Peadar Tóibín

The Government has made us dependent upon it-----

-----by not progressing it to the next stage and developing it.

That is the point I am trying to make-----

-----and the Minister knows that.

The Minister is being incredibly cynical.

The Tánaiste says there should not be a consequence-free zone. This Government is a consequence-free zone. This Government is an accountability-free zone when it comes to waste. You speak about the Arts Council IT waste as some kind of shock, as if you are a passenger on the ship of State. You are at the helm of the ship of State in the context of these issues. I could spend the full day here gi…

There is a policy sometimes on the part of senior Ministers to hear no evil and see no evil and to say "Oh, we didn't know what was happening." The Tánaiste mentioned that before. It is the responsibility of a Minister to know what is happening in his or her Department. You cannot insulate yourself from crises such as this by pleading ignorance over and over again. That is not an excuse when it co…

It will move on. Nobody will lose their job.

One of the most important characteristics of the previous Government was its complete waste of taxpayers' money over and over again. We heard Deputy Varadkar, when talking about the national children's hospital, say that, save an asteroid hitting the planet, the children's hospital would be built by 2020 with €700 million. The cost is €2.25 billion at the moment and we do not have an opening date.…

Yes, and I used the word "suspect".

They say to start as you mean to continue. By God, this Government has done that. The first thing the Government did after the election was to spend weeks and weeks talking to itself about the creation of a government. When it came back, then decide to vote to give itself two weeks' holidays. When it came back from that, it decided to create an enormous number of extremely high paid jobs for a rec…

The response of this Government to the storm is absolutely shocking. It took a full 12 days for this Dáil to meet after the storm. That shows how far removed the Government is from the needs of the people. The fact that not even a senior Minister has turned up for this debate is also shocking. In a parliamentary question I submitted to the Minister for energy a couple of days ago, I asked how many…

Go raibh maith agat. I have another example of the Tánaiste's Gucci Government wasting money. The Hill of Tara is one of the most important national monuments in the country. It is poorly served by the OPW in terms of an interpretive centre that is closed more than it is open and muddy paths for visitors. There is, however, a new addition. The OPW has been building the great wall of Tara and it ha…

Fourteen years, though, is incredible.

Míle buíochas le Sinn Féin as an rún seo. The State of Israel has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity. The UN special committee to investigate Israeli practices has said that Israel's war on Gaza is consistent with the characteristics of genocide. Some 70% of all people who have been killed in Gaza were women and children, and the figure is even higher for non-combatants. Aontú urges …

It looks like this is an east-coast Government. It looks like there is only one Minister from Connacht or Ulster in the Cabinet. Some 60% of the Ministers in this Government are from the greater Dublin area. That is not spatial development. The west is certainly not awake in this Government. It is incredible that the Cabinet is being named on the day the news broke that 30,000 homes were built in…

Today, there are-----

-----thousands of children who are homeless-----

-----and there are many children suffering pain from scoliosis waiting for operations. Today, many children will seek help with regard to their mental health but will be refused CAMHS treatment. Eighty-nine days will elapse between the last time we had consecutive Dáil business to the next time we have consecutive Dáil business. The excuse of the Government is that it has to bed down. Fianna Fáil…

Déanaim comhghairdeas leis an gCeann Comhairle mar gheall ar a post nua agus gabhaim buíochas le Seán Ó Fearghaíl as an bpost iontach a rinne sé thar na blianta freisin. I thank the good people of County Meath for the opportunity to represent them in this Dáil. It is an honour and a privilege to be a TD, especially for a great county such as Meath. The year 2024 has been a good one for Aontú. We …