Results 41-60 of 3,628 for speaker:Michael Collins

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (20 Mar 2025)

Michael Collins: My office has been inundated with requests from constituents seeking assistance in expediting their driving tests. These are mostly young people and they are waiting ten months or more for a driving test. Many of these have secured job offers but are unable to accept them due to the lack of transportation in rural Ireland. We do not have a frequent bus service, the Luas or regularly...

Social Housing Tenant In Situ Scheme: Motion [Private Members] (19 Mar 2025)

Michael Collins: It is no problem at all.

Social Housing Tenant In Situ Scheme: Motion [Private Members] (19 Mar 2025)

Michael Collins: I forgot to congratulate the Minister and Minister of State on their appointments to their positions. I wish them well going forward. I hope we can work closely together. One of them is from my own constituency so we should be able to work closely together. I think this is the second or third time I have spoken about housing today in the Dáil. It is a huge crisis and a huge issue....

Report of the Housing Commission: Statements (Resumed) (19 Mar 2025)

Michael Collins: We are years talking in the Dáil about housing. I listened to the Fianna Fáil Deputy who spoke previously and I have to agree with him. Regarding Ukrainians and others, we have been promising that all sorts of construction can be done and all sorts of structures can be built but we cannot do anything for our own selves. That is something we need to do very soon. I hope the...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (19 Mar 2025)

Michael Collins: Almost every day here we talk about housing targets. Today, in one leading newspaper, an article states that this Government will be 13,000 homes behind the 2027 targets it set last November. This is one crisis that must be resolved immediately. Another crisis, though, is rural, one-off planning. It is almost grinding to a halt. I have up to ten people coming to me weekly in west Cork....

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (19 Mar 2025)

Michael Collins: I agree with the previous two speakers in relation to speaking time, and it needs to be resolved as business needs to be done. Last week, a deal was struck by the Department and the unions on a 9.25% pay increase for many healthcare workers under section 39 contracts. This is to be rolled out over a two-year period. I publicly welcomed this long-awaited move only to realise that the...

Policing and Community Safety: Statements (Resumed) (5 Mar 2025)

Michael Collins: I wish the Minister of State the best in his role. We were all asking for more gardaí on the ground and in our communities. It is no surprise that, in the few minutes I have, I will be making this request for west Cork. We are very fortunate in west Cork, particularly the Ballydehob–Schull area, to have Garda Jonathan McCarthy living and working. That is very valuable. A...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht – Questions on Policy or Legislation (5 Mar 2025)

Michael Collins: For the past two years, parents in Bantry and the surrounding areas have been advocating for a dedicated school bus service to transport over 30 children from Bantry to Schull. Despite numerous representations to the previous Minister for Education, this issue remains unresolved. Today I am appealing to the new Government to address this pressing need. Providing a school bus for these...

Waste in Public Expenditure: Motion [Private Members] (5 Mar 2025)

Michael Collins: -----who have a mind to change this country and give the money back to the people so they can have services like wastewater treatment plants and public transport. The people of Ballinascarty have have not had their rivers cleaned out and so their houses get flooded. That is where we are at. There is no money in the purse and no money announced yet.

Waste in Public Expenditure: Motion [Private Members] (5 Mar 2025)

Michael Collins: I tried. I put our policies-----

Waste in Public Expenditure: Motion [Private Members] (5 Mar 2025)

Michael Collins: -----but all they took was a scrap of paper from ye.

Waste in Public Expenditure: Motion [Private Members] (5 Mar 2025)

Michael Collins: All they took was a scrap of paper off the back of an A4 page with a couple of old biro prints across it.

Waste in Public Expenditure: Motion [Private Members] (5 Mar 2025)

Michael Collins: That is what they took into government and we are feeling the effects of it on my side of the country since.

Waste in Public Expenditure: Motion [Private Members] (5 Mar 2025)

Michael Collins: I have listened to all the speakers. I am disappointed with some of the parties here. I am not pointing the finger at Sinn Féin but at the Labour Party and the Social Democrats. They continue to count out waste in this Dáil. We put forward a working solution and I do not think those parties proposed an amendment but came in and criticised it. That is outrageous. The Social...

Waste in Public Expenditure: Motion [Private Members] (5 Mar 2025)

Michael Collins: The Minister of State is a man I respect-----

Waste in Public Expenditure: Motion [Private Members] (5 Mar 2025)

Michael Collins: -----but I will not respect him for that, if he does not mind me saying that now.

Waste in Public Expenditure: Motion [Private Members] (5 Mar 2025)

Michael Collins: How can the Minister of State defend any Government or previous government that spent €808,000 on a Dáil printer and wasted the money? It spent €1.43 million on a security hut. It spent €2.5 billion, heading to €3 billion, on a children's hospital. It spent €22 million on a Covid ventilator that was never used. It spent €2.5 billion in...

Waste in Public Expenditure: Motion [Private Members] (5 Mar 2025)

Michael Collins: You went in-----

Waste in Public Expenditure: Motion [Private Members] (5 Mar 2025)

Michael Collins: Independent Ireland.

Waste in Public Expenditure: Motion [Private Members] (5 Mar 2025)

Michael Collins: I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — overspending and waste within the public sector not only erodes trust in Government but also diverts resources from essential services; and — as members of Dáil Éireann, and therefore custodians of the public purse, we have a duty to the people of Ireland to be committed to ensuring that taxpayers' money is...