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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“Homelessness is exploding, with 15,000 people in emergency accommodation, and yet the Government pauses a scheme that keeps families housed. The housing crisis is turning into housing chaos as more people are pushed out of their homes each year while the Government drags its feet. The tenant in situ scheme was working effectively, saving more than 2,500 households, so why shut it down? This is about priorities and the Government has got it all wrong. It can find billions for overspending but claims there are no funds for housing solutions. Landlords want certainty, not red tape as overcomplicated rules discourage them from engaging with the scheme. Approved housing bodies, which can manage social housing well, are being locked out of the scheme.”
“I forgot to congratulate the Minister and Minister of State on their appointments to their positions. I wish them well going forward. I hope we can work closely together. One of them is from my own constituency so we should be able to work closely together. I think this is the second or third time I have spoken about housing today in the Dáil. It is a huge crisis and a huge issue. It does not matter if it is a young person looking for planning permission, which seems to be blocked, or if you are trying to grow your local town or village and bring people into your community, which cannot be done because the infrastructure is wrong. This is one of the schemes that the Government reopened under pressure but it is now failing to fund it properly.”
“I blame the rural planning guidelines, which are built to make sure that young people will not get fair and honest planning on their own lands and farms. That is unjustified and cannot continue. I could spend ages talking about Dunmanway, Shannonvale, Ballydehob and Goleen as regards wastewater treatment plants, but I am not going to now because we might have a speech later on about housing. However, we need to concentrate on situations where Uisce Éireann has not delivered on wastewater treatment plants. The Minister needs to appear before the Dáil. For five weeks, I have been looking at the Business Committee for the Minister to appear before the Dáil to speak on wastewater treatment plants, but it has not happened as of yet.”
“They are 100% against the person who is applying for the planning - the mother, the father, the young person or couple who are trying to get off the ground. They need the Minister's help, and I hope he is listening to me because this is hugely important to these people. They come into my clinics - maybe seven, eight, nine or ten of them - every week looking for planning. They are being refused planning. I often say to them that it is like the train is gone from the station when they come to me, so they should please come to me before they go on the train. We might then be able to do something for them if they get refused. It is simplistic, silly stuff they are getting refused on. I do not actually blame the planners for this.”
“We are years talking in the Dáil about housing. I listened to the Fianna Fáil Deputy who spoke previously and I have to agree with him. Regarding Ukrainians and others, we have been promising that all sorts of construction can be done and all sorts of structures can be built but we cannot do anything for our own selves. That is something we need to do very soon. I hope the Minister will look at housing in a different light to his predecessors because they made no movement on housing. It is worse things have got, and it looks like the Government is going to be 13,000 short of its target by 2027, from what I can read in the newspapers today. It does not need to be. The first thing - I raised this with the Taoiseach today - is rural planning and rural planning guidelines.”
“I am not pointing the finger at planners, but I am pointing the finger at those who wrote the negative rural planning guidelines that are almost impossible to get through. Only a couple of weeks ago, the Government put forward proposals for timber cabins, which I welcomed. Will the Government now bring forward legislation to change rural planning guidelines immediately to allow people from their own area to get planning permission in a fair and reasonable way?”
“Almost every day here we talk about housing targets. Today, in one leading newspaper, an article states that this Government will be 13,000 homes behind the 2027 targets it set last November. This is one crisis that must be resolved immediately. Another crisis, though, is rural, one-off planning. It is almost grinding to a halt. I have up to ten people coming to me weekly in west Cork. In some cases, they have spent thousands of euro in this regard. I refer to young people trying to get a start out in life, but every obstacle is put in front of them to block them from getting planning permission. It is not that long ago that I mentioned in the Dáil a young lady who had spent €10,000 to get planning permission relating to a family farm on a west Cork island only to be turned down.”
“On top of that, does the State expect the residents or families of those living in nursing homes to make up the pay shortfall for these section 39 workers? This section 39 pay increase deal should be fair and across the board. I am calling on the Government to make time available to discuss this critical matter out of respect for every private nursing home staff member and patients and their families across our island and to reverse the very unfair section 39 deal that has been brokered.”
