Pádraig Mac Lochlainn

I congratulate the Leas-Cheann Comhairle on his election. I know the Minister's colleague, the soon-to-be Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, will be assuming responsibilities next week in respect of fisheries and the marine. I would like the Minister to note what I have to say and I will speak to the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, about this next week face to face. The scale of the crisis in ou…

It has been a long, sorry journey to get to this point. It is such a pity this is a missed opportunity in many respects. The eminent maritime safety expert, Michael Kingston, has come before the Oireachtas committees, as well as other experts, and they have given their analysis and views. It appears that not much has been taken on board. In the case of Michael Kingston, as mentioned by my colleagu…

I want to revisit the Clinch report. My clear understanding is that this report has not been published and is not available. If it has been published in full, perhaps it could be emailed to the Deputies who are here at the moment - myself and Deputies Pa Daly and Michael Collins - but I am not aware of it being published. Regarding excerpts, we are talking about the report. The Oireachtas committe…

A Cheann Comhairle, is the Taoiseach not going to withdraw what he said?

For God's sake, Michael Lowry is in the Opposition and now the Taoiseach did not say Deputy McDonald lied.

For God's sake, he is demeaning his office at this stage.

He is demeaning his office at this stage. He is demeaning his office.

Just withdraw it. Do the honourable thing and withdraw the comment.

The Taoiseach knows what he should have done.

Ag insint bréag arís. This is like Alice in Wonderland again. Michael Lowry is in the Opposition and "ag insint bréag arís" apparently does not actually mean "You are lying again" now. We have this continual demeaning of the Ceann Comhairle's office. We have repeatedly requested statements from the leader of Fine Gael. Fine Gael Ministers demanded accountability of leaders in this Dáil in the last…

Is that what you called for last year? Was that your position last year?

One of your Ministers posted-----

-----a letter demanding statements. No accountability.

He has not followed through with a policy document.

Yes, he is doing his job. What is your point?

He did.

The double standards.

How is that relevant?

He is accountable to-----

The double standards. The accountability is something else to behold.

The Deputy is fairly capable of it himself. He was one of the leaders of heckling in the previous Dáil, but go ahead.

The Taoiseach was asked a question by Deputy Keogh from Mayo, one of the counties affected by defective concrete blocks. I received a reply to a parliamentary recently from the Minister for housing, which confirms that under the pyrite remediation scheme, almost 3,000 families in Dublin and north Leinster received 100% redress under a State-run scheme, and absolutely rightly so. Why are families a…

Is it fair though? Is everybody treated fairly?

I received a response to a parliamentary question today. I probably knew the answer, but it does not make for good reading. I asked for the number of families in Dublin and north Leinster who have availed of the pyrite remediation scheme to date. The answer is that almost 3,000 families have availed of the scheme. I asked what contribution they had to make to that scheme, and the answer was none. …

Hear, hear.