As someone who has been in construction all my life, I have spent the past five years in the House telling people they cannot build houses without infrastructure. We cannot build houses without having water, sewerage, electricity and an Internet service. The LDA has not built one house in Limerick. It publicly stated it would not invest 15 minutes outside any city. That takes out two thirds of Limerick county. This is what the LDA has set out to do. I was a councillor on Limerick City and County Council. A lot of t…

I wish both the Minister and Minister of State well in their positions. I look forward to working with them. As my colleagues have said, infrastructure is the main issue. I went across the road today to Buswells Hotel to meet Uisce Éireann. I am probably one of Uisce Éireann's biggest critics. I have been in business all my life. I like value for money and I do not believe that company is value for money. The Taoiseach did not want to go into government with us, and that is fine. The Government still has the experi…

A lot of the damage that was done in this storm was due to all the regulations that were put in place and, consequently, caused by the Government. We cannot cut trees. We cannot cut hedgerows. The Government has put a lot of red tape on Departments and local authorities must enforce it. That has caused an awful lot of damage. It resulted in power lines coming down all around this country, which put businesses out of business, left staff at home, and resulted in there being no food on the table and no heating in hou…

We are talking about the storm but in Limerick we had two storms. First we had the storm that led to snowfall. Met Éireann did not put out a red weather warning for Munster for that storm. We had up to three feet of snow in an area stretching from Kerry all the way back down to Limerick, as well as in other parts of Munster. There was no red warning for that storm. The following week, Met Éireann was able to put up a freezing fog warning in Dublin but we had no red warning for Munster. There were people trapped in …

I wish Deputy Martin and his family well on his nomination as Taoiseach. As the general secretary and deputy leader of Independent Ireland, I believe it is now time for people to lead. When Deputy Martin is appointing people to ministerial positions, I remind him of the one thing I have always said to him, which is that they should be spread out throughout the country to represent Ireland as a whole. A lot of the Ministries should be taken out of Dublin so they can reflect areas around the country where infrastruct…

On a point of order.

There is a point of order.

A Cheann Comhairle, there is a massive conflict of interest here. I have done a submission on the conflict of interest for Independent Ireland. The Regional Independents nominated you as Ceann Comhairle. If this was any court in the land, a judge would not be allowed to preside over a family case.

In this case - not taking from the Ceann Comhairle's character - but in the interests of fairness-----

-----and the protection of the Ceann Comhairle, she should step aside and let somebody else deal with this issue. I am not taking from her character.

I congratulate the Ceann Comhairle on her position and Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl on the great work he did in his time in the Chair. I thank everyone in County Limerick who voted for me and entrusted me to serve in the Thirty-fourth Dáil. I thank all the canvassers, all the office staff, all my family and all my friends who entrusted me to represent them in Limerick and the rest of the country. I am a numbers person and looked at the vote result on the election of the Ceann Comhairle. I have been listening to the medi…

I have been in business all my life - over 30 years self-employed. We might look at all the SMEs in this country. We are breaking in my business on Friday. We are back on 6 January. Most businesses around this country are working. What is wrong with this Chamber coming back to work? This is the division between real workers and real business and this Chamber. The Government is afraid to come back to work early. Why not come back on 15 January and get the work done? Everyone else in this country is going to be worki…

If we look around the Public Gallery, we see the next generation of people. We are their carers. The vulnerable people in this country are being penalised for caring for people. They are being penalised. The means test for anyone that is caring for somebody should be abolished. It is caring; that is what they are doing. If we look at the money paid to the people at the very top levels of the public health sector who are paid for caring but who do not care, then we realise how much carers do without any reward. In f…

The first day I came to the Dáil, I was greeted by a good Limerick man who brought me in. His first bit of advice for me was to get lost if I wanted to learn the House. When I asked what he meant he said I should get lost and go into every corridor and room because I would eventually find out where to go. He said I would learn very fast and it was the only way to get experience of the House. I compliment the staff, from the cleaning and canteen staff to the ushers and office staff, on the help they have given me as…

I have been in construction all my life, with over 30 years of experience, and am still in construction on a daily basis. I start work on site at 7 o'clock in the morning because most of the Departments I deal with do not open until 9 a.m. or 9.30 a.m. I get my day's work done in the morning before I come to work at all. That keeps me in tune with inflation, labour and material costs and all of the different sectors of infrastructure. I try to bring my experience to this. In 2021, a 1,700 sq. ft house cost €231,540…

I thank the Ceann Comhairle as I have probably given him a couple of hairy moments throughout the five years of my first term. Please God I will be returned again. As the Minister said, it will be up to the electorate. We are all here to represent the people who elected us. All I can do is wish everyone health going forward, both those people who are to return and those who are retiring. I wish them health in their retirement. I also thank the staff in all the offices across Leinster House and all the different Hou…

Michael Collins was born close to Clonakilty.

No. Where Fine Gael was born was close to Clonakilty. He was born to the son of a farmer. Since it has come into government, for decades, Fine Gael has done nothing but close down farms around this country. We then go to Eamon de Valera, who was born in New York and raised in Bruree, County Limerick, and was for Fianna Fáil. Again, we look across the Governments over decades slowly taking out the people around the country. At one time, Fine Gael was seen as the farmers’ party, which it is no more, and Fianna Fáil w…

The reason I got into politics - I have been a building contractor all my life and I am a block layer by trade - is that I want to help build for the future. I want to use my experience. I do not build for local authorities. I have always had our own jobs to do. For 40 or 50 years, we have been promised infrastructure. The Minister of State, Deputy Niall Collins, who is sitting behind the Taoiseach, made promises in respect of Askeaton but the Government never delivered it. For 40 years, a Fine Gael councillor look…

The junior and now the senior since the Taoiseach stepped down. Only for that, there would-----