Richard O'Donoghue
Limerick County · Independent Ireland · Ireland
“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 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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
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“People may know me as passionate. I am actually speechless after seeing what the Government has brought into the budget, and I am not often speechless. I also feel empathy for the people who work in this country. I have had families on to me again today saying they were hoping they would have something in this budget that would help them to survive. Instead, the more they work - and they are taking on extra hours - the more tax they are now paying. One man told me he got a wage increase, as did his wife. Now, the tax bands have not moved and they will pay more tax. He said they had another problem. As they would now be paying more tax, they are getting caught, in that they will not get any relief for their family. They are borderline and do not get anything to support their family. Both of them are working.”
“The Government turned its back on the World Rally Championship. We could have had two world events in Ireland that would have benefited the whole country, like the Ryder Cup. People from Dublin rang me this evening to thank us for having the Ryder Cup. Their bed and breakfast accommodation is booked out. People are coming for two weeks and travelling down to Limerick for one or two days of the Ryder Cup. I thank the people of Limerick for what they have done but I am disappointed with the Government that it forgot to invest in the World Rally Championship.”
“I am delighted to welcome the Ryder Cup to Ireland and that it will be in Limerick, the real capital of Ireland, as I call it. We now have a world-class golf tournament in Ireland. I have to thank the McManus family for what they have done not only for Limerick but the rest of the country and for what they have invested in this country and in Adare, Country Limerick. I am delighted for the people of Adare that it will host the Ryder Cup. I am also thankful for what the McManus family has done for sports in Ireland. It has given every county in Ireland €1 million and to UK clubs affiliated with Ireland because they love Ireland, Limerick and sport. The World Rally Championship wanted to come here and we wanted to bid for 2025, 2026 and 2027. From Malin to Mizen Head would have had funding.”
“On 1 May, I asked a parliamentary question about the cause of the high volume of refunds in employment permit applications, which was resulting in delays. People are able to get permits, on the one hand, from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment but, on the other side, at the Department of justice, there are delays for visas. The left hand is doing one thing and the right hand is doing another and we have massive delays for critical workers. Can we not ensure one side talks to the other and streamline the processing of these critical workers? I am dealing with businesses that are going out of business because they need mechanics and many other critical workers. Why can we not streamline this so that one side talks to the other? We can get people the permits but we cannot get them the visas.”
“Talking about home help, it cannot be got. Why? Again, people are afraid of being targeted. I have people in my office day on day, wanting to care for people who the Government cannot allow for. They are willing to do it but they are saying their family will be affected if they do it because it is means tested. We have inflation, we have things going double the cost in this country and people are trying to live. They also want to care but the means test is what is stopping this. It is mean of the Government not to allow care. Independent Ireland is asking the Government to scrap the means test and to look at the care and the benefit of looking after people in their own homes. To wrap this up, it is mean for the Government not to allow care when it looks at it from a financial point of view. It is about the care, not the means.”
“Independent Ireland has looked for the means test to be abolished. It is not about the means test; it is about care. If we are practical about it, an awful lot of people could be outside the threshold because they may have been left something by a loved one or their partner might be working two jobs to try to put food on the table and it puts them outside the means test threshold. If we look at areas where we have no home help and where we cannot get care for people in this country, the Government has put an obstacle in the way of a means test. It is not about means; it is about the care. If the Government looked at what it would cost the other sectors to provide the same care and put that into funds, it would not be able to provide it anywhere. Why is the Government putting an obstacle in the way for care?”
“When he met the consultant, the consultant told him he would have to wait between six and 12 months to be seen. He has four clots. He is paying for private insurance. He was told that in the public system, he could be waiting up to two years. How can we stand here and allow this to go on and on, with no accountability? It has to stop somewhere. The inflation in every sector across the board has to stop. The Minister of State, Deputy Troy, has to stand up and say, "No." He has to stand up and tell them to stop. He has to stand up and cap them, and make them accountable for people so they can live and have cover.”
“The Government can come in at a loss on every project and it is still here. All it is doing is raising taxes, raising everything and getting no value for money. No matter what the Government does with people's wages, it is pricing them out of the market in every sector. Not only that, but it is allowing all the insurance sectors do the same. There is no accountability across the board. The Government looks at medical insurance from the point of view of viability. People tell me they need to pay for private insurance because they are afraid that something will happen to their children and they will not get help. They tell me that if they go public, they could be waiting for six or eight months. A person rang me last night who has four clots.”
