PJ Murphy
Agricultural Panel · Fine Gael · Ireland
“If issues regarding the day-to-day operation of licensing systems cannot be discussed at the appropriate forum, it is difficult to know where they can be discussed, other than on the floor of this House. I understand a further phase of stakeholder engagement is planned for the coming months.”
“I thank the Minister of State very much for her answer. Although I take on board what the Minister of State has said, there is no doubt but that there are glaring inconsistencies right across the country, even from division to division and from station to station, in the implementation of the existing rules on the granting of firearms lic…”
“These concerns were reinforced at a recent briefing in the audiovisual room in Leinster House, hosted by the National Association of Regional Game Councils, NARGC, and the Firearms Users Representative Group, FURG, which was well attended by Members from across the political divide and from all parties.”
“These concerns include lost or misplaced applications; delays in processing; additional documentation requirements that go way beyond the published guidelines; applicants being told they own too many firearms, despite meeting the legal requirements; and the failure to provide formal refusal letters outlining the reasons for decisions.”
“I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Ardagh, to the House and take this opportunity to congratulate her on her recent appointment. I wish her all the best in her new role. I raise an issue of significant concern to many law-abiding firearm licenceholders throughout rural Ireland.”
“I ask the Minister of State, as a matter of urgency, to meet representatives of FURG and the NARGC, the largest rural pursuits membership organisation in the country and the second-largest sports organisation in Ireland in terms of membership after the GAA, to hear directly from them regarding the challenges facing licensed firearms holde…”
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“People have been left in limbo for the past number of months despite the topic being raised on two separate occasions in this House and the Lower House. I am not sure about the legal status of people when they return to their turf banks and neither are the people themselves but they have found themselves with no alternative as a means of heating their homes next winter.”
“As of 1 January 2026, the 15 years of compensation are up and they will receive no compensation this year. Before the end of last year, I warned in this House that the situation would come to a head and asked the Minister to intervene to either continue the compensation package or, as a matter of urgency, assign new turf banks, or allow these people to return to cutting turf on their turf banks. There has been no communication between the Minister and these families in the meantime. Later on today, these people, legally or otherwise, will return to their turf banks to cut their turf and I support them in doing so. The lack of communication with these people on the part of NPWS is not acceptable.”
“I will speak about something that I spoke about on 16 December last. The Acting Leader will be familiar with this as it is an issue arising in our own area. On 16 December, I spoke about a situation that approximately 80 families in south east Galway are in. These families have historically harvested turf on three bogs in south-east Galway, namely, Ardgraigue, Barroughter and Cloonmoylan bogs. In 2011, these 80 families entered into a deal with the National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS, whereby they would desist from harvesting turf on their bogs in exchange for €1,500 a year, index linked, in compensation for doing so, in addition to being given a replacement turf bank from which they could harvest their turf. Fifteen years later, they have not been given the replacement turf banks by the NPWS.”
“I fully agree with the Minister of State that inspection of the property post completion of work by a properly qualified engineer or other professional is absolutely essential. However, there are major savings to be made in terms of the clerical administration of the scheme, as I outlined. I thank the Minister of State for his commitment to assess this. I also thank my colleague, Senator Duffy, for the work he has done on this to date. I look forward to working with the Minister of State on it.”
“They cause a need for bridge funding to be secured by the people going ahead with the projects and sometimes it is not easy to get this funding. In many cases, it causes delayed payments to the tradesmen who have done the work as people wait to receive the reimbursement. I am anxious that we look at addressing this and perhaps use a similar system to what is proposed for the diesel scheme being put in place for farmers and agricultural contractors. This will involve a sampling of 5% of the applicants post payment.”
“In the vast majority of local authorities around the country, only one or possibly two additional staff members have been given to oversee the croí cónaithe scheme and its smooth working. I understand there is clearly a need to ensure that all materials and labour are procured from tax compliant and legitimate sources but this concern could be addressed post payment by selecting a sample number of random applicants to be assessed or examined. This would act as a deterrent to ensure no non-legitimate sources of material or labour are used. This system is used in many Department of agriculture payment systems. If we were to change the system of examining the receipts and invoices to a sample-based system, we would take out an awful lot of the delays in payments to applicants. These delays put a lot of financial pressure on people.”
“I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, for being here this morning to take this Commencement matter. I am here to speak about the croí cónaithe property refurbishment grant and the criteria for the drawdown of payment after work has been completed. As things stand, there is a requirement that the applicant submits receipts for every individual piece of material and labour used in the refurbishment of the property in order to draw down the reimbursement payment. In turn, it is a requirement of a member of the clerical staff of the local authority to go through and assess every one of those receipts in advance of approving the payment. Assessing all of this puts a massive burden on the local authority in terms of manpower.”
