Michael Collins

Communities are concerned. These are not racist people but people who have legitimate concerns in their communities. The European Union cannot dictate how many people can come to this small island. Independent Ireland Councillor Linda de Courcy pleaded for answers from this Government, through me, about Citywest a number of months ago. No matter what I asked, I never got an answer until the deal w…

I welcome this debate and thank Deputy Gogarty and his staff for bringing it forward. It is a conversation that is long overdue. Antisocial behaviour is not some abstract issue or statistic on the pages of reports. It is happening in our towns and villages every day of the week. It is happening to shopkeepers who have to watch their shelves while being threatened, elderly people who feel unsafe wh…

I want to raise the issue of the Minister with responsibility for school transport to come before the Dáil to answer questions on the shambles of school transport all over the country. Regarding other events all over the world and indeed in our own country, we as politicians, must unite against them, no matter where we come from in the political spectrum. Independent Ireland has written to the Ce…

We ask for this not alone for Charlie Kirk but for every person or politician who has been attacked or threatened in any way while carrying out their duty. We ask to unite against the threat by standing here together with a minute's silence.

What about the minute's silence?

This summer has been one of huge discontent and serious upset for farmers and landowners on the proposed greenway walk from Cork to Kinsale. I begin by saying that a walkway anywhere in our country has to be welcome, but with peaceful negotiations as was done in the world-renowned Sheep's Head and Beara Way. That is the model to do this, not the TII model with its sword over the head called CPO. …

I beg the indulgence of the Leas-Cheann Comhairle to pay tribute to Fianna Fáil Councillor Patrick Gerard Murphy, who represented Bantry, Castletownbere and Skull electoral area and whose untimely death took place last Friday. His funeral is taking place as I speak this evening. Patrick was a councillor decades ahead of time. He had a great ability to bring people from right across the political d…

I am glad to be able to speak on this motion. Let me start by saying clearly that I welcome it. I welcome it because every child in this country has the right to an education. That right is not something that should be up for debate. It is in our Constitution. It is in international law, and it is in the heart of every parent who wants the best for their son or daughter. However, what we have seen…

I looked at the briefing paper. We agree, as I think most people here do, that we should reduce the timeframe from seven to two years for the disposal of assets identified as proceeds of crime. The Bill strengthens the Criminal Asset's Bureau's powers to restrain and seize assets before the High Court. A process introduces new restraint orders to prevent transactions linked to suspected proceeds o…

It is okay, I will mind you.

Independent Ireland is proud to speak in strong support of this Bill today. This Bill speaks to the very core of fairness, common sense and compassion in public policy. It is a simple but powerful measure that will make a real difference in the lives of thousands of our people who have already been through hell and back. The financial discrimination faced by cancer survivors in Ireland is an ongoi…

I thank Deputy Stanley and his group for tabling this very important motion, particularly in view of the crisis we have in dental care throughout the country. In the past 12 months alone, Cork has lost 58 dentists who were providing treatment to medical card holders. This is almost one quarter of all dentists who are part of the dental treatment service scheme. These include 22 dentists in the sou…

Excuse me. It is my question now. The Deputy might sit down and give me the decency-----

I did not disrupt you when you were speaking.

Sit down, please. Would you ever learn your place in this building?

I want to raise a critical issue affecting the people of Castletownbere, Eyeries and Ardgroom. These communities are effectively frozen, unable to grow and develop because of a water infrastructure crisis that has gone unresolved for far too long. Planning applications are being refused or withdrawn due to the concerns over water abstraction from Glenbeg Lough, which lies within a special area of …

Today, we are presented with the Health (Amendment) Bill 2025. On the surface, the Bill promises reform, but let us be clear - this is not reform, but bureaucracy dressed up as progress. The Bill does not fix our broken health system. It merely rearranges the furniture in a house that is already on fire. It tinkers with the governance structures while ignoring the real crisis, which is the daily s…

We need a debate this week in the Dáil on the leaked draft of the Common Agricultural Policy, which shows zero ambition to protect food security going forward. It looks like there will be no increase in funding for the LEADER programme and no increase in funding for agriculture. With rural pubs and post offices closing in the country, this is a terrible time for this leaked document to come out. A…

This issue has shaken public confidence and raised serious concerns about transparency and accountability in our institutions. As public representatives, we have a duty to respond not with words alone, but with action. I speak from personal experience. My aunt was severely physically abused by a teacher simply because she was considered at that time as a bit slow. That was the language used at the…

I thank the Social Democrats and will support this very important motion. Since 2021, grocery costs have surged nearly 40%, adding €3,000 to annual family expenses and pushing more than 100,000 children into consistent poverty. These are some examples. Brennan's white bread, 800 g, increased from €1.87 in 2022 to €1.99 in 2025. Avonmore milk, 2 l, rose from €1.99 to €2.69. Denny sausages, 454 g, …

The all-island strategic rail review, published in July 2024, outlines a comprehensive vision for enhancing the rail system across Ireland and Northern Ireland up to 2050. Recommended in it are additional capacity, faster services, higher frequency, electrification and new routes. These are great except if you live in rural Ireland, where I happen to live. Light rail is to come to Cork city but, f…

Reducing the length of time with regard to a planning permission might be okay with the large developments but I would be very concerned about the one-off housing. A lot of people might apply for planning but may not have the money to get started, especially with the price of materials at the moment. I refer to one-off housing in rural Ireland. I have often met people, as we all do in our constitu…

This is the fifth week in a row I have asked that the Minister for education come to the Dáil to talk about the capitation grant and class sizes. It is hugely important now. We are facing into the summer break, almost immediately after which we will have the budget. It is a huge concern in the Irish National Teachers' Organisation, INTO, especially with regard to the capitation grant where some sc…

Independent Ireland will not be opposing this Bill going through the Dáil. That might be an example to the Minister as to how we are open to doing business. When we put forward a motion two or three weeks ago we put forward about 20 proposals, the Government put forward 24 or 25 amendments to make sure it did not go through the Dáil. It might have resolved the situation around housing and the situ…

I have attended most of the debates on college fees in the past week and the one thing I found was that nobody got clarity. This is a terribly unfair situation for parents to find themselves in. They are very concerned. There is no point in saying something here that is not true. Every politician, including the Ministers, must surely realise from emails the concerns of parents. In a message I rece…