I welcome all the MEPs and thank them for the courtesy they showed me the few times I was in Brussels and for what they have done for the Irish fishing industry. It is good to have a group that comes together and facilitates meetings. I will stick to my brief, which is fishing. How can we get more pressure put on the PECH committee, seeing as we do not have any full-time member? Can we come together as a group, with the MEPs' political groups to see whether we can get reform of the Common Fisheries Policy? It is 40…

I thank Seamy McDermott and Vinney Gillespie who are undertaking a cycle from Malin Head to Mizen Head. It is a more than 1,000 km challenge to raise money for the Irish Kidney Association, a cause close to both men’s hearts. I wish them the best of luck and hopefully the good weather stays with them. I turn to a more serious issue that I and Senators across parties have raised here many times. It is givinostat for children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, DMD. I was proud to stand with the people on the Diamond i…

I want to raise the issue of self-employed people when they become sick or unable to work. Over the past few months, I have been contacted by a couple of people in my constituency in County Donegal who have worked all their lives. They are self-employed workers who have worked hard, pay their taxes and PRSI contributions and contributed greatly to the economy and local communities. However, when illness strikes, they feel abandoned by the system. Unlike employees, who may have access to sick pay from their employer…

Everybody is welcome. I want to raise a serious issue around the wheelchair accessible vehicle, WAV, grant system and ask the Minister for Transport whether there are any plans to review or change the qualifying criteria to ensure that those who are genuinely providing regular transport services to wheelchair users are prioritised over others. At present, the system largely operates on a lottery system and it is not working. There are reports of individuals successful in receiving grant approval who have been unabl…

I thank the Minister of State for coming in. I raise the issue of the slow reopening of beds in Killybegs Community Hospital. Since December only two beds have been reopened. At a time when we see our hospitals under such huge pressure, this is very worrying for families and patients in south-west Donegal. I want to state clearly the staff in Killybegs Community Hospital are doing their very best. Nurses, healthcare assistants and all staff are working extra hours and going beyond the call of duty to keep the 22 be…

The Minister of State has responsibility for older people. I totally understand what he is trying to do here. It is great that six beds will be opened in June and July. That is great news for the people in Killybegs Community Hospital. I know the HSE faces staffing challenges. However, we have to target small community hospitals throughout the country, including the one in Killybegs. Hospitals need to have beds reopened. For a small community in south-west Donegal, six beds are great. We need to get all 11 opened. …

I am starting on a sad note today. I offer my condolences to the families and friends of the three people who lost their lives on the roads in Donegal over the weekend. It was heartbreaking for the county during the weekend. My thoughts are with the families affected and with their friends. I also want to recognise national organ donor awareness week and highlight the importance of organ donation. Organ donation saves lives and gives hope to people and families waiting for transplants. It is a truly generous gift t…

I would like to be associated with the calls of my colleagues about the National Ambulance Service. As we know, I am always very vocal in here about that. I thank my colleagues for taking it up and I thank my colleague for taking up International Nurse Day. My late mother-in-law was a nurse for many years and so is my wife. Today, I want to talk about a very serious issue of the availability of givinostat for children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, DMD. I know colleagues have raised it here on numerous occasions…

I thank the Cathaoirleach and Acting Leader. I also wish to be associated with my two colleagues here on the protests. Today is a sad day for Donegal. I woke up this morning to hear the late Moya Brennan, the lead singer of Clannad, had sadly passed away. She had a very special voice and was a lovely person. I only met the lady once but anywhere I went for the past ten years, all I heard was great words about Moya Brennan. She was a great ambassador for Donegal up until the very end. She had a beautiful voice and h…

I raise the issue of funding for the local improvement schemes in Donegal. While I welcome the recent allocation of €1.2 million, the reality on the ground is that the level of funding is far from sufficient to meet demand. The Donegal municipal district, which was my district, currently has between 250 and 300 applications waiting. Many of these date back as far as 2016. This highlights the large scale of the backlog. At present, funding only allows the council to do work on approximately five or six lanes per yea…

