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DÁIL ÉIREANN · FORMER

Richard O'Donoghue

Limerick County · Independent Ireland · Ireland

IN THEIR OWN WORDS

The crucial point is that the HSE environmental health service examined the matter, visited the community and requested a public health investigation into the complaints. The public health section denied it. One part of the health service was looking for an investigation but the Department's public health section denied it.

SITTING OF 2026-07-02 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

I have a copy of that investigation. The Tánaiste and I met CEPA a number of years ago and we discussed these complaints. The Taoiseach is on the record 13 years ago saying that there are health implications to wind farms. There is something that I want the Tánaiste and all other Members sitting around the House today to do.

SITTING OF 2026-07-02 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

I thank the Tánaiste. The issue here is the inconsistency. In the Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown area, all noise complaints received by the local authority are investigated by the HSE.

SITTING OF 2026-07-02 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

Today, I am raising the issue of wind farms and their health implications. A number of weeks ago, I was copied into a serious letter from the Communities and Environmental Protection Alliance, CEPA, to the Minister of Health. I am informed that there has been no response, not even an acknowledgement.

SITTING OF 2026-07-02 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

I would also like to have the Minister for Health there to meet these people and to see if we can relieve concerns and meet young people and their families' entitlement to a night's sleep. This cannot go on for more years. We have been talking about this for years. We must think of the health implications and how we can help.

SITTING OF 2026-07-02 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

It has been proven without doubt that there are health implications to wind turbines in certain areas. I am not against wind turbines in areas where they do not have health implications, but this one does. So, when the Tánaiste is giving his reply, I want him to think of the children and families this is affecting.

SITTING OF 2026-07-02 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

The complete record

Every one of 585 lines we hold for Richard O'Donoghue, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 1 of 12.

  1. I would also like to have the Minister for Health there to meet these people and to see if we can relieve concerns and meet young people and their families' entitlement to a night's sleep. This cannot go on for more years. We have been talking about this for years. We must think of the health implications and how we can help. Will the Tánaiste agree to meet CEPA and family groups with the Minster for Health and me?

    SITTING OF 2026-07-02 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  2. I thank the Tánaiste. The issue here is the inconsistency. In the Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown area, all noise complaints received by the local authority are investigated by the HSE. Residents in Offaly and Limerick are wondering why this other approach is being taken in their case and why it depends on what county one lives in whether one gets investigations. It is inconsistency that is going on here. Why should access to a health investigation depend on the county where somebody lives? We can see that it is different in Dún Laoghaire. It has been more than two years since the Tánaiste met CEPA and the people with the wind farms. I want the Tánaiste to meet them and the people in Offaly. I will attend as well.

    SITTING OF 2026-07-02 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  3. It has been proven without doubt that there are health implications to wind turbines in certain areas. I am not against wind turbines in areas where they do not have health implications, but this one does. So, when the Tánaiste is giving his reply, I want him to think of the children and families this is affecting.

    SITTING OF 2026-07-02 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  4. I have a copy of that investigation. The Tánaiste and I met CEPA a number of years ago and we discussed these complaints. The Taoiseach is on the record 13 years ago saying that there are health implications to wind farms. There is something that I want the Tánaiste and all other Members sitting around the House today to do. There are two children sitting in the Public Gallery with their parents, a 12-year-old and a ten-year-old. I want the Tánaiste to tell them that he is going to sit there and not investigate the issues and hide things until 2030. Their parents get complaints that they have to come to school because their children are falling asleep in class. If it was the Tánaiste's child, how would he feel as a parent? Would he deny this for 13 years? Would he deny it for ten minutes if it was his child?

    SITTING OF 2026-07-02 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  5. The crucial point is that the HSE environmental health service examined the matter, visited the community and requested a public health investigation into the complaints. The public health section denied it. One part of the health service was looking for an investigation but the Department's public health section denied it. I want to understand why. The HSE is our expert public health agency. If its own environmental health service believes a matter warrants further investigation, what justification does the Department of Health have to refuse its request? This is not an isolated issue. In Limerick, there are long-running complaints relating to turbine noise and shadow flicker in Kilmeedy and Morristown. In County Clare, the HSE investigated a wind farm following complaints and at the request of the local authority.