“In the case of health insurance, it is the same thing - up, up, up - but the ordinary person pays more. You can raise the minimum wage and all the different wages as high as you like, but all it is going to do is drive inflation and put more taxes into the Government pocket for it to waste on non-delivery. That is what is happening. These increases drive inflation. We pay double the price for the same product and we get less from the Government. It is not something for the Minister of State to smile about. I saw the Minister of State smiling a minute ago, but he is not smiling now. Why do these delivery issues persist? I am building all my life. Does the Minister of State think that if I went out tomorrow morning to take on a project and I came in at a loss, I would be in business today?”
“Is an insurance company not supposed to cover all of Ireland rather than singling out individual places? Why is it the case that if you go to Galway you get one quote, if you go to Kerry you get another quote, if you go to Tipperary you get another quote and if you go to Limerick you get a different quote again? How can it be possible to have different car insurance quotes for different counties? In the case of housing insurance, inflation means that the value of your property will have jumped over the past four years. A 1,000 sq. ft house that had a valuation of €120,000 and rebuild costs of €140,000, is now on €240,000 rebuild costs. It is the same house that was there ten years ago but the rebuild costs mean you pay a higher premium. It is the same house, but the premium is higher.”
“I met a man during the week who married a woman from County Tipperary. This is actually laughable. When the woman he married moved from County Tipperary to County Limerick, and went to renew her car insurance premium with the same company she has been insured with for the past 20 years, they charged her €179 more because she had moved to County Limerick. Even though the same person is driving the same car, she is being charged more because she got married and moved to County Limerick. When we tried to find out the reasoning for this, we were told it is all down to computer assessments on insurance claims within each different county, whatever it is. It does not matter whether you are in the city or the county; you are within the county bounds and that is what it says.”
“I am here to help him, if he will let me help him. I am pointing out faults in Departments, not only the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. The Minister is being told what is in front of him. Why does he not let people in this House help, who have enough experience to know that if a profit is not being made then they are not in business? In this House, if you lose all the profits, you are still in business and you get promoted. Let us stop the rot. The Minister must let us help him deliver. I do not mind if he gets the praise for it. I will help him get the praise once he delivers.”
“I spoke to IBEC and different bodies across the board in recent weeks. We had a massive meeting with business owners in Whites of Askeaton this week. They cannot understand why each Department overspends by millions. This turns into an overspend of billions on the budget. Then they ask how they can raise taxes. The Government must stop the sloppiness of Departments overspending. If the Minister lets me get into the Department I will give him the help. I will show him where the overspends are. I will give him the power to make people accountable. The Government should use models from other countries where infrastructure projects are being delivered on time and on budget. Then it can hold the Departments to account. That is what I am about. I am not here to kick the Minister around the room.”
“I am going to give the Minister the answer today to solving a lot of the problems. I am in business all my life, so I treat politics like business - delivery on budget and on time. We are talking today about homelessness and child poverty. The overspend on the children's hospital is €853 million. I am the Chairperson of the Committee on Budgetary Oversight. We will have the Minister, Deputy Chambers, and the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, before us today. All I hear from the committee, which has been looking at the budget for the past 12 months is that there has been an overspend on everything Departments are doing. There is no accountability. The Government wants to raise more taxes and put more people into poverty when it cannot manage the purse. Let us compare public versus private delivery. Public versus private is on budget and on time.”
“What is the Minister of State going to do about it? The Government is roaring about green energy. When is it going to take the ESB to task? It costs €50 per MWh to produce power. The Government capped costs at €120. The ESB is making money hand over fist from electricity. Why is that the case? It is because the Government imposed the cap of €120 per MWh, which has allowed the ESB to make such profits. If electricity is produced through the use of fossil fuels, higher tariffs are charged. The ESB includes a reference stating that 70% of your bill is from green energy but it charges the tariffs relating to fossil fuels. Now we have the likes of Crecora Mills. Not only that, there was a place in Ballyhea that did the same thing two years ago and the ESB looked for €1 million to provide clean energy. We need something done about this quickly.”
