I will, and I genuinely thank the Minister of State for his compassion, but the reason I am saying this and bringing this true story to the House is that this is replicated in many other cases right around the county. This woman has water but may as well have none because she would be ten times better off going outside her back door or her front door, bringing in gallons of water and putting it into the attic in the first place in order that she can have a functioning shower. Going back to a lot of the commentary a…

It would be pleasant if President Trump came along next week and said that this was an April fools' joke, but I doubt that will happen. There has been lots of commentary over the past couple of days about the impact this will have on our multinational corporations. However, I want to speak a little about the SMEs that make up 99.8% of our Irish businesses and employ more than two thirds of the workforce, which is an interesting statistic. Galway East is, thankfully, home to a thriving network of SMEs, for example, …

As an east Galway representative, I will speak not just about diverting young people from criminal activity, but about something deeper, that is, how we give young people a life to choose so that they do not fall into crime in the first instance. When we talk about prevention, we must talk about access to services, safe spaces and support systems. Young people need somewhere to go, something to do and someone to listen. Most young people need to be understood. A simple sports club, a youth café, a creative project …

I am not going to take from the Minister's woes. There has been a lot of debate with regard to housing and the need for it within our country. Obviously, as some contributors have already indicated, housing supply and wastewater infrastructure go hand in hand. It has to be said that the lack of investment in wastewater treatment infrastructure is one of the greatest roadblocks in many ways in the supply of housing, particularly across the rural parts of the country. I will be parochial because I represent Galway Ea…

In his absence, I wish the Minister for Justice well in his role. The issue I wished to raise with the Minister concerns gardaí seeking transfers, particularly the case of a young garda based in Dublin city from my neck of the woods, Abbeyknockmoy, just outside Tuam, She is a married woman with a mortgage on a new property she and her husband built in the last few years. They are blessed with a young child of a couple of months and the plan is for her to return to work. She has been pleading since 2021 for a transf…

I echo the sentiments of my colleagues in wishing the Minister and Minister of State well in their new jobs. The story I want to relate was told on Galway Bay FM last Friday by Professor John Carey, a consultant in rheumatology in Galway county. He shared a very poignant and difficult story about a young mum in her 30s with a young child of 18 months. She had a severe arthritic condition called enteropathic arthritis. That debilitating condition has completely wrecked her life. Before the illness she was a vibrant …

This is my first opportunity to speak in the House. I want to comment on a tragic event that happened in my community over the past few days where we lost our icon, the great Galway hurler Michael Coleman. I convey my sympathies to his wife, Mary, his son, Dara, and his daughter, Sinéad, and the wider Coleman family. They have given so much to Galway and to hurling. If you drive around east Galway, you will see that many farm buildings have been devastated. Some of these are quite historic and are included in the l…