“I agree with the previous two speakers in relation to speaking time, and it needs to be resolved as business needs to be done. Last week, a deal was struck by the Department and the unions on a 9.25% pay increase for many healthcare workers under section 39 contracts. This is to be rolled out over a two-year period. I publicly welcomed this long-awaited move only to realise that the devil is in the detail for section 39 private nursing home staff, who are to be exempted from this pay increase. Private nursing homes are already being hammered by the State, receiving €380 less per patient every week in comparison with public hospitals. They also have to pay for any HIQA upgrades to their nursing homes when ordered to carry them out.”
“Even if there is an influx of 40 or 50 people to a village of 150 or 200 people, whether they come from Goleen, Donegal or across the water, extra gardaí and manpower are required. That is not being accounted for and is causing angst and worry in rural communities. There are discussions about establishing an IPAS centre in Skibbereen, which is causing concern. Another may be established in Glengarriff, a small tourist village that lacks the infrastructure to accommodate any influx of IPAS users. The village has no resident gardaí and limited services. This raises concerns about how these individuals manage their daily needs. They have daily needs and we need to be concerned about them. Unfortunately, the services are not being backed up by the Government's plans.”
“I commend Garda Damian White and others, who have long been associated with the Garda youth awards. These awards are excellent for recognising the hard work of young people and the enthusiasm they have for their communities. Many people criticise young people but these awards are a special way for young people to be acknowledged for the significant work they do in their communities. Without the dedicated individuals who organise the event, such as Garda White, it would be challenging to provide such acknowledgement. The unfortunate situation of international protection accommodation services, IPAS, centres being set up in rural communities means gardaí must be under immense pressure. No extra gardaí are going to be in those local communities and they need assistance. It does not matter if there are IPAS centres in an area.”
“Jonathan is well acquainted with the local dynamics and is involved in the local community. He knows which parents or teachers to contact with youth-related issues, which families or neighbours to approach with concerns about the elderly, and the right individuals to engage with on local matters. This model would be highly effective throughout Ireland. The Minister of State cannot dictate where a garda goes to live but he can certainly give gardaí incredible supports to live in the communities they work in. It would turn policing around in this country. I am involved with the Garda youth awards, just on the outside looking in, to be honest, and maybe trying to put forward the name of some young person in our community who needs to be commended.”
“I wish the Minister of State the best in his role. We were all asking for more gardaí on the ground and in our communities. It is no surprise that, in the few minutes I have, I will be making this request for west Cork. We are very fortunate in west Cork, particularly the Ballydehob–Schull area, to have Garda Jonathan McCarthy living and working. That is very valuable. A garda like Jonathan is of incredible value to a community because such a garda knows who is who, who should or should not be in the community, and who is there for good and benefit of people and who is not. Unfortunately, throughout this country we have lost the local garda living in the locality. I commend Garda McCarthy and his family on making the decision to do so. Community garda are essential across the country.”
“Reducing the number of cars on the road or switching to more sustainable transport options can help to lower this carbon footprint significantly. Will the Taoiseach work with the Minister for Education to provide this vital bus service to bring 30 children from Bantry to Schull Community College?”
“For the past two years, parents in Bantry and the surrounding areas have been advocating for a dedicated school bus service to transport over 30 children from Bantry to Schull. Despite numerous representations to the previous Minister for Education, this issue remains unresolved. Today I am appealing to the new Government to address this pressing need. Providing a school bus for these children is a modest request, especially considering the significant expenditure in other areas. These parents and children deserve reliable transport to attend school and we are simply asking for a bus to facilitate this. For two hours a day at the moment, or one hour in the morning and one in the evening, the total emissions would be approximately 480 kg of CO2. After a week this adds up to 3,360 kg, or 336 tonnes, of CO2.”
“-----who have a mind to change this country and give the money back to the people so they can have services like wastewater treatment plants and public transport. The people of Ballinascarty have have not had their rivers cleaned out and so their houses get flooded. That is where we are at. There is no money in the purse and no money announced yet.”
