Richard O'Donoghue

What about the overspend, Minister?

It is a waste of money.

Recently, we were told that 20 new gardaí are being appointed into Limerick city, where they are much needed. How many can the Minister give me in the county as well? County Limerick is a big place, with 40 square miles per Garda station. There is Bruff Garda station and a new Garda station at Newcastle West. When the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, talks about recruits, he says that 200 are going i…

Last Saturday, we were at the Holy Family school in Charleville for a fundraiser where up to 100 motorbikes came out. They do so year after year to raise funds for additional resources for the school. There is a shortfall year on year and resources are raised. Money from last year went in for part of a playground for the children in that school. Looking around the country, vintage clubs and differ…

I would like the Minister of State's full attention for this. This is not a laughing matter, I am afraid. Crecora Mills installed a 400 kW solar farm in July 2023. It produces 20% of the power to run the mill. The company applied to the ESB to sell the excess power to the grid at that time. It took the ESB two years to process the application and it is looking for €3.8 million from Crecora Mills t…

My question concerns the health implications of wind farms. My journey regarding the health implications of wind farms started in Coolcappa over two years ago. Recently we had meetings in Bruff, Dromin, Athlacca and Bruree about wind turbines and how local authorities have no input into wind turbines. They are now considered to be strategic infrastructure, which means they go straight to An Bord P…

In the interim, there is an influx of wind turbines. In Europe, Eamon Ryan signed up to 16,000 wind turbines going inland. D maps were delayed for five years so we could not look at offshore and they are talking about renewable energy. We are talking about health implications. Do Members know that when wind turbines are turned off, the wind energy company gets more money than through funds from Go…

63% are owned by China.

We are not getting it.

So it is not our energy.

Offshore.

With all due respect it has been 20 years, Tánaiste.

When?

When?

I have just spent two long days at the ploughing championships with Independent Ireland. We have had people of all ages and from all walks of life with different problems coming into the tent to talk to us about concerns they have and looking for support. We had people with children with special needs come into us and ask us what had gone wrong and what they could do to help. Why are the resources…

I welcome Patrick. It is great to see a fellow Dromin man in the Gallery. The year 1968 is memorable to the Minister of State because his father was one of the members who set up St. Joseph's Foundation. It was set up to help vulnerable children and adults. It is still running and is a massive service that covers north Cork and south Limerick. Maybe it is time that history repeats itself. He coul…

It is Maurice.

I thank the Ceann Comhairle. I am here with many friends today. I have the Knocklong Men's Shed and I have Patrick O'Dea here from Dromin. I have Maurice and Elly above in the Gallery and they are both wheelchair users. Maurice is from Granagh. He plays Munster hurling and tag rugby and he works in the HSE. He is 25. Maurice told me he had lost out on so much with his friends because the facilitie…

-----to see what we can do to help people in that situation.

For leisure.

I wish to remember and acknowledge the late Mark Ryan who with his brother, David, was instrumental in the establishment of the scoping inquiry. There are no words for what has happened here. What was going through my head when I was coming over here is that, in this country, we commemorated 100 years of the troubles that we had. We are looking at this from 1927 to 2013. When you look at that in …

Any price gouging by any major supermarket holder should be transparent. All their profits should be shown. Some people look at the smaller outlets whose turnover is up but whose profits are down. It is some of the major ones we need to look at to see why this is. We also have to look at the part the Government has played in this. It introduced wage increases, which we welcomed, but where does it…

That is true.

What will the Government put in place after the recent bomb find in Limerick near Aughanish Alumina? This was near a Russian-owned business. Five bombs were found in Ireland - three in the South, two in the North. What will be done about looking at Russian-owned buildings and properties in this country to protect the Irish people in case somebody targets them, especially in Limerick, where this ha…

From my first day here I have been telling people I have been in the construction industry all my life. I will give colleagues whatever experience I can. Infrastructure is the key and being on budget and on time. From the time Irish Water was set up, it has not brought in one project on budget or on time. If anything, it is over budget all the time. That is the problem. Let it be developer-led inf…