“We have a great number of species that are not in decline and that are in a healthy state. Spending a lot of Exchequer money on rehabilitating species that are not in decline and do not require that amount of money to be spent on them would not be a wise use of Exchequer funding. However, that can certainly be clarified within any policy document that will go further from this motion. I am glad to see a paragraph in the motion about the importance of education. These centres of rehabilitation could and must form a very important part of the education of our young people as to how to care for wildlife. If anything we do today does not involve education and does not involve passing on the message of the necessity for us to care for wildlife to the next generation, then to a large extent we fail.”
“However, given the vast amount of work and money needed to run these services, those fines would only make up very small amount of the necessary funding and that Exchequer funding and funding from general taxation would have to make up the vast bulk of the funding required. Given the fact that Exchequer funding would be needed - and this is touched on in the motion, very importantly so, as are capacity and scope of care - and that if Exchequer funding is to be used, and I wholeheartedly agree that it should be, the scope of care and the scope of responsibility would be very clearly laid out. That is allowed for within the wording of the motion. Species in serious decline must form the focus of any care that is paid for through State funding, not solely the desire to be humane with any creature found injured.”
“We have a responsibility and a duty of care to the other creatures that inhabit this island and the shores around this island to ensure that our behaviour does not impact too greatly on their lives and that when it does, we do all that we can to ensure that unfortunate injured animals are rehabilitated back to the wild whenever possible. This motion calls on the Government to establish a multi-annual fund to support the work of wildlife rehabilitation centres and suggests that this funding would come in part from fines imposed for wildlife crime and in part from Exchequer funding. What better use could be made of fines imposed for wildlife crime?”
“However, no more than farming and livestock farming, that is all part of the game when you are working with animals and living creatures. I very much welcome the contents of what I would describe as a well-considered, well-put-together and detailed motion. I very much welcome the fact that the Government will not be opposing this motion. Human behaviour is continuously encroaching on the habitat of wildlife. Our housing, transport infrastructure, electricity and power generation and in particular, our food production all have massive impacts on the natural world around us.”
“I welcome the Minister of State to the Seanad and thank him joining us here for the debate on this motion. As Fine Gael spokesperson for biodiversity and as somebody who has been involved in the rehabilitation and release of injured birds and animals since I was a child, I fully understand the great satisfaction involved in taking in an injured animal; caring for it for days, weeks and sometimes months; and seeing that animal released back into the wild in a healthy state. Unfortunately, I also understand the disappointment whenever one has kept a poor, unfortunate injured creature alive for days and weeks in a box beside the range at home and eventually he goes the wrong way and does not make it back to rehabilitation.”
“Questions might often be asked, including by me, about some of the aspects of the scheme and its effectiveness, but that is not what we are here to discuss today. We are here to ask whether we are willing to facilitate the 41 homeowners. We absolutely must. It is the right thing to do and it is very positive for them. It is our duty to facilitate them. That is all I will say on the matter. I thank the Minister.”
“I thank the Minister for joining us here in the Seanad to discuss this motion. I will be brief. This is a very positive motion. What we are discussing here is our willingness to facilitate an additional 41 homeowners affected by defective blocks in getting the financial assistance package from the State to remedy the problems with their homes. Two of the properties are in County Wexford, in Bunclody and Ferns. In Fingal, there is one in Ballyboughal, two in Lusk, 30 in Rush and six in Skerries. This is a very positive day for all the property owners. Today will see a weight taken off their shoulders, knowing that they are one step closer to being able to reach out for financial assistance from the State.”
“We need to understand precisely what is being proposed in terms of numbers, what the new constitutional wording would be, and what practical consequences this would have for TDs, councillors and, most important, the people we represent. Any constitutional amendment must be approached with care, with evidence and with a full understanding of its implications. The issues I have outlined relate to workload, rural balance and local government capacity. These are not minor details. They go to the heart of how our democracy functions. For those reasons, we must be open to explaining the matter further. I would like to hear greater clarity on numbers and so on, but I do not oppose the merit of the proposal.”
“The final report presented earlier this month to the Minister, Deputy Browne, and the Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, sets out recommendations aimed at strengthening local government, including the role and support structures for councillors. If we increase the number of constituents per TD without careful planning, we risk pushing even more responsibilities onto councillors before having the necessary supports in place. That would require additional local authority resources and could fundamentally change the nature of our local representation. While I understand the motivation behind the motion and while I understand the Government is not opposing it today, we need clarity.”
