Danny Healy-Rae

I welcome this debate. Something has to change. I wish all the candidates on the ballot paper the very best. Like a lot of others, I am of the view that the chance to run for President must be opened up to many more people. The current system is very confined and, as we have seen, it is determined by a few people as to who can run. The local authorities were to have an opportunity to endorse peopl…

That is all right, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle. I will not name names but many people feel a certain other lady should have had a chance to run. I regret, as others do, that certain people did not get a chance. The likes of the man I mentioned did so much to secure the Good Friday Agreement and for the well-being of our country. It is regrettable that he did not get a chance. He would have been a sou…

This is a very important debate. Men are slower to go to doctors than women, especially men on their own. I know that when men have wives and partners, they see after them and make them go. Men are tough and they persevere with pain, and they often let themselves go. I have known of too many cases where they waited too long, and they were at stage 4, where little could be done for them. I saw a ma…

I am glad to get an opportunity to talk on behalf of the fishing industry and coastal communities in general. When fishermen cannot make money, coastal communities are adversely affected. We have to give credit to the British going back to the 1600s. They built up the fishing industry in Ireland and gave the local people at the time the wherewithal to get the fishing industry going, which we carri…

I thank the Minister for being here this evening to hear our requests. We need to thank him for the money that has been allocated. People will say there is a budget every day but the budget is about being fair. I know that Government has tried to do its best and to be as fair as possible. There is a complaint out there in a lot of people's minds that the working-class people, workers with rising …

I was in the North today. I travelled through four counties early in the morning. It is a grand place with grand people. Like Deputy Michael Collins, I thank the consultants and staff in Kingsbridge Private Hospital for the great care they have taken of all the patients we have sent up for cataract removals, hip and knee replacements and all the other things. They are very careful and have treated…

I am glad of the opportunity to contribute to this debate as well, as I have many times in the past. I cannot understand how this is going on for so long but I heard the Minister of State say the different things that hold it up. I hope it is full belt ahead to ensure the people of Donegal, Mayo, Clare and any other affected area get the redress scheme and their homes back in order, as they rightf…

I am glad to speak about the grain and tillage section of our farming. Grain and tillage have been, are, and always have to be a vital part of our agricultural landscape. We met grain growers and they gave a very concise, interesting and serious presentation on the plight they face. They told us the number of farmers going out of the business and how many will go if something does not happen. It …

-----because we need the straw. All I will say to the Ceann Comhairle is that more than three hours and 32 minutes were given for the debate-----

-----and I still only got two minutes.

We do not want to lose any more, like we lost the sucklers and the sheep men.

We lost the beet. This is our time today. I appreciate that the Minister and the Ministers of State are here listening to us, and I have seen them listening to everyone who has spoken.

This is our time to ensure that we do not lose the tillage men-----

-----or any more grain men. This is our time and the Ministers' time and it is your time too, a Cheann Comhairle.

I am glad to have a chance to mention a few issues this. Housing, as we all know, is so important. There is so much talk about it and so many people are not able to be housed. I understand the Bill is to borrow more money to build more houses and to provide more housing. If this is the case, I welcome it. I have stated here in recent weeks that many people are leaving our shores because when they …

I want to thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this very laudable motion on the cost of disability. We all know it costs any person who had a disability more just to survive and carry on. They have a lot of issues. For people with serious disabilities respite in Kerry is practically non-existent when it is needed. We are very short of residential care places for children with intellectual and phys…

The overhaul of residential tenancies legislation was intended to protect tenants through changes to rent controls and the expansion of tenant protections. However, it is very clear that, since the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2025 updates were introduced in June 2025 with the intention of stabilising rent prices, they have created a bigger problem as many tenants have been given notice t…

I thank the Minister of State very much for being here so late at night. I know she will relay my concerns to the Minister. Many people, including me do not believe it is fair to lock a landlord into a rental agreement for six years. This failed in Scotland, where the authorities have gone back to the arrangement they had in 2016. I am concerned about the Minister of State’s figures because, to m…

I am glad to get the opportunity to speak this evening. I want to clarify something in relation to the carbon tax. A question was raised here yesterday about the carbon tax by Deputy Doherty. It was stated that there was to be a vote held last night. There was no vote. I never voted for the carbon tax. Subsequent to that, another Sinn Féin Member put up a question on his phone to see what way woul…

Never in my life.

There was no vote on the carbon tax last night.

The Deputies might be having a bit of fun. It is grand to have fun, but it is not fun for me. I never voted for the carbon tax.

I am not under any whip from the Deputies about what way I vote. I will vote for the people of Kerry who elected me here. I am very sorry, a Chathaoirligh Gníomhach,

I am glad to get the opportunity to talk on this budget, which has been awaited by many people around the country to see if they will benefit from it. All of us here might do it differently but we have to go by the amount of money the Government has to spend, and the choices it makes about how to spend it is what we have to go through. There are many things that are welcome and a good few things t…

I did not interrupt other Deputies at any time. I will not interrupt them when they are talking, but I am telling the truth.