Danny Healy-Rae

Too many people are dying from cancer all over the country. Many young people are dying just three to six weeks after being diagnosed, at very short notice. Young mothers and fathers are leaving behind young children at such short notice. Blood tests going back even for 12 months do not seem to have shown up anything in many people. Then it is too late when the cancer is detected. People are askin…

I am glad to get the opportunity to talk about post offices. First of all, I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Charlie McConalogue, and the Government for giving them financial assistance this year because they do need it. Like every other Member, I appreciate our post office network. I am sad to think that so many post offices have closed around us over the years. I remember the previous postm…

I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this Bill and giving us the chance to discuss the possibility of a united Ireland. Since I was a young fella, all I ever heard was that was what we needed and that we could not stop until it was achieved. There is so much involved in this. As I grew up, I saw the Troubles of the sixties, seventies, eighties and nineties. Every morning on the news you heard ho…

I thank the proposers of the motion. I am delighted to get the chance to talk about the cost of living. The increased cost of living is in everyone's mouth, and everyone is saying that their wages are being eroded by the cost of living. I believe the main driver is the cost of fuel and energy. For every litre that is purchased, more than half of the cost, approximately 95 cent, is going to the Sta…

That is where taxpayers' money is going, not back to taxpayers, who are giving the Government the money.

I am glad to get the opportunity to welcome that Shannon Energy has got approval to bring in and store gas, and to give us another option. We have a duty to the taxpayers and the people in every county, including Kerry, to deliver energy to them at the cheapest rate possible. I have said here to the Minister of State on many occasions that since we closed Bord na Móna, the cost of electricity has …

I said the 1740-----

I am sorry; I must clarify this.

I said 1740, not 1840. There were two famines. There was the second one that the Deputy is talking about with the potatoes. The 1740 famine was created by rain that never stopped falling for two years. Those are the facts and that is the truth.

The Deputy can support me when I am right.

You are entitled to your opinion.

I am glad to say a few words in support of Charles Ward's motion. He has raised it many times inside here since he was elected, as others have done. I cannot understand how this is taking so long to resolve. There has been quibbling about the foundation. It is only a day's work to put in a foundation. Often it is done much quicker than that if the concrete came - proper concrete - and it is organi…

Who is next?

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle very much.

I am glad to get the opportunity to talk on this Bill. There has been a lot of talk about Dublin Airport and the cap. I know residents are concerned about it but Ireland has to move on. We need to open it up a bit anyway, give some relief there and give the operators like Michael O'Leary, who has been making a lot of sense about it, a chance to keep their flights and their business going. Until R…

-----that Kerry people can travel to this match. We are playing Tyrone on Saturday at 6.15 p.m. It is not a great time for Kerry people who will be trying to get home, maybe leaving Croke Park as late as 9 p.m. I ask that enough trains be put on for that event to make sure the people of Kerry can get up there and get back home again. I have to say to the Minister it is unfortunate Kerry people and…

-----to help them with the cost of diesel. Do not forget us, Minister-----

------it is very important the people of Kerry can see the game, come up and get home again.

I thank Sinn Féin for bringing this serious and important motion to the Chamber this evening. I have encountered many people looking for orthodontic treatment for their children as well as elderly people looking to get seen by a dentist when they only have a medical card. More than 2,000 people, mostly children, are waiting for dental and orthodontic treatment in the south-west region, Cork and Ke…

I am glad to get the opportunity to talk on this topic, even though I have only a couple of minutes. I could talk for a whole day about it. I do not agree with many people here. The climate is changing but the climate has always changed. It is not man-made. We are not causing it here on this Earth. The climate changed back over the centuries, and those are the facts. History will show that to us a…

They are still being charged carbon tax. They are using AdBlue. They are doing everything possible and yet the Government is charging them carbon tax.

You will not change the weather. It would be too late for that.

I, too, wish the Minister of State, Deputy Ardagh, the very best in her new position. I am concerned. Every one of us would support the objective of protecting people from the threat that guns or illicit firearms pose to people’s lives. To reach this general objective, it is important to reduce the number of illicit firearms and the activity of the illegal firearms market in the EU, to reduce the…

Garda vetting is an important process to ensure the safety of children in many settings, such as schools, creches and sports clubs and, in the case of bus drivers and escorts, school buses. It takes at least three to seven weeks in some instances to get Garda vetted. Could this process be streamlined? Many people find themselves having to be Garda vetted three or four times if they are driving a s…

Could it be streamlined? Could we have a card or something like a driver's licence-----