Richard O'Donoghue

I am again speaking with the Minister. I thanked her for visiting UHL. Everyone has spoken about the surgeons who have made mistakes and all the rest of it. It is not always the surgeons. I can speak about a personal issue. My son had kyphosis. He underwent an operation. He had 136 staples and two rods inserted in his back. Some 12 or 14 months later, the rods snapped. That was not the fault of th…

What is our first problem when we see tariffs? Trump met our Taoiseach before St. Patrick’s Day and invited Conor McGregor to meet him on St. Patrick’s Day. That is what he thinks of Ireland. He looks at Ireland as a tax haven for companies but what he needs to realise is that it is a tax nightmare for workers. Trump also needs to realise that one in every ten people in the US claims Irish ancestr…

I wish Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett well in his treatment. Please God everything goes well for him. This question is for the Minister of Health and relates to the freeze on UHL. Two Limerick people are coming home from Australia. One is a physiotherapist and the other is an ICU nurse. The ICU nurse had been told they had a position in the hospital but they received a letter to say it was sorry tha…

I note that the Ceann Comhairle has asked people to stick to the topic, which I will. I will highlight a few issues. I support the Bill. I support any Bill that will allow a person to get his or her pension either before or at retirement age. The retirement age is now 66. I believe the Government should honour a person with an employment contract that was completed before the legislation changed t…

The Ceann Comhairle, in the position she is in at the moment, is pulling us for something she was well able to do in the past. That is a point of humour, rather than a criticism. I support any Bill that will help people in this respect. I suggest to the Minister of State that I would like to open up negotiations for people outside the current criteria. This would allow us to move forward, look out…

Is the Minister up for taking help from someone who is in the construction sector, who knows water and sewerage and knows how to fix and maintain them? Will he take my offer of helping him to save money and get more value for money? Will he take that offer? I can help him to save money on what he is giving Uisce Éireann and get more infrastructure in place with the same money. If he is open to tak…

I wish the Minister well in his position and I look forward to working with him. I have been in construction all my life and I want to give the Minister a bit of advice and to ask him for his help. Why can we not extend the fee waiver for planning permission to help people who are building their own houses, which means they are not depending on the State and also helps address inflation costs? Why…

What about value for money?

Is that value for money? Come on.

No infrastructure, no houses. There is no infrastructure.

There is no infrastructure. The Minister of State should talk about something he knows about. He knows nothing about building.

He knows nothing about building.

I live it every day. The Minister of State knows nothing about it.

The Minister of State knows nothing about value for money. He knows nothing about building.

Go away. The Minister of State should talk about something he knows about.

It is a waste of money.

The Minister of State needs to get real.

We are here today for a vote of no confidence in the Ceann Comhairle. Many previous speakers referred to right and wrong. I have a copy of the Standing Orders in front of me. If you were to follow the Standing Orders last week - what was done right and what was done wrong. I was the person from Independent Ireland who emailed the Ceann Comhairle at the time and asked her, as well as at the time of…

As the general secretary of Independent Ireland, I commend everyone in the Defence Forces. I commend everyone in our Army, and everyone who is a protector of Ireland. I say to those people that I am sorry that this and previous Governments have not treated them with fairness, even on pay and conditions. We have called out our forces to help us in times of crisis. One side of our forces gets treat…

What protections do we have from Europe regarding the tariffs threatening to be introduced by America on our businesses here and across Europe? What protections have we got from such a thing coming down which could impact the loss of jobs, as well as the loss of investment in this country? Vance said Ireland was a tax haven for these companies. The funds and jobs we have from these companies need …

I wish the Minister the best of luck in her role. I agree 100% with my colleague, Deputy O'Flynn. People in this country have gone out of their way to help people from Ukraine and it was the right thing to do. People opened up their houses and provided people with rooms, which was fantastic. However, a minority of people have come in, claiming they are from Ukraine. They have bought properties her…

I wish the Minister well in his new role but I want him to do something different. I also wish the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, and others well in their roles but I am asking them, as business people, to do one thing. There are some on the Government benches who are business people and I want them to make their Departments accountable. In saying that, I want to make them accountable for delive…

It cost €1.4 million. The Minister of State should get his facts right.

Check the record.

The Minister of State just said it cost €300,000. He should correct the record. It cost €1.4 million.