“We need to stand up and be strong in our voice to defend the taxpayers of this country, the ordinary, hardworking people, the people who worked hard and have now retired but are suffering in the cold because they cannot pay their oil or electricity bills. It a shame for this Government. I am ashamed for it. Another expenditure was €54.6 million on e-voting a number of years ago. Nobody's head rolls. It is pat-on-the-back time in this country. It is a Government investigating itself. I ask the Government to change its mind and accept that a Department of efficiency and reform is needed. It should be run by independent people-----”
“Some €300 million was spent on the metro north link that was never built. Some €490,000 was spent on a wall at the Workplace Relations Commission. Some €7 million was spent by the Arts Council on an IT system. Some €120,000 was spent on a scanner for the National Gallery of Ireland. Electric buses were purchased and had no chargers for a year and a half. We need a Department of efficiency. We do not need to look at anywhere else across the world. We should stand on our own two feet and see the billions, not millions, that have been wasted. We should make ourselves accountable. The public out there are pointing the finger at every politician. Not every politician, civil servant and NGO is wrong, but there is wrong.”
“How can the Minister of State defend any Government or previous government that spent €808,000 on a Dáil printer and wasted the money? It spent €1.43 million on a security hut. It spent €2.5 billion, heading to €3 billion, on a children's hospital. It spent €22 million on a Covid ventilator that was never used. It spent €2.5 billion in medical compensation payouts. The Dáil bike shed cost €336,000. The Government wants to call it by some other name, the Dáil bike shelter. Come on to hell, it cost €336,000 of hard-earned taxpayers' money. These are people who get up in the morning and work their butts off for this country and the Government is robbing from their back pockets. That is not fair. The Minister of State stands there and tries to defend it. Some €825,000 was spent on the refurbishment of Iveagh House.”
“How can it continue to serve the State well with the absolute scandalous waste that is going on? The Minister of State, Deputy Moran, stood up and defended that. He should be ashamed to do that.”
“It is the mudguard of a bike he wants to look under. That will tell you how far from reality that Deputy is. The Labour Party asked who would want a watchdog. We are the watchdog. What have we, as politicians, achieved? We have not achieved anything in respect of expenditure and the money being blown left, right and centre in this country. The Government amendment is scandalous. It is not in any way, shape or form going to address the waste in this country. In his contribution, the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, said: Furthermore, Article 33 of the Constitution establishes the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, which is a key institution in the checks and balances of our democracy. It continues to serve the State well and its reports are considered and held in high regard by the Committee of Public Accounts.”
“I am starting to wonder if people have another agenda. Were they working in NGOs before they came into the Dáil and want to protect that service? The People Before Profit Deputy referred to the US Department of Government Efficiency. We came up with this idea well before any of the US officials. In January of last year, we included it in our proposals, on our website and in our policies, and we stand over it. We were ahead of the pack and let others, whether in America or England, follow suit. We were well ahead of the pack. The People Before Profit Deputy said we should look under the bonnet. Even though he criticised our proposal, he said we should look under the bonnet. The same Deputy said last week that we should not have fossil fuel cars, electric cars or sports utility vehicles, SUVs. He wants no bonnets.”
“I have listened to all the speakers. I am disappointed with some of the parties here. I am not pointing the finger at Sinn Féin but at the Labour Party and the Social Democrats. They continue to count out waste in this Dáil. We put forward a working solution and I do not think those parties proposed an amendment but came in and criticised it. That is outrageous. The Social Democrats do not believe in this new body. Will we continue with the waste going on at the moment? That is outrageous. How do they face their electorate talking like that? They are talking out of the two sides of the same mouth. The Deputy from the Social Democrats said we do not need to cut NGOs. We certainly need to look at the money that is spent. Some NGOs are doing brilliant work but there is a huge amount of wastage.”
“Do I tell them there is no money for the bus service the Minister keeps denying them when they tell me the children's hospital is costing between €2 and €3 billion and is running millions over budget? They will point out to me the €22 million wasted on Covid ventilators that were never used and the €120,000 for the National Gallery scanner. We have all of this unaccountable waste while these people are being denied a simple school bus. Something is wrong somewhere. I ask the Minister to support this motion today and to put the taxpayers, the hardworking people of this country, first.”
