John Brady

The people of Wicklow are constantly being let down by chronic failures in public transport. The badly needed 199 Bray to Glendalough bus service promised in 2024 and procured last year is still not operating there. People in Wicklow are equally frustrated by the two-year delay in upgrading the chronically unreliable 132 route, leaving west Wicklow commuters stranded, with buses continuously break…

----- his ministry, do his job, stop the waste and deliver services?

The Taoiseach says that with a straight face.

I concur with my colleagues. This is an important piece of legislation given the Government's systemic failure to take meaningful action against the genocide and apartheid regime of Israel against the Palestinians. A number of pieces of legislation were brought forward previously, including my illegal Israeli settlement divestment Bill. The Government has made us stakeholders in the illegal practi…

-----in the illegal occupation-----

This is an important piece of legislation.

I move: That the Bill be referred to the Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach pursuant to Standing Order 187.

We do need a Government.

I want to raise with the Taoiseach the imminent sale of a substantial parcel of land in the Wicklow Mountains, including the summit of Lugnaquilla, due to be auctioned off this Friday. The 1,527-acre holding represents a massive opportunity for the State to secure what is essentially a priceless piece of our natural heritage. I do not think land of such environmental, cultural and recreational val…

I have written to the Minister in relation to the sale of this land on Friday. Will the Taoiseach examine this with a view to the State purchasing it?

Last Friday, a constituent of mine from Wicklow presented at St. Vincent's University Hospital A and E after suffering a suspected mini-stroke. He was vulnerable and afraid but after being seen was told nothing would happen over the weekend. He was told to go home and come back on Monday. He did exactly that. Yesterday morning, he went back as instructed but then had to wait for hour after hour. M…

A mini-stroke.

As Cathaoirleach of the Committee of Public Accounts, last week I exposed that in recent years, the Department of education has spent over €2 million on legal costs and court settlements in cases involving families seeking appropriate school places. That is in addition to the €10.5 million spent by the State on legal defences to challenges by parents regarding assessments of need. This is an absol…

That is not true.

That is not fair.

So is the news.

The Taoiseach has not answered the question about international law.

She will respond.

Sit down. You are a disgrace.

Last week, the Government decided to cut the 2026 funding to Wicklow County Council for regional and local roads - a cut of over €300,000 when our roads are already deteriorating. It is unacceptable. Recent storms and bad weather have made a bad situation worse not just in Wicklow but right across the State. Potholes have multiplied and surfaces are crumbling. I have been contacted by many constit…

I move: That the Bill be referred to the Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform, Digitilisation, and Taoiseach pursuant Standing Orders 103(2)(b) and 184(a).

Tomorrow, the Committee of Public Accounts will return to its scrutiny of the extraordinary expenditure on IPAS accommodation last year of €1.2 billion. We return to this scrutiny on foot of a damning report carried out by the Comptroller and Auditor General who raised serious issues about governance, oversight and transparency. Contracts have been awarded to some of the largest criminals within t…

Where were you?

Last week figures provided to me confirmed that more than €400,000 of taxpayers' money was wasted on the failed IPAS accommodation site at River Lodge in Newtownmountkennedy, County Wicklow. This is a shocking example of mismanagement from start to finish. From day one I and the local community warned the then Minister that the site was completely unsuitable but the Government pressed ahead anyway…

Wasting.