Results 11,301-11,320 of 20,738 for speaker:Mattie McGrath

Order of Business (9 May 2017)

Mattie McGrath: Dúirt bean liom go ndúirt bean léi.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Beds Data (9 May 2017)

Mattie McGrath: 410. To ask the Minister for Health the position regarding the proposed reduction in ward capacity at St Patrick's Hospital, Cashel, and the Sacred Heart community hospital, Dungarvan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21682/17]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Nursing Home Accommodation Provision (9 May 2017)

Mattie McGrath: 411. To ask the Minister for Health the level of funding his Department has provided for capital investment in public nursing homes since 2011; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21683/17]

Rural Equality Bill 2017: Second Stage [Private Members] (4 May 2017)

Mattie McGrath: I know. I am not saying a word to the Minister. She has the task and she is doing her best. I am saying that rural affairs deserved a full ministry. In rejecting Deputy Martin Kenny's Bill, the Minister is the one who introduced topics to the discussion, including with regard to public bodies engaging in box-ticking exercises. She also stated that rural Ireland does not stop at the farm...

Rural Equality Bill 2017: Second Stage [Private Members] (4 May 2017)

Mattie McGrath: They are not going well. The mushrooms are not going well. I go up there an odd time so I know what is going on. I am surprised. Is the Minister too far away from it now? She has been removed with her State car and she does not understand what is going on. Rural people will work for themselves. They are not looking for handouts, they are looking for fair play and equity. The...

Rural Equality Bill 2017: Second Stage [Private Members] (4 May 2017)

Mattie McGrath: People who appeal cases will get away with it now. We are passing retrospective laws here-----

Rural Equality Bill 2017: Second Stage [Private Members] (4 May 2017)

Mattie McGrath: -----to make legal what was done. That is a disgrace. It is an insult to ordinary rural people who are trying to clean their rivers and allow the waterways to be free to get flooding away from houses and roads.

Rural Equality Bill 2017: Second Stage [Private Members] (4 May 2017)

Mattie McGrath: What did the Parliament do last night? It passed a law to make the fines and the punishment legal. People were brought to court, charged and found guilty and their names were in newspapers wrongly-----

Rural Equality Bill 2017: Second Stage [Private Members] (4 May 2017)

Mattie McGrath: -----because there was no legislation to do it. We are introducing retrospective legislation. That is what we are doing to people in rural Ireland. It is lip-service and to hell or to Connacht. The ordinary people are only minions and they do not matter. I was surprised by the Minister of State. I did not think I would ever be in the House passing legislation to make people guilty of...

Rural Equality Bill 2017: Second Stage [Private Members] (4 May 2017)

Mattie McGrath: The courts had no authority under any legislation to charge people. They were brought to court and now we are making legislation to make it right. One cannot make a wrong right, and one cannot make rural Ireland right unless the Government gets serious about it and tears out the officials and gets them down and dirty, and down behind the shopkeepers and to the post offices so they...

Rural Equality Bill 2017: Second Stage [Private Members] (4 May 2017)

Mattie McGrath: I am delighted to speak on this important Bill. I compliment Deputy Martin Kenny on the work and research he has done in order to put down the legislation. I welcome the Minister to the House. Deputy Michael Collins will be aware that in the long negotiations concluded this time 12 months ago, the Rural Independent Group insisted on a Minister for rural affairs. I do not want in any...

Topical Issue Debate: Road Safety (4 May 2017)

Mattie McGrath: I thank Deputy Aylward for allowing me to speak on this matter. A group of Members from Kilkenny and I have already met the Minister on this and I know he is committed to visiting the road in question. It is a treacherous and exceptionally dangerous stretch of road because of the spacing between the junctions. The road barrier is a steel rope and would be lethal if one hit it. There have...

Topical Issue Debate: Road Safety (4 May 2017)

Mattie McGrath: They have been over the past ten years.

Topical Issue Debate: Road Safety (4 May 2017)

Mattie McGrath: What about the parish priest?

Topical Issue Debate: Road Safety (4 May 2017)

Mattie McGrath: What about the rector?

Topical Issue Debate: Hospital Closures (4 May 2017)

Mattie McGrath: I thank the Minister for coming into the House to address this matter. He has said that this is temporary but nobody trusts the HSE. This is a case of sheer ineptitude on the part of senior management in the HSE. A blind woman or man could see that this was coming. The services did not have enough staff and were under chronic pressure. I want to pay tribute to the staff in both...

Topical Issue Debate: Hospital Closures (4 May 2017)

Mattie McGrath: I am not saying that he can solve the problem but I would ask him to meet her, as he has already committed to doing.

Topical Issue Debate: Hospital Closures (4 May 2017)

Mattie McGrath: It needs to inform the families too.

Topical Issue Debate: Hospital Closures (4 May 2017)

Mattie McGrath: What does the word "temporary" mean in the HSE's vocabulary?

Topical Issue Debate: Hospital Closures (4 May 2017)

Mattie McGrath: Ar an gcéad dul síos, I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing us to raise this Topical Issue this evening. It is a very important issue. The Minister has been down to Cashel in Tipperary. He saw the wonderful unit in the old Our Lady's which is lying idle; €23 million was spent on it and there is not a bed inside it. There are managers galore but not a bed. The Minister...