Martin Kenny

I want to raise the issue of the storms six weeks ago. Most people in my part of the country were without power for some time, some for a long time, and dozens of people still have no phone line, in particular elderly people living in rural areas. Dorothy, who is in her 80s and living in north Leitrim, has no phone line and had no electricity for three weeks. She has a panic button in case she fal…

I understand that.

I welcome the debate and wish both Ministers all the best in their new portfolios. However, one of the things that is very difficult to listen to from both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael is that they are the parties for homeownership. It is striking because since Fine Gael came into government almost 14 years ago, and was supported by Fianna Fáil over the past number of years, in every subsequent censu…

When I held the transport portfolio, which is about a year and a half ago now, the Minister's predecessor, Deputy Jack Chambers, told me this was all being solved, sorted out and going in the right direction. I remember him standing here and telling us that more driving test instructors were being recruited, more testing centres would be opened and everything was in hand and would be sorted out. T…

These are the issues we need to deal with. They need to be treated with a sense of urgency, rather than continually passing the buck. We are asking for the implementation of a strategic plan to achieve the magic ten-week target for the waiting list. That is what needs to happen. I recognise that the Government is not going to oppose the motion but that is not enough. The Minister needs to act on i…

Many congratulations to the Leas-Cheann Comhairle on his position. I welcome the new Minister to his role also. I worked with the Minister, Deputy Heydon, in the previous Government and I hope to have a good and productive relationship with him in this one, and indeed with the Minister of State, Deputy Grealish. Much of what the Minister has said I cannot disagree with. We have a vibrant economic …

I congratulate the Minister of State on her new role. The opportunity to speak about artificial intelligence is apt at this point in time. At no age in our society has technology had a bigger role, particularly considering social media and the impact that has had on so many people across the globe, particularly across Ireland. It is clear that there is significant power in all of that. The previou…

That is why we must have firm regulation. That is why we have to ensure regulation is in place. Even the heroes of capitalism recognise the difficulty with it and the flaw in it, which is that the most powerful can use it for the negative and for their own benefit. That is why we have to ensure that artificial intelligence is used in a way that will be positive for people. That can only happen if …

I commend Deputy O'Rourke on bringing forward this motion this evening. Like every other Deputy in this House, I have been inundated with people and families who face a terrible situation. They have children who need a special class or accommodation but cannot get it anywhere. Everywhere I go across the whole west of Ireland, Leitrim, Sligo and Donegal, I come across children who are travelling fr…

The Minister will be aware that we have a large volume of forestry in County Leitrim. We probably have the highest amount of forestry in the country per head of population or for the land area. That brought huge devastation when the power lines that go through the forests came down. The main issue we have is that the trees are planted too close to the lines. It is as simple as that. ESB Networks h…

-----that they could not get any power for weeks on end. We cannot see a repeat of this in the future.

I congratulate all of the Ministers on their appointments. We certainly feel there are too many Ministers and we would not like to see the Government's replication of what was there in the past because we have seen many failures in it. As I rise to speak on the programme for Government, it strikes me that, in my part of the world, we have seen everything on which people depend shook to its very c…

When I got up this morning the first thing I had to do was go out and get a five-gallon drum and a drop of petrol to put it in the generator. For the last three days we have had a generator that I borrowed from somebody else when their power came back. The network said the power would be back today but now it is saying that it will be next Sunday before it will be back for the five or six houses a…