    SITTING OF 2026-07-02 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  6. Today, I am raising the issue of wind farms and their health implications. A number of weeks ago, I was copied into a serious letter from the Communities and Environmental Protection Alliance, CEPA, to the Minister of Health. I am informed that there has been no response, not even an acknowledgement. Representatives from five counties are in the Public Gallery today. They are from Limerick, Mayo, Kilkenny, Wicklow and Offaly, including members of the Stonestown community in County Offaly who live beside the Cloghan wind farm. For more than three years, that community has raised noise complaints with the local authority, the HSE and the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA.

    SITTING OF 2026-07-02 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  7. If two people in a household work, they are penalised twice as much as are their children. That is what this Government has stood for. The people are changing in Ireland and it is now showing on the ground. I thank them for that.

    SITTING OF 2026-07-01 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  8. The Government made €1.7 billion extra this year in fossil fuel taxes. The vehicles in this country are mostly from between 2010 and 2018. People are lucky to keep the vehicles they have on the road but the Government has no problem bringing in inferior food from other countries and wants the quality to stay the same here. This is what the Government has done in this country - it has forgotten the very people who put them here and put their trust in them and it is taxing them out of existence. The most badly off people are the squeezed middle, the working people, people who get up every morning and go to bed late at night. The Government does not look after them. It penalises them for working rather than giving them some bit of a reward. The harder they work, the more they are penalised by the Government.

    SITTING OF 2026-07-01 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  9. Of all the shows I have gone to, I have never seen as many people coming to me with their concerns. They were all Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael all their lives. It is not only young people coming to me but it is all age groups, even people who have retired. I was at a mass at the graves of deceased family members. The last man who came up to me as I was leaving was in his eighties. He said, "Richard, what are they doing up there?" If the Government has lost all those people who stood beside it all the years and they can see the Government is getting it wrong, why can it not? They see their children and grandchildren suffering because of the people they put in here and now they are embarrassed because the Government is not learning. Why is it not learning? Why is it targeting the most vulnerable people in this country?

    SITTING OF 2026-07-01 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  10. It is doing the same thing over and over and getting the same result - vulnerable people suffer and the Government does not make change. We have been talking about the carbon tax and protests. Five years ago in November 2021, I brought a truck up here when truckers were protesting about fuel costs. That was five years ago yet a few months ago not only truckers but farmers, businesses and homeowners all protested and the Government still has not listened. That is after five years. The Government has got it wrong. What does it pay its Departments for, if they do not know how to react to problems? The Government is reactive, not proactive. That is its biggest problem. I have stood at Limerick Junction and at the Tipperary and Charleville shows - I stand at shows every year meeting people.

    SITTING OF 2026-07-01 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  11. I am the Chairperson of the budgetary oversight committee. We have had many witnesses in over the past number of months. Yesterday, we had witnesses in who agreed with exactly what I and Independent Ireland have been saying. The Department of Finance does not talk to the Department of enterprise. The Department of Finance is responsible for divvying out the moneys but they all work separately. When it hands out bits and pieces, which it says is targeted, it does not cover everyone. The conclusion in our meeting yesterday, which was very good and informative, was if you keep doing the same thing over and over and there is no change, it is a sign of madness. The Government has got to learn from the sign of madness.

    SITTING OF 2026-07-01 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  12. At present, there are 14,621 gardaí. There are 621 in training at the moment. The problem is that 180 are resigning outside of retirements. Why does the Taoiseach think this is a problem? It is recurring. We have that amount in training but 180 are resigning every year. That trend has been there over the last two years. Why does the Taoiseach think that is?

    SITTING OF 2026-06-30 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  13. I would like to see how AI will get on with me because sometimes I do not know what I am going to do myself when I walk out the door, so it will have a hard job with me. There are, however, a lot of people who are repetitive and it will screen them and know their next move all the time. We need to put measures in place for the protection of everyone and the protection their finances from criminality so the sooner we get something put together the better. We also need to get it right. It needs to be researched correctly - not AI research. It needs to be researched properly for the protection of this country.

