Results 22,321-22,340 of 26,350 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 May 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: I would welcome that debate again because I debate with this man all the time. He still has nothing to say and no housing plan. All he does is oppose everything.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 May 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: I will, of course.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 May 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: Ask your Deputies why they keep asking me to expand the plans I brought in. Many of them are here.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 May 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: Good man, Pearse; well done.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 May 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank Deputy Bacik. Just to say-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 May 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank the Deputy for her constructive question. To repeat, I thank the commission for the work it has done. The report was in preparation for three years to take a long-term view of housing. It looked back at ten years of significant undersupply and at affordable and social housing. Many of its recommendations have already been implemented. An example is the 20% provision of social and...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 May 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: The targets themselves do not build homes and the Deputy knows that. We are continuing to deliver homes at a scale we have not seen in more than 15 years. Not everybody is feeling that yet. It is a significant challenge. I meet people across this country, in my own constituency and everywhere else, who are getting the keys to their forever homes at a rate we have not seen for 15 years....

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 May 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: We need to do more. I will answer the question about the Planning and Development Bill. It is really important legislation. It needs to pass by this summer. I am open to amendments, and we debated this on Committee Stage. I will be looking at further amendments on Report Stage.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 May 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank the Deputy for raising this serious issue. I first want to address the issue of drugs and antisocial behaviour. I come to that with some degree of knowledge. Up to recently, I chaired for ten years the regional drugs and alcohol taskforce in north County Dublin. I have seen at first hand the damage illegal and illicit drugs, and indeed legal drugs like alcohol, can do to our young...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 May 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: Sorry?

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 May 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: Does the Deputy want to sit in the Chair? I am trying to answer Deputy Murphy if that is okay. It is a serious issue and a serious point. Deputy Shortall should know that as a former junior Minister at the Department of Health. I say to Deputy Murphy that it is not just a commentary. We need to do more in that space. That is why we are recruiting more gardaí. We have to ensure...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 May 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: I take this matter extremely seriously. All of us, as TDs and representatives in our areas, see the damage that drugs can do and are doing. The Deputy has referenced specific points about Wexford with regard to policing resources. I have given examples of where those community policing teams are back in place. With regard to resourcing our Naval Service, the Deputy knows the Government is...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 May 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: On customs, the Deputy has mentioned drug seizures. All across our State agencies they carry out really important work. Will we stop every single drug shipment coming into the country? No country can do that either. Do we need to improve and increase our capacity to protect our coastline? Yes, and that is what we are doing. That is why we are embarking on the most significant...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 May 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank the Deputy for raising this important point relating to Letterkenny general hospital. He asked about an implementation group to make sure the resourcing that is required there will be put in place, and I will certainly raise that matter directly with the Minister for Health and relay that to him. It is important we look at the overall context of where we are with health delivery and...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (23 May 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: I will raise the matter directly with the Minister for Health. It is not a question of just throwing money at it but is about getting improved health outcomes for our people, and I have given the Deputy just some examples of that where life expectancy and other rates have improved over the course of a few years. In respect of Letterkenny, since January 2020, there has been an increase in...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (23 May 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: The matter of insurance reform is a really important one for the Government and we have been embarking on that further reform. We want to make sure consumers get proper value for money and that cost reductions are passed on to them. That is why the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, recently met representatives of the insurance sector again and they are to report back to him within two...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (23 May 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: I am glad the Deputy raised this issue. I met with Finola Cassidy again last week. Other Ministers, including the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, have engaged on the matter. I want the process to be restarted. Last year, the facilitation process, which is confidential in nature, made a great deal of progress. That has stalled now, however. I earnestly want to see it restarted....

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (23 May 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I will get further clarification for her directly from the Minister for Health. My understanding is that there will be 300 individual inpatient en suite rooms, each of which will include a place for parents or guardians to sleep. In addition, there will be 60 critical care beds and 20 child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, beds. That...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (23 May 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: Thank God the Deputy is not the only workers' representative here. All of us represent workers. We do so in a country where 90,000 new jobs have been added to the economy over the past year.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (23 May 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: Éist liom.