Danny Healy-Rae

Representatives of the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association came up to Agriculture House yesterday. Their concerns are about proposals to rewet peat-type soils and to stop people draining peat-type soils that have not been drained yet or have had only a little drainage. This will greatly and adversely impact on farmers' ability to farm, especially on marginal farms in places like south Kerry,…

The group is saying that payment rules are going to be affected by these new GAEC 2 proposals. I am asking the Ministers and the Taoiseach to consider this. It looks as though this proposal came from the Greens. I want it to be stopped.

Will you stop people from cutting turf, Minister?

My time is very short but I want to thank all the gardaí for the great work they are doing. Criminals and vandals are more daring now than they were in the past and have many more ways of doing harm and blackguarding. The area I want to focus on is both sides of the Kenmare river and Kenmare Bay, where Garda stations have been closed down. All the way from Kenmare down to Cahersiveen and back to …

I am glad to have the chance to raise these important issues. I wish to discuss and deal with the issues preventing homeowners from renting out vacant houses and the tax that people have to pay. People must pay up to 50% in tax when they rent a private house or in respect of a house that they want to rent out. Fifty percent of €800 is only €400, and it is not worthwhile for many people who I know …

That is only one road.

I thank the Minister of State very much for his reply. I know all the reasons he has given for why a tenant would have to leave, but in practice it is very hard to get that through and to get the house back. As I said about the road from Kenmare through Kilgarvan and down to within five miles of Killarney, it is just one road and I believe there are hundreds of houses, even in Killarney itself, th…

I wish to ask the Taoiseach about a problem we have with two estates in Aghadoe in Killarney. These are the Old Killarney Village and the Birch Hill estate. Their treatment plants are out of date and no longer suitable. For many years, I have been requesting in the House that they be connected to the public sewer. On two occasions, funding has been made available in this regard. Going back a numbe…

-----that for once and for all the matter will be resolved? I have been at this for six years and everything is still the same-----

I commiserate with the people of Ukraine who have gone through so much and I welcome the visitors to the House today. I do not know whether they are still here. They are welcome to the Dáil to see what the people here are saying and thinking about. I am glad that Ireland has done its best for the Ukrainian people. Hotels provided accommodation and all the necessary facilities for the Ukrainian pe…

I left one thing out. When we talk about means testing of carers and other means testing, we have to be fair.

I wish the new Minister and Ministers of State across the way all the very best in their work. We will try to work the best we can with them. There are a lot of elderly people in Kerry presenting with health issues. This is what we are talking about. A lot of people, young and old are not experiencing the health service they would expect. There is one thing that is driving people absolutely stone …

I wish to raise the issue of many parents in County Kerry whose children have been diagnosed with autism, ADHD and other intellectual disabilities. While the numbers continue to increase, the services are not readily available. Waiting times for assessments and diagnoses are taking way too long. There is a huge shortage of speech and language therapists. Many parents have to go down the route of p…

That is not fair for people in County Kerry.

I am glad to have the opportunity to raise the very serious plight of people in Knight’s Mountain, Knocknagashel and Lyracrumpane, which are beside one another. They have very little water. In fact, their wells are now obsolete because the water is undrinkable. When you pour the water out of them, it is like a cup of coffee. It has gone brown and they just cannot drink it anymore. There are up to …

I hear the Minister of State say that Uisce Éireann has not heard anything and knows nothing about this. I did mention to him that it is Kerry County Council that has the responsibility in the first place for group water schemes and to administer those schemes. I am kind of amazed that Kerry County Council has not liaised with Uisce Éireann in this case, but the facts are as I have outlined to the…

You would need €45,000. It is no good.

I thank the Minister of State. I do appreciate that he will see after west Cork, but I am asking him now, seeing as he is in the position, to see after Knocknagashel, Knight's Mountain and other places in Gneevgullia, and Crag, in Castleisland. I am depending on him to see after those places now for me.

I am delighted by the news today that the Government is planning to exempt cabin-style units at the back of family homes. This is a wonderful idea. My brother, Deputy Michael Healy-Rae, and I have been looking for this for many years never more so than now. It is a great idea and I thank the Government. This is a real attempt at housing people that can happen very quickly. In tandem with that, ma…

What about the 1 million houses? Where have they gone?

She might want to-----

I wish both Ministers of State well in their new jobs. County Kerry has its fair share of mental health problems. We all know what happened with south Kerry CAMHS when 250 children were badly wronged, mistreated and badly let down. Not much has changed since then in south Kerry. Families are left to their own devices to try to mind their children around the clock. Some people cannot go to work bec…

I hope this new programme for Government delivers for County Kerry because Kerry has definitely left behind for a lot of years now. Even Killarney is in a desperate state. It needs a bypass first of all but in the short term daily traffic is going in to Killarney from every side meaning that people are now avoiding it. That is detrimental to tourist providers and to business in the town and we nee…

This Government-generated pressure from strict planning is the cause of it. I want to mention treatment plants. Every one of them is not capable. We cannot build even one house in some of our towns and villages.

What will the Government do about section 39 workers, who have been left behind for so long, regarding pay parity and conditions? They are about to strike shortly. They are calling for industrial action and I feel they have no choice but to do that because they have been promised for so long. These section 39 workers do Trojan work in Kerry around people with disabilities and all the other little …