    SITTING OF 2026-06-24 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  14. When people look in at this House, they want to see real people delivering real results that they have researched themselves and that it are not AI-generated. That is my concern for the future and the here and now. We are putting measures in place to try to counteract this, but we are also last on the field. The United States and China are on the field a long time. We are only playing catch-up. We are so far behind in stopping this from becoming destructive instead of something that can help. We are so far behind on that. We need to get on top of that for the protection and the governance of this country and all walks of life. If we are not careful, AI will take over and the simple part of our existence will be mirrored everywhere we go.

    SITTING OF 2026-06-24 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  15. With the stuff that is being put out at the moment, we cannot differentiate between what is real and what is not unless it is on mainstream media. That is a concern that I have with AI. We need to put whatever procedures in place to protect us, livelihoods, businesses and to stop people misusing AI for the wrong reasons. There is no doubt that it will replace jobs. People read comments on social media. Most of the comments that are posted, if person looks at them and segregates them, are coming from bots. They are not coming from people; they are coming from bots. How many people were caught out by something that was AI-generated and put online? They then apologise and say that it was not them and was generated through AI.

    SITTING OF 2026-06-24 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  16. Good man, but paper does not mean that you have got it in front of you. If you have the pen in front of you, that is what makes the difference. A lot of the time I do not come into this House with paperwork because I do not want it to be shown that it was AI-generated. What you are looking at when you look at me is me. What comes out of my mouth is what I researched myself. I have never used AI. Something was sent to me during the week and the person who sent it said, "Richard, you looked great at a function". I was not even there. It was another me. This is the part that scares me. In a situation where we might have a terrorist issue or a financial issue, my concern is that we will have a knee-jerk reactions to something that is not actually there. How safe is our banking network? How safe are our identities when they can be used?

    SITTING OF 2026-06-24 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  17. Now we have to put a system in place to see if somebody is doing their homework or not, and that is based over the four or five years that they are in school. They are actually using the system now to see if the are actually using AI as part of their homework system. Again, technology is good and it can help with research and so on, but now we have to put things in place to make sure it is actually the person who is doing the work. This does not just apply to children and students. A lot of people use it in their jobs at the moment and also the people in this House. How many of us are using AI? How many used AI to do their speeches today? I did not.

    SITTING OF 2026-06-24 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  18. Children today actually look at their phones and everything they look at on their phone actually works on them whereby anything they click on is put in front of them every time they turn on their phone. Every time they flick up on something or look at something, regardless of what it is, it keeps a rota going on with that system because the algorithm knows this is what the child is interested in. So, what does it do? It brainwashes them. If you keep seeing the same thing over and over again, then you start following different paths. When it comes to our children and our students, they go to school to learn but they now have systems put in place to see if they are using it for their homework.

    SITTING OF 2026-06-24 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  19. AI in some instances scares me and in some instances it is good for different parts if it is used correctly. How many people go on their phone and then no longer know what is actually factual or not? My concern about AI is that we need to get on top of it fairly quickly. I was in the Central Bank on Tuesday for a visit with the budgetary oversight committee. There are concerns about AI in this country. Now we do not know if the Strait of Hormuz is open or not because we do not know what to believe on this or not. What kinds of decisions are being made when things are happening around this world and people have a knee-jerk reaction to something they think is happening but it is not? From that point of view, we need to do something with AI.

    SITTING OF 2026-06-24 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  20. You are a person, a human being, and that deserves respect from all sides, regardless of your beliefs or religion. It does not matter. I have my religion and other people have theirs. I respect theirs and they respect mine. That is what I stand for - respect. If you cannot respect other people and you have a go at other people, even down to religion, then you have the problem. I do not and it does not bother me any more. There is only one answer I have for people like that; in one ear and out two.

