Louise O'Reilly

I thank the Minister of State for being here to discuss the Topical Issue concerning the need for primary care services for my constituency of Dublin Fingal West which is, as I am sure the Minister of State is aware, one of the fastest growing constituencies in this State. We also have a very young profile; we do not necessarily fit with the profile of the rest of this State. There is no hospital…

What I heard was "you must wait, you must travel, you are not getting the services." I have been at this for nine years. We have a primary care centre and it is a white elephant or whatever that expression is. It is not being utilised to its greatest extent. There are empty rooms and diagnostic suites that should and could have facilities in them to ensure people did not have to get into their car…

What happened to house prices?

The position will not be backfilled with someone who held a previous position then.

No backfilling.

Here we go.

I will briefly address the issue raised by the Minister of State, Deputy Murnane O'Connor. I do not for a moment underestimate the scale of the challenge that she might be facing in terms of the obesity epidemic. With the greatest respect, however, I would doubt the relevance of it to this discussion. For any parents watching who perhaps are with their child waiting to go in for surgery this will …

My constituency of Dublin Fingal West has seen fairly rapid growth in recent years but we have not seen a consequent increase in the capacity of water infrastructure. One example is the village of Naul. The local community are worn out begging - I genuinely mean begging - for assistance from the council, the Government and Irish Water. The Delvin river floods when the water infrastructure is overw…

An amendment has been proposed.

I welcome the chance to discuss this issue. From my previous work experience, where I encountered people who came up against a compulsory retirement age, I genuinely believe workers want the right to make the decision to work on at 65, should they wish, up to age of 70, as provided for in the legislation that my colleague, Deputy Claire Kerrane, and I brought forward, or to retire with access to t…

I thank the Minister of State for being here to take this Topical Issue. I represent one of the youngest and fastest-growing constituencies in the State in Fingal West. Many of my constituents are served by the train, which runs alongside the side of my constituency, and some by bus. Unfortunately, for my constituents, most of the existing transport routes only bring them in to town. They need dyn…

I am very annoyed. MetroLink does not serve my constituency. Neither do DART+ west and DART+ south west. The only DART+ project that will serve my constituents is DART+ coastal north, which has been a very long tale. I do not have the time to tell it all, but suffice to say that it has been a decade since the bridges were raised. A little like draining the River Shannon, it gets wheeled out every …

I proudly represent a diverse constituency that is also one of the youngest in the State. The Minister of State talked about community engagement and the need to foster positive behavioural change. I agree with him. Positive behavioural change is definitely a worthwhile goal for our young people. It is also a worthwhile goal for members of An Garda Síochána. I draw the Minister of State's attenti…

In this Chamber, we talk a lot about accountability but we know this Government, made up of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Lowry group, has shown itself to be absolutely allergic to accountability. In the election campaign, both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael told us they would hit a figure of 40,000 homes, even though they were told repeatedly by their own experts that this figure was a massive overin…

-----and all of the changes to Standing Orders in the world will not alter that fact. To collude in an absurdity like that does the Office of the Ceann Comhairle no favours and I suspect the Ceann Comhairle knows that herself. The actual Opposition has tabled an amendment to the motion and I urge Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and indeed, the Lowry group, to consider this amendment, which simply recognis…

I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — Storm Éowyn made landfall in Ireland on 23rd January, 2025, breaking all-time record wind speeds; and — the scale of damage and disruption to transport, energy, water, telecommunications and internet services was unprecedented, exposing the fragility of our infrastructure, in the face of an ever-worsening climate crisis; further notes that: — the Huma…

I thank the Minister and everyone who contributed to the debate. I reiterate my thanks and that of my party to every person who stepped up and responded in the aftermath of Storm Éowyn. I want to respond to some of the Minister's contribution. We will work with the Minister, and right across the Dáil, to ensure future responses are fit for purpose and that those very famous lessons that have to be…

73. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development his plans to address economic and social inequality in 2025 in urban and rural areas; the initiatives he will undertake within his Department; and if he plans to progress funding for same. [14510/25]

My question, as is my form, is very straightforward. Will the Minister outline the plans that he has to address the economic and social inequality in 2025 in both urban and rural areas? What specific initiatives will he progress? If he could confine it to this year, I would be interested to know the scale of the ambition for the Department in terms of deliverables, KPIs and any indicators or targe…

I thank the Minister. I do not want to be argumentative, and I am absolutely committed to working across the House to ensure that we address issues regarding inequality. While I thanked the Minister for his reply, there were no specifics in it and this is where my issue is. What we need to see is, for example, a target for the number of community centres. We all know that a community centre, a phy…

This is where we might have a small disagreement, because I absolutely agree with the Minister that it has to be community-led, but setting the targets will not interfere with that in any way, shape or form. The setting of targets actually gives a focus. The Minister was not doing the communities any favours when he suggested that they could work not to a deadline or a target because they can. The…

I welcome the progress of this Bill. I thank members of my own and other parties and specifically Deputy Kelly for keeping this issue firmly on the political agenda for the past number of years. I also thank the Minister's officials for facilitating a briefing with the Opposition earlier this week and for taking our questions. It is very important to remember that what brought us here was a grievi…

I thank the Deputies for bringing forward this motion and giving us the chance to have this important debate. Here we have another day and another U-turn. Today's U-turn sees Fianna Fáil move even closer to Fine Gael. At some point they are going to have to acknowledge that there is virtually no difference between the two parties. We have come to expect the hawkish views of Fine Gael. We are used …

Just stick to the decision that was made.

You are turning yourself inside out.