Peadar Tóibín

On a personal level, I wish Paschal Donohoe very well. Paschal Donohoe has always been a personable, friendly and amiable character in here. In the handful of times where I saw that approach change, it was clear that he was under serious pressure for serious reasons as well. There is no doubt that the particular roles Paschal has held have been tough jobs that have taken a lot of his time and effo…

It is important to remember this in terms of a critique: Paschal has always a communicated an air of fiscal responsibility and rectitude but the truth is radically different. There is absolutely no doubt that while in position, this Government became synonymous with waste and rip-off politics. From the national children's hospital to the bike shed, the Government has incinerated taxpayers' money o…

His record in health includes the explosion of costs of the national children's hospital, the shocking collapse of CHI and the CervicalCheck scandal as well. In justice, he saw Garda numbers and morale fall to the floor. In his brief time - six months - in justice, he actually saw the immigration crisis go from bad to worse. The number of deportation orders overturned during his time increased mas…

For the Minister who could not count Covid cases, he is now in charge of the Department of Finance. Instead of accountability, we see promotion under this Government. In fairness to the Tánaiste, he was only in justice for six months. Incredibly, Helen McEntee was in that Department for far longer. We now have the Minister who, after the Dublin riots, walked while flanked by gardaí and said this c…

She is now in charge of the safety of the skies, the seas and everything below it.

This is a jaded Government, a tired Government and it is time for it to go.

This Government is a record breaking Government for all the wrong reasons. There have been record rents, record house prices and record numbers of people who are homeless. The average price of a residential property sold in 2025 was €426,000. I could not believe the figure when I saw it. It is eight times the average income at the moment. The average rent for a two-bedroom apartment is now more th…

It is still too slow. It is not meeting the targets.

It is quite incredible that if a farmer is building a slatted shed in Cavan, a person in Cork can submit an objection in respect of it.

We have a Bill that would bring that to an end. There is a massive issue with serviced land and serviced zoned land that has been ignored over the past while. The Government talks about an audit of that land. Is it not startling that the Government does not know how much zoned land there is in the country or how much serviced zoned land there is? The Tánaiste is saying that there is not enough, y…

There are different voices in the Opposition.

Sarah Costello from Trim in County Meath was treated under the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF, in a hospital in Belfast for endometriosis. Her surgery went horribly wrong. She had to have an emergency bypass to save her life. She had a cardiac arrest and needed 15 litres of blood. She was left disastrously injured by the operation. Today, she is in bad health and in pain. When Sarah sought…

11. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on justice, migration and social affairs will next meet. [56963/25]

That is disgusting and disgraceful. The Deputy is completely misrepresenting the situation.

Name calling again.

I want to raise the serious matter of the death of the Ukrainian child Vadym Davydenko, an unaccompanied minor who was killed in Tusla accommodation. I want to extend my deepest sympathies to his family and friends. It has come to our notice that the suspect in that case may well be an adult. There is documentary evidence to show this. In addition, physical tests are being carried out on the suspe…

There is testing available in this area.

There are questions. There is testing available in this area that is not being used.

Does the Taoiseach agree that there is testing available that should be used?

There is.

24. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on disability will next meet. [56964/25]

It is 420 days since I asked the Tánaiste, Deputy Simon Harris, about why Harvey Morrison Sherratt was taken off the waiting list. The Tánaiste has not been able to answer that question in those 420 days. That is an incredible indictment in relation to it. He said in the Dáil that he would immediately ask the HSE and that he would ask the Minister for Health, yet no question has been answered. We…

Are they refusing to answer what has happened? Why is it that the family only found out through The Sunday Times what happened in relation to their child?

I have great regard for the Minister of State and hope he has the best of luck in this role, but he is nearly a year in it and car drivers are still being significantly financially assaulted in this country. The level of money they have to pay currently is quite incredible. Last year, drivers paid €1.9 billion in VAT and VRT. Last year, car drivers contributed to €4.1 billion in fuel taxes, which …

One of my first political experiences was canvassing in a block of flats in Dublin. As I walked up the stairwell in the block of flats, I noticed, first, a pair of women's tights on the stairwell. When I got higher, I noticed a discoloured spoon near the top of the stairwell and when I got to the very top, there was a 17-year-old boy lying on the ground, practically unconscious, foaming at the mou…