“How can the Minister of State sit over there knowing that this is happening in respect of solar farms throughout the country? I am in favour of wind energy in circumstances where the health implications are taken into account. I am for solar energy because it can have a dual use. In fact, it can have a triple use. If solar farms are located a certain distance apart, sheep can graze underneath them and you can get the fodder from between them, such as round bale silage that can be used for fodder. There is a triple use. ESB Networks is charging €3.8 million to a company to supply green energy in order to bring down electricity costs and nothing is being done about it. Representatives of Crecora Mills met two representatives, one from Fine Gael and the other from Fianna Fáil, in County Limerick and they have done nothing.”
“I would like the Minister of State's full attention for this. This is not a laughing matter, I am afraid. Crecora Mills installed a 400 kW solar farm in July 2023. It produces 20% of the power to run the mill. The company applied to the ESB to sell the excess power to the grid at that time. It took the ESB two years to process the application and it is looking for €3.8 million from Crecora Mills to upgrade the substation in west Limerick in order to allow the company to sell its clean energy to the grid. We are talking about an energy crisis, and the ESB is looking for €3.8 million. During the first part of the meeting on the matter, the ESB looked for €1 million. Ten minutes later, it was seeking €1.5 million. When Crecora Mills asked for that in writing, the ESB went up to €2 million. Now it is asking for €3.8 million.”
“We could solve anything during Covid that could never be done, but now we are back into the old ways of doing things and it taking six months, 12 months or two years. We need to move on this.”
“We have asked the Government to do a couple of simple things from the point of view of bus transport, one of which is to move the age so we can have bus drivers over 70 years of age. Yet, it has not been done. Surely today it should be based on health. You could have a healthy 70-year-old and a 55-year-old who is not healthy. It should surely be based on a medical examination of whether someone is capable of doing a job. Even the Taoiseach has said that eligibility to do a job should be based on health and capability, so why is it taking so long for us to get a response so we can have people brought to schools and different sectors? Time after time, we have to wait for this Department and that Department and we have to look at regulation after regulation, but during Covid we could click our fingers and it was done.”
“Last Saturday, we were at the Holy Family school in Charleville for a fundraiser where up to 100 motorbikes came out. They do so year after year to raise funds for additional resources for the school. There is a shortfall year on year and resources are raised. Money from last year went in for part of a playground for the children in that school. Looking around the country, vintage clubs and different people from various sectors come out to raise funds. We were at the Rathkeale men's shed on Sunday. There is not a weekend when I am not at two or three different events trying to raise funds for special needs schools, and local schools, for services we should be able to provide through the Government, yet these are not being provided.”
“I am looking for equality for city and county. The protectors who are in the Minister's remit are needed in the county and the city. How many are going to come in to replace the retirements? How many gardaí are we actually going to get?”
“Recently, we were told that 20 new gardaí are being appointed into Limerick city, where they are much needed. How many can the Minister give me in the county as well? County Limerick is a big place, with 40 square miles per Garda station. There is Bruff Garda station and a new Garda station at Newcastle West. When the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, talks about recruits, he says that 200 are going in and 200 will come out. According to the last statistic before he became Minister, we had 400 going in and only 145 or 150 coming out. I am delighted the Minister is confident that 200 are going in and 200 are coming out. How many will be replacements for retirements? How many gardaí will we actually get on the ground? The Minister of State, Deputy Niall Collins, came out last week and had a go at me about putting city against county. I am not.”
“Delaying the guidelines for 19 or 20 years is not helping when it comes to the health implications. We are talking about health.”
“They said they agreed with me that this needs to happen because of the health implications. They also mentioned that Deputy Niall Collins had nailed his colours to the mast and said he agreed with them as well. I need to know whether Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael agree with the WHO regarding the health implications of wind turbines and whether they will take full responsibility when the WHO has said that they have health implications? Will they take personal responsibility? They are doing it knowingly and in legal terms, if they are doing something knowingly, they are personally responsible? Can Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael nail their colours to the mast regarding the health implications of wind turbines that are in proximity to houses, schools and other necessities and say that they are okay with it?”