“Today the Canty family can see quite clearly why they cannot get paid. It is because we have to keep €7 million for IT for the Arts Council, €825,000 for the refurbishment of Iveagh House, and €336,0000 for a bike shed, the money for which could have built a lovely home for someone. There is all of this waste, with no accountability and no heads rolling, and still the Canty family will be left without a single cent or one bit of respect. Something here stinks to the high heavens. This has to end here and now. What do I say to the 30 students in the greater Bantry area who are looking for a bus service to Schull Community College but are denied it, leaving their parents to drive back and forth on a 45-minute to one-hour journey each way every day?”
“What do I say to the people of Dunmanway who desperately want to develop their town and the surrounding area? They want to build an autism centre with CoAction and have funding for it but all of these projects could be in jeopardy because the State has wasted hard-earned taxpayers' money and let vital projects collapse because of this waste. What would the Minister advise me to say to the Canty family who let RTÉ use a vital piece of ground to provide a television service to their community many years ago but who, to this day, have not received one brown cent? Since then RTÉ has erected several phone company masts on its own one in Rosscarbery, making a handsome profit for itself from another person's ground. I raised this issue with the previous Minister, who spent a number of years ducking and weaving and not giving credible answers.”
“Councillor Daniel Sexton and I attended an Irish Water briefing last Thursday evening in west Cork in relation to a wastewater treatment plant for Dunmanway. I could have said Shannonvale, Goleen, Rosscarbery or Ballydehob, all of which have been waiting for 26 or 27 years for funding for wastewater treatment plants. It is astonishing. We were told they might have to wait until 2032, 2033 or even 2034. It is pie in the sky stuff. It will never happen and they know it now. The people of Dunmanway are rightly angered. They cannot build one house because there is no money for a wastewater treatment plant, but at the same time there is €300 million for a metro in Dublin with no metro on the line. There is €7 million for the Arts Council for IT but nothing for a wastewater treatment plant for Dunmanway.”
“If the Government thinks that we in Independent Ireland will stand quietly by while the Government squanders it, it has another think coming. We need to stand with the people. This motion is a line in the sand. The Government should support it and show respect to the people who sent them here. If they vote it down, it will show nothing has changed and the insider still runs the show. Independent Ireland stands with the people. We demand honesty, accountability and respect for taxpayers' money. Every TD in this Dáil knows of projects for which money is not available and yet the Government has spent €300 million on metro north, with nothing built. How many wastewater treatment plants would that have built?”
“They feel we are all dishonest. We are all tarred with one brush. The Irish people do not expect miracles. They expect basic competence and honesty. When Independent Ireland was founded, we said we would stand for accountability, respect for taxpayers and fairness for rural Ireland. This motion is about all three. It states that waste is not just bad management; it is a breach of trust. We have to rebuild that trust from the ground up. Independent Ireland's message to the Government is that if it opposes this motion, it will be defending waste, endorsing scandal and telling the people that waste is fine as long as it is not our money being wasted. However, it is your money and my money. It is the money of every worker, farmer, carer, pensioner and small business owner who pays taxes in good faith to the country.”
“Every cent of public money should be traceable online in plain English for everyone to see. If you can track a package from China to Cork, you should be able to track where your tax money goes. Community groups when applying for €5,000 have to account for every biscuit. I am involved in 26 community groups. I know exactly the crises and problems they go through and the accountability they have to put before people. They have to account for every biscuit, but the Government can lose millions and no one bats an eyelid. They are the double standards we are here to end. This motion matters because it is about restoring trust. That is the problem. The trust of the public is being broken. We ask why such a high percentage of people do not vote. The Government knows why they do not vote. They see this and they do not see accountability.”
“There should be no more soft reports, no more lessons learned. If waste is found, heads should roll and the public should know exactly who is responsible. Crucially, this body must be independent of Ministers and politics. Departments should not be investigating themselves any more. The public is not fooled by that any more. I turn to fixing procurement, funding the golden circle. Procurement is a rigged game, a golden circle of insiders who know how to play the system. Tenders balloon from €200,000 to €500,000 and no one bats an eyelid. Independent Ireland demands a complete reset of public procurement with fixed price contracts, proper penalties for overruns and a ban on serial offenders getting further contracts. We need to treat public money like it is our own money, because that is transparency. Real time, real numbers.”
