Danny Healy-Rae

I am glad to get the opportunity to say a few words on this Bill. I will give the Government the benefit of the doubt because, for too long, this country has been starved of infrastructure. We are strangled and tied down and I cannot see the benefit of this amendment by insisting that we are to go through this Chamber. I realise all the different political views that different Members have from di…

It was not my phone.

Why do Members always look at me?

I am glad to get the opportunity to raise my satisfaction and appreciation of all the nurses in Kerry and around the country, especially the nurses with whom I have had the occasion to deal with many times, both in the past and recently. I am especially thinking of staff in University Hospital Kerry but also those in the district hospitals in Killarney, Listowel, Cahersiveen, Dingle, Valencia and …

First, I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this very important Bill. As I have said in the Chamber several times, it is a fact that the cost of electricity has gone up every day since we closed down Bord na Móna. Reflecting on it now, that should not have happened but Eamon Ryan and the Greens were in a hurry. It should not have been closed down until we had at least made some preparations or h…

155. Deputy Danny Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science his views regarding the holiday earnings disregard for students applying for Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, grants; his views on whether it is unfair that only income from work during holidays is considered, and students who have a small weekend job lose out on the SUSI grant…

It is very unfair that only income from work during holidays is considered for students who wish to avail of the SUSI grant. If they have a small weekend job they lose out, as there is no disregard for that. What is the reason for this? If they have a bit of work for weekends, why not allow it to be disregarded, like the holiday pay? Youngsters appreciate work.

I thank the Minister for his reply. What I am saying is that it will cost the State nothing to allow the work students do at weekends to be disregarded for the SUSI grant. The costs are exorbitant now for students going to college and it is only natural that they would want to help their parents out and help to get themselves to college and pay for all the things the Minister listed, including the…

As much as anyone else, I welcome the MTU in Tralee for students in Kerry. However, I would say again that it does not make any sense at all if these youngsters could work and earn another bit of money to help themselves to go to college. It would help to take the burden off their parents. The Minister is talking about all the things the Government has given out and that is fine, but these people …

I am glad to get the opportunity to raise with the Minister of State the proposed opening of the new Killarney community nursing home, which has been completed for over 12 months. There is a lot of frustration in the region, the town and all around it with the delay in opening it. As I said, it has been completed for over 12 months. The lights were on there every night through the winter. The heat…

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I have worries and questions about how this will be opened on a phased basis. Is the Minister of State saying to me that 101 beds will open at the start? When will the other 29 beds open? I can see right away that there will be a requirement for new staff if we are moving the staff out of the St. Columbanus home and then out of the district hospital. I…

I thank the Minister of State. I was asked to ask him if some official from the HSE could meet with the councillors from the Killarney electoral area?

Like many others, I resent the comments by the former Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, more or less saying that rural Ireland is a burden to the State. That was dreadful. Each and every one of us needs to demonstrate to the people of rural Ireland that we appreciate them here in Dáil Éireann. In Kerry we have a unique situation whereby there are 575 roads on the waiting list for the local improvement sche…

I thank Sinn Féin for giving us the opportunity to talk about a very important subject. I recognise the great work employees do in carrying out their duties in so many businesses that I know. When we talk about employees, we have to talk about employers as well because they are in it together. If an employer cannot carry on, he or she will not have the employees. I know this from working in the pr…

-----are telling me that they cannot continue. It can go in one ear and out the other, but I ask the Minister of State to listen because we will not have these people. It is elderly individuals who want to stay in their homes for as long as possible who will suffer. They will finish up in hospitals and nursing homes-----

-----where it will cost a lot more to mind them. I ask the Minister of State to deal with that as a matter of urgency. There was no package given in respect of the increase in the cost of the green diesel used in machinery that is involved in construction, and that will not carry on either. The number of houses that will be built will be reduced because when the price goes up from 98 cent to €1.7…

This has been an ongoing for a long time. Back in 2014 when the compulsory purchase order, CPO, was being mooted and talked about, the management in Kerry County Council at the time were insisting on the CPO process to all the members of the council. Both myself and Councillor Johnny Healy-Rae were totally and absolutely against the CPO process because it encapsulates and gives fierce powers. I ha…

I thank the Minister of State for his detailed reply. Before work starts on any man's land or woman's land, it should be paid for first, and not afterwards. It is not right that they may be paid at a later time. The Minister of State is telling me that some of them will be paid this year. What I am saying is do not go into any other man's land without paying first and agreeing the accommodation wo…

I am glad to get the opportunity to speak here today. I believe the climate change, but I do not agree with others about what is causing the change. Climate has changed dramatically over the centuries and decades. In the 1740s, Ireland went through a desperate famine and we lost a third of our population due to hunger, cold and rain. People could not save turf, had no hay for their cows and cattle…

The agricultural community is totally and absolutely against Mercosur. It has been referred to the European court. What legal aid do we have or who is representing us at that court? Do we have representation there? We surely should have representation to put forward our case and that of farmers the length and breadth of the country.

Yes.

That is not the question I asked the Minister of State. Who is representing us? Do we have representation?

A Cheann Comhairle, under-----

Under Standing Order 35(3)-----

Under Standing Order 35(3), I believe I am entitled to say a few words.