Liam Quaide

I want to use my time today to express my deep respect and admiration for the peaceful protesters who took to the streets in Iran in recent weeks. They are ordinary citizens who have shown remarkable courage in standing up to tyranny, repression and extreme state violence. These are people who protested knowing the cost. They protested facing a terrifyingly high risk of imprisonment, torture and d…

We could spend all day every day discussing the dysfunction of Uisce Éireann and the many forms it takes. In the brief time I have, I will share a vignette of that dysfunction and its impact on people with reference to Knockane, Castlemartyr, County Cork. It is a townland in east Cork in my own constituency where there was an outage over Christmas that affected just eight households. This situatio…

13. Deputy Liam Quaide asked the Taoiseach when the Cork city task force will be established. [3649/26]

23. Deputy Liam Quaide asked the Taoiseach for an overview of his Department’s annual report for 2024. [3650/26]

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the home support providers Bill. It is long overdue, as my colleague Deputy Gibney said, that there is a statutory scheme for the registration and inspection of home support providers. Regulation and oversight are essential, particularly where care is delivered behind closed doors in people's private homes and to people in vulnerable circumstances. This Bill e…

When the staggering waiting lists for primary care services for young people were first raised by my party leader, Deputy Holly Cairns, in July 2024, the then Taoiseach, Deputy Simon Harris, suggested the crisis was confined to psychology and the Cork–Kerry area. I have looked into this in depth over the past year and it is clear that the crisis is across disciplines and affecting every health reg…

The Taoiseach will be familiar with the fact that Local Link bus services have greatly improved mobility and quality of life in many rural communities. However, I ask him to visit east Cork where a Local Link service has not been developed and where the existing bus service is nothing short of an absolute shambles. In villages such as Ballycotton, Cloyne, Aghada and Saleen, residents may as well …

It is severely neglected.

11. Deputy Liam Quaide asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on EU and international affairs will next meet. [1109/26]

28. Deputy Liam Quaide asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on Government co-ordination will next meet. [1110/26]

It is not clear how the Department of Social Protection decided that long Covid is not worthy of classification as an occupational injury for healthcare workers who had been in receipt of special Covid leave with pay until 31 December and how the Department of Health informed that decision. A group of these workers met the Taoiseach in Cork in June. As I have said here before, they felt he gave th…

A Leas-Cheann Comhairle-----

4. Deputy Liam Quaide asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she has completed an equality and human rights impact assessment of her Department's practice of locating people with intellectual and other disabilities in excess of 100 km from home in residential services for prolonged periods of time, and of her Department's failure to maintain statistics on these distances given…

Has the Minister undertaken an equality and human rights impact assessment of the Department's practice of locating people with intellectual and similar disabilities in excess of 100 km from their home in residential services for prolonged periods of time? Will she comment on her Department's failure to maintain even broad-brush statistics on these distances given their clear breach of the UN Conv…

I thank the Minister of State for her response. It is very concerning to hear of the rapidly increasing investment by her Department in privately outsourced residential services for people with disabilities. In many cases a person will move into such a service in the context of a crisis. The HSE will be under pressure to find any place for the person. The residential service they are offered will …

I thank the Minister of State. The Minister said in a recent budget Estimate session that she wants to move away from private outsourcing but the proportion of money the Department is spending on these services has nearly doubled over the past four years. While the Minister is saying one thing, her Department's actions are the opposite. I can understand the ongoing reliance on these providers but …

Why not cost for-----

Traffic congestion on the Whitegate to Midleton road has been like nothing on earth for months now. I know this well because I travel the road several times a week for a school trip. It is beyond frustrating for commuters to be left stewing in traffic as they are trying to get to work, school or crèche day-in, day-out. The road is at over capacity but the recent installation of traffic lights near…

It is not getting a response.

13. Deputy Liam Quaide asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will meet next. [70804/25]

One of the most infuriating parts of the housing crisis is the tens of thousands of properties that have been left idle and decaying throughout the country. Youghal's potential to be on a par with Kinsale for economic prosperity and tourism has been thwarted by the epic scale of dereliction that has been allowed to take place there over many years. Likewise, Castlemartyr and Midleton have many pri…

22. Deputy Liam Quaide asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his attendance at COP30. [70805/25]

We heard a lot during the last Government about how much more investment went into the National Parks and Wildlife Service but in east Cork and Waterford, the level of under-resourcing has been baffling. In east Cork, we have had no ranger for approximately 12 of the last 15 years. There has been no district conservation officer for 18 months and no regional manager in place for years over east Co…

I raise a very important issue with the Minister of State. While I am grateful to her for being here, I am conscious that in her role she will not have decision-making capacity on it. It is disappointing not to see the Department of Health represented by either the senior Minister or a junior ministerial colleague. A cohort of healthcare workers has been in receipt of special Covid leave with pay…

It is despairing to receive that response. It is so completely out of touch with the reality of these workers' circumstances. There is no security that comes from being on standard sick leave. That is just a pathway to medical retirement. There is no rationale given as to why this basic financial support is being ripped away at this arbitrary cut-off date. The health condition of these workers has…