“Every cent wasted by the Government is stolen from essential services such as health, housing, rural transport and support for carers, farmers and fishermen. We were founded to break the culture of cover-ups and excuses, to force real accountability and put honest representation ahead of party loyalty. This motion calls for a Department of efficiency and reform. This is exactly the kind of practical, no-nonsense measure Independent Ireland stands for and what real oversight should look like. We need independent auditors, not political appointees. We need experts from the private sector, people who know how to run a business, manage costs and keep projects on time and on budget. This new watchdog should have real power, including the power to arrive unannounced, dig through the books and expose waste in real time.”
“Some €2.5 billion has been paid in medical compensation because the health service keeps getting it wrong, but instead of fixing the system, the Government budgets for the payouts. Some €336,000 was spent on a bike shed and we cannot get proper rural bus routes into our communities. Some €300 million has been spent on metro north with nothing built, yet rural roads crumble year after year. Electric buses were left idle for 18 months because no one thought about chargers - you could not make some of this up - and €7 million was spent on an Arts Council IT system that has never been used. That is not just incompetence; it is complete and utter disrespect. Why does Independent Ireland stand for reform? This is not about the left or the right; it is about right and wrong. Independent Ireland stands for straight-talking common sense.”
“A printer that could not fit in the room cost €808,000, but you cannot get a home help visit for a housebound pensioner in west Cork. It cost €725 million to bail out RTÉ, but try to get funding for a rural broadband scheme. A security hut cost €1.43 million. That is the price of multiple family homes in rural Ireland. The national children's hospital has cost €2.5 billion and counting. If any small builder ran a project like that, they would be in court, not in receipt of another cheque. They would probably be in jail to be quite honest. Some €22 million was wasted on ventilators that never worked and then €50,000 was paid to store them. That is waste on top of waste.”
“It is a slap in the face to every hardworking family. Speaking plainly, real people feel this waste every day. In west Cork and across rural Ireland, waste means cuts to rural services. It means people wait hours for ambulances because the money to fund proper ambulance cover has been wasted on golden contracts and vanity projects. It means elderly people are afraid to turn on the heat while the Government hands out contracts for IT systems that never get used. It means farmers are asked to jump through environmental hoops while the Department cannot even manage a tender process without doubling the cost. Independent Ireland was founded to stop this nonsense, to stand up for the people who follow the rules and demand that the Government follow the rules too. This is a rotten culture of no accountability.”
“On behalf of Independent Ireland, I stand here to fully support this motion and demand action, not excuses. We did not come into politics to play the insider game. Independent Ireland stands outside the cosy circle where one party covers for the other and waste and scandal get buried under spin and public relations. We came into politics to fight for ordinary people, especially those in rural Ireland who are being bled dry by taxes and squeezed by rising costs while the Government wastes money hand over fist. Let us be crystal clear: waste is not only an issue of money; it is also about respect for the people who get up early, work hard and pay their taxes. They expect basic fairness in return, but what do they get? They get printer scandals and security huts that cost more than houses.”
