I asked for that to be done two and a half years ago and the Government did not do it. Now 87 health professionals have asked for it.

As a farmer, can the Minister imagine a day sitting and watching all his neighbours out working his land and getting paid by a subsidy given to them by the Government? Can he imagine sitting at home, looking out the windows and seeing people farm his land and getting subsidies for it from the Government? This is exactly what is happening to the smaller boat owners sitting in the harbour on Irish waters and looking at France and Spain fishing there, while benefitting from a subsidy. The Minister's Fianna Fáil and Fi…

The Bill seeks to impose a wide range of obligations on network and service providers and mitigate security risks. It is required to bring into law the extension of the powers of ComReg to compensate customers and impose fines on companies that do not keep up their side of a contract. The Bill will give civil enforcement powers to ComReg where there are disputes about utilities and will also give customers protection. If people terminate a contract and change providers, they are often billed twice. There needs to b…

There are 600 people in Ireland on a waiting list for organ donation. In the past, the number of organ donations in Ireland has been relatively low compared with other countries. In 2020, there were a total of 106 organ donors in Ireland, resulting in 318 transplants. The number of organ donors has been increasing in recent years, but the country still has the lowest rate of organ donation compared with other countries. Education is key to success. The person dying must be well enough and sick enough to accept the …

Instead of trying to solve the problems encountered in forestry, the Government has run to the UK. We saw what the UK did to us. I refer to the investment in firms to solve the issues. Coillte, a semi-State company, owns 7% of Irish land. It has already transferred 12,000 ha to private ownership. To put it in context, that is equivalent to 50,000 hurling fields. Where is the circular economy? The Government is giving grants to investors instead of supporting the farmers who will spend 100% of the funding in their l…

No, it tells them to reinvest in forestry. There is a beetle in Germany that is wiping out spruce trees but, like ash dieback, the Government will sit on its hands until that beetle arrives here to wipe out forestry. At that point, it will throw the farmers to the wolves once again. That is its circular economy.

What about 2012?

To look after your mistakes.

Thank God the Deputy did not plant ash.

Why was the Department of Rural and Community Development allocated voted capital and current expenditure funding of only €331 million, which is 0.45% of the overall voted allocation in 2022, at a time when regional and rural infrastructure is creaking at the seams and many rural services are non-existent by comparison with those in urban areas?

According to the Minister's own estimates at the year's end, there was a surplus of €5 billion recorded in 2022. Tax revenue in 2022 stood at €83 billion, which was €15 billion, or 21.5%, ahead of the figure for the same period in the preceding year. This should have a good news story. Why does it not transfer to everyone? Where did the money go? Who has suffered? We have a strong income tax receipt, up to 40% over that of the previous year. Surely, delivering rural infrastructure and critical services across the r…

Why in a year of plenty have our rural towns and villages suffered at the Minister's hands? I have highlighted so many times that there is a need for investment in basic services, such as water and sewerage plants. Let our people have houses and progress the building plan in the areas affected. Builders cannot provide homes where there are no basic services. It is not that hard to understand. Askeaton has been waiting 33 years for a sewerage system to be upgraded. Foynes and Glin are in the same category. In Dromco…

Being a farmer's son and having family still in farming, I am delighted, not before time, to see this Bill finally introduced for debate. It was promised back in 2004 by the then Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Mary Coughlan, who was followed by Ministers Smith, Creed and Coveney. I am sure that if Deputy Cowen had been in office long enough, he would have pursued this, as would the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Dara Calleary, when he was Minister for …

This did not happen today or yesterday. In the period from 2002 to 2005, the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children expressed its total dissatisfaction with the delivery of orthodontic services. It considered the position adopted by the Dental Council of Ireland on the issue of training in orthodontics to be unsustainable. In 2002, concerns were raised that quality orthodontic care was not available through the Irish system. The Dental Council of Ireland controlled the dental schools and these were in co…

The Minister organised a meeting last week at which the Taoiseach and the CEO of the University Hospital Limerick, UHL, group were present along with Deputies and Senators with regard to overcrowding at UHL. The first day I came here, I asked for the help. Two and a half years ago, I brought to the attention of the Dáil - it is on the Dáil record - the structure of UHL. The meeting last week showed that the sitting CEO has been in charge of the UHL group for ten years, during which time it has recorded the highest …

Sorry, Ceann Comhairle. I will listen to you.

I am not.

I am sorry, Ceann Comhairle. I hope you will allow time for me to explain with regard to the comments you made. The hospital has been this way for ten years. Media have been showing it since day 1. "RTÉ Investigates" went in to show it first-hand. Peoples' lives are at risk. Are you telling me that if I were a manager of a company for ten years which got worse and worse, I should not leave my job? You pulled me up even though the evidence is clear, not only from me, but from every other Deputy who has spoke against…

Yes.

The House has asked me before not to identify names which I did not. I went by the Ceann Comhairle's instruction, but I did say, "the CEO".