“In the interim, there is an influx of wind turbines. In Europe, Eamon Ryan signed up to 16,000 wind turbines going inland. D maps were delayed for five years so we could not look at offshore and they are talking about renewable energy. We are talking about health implications. Do Members know that when wind turbines are turned off, the wind energy company gets more money than through funds from Government than it receives when the turbines are turned on per the contracts they have? When the turbines are off, the company earns more money. They are now applying for wind turbines in low wind areas and increasing the height of the wind turbines to try to make the statistics work. I met Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael councillors in Bruree recently and they asked us to nail our colours to the mast.”
“This is what they are telling people will happen within a 5 km radius and are using this to object to houses. A person building a house also has sign up to not objecting to anything on environmental grounds for ten years of the contract. On one hand, the developers are telling people that there will be shadow flicker if they build a house but on the other hand, they are telling them there is no shadow flicker if they build them close to their houses. When will the guidelines eventually be published? The Tánaiste has met the people so now I need to know.”
“Do the Members in this Chamber know that if a wind turbine goes into their area, and I have nothing against the landowners who are putting up wind turbines because they are entitled to do so and I ask people not to go after them, the contract states that they can place them wherever they like within their farms? This could be within 2 or 3 metres of someone's house where there is shadow flicker. They can also be placed near a school. The World Health Organization, WHO, said it should be 1 metre for every 10 but in Ireland, it is 1 metre for every 4. If an application for a wind turbine is successful and if someone wants to build a house within 3 km of a wind turbine, the wind turbine owners can object. What are their objections? They are that these wind turbines may cause shadow flicker.”
“My question concerns the health implications of wind farms. My journey regarding the health implications of wind farms started in Coolcappa over two years ago. Recently we had meetings in Bruff, Dromin, Athlacca and Bruree about wind turbines and how local authorities have no input into wind turbines. They are now considered to be strategic infrastructure, which means they go straight to An Bord Pleanála. There is an influx of applications for wind farms across the country. Wind energy guidelines were produced in 2006. In June 2013, Deputy Micheál Martin stood in front of Enda Kenny here and told him that the health implications of wind turbines are real. The guidelines were upgraded in 2019 but we are awaiting the guidelines around wind turbines. We are talking about health.”
“These people are asking the people of Ireland, through our vintage clubs, motorcycle clubs and whatever means they can, to fundraise for children with special needs to help them get an education the same as their siblings and friends'. They have got to do that, which we have no problem helping. There is a massive shortage of funding. I said this at the start, and I say it with all sincerity: I believe the Minister of State is the right person for the job, and I look forward to working with him. I look forward to pushing the boundaries within his Department and the Departments of education and health to make sure we can deliver for those children equal opportunities to equal education and also support the families that have been trying to home school to give their children what they need and help them.”
“There is a fundraiser going on for a school that looks after special needs in Charleville, County Cork, in the Minister of State's constituency. It is based behind St. Joseph's Foundation, which is another fantastic organisation that looks after children and adults with special needs. The school has to go out and fundraise for additional resources, and it has come to me. There is a motorbike run on, and I am going to have to try to stay on the motorbike to help the school raise money and raise awareness. I have no problem doing that. Last Sunday, I was in Meanus in County Limerick with Greybridge Classic Club raising funds, again, for this same school in County Cork because we had people from the area who wanted support.”
“If they got the assessments done, they were told that the Department was sorry, but it had no place for them. With the Minister of State's own family background, I know that he is the right person for the job. I know he understands the concerns. Knowing all this, I need him to kick for touch and make sure that a difference is made and these three Departments talk to one another so that we deliver for people in Ireland and ensure that the most vulnerable have an equal opportunity to education as their siblings, neighbours or friends. This Sunday - I hope to see the Minister of State there - there will be a fundraiser for Holy Family Special School in Charleville. The Minister of State knows that, being from that area himself.”
“I have just spent two long days at the ploughing championships with Independent Ireland. We have had people of all ages and from all walks of life with different problems coming into the tent to talk to us about concerns they have and looking for support. We had people with children with special needs come into us and ask us what had gone wrong and what they could do to help. Why are the resources not being put in place? Why are the Departments with responsibility for disabilities, education and health not talking to one another to see how they can sort problems? People said that if they wanted something, they went to one Department, which would then ask them to go to another Department to get assessments to try to get places for children.”