“I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — overspending and waste within the public sector not only erodes trust in Government but also diverts resources from essential services; and — as members of Dáil Éireann, and therefore custodians of the public purse, we have a duty to the people of Ireland to be committed to ensuring that taxpayers' money is managed responsibly, efficiently, and transparently; acknowledges that there have been numerous ongoing failures by Governments past and present to properly manage cost control on Government funded projects, such as: — the €808,000 Dáil printer scandal, where a printer was purchased but could not fit into the print room, leading to over €230,000 in modifications; — the €725 million RTÉ bailout; — the Office of Public Works (OPW) Government Buildings security hut at a final cost of €1.43 million; — the National Children's Hospital overrun which has surpassed €2.5 billion; — the €22 million on covid ventilators, that never worked, with another €50,000 spent on storing them; — the €2.5 billion paid out in medical compensation over ten years, by the Health Service Executive; — the OPW Leinster House bike shed at a cost of €336,000; — the OPW Iveagh House refurbishment at a cost of €825,000; — the National Transport Authority spend on Metro North, in the region of €300 million with nothing built; — the OPW wall at the Workplace Relations Commission's Dublin headquarters escalated from an initial estimate of €200,000 to over €490,000; — the electric buses, that sat idle for a year and a half because there were no chargers; — the €7 million by the Arts Council on an Information Technology system that has never been used; — the National Gallery scanner, purchased at €120,000, but never used because no suitable room was found; and calls on the Government to: — acknowledge that the historical record indicates that there is systemic dysfunction across Government in public expenditure control and oversight; — establish within the first year of this current Government, an Independent Watchdog for Government Spending; "The Department of Efficiency and Reform": — to be an independent entity recruited from the private sector, dedicated to monitoring and improving public sector spending; — to operate similar to Revenue Commissioners or Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA), with a regional scope, assigned to geographic areas; — to appoint commissioners through a competitive tender process targeting qualified private professionals, such as private sector efficiency consultants, solicitors, auditors, accountants, actuaries, tasked to address procurement and tendering processes to streamline and improve efficiency with implementation of timelines and goals for delivery of projects, with powers codified in legislation and authority similar to HIQA's inspection framework; — to conduct unannounced audits and inspections of public bodies, Non-Governmental Organisations and agencies; — to investigate waste, inefficiencies, or mismanagement of funds; and — to issue recommendations or corrective measures, escalating unresolved issues to the Comptroller and Auditor General.”
“On the one hand, the Taoiseach wants to give the Lowry group eight minutes of extra time on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and six minutes on Thursdays for priority questions. He says that they and Government TDs have a right to speak. On the other hand, in the same document, it is proposed to change Standing Order 48 so that Government and Opposition questions to the Taoiseach will take place for only 45 minutes a week instead of twice a week. Can we meet with the Taoiseach at the end of this day to discuss this matter and to try to bring it to a proper conclusion?”
“The Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association, the ICSA and the Irish Rural Association are today protesting about GAEC 2 at Agriculture House. If this is not stopped, it will mean more regulations acting against Irish farmers. They need an urgent meeting with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Instead of giving these genuine farmers debate time today, I am asking the Taoiseach to meet with Opposition leaders to talk about the speaking row in this Dáil. Last week, Dáil reform became Dáil dictation. After four hours of what we felt to be progress, this document of destruction was waved at us. After some confusion, a vote was called. If we are honest, that was always on the cards that night.”
“Deputy Hildegarde Naughton read the following words into the Dáil record on 23 January, "The Government will today bring forward a motion to establish the Committee on Standing Orders and Dáil Reform, to fully engage with the committee and to work to secure agreement, as soon as possible and acceptable to Government and Opposition". Now the Government is ignoring this by railroading this new Lowry plan. Will the Tánaiste and the Taoiseach meet with the leaders of the Opposition to come up with a solution to this crisis?”
“Yesterday's meeting of the Dáil reform committee was a staged set event by Government politicians present. My understanding was we would all put forward proposals, which we did as well as the Government did, then discuss them, iron out what issues we had and draw up an agreement, but instead of Dáil reform being Dáil reform, last night it became Dáil dictate with the Chief Whip calling a vote. It was a first for Dáil reform. It was seconded by another member of Fianna Fáil but, in a show of unity to this appalling moment in Irish democracy, Deputy Emer Currie of Fine Gael made sure she got the Fine Gael hand print on this piece of work by stating she was the seconder to this now-dubbed "Michael Lowry" document, giving extra speaking slots to them as if they are in opposition plus other loss of Question Time to the Taoiseach.”
“Taoiseach, I have always advocated for the rights of Irish fishermen whose quotas have been decimated over the years with 25% lost after Brexit and no recovery of quota since. Irish boats have, for generations, fished Rockall but in 2021, the Scottish Government claimed the rock and a 12 mile limit around it. Has the Irish Government conceded the ownership of Rockall to the UK? If not, what is the Government proposing to do to get Ireland's right to fish the grounds around the rock back?”