    SITTING OF 2026-06-24 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  21. If someone has a problem with that, it is they who have the problem, not the person who wants to be whatever they are. That is what it comes down to - simple respect. As a father, grandfather and public representative, I am hopeful that, in future, regardless of what you are and how you identify as in this country or in this world, you will be safe and when you go out, you will not be targeted or identified for being different. For decades, people who had disabilities were hidden from the public. Now, and rightly so, they are part of our families, communities and workforce, where they were previously identified and hidden away. If anything can be learned from this today, it is that respect equals pride. Regardless of what you are or who you are, nobody should be labelled.

    SITTING OF 2026-06-24 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  22. LGBT and Pride. Pride stands for "respect". I listen in this House daily and people say "far left" and "far right" and brand everything. What is wrong with just being yourself? Why do you have to be branded? Respect means that if somebody is gay, lesbian or trans, you give them respect and let them give you respect. I do not believe in all of this branding. They are people, human beings. That is what they are. I have been attacked here and called far right and a homophobe and then people found out I have a son who is gay. Why should he be branded as gay? He is my son. He is a person. Why do we have to brand everything? Regardless of what you are or what you want to be, you should be treated with respect for whatever you want to be.

    SITTING OF 2026-06-24 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  23. The scheme for pyrite. There are different grades. People might get grade 1 or grade 4 or 5. One of the grades is where people are told their roof is okay but their block walls have to come out. What people are being asked to do is prop up the house and take out the walls down to the foundation level, which means the footpaths and floors collapse. It is specialised work. When we work out the economics of it, we do not have enough specialist contractors in this country to do this. There are not enough of them here and those who are here are trying to build houses. There is a cost to doing this and it also means people will be out of their houses longer. The realistic thing to do is demolish and rebuild the house.

    SITTING OF 2026-06-24 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  24. The information has been available for five or six years but the Government allowed all the families to be put through stress and anxiety, with them not knowing whether their houses would crumble down around them. The Minister sat on that committee with me, so he was present to hear what was put on record. Therefore, I do not even need to verify it. The minutes are available.

    SITTING OF 2026-06-24 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  25. I have 35 years’ experience with something that none of the Minister’s professionals could actually even answer questions on when asked at meetings of the housing committee. I was able to do weight loads for them. They could not answer. Why has it taken so long and why have people been suffering? The Government is guilty. It takes so long to build houses in this country and so long to bring in redress. That is what it is guilty of. It cannot manage anything. It does not take advice from the people who can give it and who can speed things up. If you look at the record, you see the knowledge is available. For God’s sake, will the Government wake up and look at the facts?

    SITTING OF 2026-06-24 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  26. I thank Deputy Charles Ward for all the work he has done on this. What is the Government guilty of? I sat on the housing committee last term. It is on the record of that committee that I highlighted to the Minister, and all the various witnesses and so-called professionals brought in by the Department, the issues with blocks, foundations and the weight loads on foundations under the new regulations that you try to meet when rebuilding a house. How much has it cost to bring in all the people who have given the Minister the information? We brought in professors and people from all the different sectors to inform the Minister. Deputy Ward is like me. I am a block layer by trade.

    SITTING OF 2026-06-24 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  27. The Government still has not listened. I have been here listening to this for seven years now. It is the same thing over and over again. We are promised it will be sorted this year, next year or the year after. As this goes on, children and adults are left suffering. I guarantee that if the Minister of State himself had an issue with his teeth, he would not wait. He would go private because he is in a financial position to do so. A lot of people in this country are not in that position. They are watching their children suffer because the Government did not listen and did not build a team to ensure we would have dentistry into the future.

    SITTING OF 2026-06-23 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  28. You try to retain the next generation within the country. You train them and get them into practices where they have regular hours. So many people are waiting for services that the dental surgeries are staying open and people are working longer hours. Dentists coming into these practices do not want to stay there because the hours are too long and they can get better hours in other areas. They may leave the country. We have to build a team and encourage that team to stay here working in practices, even local practices, to help people. The same thing happened with SouthDoc, Shannondoc and our doctors' surgeries. The same thing is happening all the time but the Government is ignoring it. The small practices cannot keep going. You see doctors retiring and nobody taking on their surgeries. The same thing is now happening in dentistry.

