Ruairí Ó Murchú

I welcome what the Taoiseach said in the sense of supporting a public inquiry into the murder of Sean Brown. We have all heard about the huge level of collusion, the number of agents who had information and who had been involved in this and the questions in relation to surveillance. The question I have for the Taoiseach is on whether this is Government policy. On that basis, how does the Taoiseach…

The Tánaiste, when he was Taoiseach, spoke about the need for a cross-Border hub that could deal with some of these issues and make sure that they are on the political agenda. We know that there will be no difficulty engaging with the Northern Executive.

We should be able to engage with the British Government at this stage. We are not dealing with the madness we would have had previously.

We are in an unstable world, whether we are talking about tariffs or the impact of AI will have that includes many positives that will need to be utilised, although we also know there are dangers in the short term for employment in specific spheres. On that basis we need to make sure we have our act together. I refer to the Regional Development Centre that operates out of DkIT in Dundalk. We need …

I could not agree with the Minister more.

102. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media if he will outline any engagement there has been between his Department, the Louth county board of the GAA and GAA headquarters about the funding of the new GAA stadium in Dundalk, County Louth; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22861/25]

This has been a really great time for Louth football. We had the Leinster final win by the under 20s against Meath, the minors won last night against Dublin and are now through to their Leinster final and, hopefully, an historic injustice will be righted on Sunday against Meath. I would say there is much support around the House on this. It is vital that the GAA stadium in Dundalk is delivered upo…

The Minister of State might have an interest in a particular game at the weekend, I would imagine. We will all be glued on Saturday to the match between Armagh and Donegal. It should make for a very good weekend of football. I commend the work done by Louth GAA and the teams under Fergal Reel, Ger Brennan and Johnny Clerkin. I wish them the absolute best of luck and we all hope for a great game of…

It is necessary that LSSIF funding would follow through for the stadium in Dundalk. My understanding was Louth GAA and Drogheda United were on that reserve list. The argument that was made was shovel-ready projects would get first dibs but given what is happening, particularly with Louth stadium, the first phase of which will be under way, we have to consider additional funding. We have to make su…

Crime is an incredibly serious issue that many of us are dealing with at the minute. Yesterday in my own constituency, 20 pipe bombs were found in a ditch behind a property in Ardee. This happened after great work by An Garda Síochána in relation to a significant drugs find. It shows the reality on the ground, particularly when combined with an incident last Friday in Ardee in the early hours of t…

163. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence his Department's plans this year for funding, resourcing, recruitment and retention at the Defence Forces; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16861/25]

Could the Tánaiste detail the plans this year as regards funding, resourcing, recruitment and retention at the Defence Forces? We all know that if we take this over a five-year period, we have had more losses than we have had recruitment. It is a huge issue. We are well away from reaching what is necessary for level of ambition 2. I think that at present we could be below the numbers required even…

I appreciate the answer, particularly the statement that we still have more to do. Obviously, we are starting from a point of view of legacy issues as regards pay and conditions. Has any detailed study been done of the reasons for the discharges? As much as there was an improvement last year, and we hope for a greater improvement as regards recruitment versus discharges this year, we have a signi…

I would appreciate it if that information could be shared.

182. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence if he will report on his meetings in Lebanon recently about a case (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16860/25]

My question is about Private Seán Rooney. The Tánaiste put in the public domain the fact that he was having engagements in Lebanon and that he was dissatisfied. The family and the rest of us all want to see justice. We have not seen that progress. I believe the Tánaiste and the Government are dissatisfied. How did the engagement go there? Has he any update on the post-incident internal inquiry? I …

Will the information be supplied to the families?

We do not have a fit-for-purpose childcare provision system in this State. It is failing and I will provide examples of how that works in the real world. One person told me: Regarding the ongoing struggle we are facing in securing childcare for our 12 month old son, his name has been on multiple waiting lists since November 2023 while my partner was still pregnant. Despite regular follow-ups, we …

Okay. The Deputy put his question.

This is not the first time we have been in here in respect of the State's abject and absolute failure of the most vulnerable in society. We have a report and my colleagues and others have stated eloquently how it has not done the business it was required to do. The report has a massive cost of €13.6 million and makes the finding of an absence of oversight and monitoring of Grace. We know the reaso…

I take this opportunity to commend the Louth under-20s and Fergal Reel, their manager, on what was obviously a fabulous win in the Leinster final against Meath. The minors are playing in the quarter finals tonight against Westmeath in Hunterstown and I hope that goes well. We obviously have an historic injustice that needs to be dealt with at the Leinster senior final on 11 May.

I would think that most right-thinking people will offer support. Let me refer to a very serious issue. It concerns one of my constituents who contacted me. She had been working for Liberty IT as part of Liberty Mutual. She believes that in her section, which is in Dublin but with an awful lot of remote working, about 100 jobs are gone, and possibly another 20 in Cavan. She would have dealt with …

3. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [15162/25]

The tenant in situ purchase scheme was a means of saving people from homelessness. It is frightening that Louth County Council, which was provided €18.884 million last year for social housing acquisitions, has only been provided €12 million this year. That is a reduction of 36%. The previous Deputy spoke about the tighter constraints and conditions. In my engagement with Louth County Council, it s…

15. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Taoiseach to report on his attendance at the AI Action Summit. [15163/25]