Irish Neutrality
Irish neutrality has served us well since the foundation of this State and continues to do so.
Review into second A&E for Mid West
I questioned the Minister for Health on the timing of the announcement of the HIQA review into a second A&E in the Mid West and whether it was determined by the upcoming elections. He confirmed the terms of reference had not even been finalised.
Energy, the environment and what is really happening
Ireland South needs a representative in Europe to call out the disparity between what is being said and what is being done on the environment and sustainable energy.
Government misinformation
This government, on the recent referendum, on immigration and how they have labelled the response of communities, and throughout this Dáil term, have been the greatest purveyors of misinformation in this state.
Restriction of Imports Bill 2024
Restriction of Imports (States in violation of obligations under the Genocide Convention and Occupied Territories) Bill 2024 – introduced by Michael McNamara.
How did sex offender seeking asylum fly under the radar?
On 22 March, the High Court delivered a judgment raising “serious concerns” about the Department of Justice’s handling of information that should have led to somebody being registered on the sex offenders register. It did nothing until until it was raised in the media last week and only then sought a review.
Irish State exploited by UK-based people traffickers
Vulnerable people in precarious situations are being exploited by people traffickers. It’s becoming clear this State is also being exploited by those traffickers.
Department of Justice
Following criticism by the High Court of the failure to include a person on the sex offenders register after being informed by UK authorities of a relevant conviction there, I asked the Tánaiste if he had confidence in the Department of Justice and its stewardship.
EU Migration Pact
The EU Migration Pact is comprised of several different pieces of legislation on which the European Parliament voted separately. Lumping them all together into one vote, which will remove the opt-out that Irish people voted for in the Lisbon Treaty, is profoundly undemocratic.
Aoife Johnston inquest
Following the shocking inquest into the death of Aoife Johnston at University Hospital Limerick, I asked for time to be set aside in Dáil Éireann to discuss the ongoing crisis there.
Michael McNamara on Nature Restoration Law
The proposed Nature Restoration Law’s lack of a funding mechanism for farmers required to reduce or abandon farming activities in affected areas is its biggest flaw. In the Burren & Hen Harrier SPA, farmers had funding cancelled after engaging with agri-environment schemes.
Questioning Justice Minister Helen McEntee on immigration data
There’s a disconnect between what the Government does and what it says on immigration. There’s also a lack of transparency on key data.
McNamara highlights concentration of land ownership in South Tipperary
Independent TD Michael McNamara has called on Dáil Éireann to set aside time for a discussion on the purchase of vast tracts of farmland in South Tipperary by John Magnier and called for measures to combat further concentration of ownership.
Opposing Taoiseach nomination
I outlined to the Dáil why I voted against the nomination of Simon Harris as Taoiseach.
Agriculture Minister non committal on reimbursing co operation area farmers for investments in 2024
Farmers in co-operation areas of ACRES making investments, such as fencing, solar pumps, culverts, hedgerow planting and rejuvenation, gates and drinking troughs, are entitled to reimbursements of a portion of their cost. In the latest blow to farmers in the Acres Scheme, however, the Minister has refused to give a commitment that approved investments carried out in 2024 will be reimbursed this year.
Direct Provision accommodation
Despite regularly citing EU and international legal obligations, the Government fails to clarify how many in direct provision are not entitled to accommodation under EU/international law and says it may not even be able to ascertain the figure.
That figure is likely to be several thousand as it includes the vast majority of those who’re waiting months and years for the Justice Minister to decide on their Leave to Remain applications (after their asylum claims is refused).
Hen Harrier Project and Burren Life Programme
Micheal Martin offers more support – but still no money – to farmers in the Burren and Slieve Aughty.
Accommodating IPAs in Ireland
Two years on, the absence of a government plan to accommodate refugees is unacceptable, as is the lack of oversight of accommodation providers.
Government referendum and married couples
The Taoiseach has confirmed that even if the Government referendum proposal is passed it will still be possible to discriminate in favour of married couples.