“Counties with large rural areas already face challenges in maintaining strong representation. If we raise the threshold too far, some lesser populated areas could end up struggling to retain a TD at all. That would be a profound change to the balance of representation in this country. We also need to consider the impact on local government. Our councillors already carry a significant workload, much of it done on what is officially considered to be a part-time basis. If TDs are stretched thinner, more casework will inevitably fall to our councillors. This is happening at a time when the local democracy task force has just completed a major review of pressures on local authorities, including, structures, functions, governance and funding.”
“While the intention may be to avoid increasing the size of the Dáil excessively, the practical effect could be significant in terms of increasing the workload for TDs and their staff. Let us be realistic. If a TD suddenly has thousands more constituents due to rising population and without the appropriate rise in TD numbers, the number of calls, emails and clinic visits will rise accordingly. It is not only citizens who reach out to us as elected representatives. TDs' salaries may stay the same but staffing requirements certainly will not. What may look like saving financially on one side of a ledger may simply reappear on the other side of the same ledger. There is also the question of representation. Increasing the population-TD ratio risks widening the urban-rural divide.”
“We get calls from people wondering who to ring about the pothole outside the gate of their farm or who just need a bit of help making sense of a system that can sometimes feel like a maze for those who are not familiar with it. This is part of the Irish democratic culture. It is personal, accessible and it builds trust. In many other EU countries, people would never dream of calling their local elected representative for help with day-to-day issues but here that connection is part of what keeps people engaged with the democratic process and something we should be careful not to weaken unintentionally. This is why I would like to get some more clarity on numbers when it comes to the proposal before us.”
“As the proposer of this motion pointed out earlier, Article 16.2.2° currently requires that the Dáil cannot have fewer than one TD for every 30,000 people. This provision has shaped a parliamentary system that is unique by European standards. That uniqueness matters. It means that as elected representatives, as Senators and TDs, we are deeply embedded in the communities we serve. We do not just represent our constituents; we live among them. We meet them every day at the school gates, at hurling matches on a Sunday morning or when we are going to the shop to buy a litre of milk or to put diesel into our cars. They know our names and, more important, they know that they can call us. We all get those calls regularly. I got a call this evening from somebody looking for help with a passport form.”
“I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I begin by acknowledging the concerns raised by the Senators regarding the population growth and the implications for the size of Dáil Éireann. These are legitimate issues and the timeline for addressing them is approaching quickly. To the best of my knowledge, the Government is not opposing the motion today. However, before any commitment can be made on any constitutional amendment, I believe we need greater clarity on what is being proposed in terms of numbers of TDs, etc. The Constitution by design is a deliberately inflexible document. It is the foundation of our democratic system and provides stability for our citizens. Any proposal to amend it must therefore be approached with precision and care.”
“I thank the Minister for his constructive and positive reply. I very much welcome the fact that the Government will not be opposing the Bill. I understand completely what the Minister said about the requirement for potential amendments and I agree with him wholeheartedly that this must be watertight before we progress any further with it. I thank my colleagues for their support and contributions. I look forward to working with the Minister to tease out any difficulties there may be in the Bill as we polish it up, to use his words.”
“The message being sent out is that you can repeatedly target tradespeople, repeatedly deprive them of their livelihoods and still face minimal consequences. This Bill sends a clear message that if you steal tools people rely on to earn a living, there will be serious consequences. I would prefer if this legislation and legislation like it were not necessary but tool theft has become a scourge across Ireland. It is undermining our workforce, damaging small businesses and discouraging young people from entering trades at a time when the country needs them desperately in the sector. I am bringing forward this Bill to ensure justice is served. The punishment must fit the crime. These thefts have a deep and lasting impact on victims' lives and the law must reflect that reality.”
“This Bill is necessary because across the country we are seeing case after case where the punishment simply does not fit the crime. In County Laois a man who was recently convicted of tool theft received only a four-month prison sentence. In County Offaly a man convicted of stealing €1,500 of tools was given a fully suspended sentence. In my county of Galway there have been at least seven separate incidents of high-value tool theft over the last ten months alone. A case dating back to 2023 saw a man with 28 previous convictions for theft go on to steal nearly €20,000 of tools across four counties as part of a gang targeting work vans. When someone with 28 prior convictions feels emboldened to continue stealing tools it is obvious the current sentencing regime is not acting as a deterrent.”
