I thank the Minister of State for being in the House for this important debate. I will not pile on because there has been a lot of criticism here this evening. I must say the criticism of the system is justified. We have many systems that need to be improved in this country but I cannot think of a system that operates worse than the licensing system at present. It clearly has failed very badly and continues to fail. There is no way we will meet the targets for the foreseeable future with the system the way it is. I…

At the weekend, Councillor Bobby O'Connell and I met with Michael J. Kearney of the Castleisland Chamber Alliance to view the now closed Bank of Ireland building on the main street in the town. This branch was one of 88 Bank of Ireland branches that were closed recently. I also met in recent weeks with Shane McElroy of the Killorglin Chamber Alliance, that town having also lost its Bank of Ireland branch on Market Street. It is a huge blow to both towns. Both branches served huge hinterlands beyond Castleisland and…

It is the least the bank could do for these communities given what the State has done-----

-----and also what these communities did commercially for the bank over the years.

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, for coming in tonight to take this important debate which I was keen to table here in the Dáil. I am disappointed that the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, is not here. I mean no disrespect to the Minister of State, who is doing an outstanding job in her area. I have been hugely impressed with her work and with her energy in her specific area within the Department of Health but this is a matter relating to an acute hospital and I would have expected that the senior …

I appreciate the response but it does not address the many issues raised in the letter from the consultants. For any Deputy to have to come into this House and read a letter of that seriousness from consultants in any hospital in this country is an absolute shame and a disgrace. The people of Kerry deserve better than that type of shocking, embarrassing and depressing information which is effectively being ignored by the Minister's office. I have conveyed all that information to the Minister's office in writing pre…

I thank the Tánaiste for recently confirming in reply to a parliamentary question I tabled that IDA Ireland will build a second advance facility in Tralee. That is very welcome. It follows on from the first advance facility which was built by IDA Ireland several years ago. It now houses Central Pharma and will become operational in the first quarter of the new year. This is an issue on which I am working hard with Councillor Jim Finucane in Tralee. He, too, is passionate about it. He raised it at a meeting of Kerry…

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this matter and the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, for being present again. There is a sense of déjà vu because having checked the record, I note that we discussed this matter on 17 November 2020. In the almost 12 months since, much water has passed under the bridge but we have cleared the latest hurdle through the most recent decision of the High Court to rule in favour of the greenway project. I am therefore here again tonight to reiterate the requirement for …

The Minister has nailed it in one. This is a key component but we do not have to build greenways all over the country. There are many local tertiary roads that are underutilised at present and often looked upon as liabilities by local authorities. With minor engineering work they could be massive assets. Perhaps they could have a special designation status as a priority cycle route which would allow for the linking up of dedicated greenways. I wrote about this in 2013. I raised the south Kerry greenway in my first …

This is a national parliament.

I acknowledge the progress the Minister is making and I welcome the student assistance fund that was announced at the weekend. In my constituency it amounted to almost €250,000, which is important to the students of the Tralee campus of the Munster Technological University. The Minister was there recently and he met Chris Clifford and the other students' union representatives. As we come towards the end of the year, sometimes funding in Departments frees up and there is some discretionary funding. The student assis…

I want to raise this issue with the Minister. I have noticed there are now villages in my constituency that were very small places 20 years ago but have grown hugely with the building of new housing estates in that time. These places now have many young people approaching teenage years but, unfortunately, the facilities and services have not kept in train with the development of those towns. We now have a situation where many young people have very little to do at weekends, especially at night-time. They are hangin…

I thank the Minister. It is important that he always bears in mind that population growth happens throughout the country. It is not something that is only happening on the east coast. Many pockets throughout the country have seen major growth in population. For example, Milltown, which used to be a village and is now a town, is quite close to where I come from. When I started knocking on doors there almost 20 years ago, there were two housing estates in the village. There are now more than ten estates and the popul…

It is very important, especially in the context of the space we are in, post pandemic - hopefully, we can say post pandemic - that a reset button has been pressed. Much of the social fabric of the country has been ripped asunder in the past year and a half. While we need to put that back together, with that comes an opportunity. The Minister referenced KDYS, which does marvellous and great work in Kerry but all our sporting organisations and community councils also do great work. Rather than youth services feeling …

I welcome both Ministers and acknowledge the work they are doing. They are working very hard in the Department in their respective portfolios. I thank them for that work because it is very important to hundreds of thousands of people throughout the country. I also acknowledge Maria Melia from the Department, who is here with us today. She does great work behind the scenes. That has to be acknowledged because, without the work of those in the Department, who do so much, we would not be seeing the progress we are see…

I want to raise the case of Theo Whelan, a five-month-old Killorglin boy who has spinal muscular atrophy. Theo's parents, Shane and Stephanie Whelan, have contacted me to try to get the HSE to give approval to the so-called miracle drug, Zolgensma. I understand that two children, Theo and little 17-month-old Kate Mynard in Cork are the only known suitable recipients in Ireland for this drug, which can dramatically improve the quality of life with children with the condition if the drug is administered before the ag…

Today, I want to raise a very serious situation that is developing at University Hospital Kerry. The situation is chaotic at this stage. The emergency department has been under severe pressure for some time now, but this week surgeons in the hospital wrote to GPs asking that non-urgent referrals for surgery not be sent to them because there are already 2,200 people awaiting assessment at the hospital. The situation has been deteriorating for some time and it now deserves intervention at the highest levels of govern…

I acknowledge the principled stand the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, has taken in respect of the right of people living in rural communities to build one-off houses. I grew up at the foot of Slieve Mish in the open countryside of Keel, Castlemaine. I will not be told that my children will not be able to build a house and live there after me. It is the same for every other rural community in the country. We have a right to live in the countryside and we will always have that right. This party will always st…

Hear, hear.

I move: That, notwithstanding anything in the weekly Dáil schedule agreed on 11 May 2021, the following additional arrangements shall apply to the business of the Dáil tomorrow: (a) the Dáil shall sit later than 9.27 p.m.; and (b) No. 43a, Statements and Questions and Answers on Cork University Maternity Hospitals shall not exceed 145 minutes, with arrangements in accordance with those agreed by Order of the Dáil of 30 July 2020, for 135 minutes, following which a Minister or Minister of State may make a statement …