Irish Government spends €808k on Ukrainian pets
The Government has spent over €800,000 on Ukrainian pets brought to Ireland. I asked why.
Single income earners left high and dry in securing a home
Anyone earning €35k-55k has no hope of securing a home on their income alone even though a large number of public and private sector workers are in this pay bracket.
Dublin Airport arrivals without passports
3,285 people arrived to Dublin Airport without a valid identity document in 2023, down from 4,968 people in 2022.
Read MoreKnackery operators strike over rendering costs
The Minister has “dug many a hole to bury large animals in the past” he told the Dáil, advising farmers to get digging in response to the renderers strike. The Dept has issued a notice that Councils will have to approve proposed burial sites in advance. This is simply unworkable.
ACRES payments
Has the Department of Agriculture run out of money to pay farmers in ACRES cooperation areas, I asked the Tánaiste.
Digital Services Bill
I outlined my reservations about some aspects of the proposed Digital Services Bill in the Dáil today.
Renewables in Ireland
There has been a lot of talk in Ireland about developing renewables. There has been a lot less action from the Government in actually developing renewables.
ACRES Payments Delay
I questioned the Government about the ACRES payments delay and highlighted how it is putting farmers under financial pressure to pay bills.
The new Planning Bill
The new Planning Bill, designed to hinder access to justice to challenge bad planning and environmental decisions, is problematic.
Read MoreCaitriona Lucas
A statutory inquiry is needed into the circumstances surrounding the death of Caitriona Lucas and the investigation into her death.
Anti-social behaviour in Ennis
The Justice Minister says there’s no link between the failure to adequately police the streets of inner city Dublin and last week’s rioting and looting. I disagree. One leads to the other. I pointed out the growth in anti-social activity in Ennis of late and called for it to be tackled by Gardaí.
Ongoing overcrowding at UHL
I raised the issue of ongoing overcrowding at UHL and the need to make greater use of Ennis, St. Johns and Nenagh Hospitals.
Funding for unsewered towns and villages
Despite all the promises, there’s still no announcement of funding for Broadford, Cooraclare or any of the many other unsewered settlements across the country to install a sewerage scheme.
Hypocritical European Council stance on Ukraine and Gaza
The hypocrisy of the European Council position on the Middle East and the war in Ukraine undermines its influence on the world and its founding principles.
Support for forestry sector
The failure to provide any certainty to owners of Ash dieback affected forests or to process afforestation permits highlight the gulf between what’s promised and delivered by the Government.
McNamara Critical of Government Inaction on Home Care Motion
Clare TD Michael McNamara has called on the Government to shift its focus to keeping elderly people out of nursing homes and ensuring that the necessary supports are provided to assist the provision of appropriate care in the home setting.
Ireland’s sewerage infrastructure deficit
Cycle lanes make for better photo-ops than sewerage pipes but Ireland’s sewerage infrastructure deficit needs to be addressed with far greater urgency. Unsewered settlements are not even mentioned in the latest EPA report.
Day surgeries cancelled at Ennis Hospital
Again, surgeries cancelled in Ennis. Again, A+E in UHL dangerously overcrowded. When will this government ensure Ennis is resourced and utilised to alleviate pressure on Limerick?, I asked the Taoiseach.
Michael McNamara addresses Motion on Neutrality
This government does not respect neutrality. To train belligerents in a war is not the act of a neutral state nor is the language used to condemn Russian actions in Ukraine when it declines to condemn similar actions by the IDF in Palestine in similar terms.
University Hospital Limerick
People are afraid to go to University Hospital Limerick (UHL). Lives will be lost because of the fear but, equally, lives will be lost because that fear is justified. While celebrating being republicans this government has perpetuated huge disparity in healthcare across Ireland.
UHL overcrowding
When I asked what would be done to reduce overcrowding this winter at UHL, the most overcrowded hospital in the country, the Taoiseach told me how much would be spent nationally.
