Peadar Tóibín

Well, anyone watching this----

It is not just about analysis.

You are the embodiment of-----

Sean Brown was a father of six, a lifelong GAA member and official and a highly respected member of his community. On 12 May 1997, while locking up the gates of the Bellaghy Wolfe Tones GAA club in Derry, he was abducted and viciously murdered. He was murdered because he was a Catholic and because he was the chairperson of his GAA club. Bridie Brown, Sean's wife, attended the recent GAA congress i…

Will the Government demand that the inquest goes ahead?

Navan has the longest waiting times in the country at the moment. Learners are waiting up to 33 weeks just to receive an appointment. Waits for retests can mean anything up to six or seven months. Is that acceptable to the Minister of State? It is certainly not acceptable to the thousands of young people in my county who are desperate for a driver's licence so they can go about their business. As …

Three testers can only-----

Excuse me, please.

Do not be getting annoyed now.

The Minister of State is a good man to heckle but it is good to listen too. This is why you have two ears and one mouth-----

-----so you can listen to twice as much as you speak.

If the Department only employs three testers for the whole of Meath this means that at best each tester can get through 40 tests a week and 120 is a total that the county can achieve. If they are doing it at a rate of 120 a week it will take 40 weeks just to get through the existing waiting list never mind the number of people who will join that waiting list in the interim. That is an incredible s…

The Government has collected €2.2 billion from M50 tolls since 2008, according to a report on "The Pat Kenny Show" this morning. The two bridges were built for £58 million. The toll company made back all of that money in just one year of tolls. It then sold those bridges to the State for €600 million. The State has charged the people using them €2.2 billion in that period. It is incredible that la…

It is startling; €2.2 billion.

Three weeks ago, I asked the Taoiseach to set up an Oireachtas committee on the issue of AI. He said "No" and that he has no responsibility for the issue. This is a big mistake because this issue is of such importance that we need the whole of the Oireachtas working towards it. We talk about minute procedural issues, which affect nobody, forever and a day in this House, yet the biggest issue loomi…

I wish the Ministers of State good luck in their roles in this important space. I will detail the experience of Damien. He has had schizophrenia for the past eight years and has been in hospital for a number of months in those years. In the past year, things have got worse for the family and they have gone to great lengths to get help. Their son is in the fields until 3 a.m., up to his eyes in muc…

4. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Finance if he will outline Exchequer returns and tax receipts for January 2025; and the reason they have increased since this time last year. [5104/25]

Ireland is the most exposed country in Europe as regards the potential changes in tariffs and corporation taxes with the United States. We are enormously exposed. Our dependence on a bargain-basement corporation tax economy which has been built up by the Government over the past ten years means we are now under significant threat. What actions is the Minister taking to engage with the US Governmen…

It is related.

For 2023, income tax was roughly €33 billion, corporation tax was the next largest, at €24 billion, and VAT came in at about €20 billion. Those figures and the figures the Minister has just outlined show that there is a significant exposure for this country. Because of the potential changes with the US Administration, we could be looking at significant job losses, significant corporation tax losse…

Foreign direct investment, FDI, is considered a transitional economic policy. It is usually developed from a non-developed economy to try to get into a developed system. When that economy has developed to a good stage, most economies then try to develop indigenous economy because it is usually much stickier and less mobile as regards threats internationally. Obviously, they use strong indigenous e…

-----given Ireland is the most exposed country in Europe?

They are transitional because the Government has made them transitional.

That is not what I am saying and the Minister knows that.

It is not. The Minister is being facetious now.