Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North-Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

With the Ceann Comhairle's permission, I wish to acknowledge the passing of former Minister of State and a colleague of the Taoiseach for a number of years, Danny Wallace. The Taoiseach wrote a piece in a local newspaper yesterday in which he remembered Danny fondly. I first met Danny many years ago, but I really got to know him during the 2019 by-election in Cork North-Central. During the 2020 general election campaign, I was struck by how many people would approach him, by how affable he was with people, and by how highly he was held in their regard.

It really struck me how inherently decent he was. I mark his passing. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

We all have wish lists of things that we would like to see in our constituencies, particularly with regard to infrastructure. I hope the newly established Cork task force will be able to deliver for the people of Cork. I often listen to the Taoiseach and he says that we need to deliver things quite regularly but if I look across my side of the city, I can see it is beset with planning difficulties, for example relating to two of our three primary care centres. We would like to see an elective hospital delivered in Glanmire as quickly as possible. Former Minister of State Danny Wallace would have mentioned the north ring road in this House on many occasions over the years but 25 years on, no progress has been made. I emphasise that all of these projects would, hopefully, feed into regenerating and rejuvenating the city we love so well. Above all else, I ask the Taoiseach to consider including political representation on the task force. I believe this is crucial to ensuring we can drive and deliver for the people of Cork.

See this speech in context