Michael McNamara TD response to Budget 2024
My response to Budget 2024 with a particular focus on agriculture, childcare, disability and education.
Irish rental properties
The ability of unscrupulous landlords to rent out homes unfit for purpose, as well as unscrupulous tenants to not pay rent and game the system, needs to be addressed with legislation not platitudes.
Office of the Agri-Food Regulator
It’s becoming clear, even to the Minister for Agriculture, that the office of the Agri-Food Regulator he has established will not provide the transparency promised.
Dáil debate on Mayor of Limerick
The destruction of the fabric of historical Limerick by local government has been shameful. The new, elected Mayor needs more than ceremonial powers to address the planning, housing, and commercial needs of the city. The Mid-West needs a thriving Limerick City.
https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/2023-09-20/speech/192/
Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill
The proposed Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023 does nothing to add to the existing prohibition on obstructing somebody from accessing a healthcare facility or harassing somebody. The provisions around communications and conduct “likely to influence the decision of another person” are unimplementable.
Nature Restoration Law
The Nature Restoration Law will significantly impact agricultural and maritime communities areas but it’s not clear the Government will introduce the necessary measures to ensure they can remain viable.
Hospital Overcrowding
97 on trolleys today at UHL in the middle of summer but the government offers no new solution when I raised issue with the Tánaiste today.
Political Policing
Political policing cannot be allowed. It has happened before and, under this new policing bill, will happen again.
Brendan Daly RIP
I wish to express my condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of former Minister, Clare TD and Senator Brendan Daly on his passing.
An Bord Pleanála
An Bord Pleanála delays as interest rates rise mean homeowners will pay higher mortgages.
Afforestation rate in Ireland
The Minister for Agriculture continues to blame the European Commission’s failure to give State Aid approval to the Government’s forestry plans for what will be the lowest annual afforestation rate in decades, if not ever in this State’s history.
Consultation needed to lessen pressure on GP and other essential services from refugee and asylum seeker accommodation
Clare Independent TD Michael McNamara has called for ongoing consultation with communities hosting refugees and asylum seekers, in particular for the Government to outline its plans to address the increased strain placed on GP services as a result of the arrival of Ukrainian refugees and international protection applicants, citing his hometown in East Clare as an example.
McNamara seeks updated criteria for Disabled Drivers & Disabled Passengers Scheme
Independent Clare TD Michael McNamara says the Government must urgently update the medical criteria for persons wishing to secure a primary medical certificate in order to benefit from the Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers Scheme (DDDPS).
McNamara Urges Government To Speed Up Introduction Of Gambling Legislation
Independent Clare TD Michael McNamara has said the Government must speed up the introduction of legislation which would ban online gambling advertising and severely restrict the broadcast of gambling advertising on TV and radio.
ACRES
2.8 litre diesel landcruisers while telling us to go electric…cutting farmers’ funds in environmentally designated areas while talking up the Nature Restoration Law…claiming to be personally putting money in farmers’ pockets when administering taxpayers’ funds…shameless.
National Minimum Wage
The days when young people were merely working for pocket money are, sadly, no more. Young people need to be fairly paid for the work they do.
Local authority fire fighters and water workers
The LGMA, comprised of local authority management, seems more powerful that the Minister. He gives assurances and makes policies regarding retained fire fighters and water workers which the LGMA refuses to implement.
Review of Ireland’s abortion laws
The Chair of a review of Ireland’s abortion laws told me she thought it was acceptable to lessen the employment prospects of medics who conscientiously object to the carrying out of abortion and answered other questions I put to her at the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health.
Local authority water workers
Local authority water workers were promised there would be no change to the terms and conditions of their employment whether they transferred to Irish Water or remained as Council employees. Now, they’re being told that this will not be the case if they do not transfer to Irish Water, and strike action is imminent. I asked if the Government would intervene to ensure the promises made are kept.
