Pa Daly

I ask the Minister about nature-based solutions to mitigate and provide resilience to the impacts of climate change. We all know what has happened recently with warmer and wetter winters bringing more flooding, with a cost of billions and more than 100,000 properties in the State at risk of flooding. We know this will continue. Drainage systems will be exceeded, and we need to slow the water down …

What are the Minister of State's views on Ireland's resilience to extreme weather events? Is consideration being given to nature-based solutions to provide resilience to the impacts of climate change?

I hope that in his next answer, the Minister of State actually tells us what type of nature-based solutions will be foreseen or utilised by Government. I refer to the area in Kerry between Knocknagoshel and Brosna. The older people there tell me that up to 20 to 30 years ago, when heavy rain came, it would be soaked up by the bogs and released slowly. That does not happen anymore, partly due to af…

My question similarly relates to vulnerable children. Following the Halpin report into CAMHS in north Kerry which showed deficiencies in care and a departure from standard operating practice, can the Minister confirm that the compensation scheme will be widened to include people who have had an apology already from the HSE and that the review will be widened to a much broader category of children …

Ba mhaith liom ceist a chur ar an Tánaiste mar gheall ar chártaí leighis agus cártaí leighis saorthoilteanacha. Tá bean i gCiarraí agus fuair a fear céile bás, agus i ndiaidh sin, fuair sí ailse. Bhí uirthi rud éigin a dhéanamh mar gheall air san ospidéal. There is a woman in Kerry who applied for a discretionary medical card because she had been refused one. Her husband had died in tragic circums…

I might cc the Tánaiste.

37. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Taoiseach his assessment and response to the NESC report, Connecting People to the Energy Transition. [12358/26]

Tá a fhios ag gach duine atá anseo ó Ghaelcholáiste Chiarraí an tacaíocht agus an chabhair a thugann SNAs do dhaltaí agus don phobal iomlán sna scoileanna. I have been contacted by many schools, in particular, Fossa National School outside Killarney, which has lost four SNAs in that one school in the analysis provided to date. A review is coming up, but there seems to be an overly strict applicat…

I, too, welcome the school community from the convent in Listowel. It is entirely appropriate that there is a school delegation here from the town of Listowel because anyone in this House will remember the flooding that took place two or three weeks before the election of November 2024. Unfortunately, while work has been done in Listowel, which the Minister visited recently, where banks have put i…

At the outset, I wish to sympathise with the family of Grace Lynch and also with anyone who was affected by the collision on North Earl Street this morning. In the light of all of this, and the increase in the roads deaths in 2025 - 190 people died on our roads last year, that is, 190 families shattered, 190 chairs empty at kitchen tables and 190 sets of hopes and dreams suddenly cut short - I wan…

What is at stake here is fundamental, and that is trust. It is trust that our food is safe, that our high standards are upheld and that those at the top are bound by the same rules as those at the bottom. This trust and leadership is earned. We need to know that the State's own agency to promote and develop the Irish food industry has the best interests of the Irish people at heart, is 100% beside…

I take this opportunity to acknowledge the 60th anniversary of the death of Mike Quill, the great union leader in New York who worked in that city's subway system for many years. He always preached an anti-racist message. He was involved in the struggle for the country of his birth, fighting in the War of Independence, and the struggle for his fellow workers in New York. Everywhere we turn, we se…

I spoke to the Minister of State last week about the passing of Stephen McCarthy who took his own life in August 2024. Over the weekend, I received a text from his brother Shane who lives in London. He said that: If you have a family member yourself and people that you care about, no matter what community you're from, as everyone probably knows I'm from the Traveller community, my brother Stephen…

147. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration his plans to simplify the administrative burden placed on volunteers through Garda vetting; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6085/26]

The National Vetting Bureau and the Garda vetting Act have been in place for about 14 years. Has the Minister any plans to simplify the administrative burden placed on volunteers and employees through Garda vetting and the bureau itself? Will he make a statement on that given the length of time it has been in place?

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I agree with him that the system was designed to protect young people and vulnerable adults and I appreciate that must be robust. However, as he has said, it has been segmented and we need a portable system. He mentioned that steps have to be taken. We produced a Bill in 2022 and we were told by the Minister standing in at the time that a body had been …

What we proposed almost four years ago was that the chief bureau officer would establish what we call a register of general consents. The Office of Parliamentary Legal Advisers,OPLA, gave great assistance so that people would remain on the register for three years, give their permission and, under section 6, give a general consent to the disclosure of vetting information to any organisation that m…

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for giving me the opportunity to raise the issue of the need, or demand, for a suicide crisis assessment nurse. A few years ago, I was speaking to a young man, Stephen McCarthy, who lived about 300 yd from where I live. A woman had seen us speaking, and she asked if she could have a word with him because her son was in school with Stephen. She said she remembered him a…

I should mention the name of the boy because I have his family's permission. It is Clancylee Casey, who was known as John. He is the boy who is going to be buried. I appreciate the crisis resolution team the Minister of State has put in place in the solace cafés and that there has been an 18% reduction, but the fact remains a lot of people are slow to go to the emergency department. While what she…

I know that the Minister of State does not have it but I also know that it is complete.

Workers and families across the State are being failed on public transport and worker flexibility. These failures are not abstract; they are the lived reality of people across the island. There are commuters wasting hours of their lives in traffic chaos, waiting for buses or sitting in cars as they inch through gridlocked traffic. It is having a tangible, real life impact on the quality of life fo…

The first thing I wish to speak about are the ancient wastewater systems in parts of County Kerry. I could list six or seven villages, such as Ballyduff, Fenit, Glenbeigh, Kilcummin, Abbeydorney and Castlegregory in particular, where, in effect, although some progress has been made in Kilcummin, we have a hole in the ground. In Castlegregory, it is within 40 yd of a school building. In Fenit and …

95. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Transport the reasons for the delay to certain critical public transport infrastructure projects, despite having all the necessary planning permissions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2819/26]

97. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Transport the steps he is taking to reduce road deaths and improve road safety on Irish roads; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2818/26]

I agree that this is largely technical. As the Minister said, it deals with issues such as the role and appointment of GEOs, their various powers to enter land, the 21-day waiting period, the determination of the form of a safety permit, and the transition or grandfathering provisions. I welcome the fact the Minister is committed to working with Deputies to progress the Bill because some more work…