“I thank the Ceann Comhairle. I am here with many friends today. I have the Knocklong Men's Shed and I have Patrick O'Dea here from Dromin. I have Maurice and Elly above in the Gallery and they are both wheelchair users. Maurice is from Granagh. He plays Munster hurling and tag rugby and he works in the HSE. He is 25. Maurice told me he had lost out on so much with his friends because the facilities were not there for wheelchair users. They are there in public buildings, but they are not in other businesses. Maurice knows businesses are under massive pressure, but is there any grant aid there to provide the basics for people who are wheelchair users so that they can go out and socialise with their friends? He has lost out on 18th and 21st birthday parties. His friends have been brilliant to him, but he wants to know.”
“It is the same thing with our doctors and nurses. Other countries are doing it. I spoke to a doctor yesterday. Of the people she was in college with, four from her class were being paid to come here from other countries to train to be a doctor. It was in their contract that they had to return to their own country to do two years there because they had got their placements and college for free. Maybe it is time we did this to encourage people. It has gone on for decades. It affects young children and adults throughout the country. Children are going through the whole of primary school who are not getting their dentistry done. Maybe it is time to look for a change.”
“Maybe it needs something like what the Minister of State's father did in 1968, which everyone is grateful for. We need something like that now. We need to reintroduce, number one, training and the offer of free college places. Other countries are doing it. They are sending people here to be trained. They go back to their own countries where they have to work for two years because they were given their training for free. Why can we not do that here? Why can we not get the front-line services by getting people to their college courses and giving them the training for free? We could ask them in return that they spend two or three years here for having their training done. Would that not encourage people who would love to be a dentist in this country but cannot afford to be one, if we now back them?”
“I welcome Patrick. It is great to see a fellow Dromin man in the Gallery. The year 1968 is memorable to the Minister of State because his father was one of the members who set up St. Joseph's Foundation. It was set up to help vulnerable children and adults. It is still running and is a massive service that covers north Cork and south Limerick. Maybe it is time that history repeats itself. He could be the Minister of State who can deliver for young children in this country by reintroducing dentists into our areas and encouraging dentists through a work-life balance that will welcome them to Ireland, where they will be able to get affordable housing. They would be able to have a work-life balance when they come here and we would have the dentists as we had years ago.”
“Hands up and fix the problems. It is unbelievable that we went from 1927 to 2013 and that the commission is only being established in 2025.”
“How many people have died since this happened? How many people cried for help and were ignored? What scars have been inflicted on the families left behind? I welcome the fact that inquiries such as this and others get rid of the red tape. When we know that things went wrong, we escalate matters and make sure they are dealt with. We need to start acting today, while those who caused this pain and suffering to others are alive. We cannot wait until they die or until they get too old and nothing can be done. I know the Minister is acting now, and I welcome that. Going forward, no matter what business we do, accountability is needed across the House. If we make a mistake, we have to raise our hands and own up. That goes for every inquiry that happens. There is no point in spending millions upon millions on cover-ups.”
“I wish to remember and acknowledge the late Mark Ryan who with his brother, David, was instrumental in the establishment of the scoping inquiry. There are no words for what has happened here. What was going through my head when I was coming over here is that, in this country, we commemorated 100 years of the troubles that we had. We are looking at this from 1927 to 2013. When you look at that in context, I do not know where the words are going to come from. I welcome this commission, I really do. Is it a little too late? Yes, it. Why does it take so long for anything in this country to come before us when wrongdoing has happened? There is inquiry after inquiry, cover-up after cover-up and people suffering. Two decades pass and somebody says something, and then it takes two more decades to happen again. Wrong has been done.”
“What will the Government put in place after the recent bomb find in Limerick near Aughanish Alumina? This was near a Russian-owned business. Five bombs were found in Ireland - three in the South, two in the North. What will be done about looking at Russian-owned buildings and properties in this country to protect the Irish people in case somebody targets them, especially in Limerick, where this happened? People in Askeaton are frightened that something like this might happen again. What will the Government put in place to prevent this?”
“When we look at the major supermarkets and they are taking over-the-top profits, yes, 100%, we should pull them in, but we should also look at our smaller stores that are not doing that to understand how we can help them. The Government has at its fingertips the ability to help them. There is no point in giving a wage increase if people do not see it in their pockets and it does not go further. The Government is giving wage increases but is driving the price of everything else up, which means workers do not get a wage increase in the first place, so it all comes back to the taxpayers again.”