“Only last week, the Department of housing published a national framework for meeting priority construction workforce needs. It states clearly that "Ireland’s infrastructure ambitions are outpacing the construction sector's capacity to meet ... targets". It highlights labour shortages, intense competition for talent and rising costs. The stark reality is that even with only moderate productivity growth, the industry will need roughly 41% more workers by 2030 than we currently have working in it. How can we hope to increase the attractiveness of a sector that leaves its workers so exposed? How can we encourage young people into trades when they know everything they rely on to earn their living can be taken from them in minutes, with little consequence for the perpetrators?”
“Many apprentices save for months, and even years, to buy their first set of tools. Some borrow money to get started. They build up their kit piece by piece and a single theft can wipe out everything they have invested, leaving them unable to work and forcing them to borrow again just to get back on their feet. Those starting out in the trade feel this vulnerability most sharply. For a young person beginning his or her career, it can be the difference between staying in the trade or deciding enough is enough and walking away from the job completely. Industry research indicates that roughly 30% of builders reporting having to take out a loan or borrow money to replace stolen tools. These are not small impacts but life-altering ones. This comes at a time when the State urgently needs more skilled workers.”
“The Garda also advises the use of an engraving tool to mark your name or to put a unique mark on your tools. While this advice is sensible, the reality is that the burden of prevention is falling entirely on the victims, not on the perpetrators and despite these precautions, the thefts continue. Research shows that seven in ten tradespeople have had tools stolen. This means it is not a remote possibility but a probability. It is something most tradespeople will experience at least once in their career and, unfortunately, many will experience it multiple times. Let us look for a second at the human and economic consequences of tool theft. As a joiner, I have been involved in the training of several apprentices over the last 20 years. Young apprentices are the future of the sector and the construction industry.”
“Many of these robberies occur outside the homes of tradespeople, while they sleep, with thieves operating quickly, quietly and with a level of organisation that just shows how targeted these attacks have become. In a series of recent thefts in Galway, gardaí believe that thieves are deliberately targeting vans near local accommodation where tradespeople are staying while working on projects. This shows a level of planning and co-ordination that goes far beyond opportunistic crime and highlights just how organised and deliberate these thefts have become. Tradespeople have very little protection against it. The Garda has issued practical advice like do not leave tools in a van overnight or, if people have to, park the van with the back door up against the wall or a building, or something like that, to stop the van from being opened.”
“This is not an abstract issue. It is happening to real people every week in every county. There is a systemic pattern of targeted theft involved. What we are dealing with here is not a series of isolated incidents. It is often a systemic pattern of targeted theft and tradespeople are uniquely vulnerable to it. These crimes happen in the two places where people should really feel the safest: the place where they work and at their homes. More and more, these thefts are taking place in broad daylight, in the middle of the working day, while tradespeople are on-site earning their living. Their vans parked outside the site are often, maybe, only a few metres away from the site yet the theft goes completely unnoticed until it is too late. Again, whenever they return home after a long day's work, they face the same risk.”
“You are preventing them from fulfilling the commitments they have made to their clients and customers. In a construction sector that is currently booming, where we need skilled tradespeople in every corner of this country, the loss of their tools stops them from doing the work that keeps Ireland moving and building homes and infrastructure that we so urgently need. I have worked in the construction sector as a joiner for the past 20 years. I, too, have been a victim of tool theft. I know that feeling when you walk out to your van and realise that everything you need to finish your job that day and do your job for the rest of the week is gone. I know many other tradespeople from right around this country who have contacted me over the past number of weeks who have had very similar or the same types of experiences.”
“This is a targeted and proportionate response to a problem that has grown into a systemic issue that undermines the ability of tradespeople to earn a living. Let us look for a second at the scale and impact of tool theft. The tradesmen and women of Ireland are the backbone of our construction industry. Over the past decade, we have seen a marked increase in tool theft right across the country. This Bill seeks to restore a fair balance between the devastating consequences suffered by the victims of these crimes and the penalties handed down to those who commit them. When a tradesperson's tools are robbed, people are not simply taking something of monetary value; they are depriving a person of the ability to go out and earn a living the very next morning.”
“I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." Gabhaim buíochas leis an Leas-Chathaoirleach and I thank the Minister for coming in for this. I am very grateful for the opportunity to address the House on the principles of this Bill, which I introduced in this House last month. Its purpose is to amend the Criminal Justice Act to make specific provision for sentencing for certain offences related to the theft of tools and supplies used in the course of one's business. This Bill would introduce a mandatory minimum sentence of 36 months imprisonment for the theft of tools, equipment and materials essential to a person's trade, with no more than 18 months of that sentence permitted to be suspended.”
