Mairéad Farrell

It is very hard for people to have faith in the Government, definitely on the back of what the previous Government oversaw regarding the national children’s hospital, cost overruns, there being no idea of a completion date, and a change in completion dates. The current Government needs to take this seriously, just as it needs to take seriously the need to stop the wastage of public money. It is i…

It is very difficult for people to believe that this will be taken seriously by the Government because we have been seeing more crazy sums of public money being wasted. I will have a Bill forthcoming in this Dáil which will clearly help to identify cost overruns, deficient contractors and wasteful public procurement spending of public moneys. I know this is the first time the Minister and I have w…

I am asking that the Tánaiste make himself available to the House to answer questions regarding his party’s investigation into Senator Martin Conway for inappropriate behaviour towards a female staff member. We wrote to the Tánaiste and the Ceann Comhairle requesting that time be set aside and we also raised this at the Business Committee but this has been declined. We know there was an investiga…

----- but we do not know by whom.

It is legitimate.

It is not an allegation.

I-----

I will ask a direct question to the Tánaiste then.

Okay. I withdraw the allegations. Rather than there be allegations or anything like this-----

-----I would ask the Tánaiste to-----

------make time next week to speak on this.

I am totally opposed to the Bill. I am deeply frustrated with how our amendments have been dealt with. I will first speak to the matter of the Bill. Recently, the Taoiseach described the Opposition's rejection of the Government's stroke politics as a subversion of the Constitution. Talk about a subversion of the English language. The Government was forced to row back on its outrageous plan to have…

Hear, hear.

Hear, hear.

A Cheann Comhairle, as you will see, there is a note that I have opposed this section. I oppose it for all the reasons outlined by all the Opposition parties together in the last hour or so. It is outrageous that the first act of this Government is to increase the number of super junior and junior Ministers. This is at a time when many of our constituents have had two weeks without electricity, th…

Hear, hear.

Parts of Connemara had serious telecommunications issues in November, with certain areas without a phone signal for up to three weeks. Now, again, these exact same people are facing the exact same issues. Many have been told they will not get connectivity for another six weeks despite us running into the third week of the storm's aftermath. Some are being told by their private providers that they …

It is not agreed. Ní aontaím leis seo.

A Cheann Comhairle, it is an absolute disgrace-----

-----that the first thing this Government is doing-----

It is an absolute disgrace when people are without water and electricity-----

-----and all you want is more jobs for yourselves.

I welcome the fact that we are having this debate but it should have happened last week. There is no doubt in my mind that if this had happened in Dublin, the Dáil would have sat as a matter of urgency last week. It is outrageous that it did not. I recognise the immense work that was done by those on the ground, those who worked tirelessly to get water and electricity back, and those who are cont…

Hear, hear.

Is onóir mhór dom é seasamh os bhur gcomhair inniu agus an Teachta Mary Lou McDonald a ainmniú mar Thaoiseach. Inniu, táimid ag teacht le chéile chun Rialtas na Dála seo a thoghadh. Teastaíonn Taoiseach a thuigeann na deacrachtaí atá againn sa tír seo ach chomh maith leis sin a fheiceann na deiseanna gur féidir linn a chothú chun saol agus tír i bhfad Éireann níos fearr a chruthú. Is é sin an cine…