Pa Daly

The trial is not until later in the year. I am asking the Minister to take up this case with the British Government because Mr. Devlin is being held on charges which are not counter-terrorism charges, even though that is the method being used to keep him on remand. He and some of his co-accused will be in jail until next year. I ask the Minister to take up this case as urgently as possible to have…

This is one of the most frustrating issues I am dealing with in County Kerry. It is clear that too many children are being denied their right to education. Parents are contacting me about this issue, including, recently, one parent who has been involved in education for 20 years. Her other children have gone through the system. It is with her youngest child that she has faced the system and the bu…

Daft's latest report says the average rent in County Kerry is up between 13.2% and 31.7% depending on the type of property compared with this time last year. The Government should be hanging its head in shame when it comes to its handling of the housing crisis. We can go back to 2011 when the Government, in effect, stopped building social housing, through to the abolition of the town councils, wh…

D’aontaigh Oifig na nOibreacha Poiblí suíomh a thabhairt don phobal i nDún Chaoin chun clós súgartha a chruthú ag Ionad an Bhlascaoid sa bhliain 2021. Tá €40,000 faighte acu. Tá cead pleanála ann. Tá deontas ó NEWKD ach níl an léas sínithe fós. The OPW agreed to give a playground to the community in west Kerry in 2021. There is still no lease signed by its officials. Tá an t-am ag sleamhnú agus g…

87. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Transport if he is aware of the recently published annual review of the transport sector by the Climate Change Advisory Council, CCAC; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34494/25]

Is the Minister aware that the CCAC's recently published annual review of the transport sector is clear that the Government is failing when it comes to a just transition? There are serious problems in the transport sector because it is Ireland's biggest source of energy demand. Last year, transport emissions reduced by only a tiny 1.3%.

I do not agree with the Minister's claim about all the progress being made. In fact, progress is stalling and any gains that have been made are quickly being overtaken because the plan is not delivering. We definitely will miss the target of having 1 million EVs on Irish roads by the end of the decade. The Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, has said we will probably miss it by up to 300,000. Sa…

Does the Minister accept there is a problem with accessibility and affordability in rural areas and less well-off areas? Will he make any provision in the next budget to broaden the grant scheme to make it more accessible and affordable and, perhaps, as the CCAC suggested, extend it to second-hand EVs in order that people who have less money can afford to purchase one? The EPA's assessment of por…

89. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Transport if he will report on Local Link; if he is taking steps to expand its capacity; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34495/25]

On bus routes in west Kerry, there is a shortage of bus stop signage, poles and paper schedules. In Baile na nGall, there is a parking exclusion zone, so buses cannot turn properly. In Lios Póil, there is no dedicated bus stop, so many people have been caught out because they did not know where to stand when the bus was going past. This is symptomatic of the lack of infrastructure for Local Link s…

Of course, the Minister of State is more than welcome any time. Perhaps we could take a bus trip around west Kerry during the recess. That applies to the Minister as well. There is a feeling that there is a regional imbalance and that the infrastructure is much better in the cities than it is in, for example, west Kerry. Cars are the dominant mode of transport in rural Ireland. They are used for 8…

Another type of rural transport which does not get much of a mention and which has been suggested to me by Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh and people working in her office is the door-to-door services. In many counties, no new door-to-door services have been funded for a number of years. Connecting Ireland funding has generally gone towards high-frequency services, which, of course, are beneficial and ha…

91. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Transport if he is aware of the carriage of Israeli munitions through Irish airspace; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34496/25]

As the Minister probably knows, under the Air Navigation (Carriage of Munitions of War, Weapons and Dangerous Goods) Orders 1974 and 1989, it is prohibited for civil aircraft to carry munitions of war in Irish sovereign territory without being granted an exemption to do so by the Minister for Transport. Is the Minister aware of this? I presume he is. Complaints have been made that Israeli munition…

While it is true to say there are media reports, there has been more than that. Complaints have been made to the Department about this. While the Minister says the Department is scrutinising information, a freedom of information request revealed that, on 13 March, a draft report was furnished to the Department. This was denied by the Department in the committee last week, when it said it was an on…

The Tánaiste said recently it is a real challenge to know what is going through our skies, despite all the notifications. There is clearly a draft report. Will the Minister share it with the House before the recess and let us know what is contained in it? I think most would agree we should do everything to have no part in the slaughter of medical attendants, children and others in Gaza by Israel. …

I thank the proposers of the motion and acknowledge the fact that the Government is supporting it. We in Sinn Féin also support the proposals in this motion. It is clear that successive Governments have repeatedly failed to build a modern public transport system that is fit for the 21st century. We only have to look at Dublin's MetroLink, which has been stuck in the pipeline for decades, to see wh…

Murhur National School in Moyvane, in north Kerry, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this week. I wish the principal, Finola Fogarty, and all the school community, staff and past pupils all the best. I am sure the Taoiseach would agree that children with additional needs in rural areas are just as entitled to a full education as those in urban areas. In Murhur there are five children in the loca…

The fundamental difference between the Government's attitude towards housing and the Opposition's attitude is that the Government thinks - the Taoiseach said it again today - that the answer to all the problems is just to provide more units. He believes that providing houses that have rents of €3,000 per month is okay so long as there is more supply in the market. He thinks that is going to fix ev…

When speaking to people in Kerry and dealing with the housing officers in Kerry County Council who are swamped with a deluge of people who are suffering from notices to quit, long waiting lists, rents they cannot afford and being denied access to some of the various schemes, it is obvious that the answer is more social and affordable housing. However, in Kerry, there was no affordable housing sche…

99. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the measures he is taking to address the high cost of energy; if he is planning to rule out categorically an additional levy on household bills to contribute to the proposed strategic emergency gas reserve; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30270/25]

It is interesting that the Minister mentioned the independent surveys and the recovery model because as he knows, Irish households are crippled by the most expensive electricity prices in Europe. Average electricity costs here are almost €1,800 per year, €350 more than the European average. The Government parties all promised they would introduce measures to help with the cost-of-living crisis whe…

There is an awful lot the Minister can do to bring down household electricity prices. The additional costs on household bills make up around 50% of the final electricity price to consumers. The programme for Government omitted any mention of network charges. It gave a vague commitment to explore funding models for the PSO to reduce bills. Is the Minister going to do that? He can tackle the regress…

There will be plenty more announcements this week.

101. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment if he is aware of the latest emissions figures as reported by the Environmental Protection Agency; the steps he is taking to address this; the contingency measures he is putting in place; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30271/25]