Results 1-20 of 938 for likes to work speaker:Mattie McGrath

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Transparency for Supermarket Profits: Motion [Private Members] (9 Jul 2025)

Mattie McGrath: I compliment the Social Democrats on this very important motion. I do not know whether it will fall on deaf ears but I fear it will, like so many other motions that have gone before. I remember when Deputy Danny Healy-Rae's brother, now Minister of State, Deputy Michael Healy-Rae, and I, along with a small number of IFA activists, worried vegetable and fruit producers, went to some...

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2025: Second Stage (8 Jul 2025)

Mattie McGrath: I welcome this legislation and I welcome the Minister to his position. I saw how steadfast he was against big industry and big business at the time of the gambling Bill. I fought with him on that Bill but he had the resolve to stick with it. I thank him for meeting and engaging with us, and for the briefings. The Minister has a monumental task. I have said it to him privately and I...

Nursing Homes: Motion [Private Members] (2 Jul 2025)

Mattie McGrath: ...healthcare and nursing care. I have seen that with my own two eyes. We were waiting on a 60-bed HSE nursing unit in Cashel at St. Patrick’s Hospital. Former Deputy, Martin Browne, and I were told at a meeting a year and a half ago that site was not suitable. I do not know why it took so long to come up with that. We are now looking for another site for a 60-bed unit. We should...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Education and Training Boards (1 Jul 2025)

Mattie McGrath: I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach for allowing me to share time with my colleague in south Tipperary, Deputy Michael Murphy, on this issue as it is of concern to both of us. Management of the Tipperary ETB shared devastating news with the local training initiative co-ordinators, LTIs, at four centres in south Tipperary. It informed them that due to budgetary constraints from...

Finance (Local Property Tax and Other Provisions) (Amendment) Bill 2025: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Jun 2025)

Mattie McGrath: I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to speak. I support this amendment because this is a matter of choices. We can talk about the election and who did and did not get into government and what the results were. The fact is that we have a squeezed middle. The Minister's former leader was always talking about them - the men and women who get up early in the morning and go to work....

Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Bill 2025: Second Stage (18 Jun 2025)

Mattie McGrath: I, too, am glad to be able to speak on this Bill. I am as confused as many others. We have a desperate housing crisis that we have failed to tackle. We have debate in this House. We have ideology, really, coming from the left and a lack of solutions coming from the centre, which I have always been proud to represent, and the Government parties. Panic has set in. I wish the Minister and...

Finance (Local Property Tax and Other Provisions) (Amendment) Bill 2025: Second Stage (17 Jun 2025)

Mattie McGrath: I will speak again on behalf of the hard-pressed homeowners of this country, especially those in rural Ireland and in my constituency of Tipperary, from Tipperary town down to Cahir, Clonmel, Cashel and Carrick-on-Suir as well as the villages and rural houses. These people continue to be squeezed by this unjust and unnecessary local property tax. The Bill proposes to increase charges on the...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: School Transport (29 May 2025)

Mattie McGrath: ...íomhach for giving me this opportunity this evening. I thank the Minister of State for being here. Every August, my office is inundated with school transport queries from parents who have not been able to secure a bus place for their child. I am sure the same applies in the Minister of State’s office. It is the same for all representatives. This causes unnecessary stress...

Protection of Employees (Employers’ Insolvency) (Amendment) Bill 2025: Second Stage (28 May 2025)

Mattie McGrath: I also welcome this legislation. I hope it would be of interest to Deputy Gould in the context of the lecture he was giving people here. I wish to declare that I am a part of a company that employs up to 25 people. I am sure the Ceann Comhairle is well aware of this aspect, particularly as she was self-employed for years. Many small businesspeople are ag déanamh a ndícheall i...

