I wish the Minister of State well in his new position. I welcome some of the proposed changes in the NPF review. Ultimately, the document must restore power to councils to form their own plans and address the overriding powers of Uisce Éireann, the Office of the Planning Regulator and Transport Infrastructure Ireland in dictating the development of rural constituencies. When I was a comhairleoir on my council, we had none of this. We had the National Roads Authority, NRA. As I often said, I thought we had decommiss…

Go raibh maith agat.

Please, Deputy.

Anois ar ais go dtí an Ríaltas, glaoim ar an Teachta Brian Brennan.

Thanks for sharing your real story. It is so sad. From the Independents, an Teachta Carol Nolan and Deputy Gillian Toole are sharing time.

I, too, am pleased to be able to speak on this matter. I wish both Ministers well in their roles. I sincerely thank Deputy Brennan for putting away his notes and talking from the heart, and my colleagues here for doing so as well. We have to have heart. Have we no heart to see what has been happening since the HSE was set up? In my honest opinion, it was set up by Mary Harney - maybe I am wrong - to create a buffer for the Government when it comes to accountability. My late brother was a paediatrician of some renow…

I, too, want to speak on this motion. I thank Sinn Féin for bringing it forward. Again, it is a saga concerning the HSE. As the Minister stated, she is constrained in what she can say and must wait for the report. We have so many reports and so many investigations, but they are all inside investigations. It is wrong for anybody, but a child especially, to have an invasive procedure that was not necessary or was in error. It beggars belief that this is going on. As we know, it came to light in 2021 and prior to that…

I, too, have tabled a Topical Issue matter about Dundrum House Hotel in County Tipperary. I am appalled that the Minister who is responsible for this, Deputy Foley, left this Chamber 20 minutes ago. She fled, but she cannot hide from the people. It is disgusting to treat elected representatives like this. If she was not here, I would say something, but she was here all evening in this Chamber. The contract on Dundrum House Hotel raises some very serious questions. I am extremely concerned about the lack of transpar…

I am extremely disappointed with the reply the Minister of State read out. I want the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste, the Minister for Justice and the Minister, Deputy Foley, to halt, pause and withdraw this contract because of the company that is involved. The Minister of State gave me gobbledegook there. It is not legal to pay €20 million to a company that has not filed taxes and that is not compliant with the Companies Act. Both Brogan Capital Ventures Limited and Utmasta Limited are subsidiaries of Steelworks Investme…

I ask the Deputy to please refrain from naming or referencing people when they are not here to defend themselves.

This is not the radio. This is the Dáil Chamber so please refrain from it.

Bogfaidh muid ar ais go dtí Sinn Féin leis an Teachta Martin Kenny.

Anois, we move on to the Independent and Parties Technical Group. Tá triúir Teachta Dála le labhairt, is iad sin ná Teachtaí Paul Murphy, Roderic O’Gorman agus Catherine Connolly. They are sharing time.

Go raibh maith agat.

You are taking time from your colleague.

I too am concerned about tariffs as there are more than 9,000 FDI jobs in Clonmel and thousands more of them in Dungarvan up the road from me. However, like Deputy Nolan, I too am concerned about the tariffs that our own Government has imposed on the ordinary people, such as the punitive carbon tax and the nearly 48% tax applied to anyone wanting to build a new home. I am talking about people building a home for themselves, not looking for houses from the State. The Government has taken punitive measures. As for th…

I hope there were not too many bus drivers bringing Offaly supporters or Tipperary supporters to Páirc Uí Chaoimh last Sunday because we all came home disappointed. Fair dues to Cork and, indeed, to Port Láirge freisin. Once enacted, the Employment (Contractual Retirement Ages) Bill 2025 will deliver a new employment right. It will allow, but not compel, an employee to stay in employment until the State pension age of 66. I want to also congratulate and wish an tAire Stáit nua, Deputy Niamh Smyth, the very best and…

I too am glad to be able speak on the Bill. Ar an chéad dul síos, I wish to say that my company does work for Irish Water. We used to do it for county councils and it was then transferred over to Irish Water, which is an entity I do not have any faith in. It has no understanding of the serious problems we have. As the previous speaker mentioned, water is going to be very scarce this year. We can see the rivers and streams are low so early in the year. There will be water outages and everything else but we need to t…

An Teachta O'Connell, please.

An Teachta Timmins can come in now briefly.