It is clear that farmers do not have confidence in the chair. The Minister finally needs to act in that regard.

Over the past number of years, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have failed to effectively manage the international protection system. We have seen decisions and appeals taking too long, profiteering from IPAS accommodation providers and a wider loss of confidence from the public that the Government can manage the system. Through this International Protection Bill today, we see that the Government's new strategy on migration is to hand powers over to the EU in the hope that it can avoid blame for its own failures. For an …

Every child is entitled to an education and an appropriate school place. Sadly, many children are being denied this right across County Galway and the State. Children are being left in unsuitable places, not having their needs met and being denied equal opportunities and the chance to realise their full potential. I have been contacted by many parents and schools in relation to the urgent need for increased provision of special school places and special classes locally. I welcome the recent announcements of special…

There are a number of areas across east Galway, including the ones I mentioned, where there is significant demand and the schools are ready to accommodate those classes. As much as possible, we need to see delivery on the ground. Parents want certainty around what will be available in their local area. As I said, there is huge demand. It is absolutely critical that adequate places are provided. Far too many children are not being provided with the appropriate place for their needs. Again, I urge the Government to r…

My thoughts are with all those impacted by the crash in Dublin today and the family of Grace Lynch. The year 2025 was the worst year for road fatalities in over ten years and represented a growing trend of Irish roads becoming less safe. Last year, An Garda Síochána recorded 190 people dying on our roads and over 1,000 people being injured as a result of collisions. Each statistic represents a life lost, a wider family devastated, and demonstrates the constant work needed to make our roads safe for all who use them…

The position of Larry Murrin as chairman of Bord Bia is untenable. The revelations surrounding his company's importation of substandard Brazilian beef into Ireland are an insult to Irish farmers and have created a crisis of confidence within Bord Bia. The farmers I speak to in my constituency have totally lost confidence in the chairman and they are also beginning to lose total confidence in the Government through the Minister's handling of this fiasco. This is fundamentally about the double standards that are now …

I raise the proposed development of an equine therapy centre at the Toghermore House site located in Tuam. Toghermore House is owned by the HSE. It previously hosted a number of mental health support services until these services were relocated to a separate facility in Tuam in 2023. Since the relocation of these services, there have been proposals to develop the site, along with its over 40 acres of land, into an equine therapy centre. However, to date, no concrete plans have been progressed. Equine therapy offers…

I thank the Minister of State for the update. I understand that the review is ongoing. I urge him to ensure that this is progressed as quickly as possible and that there is engagement with the local organisations like Ability West around the potential for equine therapy there. It would be a game-changer for Tuam and north Galway as a whole. There is a chronic lack of sporting facilities in the area and the potential development of an equine therapy centre would also be an opportunity to support the development of s…

Budget 2026 was an insult to people with disabilities. All through the winter people have suffered as their income has taken a serious hit. The withdrawal of supports in this year's budget has left people with disabilities worse off by €1,400. This was a shocking betrayal of people with disabilities, who were promised the sun, moon and stars by the Government parties during the general election campaign. It was already difficult enough for people with disabilities to get by. The Disability Federation of Ireland tel…

The reality is those lives continue to be lost because of the State's failure to care for people experiencing a mental health crisis. We know that each year, 50,000 people try to access mental health services for the first time through hospital emergency departments. This is not an appropriate setting for people who are in severe mental distress at their most vulnerable. I think the Minister of State has to accept that. The Mental Health Commission report has confirmed that general emergency departments are failing…

In my constituency of Galway East, not one affordable home has been delivered in towns like Athenry, Tuam and Loughrea. Rents have increased massively, and so have house prices. Young families come to me all the time asking what their options are and if affordable housing might be an option for them but it does not exist in our local area. We are in the middle of a housing emergency and that has been the case for a decade or more at this stage. It is a shocking indictment of the Government's housing policy that it …

The position of Larry Murrin as chairman of Bord Bia is totally untenable. He has direct involvement in the importation of substandard Brazilian beef into Ireland. No Irish food processor should be importing this product into Ireland, but the fact that the chair of Bord Bia, an organisation that is tasked with promoting the quality of Irish food around the world, is absolutely outrageous. It is a conflict of interest and it undermines Irish farming. It is an absolute insult to Irish farmers, who have to meet the hi…

The former Shannon Oaks Hotel in Portumna has been lying in a dangerous and derelict state for 15 years. I have raised this matter a number of times. The local community has been promised repeatedly that the site will be secured and the hotel redeveloped. The closure of the hotel has been a huge loss to Portumna, an area with serious tourism potential but a lack of tourist accommodation. Efforts have been made to engage with the owners of the hotel, the Comer brothers, with a view to having the hotel reopened. They…

They are the owners of the hotel.

I appreciate the response, but from what the Minister of State has outlined, if we are talking about CPO, would the Government provide the support to Galway County Council for what is presumably a very expensive building to be able to acquire that and, at a minimum, make the site safe? The planning permission on this has lapsed. The developers have no intention of redeveloping this hotel. It has been left in a derelict state for 15 years. It is an eyesore and a safety hazard. Young children are going in and out. So…

Communities across the State, particularly rural communities, are paying the price for decades of underinvestment in our water and wastewater infrastructure. This leads to issues in terms of public health, the environment and particularly housing. A total of 70% of the land that is zoned for housing in County Galway cannot be built on because of infrastructural deficits, including water and wastewater. We see big announcements in terms of funding but we do not see delivery on the ground. Funding was announced three…

I welcome the moves in this Bill to regulate private providers and to set minimum standards for services. However, this Bill is far from what it could have been. The current and previous programme for Government promised a statutory home care scheme but after five years, the Government has only got as far as a register of private providers. There is nothing in this Bill about access and affordability of different levels of care. It is a system designed around private provision. The ambition of the Government should…

The safe distribution and operation of fuels such as natural gas and LPG is of significant importance. Tens of thousands of households across the State rely on natural gas and LPG as their main source of heating and it is important that the networks which they use on a daily basis are up to standard and appropriately regulated for safety. I welcome the intention and progression of this technical update but, as my party colleagues have outlined, there are serious flaws in this legislation, and it does come ten years…

I welcome the farmers who are in the Gallery this evening. Nobody is buying it. For years the Government sat on the fence about whether it would support or oppose the Mercosur trade deal when it came to a vote. Not until the day before a vote was due, when thousands of farmers were organising to take to the streets and when it knew the deal was going to pass anyway, did it finally come out and say it was against this deal. In the time it was dithering, it failed to build a blocking minority with other EU member sta…

The proposed Mercosur trade agreement is a bad deal for Irish farmers and consumers. I held a public meeting in Athenry earlier this week and there is serious concern about this deal and the impact it would have on our beef industry and family farms. The Government should be doing everything in its power to stop this deal but it is not. For weeks, the Tánaiste and his colleagues have dodged answering the simple question of whether they will vote against this deal. The Taoiseach is in Brussels today. He was unable t…