Wastewater Infrastructure in coastal communities
Developing wastewater infrastructure in unsewered settlements is neither the responsibility of local authorities nor Irish Water. Therefore, despite the environmental and economic necessity and a budget surplus, communities all over Ireland have little prospect of a resolution.
In the Dáil today, I raised the plight of Clare coastal communities such as Carrigaholt, Doolin, Spanish Point, Miltown Malbay and Quilty.
Consultation on accommodation for asylum seekers and refugees
The Government consults with some communities but not others on accommodation for asylum seekers and refugees but refuses to explain why.
Regional balance and fairness in Government accommodation plan for refugees and asylum seekers
Clare TD Michael McNamara has called on the Government to ensure that accommodation provided to refugees and asylum seekers is more evenly dispersed across the State.
Agri-Food Regulator debate
The power that the Agri-Food Regulator will have to bring transparency to the food chain was debated and disputed last night in the Dáil when my suggested amendments were discussed.
Planning and Rural Housing
Discrimination in planning decisions based on farm size or “viability” of a farm holding by An Bord Pleanála, and recently enshrined in the Clare County Development Plan, must be tackled and eradicate
Food Inflation
The new Agri-Food Regulator will not have the power to determine who is profiteering from food price increases. Until this is changed, it will just be a waste of money.
Cost of producing essential food items in Ireland
Tánaiste and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin doesn’t want any State agencies tasked with ascertaining the minimum cost of production of essential food items in Ireland. It can’t be that he doesn’t understand the issue as he was the Trade Minister that removed the ban on below-cost selling of groceries.
EU Military Assistance to Ukraine
The Dáil may agree with the government’s funding of, and participation in, the EU Military Assistance to Ukraine but unless/until it does, is the Constitution being adhered to?
Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Bill
An Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Bill that doesn’t even mention processors isn’t credible. A regulator without the power to probe the commercial relationship between processors or the impact of processor owned/controlled feedlots on prices cannot succeed no matter how well intentioned.
Burren and Slieve Aughty farmers
After replacing the Burren Life and Hen Harrier projects with a scheme that’s easier for them to administer but leaves farmers and the environment in the Burren and Slieve Aughty worse off, Minister McConalogue’s civil servants are still “considering” a solution without even a timeline for a decision.
Housing debate
In a depressing debate for those in need of housing, the Government insists its measures are working when they are clearly inadequate and all opposition parties try to make private property owners the focus and blame them for the State’s failings over decades.
Bringing Families Back Living In Town Centres
Clare Independent TD Michael McNamara has suggested Ennis town centre as the focus of a government pilot project aimed at bringing buildings back into residential use.
Proposed demolition of houses in Ennis
The proposed demolition of six houses at Francis St, Ennis, recently purchased by Clare County Council, needs to be reconsidered, and the Tánaiste agrees.
Gaelcholáistí
Ní léir go dtuigeann an tAire agus an Roinn Oideachais an méid oibre atá ar siúl in Inis chun an Ghaeilge a chur chun cinn agus a chothú agus an tábhacht a bhaineann le Gaelcholáiste an Chláir neamspleách ina leith.
Impasse At O’Briensbridge Stalls Landmark Tourism Project
Independent Clare TD Michael McNamara has urged Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to directly intervene in an ongoing impasse involving a section of the preferred route for the Greenway project linking Limerick City with Scariff in East Clare.
Pension entitlements for civil servants
Promises made regarding the pension entitlements of workers who were transferred from the civil service to other bodies were not kept in the past. Posts and Telegraph personnel and Air Traffic Controllers are examples, and now it is proposed with regard to civil servants working in Garda stations.
Paramedic graduates
At a time of immense pressure on its services, the National Ambulance Service needs to re-examine how it can utilise Paramedic Studies graduates of the University of Limerick.
National Ambulance Service response times
When I recently asked the Minister for Health the number of occasions where ambulances arrived at scenes where the patient had already died, I was told that such statistics are not collated. The deterioration in the National Ambulance Service is clear from the statistics we do have.
