First, I absolutely recognise the Deputy's characterisation of this as an ongoing nightmare for the people of Enniscorthy, a town that has flooded many times. Government announcements have been made and Government funding of €51 million has been put in place and people want to see the flood relief scheme delivered. I know we have that as a shared objective.
I listened to the Minister's comments with regard to Met Éi…
TDs / Simon Harris
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Members of the Government answer questions rather than ask them
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Debates they spoke in most
Plus 2,685 contributions in the regular slots, such as Leaders' Questions and Priority Questions. Speech from the chair is not counted.
Party, constituency and offices
- constituency Wicklow 29 November 2024 to now
- office Taoiseach 29 November 2024 to 22 January 2025
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A yellow rain warning is very different in the context of flooding when river levels are so high. We need to see how we can all work together, including local authorities, Met Éireann, the OPW and the Government, at a time when we are seeing more frequent adverse weather events. The Minister of State, Deputy Boxer Moran, is visiting Enniscorthy in the Deputy's constituency today to engage directly.
I appreciate the genuine interest the Deputy has in this issue. There is a challenge in this regard. I can point to the fact that we are spending €3 billion on special education, and quite rightly so. We are seeing more classes open. A good idea, or the germ of a good idea, was trying to open the process earlier to be able to forward-plan and get classes in place. I also accept the reality of the world and that some …
He could not conclude until he got the most important line in at the end-----
-----which was, quite rightly from his perspective, a view in relation to Laois having a need for this. I thank the Deputy for his acknowledgement that this is a positive policy direction. I am eager that the State invests directly in trying to acquire public space to provide capacity. We rightly have debates in this House about reducing childcare fees. We have a clear view on where we want to get to over the lifetim…
Ah now.
I thank Deputy O'Sullivan for raising this issue. I can completely understand how it must be a cause of frustration when on the one hand that school is seeing lots of new school buildings being announced, which is a good thing, while also having its own battle to try to get what sounds to me to be a serious repair issue resolved in the interests of the welfare of its students and staff. On foot of the Deputy raising …
I certainly will because, as the Deputy said, I have an interest in this project. I remember being in Clonmel with Deputy Murphy on many occasions. The work of Tipperary County Council, Tipperary ETB and all of the really good interagency work being done on the Kickham Barracks site is really impressive. It is a really good example of people pulling together to see how they can improve, modernise and rejuvenate their…
I thank the Deputy for raising this issue on behalf of her constituents. My understanding, although I need to look into it some more, is that this, as the Deputy rightly says, was a pilot, an effort to try out new things. Encouraging people to try out new things is always important but so too is learning lessons and answering the questions and views of communities. On foot of the Deputy raising this today I will ask …
I thank Deputy McCormack, who makes a really valid point. I join with him in welcoming the fact that more homes were built in this country in 2025 than in 2024. It was not marginally more, but 20% more and the highest amount of homes completed since 2011, effectively since the crash. We now need to build on that. We have a lot more to do, absolutely, but we need to build on that. The Deputy's point is really valid an…
As always, I want to thank Deputy Currie for the very constructive suggestions she makes constantly with regard to childcare and how we support parents, particularly with the early years. We have done a lot in relation to parental entitlements in recent years, including extending the parent's benefit to nine weeks. That is available for both parents now although the figure is still significantly lower for men. Howeve…
That is a fair question and the short answer is "No". We have to start somewhere in terms of a list and a significant ramp-up of capital investment. What we saw yesterday was an effort to move forward a further 105 projects. That list consisted of 80 large-scale additional school accommodation projects and 25 further projects to be delivered under the modular accommodation programme. A total of 45 of the 80 projects …
I thank Deputy Collins for how he has raised the issue. It is important we tease through this carefully. I think we would all agree there is a need to make sure we get the best use out of the housing stock that exists in our country, particularly in a housing emergency. We all share that view. We do not want an unintended consequence. This is not about going into small rural communities where they are very reliant on…
I would be very happy to meet the group. I thank Deputy Wall, Deputy McGreehan and Senator Tully for the work they are doing. It is good to see a cross-party approach to this issue. I think in all our election manifestos we all promised a roughly similar direction of travel. I spoke to Family Carers Ireland this week. I am looking forward to meeting them and Care Alliance Ireland shortly too. It is a statement of fac…
I find myself somewhat agreeing with the Deputy on this. I have not had an opportunity to probe the rationale behind the ten minutes but I will. I know the Minister and Department were eager to do something positive and providing additional time is that. As a former Minister for higher education, I am aware of how the higher education sector provides those accommodations. We need to ensure there is never a barrier to…
I thank Deputy McGreehan for the work she does as co-chair of the family carers group. I look forward to meeting them. I rule nothing out but I want to have an informed conversation because - I do not mean this in any way flippantly - carers to do such amazing work. We all want to commit to doing more but the commitment a couple of weeks ago was that we were all going to focus on the means test. We will have to have …
It is an important point. These delays are not consequence-free, as the Deputy rightly outlined, for somebody trying to go work, go about their lives or go to college. The national average wait time for driving tests has fallen. It is 10.3 weeks, slightly above where it is meant to be, which is ten weeks. It is down a lot from last April when it was 27 weeks at the peak. I take the point that the fall has not been co…
I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. As she stated, it is an issue of which the Minister is aware on foot of her recent visit to Celbridge. I will speak with the Minister, Deputy Naughton, about this in order to determine when St. Patrick's National School can expect progress on the campus and on what can be done in the interim. I will ask the Minister to come back to the Deputy directly.
We also do not need to babysit the local authorities. They need to get on and do their job. We have given them all vacancy officers and we have funded them. Hard-pressed taxpayers in this country have funded posts for local authorities to tackle dereliction. It utterly unacceptable that it would exist at the scale it does, particularly in the context of what the Deputy outlined with regard to his county of Mayo. We a…
Let me begin by agreeing with the Deputy on one point, which is that Bord Bia is indeed an exemplary organisation. It is an organisation that is fulfilling its mandate with distinction and it is doing so at a time of huge geopolitical and geoeconomic uncertainty. Last year, we saw Irish agrifood exports exceed more than €21 billion. Bord Bia is, therefore, excelling. Bord Bia is doing an exceptional job. Considering …
That is the way business should be done. In fact, that is not just my view; it is actually the view of the president of the Irish Farmers Association. The Deputy wraps himself in the mantle of speaking for farmers. Their elected representative said in his statement yesterday that the correct forum to address this issue is with the chair and other directors at a board meeting. He also had the decency to say that he wa…
You are at it again, Deputy, and you have done it in this House so many times. You just come in, say somebody's name and call for them to be sacked. Do you remember your leader did that with a former Garda Commissioner and how badly that backfired on your party?
Due process matters. Just because the Deputy has read a headline or heard this or that: what is the purpose of a board of directors if the Deputy does not actually want it to have met this morning. It is meeting right now. Can he wait a few minutes? Can he wait for board members to sit down, have a conversation and then report to the Minister, or does it have to be now, in time for the 1 o'clock news? Come on now, le…
We have confidence in a process. Process matters. I know process, democracy and all of that are really inconvenient. Kangaroo courts are much easier but actually allowing somebody an opportunity to talk and answer questions and a board to give a considered view is how this Government functions, and that is a stark difference between this Government and our responsible politics and your populism.
Let the process commence.