Apology to Shane O'Farrell and his Family: Statements (27 May 2025)

Mattie McGrath: Today's apology by the Government is long overdue. While welcome, it cannot undo the deep pain and injustice endured by the O'Farrell family for more than a decade. Shane O'Farrell was a bright, compassionate young man whose life was stolen in the most avoidable of circumstances and the system utterly failed him. I salute the O'Farrell family who are here today for all the work they...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Voluntary Sector (22 May 2025)

Mattie McGrath: I acknowledge the work they do. A man on the volunteer boards went to places in Tipperary like Knockanrawley FRC, Millennium FRC in Glengoole and of course Spafield FRC in Cashel. Recent data have shown there are 106 vacancies now across the schemes in Tipperary. It is difficult at this time of year to cover everything, including Tidy Towns, the GAA, community groups and all the other...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Patient Transport (20 May 2025)

Mattie McGrath: Ar an gcéad dul síos, gabhaim buíochas leis an gCeann Comhairle for selecting this Topical Issue, albeit to be taken after midnight. There is a concerning issue affecting the lives and health of many vulnerable people across County Tipperary, namely, the unacceptable and short-sighted cuts to hospital patient transport services. For many in rural areas of Tipperary,...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Special Educational Needs (8 May 2025)

Mattie McGrath: I appreciate it is not the Minister of State's reply - he is reading it out - but it is not about quotas, deadlines and systems like that. It is about ordinary children with needs. It is not fair on the schools that expected to open these schools to now have to wait to see if the decision will be reversed. By the Minister of State's account, I do not think it will be. We are approaching...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate (8 May 2025)

Mattie McGrath: Before we start, I would like to express on my own behalf and that of the House good wishes to our new Pope elected this evening while we were doing the session. I wish him well. Our hearts and prayers are with him. I thank everyone who supported the cardinals for their diligent work. It was a speedy process. Go n-éirí go geal leis an bPápa nua.

Childcare: Motion (7 May 2025)

Mattie McGrath: I, too, compliment Sinn Féin on bringing forward this very timely and important motion. Mol an óige agus tiocfaidh sí. It is a bad state of affairs if we do not look after our young people and nurture them properly. Ar an gcéad dul síos, I salute na máithreacha go léir, the mothers who care for children in their homes, as well as the extended family -...

Tariffs: Statements (9 Apr 2025)

Mattie McGrath: I too am concerned about tariffs as there are more than 9,000 FDI jobs in Clonmel and thousands more of them in Dungarvan up the road from me. However, like Deputy Nolan, I too am concerned about the tariffs that our own Government has imposed on the ordinary people, such as the punitive carbon tax and the nearly 48% tax applied to anyone wanting to build a new home. I am talking about...

Ábhair Shaincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Matters (8 Apr 2025)

Mattie McGrath: I wish to advise the House of the following matters in respect of which notice has been given under Standing Order 39 and the name of the Member in each case: Deputy Michael Cahill - To discuss rural planning guidelines, area plans and family homes. Deputy Séamus McGrath - To discuss driver licence reciprocal arrangements Deputy Eamon Scanlon - To discuss the daily transport charge for...

Employment (Contractual Retirement Ages) Bill 2025: Second Stage (8 Apr 2025)

Mattie McGrath: I hope there were not too many bus drivers bringing Offaly supporters or Tipperary supporters to Páirc Uí Chaoimh last Sunday because we all came home disappointed. Fair dues to Cork and, indeed, to Port Láirge freisin. Once enacted, the Employment (Contractual Retirement Ages) Bill 2025 will deliver a new employment right. It will allow, but not compel, an employee to...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: International Protection (2 Apr 2025)

Mattie McGrath: Ar an gcéad dul síos, gabhaim buíochas leis an Cathaoirleach Gníomhach, an Teachta Ó Murchú, for allowing me to table this Topical Issue. I am disappointed that neither the Minister for Justice nor the Minister for Education are here. I know the Minister of State, Deputy Higgins, has responsibility for procurement, so she might be able to answer me. I refer...

Support for Householders, Businesses and Farmers Affected by Storm Éowyn: Motion [Private Members] (1 Apr 2025)

Mattie McGrath: Ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil leis an Cheann Comhairle. Déanaim comhghairdeas léi ar an vóta inniu. It is great to be able to talk as backbenchers on the first Private Members' debate for which we have time. Everybody should get time here. I am sharing with Government backbenchers, although Deputy Nolan and I are not in that category. I praise all the...