Irish Defence Forces and Ukraine
ARTICLE 28.3 Constitution of Ireland
1° War shall not be declared and 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝘄𝗮𝗿 𝘀𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗗𝗮́𝗶𝗹 𝗘́𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗻𝗻.
The Dáil did not assent tonight to the participation of the Defence Forces in the EU Military Assistance Mission to Ukraine.
Growing shortage of vets in large animal practices
A new Veterinary School should be developed on a similar model to the School of Medicine at UL in order to address a growing shortage of vets in large animal practices as current practitioners retire.
McNamara backs UL model for new Veterinary School
Independent Clare TD Michael McNamara has called for a new Veterinary School to be developed on a similar model to the School of Medicine at UL in order to address a growing shortage of vets in large animal practices as current practitioners retire.
Read MoreCulling the national herd
The Government has committed to not reducing the national herd therefore, it is time to invest in a real plan to reduce emissions in the sectors where, unlike agriculture, emissions have increased over the past 50 years.
Government response to healthcare crisis in Mid-West
While it is acknowledged that Model 2 hospitals like Ennis and Nenagh are underutilised, there is no plan to remedy this. Seeking accountability from this government for the healthcare crisis in the Mid West is like playing handball against a haystack.
Theatres at Ennis Hospital
I asked why two recently upgraded theatres at Ennis Hospital are currently not being used when there is significant waiting lists for procedures in the Mid West.
Coillte
Coillte, as a state company, is treated differently by state agencies and departments, including the Forestry Division when it comes to observing environmental standards.
That contributes to the detrimental environmental impact of much of our forestry which was recently highlighted by the EU Commission.
Ennis Hospital
The Taoiseach has admitted additional resources are required for Ennis Hospital. I will continue to pursue the Government to deliver.
Dental care for primary school students
I raised the delays being experienced in the delivery of dental care to primary school students because of a lack of personnel signed up to deliver the scheme.
Agriculture and the Food Supply Chain Bill
The Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Bill, as it stands, will not make it any clearer to farmers and consumers who is profiting most from the production and sale of essential food items.
Coillte deal with British investment funds
Micheál Martin confirms that the Coillte scheme to facilitate the purchase of land across Ireland by British investment funds will not be affected by his proposed Government review.
Nomination of Taoiseach
On the election of the Taoiseach, I explained why I could not support the “new” government.
Social Housing income threshold
The increase in the income threshold for entitlement to social housing is welcome but at €35,000 (before tax) in Clare, it still excludes many who cannot get a mortgage.
TMAS funding for farmers
I raised the different rates of funding provided by the Department of Agriculture to male and female applicants aged 41-55 years under the TMAS scheme and questioned whether it amounts to unlawful discrimination.
Irish neutrality
Outlining to EC President Ursula von der Leyen the role of neutral, non-aligned States, like Ireland, in bringing about a peaceful end to conflict, I asked that this position be reflected in EU policy.
Shannon Airport
I questioned Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary about Shannon Airport and its potential for further growth.
Autism supports
Autism supports to children and adolescents exist in theory but when parents in Clare seek them for their children, they encounter a wall of bureaucracy and no supports.
Legalising drug use in Ireland
Drugs need to be legalised and possession decriminalised by the Dáil to take this lucrative trade out of the hands of brutal thugs without delay.
University Hospital Limerick overcrowding
Chronic and persistent overcrowding at University Hospital Limerick is not being addressed.
Mercosur trade deal
The Mercosur trade deal can be concluded by the European Commission, by-passing the people in member states and their parliaments, the Taoiseach suggested today (insofar as he answered my question).
Pay rates for PhD students
Despite lip service to the importance of science in the Dáil last night, poor funding of PhD students in Ireland continues.
Retained fire fighters
I called for the ongoing crisis in the Retained Fire Service in rural communities across Ireland to be addressed.