Mattie McGrath

I will be as brief as I can. This is a huge issue. I welcome the statements but the numbers are being manicured and we are just not getting them. We want to keep Templemore because it is a wonderful centre. In south Tipperary, Carrick-on-Suir has three gardaí and two sergeants, but it used to have 14 gardaí. The Clonmel Garda district covers Carrick-on-Suir, Mullinahone, Kilsheelan, Cashel, Cahir …

I, too, will quote Pádraig Pearse. As he said, a nation without its language is not a nation at all. Dhein mé mo dhícheall i gcónaí chun cúpla focal a úsáid. Ní raibh aon Bhéarla ag mo sheanmháthair. Bhí breac-Ghaeltacht sa Chaisleán Nua, mo bhaile, until 1957. Thosaíomar ranganna Gaeilge agus bunaíodh Gaelscoil Charraig na Siúire 20 bliain ó shin. Ní sé san áit céanna anois ach tá naíonra ann. Is…

I thank the Minister for his engagement on this, including with Councillor Máirín McGrath and me, and with Deputy Murphy from Tipperary South. This project has got so far. It is small money in the overall context to keep it alive and to have it progressed from the stage it is at now. This very important route goes from Waterford to Rosslare right up to Foynes, including all the towns and villages …

105. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Transport for an update on the Tipperary town bypass; if the bypass can be fast-tracked; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8898/25]

Ar an gcéad dul síos, déanaim comhghairdeas leis an Aire, an Teachta O’Brien, agus an Aire Stáit, an Teachta Canney. Gabhaim buíochas leo as labhairt liom faoi bhóithre Thiobraid Árann. I ask both of them, but particularly the Minister, for an update on the Tipperary town bypass. Can it be fast-tracked because people have literally been waiting for it for decades? We were a long way down the road …

I thank the Minister for his very in-depth reply. It is a long way to Tipperary and I hope one of his first visits will be to Tipperary town to note the anguish, trauma, noise and pollution that are experienced daily owing to hundreds of trucks travelling bumper to bumper. The people of Tipperary town are wonderful. Some years ago, 5,000 of them took to the streets with March4Tipp, along with Jobs…

Tá spiorad iontach ag na daoine in Tipperary, daoine óga agus daoine aosta. It is a wonderful town with wonderful people. It has got many knocks over the years but there are many community and voluntary associations in the town. I could name them. They include Knockanrawley Resource Centre, the Canon Hayes Recreation Centre and the MooreHaven Centre. There are also sporting clubs, which is huge. A…

After Storm Éowyn and recent snow storms, bushes and trees are overhanging roads everywhere and wires have collapsed down on top of ditches. The Association of Farm and Forestry Contractors in Ireland, FCI, has asked me - as have many other people because it is common sense - to extend the hedge-cutting season for at least a month in view of the ferocious damage that has been done by overhanging w…

That concludes statements on the third anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

I welcome the Minister to the House.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Sláinte. I wish her well with all of that. Bogaimid ar aghaidh anois leis an gcéad cainteoir ó Pháirtí Shinn Féin. Tá seacht nóiméad ag an Teachta David Cullinane.

Tá an t-am caite.

Go raibh maith agat.

Go raibh maith agat.

Tá an t-am caite.

Go raibh maith agat, a Theachta.

I heard the Minister's speech when I was in the Chair. I congratulate the Minister and Minister of State on their new roles. I wish them well. She outlined the massive increase in funding from €14 billion to almost €26 billion. I have a personal story to relate and the heading of tonight's debate is appropriate. It hurts me. My lifelong friend who is 90 years of age, celebrated two weeks ago, was…

I congratulate the three Ministers and wish them well. Disability services in south Tipperary are quite simply non-existent and not fit for purpose. The CDNT teams, despite the efforts of the therapists working in them, are simply not fit for purpose with huge vacancies and even longer waiting lists. Children are crying out for autism assessments, psychology services and speech and language and oc…

122. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the efforts being made to urgently address the crisis within the childcare system, with many childcare facilities unable to attract and retain staff; whether childcare facilities struggling to retain staff and at risk of closure can receive additional funding to improve the staff pay and conditi…

Ar an gcéad dul síos, I congratulate the Leas-Cheann Comhairle on his elevation to office and I wish him well. I also wish an dá Aire well in their new roles. I really want to ask the Minister the steps she is taking to deal with the lack of disability services in south Tipperary, the number of vacancies in CDNTs 4 and 5, the number of children waiting for occupational and speech therapy and psych…

I apologise. I had two questions. I will introduce the first one again. The question is on childcare. Naíonra Chaisleáin Nua was set up fadó fadó and we have a huge problem retaining staff. The whole early years sector is bursting at the seams with children but staff are moving on. Progression is a good thing but we cannot get replacements. It is a huge issue the Ministers might address.

Certainly, we need the voluntary sector here. Naíonra Chaisleáin Nua is a voluntary crèche. I salute the current board there, who work tirelessly, and Helen Nic Craith, who set it up. It was her dream. We need to support those people because these are voluntary boards. We should not remove them or stifle them with bureaucracy. It is the same with the section 39 workers. It is fine for the Minister…

It sounds great. As Gaeilge, it would probably even sound better. I salute the staff, management and teams that are there. However, the regulations are huge. For the baby room and the early years, the staff ratios are huge. In national school, you can have one teacher to 32 children. It is not a level playing field. I acknowledge there is unprecedented funding. It is trickling down to the likes o…

I welcome this legislation, including amendments Nos. 6 and 7, because it is long overdue. It relates to many families going back to the Whiddy Island disaster in Bantry Bay all those years ago. I came across a case in Tipperary about which I have spoken previously. I have raised it with several Ministers. It was bizarre that we had a Marine Casualty Investigation Board populated by people with no…

Tipperary now has 1,926 learner drivers waiting on a test. We have only one tester in Clonmel. Last week, that tester was out on badly overdue leave, which is fair enough, but the situation regarding tests in Clonmel is pathetic. The former Taoiseach, Deputy Harris, told me last year that the wait was ten weeks but it is now 28 weeks in Clonmel. This is not acceptable. People cannot get to their j…