The looney tunes.

I am only speaking the facts, Chair.

Primary care centres around the country can allow for step-down care. Why has the Government not used primary care centres more often? Who is stopping the primary care centres from being built and why have we not extended the primary care centres that are there at the moment to ensure we can take the pressure off accident and emergency departments? If somebody wants oxygen or wants to have a drip for a day, why can we not use the primary care centres to do it? That would encourage the GPs to put a structure in plac…

I have here some captions from my Auntie Eileen's day-to-day diary from 1936. One of the captions said that P. had gone to the creamery - P. was my father - that Ned Barry had called with the paper, that she and Kathy were reading the paper and that Ned Barry had gone out to help in the yard. I am very involved in vintage circles. Recently, I was taking stuff out of a loft. There was a horse-drawn machine and other machinery that people used in farming many years ago, including machinery for the drainage of lands. …

As a person who has been in the building trade all his life, since leaving school early at 15, I have built many houses for people. I was glad to have and to create employment building houses. When I look at the record of the Labour Party and hear its members heckling across the floor, saying this, that and the other, I note the same people said in the media that they would build 1 million houses. The same people were told, when some of their spokespersons stood up, they should be in straitjackets. When people ment…

I will talk straight here. Every Government that has come in here, including Labour of old, said it would build. That party had the Minister with responsibility for housing, Deputy Alan Kelly, at one time and built nothing while it was there. They are full of wind. It is like they are going to huff, they are going to puff and they are going to blow your house down. They are going to huff and puff and build you a house. They are full of wind. The media log-on to this the whole time. They say the Social Democrats and…

The Deputy would want to check the media on that, would he not?

There was a media angle in some of the newspapers and Labour's Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin came out with it-----

Look at the media.

I can get you help now.

It goes without saying that the axis of support for persons with disabilities is failing due to a lack of funding and prolonged periods of waiting for appointments. The lack of funding in the budget was one thing, but this proposed amendment causes further insult and takes responsibility away from the Government and its commitment to provide for, protect and care for the most vulnerable people in our society. The upcoming referendum seeks to replace Article 41.2 with Article 42B. At first glance, the new provision …

Hear, hear.

I am an employer myself and have been self-employed for nearly all of my life. I was lucky that a small employer took me on in the building trade when I was 15 years of age. That is when I went out on the buildings. I learned my trade and then I became an employer. I am still in employment and providing employment and I understand how hard it is to be an employer. The problem here is that this Government does not consider small businesses. It does not consider anything apart from international businesses where trad…

If I was running RTÉ, it would be run like a business. RTÉ is funded by this Government and it is a stakeholder in it. It is supposed to be a national television station. All they are doing is selling false information, as Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have been giving to their members for many years. It is all one-sided reporting. They have no respect for the people who work in RTÉ. They are being directed by the Government on what to say and when to say it. This is what is wrong with RTÉ. I have been a supporter of R…

At the outset, I condemn anyone who would burn or damage anyone's property. I condemn anyone who would go out on a violent protest. I do not condemn people who go out and protest peacefully. I refer to people who wish to meet in a community to discuss what is happening in their area because of the lack of information from the Government. One thing the Government and the Departments are guilty of is not letting the local communities know what they are thinking of doing in their areas. The people in the community sho…

First and foremost, I would like to sympathise with Deputy Michael Collins and his family on the death of his nephew and friend - a young man who left this life due to suicide. Friends of mine have died from suicide. Friends' children have died from suicide. Mental health is a big problem in this country. It is a bigger problem if the most vulnerable people, when they go out and ask for help, cannot get help in areas when they need it. A good friend of mine passed away from suicide. I met him two days before he die…

On a light note, I wish you all a happy Valentine's Day. Publicly, I have to say that I apologise to my wife, Kay, that I will not be home this evening, but we will make it up later in the week and might go for a bite of dinner. I am an employer myself. From the point of view of small businesses, we can hit on all the different topics such as the wage increase. All the employers that I met wanted to have the minimum wage increased. Many of them were left with no option but to up their outlooks to make sure they cou…

I, too, welcome the developments in the North and wish Michelle O'Neill and all the parties concerned the best of luck. In a situation such as that in the North in recent times, where things were being run off old policies and there was no real direction, it causes suffering to people because there are no proper services in place. I refer to what has happened to businesses there, with various contracts being pulled due to a lack of funding. Even from looking at auctions and so on, where things were meant to be in t…

I extend my commiserations to the families of anyone who has lost their life on the road. If we want to make laws, we have to use all the information that is given to us, and we must not bury it. Transport Infrastructure Ireland has statistics but the Government did not listen to it. The Government wants to reduce speed limits in areas without using the proper statistics. What it is doing is reducing speed limits. In this country we have what we call black spots where accidents have been reported on certain parts o…

He should deal with where the accidents are and not put a blanket ban everywhere.