Michael Murphy

I thank the Minister of State. For transparency, I put on record I am a peace commissioner and a commissioner for oaths. I think we have approximately 4,500 peace commissioners appointed nationwide. As the Minister of State said, they carry out vital functions on a voluntary basis, including witnessing signatures, verifying documents and assisting citizens who may otherwise have limited access to …

I thank the Minister of State. This is a practical and sensible solution. It would provide reassurance not only to peace commissioners but also to members of the public engaging with them. A member of An Garda Síochána can produce an official warrant card yet a peace commissioner, despite exercising a very important statutory function, has nothing comparable to confirm their position. I accept wh…

I welcome the publication of the National Safety Camera Strategy. I do so not only as a TD but also as Chair of the Joint Committee on Transport, for which, as the Minister of State will be aware, road safety has become one of the most urgent and consistent issues for discussion. As the Minister of State will be aware, in recent months the committee has undertaken a focused programme of work in th…

I welcome recent comments in this Chamber by the Taoiseach in which he acknowledged that the abolition of town councils was a huge mistake. My home town of Clonmel was one of five former boroughs established by royal charter in 1608. It was self-governing for more than 400 years and that 400 years of history was wiped out by pen in 2014. I am conscious of the consequences for those representing a …

I am raising this Topical Issue again because children across south Tipperary are being left without access to critical basic community ophthalmology services due to repeated recruitment failures following the planned retirement of the previous consultant, Dr. Hillery, in August 2024. This is not a new issue. It has now escalated into a full-blown failure of ophthalmology service delivery across s…

I thank the Minister of State for her reply. It is very unfortunate. What I find most frustrating is that Dr. Hillery's retirement was a planned retirement. The recruitment processes that we have been going through for the past 15 months should have commenced before Dr. Hillery's planned retirement. I am a small bit alarmed about what was not mentioned in the reply, namely, the HSE's engagement w…

128. Deputy Michael Murphy asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment the current position regarding the IDA-owned lands at Ballingarrane in south Tipperary, including the extent to which IDA Ireland is actively promoting the site following the recent grant of planning permission for an advance building; the marketing and investor engagement strategy now being pursued, including int…

Will the Minister give an update on the IDA-owned lands at Ballingarrane industrial estate in Clonmel and the extent to which the IDA is actively promoting the site, particularly following the recent granting of planning permission for a 100,000 sq. ft advanced building solution?

It is positive to see that foreign investment is now at record levels. There have been 323 investments in the past 12 months that will realise more than 15,000 jobs. Unfortunately, none of those investments are at Ballingarrane industrial estate. As the Minister said, this is a fully-serviced, strategically located land bank of more than 50 acres. It is in IDA ownership for more than 25 years. We…

I thank the Minister. It was remiss if me not to acknowledge his own visit to the site at Ballingarrane. This site has been in IDA ownership for a very long time. The people I represent want to see tangible results, zoned and fully serviced lands, planning permission secured and a clear opportunity to deliver a flagship facility. I appeal to the Minister personally to keep the pressure on the IDA.…

133. Deputy Michael Murphy asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment his assessment of the recent escalation in retail crime, including theft, organised shoplifting and related antisocial behaviour; the impact this is having on small and family-run retailers, particularly in terms of financial loss, increased operating costs and staff safety concerns; the specific measures, support…

The reality on the ground is stark. Retail crime is no longer sporadic; it is systematic. We are seeing organised shoplifting, repeat offenders and a growing sense among retailers that there is little deterrence and few consequences. For small and family-run businesses, retail crime leads to lost income, rising insurance and security costs, and in many cases fear among staff going to work. I hear …

We need to do everything we can to support our retailers. They are the real heroes at the local level due to the extent to which they hire locally, spend locally and invest locally. Those same retailers tell me that the offenders are well known. Incidents are frequent and brazen and the system is simply not responding at the pace required. We cannot let the situation continue whereby honest busine…

239. Deputy Michael Murphy asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance the work being carried out by his Department to ensure that citizens have access to robust and detailed financial analysis regarding the implications of a potential united Ireland, including disparities in taxation, public spending and fiscal transfers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24950/26]

For me, it is really about ensuring that citizens are properly informed. Any decision must be grounded in credible, transparent and accessible financial analysis. I know various independent academic studies are being carried out and some already exist but I do not think there is any single authoritative, State-led body of work. There are a number of areas where clarity is essential, including taxa…

It is important to acknowledge that a lot of analysis has already been done and is likely to be done but it is fragmented and very technical. It comes back to that overarching point I am making, which is that it is not easily understood by the general public. It is so important that information is collated in a way that is coherent and user-friendly and uses easy-to-understand language. Should we …

As if the crisis that exists in the provision of ophthalmology services across the south-east was not enough, we have an even greater crisis in the provision of orthodontic treatment for children across the region. I can only describe the state of orthodontic services in County Tipperary, in particular, as deeply worrying and shocking following new information that I received from the HSE. Figures…

I thank the Minister of State for the reply, but there was nothing in it to give any comfort whatsoever to those children on the waiting list across the south-east, and in particular south Tipperary. I am thinking of those children who have been waiting for up to 82 months for a critical intervention. The solution is not complicated. It is about filling those posts that have been vacant since 2021…

In my role as Chair of the Oireachtas Committee on Transport, I again want to highlight the crisis we now have on Irish roads. Already this year, 37 lives have been lost, which is up on the previous year. Most experts agree that the biggest cause of fatalities on Irish roads is driver behaviour, and what shapes driver behaviour more than anything else is enforcement on our roads. I, like many more…

I welcome students from my alma mater, CBS High School Clonmel, their teacher Claire Bell and SNA Michael Power. The expansion of Scoil Aonghusa special school in Cashel has been a key priority of mine since I was first elected. I thank the Tánaiste and the previous Minister for education, Deputy McEntee, for their support. This centre of educational excellence caters for the complex needs of 150…

In my role as Chair of the Committee on Transport, I again want to highlight the road safety crisis on Irish roads. Already this year, 28 precious lives have been lost and 190 lives were lost last year. Of course, behind every one of those statistics are a family and community devastated. I believe this to be a profound failure of our road safety strategy. I do not think the issues can be addresse…

I want to speak on behalf of the small businesses that are the backbone of our local economies. They are the real heroes at local level in light of the extent to which they invest local, spend local and hire local. These businesses are under huge pressure as a result of increased costs, something that is acknowledged on page 15 of the programme for Government. The programme for Government contains…

I begin by acknowledging the scale of the Government's investment in special education. This year, over €3 billion is being invested in special educational supports. We will have nearly 25,000 SNAs in our schools in September - an additional 1,700 this year alone. The number of SNAs has increased by approximately 45% since 2020 and by 47% in my constituency of Tipperary. We cannot say that this is…

I raise this Topical Issue because children across south Tipperary, and children across the south east, are being left without access to basic community ophthalmology services due to repeated recruitment failure following the planned retirement of the previous consultant, Dr. Hillery, in August 2024. This is not a new issue. I have raised it repeatedly throughout 2025, in February, April, July, Oc…

I thank the Minister of State. I welcome confirmation that there has been concrete interest and that a number of applicants have applied after the most recent recruitment drive. It is important that a permanent consultant ophthalmologist is in place at the earliest opportunity. I also support additional contingency measures and the scoping exercise referred to by the Minister of State, linking in …