“We must impose upon the planning sections of our local authorities plans to facilitate these developments and developer-led wastewater infrastructure into unserviced settlements. We will have achieved nothing if the planning permission cannot be granted after the Bill is enacted.”
“This plan allows for a developer to develop up to 40 houses in an unserviced village or an unserviced part of an existing town with wastewater treatment facilities, built and funded by the developer and completely at the cost to the developer but built to a standard specified by Uisce Éireann. On completion of the project, this wastewater infrastructure will be taken in hand and under the ownership of Uisce Éireann. I have no doubt this will be transformative for hundreds of small, unserviced villages right across Ireland and that this measure alone will allow thousands of Irish young people to come back, buy homes and live in their native villages in their native communities. However, it is key that local authorities buy into this.”
“As the Minister and Cathaoirleach will know, in this State we have 545 rural villages that are currently completely unserviced with wastewater infrastructure. That is 545 rural Irish villages that have been effectively closed to development since 2011. In my local area, a number of villages which have scope for development, such as Clarinbridge, Craughwell, Ardrahan, Kilcolgan, Ballinderreen, Laban, Kilchreest, Peterswell, Shanaglish and Nogra, have all been without the granting of a single planning application for a housing development since 2011 solely due to the fact that those settlements lack wastewater infrastructure. As the Minister will know, just this week the Minister for housing brought to Cabinet a very positive new plan around developer-led wastewater infrastructure.”
“As Fine Gael spokesperson on housing here in the Seanad, I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak on this motion on infrastructure. I have no doubt that housing is the single biggest crisis facing our State at the moment. However, the housing crisis is largely caused by an infrastructure crisis. In this State we were quite successful and timely in the way that we rolled out our broadband infrastructure right across the State. However, as my colleague mentioned, in some parts of the country we are still largely lacking when it comes to our electricity infrastructure, our water infrastructure and especially our wastewater infrastructure in many parts of both urban and rural Ireland.”
“I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to amend the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001 to make specific provision for sentencing for certain offences in relation to theft of tools and supplies used in course of one’s business; and to provide for related matters.”
“I am bringing forward a Bill on tool theft to amend the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001 to introduce a mandatory minimum custodial sentence for serious theft-related offences involving work equipment where the theft directly prevents someone from earning a living. Under its provisions, where an adult is convicted of theft, burglary, aggravated burglary, robbery or handling stolen work equipment, a court would be required to impose a minimum sentence of three years imprisonment. The Bill would further provide that the sentence could not be suspended beyond 18 months. I intend to put in place a real and clear deterrent so that the punishment for the crime reflects the seriousness of the crime. I believe that is not currently the case.”
“They may still end a tenancy for tenants not meeting their obligations or if the property is no longer suitable for the tenant’s needs. That addresses a lot of the concerns that many landlords had about this Bill. The measures being proposed in this Bill are fair and provide absolute clarity and long-term stability for both landlords and tenants. I commend it to the House.”
“Landlords with three or fewer tenancies will be able to terminate tenancies at any time in the following cases: for financial hardship requiring sale of the property, as the Minister outlined, or if the landlord or a close family member, as defined by the Minister, needs to live in the property. A smaller landlord can also terminate the contract at the end of each six-year term. Smaller landlords may end a tenancy using existing legal grounds including selling the property, occupation by the landlord or a family member, major renovations or changing the use of the property. However, larger landlords, with four tenancies or more, will not be allowed to end a tenancy for sale, renovation, occupation or change of use.”
“For tenancies existing on or before 28 March 2026, rent increases will be capped at a rate of inflation according to the CPI or 2%, whichever is lower. On the protection of tenants, new tenancies created from 1 March 2026 will be subject to tenancies of minimum duration. These will be rolling six-year tenancies, offering tenants greater stability. That was a major concern for a lot of tenant representative bodies. During the six-year period, landlords will only be able to end tenancies in specific situations such as the tenant not meeting their obligation or the property no longer suiting the tenant’s needs. The rules apply somewhat differently in the case of smaller landlords, and rightly so. Smaller landlords, with three or fewer tenancies, are generally in the business accidentally or for different reasons.”
