Willie O'Dea

In Limerick, women who need maternity services have long enjoyed an excellent system. It is called a midwife-led series of community clinics. Effectively, what it means is that a woman will deal with the same midwife during the entire course of her pregnancy. In the past 48 hours, without any notice to anybody, the HSE has pre-emptively decided to terminate that service, allegedly because of a sho…

144. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment the way in which his Department is supporting businesses to adopt artificial intelligence into their day-to-day work; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45350/26]

146. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance the way in which he is supporting the expansion of the credit union sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39633/26]

While we welcome the fact that the Minister for Health has been quite proactive in following up the accident and emergency difficulties in the mid-west following the HIQA report, I nevertheless want to draw attention to the report and the statement from the medical board of University Hospital Limerick, UHL, yesterday, which pointed out that patient safety was still a huge concern. As a matter of …

I am referring to the report yesterday from the medical board.

123. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Minister for Health the targets in place for inpatient waiting times in 2026; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28345/26]

136. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Minister for Health the targets in place for outpatient waiting times in 2026; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28346/26]

12. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation if he will report on the new infrastructure regulatory simplification unit in his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27467/26]

15. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation the action he is taking to overcome the key barriers to infrastructure delivery; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27468/26]

80. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade for a report on the recent meeting with the Polish Secretary of State for European Affairs. [22515/26]

Recently the courts exonerated a number of gardaí from the mid-west region. They had been subjected to a seven-year investigation for being involved in practices that were commonplace in every single Garda district from one end of this country to the other. They were they only people who were prosecuted. During the course of that seven-year investigation, the gardaí were suspended, interrogated, v…

90. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the engagement Ireland has had with Belarus; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8284/26]

Twenty years have elapsed since the financial criteria for qualification for civil legal aid were last set. It was in 2006. It is estimated that someone who purchased goods or services in 2006 with €100 would have to pay €250 to €300 today, which means that two of every three people this State judged eligible for legal aid because of their financial circumstances would no longer qualify. I have be…

I welcome the acceptance by the Government of the Minister for Health's proposals relating to hospital facilities in the mid-west. These proposals were based on the HIQA report, which stressed patient safety. It said patient safety was central to its proposals, which means time is of the essence in implementing these proposals. We are all concerned about patients. I pay tribute to the staff, who h…

Will the Taoiseach comment on the ambulance service in the area? Two private hospitals were built in Limerick after the last 96-bed block was commissioned. They were built in two or two and a half years. It took six years, from start to finish, to build the 96-bed unit. It is projected it will take another six years to build the next one. The Minister, Deputy Chambers, has proposals to move on an…

98. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Minister for Defence when the rank of lance corporal will be introduced in the Army; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [71653/25]

80. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number of Garda recruits that have entered Templemore in 2025; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [68340/25]

6. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the key measures to increase social housing availability under Delivering Homes, Building Communities 2025-2030; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [65487/25]

There has been much commentary about Government plans being stymied by bureaucratic inertia and delay. I will give a textbook example. After years of effort, we finally persuaded An Garda Síochána of the necessity for a new Garda station to serve the Castletroy–Monaleen–Annacotty area, a rapidly growing suburb of Limerick city. The Government accepted this, and I have been informed that capital fu…

Subsequent to the election, the Government produced a very ambitious programme for Government, which made many commitments to improve the lot of people in this country. Of course, the extent to which the Government can meet its commitments is contingent on a successful economy, and that should be obvious to everybody on all sides of this House. The Government decided to strengthen the economy and …

In the programme for Government, the Government has committed itself to improving the situation in relation to income tax, disability, education, justice, etc. In order to bring about that improvement, it has committed to do these things over a five-year period. It was quite wrong for the speaker who has just left to say that the Government broke its promise in not getting rid of carer's allowance…

During the week, the HIQA report on the inadequate accident and emergency services at University Hospital Limerick was published after HIQA had considered the matter for 16 months - it took 16 months to produce the report. The report told us what we had already been telling the Government for several years. It refers to a significant inpatient bed deficit in University Hospital Limerick and a grow…

Like everybody else, I welcome the efforts to bring peace to the Middle East. I hope the present peace agreement takes hold. I am very disturbed by reports that the Israeli Prime Minister has unilaterally sought to change certain fundamental aspects of that agreement. If so, he is acting in very bad faith. The Israelis say they have achieved their war aims but I am not entirely sure what their wa…

94. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Minister for Social Protection his plans to reform the disability allowance payment and remove anomalies in the current means test for the payment. [50675/25]

I apologise, as I have a frog in my throat. I come here today to bring something to the Minister's attention and, more importantly, to the attention of workers who have not yet been signed up to a company pension scheme. It has come to my attention that there are a number of brokers and pension providers who are approaching companies, particularly small ones, to advise them that they can avoid the…