    SITTING OF 2026-06-23 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  29. Where has the Government gone wrong on dental and orthodontic services? I was here when this was being raised seven years ago. Where has the Government gone wrong? Why has it not learned and why has it not listened? There are 11,000 on waiting lists, most of whom are children. Some 8,000 have been waiting to see a dentist for longer than two years. Where has the Government gone wrong? All my colleagues here have said the very same things. They have said it is absolutely disgusting and a disgrace that people cannot get to see a dentist. Children are supposed to have at least three visits to a dentist before they leave primary school but they do not get to see a dentist at all. How do we fix this? As we told the Government a couple of years ago, fixing it is very simple. You build a team.

    SITTING OF 2026-06-23 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  30. Increasing the cap in one airport while not helping the other airports and people around the country is wrong. It is not forward planning; it is Dublin planning. The Government is destroying the future of the next generation who want to come back and live in Dublin. It is destroying the lives of people who live around the airport with the extra flights that are going out. Aeroplanes taking off at Dublin Airport are supposed to bank at a certain time. Now the airport is asking how it is going to organise that. The planes are supposed to go out 3 km before they bank. Now, because there are so many flights coming in, they are banking at 1.5 km out. That means they are going over more residential areas, yet the Government wants to approve more residential building and allow more people to live there.

    SITTING OF 2026-06-23 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  31. All of it is down to carbon emissions, which the Government says it is trying to reduce, but, at the same time, it is trying to accelerate them. Where is the Minister's explanation for that? I am all for working together but I am also for equality for the other airports, which should expand at the same time. How can they go against a monopoly that has all the connecting flights? There are only a certain number of flights out of Shannon Airport because the connecting flights leave from Dublin. That is a problem. If the Government wants to do the right thing, it should connect all of Ireland and let all the airports develop together. Then it should look at increasing the cap if the quota is too low. It should look at the issue that way.

    SITTING OF 2026-06-23 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  32. I would welcome them to Limerick but they could have landed in Shannon Airport and come into Limerick or gone to Kerry, Cork or Galway. They could land anywhere in the country and we would divide up the carbon emissions, but, no, the Government just wants to extend one place. It wants to put suffering on the people of Dublin, whose families cannot come home, and build houses in this area because it is overpopulated. The rest of the country is crying out for business, including the other airports. The Government could expand Knock airport or Kerry airport, which would lower emissions. As for most of the targets, we see all the buses travelling down west on day trips before heading back up to Dublin again.

    SITTING OF 2026-06-23 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  33. When I was in the Central Bank today, I said we were in the convention centre for a year. I brought the issue up that time when the former Minister, Eamon Ryan, was talking out of both sides of his mouth about carbon tax. What is the Government doing? It is stopping people coming home by overdeveloping Dublin and not looking after the rest of the country. This all comes back to carbon tax. The Government will take more and more carbon tax and stop families from looking after their young ones and building their own houses. It will stop infrastructure in this country because of inflation, all of which has been brought on by the carbon tax, but it has no problem in letting buses and trucks travel from the port in Dublin. Of the passengers coming into this country, 83% travel down the country.

    SITTING OF 2026-06-23 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  34. Why did it not look at Cork Airport? Why do people have to travel from all different parts of the country to come to Dublin? It is because they cannot get connecting flights due to the monopoly in Dublin. The people who live around Dublin Airport are all complaining about noise pollution and traffic congestion caused by people trying to get to the airport. What do the Dublin TDs say? Let us make Dublin more congested, they say, and stop any person coming home to Dublin to live with their parents or grandparents. Let us stop them because we are going to make sure we have all our eggs in one basket. Ireland should be the basket where everything is shared, rather than just looking to Dublin. I have brought this issue up more times, even in the convention centre.