“Any price gouging by any major supermarket holder should be transparent. All their profits should be shown. Some people look at the smaller outlets whose turnover is up but whose profits are down. It is some of the major ones we need to look at to see why this is. We also have to look at the part the Government has played in this. It introduced wage increases, which we welcomed, but where does it come back to? To the people who are going in buying the food. It is being added on. When you look at the tax regime the Government has on energy costs, there has been a 78% increase in eight months for energy costs to run these supermarkets. The Government is taking 23% VAT on top of that. It is therefore also responsible for the prices going up in our shops.”
“The Government will not give back to the students and the families who are actually paying for the taxes in the first place. No wonder you have your heads down over there. You cannot look me in the eye.”
“Now we have students who want an education and their family want them to be educated, which everyone in here seems to have always wanted, and the Government is putting more obstacles in their way. For God's sake, will ye see reality? There is no more left in these families. Every penny they earn, they pay tax and they put food on the table. They pay for the living standard they have. The writing is on the wall and it is telling the Government they are under so much pressure they cannot take any more. Now the Government wants to put the fees back up. I am the Chair of the Committee on Budgetary Oversight and today we had the Central Bank in. We were talking about the extra money that is in the coffers from the taxpayers of Ireland.”
“That is the only way we can get them to college. That is because there is no student accommodation. On top of this, the Government now wants to put €1,000 back on top of college fees. It is the reverse. It should be taking off another €1,000 and letting them get their education for free. They are the next generation that we want to educate. They have inflation and one in four families is doing without food. Students are working extra hours themselves during the summer and that money is going to pay for accommodation that the Government cannot provide to let them go to third level education. Where is it going to stop? If people work in this country, they are taxed. If they build something for themselves, they are doubly taxed as well on top of it.”
“I thank all the students who are here today and all their families who are encouraging them to go to college. Parents now have to choose. If they have two children to go to college, they may not be able to afford it. Inflation costs at the moment are putting a massive strain on family life for the students and for all families. The Government has not provided adequate accommodation for students to go to college. The colleges do not have the accommodation. They have to try to get accommodation as close as they can to the college if they are lucky. The students now have to rent their accommodation two or three months before they go to college and pay for it now. We are doing it ourselves in our household. We have two payments already made on a house for students, with other parents, because they have no other place to go to college.”
“The Minister is going to have to deal with Irish Water and he is going to have to look at development-led infrastructure.”
“The travel agencies are telling us people are not booking holidays any more because they cannot afford to go on holidays. These are the people who work hard all their lives and who now want to have a break. They can no longer have a break because it is not affordable. They have to put food on the table and pay bills. I welcome the planning laws, if they help people build and deal with the serial objectors, which Deputy O'Flynn spoke about. Somebody in Donegal can object to something in Limerick. Somebody in Cork can object to somebody in Leitrim. That type of stuff has to stop. We have to make sure people can build to the county councils' guidelines when they get their planning and they are allowed to build for the future.”
“A person building a house on their own land, which will never have a footpath or public lighting, and supplying their own water, is now paying €5,000 to build a house on their own land. They are paying 20% of their mortgage as tax. They are building their own house and they are not on a list that the Government has to provide houses for them. They are providing their own. They work, pay tax, pay tax on their mortgage, pay a fee to build on their own land, and pay tax on the fuel for their car but they get nothing back from Government even though they are giving everything. They are working for the people who are not able to work and they are not complaining. I heard contributions today where Members said parents are doing without one meal in every four to make sure their children have food.”
“From my first day here I have been telling people I have been in the construction industry all my life. I will give colleagues whatever experience I can. Infrastructure is the key and being on budget and on time. From the time Irish Water was set up, it has not brought in one project on budget or on time. If anything, it is over budget all the time. That is the problem. Let it be developer-led infrastructure. Let them build the infrastructure to the design of Irish Water, standards which are there to be seen. Let it be overseen by the county councils and then handed back to them when done. We will get twice the amount of infrastructure and twice the number of houses built. On the purpose of one-off planning, people want to build their own house and now the contributions have been brought back in again.”