“We have to call out the pencil pushers in this country and we have to deliver for our people who drive on the roads with great difficulty every day of their lives because of the condition of them.”
“The rivers on the roadside flooded. The TII will give orders from the top. Pencil pushers from Dublin tell people to cut their speed on national roads, basically to pull up the car and go at cycling pace all the way to west Cork. They should cut out the nonsense. Let them get off their butts and get the hell down to see the condition of the roads in my constituency. They are worse than appalling. They are worse than third world roads. The rivers are bursting their banks out onto the road and there is no sign of a TII person to come out and see the condition of the roads on the main motorway into west Cork. I am telling the Minister of State that this is what has to be done.”
“The kids should be taken there. They are taken to France, Spain and across the world for skiing and rightly so. They are taken for swimming lessons, but no one cares about teaching the basics of how to drive a car and how to pass a theory test. It should be added to the school curriculum and they should not be able to leave school until they have passed it. If that will not be done, we are going nowhere. We are going backwards instead of ahead and these young people deserve that. We have little public transport and we are fighting to keep what we have. We might have won the battle about the bus from Goleen this evening and I appreciate that if it is the case, but the bottom line is that we need to look at the condition of our roads. They are the real reasons for the accidents. I was in Ballinascarthy on Sunday. The road was flooded.”
“Adding further insult to injury, a Labour Party TD today suggested that drivers should take a theory test every time they renew their licences. These refresher courses, proposed to occur every ten years, would only add more pressure to an already strained system. It beggars belief that anyone could be so out of touch with their constituents that they would come up with that and think it a good idea. We need practical solutions, not additional burdens. The focus should be on increasing the number of testers and reducing waiting times to ensure our constituents can obtain their driving licences in a timely manner. If we want to talk about education, let us educate our young people. We should make sure it is in the curriculum going forward. We have the Bantry Driving Academy and there is probably none better in the country.”
“This is unfair because she is a hardworking, progressive, young woman who wants to go to college and do a bit of work and get on with life. This Government has failed her miserably. The high cost of insurance for those without a full driving licence is also an issue. A young man, also from west Cork, is the sole carer for his mother. He applied in December and has been told that he might get an invitation in April 2025, which is also likely to be delayed. Another young man applied on 6 September 2024. He was supposed to receive an invitation in February 2025, but it is now February 2025 and he has yet to receive it. His father is seriously ill with cancer and he is the only driver in the family responsible for taking his father to hospital and doctor's appointments.”
“In August 2024, a headline in one of the newspapers stated that the longest waiting time for a driving test was 22 weeks. However, six months later, 22 weeks is now likely the shortest waiting time. During the Thirty-third Dáil, I spoke 11 times about the lengthy waiting times for driving tests. Now, in the Thirty-fourth Dáil, we are making no progress. The solution is clear. We need more testers in the centres working extended hours to clear the backlog. I have several constituents facing significant delays. I know a young woman from west Cork who applied on 22 August 2024. She has been told she might receive an invitation to her test in April 2025. That is an astonishing eight-month wait, just for an invitation, which may be further delayed. This is causing immense strain on her family.”
“There was a court case about this and the decision was to bring change within government and it has not happened so people still cannot get the medical cert. Respect must be shown to people with disabilities. I am worn out from people coming into me and I presume it is happening to all Deputies as I am not the only TD to whom people come in to express the frustration they feel when they have to drag their family out, get people out of bed and are still refused.”
“The Ministers of State know the stories and they must hear these themselves all of the time. Now is the time to change things. We need to put the most vulnerable in our society at the top of the list and perhaps spend less of our time on the worries around the world; we need to have a little more time to take care of our own here. Somebody on the Government benches spoke about the medical certificate and I would like to talk about it also. It reminds me of how many constituents come to me who want a medical certificate for a vehicle or an adapted vehicle and are being refused. These are people in wheelchairs and we have consistently said that we will ensure that that law changes and that these people will be looked after. If one went in with no legs or no hands, one will come out without a cert. Who is making these decisions?”