Richard O'Donoghue

Auxiliary works-----

I wish the Minister of State well in his role. We need gardaí in my area. We also need equipment for our gardaí. Searches and rescues happened during snow and storms. The Garda assisted in searches for missing persons and had to borrow equipment from another county. I wish to put a question on the record and would like a written response from the Minister of State. There was an investigation of g…

I will hold you to that, Taoiseach.

I welcome the pupils and teachers from the CBS in Charleville who made the journey here today, especially Maddie, coming here on her sixth birthday, and my nephew Shane, who attends the CBS. I want to ask the Taoiseach about the defective blocks. He mentioned €2.2 billion is going to be spent on this. When the 5% tax on concrete products was brought in, it was €100 per sq. ft. It is now €200 per …

4. Deputy Richard O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Education the reason a school in Limerick County received confirmation from her Department that its special education needs hours provided will be cut by 2.5 hours, even though the criteria state that a developing school would not lose hours. [8972/25]

Why has a school in my constituency got confirmation from the Department of Education that the SEN hours provided will be cut by 2.5 hours even though the criteria state that a developing school would not lose hours? I am talking about Meenkilly National School in Abbeyfeale.

I thank the Minister of State for his response but, on the criteria for this, enrolments make up 25%, pupils' standardised test scores in second, fourth and sixth class make up 68.5% and educational disadvantage is based on pupils' addresses. If you are within an urban area, you will not have any need because you have infrastructure in the area around you. Many rural schools have little infrastruc…

This is about the SEN hours that are being provided. On the criteria, a letter from the Department came to the school. The Department says the school is losing 2.5 hours while the Minister of State is saying it is not. Surely to God there has been a mix-up in the paperwork somewhere. I will work with the Minister of State to rectify that. I will again go back to equal opportunity in education. Reg…

I will forward it to the Minister of State.

This goes back to when the Tánaiste was Taoiseach and we had a meeting about wind farms. He was asked five parliamentary questions. He responded to two immediately, delayed the response to two more, which came to him on 22 October, until the day of the election and has yet to respond to one.

We asked him to clarify for how many years wind farm applications have been approved without HSE oversight. We asked why An Bord Pleanála ceased informing the HSE of such applications, whether An Bord Pleanála was instructed to stop the practice and who is responsible for ensuring public health risks are properly assessed in the planning process. Why were responses to parliamentary questions publi…

I thank the Tánaiste. I am going to go back to what the Taoiseach, Deputy Martin, said in 2013. Before I do, I must state that the Government is taking information on health issues from producers and manufacturers and ignoring World Health Organization guidelines. In 2013, the Taoiseach, Deputy Martin, referred to a full absence of transparency, an absence of consultation with residents and, above…

Will you give us a timeline?

I congratulate the Leas-Cheann Comhairle on his appointment and wish the Minister of State the best of luck in his position. I welcome the people in the Gallery. For people fleeing from domestic violence, services like ADAPT in Limerick are not enough. People in the rural parts of Limerick have to travel to the city to get refuge. This is taking people from where they may have supports locally. W…

I wish the Minister and the Ministers of State very well in their new roles. On my first day in the Dáil, the first thing I spoke about was the health system in Limerick. The Ceann Comhairle at the time was Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl. I am asking for the Minister's and the Ministers of State's help in Limerick but I am asking for them to use a different approach. I am asking for a breath of fresh ai…

I take this opportunity to wish the Ceann Comhairle the very best in her new role. My comments today are on accountability for the delivery of services. At the end of the day, the Government will be accountable but I am asking now for it to make changes within Departments so that people who do not deliver for people with disabilities in their Departments are made accountable. In other words they …

This is taxpayer's money. Now have a delay of up to six months in places for young people to get their driving test. We have people who are following the rules that were legislated for. They do their theory test, get their 12 lessons and then they have to wait six months to get on the road. That comes back to being the Government's problem. The Government should be responsible for the six-month de…

I wish the Ministers well in their new positions. I have been in construction all of my life. Part of the Government's plan is now to allow buildings at the back of other properties. I do not have an issue with that once they are proper buildings that can be built. What I do have an issue with are the planning guidelines as they apply in County Limerick. For a number of years, we have been told th…

I congratulate the Minister and the Minister of State on their roles and I look forward to working with them, but we are here again and it is no different than last year or the year before. We now have new people in charge of the Department but we are still looking for resources for special needs. The term "special needs" says it all. There is no doubt that gender and complex needs have been remov…

As someone who has been in construction all my life, I have spent the past five years in the House telling people they cannot build houses without infrastructure. We cannot build houses without having water, sewerage, electricity and an Internet service. The LDA has not built one house in Limerick. It publicly stated it would not invest 15 minutes outside any city. That takes out two thirds of Lim…

I wish both the Minister and Minister of State well in their positions. I look forward to working with them. As my colleagues have said, infrastructure is the main issue. I went across the road today to Buswells Hotel to meet Uisce Éireann. I am probably one of Uisce Éireann's biggest critics. I have been in business all my life. I like value for money and I do not believe that company is value f…

A lot of the damage that was done in this storm was due to all the regulations that were put in place and, consequently, caused by the Government. We cannot cut trees. We cannot cut hedgerows. The Government has put a lot of red tape on Departments and local authorities must enforce it. That has caused an awful lot of damage. It resulted in power lines coming down all around this country, which pu…

We are talking about the storm but in Limerick we had two storms. First we had the storm that led to snowfall. Met Éireann did not put out a red weather warning for Munster for that storm. We had up to three feet of snow in an area stretching from Kerry all the way back down to Limerick, as well as in other parts of Munster. There was no red warning for that storm. The following week, Met Éireann …

I wish Deputy Martin and his family well on his nomination as Taoiseach. As the general secretary and deputy leader of Independent Ireland, I believe it is now time for people to lead. When Deputy Martin is appointing people to ministerial positions, I remind him of the one thing I have always said to him, which is that they should be spread out throughout the country to represent Ireland as a who…

On a point of order.