“The rent increase restriction will apply to all student-specific accommodation, SSA, during the first three years of operation of the new national tenancy control. It is not proposed to allow student accommodation landlords to reset rents upon the commencement of each student licence. Student accommodation landlords can reset rents only to market value after three years and after every three-year period that follows while it continues to operate as SSA. For new tenancies from 1 March 2026, all landlords will be able to set rent at market rates if the previous rent was below the market level and the previous tenant left voluntarily or breached their tenant obligations. Thereafter, rent increases will be capped at the rate of inflation according to the CPI or 2%, whichever is lower.”
“I thank the Minister for his detailed explanation of the Bill. What the Government is doing in this Bill is striking a balance between improving security of tenure for tenants and encouraging more private investment into the rental market. I will look at some of the facts about this Bill. I know there is a lot of concern out there, particularly among smaller landlords and accidental landlords right across Ireland, about the effects this might have on the control they have over their rental property and on their property rights. For people in existing tenancies, rents will not rise because existing tenancies are unaffected. The new rules apply to new tenancies after 1 March only. For students, the new controls are tailored for the fact that their tenancies generally change every year.”
“We know that all of this is inevitable yet we continue to lose valuable time ticking environmental boxes and carrying out reports instead of getting on with this project that we know will inevitably need to be done, one way or another. When it comes to the delivery of the flood mitigation project, a major change in pace is needed. As a matter of urgency, we need to find a means of bypassing the environmental bureaucracy that is getting in the way and preventing this work from going ahead. It is work that is inevitably going to have to happen. I urge the Minister to find a way that we can move around the planning bureaucracy so that we can get the machines on the ground to progress the work that will inevitably have to happen over the course of the next generation.”
“It has been calculated by the competent professional bodies that in a one-in-100-year high water flood, 50 to 75 homes in my area of south Galway will flood, 175 homes and 46 businesses will be cut off for prolonged periods, and 19 rural south Galway communities will be isolated. The M18 motorway will close due to being under water. The Galway to Limerick railway line will also close due to it being under water. Crowe Street in the town of Gort will be underwater for a prolonged period. This is not something that might or might not happen. This is something that we know will happen if the south Galway flood relief scheme is not progressed.”
“In my local area in south Galway, in the town of Gort and the local village of Craughwell, we have seen at first hand how successful in-stream channel improvement works can be. They have made a massive difference in preventing flooding of the towns and villages concerned. We have the engineering expertise in this country. We have the necessary experts and we have the people who can carry out the work that is needed. Unfortunately, progress is being made at a painfully slow pace. After nine years of designing and planning, and €4.3 million later, the south Galway flood relief scheme remains trapped in an environmental purgatory.”
“Today and for weeks to come they will be living with the mess and smell caused by floodwaters coming into their homes and businesses. I come from the west. On this occasion my area was not affected, but in south Galway we are no strangers to the devastating effects of flooding on family homes, farms and businesses, and day-to-day life in our area when the roads and railway line remained closed due to floodwater for days and weeks on end. This has happened on a number of occasions in our area over the last 30 years. We can all see that there is a change in weather patterns, and in particular in rainfall patterns in recent years but river channels through many of our towns and cities remain exactly as they were built over two centuries ago.”
“I am sharing time with my colleague, Senator Kennelly. He will join us later. I thank the Minister for his presence here today. Two weeks on from the devastation that was caused by Storm Chandra in the south and east of the country, our thoughts and concern must remain with the people of affected towns like the Minister's own town of Enniscorthy, and indeed many other parts of the country and also Dublin.”
“This is something we need to look at as a matter of urgency. The operators of these school bus services are facing a major challenge. We are preventing a lot of people who would love to be working morning and evening from doing so. It suits a lot of people to do that morning and evening school run and have their day free in between, but we are preventing them from doing so just because they have hit the 70-year milestone. I hope we can look at an annual medical test that would be signed off on by the GPs of drivers who have reached their 70th birthday to allow them to continue. It could be revisited on an annual basis thereafter. Go raibh maith agaibh.”
“I wish to bring to attention this morning the requirement that is put upon school bus drivers to cease their work or retire at the age of 70, despite whatever ability they may have to continue to do the job perfectly well. In fact, the same school bus drivers who are forced to stop driving the school buses once they reach their 70th birthday are, in many cases, deemed perfectly fine to drive the same schoolkids from the school to a hurling or camogie match during the school day and bring them back to school but, then, they are not deemed eligible to drive the school bus to bring them home that evening. That is a crazy situation in which we find ourselves, especially given that many of the companies that operate these school bus services find getting drivers to be the biggest challenge they have in providing the service.”