where their money is being wasted. It is no longer acceptable. We are not talking about €50,000; we are talking about hundreds of millions of euro.”
“To put it in perspective, the €71 million already spent on the Moriarty tribunal could have funded over 350 new social housing units, given that the average cost of building a social home is approximately €200,000 per unit. Imagine the impact that would have on struggling families with housing insecurity. Our citizens deserve confidence that every euro is spent wisely. Endless delays, missed targets and ballooning costs undermine trust in this Government. We keep asking for an oversight body on expenditure. To me it is a no-brainer but for some reason the Government does not seem to want to support a Department of efficiency and transparency. This is an opportunity for the Government to stand up and say, "Okay, this might deliver and it might deliver savings to the State and savings to the taxpayer, the hard working people".”
“It would be a dedicated body to monitor public spending, ensure timely resolution of legal disputes and prevent runaway costs in future inquiries. Such a Department would set clear timelines, enforce cost controls, and publish real-time updates for the public. Today we learned Uisce Éireann, another Government body, has missed its leakage targets by a mile. A target of 176 million litres was promised but only 20 million litres was delivered. Now Uisce Éireann faces a €20 million penalty while €13.6 billion is being sanctioned for water investment over five years. This is another example of oversight matters. It is not acceptable in this island that this carry on is happening when others are suffering and we are trying to deliver services and infrastructure.”
“Today we are once again discussing the legacy of the Moriarty tribunal, a process that began in 1997 and officially concluded in 2011, yet continues to cost the taxpayer millions. The latest revelation is an additional €3.5 million payment to settle outstanding legal costs. This comes on top of over €71 million already spent with previous settlements, such as €5.8 million earlier this year. This is not just about historical inquiries; it is about accountability and efficiency in how public money is managed. When a tribunal has ended over a decade ago but its financial impact still grows we must ask, "Where is the oversight and where is the transparency?". That is why Independent Ireland is calling for the creation of a Department of efficiency and transparency, something very few in this House have supported. I would like to know why.”
“My God, every farmer in the country is held accountable for any drip that goes out of his farm. Mother of God, Uisce Éireann and the EPA. The EPA turns a blind eye. It spends every day drawing up reports about agriculture and farmers, but it forgets about the very people it is responsible for. It is failing to address these issues in all these communities and to have a proper wastewater treatment structure in order that we can go back and say to the people that something is going to happen and that they can build more houses, not a token response but a real response.”
“The Government has to take responsibility. It cannot be handing a €13 billion budget over to Uisce Éireann with no accountability for it. That is what I am angered by. I ask the Tánaiste to intervene on our behalf and at least meet with the local community in Adrigole and give us the right because we are facing that meeting again in Adrigole in a couple of weeks' time. I will give them the same answer that I gave them the last day - that there is no accountability and I cannot do anything for them. It is just a scandalous situation that we find ourselves in as public representatives. It is the same situation with Shannon Vale, Dunmanway, Rosscarbery, Ballydehob and Goleen. Uisce Éireann's wastewater treatment plants are pouring raw sewage into the water.”
“There have been 14 breakages since July and we could get nothing but a generic scandalous answer, the same as I got again this morning after I went back in there. We asked for a meeting with the organisation - three or four people - to find out what the plan is and what it intends to do. Fourteen breakages in any community would not be acceptable anywhere else, but it seems to be acceptable because it is Adrigole. It is a rural community in west Cork. They are the same people as anywhere else and they deserve their water. It is scandalous to think that they are facing a winter of breakages and worse and they are getting a generic answer stating it was a very dry summer in some places and a wet summer in other places. That is nonsensical. It is time for Uisce Éireann to put its hands up in the air and say something is wrong.”
“I meant to bring this issue up last week but unfortunately my question did not get picked. In relation to the people of Adrigole, I was at a public meeting the other day. Fine Gael Senator Noel O'Donovan was there. Fianna Fáil Minister of State, Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan, was there. The three of us knew three weeks in advance that a meeting was coming up. We asked Uisce Éireann to simply give us an honest deadline. There were 14 breakages in the water supply at Adrigole. The crèche and school had to be closed. The businesses had to close down. People who were doing the Airbnb had to hand money back to customers in the morning because they had no water to shower. Filthy water was coming through the taps.”
“He said there is no protection for the likes of them and that he wishes to get out of there. Why? There are also other issues in relation to isolation in terms of infrastructure needs. Today we learned that Uisce Éireann missed its leakage targets by a mile. A total of 176 million litres were promised. Only 90 million litres were delivered. Now it faces a €20 million penalty, while €13.6 billion is being sanctioned for water investment over five years. This is reality. We cannot keep pouring billions of euro into utilities without accountability. While families wait for homes, cutting VAT is welcome, but it is not enough. We need joined-up thinking. Housing and infrastructure must go hand in hand. If we fail to connect the dots, we fail the people who are counting on us. I know that.”
“I welcome the decision to cut the VAT on apartments from 13.5% to 9%. It is a practical step and one that will help reduce costs and encourage the construction of homes we so desperately need. Let us be clear: cutting VAT alone will not solve this crisis. I hear speaker after speaker condemning the landlord. Lord God almighty, where do they think we are going to get houses from? It does not appear like that. They are putting down landlords who own one house or two houses. I was speaking to a man in west Cork this morning who said if he could get out of it, he would be gone long ago. He said all the pity is for the tenant and there are new regulations coming in regarding six years and all that. There is nothing for him. They could wreck his apartment and they would not have to pay him. It could take 18 months to get them out.”
“In the past number of weeks at the Business Committee, I have sought to raise the issues of Uisce Éireann, which is getting a budget of €12.2 billion from the State and is not accountable for much of that money that has been spent, and Mercosur. The IFA and the Irish Farmers' Journal did an investigation last week that showed that basically rotten meat - contaminated meat - from South America could end up on Irish tables. We also need a discussion on issuing the writ in Galway West and Dublin Central.”
“Look at the Allihies mine shaft. There is a hole above in Allihies, a collapsed road, and nobody is doing anything about it. Look at the road in Lyre. Councillor Daniel Sexton brought it up in a motion last year. The road collapsed in the last seven or eight years and was never fixed. It is road after road. There are the Union Hall speed signs. At Owenahincha Cross turnoff, Councillor Sexton is again working so hard on new road alignments to Newmills. I could go on forever.”