Ken O'Flynn

But it is not coming in like that and you know that.

You are sacrificing the Irish farmer.

When the multinationals go, what happens then?

You failed the fishermen and now you are failing the farmers. That is what you have done.

I had no idea.

He did not say it when he was here.

I start by wishing everybody in the house a happy new year. On Monday, 12 January, The Echo, a Cork local newspaper known to the Taoiseach and me, reported dozens of early childcare facilities closing across Cork. In fact, 130 facilities have closed in the past five years in Cork and that is echoed throughout Ireland. Providers are warning that Government funding levels, statutory burdens and staf…

Looking at this Bill, the four pillars of it are a new tax, a full ban, 40 new enforcement posts, and an annual cost of new inspection powers. I would have preferred the Bill to go into more detail about the power of the inspection, what we are expecting from that and the costs surrounding it, but I am sure it will be fleshed out later. I am sure the Minister of State will address it as time goes …

Section 39 workers are some of the hardest workers in our society. Their work in the health and social care system involves providing round the clock care and support to people with complex medical needs, protects the most vulnerable and gives them complete dignity yet they are treated as second-class workers. They are doing the same work as HSE colleagues but are often lower paid, have weaker con…

I have been here for the entire debate. I have heard from the Minister and from all sides of the House. I accept the Minister's explanation that there was a private service, that some pharmacists were giving out a free service and that others were charging to the Government with an incorrect charging rate. I accept all of that. However, what she has told the House is an indictment of the Governmen…

Last June, I said something that many people across this country already knew. Whistleblowers in Ireland are not protected. In fact, they are destroyed. The Tánaiste stood up in this very House and told it our laws are among the best in Europe. He said the Government values these people. Since then I have sat with countless whistleblowers, well over 50 of them, from every corner of the public serv…

There is a seat on this side of the House for Deputy McGuinness.

On 12 November, the Taoiseach told this House that legal advice states a Minister cannot read protected disclosures. That claim has caused real alarm throughout the country because if a Minister cannot read protected disclosures, the Minister cannot verify whether the Minister is being misled. It is an extraordinary position for this Government to have in a system that has repeatedly accused, atta…

Does the Minister stand over the Taoiseach's statement of 12 November?

Legal ambiguity protects the powerful. Clarity and accountability protect the Republic. I will put the questions to the Minister again because he has not answered them. Is the Government satisfied that the legal advice given to Ministers on protected disclosures is accurate, lawful and compliant with both the EU Act and the Act in the Republic? Does the Minister stand over the statement, made by t…

Will the Minister please inform the House when the Government first received reports indicating that the anti-malaria drug Lariam, mefloquine, was associated with adverse side effects? When did the Department of Defence become aware of that? Can the Minister also confirm whether Lariam was issued to all personnel of all ranks, and not just the privates or the NCOs? I also note that the Taoiseach …

This is all related.

On any of the occasions Government Ministers have left the country, have they been in receipt of Lariam, or was a different drug prescribed for them?

I have no problem with that. I am only asking if they had Lariam.

I have been 18 years in public life, having served as a city councillor in Cork and as a TD for almost a year in this House. Not a day or week goes by when I do not meet a parent with a child with a special need or difficulty, or a child in need of an operation. They are put to the pins of their collars and are desperate. Although I am not a parent myself, I see from my brother and in-laws how the…

Today comes as a slight surprise to me. After listening to the whispered conversations in the hallways for the past number of weeks, I suspected it might have been Micheál Martin resigning today rather than Paschal Donohoe.

On a personal note, I wish Paschal well. He has been nothing but respectful, decent and honourable in our exchanges across the House in the short period I have been a Member of it. I offer my sincere best wishes to him, his family and his wife Justine as he takes up his new position as the managing director and chief knowledge officer of the World Bank. It is the second most senior role in the ins…

Ireland has a long record of goodwill. When families fled the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we opened our doors and we opened our hearts. That was the right thing to do. However, goodwill must behold its shape. It must be fair and it must be sustainable. Across Europe, governments are adjusting their supports as the conflict continues. Germany has applied the same means test to those of its own cit…

In light of the RTÉ documentary series, "Trackers: The People v The Banks", the first part of which aired on 3 November, revealing ongoing devastation from Ireland's largest consumer banking scandal, new Central Bank figures showing 42,000 impacted mortgage accounts and the banking industry and banks facing more than €1 billion in fines and redress, is the Tánaiste aware of any tracker mortgage le…

I would like to be associated with the words of condemnation of what happened in Drogheda, as my party colleagues have pointed out. I speak for the 82% of Irish people who feel unheard, unseen and forgotten in this country. The Government has lost control of migration, lost control of enforcement and lost the confidence of the nation. What we have now is a system without fairness and without end …