    SITTING OF 2026-06-23 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  35. Thank you very much. To get back to Dublin Airport, I am delighted the airport is doing well but as regards climate emissions, the climate action Bill was supported by the Deputies on my right. They brought in that Bill. Where are most of the people who are landing here going? They are not staying around Dublin, are they? They are travelling throughout the country. Where are the carbon emissions when the Government is talking about that? What about the cost of fuel, which it wants to increase by 32 cent per litre? Where is the Government going with this? On the one hand, it talks about carbon emissions, while, on the other, it wants to expand Dublin Airport, which is 6 million passengers over quota. Why did it not look at Shannon Airport, which could add another 2.5 million passengers without any infrastructural change?

    SITTING OF 2026-06-23 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  36. They are now coming out saying they are against these things. Every week they jump up and down here saying they are against it but last week they decided they were going to fight for it. Deputy Daly is right; I was not here last week for one reason-----

    SITTING OF 2026-06-23 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  37. In 2021, the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act was introduced by the Government. It was supported by Sinn Féin and introduced the carbon tax. Today, yesterday and the day before Sinn Féin were saying they are against carbon tax. Yet, they voted for it in the climate action Bill.

    SITTING OF 2026-06-23 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  38. When we look at traditional parties going back through the years and the wars that happened here in Ireland behind closed doors and everything else that happened, it was wrong. I stand for peace. What I would not mind seeing with the match they are talking about is both sides coming out, sitting down in the middle of the field, saying they are not playing because of peace and linking arms together. That is what I would like to see and I would like to see unity shown that way, rather than this being a political football being played inside here for popularity. I will say what I feel. I broker peace. I would like to see peace happening. I would like to see that across the world, and in Gaza. I would like to see it across football. Let them link arms together and say, "Lads, this is wrong. We want peace". That is what I would like to see.

    SITTING OF 2026-06-09 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  39. Any life that is taken is wrong. I am coming in here as a broker of peace. Ireland should be a broker of peace. People can talk about what is happening in Gaza, which is 100% wrong. Where a life is taken and families are destroyed anywhere in the world is 100% wrong but look at Irish history. There are people in this House who have been involved in the taking of lives. They are sitting in this House.

    SITTING OF 2026-06-09 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  40. People have infrastructure in the cities, which I welcome, but outside the cities, there is nothing because of the failure of Government, which put all its eggs in one basket, and now people in Dublin are giving out that their children cannot come home because there is no place for them to live. The Government filled all the cities, trying to make them bigger and bigger, and has forgotten about the generations that have moved out and want to come back home. If infrastructure was put in around the country, people should be able to live and work anywhere in Ireland, but all the Government does is try to cram more people into the one place where it thinks it can try to control them. If the Government thinks it can give people a giveaway budget with five or six days to go coming up to the election, they will never believe it again.

    SITTING OF 2026-06-09 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  41. They all went back to the houses of their parents, uncles, aunts, brothers and sisters that had heat because they could not sustain it in their own household. We talk to young people with young children who could not live in their own modern houses because of power outages. We are talking about how we want people using electric vehicles to protect the environment. It is great if people can afford it, but the average vehicle on the road at the moment is from between 2010 and 2018. That is what people can afford, but what does this Government do? Since that is all they can afford, it taxes them out of existence on fuel. That is what the Government is doing. It is taxing people who cannot afford to buy something electric out of existence. How will they ever get to where the Government wants them to go to?

    SITTING OF 2026-06-09 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  42. I commend it, but when the snow hit and they went three weeks without power, they all bought diesel generators because when the infrastructure was down, they had no other way to heat their houses. The problem with heat pumps is a 20 kW generator is needed to run them so all they will do with their generators is run an electric heater and run the power in their houses. In one sense, having an A-rated house is brilliant, but we are an island. Does the Government not understand it? Things go wrong and power goes out because of a lack of infrastructure. The Government should have allowed at least one fireplace in a house so people could heat themselves if the power goes out. What happened?

    SITTING OF 2026-06-09 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  43. They were all members of the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael parties, but they said, "Never again," because they believe they have become city-based parties, they have forgotten their roots and the Cabinet no longer reflects the whole country. These cities or large towns were built by people who came from the county. They built the likes of Dublin. They moved here and integrated. Believe it or not, Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway everywhere all originated from people in the county, coming to build big cities. That is where they came from. Their ancestors are here but when it comes to the next election, they will remember what the Government has done to everyone in this country who could not afford to buy an electric car. People are building new homes and have A-rated houses with heat pumps and solar panels.

