Tomorrow at 10.30 a.m.

I raise the issue of roads funding for my county of Wexford. It was confirmed in the budget that Wexford would receive an allocation of approximately €23 million, including €12 million for restoration and improvement, €1.5 million for maintenance and €520,000 for safety improvement measures. I appreciate we had a debate on road safety matters in the House this week. Wexford has approximately 3,500 km of roads. Owing to the good agricultural land in Wexford, we have more roads than would be typical for our populatio…

I welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber. I will make a couple key points about road safety. I will make my contribution through my own experiences in Wexford. Obviously, the 4% decrease in road fatalities from 2023 to 2024 is welcome. In Wexford, however, we saw six fatalities in 2024 and three in 2023. Unfortunately, the statistics on this are clear, with seven in ten road fatalities occurring on our rural roads. That is what I want to focus on. In Wexford, we have three areas that I can highlight from many…

The Minister is most welcome to the Seanad Chamber today. I very much welcome the opportunity to speak on behalf of some Wexford farmers on some of the issues they have highlighted to me over the past couple of weeks. I congratulate the Minister on his appointment. Having somebody who is involved in the day-to-day of farming and who comes with the experience of having been the junior Minister in the Department during the previous term is to be welcomed. I look forward to working with him. I raise the issue of ACRES…

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House to address the very urgent matter I raise, namely, flooding in Enniscorthy, the population of which is approaching 12,500. Regrettably, the town's location on the beautiful banks of the River Slaney means it is prone to flooding. There has been flooding of a severe nature in 1924, 1947, 1965, 2000, 2002, 2009, 2014, 2016 and, most recently, in 2021, when the flooding took place on Christmas Day. For the past ten years, the Government has committed to delivering …

I thank the Minister of State and welcome his commitment to the scheme. I welcome his confirmation that the scheme is funded and will be funded, and that he accepts the invitation to visit Enniscorthy with me and to meet the Enniscorthy municipal district councillors. I again thank the Minister of State for his contribution.

I thank the Minister of State for taking this Commencement matter. I sincerely wish him the best of luck in his new role and look forward to working with him for the benefit of the people of County Wexford. I put forward this matter on the basis of my experiences as an elected councillor in Wexford relating to the allocation of funding for our rural villages, specifically for footpaths. When I was first elected in 2019, it was possible to liaise directly with the district engineer and in the case of rural villages,…

I thank the Minister of State. I very much welcome the engagement and his commitment to this idea of having a targeted, ring-fenced, designated fund for smaller rural villages to allow them to get access to funding from the active travel scheme for footpaths. We saw during Covid and more recently the great benefits that footpaths in these areas can have. They are truly transformative. The Minister of State is correct that it is my experience that, unfortunately for these smaller villages, they simply have not been …

Today I raise the issue of local clubs and the access they have to acquire land for playing pitches. At the moment the Department of sport runs a very successful sports capital programme funding many clubs. I am aware of the two individual streams. The first assists with the purchase of equipment and the second assists with the development of playing facilities. I am thinking specifically of Castledockrell United, which is a club just outside Enniscorthy. It is a small club, fielding teams from under-six right thro…

I was very honoured to be appointed recently as the Fine Gael Seanad spokesperson on public expenditure and infrastructure. It is on this theme I will speak. When I was first elected to Wexford County Council in 2019, one of my first events was the official opening of the extension of the M11 motorway between Gorey and Enniscorthy. Six years on, we are being told by the officials in TII that we are looking at approximately another six years before works might start on the final stage of that motorway from the villa…

I congratulate the Minister of State, Deputy McConalogue, on his appointment and wish him the very best of luck in the role. I have no doubt we will have plenty of engagement over the coming term. I submitted this Commencement matter on foot of a constituent contacting me in the New Ross town area to advise me of the difficulties they were having in getting access to speech and language therapy for their child. I was advised by the HSE in response to representations I made that at present all three of the allocated…

I thank the Minister of State for his response. I very much welcome the fact the senior SLT post has been offered and is going through the pre-clearance checks at the moment. I wish whoever takes up that position the very best of luck in the role. I ask the Minister of State to bring back to the Government the fact the two other posts are currently vacant. While I appreciate the efforts being made in the recruitment to speech and language posts both in New Ross and across the country and the commitment to deliver t…

I raise an issue in my home town of Enniscorthy, namely, the need for Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, to fund a town bus service. At the moment, there are four seven-day-a-week services that are funded by Transport for Ireland. They crisscross the town, servicing various different routes. Unfortunately, this means there is no designated service in the town at the moment. While great work for Enniscorthy has been done by Ms Mary B. O'Leary, the general manager of the Transport for Ireland Local Link service, …

As this is my maiden contribution on justice, I welcome the opportunity to raise many of the issues that have been raised with me in my capacity as a public representative, first on Wexford County Council and now in this Chamber. I appreciate the opportunity. I will focus my contribution specifically on the question of rural crime. I will support some of the calls that have been made by the Irish Farmers Association, IFA, for a designated rural crime unit in the Garda. Some of the contributions that have been made …

I acknowledge former Deputy and Senator, Hugh Byrne, in our Gallery today. I wish to raise, like he did so many times, an issue relative to his area in New Ross, County Wexford, that is, to invite the Minister for disability to the House to specifically discuss speech and language therapists. At present in New Ross, three speech and language therapist posts are allocated by the HSE and all three are vacant. In particular, children in need of a speech and language therapist in New Ross are not seen by the HSE or are…

I raise the issue of flooding in the town of Enniscorthy. It was flooded in 1924, 1947, 1965, 2000, 2002, 2009, 2014, 2016 and most recently in 2020. Approximately 159 houses and 169 businesses are currently within the flood zone area in Enniscorthy. Since 2014, approximately €51 million has been allocated by the Government to deliver a flood relief scheme in Enniscorthy. To date, however, this has not come to pass. I ask that we invite into this Chamber the Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of P…

Congratulations to all who have been elected or nominated to the Chamber. It is a particular honour for me to give what is my maiden speech. I begin by congratulating the Cathaoirleach on his appointment to the role and wish him the very best of luck. From what people have said, I have no doubt he will leave a very strong legacy and I look forward to working with him. I also thank the Clerk, Martin Groves, and his team for the work done during the count. I look forward to working with the Seanad staff and colleague…