Yesterday, residents of Mogeely, Castlemartyr, Killeagh and Rathcormac presented to the Oireachtas petitions committee on the infuriating lack of progress on flood relief for their villages. When I raised their situation with the Taoiseach in late October, he responded in an almost disdainful tone, as if I was asking a naive question. He said: "The Midleton flood relief scheme is a complicated scheme. The Deputy must be aware [of this]." I was not talking about the Midleton flood relief scheme. I am fully aware of …

It might be good to revisit.

When will there be action?

I commend People Before Profit on its motion. The obstruction of the occupied territories Bill for the past six years since it was passed by a majority of TDs has shown up the utter hypocrisy of the Government when it speaks of the rule of international law, of the sanctity of human rights and of the importance of protecting our democracy from interference by nefarious regimes such as Russia. There was a cynical show of support for the Bill to win votes in advance of the general election last year followed by the r…

I know the Taoiseach will reject the claim that rural Ireland is being left behind by his Government but many residents of the village of Ballyhooly in my constituency beg to differ. They have good reason to. The very basic need for a consistent supply of water to drink, bathe in or use in appliances such as dishwashers and showers has been denied to them for many years. Residents in Ballyhooly have to deal with extremely low water pressure alternating with a non-existent supply of water for prolonged periods. This…

In recent times we have seen an alarming escalation in racist violence against immigrants and minority communities both North and South of this island. According to An Garda Síochána statistics, race crimes and related incidents rose by 24% between 2021 and 2024. There were similar increases in such crimes in the North between July 2024 and June of this year. Amnesty International has described this period in the North as "a year of hate and fear". There is a striking similarity of experiences of minorities both No…

The crisis in primary care services for young people was back in the news again this week. It took persistent follow-up to parliamentary questions from me earlier this year to reveal its scale. The fact is that children throughout the country were routinely waiting several and sometimes many years, not just for psychology but for occupational therapy, speech and language therapy and physiotherapy. The longest wait in Dublin North-West for psychology has reduced from 13.5 years to ten years in recent months. It is a…

Not in these services.

No.

The Taoiseach is not-----

Not in primary care.

In recent weeks, some of the responses from the Government to the challenges in the international protection system include: offering families €10,000 to withdraw their asylum applications, thereby implying that they are a nuisance to be got rid of with cash; announcing plans to charge asylum seekers for what, in many cases, is substandard accommodation directly after an attack on an IPAS centre in Drogheda, a measure which is estimated to cost more to implement than any revenue it will generate; congratulating Ind…

The Taoiseach praised Michael Fitzmaurice for the manner in which he-----

Okay, but the Taoiseach praised him.

Mick Clifford wrote an article about it.

Does the Taoiseach think it was right to praise Michael Fitzmaurice?

The plight of ageing parents of adult children with intellectual disabilities is an area of abject neglect on the part of the Government. Many of these parents are being deprived of peace of mind in their later years because they remain the primary carers of their children. They are less physically able to carry out this role as time goes on. They are living with a constant background worry of not knowing where their children will live after they die and how their need for belonging and community will be met. The G…

Four survivors of our hellish industrial school system remain on hunger strike outside Leinster House in an effort to obtain very modest financial and medical assistance for a cohort of about 4,500 people who have been profoundly harmed and neglected by the State. They have been left without written confirmation of what was agreed in a meeting with the Taoiseach and the Minister, Deputy McEntee, last week. I understand a meeting with an intermediary has been postponed until tomorrow. Meanwhile, they are into the 45…

I thank the Minister of State for her attendance. I would like to use my time today to highlight the particular and very serious mental health challenges experienced by Traveller men. While the data on mental health outcomes for the Travelling community is in urgent need of updating, we know from the comprehensive All-Ireland Traveller Health Study of 2010 that, at that stage, Traveller men were at much higher risk of death by suicide than probably any other cohort of people in our society. The study showed that su…

Last Saturday marked the second anniversary of Storm Babet. I attended a demonstration in Midleton to highlight the lack of progress in flood relief measures since that catastrophic event. I can see very clearly that individual staff in Cork County Council, the OPW and Arup are working very carefully and with great commitment in their efforts with flood relief but how can it be justified or even explained that so many residents and business owners in Midleton, Mogeely, Castlemartyr, Killeagh, Rathcormac, Ladysbridg…