-----while Uisce Éireann and its buddies at the EPA and elsewhere are shutting a blind eye to them. What do I say to them?

Bus Éireann provides a once-daily service in west Cork from Goleen to Cork city. It leaves Goleen village at approximately 7.50 a.m and returns in the evening at 7 o'clock. Recently, Local Link Cork started a new three times daily in and out service in the Goleen area to Skibbereen, which is more than welcome. The only problem is doubts have now started to emerge that Bus Éireann will stop the Goleen to Cork morning link. As I said, it is the only direct link to Cork. This is at a time when we are all strongly advi…

I welcome the Minister of State to her new position. I wish her the very best of luck. Artificial intelligence is no longer a concept for the future. It is here and it is already transforming businesses across every sector. From automating routine tasks to analysing vast amounts of data in seconds, AI is driving efficiency, reducing costs and enabling businesses to innovate like never before. However, with change comes challenge. AI will have a massive impact on the workforce. It is our responsibility to ensure tha…

First, I congratulate the Minister of State on his new brief. It is the first time I have had the opportunity to do so in the Dáil. I wish him the best. When he held a ministerial role previously, we worked together very closely and I hope we can again work closely together on issues going forward. I have serious concerns with this Bill going forward. Lessons have not been learned. We need to go back before we go ahead. We need to talk about and look at areas where lessons have not been learned. The Whiddy Island d…

In his reply, the Minister of State did not refer to the Whiddy Island disaster in any way, shape or form. I agree fully with Deputy Mac Lochlainn and I ask the Minister of State to consider meeting Michael Kingston, who is in the Public Gallery, at his earliest convenience to discuss the work he has been doing down through the years regarding Whiddy Island and other merchant shipping investigations. His expertise is renowned throughout the world. The families involved in the Whiddy Island disaster deserve someone …

We will have a debate on Thursday about the importance of agrifood to the Irish economy and I call for an extension of time on that debate. Some Deputies will only have one minute 35 seconds to discuss this. We have a lot of issues relating to agriculture that need to be discussed, especially the highest level of TB in a generation in this country - it has gone up 44%. Irish agriculture is off the agenda here and it needs to come back on the agenda. Farmers are telling me that they are emotionally stressed and fina…

I welcome both Ministers of State to their positions and wish them the very best. One of the most significant criticisms concerns the persistent underdevelopment of mental health infrastructure. While the Government has announced initiatives such as the expansion of child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, and the development of new specialist teams, the reality on the ground often tells a different story. Long waiting lists, insufficient staffing and inadequate facilities continue to plague the system, …

I congratulate both Ministers on their new positions and wish them the best. There are nowhere near enough special school places or classes in west Cork in my constituency. In cases where teachers suspect a child may have autism, there is a wait of 27 months to get an assessment. This is a serious issue for families who are left in limbo for 27 or even 28 months. Imagine that. We find ourselves in an astonishing situation in which children are being denied the help they need at an early stage. This affects their ed…

I have often raised the issue of speed limits this week. I was on two radio programmes this morning explaining the situation and the crisis we in west Cork find ourselves in. There are so many roads, including local roads, and we did not have an issue. There will always be someone complaining. We accept that many of the speed limits had to move from 80 km/h to 60 km/h. I sympathise with anybody who has been involved in a traffic accident and anyone who has suffered injury or death as a result of traffic accidents. …

I congratulate the Minister of State on his appointment. Speed limits have been reduced on many roads in the past week. All these roads were deemed local roads and most people I have spoken to have no issue in the wide, earthly world with that. Where I am living, one of the roads had a limit of 80 km/h but motorists could not do 80 km/h unless they were out of their minds. The best they could do was 60 km/h in the first place, so there is no issue there. The problem in west Cork relates to the regional roads R586 a…

I thank the Minister of State. He said this decision was delayed and we know why. It was because a general election was coming. It is a hugely unpopular decision about our regional and national roads. Our councillors made queries about local roads and were told that it was basically dictated from the top. That is what the Independent Ireland councillors were told when they raised concerns. That is what politicians do. They raise concerns. I look at the roads. I have the whole thing here. It relates to the R586 and …

On the programme for Government, I listened with interest to the Taoiseach, Deputy Micheál Martin, saying the reason we would not go into Government with Independent Ireland was our climate plan. I am amazed that he went into Government with Independents who had no policies put in place. That is astonishing. It looks like they wrote them on the back of an A4 page a couple of days before the formation of the Government to cover Deputy Martin's back. It is astonishing that he really did not look at our policies becau…

I will beg the indulgence of the Ceann Comhairle to welcome Ryan McKeown and Zoe Bell to the Gallery. In 2025, super junior Ministers in Ireland receive a total annual salary package of approximately €200,000. Junior Ministers have an additional ministerial salary of €45,846. There is a super junior allowance of €16,000 and an additional travel allowance worth up to €32,535. The public need to get value for their money with these Ministers. The public is increasingly concerned about the wasteful spending occurring …

We in Independent Ireland would like a discussion on the new speed limits that are causing serious concerns all over the country. They went down from 80 km/h to 60 km/h on the local routes, which most people accepted, but now we are being told that speed limits on regional routes, which are the main routes into a lot of our constituencies, are going from 100 km/h to 80 km/h and from 80 km/h to 60 km/h. If that is to continue, it will cause widespread damage to our economy and it cannot be allowed to go ahead. There…

I extend my sincere gratitude to the Irish and international workers for their tremendous efforts to date. I am fully aware of the hardships faced by many, especially in the west and parts of the midlands. I happened to be in Whitehall and Castlebrock, Longford, over the weekend and witnessed the extensive damage at first hand, with trees lying across roads and houses with large trees having fallen against them, broadband boxes hanging off poles and wires strewn everywhere. The response from the Government was appa…

We, too, object to the Order of Business. While I accept that the Chief Whip has done everything she can to give us as much time as possible to discuss the storm, it is still a very serious concern out there. The relevant Ministers - the Minister for the environment, the Minister for Health, the Minister for disabilities, the Minister for Education and the Minister for Social Protection and rural affairs - must come before the Dáil to outline exactly what is going to be done. We have 18,000 homes still without powe…

The increased VAT rate on the hospitality sector has left a total of 612 hospitality businesses closed in the past 12 months throughout the country. I acknowledge that in the programme for Government a reduction in the VAT rate is planned for the hospitality sector but for hundreds of cafés, restaurants and hairdressers this will be too little, too late. After much pleading, the Government has accepted that there is a crisis. Will the Government drop the VAT rate from 13.5% to 9% in the upcoming budget? Will this G…

Can it be done immediately?

Like others, a Cheann Comhairle, I thank you for resolving the situation that we have had, which has now been going on for seven days. The very democracy of the Irish Republic was in question here and it had to be resolved before we could go forward. We cannot have the situation that was being put before us. That looks like it is going to be resolved going forward and a settlement was made here today, which I appreciate. We will not be supporting the suspension of the House for two weeks. We have a housing crisis, …

I know. I am almost finished. We have a health crisis, with people on trolleys. We have a cost-of-living crisis and we want to discuss whether the carbon tax can continue in this country if we are not to further crucify people. We have an agricultural crisis where people are not getting their payments and we have a fisheries crisis, where the quotas of fishermen are being taken from them.