I feel like I am flogging a dead dog with this one, but anyway, one last time with feeling, I suppose. I recall listening to an interview between Newstalk’s Kieran Cuddihy and the Tánaiste. He kind of caught him off guard by asking why he wanted to be Taoiseach. His answer was simple: "community". I always felt that the Tánaiste uses the term “community” in the John McGahern sense of the close-knit bonds of tradition, shared experience and the familiarity of your own personal hinterland that shaped you deeply. Watc…

I have an obsession with inequality, Tánaiste.

The Tánaiste's ability to extol a narrative that does not exist knows no bounds. When people go to bed at night in Cork, they have no worries about heart attack access. However, when people go to bed in Waterford and the south east, they have significant worries, particularly those who have ongoing cardiac issues. In the last three months, three friends of mine have ended up in Waterford hospital, after hours, at night, with a heart attack. All three went to Cork and not one of them got there in under four hours fr…

Will the Tánaiste address why the extra positions were in the HSE embargo?

There are positions under the HSE embargo and emergency appointments that have not been covered.

I too thank all the staff and ushers, and the Ceann Comhairle, for their support over the last while. I advise the House that President Higgins has agreed to ring the peace bell at Áras an Uachtaráin for 11 minutes on 11 November, from 11.03 a.m. Perhaps this House could do something in unison to support that initiative. I will drop the Ceann Comhairle a note on it. To check in with the Tánaiste and be clear for the Waterford voters, there is a hard no to the SETU engineering public private partnership. I remind th…

There certainly is.

There is a €300 million ask.

With the barrage of Bills guillotined, no doubt the Taoiseach is a man calling time on the Thirty-third Dáil and perhaps my time in this Chamber too. How can the people of my city and county trust any new promises made by the parties of Government when promise after promise has turned to dust? The Government has burned through €44 billion on capital projects with less than one third of a fair share for Waterford. Our airport, our agrifood sector, 24-7 cardiac care and our university PPP have all been slow-walked an…

My question relates to the Waterford business plan to extend the airport at Waterford. Will the Minister make a statement on the matter having received an update from his Department?

I acknowledge the hospital pass that the Minister of State has been given with this project. I wrote to his Department asking when in the past ten years a project that was 100% going to be funded by the private sector before the Department put in a cent of funding was last done. Nothing like it has been done in the previous ten years. The proposal is that private money will deliver the full investment for the airport before the Department would be asked to provide a shilling. It will deliver the runway, the apron, …

I just cannot share the Minister of State’s opinion that the private sector, which is putting probably €24 million into this project, does not know what it is doing but the Department does. I remind him that in 2007, a Fianna Fáil Government gave a commitment to do the runway extension at Waterford at a cost of €25 million. Just like 24-7 cath labs, our university and the N24 and N25, all these political promises have turned to ash. I will direct my next comment to the Minister of State’s colleague beside him, the …

Sorry, we are talking about Waterford Airport here, not the blooming metro.

I raised the dysfunctional spending in the Department, which is now saying it will have oversight of this project when this project is being entirely funded by the private sector.

I asked if that memo will be brought to Cabinet and the Minister of State is saying "No" it will not.

I thank Deputy Fitzmaurice and his colleagues for bringing forward this motion, which speaks to support for all of the SME sector. Across the sector, there are significant challenges for SMEs, retailers, hairdressers, beauty salons and all service providers, as we heard on the streets yesterday. There are specific challenges for the food and hospitality sectors. This motion is calling for a reduction or some easement of the VAT rate, which is now critical. The one thing that these business have in common and the on…

Hear, hear.

Discussion on the Gambling Regulation Bill continues in the Seanad this week. A particular area I have raised in the House before does not come within the scope of this Bill. That is the gambling lock, which is the ability for customers to put a gambling lock on their bank accounts. I commend AIB on finally implementing this ability. From speaking to counselling services, it will have a beneficial effect. More than 100 customers of AIB have already availed of this gambling lock. That shows that the need exists. Wil…

I thank the Minister of State for attending. I am somebody who obviously has an interest in this area. I come from Waterford, which along with Wexford is one of the counties that will be most impacted by this proposed wind development. I say at the start that I sold renewable energy. I am a fan of wind. We need it, and we certainly need offshore wind development. I was in Germany two years ago with a delegation and we met with members of the German parliament. Their need to develop hydrogen is real and there are ob…

I ask the Minister of State to put on the record the size of the turbines he referenced in Denmark, which are closer to shore than he suggested.