The roads in west Cork are in an appalling state. As we head into June, I have people from Castletownbere, Skibbereen, Clonakilty, Bandon and Schull telling me that they have had serious damage done to their cars due to shocking roads. Almost three years ago, Cork County Council carried out an independent report, by the All-Ireland Research Observatory, AIRO. It proved the shocking lack of funds being allocated for years to Cork County Council by successive Governments. The report states it would take 52 years and …

I beg the Ceann Comhairle's indulgence for a couple of seconds, as I wish to pass on my condolences to Ms Vera Twomey and her family on the death of her daughter, Ava, over the weekend. Vera fought a brave battle for her daughter. Many of us fought that battle with her. She put her blood, sweat and tears into fighting for her daughter's life. Sadly, Ava has passed away. I have stayed good friends with Vera. I was talking to her only two weeks ago. She was in a desperate fight again for her daughter's life at Cork U…

Disability services for adults and children are severely lacking across the entire country, nowhere more so than in rural communities in my constituency of Cork West. A lack of psychological, occupational therapy, OT, speech and language, home support, respite and residential care services are some of the problems faced by my constituents year in, year out. The occupational therapist in the Bantry area only works three days a week and her enormous workload allows her to see only the most urgent cases, known as prio…

No disrespect to the Minister of State, but I would like to think that the Minister, Deputy Ryan, would stay for a full debate in the Dáil. It is sad that every time he comes in he opens the debate, listens to the main parties and legs it before the real facts come before him. He does not like real facts. That is disappointing. I would appreciate if the Minister of State would pass on the message to him that it is important to listen to both sides of an argument. I am not against offshore wind energy but have conce…

Like you always do.

I believe Ireland has been a decent and welcoming country for many years and has given kindly to the people across the world, no better than any place in the world. Personally, I believe we have opened the gates here too far and have taken the hinges off the gates and doors in this country. We have situations where people are sleeping rough. We have been saying for the last number of months in this Dáil that maybe we should have controlled the numbers coming into our country in order that we can look after those wh…

I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this motion. Waiting lists are scandalous. It is scandalous that people are suffering as a result of waiting lists. I have a double amputee in a hospital in west Cork who cannot go home because they cannot get home help, so it is in every area of health that the Government has failed the people. The previous Government collapsed on the basis of the health crisis. Look at areas where patients are waiting to get community hospital beds. I heard the Minister last weekend on about…

This is an important motion, which I fully support. Down through the years we have fought bravely to keep services in Bantry General Hospital which looks after the people of Cork South-West and south Kerry and does so excellently. I pay tribute to the hospital staff. However, we are fighting to keep services there. We are fighting every day of the week to have endoscopy and stroke units built. As I have stated in the Dáil time and again, if a block was laid for each time a Government Deputy told the House that an e…

We have a serious health crisis in this country, with more than 1 million people on waiting lists for medical procedures. This, coupled with housing, has to be our biggest challenge, but like housing, this and previous Governments have failed miserably to challenge the crisis with any meaningful success. I was first elected to Dáil Éireann in 2016 and it soon became apparent that we had a health crisis no one was tackling, with people going blind for the want a cataract operation; people in dire pain in need of a h…

The Minister said I was taking a cheap shot. I am not taking a cheap shot at anybody. I am standing for the people who are suffering in this country. I am standing for the staff who had been neglected by the Government, at the very top, and have been overstretched in their hospitals. How can the Minister stand here and praise a system that leaves a double amputee in a hospital, unable to go home because of not being able to find home help? How can he stand over the HSE which announces, year in and year out, that it…

What was wrong?

A total of 1 million people.

That was last year.

It is now a major emerging issue that the added presence of biological males in women's prisons, for example, can lead to an increased risk of sexual violence against women. Transgender women who have not undergone sex reassignment surgery or hormone therapy still have male genitalia and may pose a threat to female inmates in prisons. This can be a serious concern for the safety of female prisoners, who may be vulnerable to sexual assault or harassment. Similarly, in women's changing rooms, bathrooms and other spac…

Almost 60 school building projects are on hold due to funding issues. One of the schools affected is Coomhola national school, Bantry, west Cork. The Minister might be able to outline when work will commence on the school's new classrooms.

I thank the Minister for her reply. In 2020, the school in Coomhola, which is north of Bantry in west Cork, was approved for the building of a new classroom to replace two Portakabins, which are very unsuitable for long-term use as classrooms. As we know, Portakabins are cold and very damp in winter and too hot during warm weather. In August 2022, I wrote the Department on behalf of the school. The representation was acknowledged on 10 August by the Minister's private secretary but no work has commenced since then.…

I thank the Minister for her reply. The extension for these two rooms was approved in 2020; it is now 2023. We are three years on and the Minister cannot tell me today when a sod will be turned on the project. She cannot tell me today that in the first week of September or late August when the children go back to the school it will have these two new classrooms in place. We will probably be looking at a four-year wait. I would like a date for this. The children and parents of Coomhola, the school and the board of m…

Planning laws in rural areas are put together to make sure people are refused planning. That is the situation I find for many of my constituents in Cork South-West. Young couples starting off are being refused planning all over west Cork and other areas. Scenic landscape is thrown in as one of the excuses. Someone says, "Oh, you are coming out onto the N71 even though there are five houses on the same road in Rosscarbery". I can name them one after the other. Barryroe is one. I can name places in respect of which i…

It is still standing, thank God. Many a gale has come up over Mizen Head and, by jeepers, it struck us, but it did not knock the house. I tell the Minister a person cannot build a house today. A young person or couple are stifled by costs. About €100,000 is added to the build before it can even get off the ground. A first-time buyer's grant would alleviate some of this financial burden and make it more feasible for young people to realise their dream of building their own homes. In addition, by incentivising young …

I built my own house.