I wish to raise an issue about Clogher barracks, which is located near Portnoo in beautiful Donegal. It is a building with history and potential. It was operated as a Garda station but has been closed since 1999. For over two decades this fine structure has stood idle despite clear interest from the local community in bringing it back into meaningful use. Since 12 September 2018, the Narin Portnoo Rosbeg Community Co-operative Society has been actively engaging with the Office of Public Works and An Garda Síochána …

I welcome the proposed subsidy for haulage and bus companies. The rebate back to January is also very welcome. These past two weeks, the staff in my office and I have been inundated with communications from haulage and bus companies in Donegal regarding the fuel crisis. This is the right decision but, once again, marine does not get a look in. Between quota cuts and Brexit, fishing communities have suffered so much through the years. The Government needs to step in and help the industry. At the moment, it is not vi…

I wish to raise an issue concerning Irish Water on behalf of Councillor Michael Boyle and the people living in the Clogher, Leghowney and Copany area in County Donegal. The reservoir there was built in the 1970s to service around 80 houses. There are now 600 houses in the area using the reservoir. Residents often have endless trouble because of low pressure or outages. There have been no upgrades to the reservoir, the plant or the system. People are without water for long periods of time and householders are now us…

I welcome the national maritime security strategy, which will address key risks that threaten Ireland's maritime domain. I understand that the Naval Service is considering a base in the north west. Donegal would be the perfect place for the base. We have ports like Killybegs, Burtonport, Rathmullan and Greencastle. Geographically, we are in the right place for once. Naval ships often use Killybegs and Rathmullan. Naturally, Killybegs would have the greatest potential as one of the deepest ports in Ireland. We have …

I raise concerns today in relation to there being no vascular team in Letterkenny University Hospital. Renal patients from County Donegal have to travel to Galway to get a line in or an AV fistula established prior to commencing dialysis. Additionally, if a patient has complications with their line or fistula, they have to return to Galway to see the vascular team. This causes a lot of stress and travel and is really expensive for renal patients going up and down the road. Can I ask the Minister for Health to look …

In the context of water charges, I wish to raise an issue that has arisen regarding houses in the Killybegs area over the past few days. Most families woke up on Monday morning to find they had no water. They have not had water for two days now. Thankfully, this morning the water came back on. I understand that the outage was due to scheduled cleaning works being carried out at the reservoir. Those works are essential and needed to be done. I thank the crews who worked on the ground for the past two evenings to get…

Today I want to talk about seaweed. I am calling on the Department to exercise thought, close examination and foresight when addressing applications from companies from other countries that set up so as to appear to be from Ireland and then harvest large quantities of wrack along large sections of the west coast of Ireland. Seaweed forests are living infrastructure. They protect the shoreline and homes from coastal erosion, provide necessary grounds for fish and marine species and support biodiversity above and bel…

I wish to raise the issue of the footpath between Carrickart and Downings and seek an update on its progress. It is a lovely and scenic part of Donegal. A lot of visitors visit these two towns. This is a very important piece of infrastructure for the local community. It provides a safe walking route for residents, families, schoolchildren and visitors along a busy, scenic stretch of road. The development of the footpath has been widely welcomed and has already made a meaningful difference to safety and accessibilit…

Today, I bring up the chronic overcrowding levels in the hospitals in the west and north-west area. The Letterkenny hospital accident and emergency department has been operating under sustained and extreme pressure for the last while. According to INMO figures, there are 40 waiting in Letterkenny, 52 waiting in Sligo and 68 waiting in Galway. Looking at the figures in the west and north-west area, they are a lot worse than other areas, which seem to be performing a lot better. I want to find out from the Minister w…

Following the recent news from the Department of justice of the allocation of new members of An Garda Síochána, I am very disappointed to hear that only one has been pledged to County Donegal. Geographically, Donegal is a uniquely demanding, vast rural area with a poor road network. Gardaí are regularly covering huge patrol areas on their own. Response times are extremely long. Backup can take about 30 to 60 minutes to arrive. The night shift runs on minimal cover. Single Garda units attend horrible accidents. This…