My question is for the Minister of State, Deputy Butler. I want to raise my concerns about the future of St. Patrick's Hospital in Cashel and the services currently operating out of there. We submitted parliamentary questions on numerous occasions and were told money had been ring-fenced for the hospital but now, after four years, some bright engineer has decided it is not big enough for the 60-bed unit. It looks as though the Government is telling us to look elsewhere and not to worry about St. Patrick's Hospital,…

We welcome it.

Cashel will be moving to Clonmel. Good woman.

The beds are gone, so.

Because there is none there.

The Good Friday Agreement at 25 years is an endorsement of how peace, when it is pursued by all, is something that can be attained and can change lives and communities. When the painstaking negotiations were taking place that common goal of peace kept matters progressing to a stage when achievement was possible. That is the value of all sides pursuing the one objective. It is a common effort where there is a unity of purpose and that unity of purpose must be recognised for what it is and what it has achieved. We sa…

In October 1874, one of the first monuments to be taken into the care of the State was the Rock of Cashel, which dominates the skyline of my town of Cashel and which contributes in no small part to the economy of the town and the surrounding area. Visitor numbers alone bear testimony to this. Over 170,000 people were recorded as having come through the doors of the rock by the middle of last August. Since 1874, nearly 1,000 monuments at 768 locations have been taken into State ownership. I welcome monument structur…

Where will they go?

Where will they go?

It is simple. The Tánaiste should answer the question.

I thank the Minister of State for taking this matter, although I had thought the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, might do so. This issue has been raised repeatedly by me and other Tipperary Deputies. It relates to the Tipperary town bypass, which was first promised 40 years ago. Anybody who knows the town can see how it is absolutely choked up with heavy traffic. All the Governments of the past 40 years have promised the bypass for Tipperary town, and Independent Deputies go into the town every now and again and make …

I appreciate that not every project can get funding, but we are talking about small money to progress this project. The people of Tipperary and its surrounds have been struggling for too long. As I said, there have been 40 years of successive Governments telling them they will get a bypass. This is all for the sake of an additional €2.25 million, a pittance in the current climate. As a public representative, I cannot allow this to continue. Every time I go into Tipperary town, I am faced with it. Likewise, Deputy C…

There was no one objecting. We have been looking for this for 40 years.

We are talking about the N24, not the tenant in situ scheme.

I also thank Deputy Cian O'Callaghan and the Social Democrats for bringing forward the motion. The number of residential properties recorded as vacant in December 2022 was 83,662. That is a significant stock of unused properties and if the correct incentives to dissuade people from allowing their properties to sit idle were in place it would go some way to addressing the housing shortage in County Tipperary. Instead, the Minister's vacant property tax of 0.3% will deter few and ultimately misses the opportunity. Th…

I wish to send best wishes to Ambassador Aidan O'Hara and his family for what they have gone through. At the Committee on Public Petitions earlier this year we discussed with the European Ombudsman various reports, among which was noted the changing world within which the EU operates and the response of the EU institutions to those changes. However, troubling issues remain, such as what the ombudsman described as a porous ethical framework that has been found to exist. Qatargate was one, involving allegations of fo…

In a report published by the European Commission last year Ireland was ranked as the worst country in Europe concerning judicial resourcing at 3.27 judges per 100,000 people in 2020. To say this was below the European average is to be kind. The truth of the matter is that the European average is 17.6 judges per 100,000 people. There is a real deficiency there. I am also reminded of the waiting times at District Court and Circuit Court levels being faced by victims of crime in parts of County Tipperary, particularly…

I also thank Deputy Cian O'Callaghan and the Social Democrats for bringing forward the motion. The number of residential properties recorded as vacant in December 2022 was 83,662. That is a significant stock of unused properties and if the correct incentives to dissuade people from allowing their properties to sit idle were in place it would go some way to addressing the housing shortage in County Tipperary. Instead, the Minister's vacant property tax of 0.3% will deter few and ultimately misses the opportunity. Th…

I wish to send best wishes to Ambassador Aidan O'Hara and his family for what they have gone through. At the Committee on Public Petitions earlier this year we discussed with the European Ombudsman various reports, among which was noted the changing world within which the EU operates and the response of the EU institutions to those changes. However, troubling issues remain, such as what the ombudsman described as a porous ethical framework that has been found to exist. Qatargate was one, involving allegations of fo…

They do not care and that is the problem.