Ruairí Ó Murchú

Louth County Council is almost a facilitator. It speaks to the design team. I raised this issue with the Taoiseach in terms of the need to streamline regulation. We all know the issues that exist in respect of planning. We need a system that can be more agile. While we need checks and balances, that should be possible. If mistakes are made or issues are seen, they could be addressed in a timely m…

It not the council; the Department has a role to play.

4. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Taoiseach for a report on his recent meeting with the British Prime Minister. [63259/25]

We are coming up to the 50th anniversary of the Dundalk bombing, which happened on 19 December 1975. Dundalk lost Hugh Watters, who was a local tailor and a well-respected man, and Jack Rooney, a fireman and a man who worked for the council. Obviously, this was devastating for their families. A memorial event has been organised by the families. It is going to happen near the courthouse, where ther…

15. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Taoiseach for an update on his Department's plans to co-ordinate a range of actions aimed at regulatory reform. [63260/25]

We all accept there are huge issues with bureaucracy and red tape in planning. We should have seen simplification and streamlining. Conversations about this are occurring across Europe, but we know about the home-grown issues. It is an issue I have brought up previously, even within the planning systems involving State authorities. For example, Louth County Council is involved in the Ardee Educati…

It is possible to get this work done at this time, but if the works continue as planned, the problem will still need to be fixed but it could take more than €100,000, so we need something to be done.

The refusal to change-----

It is not just the council.

In County Louth?

When we are dealing with energy costs, we can start at a fairly obvious place. There are 180,000 in arrears on their gas bills and 300,000 homes in arrears on their electricity bills. That is 13% of households who cannot afford electricity and 26% who cannot afford gas. That is the reality. It would not be difficult for anyone to find out that people are facing severe issues related to this. It is…

The Minister of State accepted this is all taking far too long. He accepted that there are huge issues in relation to social housing, appeals and the standards review. We are where we are and we all accept that, as the people who are dealing with crumbling houses have to accept it. Nobody likes legislation that is dropped at the last minute without any possibility of proper scrutiny but, the fact …

It is hard to believe we are here dealing with this issue. Sometimes, when a issue comes to a politician it shows the abject failure across the board. In many instances we are talking about individual cases where the State has failed. We are talking about the Coast Guard search and rescue. Ask anybody on the street what that means and they will say it is people who go above and beyond, who are ri…

De réir Bhuan-Ordaithe 85(2), cuirfear an vótáil siar go dtí an am vótála seachtainiúil, Dé Céadaoin, an 3 Nollaig 2025.

10. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade to provide an update on the recent engagement at EU level on the EU-Israel agreement and the Israeli Settlements (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill 2025; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [66658/25]

Go raibh maith agat. I ask the Minister to provide an update on any engagement at EU level on the EU-Israel agreement. We all know the humanitarian conditions that unfortunately have never been employed. We know what Israel has done. We know that maximum pressure and leverage need to be applied. We know that is probably the only reason we have a peace plan, if we can call it that, at this point in…

Go raibh maith agat, agus comhghairdeachas leis an Aire ar a post nua. Straightaway, we can all see there were particular issues in relation to the EU-Israel Association Agreement, and not only in the sense of the particular deal that was really sweet from the Israeli point of view. We talk of these humanitarian conditions but obviously there was absolutely no power in relation to enforcement. Unf…

Not only do we need the maintenance of the ceasefire and to make sure there are no breaches but we also have to maintain whatever leverage we and the wider international community can on Israel. At this moment, we are somewhat glad it is not engaged in genocidal action but let us be absolutely clear it is determined, at least the regime at this point is, to make sure nobody can deliver justice, fr…

Ar dtús, ba mhaith liom comhghairdeas a dhéanamh leis an Aire Stáit as an bpost nua atá aige. Ádh mór air. Unfortunately, too many times, we have been in this Chamber while speaking about what we would have assumed was almost in the rear-view mirror of history. However, it seems that whether you look at Gaza, the Russian invasion of Ukraine or what is happening in Sudan, it is geopolitical chaos …

This Topical Issue arises from an ongoing situation in the Louth County Hospital in Dundalk. The ultrasound waiting lists have grown to around 7,000 at the moment. This fits into the parliamentary question Deputy Cullinane got an answer to. That was that we have waiting lists across the State in relation to diagnostic scans of 299,736, of which there are 10,000 children who are on the Children Hea…

I could contest the numbers in relation to the ultrasound waiting lists at Louth County Hospital. I have been told they are considerably higher than ten. At this point, we do not have that one person who was actually working 100% on this and doing what is absolutely necessary from the point of view of due diligence and best practice supervising. In fairness, I get that the Minister of State is pr…

I will need an answer in relation to how this decision was made-----

-----and what is going be done in relation to the position that happens now in Louth County Hospital.

Go raibh maith agat. I appreciate that.

I have often brought up the positives regarding the shared island unit. I believe the project in relation to DkIT and its partnership with Queen's University Belfast could fit into that. However, a number of other issues arise, whether we are talking about the remote working issues that have an impact on taxation or exam certification. In fairness to Deputy McGreehan, she has brought up the issue …