Paul Lawless

We are now almost five weeks on from Storm Éowyn and many communities in County Mayo are still without communications. Ballinamore nursing home, for example, is still without a landline. There are many elderly people without a landline and it is causing difficulties around accessing emergency services and accessing pendant alarms, which run off the landline. Many people in Mayo are still without t…

I welcome that the Minister is in the Chamber for this discussion. I welcome the comments made by the Minister of State about the modular developments. It is a positive, practical solution and something that should have happened a very long time ago. I ask the Minister to expedite that. At the moment, according to the Minister's comments 40 sq. m is the maximum size but I think sizes of 60 sq. m, …

The crisis in gender-based violence continues to devastate our society. The number of domestic violence cases rose by 20,000 in the past four years alone. Women and children are bearing the brunt of this crisis, the impact of which is being felt in every constituency across the country, including that of Mayo, which has experienced its highest number of domestic abuse cases in over a decade. The C…

2. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Taoiseach if his Department collates statistics on the number of SMEs that have closed down in County Mayo in the past five years; and if so, to outline the figures that reveal how many SMEs closed in Mayo over each of the past five years. [6361/25]

I thank the Minister of State for the response. I am surprised by the lack of data on insolvencies in recent years. The issues and the crisis facing the SME sector are getting increasingly worse. A Deloitte study recently found that almost 900 insolvencies occurred in 2024, an increase of almost a third on 2023. It predicted that the increase will continue, as will the issues affecting SMEs. The w…

We should also focus on preventative healthcare from the earliest stages, from children upwards. Sport is of critical importance. One in five children stops participating in sport in the transition from primary school to first year. There is another massive drop off in terms of participation in third year among those who are 15 and 16 years of age. It is important that the Minister addresses it. T…

Ballinrobe has paid a very high price for poor Government policy in recent weeks and months. The practice of placing very vulnerable and high-risk individuals in emergency accommodation has been a recipe for disaster. What is happening at the Railway Inn in Ballinrobe has caused major difficulties for the town. Crime is rising in the area. Garda numbers in Mayo are falling. Gardaí are really strug…

----- in the town to cease and end the practice of emergency accommodation in Ballinrobe-----

----- particularly at the Railway Inn.

There is no point in discussing disabilities unless we can address the core issues relating to the disability sector. The core and fundamental issue is recruitment and retention. The CEO of the Disability Federation of Ireland stated that this issue is having a catastrophic impact. The reason that it is having such an impact and that there are so many difficulties is because two thirds of disabili…

I raise the really important issue of forestry, particularly following the recent storm, Storm Éowyn. It caused massive damage right across the west, the north west, the midlands, and it destroyed thousands of hectares of forestry. These farmers planted under Government advice, encouragement and incentives. Indeed, these farmers followed Teagasc advice around what to plant and where to plant. This…

I welcome this motion on housing, particularly in light of what we learned yesterday about County Mayo being the biggest county for derelict properties. Some 14% of the country's derelict properties are in Mayo. It is also the second highest in terms of vacancy, at almost 11%. Yet so little is being done - it is important the Minister hears this - to assist local authority housing staff in turning…

On the development of Dublin, we learned today that the builders of the national children's hospital require an additional €800 million of taxpayers' money. We also learned that there will be a further delay until this time next year. The Department of Health has stated that the delay is due to the fact that it is difficult to bring children from hospital to hospital in the winter. I find it hard …

As recently elected TDs, we have all seen the pressing and urgent situation faced by many families. I have no doubt the Minister knocked on hundreds of doors, just as we did. We were met with challenging situations of parents and families trying to meet the needs of their children while managing work and family life and advocating for basic rights and the needs of their children. What struck me ov…

The cyberattack cost this State €100 million. That is expected to grow by a further €600 million. It has been reported in the Irish Independent today that 500 people are suing the State in respect of breaches relating to the attack. An incredible 32,000 people had their data stolen. Following the attack, an international criminal gang set up 57 bank accounts in the names of HSE and Tusla staff and…

During that time, the national cybersecurity agency had a budget of €5 million. In contrast, the Department of the Taoiseach had a public relations budget of €15 million. What is the total estimated cost of the cyberattack to this State?

Road safety is a really important issue. We must punish reckless and dangerous drivers but the speed limit review is not the solution. It ignores the biggest issues of road safety around enforcement and the fact that the Garda traffic corps has fallen by over 40% since 2009. It ignores dangerous junctions and the lack of right-turning lanes that I have been campaigning on for some years such as th…

I welcome the motion. We in Aontú support the motion on housing. It is important that we seek to hold this Government to account on housing, particularly in light of the former Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and the electioneering and misinformation that went on in respect of housing by the previous Government. In October last year, one month before the election, the Minister said in this House…

The Government has announced a huge St. Patrick's Day delegation to the United States in recent days. The Tánaiste has been outlining the importance of these trips to his Cabinet. They are very important and the Cabinet should undergo an intense level of diplomatic training. In previous years, there were a significant number of mistakes. The former Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, snubbed a high-level ex…

I mean politicians.

What about the "gowl" comment?

It is still difficult to believe we are now almost three weeks into the aftermath of the storm and there are still people across the west who do not have power. While I do accept that the Government cannot control the weather, it can of course control, for example, forestry, protecting the ESB network and the distance between trees and the ESB and NBI network as well. It is of course the responsib…

They were never contacted. They are just some of my ideas. I do not have time to discuss all of them.

We hope the Minister will take them on board.

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on the programme for Government. I am a new, young TD and I am eager to get to work and deliver for my constituency and this great country, but I am very disappointed with the length of time it has taken to produce this programme for Government and form a Government. The Dáil has sat only five of the past 70 days since my election on 29 November. The cult…