Michael Fitzmaurice

I thank the Tánaiste for his response. The one thing I will say is, in the overall context, for people who go through a traumatic injury like that, it is about the facility. It is not about that one person alone; it is about people right around the country. If you leave a person in a hospital that does not cater for something, then you are holding a bed that may be able to help someone else. It is…

I seek clarification. I see the Minister of State with responsibility for housing is here. A month ago I asked a question about the exemption for modular houses at the back of properties. I note that in the media in the last week they are saying that the regulations could be done within the next week or two. Are they coming forward? Could the Minister of State inform me about that?

When will they be ready?

The Taoiseach spoke earlier about the need for housing and everyone right around the Dáil here agrees on the urgent need for more houses. He spoke about 50,000 houses and it is welcome that he has that aspiration and the policy to try to back it up but I would like to go to the nuts and bolts of this. At the moment in Ireland, a person with a small quarry will be four to five years trying to get p…

What I am saying to the Taoiseach is that the facts are, if I am a small quarry operator, it is going to cost me €300,000 to do the reports that those planners need. That is not sustainable for the small guy. Does the Taoiseach realise that at this minute - I will put it on record here - we are heading for four quarries in Ireland because the big guys are mopping up? I would urge the Taoiseach to …

What will the small fellow with three or four lorries do in some small town when he is trying to build? He has to bring his muck away.

Have a look at what is going on. Open your eyes to what is happening.

We are heading for four quarries in this country that will own recycling, and own the quarrying of this country.

We cannot see what is happening. You know what happens then - up with the price.

England has different rules.

It is a different system.

Yes, but it is a different system.

We are burying our heads in the sand.

I noticed over the last few days that senior Ministers are very fond of coming out and making announcements. Between watching television interviews and different commentaries on it, I notice the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, is being rolled out every time. Where is the senior Minister from Galway? She was good at coming out when the decision was being reversed. That the Minister of State had…

She was away all week.

During Covid, the buzzword everywhere in every country was about food security and making sure that where shortages were showing up in places, we would learn from those mistakes. Ironically enough - in my opinion, it is because of Commission pressure - over the last couple of years it is worrying to see in Holland that regarding 10% of the land where farmers were farming, they had to sign a docket…

I never said I was totally opposed to trade deals. We have to bring in bananas and other things from some other countries. There is no one saying otherwise. The question I am asking is whether it does not sound an alarm to all European leaders. By the way, if you look at the stats for Irish exports, most of them go to Europe and the UK, especially in the line of beef. Think about if policy was rig…

I welcome the announcement, and the Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, is here, in relation to the likes of modular granny flats and all of that coming in. I thank him for a meeting we had in the past few weeks. I have one question we are getting a lot of calls about, which is the modular unit or small shed at the back that people want to try to get done up. When does the Government envisage the l…

Will it be ready for summer?

Flooding is a fairly complicated scenario. It might look simple to address and devastating for families but there are a lot of different parts to this. The first thing people need to understand relates to towns especially. When Dublin was being developed, a certain number of pipes were put in, maybe 12 in., 14 in. or 18 in. in diameter. Then it was decided to build more houses and buildings, which…

I support the Bill. I have known the Minister of State a good while, but whoever wrote his speech has never pulled a calf or brought lambs. I will tell him one thing; you would wonder what we are listening to compared with what we are talking about. He talked about the CAP strategic plan. The fact about the new CAP and Food Vision 2030 is that at this moment, farmers around the country are facing …

I welcome this debate. The Dáil has learned a lot about bluetongue. People need to know anything you eat is safe and that it does not spread, like some diseases, mouth to mouth. I think that is very important for the public. I ask the Minister one thing, which is that public representatives are informed about where we are with Tunisia, Northern Ireland and the likes of Greece and some other countr…

I welcome the opportunity to speak in support of this motion. In fairness, money is not a problem but trying to get it done is a problem. The Minister of State, Deputy Moran, and I have been involved with Lough Funshinagh for a number of years. I have seen previous Ministers. What had to be done in Lough Funshinagh was a temporary measure to allow the water to be pumped away. Does the Minister of …

The councils are underfunded. The Minister of State is from the same county as me and he knows this. Galway is probably one of the worst funded counties in general, but in roads especially. Another issue is roadside hedges. Anyone who drives a lorry will know that the first thing that will happen is the mirrors will be clipped. Two rows of hedges will have been cut and the third one will not have…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this debate. I welcome the farmers from the farming bodies around the country. There are a few things we need to put into perspective. Farmers contribute €6 million to Bord Bia. No one is knocking every part of Bord Bia. No one is doing that. There is a job for everyone to do. We are great at telling the story, and it is great to hear about the volume of expo…