    SITTING OF 2026-06-09 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  44. My mammy could not take me to two matches because of fuel." She said I stood with them during the fuel crisis. That is what a nine-year-old from Kerry was saying. Can the Minister of State imagine that? It is not a laughing matter when a nine-year-old is saying it. Independent Ireland had our stall at the show in Newcastle West, and I did not get a minute to myself with people coming up to me thanking me for standing with them, for holding a peaceful process and for understanding where they were. I have said on more than one occasion that the people who were at the protests, who I stood with in Foynes, County Limerick, were people who had never protested before.

    SITTING OF 2026-06-09 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  45. I was in Newcastle West last week at the agricultural show, the Newcastle West Show. One thing resonated with me at the show. A young girl of nine years of age from County Kerry came up to me. She was standing in front of me, her mother was behind her and I think her aunt was with her as well. She turned around to her mother and her mother said, "Ask him yourself". She asked if she could have a picture with me. I was intrigued as to why she wanted the picture. I was intrigued to know why a nine-year-old girl from Kerry recognised me and wanted a picture. I asked her, "Why do you want the picture with me?" Do you know what she said to me at nine years of age? She said: "My mammy takes me to training. My mammy takes me to my matches.

    SITTING OF 2026-06-09 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  46. I appreciate the Taoiseach looking into this matter. The concerns of the people of Foynes is the location. They welcome the system but the location chosen will be prevent the future-proofing of Foynes. Anyone who knows Foynes will know there is hilly ground to the west. On the Limerick side, it is all flat ground. The proposed system will involve pumping it upwards and then letting it flow down with gravity. This is the perfect place for infrastructure for future housing but this will limit the amount of housing that can be put into Foynes. The town is to be connected by motorway by 2030 so it is going to be a vibrant place. We should do a bit of forward planning. The system should be put in on the Government-owned lands across the road. That is also on the side of the port.

    SITTING OF 2026-06-09 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  47. The tidal system has been investigated by professors in the field and they have shown that the waste goes off and returns two hours later to where it originated. However, all of this information is being hidden from Government when Uisce Éireann is putting in this system. We are talking about a waste of money. Why can a proper system not be put in in accordance with health and safety guidelines for everyone?

    SITTING OF 2026-06-09 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  48. The Taoiseach is a person who loves to go swimming. He often says he goes swimming on New Year's Day. The discharge for this in Foynes is in the yacht club. I see people across the Chamber smiling at me. This is a health and safety issue. This is waste going back into the River Shannon and a health and safety issue with a yacht club next to it. All Uisce Éireann is going to do is remove the solids. I would welcome all of Members on the bench on the other side of the Chamber to come to Foynes to go for a swim in it. That will tell me how much they think of it when we bring it to them at source. Why is Uisce Éireann not putting in a tertiary system that removes all waste and treats it before it goes back to source?

    SITTING OF 2026-06-09 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  49. Before I start my question, I give my sympathies to the Fossett circus family on the burial today of Marion Fossett. Their circus will have been in existence for 138 years this year. They have been going around the country and internationally. They come to Limerick every year and have always had a charity day where people come in for charity. On my own behalf and that of Independent Ireland, I give my respects to the Fossett family. My question is about Foynes and Uisce Éireann. For decades Foynes, the port in County Limerick, has been looking for a sewerage system. In Foynes, we are getting an upgraded sewerage system, for which we have been waiting decades. I welcome that. However, the problem is that the system that is being proposed only deals with secondary waste. Basically, it is to remove the solids and let the rest go to source.

    SITTING OF 2026-06-09 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT

  50. I do not mind who does the job once it is done. At the moment, it is being done but I need to make sure that we have the timelines, that there is delivery and that we ensure patient safety. I acknowledge that the Taoiseach has said that Nenagh, Ennis and those areas need investment.

    SITTING OF 2026-05-27 · READ THE OFFICIAL REPORT